12 Day Vlog Challenge: Day 4

12 Day Vlog Challenge: Day 3

12 Day Vlog Challenge: Day 2

Second day of the Vlog Challenge.

12 Day Vlog Challenge: Day 1

Hey guys, long time no see!

Anyway, I'm bored to death and so... I decided to do the 12 Day Vlog Challenge. Check it out:

Tell me what you think :)

The Eye Project

So, in my last post I said that my eyesight has deteriorated. My left eye is -0.75D and my right eye is -0.25D, and although I know it’s still considered OK, I’m afraid that it’ll get even worse, and I don’t want that to happen. An optometrist prescribed me specs, and I bought them, but I’ve heard that your vision will get worse if you wear your glasses all the time. After searching this internet, I found out that this was actually because:

Minus glasses make objects far away look closer to you, and so, if you wear glasses all the time, your eyes will adjust to your specs and will be unable to view objects far away. I also heard that your eyesight deteriorates because you look at close objects too long, and so, your eyes become unable to focus on objects far away. Eyes are like the rest of our body. If you haven’t gone jogging in a long time, it will take some time for your body to be able to jog faster and for a longer distance. Actually, some websites say that the saying ‘Wearing glasses all the time will cause your vision to worsen’ is totally wrong, because if doctors give you prescriptions for specs, then why would it hurt our eyes? Technically, this is logical. But maybe, it’s because doctors or researchers or whoever it is haven’t found out a way to really support that statement, and so, they have to go with the saying that ‘You should wear glasses all the time’. Anyway, I haven’t found any really definite statistics on whether glasses worsen your eyesight or not.

I kind of agree and support with the statement that minus glasses worsen your eyesight. The thing is, my parents wore specs when they were in university. Probably only around -1.00D each eye. After that, they never wore glasses anymore, and up to now, their eyes haven’t got worse. My theory behind this is that in university, you are required to read and study a lot, which means that there’s gonna be a lot of short-distance eye focusing and stuff. And so, your eyes become focused to looking at close objects and hence, the minus glasses. I’m kind of going through the same condition now. Although I’m not in university, the current education system I’m going through also requires me to study a lot. Moreover, I like to spend my time browsing the internet, so I guess I should have expected the glasses anytime soon considering that sometimes I like to read at really close distances.

Another example is my friend in Pei Hwa. She’s supposed to wear glasses as her eyes are around -1.00D or more, and she started having a blurry vision around 4 years ago. I asked her, and she said that she only wears specs when she really can’t see, and her vision hasn’t gotten worse since then. So this is another example to support my stand.

However… There are cases whereby people who used to have perfect eyesight suddenly don’t, and because they don’t do anything about it (meaning: wear specs), their eyesight gets worse. Take for example my cousin. His vision started to get blurry but he didn’t ask his parents to buy him specs. As a result, his eyes got worse. So I’m kind of in a dilemma right now. But I guess I’m still gonna support my stand. Anyway, I don’t think my eyesight will get to -2.00D any time soon. It’ll probably take a year (I guess) or so until it gets that worse right? So… I’m gonna try a couple of eye exercises to improve my vision. I’m gonna do this as a sort of research, so I’ll be posting blog posts on this project.

So here are the eye exercises I’m gonna do:

Palming

§ Rub your hands together until warm (approximately 15 to 30 seconds). Cup your hands and then place them over your closed eyes, ensuring to make sure your nose stays uncovered. Your fingers should overlap and rest gently on the center of your forehead.

§ Make sure no light is able to enter your eyes, you may still see lingering traces of colors.

§ After two or three minutes you should see nothing but blackness, remove your palms from your eyes. Repeat the above steps if necessary.

Near-Far Focus

§ Hold your thumb six inches (15 centimeters) from your nose.

§ Use your eyes to focus on the tip of your thumb.

§ Take one or two deep breaths and exhale slowly.

§ Focus on any object approximately 10 feet (3 meters) away.

§ Take another one or two deep breaths and slowly exhale.

§ Repeat the above steps 10-20 times.

Closing the Eyes

§ Close your eyes tightly for 3-5 seconds

§ Open your eyes for 3-5 seconds

§ Repeat 8-12 times

Massage Your Eyes

§ Wash your hands.

§ Close your eyes.

§ Massage your eyes using circular motions, ensuring you press very gently to avoid any damage.

§ Continue for 1-2 minutes, repeat the above steps after a five or ten minute break.

Roll Your Eyes

§ Sit down and relax.

§ Roll your eyes clockwise and then counter clockwise.

§ Blink

§ Repeat 5-10 times

Hold the Pencil

§ Hold a pencil arms length in front of you.

§ Move your arm slowly towards your nose.

§ Follow the tip of the pencil with your eyes until you can no longer keep it in focus.

§ Repeat up to 10 times.

Up-Down Eye Movements

§ Face forwards.

§ Without moving your head focus your eyes as high as they can go.

§ Then slowly move your eye line down to as low as they can go, without moving your head.

§ Repeat above 8-10 times.

§ Do the same exercise, but instead of the up/down movement instead do a side to side movement.

Focus on Distance

§ Focus on an object in the distance (more than150 feet or 50 meters away) for several seconds.

§ Refocus your eyes on a closer object (within 30 feet or 10 meters away) for several seconds. It’s important that this closer object is in the same eyeline as the distance object.

§ Then slowly focus again on the distance object.

§ Repeat this 5 times.

