Angela Aki ~ This Love

This Love - Angela Aki

「愛があれば平和だ」と

"Ai ga areba heiwa da" to

When there's love, there's peace

誰かが口にしていた

Dareka ga kuchi ni shiteita

Someone used to say that

頷く人もいれば

Unazuku hito mo ireba

There are those nodding to it

疑う人もいる

Utagau hito mo iru

And there are those doubting it

苦しみがあるからこそ

Kurushimi ga arukara koso

Whenever I was in pain

あなたを抱きしめる時

Anata o dakishimeru toki

you’d hold me closely

その腕の優しさを

Sono ude no yawashisa o

And it was in the warmth of those arms

平和と感じるのでしょう

Heiwa to kanjiru no de shiyou

that I felt peace

ある時から無口になり

Aru toki kara mukuchi ni nari

But then I stopped talking to you

心を締め切り

Kokoro o shimekiri

and closed off my heart

この恋が引き裂かれそうになった

Kono koi ga hikisakaresou ninatta

this love was torn apart

重ねたこの手を

Kasaneta kono te o

This time I don’t

今度は離さない

Kondo wa hanasanai

let go off my heart

信じる力が

Shinjiru chikara ga

Because the power of belief

愛を自由にする

Ai to Jiyuu ni suru

will set love free

友情に救われたり

Yuujou ni sukuwaretari

When you helped me as a friend

未来を想像したり

Mirai o souzoushitari

I imagined our future together

幸せは見えるけど

Shiawase wa mierukedo

And though I saw happiness in store for us

自分を見る事はない

Jibun o miru koto wa nai

I didn’t see my own issues

約束と言う私達のコンパスだけでは

Yakusoku o iu watashitachi no conpasu dakedewa

Though we said our promises would be our compass

この恋は方角を見失うの

Kono koi wa hougaku o miushinau no

we lost sight of the direction this love was going in

奇跡を待つより

Kiseki o matsuyori

Instead of waiting for a miracle

この手をつなぎたい

Kono te o tsunagitai

I want you to hold onto my hand 

信じる力が

Shinjiru chikara ga

Because the power of belief 

私を自由にする

Watashi o jiyuu ni suru

will set me free

この恋を恐れずに

Kono koi o osorezuni

You don’t have to fear this love

You don't have to fear this love,this love

重ねたこの手を

Kasaneta kono te o

This time I don’t let go off my heart

今度は離さない

Kondo wa hanasanai

信じる力が

Shinjiru chikara ga

Because the power of belief

愛を自由にする

Ai to Jiyuu ni suru

will set love free

奇跡を待つより

Kiseki o matsuyori

Instead of waiting for a miracle

この手をつなぎたい

Kono te o tsunagitai

I want you to hold onto my hand 

信じる力が

Shinjiru chikara ga

Because the power of belief 

私を自由にする

Watashi o jiyuu ni suru

will set me free

Happy Moo Year

Yes, Happy Moo Year in deed! It's the beginning of the Year of Ox, another new year. I'm stranded in Jakarta and finally get to connect to the virtual world again. The feeling of anxious on not been able to connect to the Internet for the past couple of days had gotten to my nerves. I guess this is the result of continuous daily online brooding in both office and home. I'm not surprised now if you can call connecting to Internet is and equal addiction to Heroin.

Still in CNY mood, I touched down to Soekarno-Hatta airport and picked up by my dad on Saturday. When I saw our CRV parked at the airport parking lot, part of me wishing that it's our CNY new CRV was the one parked there. But alas, the damn dealer not finished with the registration (why so slow, I wonder why, but then again, this ain't Singapore). So there goes my blissfull rides in the new car for this week.

So there're another 2 days left for my trip but luckilly beyong believe, I found the Twilight book 3 and 4. And where did I find the book? Just smack down in the bookstore below my apartment, not Kinokuniya, not Borders folks!

Miyavi ~ Tsurezure Naru Hibi Naredo

Like the lyrics... Nice song...

