"..prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them."

(the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, mark haddon)

dua hari ini ikutan internal training 'thinking out of the box'. enak banget, santai. acaranya dengerin trainernya, group activity, discussion, nonton film, sama makan.. mantep. sesuai ama topik, isi trainingnya hal-hal tentang creativity. ada brain teaser alias tebak-tebakan, nebak ending film, ngedandanin orang pake segala macem bahan yg disediain, bikin prakarya ini itu.. yg jelas lebih seru daripada kerjaan kantor sehari-hari.. :)

tadi malah dikasi waktu satu jam buat muter-muter keliling kompleks kantor, dgn pesan disuruh observe lingkungan sekitar.. gile.. kapan lagi siang bolong puter-puter kantor dgn santai.. serasa anak IA.. atau pegawai baru yg lagi excursion.. hihihihi..

berdasarkan training slide, salah satu creativity barrier adalah assumption.. begitu liat something langsung muncul judgements. jadi tadi kita dititahkan buat bawa personal items.. trainernya randomly nyomot barang2 yg udah dikumpulin trus nanya ke kelas, assumptions made for each of the personal items. yg pertama dipilih adalah.. barang gue! hihihi.. gue nyemplungin handphone pouch biru tua, jam tangan hadiah ultah, sama gantungan kunci WWJD oleh-oleh ex-colleague dari US. pendapat orang-orang sama pouch gue: owned by a girl, it's never washed.. hahahahah.. bener banget, bener banget. trus buat jam tangan: owned by someone simple with good sight as it's small.. buat gantungan kunci: owner is a Christian.. hehehe.. lucu-lucu lah pokoknya. untung gue gak nyemplungin dompet gue yg lebih keliatan lagi joroknya.. ga pernah dicuci dan warnanya putih.. hihihi..

akibat langsung dari 2 hari training: kerjaan yg numpuk. minggu depan kalang kabut deh gue.. huhuhu..

yg namanya exercise itu, sekalinya vakum susah banget buat mulainya lagi. sejak mau exam kemaren itu kan gue meliburkan diri dari kegiatan berolah raga.. exam udah kelar dari lama tapi exercisenya ga dimulai-mulai juga. kemaren senen, gue balik lagi ke atas treadmill.. setelah bbrp puteran rasanya kayak pengen pingsan.. hihihi.. parah. hari ini balik ke gym lagi, masih blom balik ke stamina (cieh..) yg dulu, tapi at least udah ga pake acara pengen pingsan segala.. :)

skrg mo makan es krim dulu ah.. mengembalikan kalori yg hilang.. :p

btw, ada site lucu buat generate website as graphs..

another posting on food :)

the office canteen was selling indonesian food today. was a bit sceptical upon seeing the display but I still gave it a a try since other options were even worse. surprisingly it was good. $3 for nasi kuning (with pieces of eggs and fried shallot), curry veggie, and 2 choices from beef rendang, curry chicken and sotong. yumm.. too bad they didn't serve prawn crackers, or better still, the white-thick-crunchy crackers normally stored in a big blue tin.










I'm trying a new recipe.. peanut butter cookies! not so bad, but additional chopped peanuts or almonds would be great.

dinner at the jewel box. the view wasn't that spectacular and the food was so-so.. but at least the live music was quite good..

fish and chips












chicken tikka with pitta bread












apple crumble and vanilla ice cream












watched midnight show of silent hill at the nearest cinema. enough suspense to keep me wide awake throughout the show. weird ending, possibly to keep the option of making sequel open.

attended the beautiful skin workshop somewhere in orchard, tempted by the $5 price tag that comes with dinner, doorgift and hands-on workshop. it was not so well organized as we were cramped in a small room with limited seats. the organizer's easiest reason was of course, they didn't expect so many people to turn up. but since registration was required, surely they could arrange a bigger place.