Imagine a Sausage

§ Hold your two index fingers around 15cm from your face so that they are pointing at each other.

§ Focus on an object in the distance and slowly move your index fingers closer to each other. You’ll see a sausage in the middle of your two fingers.

§ Focus on your fingers.

§ Repeat this 5 times.

So basically, I'm gonna do these exercises every day, whenever my eyes are sore, and if my eyes never feel sore, I'll just do it minimum 3 times. There's another person who did this experiment too, you can click this link. It's really interesting.

OK, so I hope this'll work. Byebye!

Beware! ‘O’ Level May Accelerate the Growth of Pimples on Your Skin and Damage Your Eyesight!

Written on Friday, 30^th August 2011, 2300.

I’ve actually wanted to post a new blog post for such a long time but just haven’t had the time to do so. I don’t really think now is the right time either actually, considering that it’s nearly the middle of the night, I just arrived home from school an hour ago, and I’ve still got an enrichment class tomorrow morning at 0830. As Mr Adam Khoo said, sleep is precious. People actually need 7 hours of sleep a day. Fortunately, that’s exactly the number of hours I’ve been sleeping (on average). If you sleep to little, you won’t have a really good memory (if I’m not mistaken). So for those of you who might be taking your end of year examinations soon, make sure you get an adequate number of hours of sleep.

So, the Preliminary Examinations (or Prelims) have ended. My results are still OK, but it wasn’t as good as during the Mid Year Exam. Especially for Humanities. I managed to get an A2 for my Humans during the MYE but now… I only managed to get a C5. I don’t really know why. Well, for SS… SS is just difficult. Not the SEQ though, because for SEQ you can just memorize and understand the content, and then just twist it a little bit to match the question during the exam. But for SBQ, you really can’t tell what’s gonna come out, and I just think it’s difficult! I’m not trying to look down on myself or anything, because I know I can do well. It’s just that sometimes I manage to score well for my SBQ and then the next time I don’t do well. Maybe the problem is with me though. I do understand that sometimes my answers are just plain rubbish. Like for last week’s assignment, I wrote an inference and then gave evidence to support it. However, the mistake was that I didn’t explain how the evidence supported my claim. As a result, my Social Studies teacher wrote this:

“WOW! Evidence but no explanation!”

I understand that it isn’t funny, but I nearly cracked up while reading this. The sarcasm. However, for that assignment, there’s something that I’m really proud of. I got full marks for the first and last question (there are only four questions). And that, is already a big achievement for me. :D

Now, Geography Elective. For the past 2 tests I’ve been acing my Geography tests. I got 88% for my MYE (I was the top scorer for Geog!) and I got 80% for one of the practice papers. That was an extremely big achievement for me. I really didn’t think I would get 88% for my MYE. I just studied as per normal, and BOOM! I got 88. I don’t really know how I got 88. Luck maybe? I hope not.

For the other test, I also studied as per normal. And yet, I got an 80! So for Prelims, I also studied as per normal. However, I only got 54% for this test. Actually, I was one of the 10 people that passed in my class, so I was already quite contented. The top score wasn’t far either, it was only 60%. Now, you might be wondering why the results are so poor. There are several theories that can explain this. First of all, the questions were mixed, and they are usually not. So usually, you can just learn 2 out of 4 themes and do well for the exam. But for this exam, you need to learn all 4 themes because even though you’ll only be required to choose 2 out of 4 questions, all of the questions are mixed: from theme 1 to 4. So that was one of the challenges. Another challenge was that for the previous tests, we weren’t required to apply our map skills. I really did badly in those questions. For the first map question, I got 1 mark out of 5. The one mark was obtained from stating that the speed of the river is slow, all my explanation was wrong. For the second question, I got 4 out of 7 marks. This isn’t so bad, but 4/7 isn’t pretty to look at either. Another theory behind my failure is that maybe I was becoming too complacent. Maybe. I don’t know though. I hope not. I try to be as humble as ever. If I am becoming complacent, please tell me. U don’t think complacency will help at all.

Anyway, next week will be the last week of school. And guess what? I’ve already graduated from Pei Hwa. HAHAHA. OK, just kidding. Well, technically, I have graduated. Sort of. On Wednesday, 28^th September 2011, we had our Graduation Ceremony. I know. It’s weird right? Graduation ceremony before you even take your national exams. I’m not really sure why they did it before the exams either. Maybe because there won’t be any time next year? :\ Anyway, it was quite a fun day. 4E4’s video made me really LOL. The part about Mr Ho Fu Chew’s hair was hilarious. Everybody in the room was cracking up just like me. Their video made my day J

OK, so you must have noticed that in the title bar, I wrote that ‘O’ Levels can accelerate the growth of pimples and damage your eyesight. This is slightly true. At least, according to my theory.

I am a person with a relatively clean face. I rarely have pimples. And when I say ‘rarely’, I mean ‘nearly never’. However, there are like 4 pimples on my face right now. You know how people say that stress causes pimples right? Well, the Os are starting to take its toll on me (is this the correct expression?) and I am starting to get a bit stressed. Teachers give me piles of homework to do, and most of my time is taken up by homework. I won’t really complain though. I know this is for the best, so I’ll do it anyway. Even if it means hell for the next 1 month.

