by courtesy of Fifi Kosnandar.
- A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
- A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
- A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
- A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
- A snail can sleep for three years.
- A duck's quake can't echo.
- Al Capones's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
- All the State names are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
- Almonds are a member of the peach family.
- An average American, in his whole life, will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
- An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
- Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
- Butterflies taste with their feet.
- "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
- February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
- In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
- If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
- Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
- Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
- No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
- Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
- Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
- Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
- "Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.
- The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
- The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
- The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
- The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
- The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' 'level' and "Malayalam" are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes) .
- There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
- There are more chickens than people in the world.
- There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous" tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order "abstemious" and "facetious."
- There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.
- Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur. So do Zebras.
- TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one periterrow of the keyboard.
- Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
- Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks otherwise it will digest itself.
by courtesy of Dad.
Last Saturday I went to Alter Ego with Ara and Julie after dinner at Warung Lela. We chilled there with Gabby, too, till my ex-colleagues arrived to pick me up at 11.30 p.m. They came from Jakarta and had their shopping done before they came for me. They were Mbak Dewi, Mbak Annur, Mbak Tri, Mbak Armin, Anissa, and Dipta.
Apparently they had a driver for the short trip: Andi who is Mbak Armin’s nephew. To everyone’s surprise, Andi happened to be Ara’s schoolmate back in high school. Another proof that Bandung is small, isn’t it?
We went to my house and it was funny that they were all amazed with the beautiful view from my house and the cozy atmosphere my Mom’s keeping in it. It had been years since I’ve brought new visitor to my house (even Ara isn’t a new visitor in here) so it felt a bit funny to me.
I helped the girls with their beds, divided them into two rooms, and made myself rested after that in my own room. I went for sleep by around 1.30 a.m. but Anissa and Dipta were still drown into the magazines they found on the table.
I woke up by 8 the next morning and they were already taken baths. I ironed my new blue-flowered ivory dress and took a bath myself. Then I had my make-ups on, putting them on while the girls are still busy with the same occupation.
After a while they were all set and Andi had come to fetch them up, but they wanted to take pictures at my backyard. So I let them posed and took some pics and said goodbyes. Then I had to wake Ara up for today’s program.
We went first to Savoy Homann Hotel for the wedding reception of Mas Ferri and his wife Yuri, who met each other at the iDea office. It was my first meeting with Yuri cuz she was already out when I joined the team. It was a really nice wedding with cream and blue hue all over the ballroom.
[mbak Dewi, Dipta, mbak Armin, Anissa, mbak Tri, mbak Nur and me]
The food was nice; I had the beef kebab, Korean bbq and roasted duck and had to hurry for the next wedding. Fortunately I had time to meet the whole team; Mas DHW, Mbak Reny, Mas Richard, Mas Indra, Mas Zaka, and Mas Jones. I said another goodbyes and headed to the Queen Chinese Restaurant just behind the hotel. Thank God they were in an area.
So Ester and Boyang were already there, sitting at a round table in the corner; preparing 5 seats for us. Ara and I filled two, Irma and Yanto filled another two not so long after, but Livia didn’t make it for the last seat. She had a sudden appointment with her dentist.
[me and Ara]
Lely came in to the room with her new black hair (it was usually blonde) and a white wedding gown. At her left, her newlywed husband Pan, a Taiwanese, walked proudly and carefully on to the stage. There were also Lely’s siblings whom I haven’t met in ages; Bernadette (with her baby girl and husband) and Eva; and their cousin Ivone.
[Irma and Yanto]
The program was usual; cutting the wedding cake and some interview with the bride and groom; the singer was singing English songs in false tunes; the food came late for our table... but I really enjoyed the moment spent with my best friends—or was it becuz it was a wedding of one of my close friends?
[Ester and Boyang]
By the way, Ara and I had our second meal that noon, from asparagus soup, fried frog in butter sauce, fried noodles, meatballs soup, hisit soup, and finally, snapper in sweet and sour sauce. The dessert was a lychee cocktail and that made us totally full for the day.
[the souvenirs: pink towel from mas Ferri and chopsticks from Lely]
We went home, tired of the day, and I had 4-hours nap with Ara by my side. It was a really tiring week(s) for us and we still hadn’t had our massage ever since. I hope we’ll have time to have that tomorrow… or maybe the day after… J
Last Thursday Rachelle texted me and asked me for a girls’ day out and I said yes. So I went for lunch at Gudeg Yu Nap, had shopping for clothes with Mom at BTC, then had Ara fetch me by motorbike by 4.30 p.m. He drove me to Ciwalk where Rachelle was already waiting for me at the Starbucks.
It wasn’t really girls’ day out, since Ara was there with us, but it was really nice to meet Rachelle again after almost a year since our last meeting. Julie, ma nouvelle francaise ami, caught up with us not long after and I introduced her to Rachelle.
We had our fun conversation for hours and decided to have dinner outside Ciwalk. So we walked up the street and went to Warung Laos for pasta dinner. I was glad Julie was enjoying the ethnic atmosphere there, tho the European food still didn’t meet her taste.
It was still around 7 p.m. so we decided to visit Alter Ego to kill some time. The girls had cocktail and due to the venue’s promo, I got the third signature cocktail for free. Ara made me a Cherry Lips and it was indeed cherry lip-sweet.
Rachelle went home earlier becuz her boyfriend was sick, but Julie stayed with us till midnight, talking about a prospective future plan we had in mind (which I believe as answers to my prayer the day before in Karmel.) I really hoped the plan will work—soon—so I asked her and Ara to go with me to the Karmel on the next day to ask for blessings (and say my grace, too.)
After the prayers we dropped Ara to Alter Ego cuz there was a sound check for DJ playing that night, and we went to Nanny’s Pavillon for dinner. Julie liked the interior concept—tho it was too white, too bright for us—and she liked the food great.
She had carbonara fettucine while I had pesto spaghetti. We both had their original pancake for desserts; hers with vanilla ice cream while mine with melted butter. Then we had a sneak peek for Black Market Factory Outlet before we went back to Alter Ego.
It was a really nice two-days-in-a-row time spent with Julie; she needs to enhance her Indonesian language while I, le francaise. We really hope we can work our plan together. Amen!
[me, Ririe, Tessa & Ariq]
I was always thinking that I would spend my working years in Jakarta, but the fact speaks differently. Who’d known I’d meet my soulmate before I was 25 (I met him before, indeed) and who’d known I’d end my single life before 28 (it was my target to start thinking of that “future”)?
Who’d known he’d be a Bandungnese and made me come back here after those swear I’ve said (of not getting back to Bandung)?
Life is just unpredictable; no matter how organized you’ve planned it; no matter how impossible things were. But I believe in God, I believe in His plans and I believe He’s working on something beautiful for me in the end—tho the road through it are sometimes aren’t as beautiful. But I’m glad being back in Bandung, mostly for my Ara and also for our future together [another proof that I love you so much, dear!]
