friendster is now available in indonesian, hehe.. it's about time. however, not everything is translated, for example 'home' is still shown as 'home' in the navigator bar although the title in IE window is changed to 'halaman utama'. 'bookmark' is still a 'bookmark'.

some of the stuff looks weird, though.. like 'posting jeritanku ke profil anda!' (post a shoutout to your profile).. ngapain juga jerit-jerit, gitu loh.. trus, di profil siapakah aku harus menjerit? oohh..

what a stressful morning. went to the usual taxi stand behind a nearby shopping mall near home for morning trip to a faraway church, just to find out that the taxi stand was fully occupied by bicycles (yes, bicycles! how irritating!) and several people waiting in the line outside the designated queue area. and there really was no empty cab passing by, and people started to either walk to the bus stop or call for a cab.

it was my turn to psalm this morning so I'd feel really bad if someone had to be put on the spot for my coming late. thankfully we made it on time, albeit coming in during the opening hymn. and then another surprise was waiting: there was no copy of the alleluia for the gospel acclamation. *wipe sweat*

joined the earth hour 2008 by turning off the lights at home, having candle lit dinner and shower. candle lit dinner is so normal, but surprisingly candle lit shower feels good, it's calming and soothing.

the stars are always there, even in the daylight.
sometimes we just can't see them.
(angels - marian keyes)

have you signed up for earth hour 2008?

had lunch at charco's the flaming chicken, the newly opened stall at ang mo kio ave 5 that replaced the first botak jones stall.

I was initially thinking of ordering their ribs meal, but then I saw their salad bar and immediately decided to give it a try as they all looked so yummy. so I ordered the quarter chicken plus 3 salad meal ($7.50). there were 7 variety of salad and I chose caesar salad, seafood salad and chicken avocado salad. the other 4 were potato salad, egg salad, greek salad and coleslaw.

the charco's chicken was great - tender and juicy. all 3 salad that I chose were great. the chicken avocado looked more like a pasta salad, though.. I wasn't able to taste any avocado at all. the seafood salad comprised of generous chunks of fat crab sticks and prawns.. yum yum!

their schnitzel roast meal was ordinary.. nothing really special except the name.. they call it schnitzel rather than chicken cutlet.

it's only the third salsa class today and the instructors already advised us to register for the intermediate class. wah. anyway, looked like there's such thing as left turn. today we learned to do cross body lead, in which the guys open the way for the ladies to do a half left turn.

and for the first time, we're asked to do social dance, meaning that there's no instruction given, it's up to the guys to lead the ladies on the moves. most of the guys just simply followed whatever sequence given previously.. so uncreative.

went to ikea for dinner tonight. hehe.. where else do people go to a furniture store for the food?

tried their daily special for tuesdays - fish with belado sauce: steamed rice, stir-fried vegetables and 2 pieces of chunky fried fish topped with orange-colored, spicy belado sauce. yum!


also tried this swedish delicacy called 'semla'..

a shortened description from the brochure (provided by the restaurant):

the delicious swedish semla is pure delight in practical packaging. a wheat bun, lightly cardamom-spiced and partially filled with smooth almond paste. the bun is crowned with fresh fluffy whipped cream and almost floating on top of the creation is the triangular cut-off bun lid, sprinkled seductively with fine powdery icing sugar. the name semla comes from the latin word simila which means the most finely ground wheat flour, which is the base of the bun.

in sweden, the semla was originally eaten as dessert topping off the festive meals that was taken in preparation for the easter fasting. the semla dates back as far as the 16th century, when the swedes indulged in rich food on the last day before fasting which could last as long as 40 days and nights. this last tuesday before the fasting became known as fettisdagen - literally means fat tuesday.

today the swedes are no longer fasting and the semla has evolved to become a traditional dessert every tuesday between fat tuesday and easter. semlor are available in all shops and bakeries in sweden every day from shortly after christmas until easter.

went to the birthday party of a friend's daughter. loved the rujak penganten.. I helped my self to 3 'modest' servings.. slurp!

had dinner at mad jack, jalan kayu. this eatery serves mainly western food, plus a few fusion items like nasi lemak with fried fish. it claims to use no preservatives and tenderizer.

service was very prompt. order and payment were made at the cashier, and food was served within 10 minutes. we ordered grilled chicken with cream sauce, grilled fish with blackpepper sauce, and spicy mix fries - drizzled with mayo and melted cheese. the chicken was quite dry, not juicy enough. blackpepper sauce was spicy. fries was good.

there were more people in the salsa class today, 12 ladies and 6 guys. today we practised more on partnerwork, how to position and move our arms and palms during right turns. turning too much made me dizzy. I hope, as in marching, there's no such thing as left turn..

an incidental talk with a friend made me realize how blessed I really am. may the force be with him.