The second thing I’ve realized is that the Os have damaged my kind of perfect eyesight. Before I came to Singapore, my eyes were relatively healthy. I could see objects fare away clearly, and I didn’t wear specs. And now… I WEAR SPECS. Well, actually the degree of my specs isn’t that severe. Only 0.75 in my left eye and 0.25 in my right. About 3 months ago, I sat at the back of the classroom. I could see and read the whiteboard clearly. But now, three months later, I can only see a slightly blurred whiteboard. I can still kind of guess what word it is, but I’ve really noticed that I can’t see far objects clearly.

Now, the dilemma I’m facing is whether I should wear specs everyday or not. Or should I just wear it only when I’m studying, using my computer and reading? People say that if your eyesight is still quite OK, don’t wear specs. It will worsen your eyesight. But is that really true? Some people refuse to wear specs and now their eyesight worsens. If anybody can give me some tips, I’d be glad to take them in with open arms.

Crappy Internet

I don't know why but the internet has just sucked real badly here. On my laptop I can successfully connect to the wi-fi network and it always says connected, but whenever I open a browser and try going to a certan page, it displays this message:


I would be extremely grateful if someone can help me solve this. Thank you thank you!

September Holidays 2011

Written on 14^th September 2011, 1429hrs (Singapore time)

2^nd of September 2011

Last week was a super duper fantastic week. I went back to my beloved country, Indonesia. I flew back to Yogyakarta on 2^nd of September. There was no direct flight, so I had to make a transit at Jakarta, and as a result, even though I left my homestay at around 0630hrs, I only arrived in Jogja 8 hours after that.

Before I continue, I’d like to comment on something which kind of bothers me… When you’re taking a plane somewhere, and then the staff calls the passengers to board the plane through the intercom, there’s always this big chunk of people just rushing to board the plane first. I mean, what’s the big deal? We’re all boarding the same plane, we’re gonna arrive at the same time, why bother to get on the plane first? And usually, the flight attendants will call the people seated in the rear to board first. There’s always some people who, despite having a seat at the front, force to board the plane first. And so, this causes a kind of traffic jam inside the plane. Most of the time, while I’m queuing to board the plane, the passengers queuing up behind me will sort of try to push me forward because of the whole concept that ‘we need to board the plane quickly’ or whatever. Last week, when I was boarding the plane to Jakarta, there was a woman and her daughter, and they were rushing and trying to kind of cut the queue or something, and if you saw us you would think that they were like my bodyguards or something haha.

Okay let’s move on. When I arrived in Jogja, the sad thing was that some of my relatives were already going back to Jakarta or wherever they live. So I didn’t really get to meet all my relatives. On the night that I arrived, my father’s family had dinner together at a Thai restaurant called ‘Phuket’ if I’m not mistaken. The dish that I loved the most was ‘Roti Naan’. It was like a combination of roti prata and pancakes. Delicious.

At around 2200hrs or so, Om Tris, Daddy, Mamik, Pakde Agus and I watched a soccer match… via TV! It was the qualification round of the FIFA World Cup 2014 between Indonesia and Bahrain. I though Indonesia would win because we sort of have an edge over them-we were playing home, and so, we had the support of thousands of people in the stadium. But the result was still disappointing, we lost 2-0 to Bahrain. A thing I just discovered was that after the match, during the press conference, the current Indonesian soccer coach, Wim Risjbergsen (or whatever his name is, sorry I can’t remember) made a statement, blaming the Indonesian players for the loss. Naturally, I would be mad, because as a coach, he also has responsibility, and whatever the situation is, he can’t just blame other people. And what was even more shocking was that it was reported that 7 players now refuse to play if the coach is still him. This, I think, is also inappropriate. You can’t just quit like that. And it’s not just that, I mean, you’re playing for your country! Why would you refuse to do that? If I were you, I would be honored to play for my country, and I would play no matter what, just like Bambang Pamungkas (I read his blog last night and I now have a lot of respect for him because he’s just an amazing individual). I don’t know what’s happening right now, but I hope they solve it soon. And by the way, why did PSSI fire Alfred Riedl? I thought he was a talented coach, no?

3^rd of September 2011

The next day, Adam, Nadia, Danar, Krisna, Ilham and I went to Ambarukmo Plaza or more commonly known as Amplaz to watch ‘5 Elang’. Someone told me it was something like ‘5 Sekawan’ (in English: Famous Five – by Enid Blyton) but apparently, it was not. It was really disappointing. I expected it to be better. For those who like the movie, I’m sorry but I think the storyline is pretty weak. The conflict wasn’t much. It wasn’t really interesting. So, yeah. After that, my parents and us went to Kalimilk (Kaliurang Milk). It’s like this new café thing, something like Starbucks but I think it tastes better and is of course considerably cheaper. I tried the Cookies Milkshake, and I think it was great.

In the evening, Tante Inung, Om Tris, Tante Rinta, her daughter, son and us went to the Prambanan Temple to witness the superb Ramayana Ballet Show. To be honest, I didn’t really understand the story, because it was basically just dancing. To make it even worse, I fell asleep nearing the end of the show. I don’t really blame myself for this because I haven’t had much sleep. I slept at midnight the previous night, and the night before I woke up super early because I hadn’t packed my stuff yet haha. Anyway, I wasn’t the only one who slept :p

4^th of September 2011

The next day, we stayed at home I think. I just had fun at home with my family, just chilling out, surfing the internet and stuff. Oh, and by the way, my grandma’s kitten is so cute!