Tsurezure naru hibi naredo - Miyavi


Why are we living? Why are we going to die?
Like grass and flowers and also animals, everything, I still don't understand
And yet we're just living desperately with all our might
Repeating days every day going around in circles
We are not living just in order to die
still we're dying in order to live
Everybody though I'm searching for a sense in that

Though life isn't only painful
it's neither only enjoyable
When there are mountains there are also valleys
Sea, sky and me are also here
Though I think there are nights I want to escape from
there are no nights that do not dawn
therefore we are dreaming about tomorrow
I keep on walking keep on walking
The memories of that summer are fading away along with the landscape
Don't disappear don't disappear I'm even trying to beg
Memories keep popping like bubbles

Everybody, when you close your eyes it's there
When you prick your ears there is laughter
When you reach out your hand it's as if you can feel it
(but) when you open your eyes, you're just alone
Even though there is a longing or loneliness sometimes that tightens your chest
Though we are dreaming we keep on walking
walking along with that landscape
also the memories of that summer keep fading away
"Don't disappear! Don't disappear!" I'm even trying to beg
because Memories keep popping like bubbles
Here I'll keep on singing forever so that I won't forget, can you hear it?

And somewhen when this song reached you
At that time I'll try, can we still laugh together?
When it hasn't changed from that time when we played
You can maybe tell me a stupid joke?

Because memories immediately have to pop like bubbles
I'll sing so I won't forget so I won't forget

My VINCCI stash

K, so here is my bounty from the sandal hunting in KL. The glory of temporary addiction from VINCCI. Not too fancy but now I think I have the sandal for every occasions:

Something casual?


Something girlie?


Or something chic for a change?

I'm so not going to buy anything slip in for the next few months...

KL Day 3-5

A very late posting indeed, considering how many days passed by. Well, by the time I reached SG on Saturday night, I was exhausted and having a chronic headache didn't help much. So, here is the recap.

Day 3 started bright and shiny with another streaming of lectures and activities. And I did a wrong time management to start the day and end up late for class. Well, actually not late, the class just started early because if we finished earlier, it meant more time can be spent shopping at KLCC. During the training, we also had role plays during the day to practice what we have learnt. By the end of the day, apparently the faculty were keeping tabs on who never presented before, so the last role play of the day went to yours truly. Luckily, it's not a tough one, but enough to give you a bit of cold sweat :). So the day ended with us venturing to KLCC. But roaming through KLCC to me meant take picture of any angle of KLCC and to hunt for more sandals at VINCCI (do I spell it right?). So basically we spent the whole 1.5hour duration after dinner taking pictures and... shoes shopping. We didn't even bother to look further than VINCCI.

Taking picture using my colleague camera seemed to be a challenge for me. We wanted to take the singing fountain picture. She took me with the fountain perfectly. Then, it came to my turn taking her pic. I kept shaking the camera so that the pic resulted in blur. By the time, I managed to take it correctly, the fountain stopped LoL, and I got a scoffed from her. We got into the bus quickly and didn't even bother to sit on the back. The front seat was perfect for us to hide our stash of shoe boxes and avoid the stares because we just kept shopping at the same shop.

Day 4 was time to check out. That's why we got into the training room rather early. The class ran rather quickly and off course, we wouldn't want to miss our chance of taking group pics. Tons of them. It seemed like we never ran out of poses, regardless. Off course, after converted to a temporary sandal junkie by VINCCI, I quickly noticed the new sandal that one of the faculty was wearing, and my colleague kept remind me that she already told me so many times that I should get that sandals. Then, after the training was over, me and my colleague moved to CititelMidvalley to stay for one more day.

Cititel Midvalley was no Mariott, definitely, with the bathroom 1/3 sized of the one that we had in Mariott. But at least the mattress was more suitable for me. My friend was right. Midvalley mall was fantastic. It has all, from Carefour, department stores to restaurants, and off course, another VINCCI store. So to satisfy my addiction, I added another 2 pairs of sandals to my collection. The shopping center was very much crowded with people shopping for their Chinese New Year stashes.