It's my first time buying an avocado in singapore after 10 long years. I usually wasn't interested in buying one as the avocados sold here look pathetic - small, black and terribly wrinkled. but today I decided to buy one. a small fruit it was, and expensive at $1.99 a piece. but it's super creamy and smooth. halved it, scooped it all out, put it in the blender with syrup, milk and ice cubes.. heavenly!

how time flies. not so long ago it was about attending sweet seventeen birthday parties. the marching band activities which I joined made me stay back at school every wednesdays and saturdays. marching and playing instruments under the hot sun. sometimes we even had to undergo punishments when we accidentally dropped our beloved instruments or the mouthpieces - by running arond the practice field before the break. since parties were commonly held on saturdays, I would normally rush home, quickly showered, and went right away to the venue. that applied to my own party as well.

and then, slowly but surely, wedding invitations started flowing in. no more sweaty bodies, we're working adults. I definitely spend more time freezing under the aircon nowadays than sweating under the sun. it's so unhealthy. having small reunions during every wedding attended, I realize we're getting more and more detached from our friends. how very unhealthy.

I can smell the trend is slowly changing now. the latest one is, fussing over kids' birthday parties. oh. my. God. I just received an invitation for first birthday party of a friend's daughter. and I'm addressed as 'auntie'... *gawk*

one of the things that I had been thinking of doing for quite a long time was taking up a dance class. after so much time spent on procrastination, I found a few friends who're also interested. searched for some dance clubs and decided on one. registered for it but we're turned down due to the imbalance between the number of guys and ladies signing up. blablabla. and finally today's the first salsa lesson!

we attended the beginner class, of course. they taught us to do the basic salsa footwork (front, back and side step) and the right turn. the class size was quite small, 9 ladies and 4 guys who were rotated every now and then. when the basic steps were taught, everyone did it the same way (left foot, right foot, etc). but when it came to partnerwork, it was the guys who keep the initial arrangements and the ladies had to do it the other way around (left became right and vice versa).

all in all, it was fun! it's quite tiring as well especially if we're on high heels.

in order to do the postures and styles correctly, I guess I have to unlearn the "marching band" ways of doing things, like 'rollstep' when walking, and also the rigid postures adopted when standing and marching (gaya gagah perkasa gitu loh).

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."
(To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee)

it's been a long time since I ceased to believe that best friends do exist.
maybe it's just me.

visited the national museum this afternoon. at first we planned to see the greek masterpieces from the louvre exhibition, but then ended up visiting also the singapore history galleries and the singapore living galleries.

the greek masterpieces' collection was quite limited, divided into 4 categories: athens in the classical period, living in ancient greece, the spirit of competition and religion: of gods and heroes. not all god's there, unfortunately, but they had various version of aphrodite - the goddess of love, and eros with a bow - otherwise known as cupid. and there's also narcissus - a boy admiring his own reflection. I guess that's why we have the term 'narcissist' and 'narcissism'.

history galleries were really comprehensive. I'm impressed! at the entrance, each visitor was given an audio guide that served as a tour guide, providing commentaries during the visit. specific numbers were assigned to each exhibit and upon pressing the number, the corresponding commentaries were played. cool! the collection itself ranged from the time when singapore (it's called temasek back then) was first found, the daily lives of its people, the war, and finally the independence. oh ya, the PM was visiting history galleries too when we were there.

living galleries comprised of 4 areas: fashion, film & wayang, food, and photography. they're currently having additional exhibition - sequined costumes of cantonese opera. the food gallery interested me the most :) it housed a few exhibits related to famous local food like satay, laksa, chicken rice, nasi lemak and kueh tutu; as well as various herbs and spices stored in glass jars. some spices can be smelt, too. they also have smelly beans (petai).. =)

went to anchorpoint for lunch today and tried disney naturally, a disney-themed restaurant. they had mickey's head-shaped blue chairs, big screen showing disney's movies, game sheets for children and various disney-themed souvenirs.

although we didn't really expect much, we're still disappointed with the experience. the menu was really limited - they only have pizzas (all shaped like mickey's head), daily specials (soup and pasta), fruit blends, and ice cream. we ordered donald's legend pizza - almost tasteless, snow white's pot beef goulash - just okay, but not warm enough, and mermaid's whisper - orange and raspberry blend. and the cutlery's dirty.

conversation of the day, in an MRT train before alighting:

father: "we're going to platform 'A'"
son: "'A' is for 'Eh, what are you doing?'"

*rofl*

had dinner with a few friends at shokudo japanese food bazaar. it's my second time here, and wow, this restaurant is now super crowded. 3 of us arrived at 6pm, just to find a long queue was already formed at the entrance. luckily they allowed us to enter although not everyone's there yet. 1 more friend joined us - a plate of sushi, a plate of sashimi, one hamburg omu rice and one chicken katsu curry rice - later, and then another 2 plus 2 kids came last after a plate of salmon fried rice, 5 japanese pan-fried dumplings, a tofu steak and teriyaki chicken pizza with cheese. we accompanied them by ordering mango ice for dessert.

we were at shokudo for 3 hours plus.. that's like attending a chinese wedding dinner, hehe.. but it's really good to be able to meet up with them after such a long time.. =)