5^th of September 2011

The next morning, my family and grandparents went to this sort of goat farm called ‘SuKa As-Syifa’ if I’m not mistaken. I think the place was still new, judging by the amount of goats there. Here is a short video…

In the afternoon, my family and Mbak Hasna went to Empire XXI to watch Transformers. I’ve actually watched the movie, but the others haven’t. Unfortunately, the tickets were sold out… So after that, we went to Kalimilk… again! J

6^th of September 2011

The time has come for us to go to Jakarta… But before that, there’s a video below that I recorded while in the car. It’s supposed to show you a bit what Jogja is like.

The flight was early, so we arrived in Jakarta at around 1000hrs if I’m not mistaken. Oh, by the way, I love Terminal 3! It’s really modern, the only thing missing is the Indonesian identity.

Nothing much happened on this day. We picked up our cats from the petshop (because we can’t bring them along with us to Jogja), played around, and that was it.

7^th of September 2011

Now, the 7^th of September was a really special day, especially for my sister. It was the day where we picked up our (or more specifically, Nadia’s) dog! Yes, dog! We now have a pet dog! The dog is a Collie, and he’s male. He’s still 5 months, so not old but not that young either. He was really quiet and nervous in the beginning, but by the time I left for Singapore, he was already happy living with us. Actually, I kind of disliked the idea of having a dog. The reason is not because I hate dogs. No, I LOVE dogs. The reason was because in Islam, dogs are kind of… I don’t know what the English word is, but in Indonesian we say ‘najis’. But my parents still agreed to Nadia’s desire to have a dog because she really showed how much she wanted it, and for 2 months or so she even went to our neighbour’s house just to play with their dog! But now that I’ve seen how fun dogs can be, I can’t really say that I still dislike the idea of having a dog… hehehe

8^th September 2011

At around 0900hrs the next day my mom and I went to the dentist because I told her I think there’s a cavity in one of my teeth. And true enough, there was one. Another thing the dentist commented on was that there were 2 special teeth that I don’t have yet, and so I had to get an X-Ray of my teeth. But I didn’t do it on that day.

Besides going to the dentist, we also went to pick up my mom’s car’s letter or something like that, and, we also went to Cibubur Junction or also known as ‘Tjieboeboer Janksyen’ in my dictionary to buy a BlakcBerry for Adam. *sigh*. Now I’m the only one in my family who doesn’t have a BlackBerry! I’m also the only grandchild in my father’s family who doesn’t have a BlackBerry. It’s kind of sad, but at the same time, I think BlackBerrys are starting to have a bad effect on people. People are starting to spend too much time communicating to other people through their phones, and especially with BlackBerry, there’s this instant messaging feature called BlackBerry Messenger where you can contact your friends who also have BlackBerrys for free! That is, as long as you have internet connection. During family times, once in a while, one of my family members will take out their BlackBerry because they noticed that there’s a new notification or something. And yes, I get it. Having a BlackBerry is cool because it’s easy to communicate with people. I know that because I’ve experienced it. But it’s starting to have a negative impact. And yes, I would probably be more ignorant of this if I still had my BlackBerry, but I don’t. And even if I still have my BlackBerry, I think I would still notice how BlackBerry is starting to change our lives. I’m actually considering buying an Android phone next time :D

9^th September 2011

I don’t think much happened on this day. My mom left in the morning because she had to go to the bank or something, and that leaves me and Nadia at home. I tried my best to spend quality time studying, but it was just difficult with all the distractions. In the end, I did an A Maths paper, but I made a lot of mistakes while doing it because I wasn’t focused and I also took a really long time to finish it.

In the evening, Nadia, my mom and I went to Rumah Sakit Mitra Keluarga. Nadia was going to the doctor because she’s been having a flu, and I’m going to the ophthalmologist because I realized that my vision has started to get blurry. True enough, I don’t have perfect vision anymore. My left eye is -0.75 and my right eye is -0.25 so I have to wear glasses now! Dang.

10^th September 2011

We were actually planning to go to MOI or something at around 1000, but there was The Glee Project on TV, and so we watched it, and by the time it finished, which was like 1200hrs, a guest came by. So we left home at around 1330. We went to CJ first. We went to Optik Melawai and another optic shop to buy specs for me, but they both said that I had to wait for a couple of days to get the specs. So we went to PIM, and I bought glasses there. I’m wearing glasses now! -_-

I also bought a pair of shoes for formal events.

11^th September 2011

It’s the last day of the holiday, and it’s time for me to go back to Singapore. Byebye Indonesia~

The September Holidays are Here!

Written on 1^st of September, 9:54 PM

A very warm welcome to all of you people out there who’s reading this blog post. August has ended, and with that comes a new month. The fasting month, or else known as Ramadhan month, has also ended. To my fellow Muslim friends, I would like to say Happy Eid Mubarak, may Allah bless us all. To everyone reading this that knows me, I’d also like to ask for forgiveness for all the wrongdoings I’ve committed in the past.