So finally, our last day in KL. We ventured back to KLCC, because we wanted to take the pic exactly like one of my other colleagues had. But alas, day view and night view were a totally different thing. So with disappointment, we abort our mission and started to venture down to Bintang Walk. Bintang Walk was quite a long road to walk on, and not to mention, the pavement ain't flat. By halfway through, we were hot and sticky (both of us wear black because black means a slimmer you in pics, a lesson very much learnt from Day 2). So, we were ecstatic and relief when we came accross Pavillion, the latest mall in KL.

Pavilion stayed through its name. It's very clean, new, and spacious, and not so many people go there yet. No more VINCCI store this time. So we started to really walk through store by store. I found some brands that even SG doesn't carry them, and I found it to be amusing. And now it's time for my colleague to shop. All along she's been shopping for her friends and families, so it's a sign of liberation for her to start shopping for her own stuff. But poor girl, she couldn't get the shoes that she wanted because they didn't carry smaller sizes. So, with that we're ready to go back to the airport, while praying that our luggage were not overweight. Mine was still fine with 17.8kg, while my colleague's were slightly overweight with 24kg. Luckily, they let her go as it was not a full flight.

Since my short flight didn't provide dinner, we went to Burger King to have our last dinner in KL. Turned out that behind my queue, stand a totally gorgeous steward. His bag blocked my way and I was going to rant until I look up and saw his face. A split of second of gawking, I moved my way reminding myself to tell my colleague. But before I did, she also noticed. Who wouldn't notice if there's only one guy to gawk at out of the sea of uncles. And definitely we're not the only ones as we noted lots of aunties and ladies also gawked at him. Well, sometimes beauty must be appreciated, by gawking Lol.... So with that, we said goodbye to KL.

KL Day 2

After all the drama roller coaster on my day 0, my KL training moved on to Day 2. Day 2 started with my poor back was still not adjusting to Mariott’s ‘heavenly’ bed. To me, it’s not that heavenly though I have loved Mariott’s thick and fluffy and most importantly, warm, bed cover since my Deloitte’s days. It’s just too soft for me. Who am I kidding for since I have my Slumberland royalty super hard and sturdy mattress at home. So, for the past 2 days I had been twisting and turning with all my might to find the comfortable (not too soft) spot of the king sized bed for me to snooze on. Due to this mishap, I started my days with sleep deprived face in desperate need for coffee. From Day 1, we learned that our training center is exactly in the same hotel building, which means, we don’t even need to wake up that early, in translation, more snoozing time. But that extra snoozing time was easily offset by my back. So it’s a no brainer that I planned to sleep off the wake up call if it’s not so annoying with 10 minutes interval. By the time my brain set off on the reality, I was so late that I had to quickly do my morning routines, have a speedy breakfast and off to the class to check emails before the class started.

Today’s training touched on the tougher subject yet emphasized the same importance to my work though so far I haven’t have the need to do the process but sooner or later I’ll be required to do so. As a result, regardless how my eyelids tempted to close down, I still had to stay alert and awake, and off course having the faculty chirping behind our team’s back to give more indirect stress every now and then helped me to stay focus. Time flew so fast that it’s lunch time already and this time it’s another different restaurant in the hotel. The hotel has total of 4 restaurants, so we were wondering whether when we’re going to have lunch in the 4th restaurant since it looked like a rotation.

I realized that working in a team during training develop more inputs and ideas to solve questions and exercise given. Also, more importantly, since we’re not that familiar to each other, I find that the way we converse our opinion or objection was slightly different compare to when we do the same thing with our colleagues in the office. And it’s amusing at the same time as forcing yourself to adjust faster than you previously thought so. With that thought, the Day 2 lesson ended.

