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.