This year is the first year that I am not able to spend Hari Raya Idul Fitri with my family. Yes, it’s sad. But my Dad always says that ‘happiness is a choice,’ and I choose to be happy on that day. I didn’t do much; I went to Kinokuniya and bought a book, ‘A Game of Thrones’ George R. R. Martin. It’s been a habit of mine to only buy one book at a time (or at the most, 2 books). I saw this girl who bought like, 6 or 7 books. She was looking at the shelves and spotted a book that she has read before, and she said “Oh! I’ve read this book!” and just like that, she plucked the sequels to that book and gave it to her mother. Guess what? I envy her so much -_-. I wish I had the liberty to buy books whenever I want to. My dad would never let me do that… He does like reading and has even said that he would rather buy me tons of books than spend the money on food. But I do agree on him that I shouldn’t buy 7 books at once… Take it steady. Don’t have the habit of buying so many books that in the end won’t be read at all. The same goes for clothes. I’m not the type to go shopping with my friends; in fact I’ve never bought any form of clothing with my friends. I always do it with my mom around; as I believe that she knows what is best and appropriate for me. There’s a person I know who loves to go shopping, and said that some of them haven’t even been worn yet!

When I came back to school after the long 4 days break, I was called in English class to help Mr Muru demonstrate what Muslims do during Hari Raya Idul Fitri. Mr Muru then proceeded to asking me what I did during that day, and he asked “Oh is your family here with you?” “No…” “No? Do you have relatives here?” “Umm… No.”He really seemed to be concerned with my situation, and as a result of it all, he arranged for the class to gather at Haiqal’s house after school the next day. He was talking about how getting good grades is not the only important thing in the world, being there for your friends is another thing. So I guess the whole gathering thing was also to cheer me up as I didn’t celebrate Eid Mubarak with my family. Mr Muru and 4E2, if you are reading this, I would like to say thank you very much for the concern and kindness. I’m a shy person so I don’t really express my feelings much, but when I do, I really say it from the bottom of my heart J

That brings me to the next topic, Teacher’s Day Celebration. Tomorrow, 2^nd of September is the day when we celebrate Teacher’s Day (in Singapore), so tomorrow is a school holiday, and today is only a half-school day as we’re celebrating it. I was planning to make cards for every teacher as I did last year. I did make the cards… but I didn’t give it to the teachers. I rushed while doing it (just did it the night before… wanted to do it earlier but didn’t have any ideas!) and I don’t think that it was neat enough to give it to the teachers K I know that actually it’s the effort that counts, but I don’t want to give them crappy work either… It shows that you didn’t really put much effort into it. So dear teachers, I would like to thank you for being such an amazing teacher and also being a very inspirational figure to me. The 1 year and 3 months I have spent in Pei Hwa has been a hell of a ride, and I genuinely enjoyed it. I am grateful to have such awesome teachers and I hope that you are proud to have me as your student. Sincerely, Indira Pranabudi.

So this brings me to the title of this post. The SEPTEMBER HOLIDAYS! Yeay! I’m going home to Indonesia tomorrow morning. Luckily, I don’t have to go back to school during the holidays (and I’m quite surprised about this) which means that I can spend the whole holiday in Singapore. And yes, I am aware of the fact that when school reopens, I still have my Physics, Additional Mathematics and Malay Language Prelims. That’s why I’m bringing along some of my books so that I can study in Indonesia.

I am extremely OVER THE MOON right now… Lots of things are gonna happen this holiday. One of it being: the arrival of a new living soul in my house… a dog (breed: Collie) named Prince. Nadia’s dog. This is gonna be AWESOME.

Last day of Ramadhan

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahhi wabarokatuh

Good afternoon to you amazing blog readers out there!

I realized that I’ve never started any of my blogs with that, and since this it’s Ramadhan, I thought I might as well be a bit more religious haha.

Today is the last day of the holy month of Ramadhan. I’m somewhat happy about this because I won’t have to fast all day anymore, but I’m also sad to see Ramadhan go as I know that Ramadhan is a month of awesomeness too. However, if I’m lucky enough, I’ll be able to experience another month of Ramadhan next year.

Okay, so, fasting in Singapore is totally different from fasting in Indonesia.

In Singapore, it’s TOUGHER.

As I have said in one of my previous posts, the Muslim community is the minority in Singapore (although initially, the Malay Muslims were the ones occupying Singapore before the Indians and Chinese migrated to Singapore). Therefore, only a few people are fasting here. Which means that, fasting or not fasting, nothing around you changes. People still drink bubble teas as they walk on the streets, people can eat in front of you, disregarding the fact that you’re fasting. Sure, you can ask the person to not eat in front of you, but in my opinion, it just shows how weak you are. One of the aims of fasting is to understand what starving people go through every day, and what better way to experience this than watch other people eat in front of you? I know this sounds a bit off, but it’s true. In Indonesia, people won’t dare to eat in front of you, because most of the people are fasting. They’re more conscious to the fact that they have to respect the people who are fasting. Even restaurants have curtains so that the people fasting won’t have to witness the people eating in the restaurants. So… fasting is way easier in Indonesia. But you don’t learn as much as you do in Singapore.

In Indonesia, you can really FEEL THE VIBE.

When we have our morning meal (also referred to as sahur), there are TV shows in relation to sahur. And it’s on nearly every channel. Most of the channels have a comedy show thingy where top Indonesian comedians make jokes and all that stuff. There are also some religious shows, and there’s also a special drama TV series. In Singapore, I don’t really think there is any, or if there is, it mustn’t be that special because I haven’t heard of any. Oh, and in Indonesia, there are also break fast TV programmes.

If you go out on the streets, you will see loads of banners about special Ramadhan discounts, or special Ramadhan break fasting programmes. In school, you can go home earlier, usually by 1 hour or so, so that you can rest at home and not get too tired. In Singapore… as I said before, it’s like nothing changes.

That’s all for today. I CAN'T WAIT TO GO HOME ON THE 2nd of SEPTEMBER!

