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Lately my life has been more exciting than the usual I-have-none daily activities, which revolved around browse around the internet, watch Grey's Anatomy, bake, complain and do my final research project for school. It has been so exciting in fact I couldn't bear writing it here because I know it wouldn't justify the real excitement. Intrigued, are you? However, I can share one exciting thing here because I know some of you would be excited upon learning about it.



Go here to see it for yourself. My jaw literally dropped and I almost pissed my pants and in the end, I could hardly remember how to breathe. Fucking exciting, hell yeah!!!

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annoyed

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I'm here to proclaim my sore disappointment with Justin's leaked songs. I downloaded three more songs and decided they all suck, a lot, which is so disappointing since I was looking forward to be blown away (in easy pop sense). I mean, I was one of the few people who liked Sexyback. Besides, I enjoyed Justified a lot and I think he really got the voice to be a genuinely good popstar. This on the other hand sounds like something Usher would put out. So he was taking chances with Timbaland instead of sticking with the safe hit-guaranteed Pharrell, but it didn't work. Stop trying to be ghetto JT, we want your white hawt self.

pah.

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You'd wonder how the hell did I manage to eat out ALL the time? Well, school break my friend, is the key. Especially since my house rarely serves lunch and I had no choice but eat out. There's also the tendency for me to fulfill any sudden craving I had. That also explains the frequency of baking, no life would do that.

Anyway, Yesterday's lunch was at Shabu Nobu, a shabu-shabu cum sushi joint nearby my house. My parents and I have had enough with heavy food in Bali and we decided on something light and fresh. Shabu-shabu it is.



( What kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?Collapse )

Btw, go read Christopher Moore. I'm almost finished reading Lamb and I just couldn't remember when was the last time a book made me laugh this much, not even Terry Pratchett. Seriously, it was that funny.

Also, even though this original song is absolutely fantastic, I still prefer the sexed-up version by this little dude that no one had ever heard of. That song never failed to get me all hot and bothered. That was of course, when Trent still had neck. Speaking of which, have you seen his recent pictures? Dude scared the hell out of me. He had NO NECK and all muscles that could crunch my tiny bones *shudders*


Meme, because I am BORED BORED BORED.
APPEARANCE:
[ ] I am shorter than 5'4.
[x] I think I'm ugly sometimes.
[x] I have many scars.
[x] I tan easily.
[ ] I wish my hair was a different color.
[ ] I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color.
[ ] I have a tattoo.
[x] I am self-conscious about my appearance.
[x] I've had braces.
[x] wear glasses.
[ ] I would get plastic surgery if it were 100 safe, free of cost, and scar-free.
[x] I've been told I'm attractive by a complete stranger.
[ ] I have more than 2 piercings.
[ ] I have piercings in places besides my ears.
[ ] I have freckles.

( boredom is a sinCollapse )

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okay

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It's been two days since I arrived from Bali (great time, will post later about that) and I have baked three items. How's that for productive? The first one was ( Vanilla Bean Buttermilk CakeCollapse )

Today, I baked Norwegian Apple Cake for breakfast with lots of subtitute like using whole wheat + cake flour, brown + white sugar combo and raw cashews + a bit of macadamia. It sucked. Well it didn't suck really, just too sweet and the nuts tasted too.. raw. My house elves seem to like 'em though.



Since I hate the after taste of failure, I decided to make something else, like probably ( Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream FrostingCollapse )

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okay

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After endless stream of failed downloads, I finally had my hands on not only the mp3 but the video for Justin's Sexy Back. Both of the video and songs got slagged and deemed not good enough, even by 'pop standard'. Me? I like it. I love the song; the catchy beat but not so much his heavily-altered voice. Dude can sing, why not let him did it? It is also a bit different from his first album (that I love, really.. I do). Props for a major popstar who's taking chances, I say.
The video on the other hand was kind of crappy. Not enough sexiness, JT! Also, like the song, it seems generic and rather unmemorable if it wasnt for the hawtness that is JT.

As you and I know, this single will EXPLODE. Every clubs will play it, it will be on every radio and TV. He's gonna be on every magazine cover and kids who think they're so '1nd13' and Rawk would be pissed off because they got the song stuck in their head. All is very predictable. Me? I shall get my hands on the CD, no doubt.

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Today's lunch with mom.



