Project 365

Damn, I’m proud to be the alumnae of the University of Queensland 🙂

And I miss the delicious pizza at the campus…. 🙁

Open relationship. A relationship in which the two people are free to have emotional and/or physical relationships with other partners, often within mutually agreed limits.

Casual relationship. A physical and emotional relationship between two people without necessarily demanding or expecting the extra commitments of a more formal romantic relationship.

How about the blend of these two? What do they call such relationship? Hmm… 🙂

I recently read news about the government’s plan to impose a 1-hour earlier closing time for pubs and clubs in the state of Queensland. Currently, a lock-out time is 3am (which means people cannot enter entertainment venues after 3am, even though they have been inside before) and shutting time is 5am. The proposed plan aims at reducing the risk of alcohol-fueled violence, which is very common in Queensland by the way. But many young people oppose this plan, of course — and try so hard to stop the government not to impose it.

When I was in Brisbane, I used to live in the center, between the city center and the Fortitude Valley. I remember how unsecured I was to be walking alone at 9pm or even earlier during the weekends (and by the way, Fortitude Valley was the most dangerous place to be in Brisbane at night). People got drunk on the street. Screaming. Laughing. Threw stuff. Fighting. I heard and saw those. It was a scary scene. I loathe to take a night train or night bus because I can smell the alcohol from far away. It’s disgusting! Not to mention to hear those people screaming and swearing! For some reasons, when they got drunk, they became really crazy. And really scary!

How come I’ve never seen the kind of scene in the Netherlands? (Oh I hope I’ll never encounter this!). But still, I sometimes come home at 12am or 2am and I feel okay. I’m always careful, of course; but I’ve never seen such crazy drunk people on the street.

Anyway… after reading the news, I discovered this article titled “A wake-up call to all Australians – not just ‘apathetic’ youth”. I need to cite a number of paragraphs here:

What is staring us in the face is the one thing nobody wants to address – Australia’s drinking culture.

It sounds scary I know, and even worse it’s not an issue reserved purely for the ‘apathetic’ youth. I hate to rain on anyone’s parade but Australia has a drinking problem and it’s about time we took a real hard look at ourselves.

The damage alcohol causes to Australians is all too clear, with 1500 hospital admissions each week and 3,000 deaths per year. Not to mention the increasing public concern of lawless cities spurred on by regular reports of alcohol-related assaults, knifings and glassings. I doubt that a lockout is going to fix these problems, nor will increased police presence. What we’re in need of is a big old shake up.

It’s a scary thing. 1500 hospital admissions each week due to alcohol damage?!?! That’s insane.

Well, I agree with the author; earlier lock-out doesn’t solve the root of the problems. And I bet that violence on the street will likely to increase if the premises are to be shut down earlier. More people will get drunk on the street rather than on the pubs or clubs and that’ll certainly create more problems!

The government runs a survey whether many people would agree on the proposal of earlier lock-out. We’ll see what the end result would be. But I think they won’t make it a go 😀

I never knew this movie existed!!! Titled “Merantau”, it’s the first Indonesian movie about Pencak Silat, our own martial arts. Although it’s directed by a Welsh, damn I’m still proud of it!!! It seems that the director is able to blend our culture and the martial arts together and promote it to the world! (Not like some boring fighting movie!) I wanna watch it one day! 🙂

Link: Wanna visit the Netherlands for free?

A great chance for you, all Indonesian bloggers, to take this great opportunity. Who knows you’ll be the winner? 😉

Glad to be healthy again! For the past few days, I’ve been very very very sick. In the beginning it was just a sore throat. But then it got worse and worse. The headache came. The fever got through. My throat didn’t get any better. It was really painful! I couldn’t get out of my room for few days. I was very weak. I was on bed for the whole day. Being sick without anyone by your side (i.e. family) was the worst thing about living alone.

But alhamdulillah. I’m blessed that some people came to visit. Teh Rita & Mas Umar brought me some foods during the time when I really ran out of foods 🙂 Jimmy came over to bring me some lemons for my throat. Agni came too; though he came for the purpose of his paper, but he was kind enough to do some small shopping for me. Ian also took care of me for almost the whole day. Thank you all! 🙂

It really is hard to keep up with this project during the time like this, when I’m sick or when I’m out of the country. Well, the truth is that I enjoy doing it and I’m not going to stop. But perhaps, there will be some holes and I’m going to try not to create them anymore. Hehehe. I’ll try.

Let me fill your heart with joy and laughter
Togetherness, well it’s all I’m after
Just call my name, and I’ll be there… :) 

for you.

Every time I look into your eyes I know how much you care about me. And how much you want me to be happy. And every time I am with you I can feel the warmth that I’ve been longing to have.

We are destined to be apart. But I want you to stay and just be my friend. Nothing else.

I watched Mariah Carey’s 1995 concert at Madison Square Garden over and over again today. I had been a big fan of Mariah ever since I heard her famous song, Hero, when I was in elementary school. I fell in love with the song instantly. Since then, I listened to her songs, bought all her albums, and watched her video concerts. I even recorded all of her interviews on MTV.

I’m still a fan now, though not as much as I was previously. She still is one the best female singers. But her voice has changed. Her style has changed. Her music genre has changed. The way she sang changed. And for some reasons, it isn’t as good as before. I’ve watched her recent live performances for many times and I can say that Mariah is not able to sing high pitch songs like she usually did. She has difficulties to sing some of her old songs. She also has some problems with her emotion, I’d say. Her emotion and her songs do not connect anymore. At least that’s how I feel.

Anyway, this video shows one of the songs performed by Mariah and Boyz II Men at her 1995 concert. It’s called “One Sweet Day”. It’s one of my favorite songs!!! The song is about the loved ones who has passed away. It’s a sad song!! Enjoy!

“And I know you’re shining down on me from heaven…”

After having a 4-day road trip in 3 different countries, I came back home and arrived today at 2am. I went to bed at around 3.30am and woke up again at 8am. I had to go to Den Haag with my friends Ian, mbak Linda, and Sam. We had planned this gathering two weeks ago so that we could have a reunion with all the Indonesian people at the Boekenfestijn. And I was so glad I met all of them, except Maureen though 🙁 She had promised to come but I didn’t hear any words from her.

Anyway, we then went to the Pasar Malam organized by our Indonesian embassy in Den Haag. I spent quite a bit of money as I ate too many foods there! We also got the opportunity to watch some of the performances which were very entertaining! I had such a great time! 🙂

Ian and I then went to Amsterdam at around 6.30pm. I asked him to accompany me to meet my mom’s friend in Jeddah, tante Novi & family, who were here for vacation. I brought some stroopwaffels for my little brother 😀 . Tante Novi and oom Agung then invited us for dinner at an Indonesian restaurant called Kantjil (yet another Indonesian foods for today! hehehe). It wasn’t bad at all.

We took the last train to Eindhoven. I’m too tired but I’m impressed that I still managed to write this post! 😀

*the last 4 days of the posting will be written later 🙂