Preliminary Examinations

#countdown 8 days to the day when I'll meet my beloved family! ({})
(Or at least I hope so :-()

The Prelims just started this Monday. As usual, English first. English was okay, SS was difficult, Chemistry paper 2 was kind of difficult (and unpredictable!), E Maths paper 1 was okay, Geography was A KILLER PAPER (no other way to express it), A Maths paper 1 was kind of difficult but still manageable. Tomorrow's E Maths paper 2 and Chemistry paper 1. Physics and A Maths paper 2 will be after the school holiday. ...

Why oh why does the Prelim Exam has to be stretched over such a long period of time? And another thing I still don't get is why they schedule the Science practical (luckily only for the Combined Science pupils) during the September holiday?

"School holidays (also referred to as vacations, breaks and recess) are the periods during which schools are closed for study." -Wikipedia

Week 35, 2011

Being a SUPER MINORITY... How does it feel like?

I am a minority... and it's not the best thing in the world. I used to be the majority in Indonesia because I was the same as everyone else, and I'm Javanese, which if I'm not mistaken, is the biggest ethnicity Indonesia. So I was the total opposite of minority.

But now, (1) I'm living in a foreign country. (2) I am not Chinese, and I'm Malay [I'm not exactly Malay but I am Indonesian]. (3) Nobody in school takes the same class combination as me [true!] (4) I joined the school late so I'm sort of like the "newest" student in Sec4. So the point is... I'm different from everyone else. Which is good in a way... But it's also not so much of an advantage when you're talking about privileges and stuff.

So today, we had this Social Etiquette Workshop, which was cool, except for the fact that Muslims were excluded from the dining experience. Since we were fasting, we were only joining the workshop for the "studying theory" part and not the dining experience. It sucked really badly. And it's a total shame too...

The teachers said that the SE Workshop would also be a platform for class bonding. But how are we supposed to bond with the class when the class is not even complete? Another reason for this Workshop was to prepare us for interviews to get into JCs, Polys or maybe to get a job. But for all I know, the JC and Poly interviews are already done (or at least some of them are). So the timing is not exactly right. And next week will be the Prelims. And usually the week before Prelims or Common Tests or MYEs or EOYs is the most important week... So why take away our time that could have been used for studying? Why didn't the SE Workshop take place earlier this year? To think of it now, it even seems like it was planned so that the Muslims couldn't participate with their class. Although I know it isn't true, because I know the school is trying hard to not make the minorities feel left our or disadvantaged. Like for instance, Muslims who are fasting are dismissed from ASP earlier so that they can break fast at home. Which is cool. But because of this SE Workshop thing, it just feels weird...

So.. the question is "Why didn't you bring this up to the teacher?" Well, I was going to... But I thought even if I did, it wouldn't change anything as stuff like this need to be planned really early. And changing this would mean that the trainers would have to change their schedule. And postponing this would also mean that for the students who are going to go for interviews... They would be at a disadvantage because of not having the workshop earlier. So.. yeah. Never mind.

Mother Tongue 'O' Level Results Are OUT!

I got a.... B3 and distinction for Oral. It's not good enough.... I was quite satisfied with it at the beginning because I kind of knew all along that I'm not that good in Malay and I might get a B3. And I was correct. But then my Malay teacher came to me and said that I could do better and that I "have to" retake. So I guess I'll retake. And to think of it, I actually didn't put my 100% effort into it... Which might have been one of the main causes to my B3 and not A1/2. My parents also said the same thing, to retake. So I'm gonna retake.

Byebye to all you lovely people who read my blog and respect my opinions. :-)

Now Playing

#np Stereo Hearts (feat. Adam Levine) by Gym Class Heroes

My heart's a stereo

It beats for you, so listen close

Hear my thoughts in every note, oh oh

Make me your radio

And turn me up when you feel low

This melody was meant for you

So sing along to my stereo

#np Don't Know Nothing by Maroon 5

I don't know nothing about that

In fact I don't know nothing at all

I'm tired of proving you right

By doing everything so wrong

So tell me what you really want

'Cause I don't wanna be

I don't wanna be alone

#np Moves Like Jagger (feat. Christina Aguilera) by Maroon 5

Just shoot for the stars

If it feels right

And aim for my heart

If you feel like

Can take me away

And make it OK

I swear I'll behave

#np Super Bass by Nicki Minaj

#np Price Tag (feat. B.o.B.)by Jessie J

It's not about the money, money, money

We don't need the money, money, money

We just wanna make the world dance

Forget about the price tag

#np Lighters (feat. Bruno Mars) by Bad Meets Evil

This one's for you and me

Living out our dreams

Lift my arms out wide

I open my eyes

And now all I wanna see

Is a sky full of lighters

A sky full of lighters

#np Skyscraper by Demi Lovato

You can take everything I have

You can break everything I am

Like I'm made of glass

Like I'm made of paper

Go on and try to tear me down

I will be rising from the ground

Like a skyscraper

Like a skyscraper

Singapore from the Eye of a Foreign Student

Singapore. What comes to your mind when you hear the word 'Singapore'?

I'm sure all of you know what Singapore is, (although if you don't, your proficiency in Geography and your general knowledge must be really poor) but just in case you don't know, Singapore is a city-state in South East Asia. From the picture above I guess you might have been able to infer that Singapore is indeed a developed and urbanised country. It's a pretty small country with a total area of 694 sq km (according to Wikipedia).