For a compulsory event, they arranged us a dinner cruise, much to our delight and excitement. We ventured off to Putrajaya man-made lake for our cruise. We did take tons of pictures since the building and settings were fantastic for sight seeing. Then another reality hit me, I really need to lose weight! The sight of me in the pics was so huge and with my heavy top and light colored sweater that I wore today, the impact was even worse. So, the lesson learned was to always wear black top whenever there’re any chances of picture taking, never think twice. After a couple of poses and pictures taken, I did manage to lesser the impact which was dully noted by my colleagues. Dinner was nice with romantic setting. The cruise was set for couples in the first place, so when they started to play 80’s love songs like those by Michael Learns To Rock, it just felt weird. But by that time, nobody even bothered to complain because we were all too engross with our food and conversation and off course to go to the top to take more pics.

So, Day 2 ended nicely with our bus returned back to the hotel with passengers’ stomach satisfied by the dinner and cameras filled with pics of happy smiley faces with Putrajaya government office background.

Kuala Lumpur ~ Day 1

I’m currently in Kuala Lumpur. My first travel done in 2009 is for my company’s training. Sure, the idea of training means a week of crunching your brain to absorb anything new that you need to know for your work and managing expectation that you still know what you have learnt on the weeks to come. But that’s not the issue here because actually we had some fun and learnt new useful tips today.

My day 0 to KL started just nice. I got off from the office on time to catch the MRT to Changi airport. Why I’d rather take MRT? Because it’s more predictable. Definitely taxi is more comfortable, but will it take you to the airport in exactly 30 min from Citihall? Not necessary. So I’d rather to stand for a few minutes, and definitely someone will stand up from their sit to get off along the way, after all, Changi is on the end of the line there. Everything went just nice and smoothly. I didn’t even need to queue to check in my luggage. How cool is that? And on top of that, I managed to bag a Vera Wang’s perfume for my DFS splurge. So what’s the drama, you might ask?

When you start to think that everything goes well and just nice, that’s when things started to crumble, and that’s exactly what happened. I reached to my gate for boarding rather early and started flipping the magazine that I snagged from the bookstore at the DFS. Normally I never manage to finish flipping 1 magazine until I board because I’ll also browsing on the Internet. But I realized that after doing all my usual boarding habits, and I even finished flipping, no boarding announcement was aired. Concerns started to crawl onto my face. By that time, my colleague that I was supposed to meet at KL airport sent me sms that she was already there, and waiting for me. That increases the tension as I hate to make people waiting, and the clock did ticking. Just when I got up from my chair to ask the airline people, the announcement started, delay for 30 minutes due to change tire. That ticked me off because they wait until last minute to announce making people wonder. Then, another 30 minutes passed, still nothing happened. By this time, migraine was soon to visit my brain.

I was so relieved when they finally started to do boarding and finally take off. But, during the short flight, I couldn’t even close my eyes to rest (even with the easing my mind with my fave Jpop numbers) because exactly behind my seat was a bunch of annoying brats thinking that they flied by private jet. They shrieked, yelled, brawled all the way to KL with no intent at all to lower their voice, and worse, their conversations were all non sense. So annoyance was added to my already stress injected brain. And off course the annoyance doesn’t stop there. The queue on the immigration was even more annoying than those brats. I felt like such a bitch to complain about custom queue. But who wouldn’t whine if the other queue run MUCH faster and you’re stuck with immovable queue for another 20 minutes.

I still got the feeling that what happened next was the result of all my whining. On my baggage claim rail, I chipped almost half of my nail when I picked up my red luggage. Sure, I didn’t feel the tingling feeling (thought that it’s caused from lifting the heavy luggage), but I was dead wrong. The blood was not so obviously seen with my finger lingered around my red luggage (and with the addition of my bit blur mind) until it dropped. By the time it dropped, it already clotted my finger. So I came up to meet my colleague (so proud of her for waiting on me all that time) with 1 bloody finger. What amazed me about KL airport was you can’t really get through the airport people until you start to speak Malay. Yes, they understand English, but it seems to me that they respond the way you want them to when you converse to them in Malay. So here I was in the clinic asking for ALCOHOL or any available disinfectant. I don’t know what’s going on in those nurses mind when they see injuries. Normal nurses will clean the wound with ALCOHOL based disinfectant. But apparently not in KL airport. They just gave me water (yes folks, water) for me to dip my wound in there and wrap it with some plaster. I was in horror of the thought that I might get infection. So, to prevent on my day to get worse, I quickly asked for first aid kit as soon as we reached hotel. I’d rather attend to my wound myself after that horrific clinic experience.