- Seafood salad (very good and fresh. amazing-textured squids)
- Soft-shell crab with mango salad: have had better
- Crispy "kangkung" (spinach-like greens): pretty good, but the chili sauce (the same with the crab) tasted a bit bottled for me. I ended up feeling sickly
- Decoriander tea for me (not pictured, it's just a glass of tea after all): very nice with strong pinapple and subtle apple taste
- A glass of very fresh and tart juice of pinapple, lime and caisim. Healthy...

After repeated listening, the highly-anticipated Thom Yorke CD has yet to blow me away. The Raconteurs on the other hand, the songs are so.. crunchy-ly good it's almost annoying. So yeah, everyone, go listen to the Raconteurs. Since I've given recommendation, how about anyone give me the lowdown on the new Justin album? I kid you not, I really am dying to listen to it, or even better.. watch the video. Yes Justin, you really are bringing Sexy Back. I mean, no one came close to him in the hotness department and by no one, I mean no one in MTV.

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I always had a soft spot for William Wongso. The old W in Kemang was a favorite for my Dad and I to have evening tea and I'd always find an excuse to go to Aksara downstairs to get a book or a CD. In fact, most of the times the evening tea was a cover up for the CD/book shopping trip. I'm sure my dad knew of this but he good-naturedly played along anyway because they served killer Salmon Quiche and for me, awesome Walnut Pie. Other than those, W was mostly hit-or-miss.



( Casa, food/restaurant review, not for the hungryCollapse )

Oh Elijah, I know that your current gf is very cool and pretty, and she's also a drummer which I bet makes you think of Stone Roses' 'She Bangs The Drums' and gave yourself a major point for that. I bet you're very happy with her too, as seen on these lovey-dovey pics. Have fun man, but don't forget when I'm there, you're gonna marry me. Thank you and good night.

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Vita asked me to make something for her movie night-in. I’ve had enough of chocolate-y and vanilla-ey stuff and she refused anything citrusy and a friend hated banana. Oh, I also had no creamcheese. This points to the obvious choice, Nigella’s Cappuccino Cupcake . I am a die hard coffee fan who could not resist the idea of cupcakes that SMELL like coffee and looking like a cup of latte... Plus it’s nigella.




oooo, suggestive ;)


I decreased the sugar to almost half, replaced the milk with instant coffemix powder diluted with water and added the espresso powder there. I also used regular chocolate ganache made with Lindt’s Milk Mocha Chocolate and heavy cream (and a splash of Kahlua.. come on.. BOOZE).

The batter quite probably the best mixture of raw eggs, flour and butter that I have ever tested. In into the oven, which was pre-heated to 180 instead of 200, shrugged and crossed my fingers. 20 Minutes later, my kitchen smells like HEAVEN (in a cup of latte). The cupcakes took the color of latte and it looked pretty ugly for cupcakes, which would be covered with sinful choklit ganache fortunately. I couldn’t wait until it cools and dove into one. It crumbles and I cried tears of joy. IT CRUMBLES. And the smell.. oh god… I could write a porn scene based on this cupcake episode.
However, the tasters think they need more sugar. Oh well, this is what happens when the bakers have their coffee black and no sugar (a constant source of amusement among my friends).

Since vita’s gonna bring those babies to movienight with three guys, I’m expecting marriage proposals soon.

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Last night I had unbearable craving for a nice chocolate cupcake, one with delicate crumbs and beautiful frosting. Because it was too.. midnight-y to bake one, I decided to stave my craving for later. So I woke up today and immediately marched up to the kitchen and made one batch.



Now, I NEVER had any luck with cupcakes. They were never BAD, but never what I had been looking for. Most were too dense and too rich for my liking. This ones were no different. It's rich, dense and CRUMBLESS.



and the picture is ugly. It's dense, you can tell, can't you?

It's spiteful. I hate them, and I let them know about it, which went something like this (with all caps, of course)

ME: What is wrong with you people?! You're ugly AND FAT! I HATE YOU!
THEM: *silent look*
ME: Don't give me THE look. I know what you're thinking, you think this is my fault, don't you? Well you're wrong. No baked goods of mine are this DENSE (a lie of course, but they needed to FEEL BAD, you understand me, don't you?).
THEM: *pleading look*
ME: (final bellow) I HATE YOU! *eats*

My family on the other hand loved it. I suspect it's the vanilla buttercream frosting and cute sprinkles and rainbow chocolate chips. My sister whilst adoring it comment "What is this? Brownie?"