Now why am I writing about Singapore? I was just thinking, pondering, contemplating, and I just thought that there are some stuff about Singapore that I should post on my blog. And I just remembered that next Monday, which is the 9th of August, is Singapore's National Day. Oh, no wonder I thought of that. What perfect timing.

So, Singapore, to me, is a very nice place to live in. It's a developed country, so you don't have to worry that there might be poor internet connection here. In fact, the internet is pretty fast. The transportation system is fantastic. There's the MRT, LRT, Bus, and there are tons of taxis here too. The education is also *thumbs up*. And despite Singapore being an urbanised country and all, it's a pretty green place. There are parks and quite a lot of trees. There are tons of malls, a lot of libraries, a lot of restaurants, and well, let's just say you can find nearly everything here. But that's just the general opinion. There are other interesting facts about Singapore, such as....

SINGLISH

You ever heard of Singlish before? Don't worry if you haven't, because I have never in my life heard it until I came to Singapore. Singlish, according to my understanding, is Singapore-English. The everyday-language in Singapore is English, but because of the different races here, Chinese, Malay and Indian, they've made an influence on English and as a result, Singlish is produced. They say stuff like 'lah', 'leh', 'lor', 'hor', 'sia', 'siol', 'hor', 'mah', 'meh, and stuff like that. When you're living in Singapore, it's hard not to use Singlish, because it is contagious, like seriously. A ten word English sentence can be shortened to just 6 words. I try not to talk in Singlish, but however hard I try, some Singlish slips in. If you haven't heard people speaking in Singlish before, watch this:

Funny? :-)

MC MC MC

In Singapore, from what I've observed, people get sick easily. Nearly everyday there's always at least one person that's absent from school. And usually that's because they're sick. And I don't know whether this is normal or not, but in Singapore, if, for instance, today you have a runny nose. The next day I bet you'll be staying at home resting with an MC to cover your absence. I think Singaporeans get worried too easily. Once I had a runny nose and a cough, long story short, I was sort of having a flu. But I still went to school, even with my weird voice that time, which according to Google Translate is "Nasal tone voice" (in Indonesia -- suara bindeng). My friend called me one night and said "I heard you coughing a lot today, maybe you should go to he doctor." .... I'm alright. I'm okay. It's not like I'm dying... I mean, I understand. It is important to look out for your health. But it was just a runny nose and a cough. I didn't even have a fever and I didn't even feel dizzy or anything like that. Isn't that common? I usually don't take any medication and still recover.

Singaporeans are diligent.

Around a week ago, I went with two Indonesian friends to the cinema to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. While waiting, we went to the library and met a fellow Pei Hwaian. He asked us what were we doing here, my friend said we were waiting for the movie to start. And then he said "Wah nearly O level still can watch movie ah?" I was totally shocked, stunned, flabbergasted. Wow. The O Levels are 2.5 months away. And it turned out that he was studying at the library. Wow. You guys are so diligent.

Besides that, a lot of my friends have tuition during the weekends. In Indonesia, I don't think you will find that to be a common thing. In Singapore, it's pretty common. Actually I have tuition too on Sunday. But I only have tuition once a week, and it's only for like 1 to 1.5 hours.

Oh, another thing... Singaporeans like to study in restaurants. For instance, McDonald's. But isn't McDonald's sort of noisy? Yeah, I know. I don't understand either. I can understand that you like the food there so you wanna eat there... But why not eat and then study somewhere else?

Everyone in the public transportation has an earpiece plugged in their ears.

Well, okay, maybe not everyone. But a lot of people do.

Rushing here and there.

In the MRT, people are always rushing here and there. Relax, people.

Girls like to wear really short shorts.

I know that this trend did not start from Singapore, but I am really against wearing really short hot pants. Sometimes the pants are just long enough to cover their butts. Or maybe sometimes, not even all of their butts are covered. If you girls wanna show off your beautiful butts, why don't you just wear your underpants? :) That way, you won't have to waste money buying really short pants that are just a few centimeters bigger than your underpants.

Teachers are appreciated.

In Singapore, there's even a Teacher's Day celebration and school holiday. In Indonesia, we have a Teacher's Day but don't really celebrate it. It's really touching to see students give gifts to teachers. And unlike Indonesia, I think the teachers get pretty good pay. I mean, there are teachers that drive BMWs to school and own a house. In Indonesia, most of the time, that won't be possible.

So that's what I've gathered from the 1 year I've stayed in Singapore. If anybody feels offended... Then I'm sorry. I never meant to offend anybody. Singapore is truly an amazing place. If you're planning to visit Singapore... Well then you should look forward to it.

By the way, happy National Day, Singapore.

Byebyee!

The Holy Month of Ramadhan

Assalamu'alaikum wr wb.

To all my friends, family, relatives, teachers, and everyone else out there... I'd like to apologise for all the mistakes I've made and I hope you'll all accept my apology. Tomorrow marks the first day of the holy month of Ramadhan. As a Muslim, I will be fasting for 30 days, from before sunrise to sunset. I hope by fasting I will become a more mature individual, more forgiving, wiser, smarter and last but not least, more grateful of what I have and accepting of what I have or do not have. It will be a tough month, especially because of all the activities I have. But nevertheless, I know I'll get through it, because this month will be a very special month. In Islam, when we're fasting, not only are we not allowed to eat or drink, but we're also not allowed to get angry. So, I'll try my best to be the best person I can.