So, with my currently disable left index finger, training day 1 passed by. We did lots of exercise and more pressure added because of the time crunches. There was a glitch of lunch and dinner reservation today which was solved beautifully to my boss’ relief. So with that we ended up eating in difference place for lunch and dinner. I loved the cod fish dish dinner. It’s sweet and soft, so you don’t need energy to chew. Then we ended our day by having a short mall trip to the mall nearby. For me, the top priority was definitely buy a supply of band aid to tend to my wound. I can’t imagine staring at my half exposed nail versus flesh all they long with the worry that some germs or whatever making it worse.

On final note, turned out that there’s no such thing as free Wifi in this building. We’re deluding ourselves in reading the sign ‘Wifi on public area’ as ‘Free Wifi.’

Luffa with Mi Soa

Ingredients:

100 gr Luffa (It's Oyong), peeled and sliced evenly - it's about 1 or 2 piece
5 gr Ebi, washed and chopped to small pieces
200 gr Mi Soa (or Somen), boiled and strained - about 2 packet
5 cloves garlic, chopped (I like more garlic, so usually I put more than 5)
Seasonings: Sugar, White pepper, Salt to your taste

1. In a wok, heat up oil with high fire, stir fry garlic and ebi until fragrant
2. Put in the sliced Luffa and stir fry until rather soft
3. Put in the strained Mi Soa and quickly season it with the seasonings
4. Keep stir frying until the seasoning is evenly distributed

For me personally, I like this dish to be as dry as possible. If I can make it happen, I want the Mi Soa a bit crispy too on the outside. But, you can make it like a soup too. Just add more water or chicken stock and definitely add more seasoning to balance the liquid.

My Book List

Yeah! FYI, I do read books, though only happen once in a blue moon (or maybe if the moon turns green). Upon Jen's request, here is the list of books that I manage to finish (I did read more books than this, but alas... lost interest in the midway of the book and left it untouched thereafter. Ooops, my bad habit). So, without further a do, here are some books that I like, and I do collect some of them. There's no particular order on which are my favorites but I'll give them some stars when I burn some midnight oils to finish them:

• The Hundred Secret Senses ~ Amy Tan
  
• The Bonesetter's Daughter ~ Amy Tan
• The Joy Luck Club ~ Amy Tan - **
• Catch Me If You Can ~ Frank W Abagnale - **
• Harry Potter Serries 1-7 ~ J.K Rowling - ** (don't feel the need of spelling the title one by one, I mean, everybody knows right?)
• Twilight Saga (Twilight, New Moon) ~ Stephenie Meyer - ** (I haven't get my hands on the rest of the series: Eclipse, Breaking Dawn. Singapore book store don't keep lots of stocks, I guess they don't really anticipate that lots of people going to buy the book)
• Granny Dan ~ Danielle Steel - **
• The Ranch ~ Danielle Steel
• The Da Vinci Code ~ Dan Brown - **
  
• Angels and Demons ~ Dan Brown - ** I found this one is more 'doki doki' feeling compare to Da Vinci Code
  
• A Rather Lovely Inheritance ~ C A Belmond - **
• The Alchemist ~ Paulo Coelho
• The Zahir ~ Paulo Coelho
• Who Moved My Cheese? ~ Spencer Johnson - The only simple book yet depressed me
• The King of Torts ~ John Grisham
• Totto-Chan: Little Girl at the Window ~ Tetsuko Kuronayagi - **
• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants Book 1&2 ~ Ann Brashares - ** I have yet to read the 3rd book. Seems to forget to continue reading the saga. But definitely the first book is the best.
  

It seems so little. I remember I read more than this haha... But the list will be 100x more if it's about manga haha...