NO, ASSFUCK! IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE CUPCAKE! GODDAMN! I didn't alter the recipe. Not one bit and they don't have the 'pillowy' texture. *Sniffles*. I ate three though, each one was swallowed with hate and a glass of cold milk since it was so rich.

So after a very rich and loathsome breakfast *glares*, my family and I went to Imperial Palace nee Crystal Jade, a chinese restaurant that was a father family favorite. When we went to Duck King the other day, I mentioned even though I loved it, I still prefer Crystal Jade. Now? Duck King is The King. We ordered the usual stuff:

( Prawn, scallops... with pictures!Collapse )

There we have it. We will come back, for sure. My dad couldn't bear a month without the prawns and egg white scallops. I could live without those. The Tofu from duck king on the other hand.. I notice I didn't take any picture when I was there. Good, more excuse to eat there.

Right, off to spend my saturday night by watching Lost, season 2! YAY, NO SLEEP TONIGHT!


p.s: Grey's anatomy? Fucking excellent. Will buy the season 2 asap!

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Holy shit, I just came across to the absolut best interview ever.. ever. It was APC (minus mayo) on Much Music back in 2003 taht you could download in this site. WATCH IT. One of the most entertaining things I've watched in a long long time, with my favorite quote being:

"I like The Force from Star Wars..." (Jeordie on 'spiritual side')

It's 10 minutes of seriously funny stuff that you don't wanna miss, featuring jeordie and josh sniffing the mics.



Go. download. NOW!

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something that only someone with too much time (a ka me) would do:



I'm sorry. Back to your regularly scheduled program.

*edited*

In fact, let me show you my new desktop:

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restless

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I did too many drugs and alcohol, I have a hangover..

Apple cheddar muffin for anyone who could correctly identified that quote.

Anyway last night, I did go out and get drunk, in a happy estatic kind of way so I forgot shouting fuck life thingy. And I was so sure it would be my trademark quote, not unlike 'choose life' one from Trainspotting. Apart from that, I made a kickass mushroom risotto for dinner last night and mushroom spinach for tonight. These things always made me wanna scorned every living male species out there. They do not know what they're missing.
Conceit is always a good way for covering your insecurites

This week accomplishment, other than being 2.5 times meaner than usual consists of Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of The Day. Good book, the best one I've read in a while. I think I'd describe it as 'profound'. The same could not be said for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, a monster book. It was so huge I had to get the three-books edition instead of one huge ass one. It was quite entertaining with minimal substance value. But come on, over 700 pages in 3 days is an accomplishment, admit it.

You know what I want? NIN fragility era tour shirt, with 'Where the fuck were you' in the back. I recalled seeing that when I saw the concert and fell in love immediately. If anyone know where to find it, do tell. If someone you know owned it, please beat the shit out of him/her, steal the shirt and send it my way. I suppose you could skip the beating part and proceed directly to steal the shirt and send it to me.

I should be studying now, but I really couldnt be arsed. I'm tired but I couldn't sleep.. another episode of insomnia. Have nothing in the house that would produce sleep, not even Method or Research textbook. I need sleep, I need rest and remind myself that there is the possibility that I won't wake up tomorrow. *sighs*

Oh well.. good night everyone.

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Name 10 artists/bands you are really into currently, right?:

01. Nine Inch Nails
02. A Perfect Circle
03. Placebo
04. Spoon
05. The Smashing Pumpkins
06. Broken Social Scene
07. Explosions in the sky
08. Interpol
09. Wilco
10. Marilyn Manson (I couldn't think of anything else)

( and a little bit moreCollapse )

I think I've grown up. *gasps*. No more unhealthy obsessions, well.. not as unhealthy as they were that is. I've found other bands I love, but none could bring me into the scale of obsession. That left me strangely empty since music obsession has always been such a huge part of me. I guess I need to find a life. Have a grat weekend eeryone

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Tis such a great week in my life. After more than two months of ipod abstinence, finally parental unit cum sponsor gave me one, a beautiful white SIXTY GB iPod VIDEO! Sixty GB, and VIDEO! I mentally and physically slobbered all over it. Another fourty-ish CDs to rip. Egad, not to mention those back up CDs of nifty bootlegs. But seriously, 2.5 hours of psychometric class passed like a blink of an eye when you're watching high-quality rips of NIN live shows or daniel radcliffe on TRL I officially rock, my friend, rock like a granite.