So.. All the best for all of you. Let us all be blessed in this very special month :)

Mohon maaf lahir & batin

Selamat menunaikan ibadah puasa!

I love you all, byee!

Wassalamu'alaikum wr wb.

Hello people! It's currently 36 minutes past 11 pm, 29th July 2011, in Singapore.

Indonesian Soccer/ Football

Recently, the 2014 World Cup Qualification matches have started, and Indonesia played against Turkmenistan, whom we lost against during the 2012 Olympics. Thanks to the AFF Cup, I've become more aware of the progress of the Indonesian soccer world. I can't really judge whether the team has made progress or not, because I didn't really pay attention previously, but what bugs me the most is (or was) the management of PSSI (the soccer organisation in Indonesia). You know, Indonesia went to the final round of the AFF Cup, and we were playing against Malaysia. I didn't know how, but suddenly, the Indonesian soccer team (Timnas) became this really awesome thing in Indonesia, and everybody was talking about it. Whenever I go out, I could also see people selling Timnas jerseys, and on the news, you could see, hear or read news about how suddenly Indonesians desperately wanted to attend the matches themselves, the tickets would be sold out just hours after they were sold, and some people would even camp in front of the stadium to secure a ticket for them and their friends. Simply put, it was really epic, but a bit too exaggerated. Our Timnas played wonderfully in the early stages of AFF Cup, until the team managers started arranging less urgent activities for them. At the finals, we lost to Malaysia, and according to my understanding, it was because of the lack of focus of the players, which was due to the unnecessary stuff on their schedule.

In Indonesia, we also have 2 Indonesian soccer leagues, IPL and ISL. ISL is the official one managed by PSSI, and IPL is sort of an illegal league started by I-can't-remember-who. It's illegal because (if I'm not mistaken), there's only supposed to be one league in a country, and consequently, FIFA threatened that if PSSI cannot handle the IPL, they'll take some sort of action against our soccer players. I can't really blame the IPL for making the PSSI get threatened really. The guy who founded IPL actually started IPL because the ISL had some major problems and stuff. So he wanted the Indonesian players to be able to play fair and square, and so the solution was to make another Indonesian soccer league.

Anyway, the point is, even if our players have talent, we're not gonna make it far if the management from PSSI is substandard. At the moment, I think there has been some improvement. A new PSSI leader has been elected, and guess what? He fired the previous Timnas coach, Alfred Riedl. Actually, I don't really know why he did it, because Riedl was a great coach, right? But never mind, the substitute coach is pretty good too. The coach now is

Okaaay, back to the point. So thankfully, Indonesia beat Turkmenistan fair and square. The result was: Indonesia 5-4 Turkmenistan (aggregate). I hope we'll do better for the next match, and hopefully, we'll survive until the final rounds of the qualification, if not, more.

(Gonzales and Boaz, after Gonzales scored his second goal in the 2nd leg)

AFS Student Exchange Program

As I've said before... I've passed 3 rounds of qualifications for the student exchange program, and right now, the judges are in the midst of deciding which participants should be on this student exchange program. And I really really hope I'll be one of them.

(This part was written the next morning, because I got too sleepy to continue typing -_-)

Now, my dad gave me a dollar, and he told me to look at it every day, and pray to God that I get through the final round of qualification :D Personally, I feel that it's a good idea, although I'm not sure why.

Tuesdays With Morrie

My school has this reading program whereby each month, each class is given the task to read a certain book. For this month, we're supposed to read Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. Personally, I feel that it's an AMAZING BOOK. It's really inspirational, you can certainly learn a lot from it, and the best thing is that it's non-fiction! I'm really in awe with Morrie Schwartz. Even though he was dying, he didn't want to draw back from the world, and he used his remaining time to share his experience, knowledge and advice to people from all over the world. If you haven't read it, I'll recommend you to put it in your must-read-soon list, and trust me, you won't regret it.

The Hunger Games (movie out on 23rd March 2012)

Have I talked about THG before? I don't really remember. Well, if I haven't, THG is a trilogy by Suzanne Collins, it's pretty popular right now, and it is currently being made into a movie, which will come out on 23rd March 2012. I have read the trilogy (just recently actually), and I just love it so much. It's actually one of my favourite books now. If you haven't read it, I would suggest you to put it in your must-read-soon list too!

Simply put, the books are about Panem and the rebellion, and the main character here is Katniss Everdeen. Katniss comes from one of the districts, district 12, and she volunteered to replace her sister in the annual Hunger Games. The Games was a yearly event whereby 24 children from the age 12-17 from the 12 districts are reaped and placed in an arena where they have to fight to their death. The one who didn't die in the arena wins. Now, during the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta from district 12 participated, and they ended up winning the Hunger Games, I mean both of them won, when only one of them was supposed to win. And how did they do this? They played a really clever trick. Now, that's the short summary of the first book. Of course, the story's not as simple as that, I missed the love-triangle part and much more. The second book is also situated during one of the Hunger Games, and the third book is all about the uprisings and how the rebels defeated the Capitol. It's an amazing book, and you SHOULD read it. Soon. No, maybe NOW.

Yesterday afternoon, when I came back home from school, I logged into Tumblr, and I saw these THG screencaps! I'm so hyped up for it!

(Peeta in front of his parents' bakery)

(Katniss, possibly in the arena)

(Katniss and Gale, probably hunting together outside of district 12)

(Gale and Peeta)

That's all for now and see you next time! :)