Comfort Zone

Here I am again, at my comfort zone. In a house where I don’t need to worry about food on plate and dirty laundry or room.

For how long should I be here, I don’t know. I haven’t even bought a ticket back to Singapore. It’s like I’ve been home for so long I almost forgot how Singapore looks like.

I think I have to convince myself to just go, to just dive in, to just step out and face it.

I’ve done it before when 4 years ago I came into Singapore, without anyone, without knowing anything. I survived.

But I dunno if I want to prolong it…

To Challenge Myself, is the next step

Found this brilliant comic by Stuart McMillen that portrays exactly how I feel to finally finish an education.

Though reluctant, I realize that to challenge myself, rather than overcoming challenges in education, is definitely my next step.

I can’t believe I cried while reading the comic.

Below is only the thumbnail of the comic (original comic is huge and long).

Please enjoy the full-sized comic at Stuart’s site : Recombinant Records

Does Service Matter?

Please tell me I’m not the only one who found the service level in Singapore is like 6 feet under. It sucks.

Almost every time I sit down in a restaurant, or simply ordering food at hawker centres, the server/hawker will only ask “Yes, order?”. Sometimes there is not even a question. They will only take out their order pads, or the best one – raising their eyebrows at me. It’s as if we have a telepathy going on.

Whatever happened to “Good morning/afternoon/evening, may I take your order?”?

That's not food, by the way

Pardon me for being particular. But I come from the land of smiles and I mean that literally. Doesn’t matter if it’s a restaurant, a fast food joint, or an undignified “WarTeg” (small diners providing basic food, usually for lower class citizens), people always greet me with a smile and chirpy voice. Ok, not always, but most of the time.

Perhaps it’s the tips thing? It’s always customary to give tips to service staff in Indonesia, when it’s not a common practice here in Singapore. Already included in the bill, they say.

Small fact: I pay 21% service charge in Indonesia, and I still tip anyway. (we are all expected to)

Does tips really make the difference in service level?

Does service matter in the first place anyway?

For me it matters, a damn lot. I don’t care if the food is gourmet, if the service is bad the food will taste bland. I stopped going to MOS Burger at Novena Square because there is this super annoying auntie who doesn’t even speak when I’m ordering, or even look at me for that matter. That is despite my unrequited LOVE for MOS Burger. At the food court/hawker centre near home, I only buy sugarcane juice from 1 stall, just because the owners are nice, smiley, and always remembers me.

How about you? Does good service matter in your choice of where to eat?

Photo by remittancegirl, under Creative Commons NC-SA 2.0

Sandisk Cruzer Blade – fits in your wallet

My new thumbdrive is so small and thin I put it in my wallet.

Really.

Cost me SGD 20 for 4 GB of storage. Good deal, I think. I mean, look at how pretty it is.
I was actually walking around Challenger Funan to look for a webcam for my siblings, but I saw this and I just could not resist.

This is a huge upgrade from my previous thumbdrive (which is my very first thumbdrive) which can only hold 128 MB of data. How long ago was that? Unfortunately I lost that thumbdrive.. A lot of important things inside, including my short stories. Ugh.

I think I’m gonna love it having this.

Last Week of School. OMG Really?

Before I even stepped in SMU, I had already prepared a post in my mind to release when I’m about to graduate.

It would talk about my feelings. About my takeaways. About how I treasure the opportunities I have managed to attain. About how all my previous struggles had been worth it.

But seriously?

I actually don’t know what to feel right now. I know for sure, for years when I finish school after school, there was only joy. I couldn’t wait to move forward. I couldn’t wait to leave the past behind.

And yet now is the first time ever when there is no certainty after the finish line.

I kinda realized that it’s the last week of school really late. I just realized earlier this week that I have no exams. Only a final test this Saturday (3 April), summary and reflection paper due on Friday and Saturday, and then a short story due on next Monday (5 April), and then I’m done. Done. Finito.

I was like, really? This is it?

I suppose it’s the case with many people. You don’t really realize what you have been through until the last minutes of it. And right now I wonder whether I haven’t savoured the experience, the last days, enough.

And I still don’t know what to feel….

Depending on Yourself

Some days ago I wrote to my fellow choristers that people can help them sing better by singing the notes to them, giving tips and tricks for better sound production, making recordings/midi files to listen to, but no one can magically transform them into a songbird overnight.

And I thought, heh, isn’t it also relevant to other stuff beside singing in choir?

Maybe I, or you, or other people, depend too much on other people to change ourselves. Perhaps it’s rooted in the education system (Indonesia’s or Singapore’s at least) where we were conditioned to expect our teachers to spoon-feed us with information and knowledge (and test and exams!). We become so passive, believing that we will change once we find somebody who can help us.

But to change ourselves need the conscious effort, just like the conscious effort I took in practicing for my choir singing. The effort I took in utilizing my back muscles, positioning my voice so that it resonates, raising my eyebrows, and every single little thing to make my voice clearer.

But sometimes the bigger question lies in whether you want to do the conscious effort. Thinking of doing it and really doing it are two different things, and taking action to move from thinking to doing takes quite some time, or even bravery, for some people.

So, have you moved from thinking to doing yet?

I PASSED MY GRADE 8 EXAM!

‘Nuff said.

I got 111 for the exam, which means I only “pass”. Without merit, without distinction, but who cares? I got through the piano hell! OMG!

Now time to play piano just because I love it.

Anyone wanna learn playing piano, btw? Contact me!

You Were There

This is the current hit song in my choir (SMU Chamber Choir).

You Were There by Libera.

I hope I’m not the only person that thinks the video is cheese sandwich. I mean, ugh. It’s like somebody just took their pictures and tinkered around with iMovie or the likes (Windows Movie Maker? Eeks).

But it IS a really beautiful song, kudos to Takatsugu Muramatsu. I just think that the song (at least in the mp3 I got) got too much enhancement, echo and stuff, that it lost some of its magic. Also, the strings. Ugh, the strings. The piano was fine, but the strings was downright “ordinary” for the amazing song.

By the way, this song is actually a soundtrack of a Japanese movie called “Dare mo mamotte kurenai” which seems to be a very interesting movie. This is the plot summary (from Eigapedia)

When the older brother of junior high school student Saori is arrested for murder she is separated from her family for her own protection. She ends up living with a police detective named Katsuura and his family. Katsuura has to get information from her without making her already-troubled mental state any worse.

Can’t seem to find the trailer with English subtitles, but I think the movie (trailer) is powerful enough without subtitles.

Intriguing, eh? I wonder where can I watch this movie…

Btw I found another video.. I believe this was the opening of the movie?

BTW, I totally have a crush on You Were There’s soloist. Hehe! His name is Tom Cully.