You know Kings of Leon? Their songs annoy me, I like them but they annoy me! How could that be! Everytime I listen to King of Rodeo, I'd be 'oooh this song is catchy' and the next second i'd go 'gah! Friggin get in to my nerves! Away with you!' but then.. 'hey it's quite enjoyable' and then 'holy crap, how annoying' and so on and so forth until I can't take it anymore and move in to the next song or the song has already been finished.

That's random. In another news that is not so random... wait, there is no other news. I've been doing nothing but transferring stuffs to iPod (which I have re-christened as Snow to stick with Neil Gaiman reference.) I've also been reading some stuffs, some are good (Desiree by Annemarie Selinko), others are okay (Blatty's The Exorcist) and the rest is crap (Peter Straub's Lost Boy, Lost Girl) but I'm gonna finish them anyway.

As usual, I'm disattached with the oscar buzz. Yes, I'm dying to see Brokeback Mountain, and yes I'm quite sure that it won't be released in cinema in here and yes I'm gonna despair but of course I'm gonna get the pirated DVDs. Ahhh, Indonesia, how much I love thee. So no, I haven't been watching anything worthwhile. There is 'Friday Night Lights', it's a football movie that starred Billy Bob Thornton. If you really knew me, you'd immediately ask for confirmation. Football, Billy Bob Thornton? Uhm, crack perhaps? No, I wasn't on crack. I watched it for the music score by Explosions in The Sky (awesome band, check them out blah blah blah). But the movie itself isn't too bad, even though I didn't understand half of what they were saying. But the score is what's important and the score is good so I'm happy.

I promise I'm gonna update when something exciting happens, so don't hold your breath.

p.s.: Dude, make me This and I'd marry you, especially if you're Elijah Wood. But Elijah or no, make me chocolate Souffle Cake with orange caramel sauce and I'd marry you.

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I was gonna write a coool update and reply on previous entry's assignment but SINCE MY BROTHER HAS BEEN PLAYING LIMB BIZKET'S NOOKIE FOR FOUR TIMES IN A ROW, WHILE TRYING TO MEMORIZE THE WORDS TO RAP ALONG WITH... I cannot think of anything else.

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This is one of rare moments in my LJ, in which I mentioned local current politics. My daily trip to uni that usually took up about 30 mins turned out to be one and half hour. The traffic jam was fucking insane, especially because I had to pass a gas station in normally crowded area. The scene was absolutely chaotic, there was no space between any vehicles and the sidewalk was taken up by motorcycles. I was stuck in the same place for 30 mins, with my eyes closed, my teeth gritted while mentally repeating "Thank god I don't drive." Almost everyone was in panic, scouting for available gas station.

Btw petrol price rises will mainly affect richer Indonesians who drive cars Define affect. The rich would whine a bit but come on.. these people could afford to buy each and every member of the family a nice fancy car that cost more than US$10grand, 60% petrol price would mean nothing. Once again, thank god I don't drive. Although yes, it would affect me since all prices would rise in effect of the petrol, but thank god we could afford it.

Speaking of things we could and could not afford.. One other door to my future is closed. Jesus fuck, just when I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life. It goes sthg like this
1. "Ooohh, education programme. Sharing and shaping genius minds. Awesome!"
2. "You know, language, literacy and culture graduate program sounds really fun. Oooh, children's lit. classes! I could do lit recommendation for life?!! Awesome!"
3. "Dude! Minnesota looks pretty! Not expensive as well. Awesome!"
4. "Let's email them to let them know how much of an education, langlit fangirl I am!! *giddy*"
5. "Ooooh yay! Email reply.. Teaching experience. Wtf?!! I do not teach. I do not interact directly with children. Wtf man. I eat babies for breakfast!"

Me: Zero, Gloomy future prospect: 109

And that also means another closed door for australia. What use is transferring to OZ if I don't really need it? We can't really afford it anyway.

Oh well.. something will come up. In the mean time, I believe I'm the last one to be astounded by Spoon. Dude, 'Gimme fiction' kicks serious ass. If it turned out that you haven't listened to them, I strongly suggest you do. 'Sister jack' is absolutely funky.