anyway.. the food's not bad, a standard welcome tea-kind of food. followed by a presentation on how useful their products are to handle all sorts of skin problems. sounds like they have the cure and treatment for everything, from dehydration, dull complexion, shininess, wrinkles.. then I was arrowed to be the 'model', as in to let them apply whatever products they want to demonstrate on my face.

so at the end of the day I was the only one went home with full make-up, since the rest was not given a fair chance to apply their own make up. the session was of course concluded by their product sale. I didn't buy any as it costs a bomb. and I'll be too lazy to apply it regularly anyway.

food for thought: "there are no ugly women, only lazy ones." (HR)

pergi crabbing! gila, terakhir kali makan crab beneran yg pake cangkang itu kalo ga salah ampir 5 taon yg lalu, 11 sep 2001.. yang tadi tempat makannya bernama mellben seafood catering, di daerah AMK. rame banget dan rusuh tapi lumayan teraturlah.. pake barisan buat queue plus order, trus petugasnya pake toa segala gitu loh.. hihihi.. sayang ga keburu motret pas dia lagi koar-koar pake toa. makanannya juga ga semua sempet difoto, laper soalnya, mana tangan juga belepotan..

signboard











toa di meja pesenan










rojak











cereal prawn









butter crab

...sometimes it seems
no one understands
I don't even know why
I do the things I do
when pride builds me up
till I can't see my soul
will you break down these walls
and pull me through?

I haven't fully recovered from the australia holiday last week, in terms of bank account.. but GSS is already here.. ;)

so here's a quick recap of the trip (24-30 May 2006).

day 1: singapore
finally had the chance to patronize the newly opened budget terminal. it's a small one-level building, a big hall surrounded by few stores. at least they have free internet there. the flight was quite late, departed on 10.35pm.


day 2: darwin
arrived on the wee hours of the morning. rummaged through stacks of brochures and flyers. took cab to city, dropped luggage in a locker and went for a walk at esplanade park. city tour with tour tub bus.
















had a short nap to compensate the lack of sleep and headed to mindil beach for the weekly sunset market. there're lots of asian food down there, japanese, korean, even sate lontong jakarta. they even have indomie mi goreng in their supermarket. tried fruit salad, mexican nachos, pizza, strawberry with ice cream and crocodile meat satay. the satay tasted weird. only after it's finished, I realized the stall selling it is named "you killed it, we grilled it".. animals killed in road accidents are grilled and sold there. ewww.. sunset at mindil beach was breathtaking.
















day 3 & 4: goldcoast

took Airtrain to goldcoast from brisbane airport. it was a really cold morning. strolled along the nice and clean beach and had fish & chip for lunch. went to pacific fair for some shopping.

















movie world! the theme park was not too crowded, and the weather was just perfect. shrek 4D, scooby-doo spooky coaster, police academy stunt show, official matrix exhibit, looney tunes river ride, road runner roller coaster, batman adventure the ride. had magnum nachos for lunch. took bus back to city, went to palazzo versace hotel just for the sake of seeing one =) and to marina mirage.



















day 5 & 6: brisbane

went to botanic gardens. joined the city light tour to mount coo-tha and a short cruise along the river. had beef lasagna with garden salad while savouring the city night view. topped it up with a cup of hot chocolate - the best I've ever had. thick, creamy chocolate drink with marshmallow, whipped cream and chocolate powder sprinkled on top.

took a hot air balloon ride in the morning. picked up by the pilot himself at 5.30am.. it's freezing cold! drove to toowong park where he and his assistant inflated the balloon using hot air. the ride itself was very smooth, took around 40 minutes from the park to another end of the city. had a great panoramic view of bisbane city from the air.. before an ungraceful landing with a toppled basket.. *grin*
















went to lone pine koala sanctuary in the afternoon. koalas are really adorable. they sleep 20 hours a day! pity those who are made to take pictures with tourists. made a mistake of not checking the train schedule earlier, thus the great rush from city to airport.