Body Surfing on Football Game

November 11th, 2007 by lum-phia
Gue barusan pulang dari football game Cal Bears vs. USC Trojan… gue sibukkk banget weekend ini, plus capekkk banget abis field trip ke project di SF pagi ini, trus hujan and dingin lagi di luar…. but since gue dapet free ticket to the ball game… i thought, yeah… I’ll go… But hell, we lost man….. I kinna know that we’re gonna lose though, cause USC is sooo good… and Cal Bears… let’s say we played better before.  Plus, deep down inside, I’m a true UW Badger fan, it’s kinna hard to switch our identity in a couple of months.  When i went to Cal Bears game, sometimes I thought about UW Camp Randall… which is the home of UW Badger…. I miss the legacy, the excitement, the school spirit, the songs, etc…
The only thing you can’t do in Camp Randall… is body surfing.. and guess what, just a couple hours ago in Memorial Stadium, here in Berkeley, I just got my first body surfing experience… it was soooo fun, yet sooo scary…. 
I went to the game with a bunch of my classmates… turned out they have made a plan… first touchdown, they would body-surf my friend Nur… and second touchdown, it would be me… and right at the second touchdown.. those guys suddenly came to my seat, and lift me up in a second… and start to body-pass me from lower seat up to the top of the stadium…. I screamed "oh my god" like crazy… it was sooo scary but soo fun… specially cause it was raining so hard, and i could feel all my body soaking wet.   So in no time, i was lifted and passed from my seat over to the top… my head was almost upside down… until people decided to let me down… hahaha
So yeah, I’m a fan of UW Badger… at the same time, I start to enjoy being a Cal Bear.  I think it’s okay to idolize two teams at the same time.  I still miss the chicken dance, the swingtown at fifth quarters in Camp Randall… but today, the body-surfing is an exciting experience, and it could only happen at Memorial Stadium.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Belajar Saxophone

July 25th, 2007 by lum-phia
Ceritanya gini, gue suka banget dengerin orang main saxophone, apalagi kalo main lagu jazz, jadi gue pikir, tiup-tiup sambil pencet2 kayaknya gak terlalu susah.  Lagian, gue kan udah bisa main piano (walaupun biasa aja…), jadi kenapa gak take the challenge, trus nyobain alat musik baru… hehehe….
So, gue beli saxophone dari e-bay 2 taon lalu, beli yang paling murah di e-bay, toh buat beginner…. pas dapet, gue excited banget, trus langsung gue assemble, baca manual, pasang2, trus ditiup… kok gak keluar suara…. gue sampe bawa pulang saxophonenya ke indo, buat belajar pas liburan (ama buat gaya, tapi ternyata gue diketawain sama SEMUA orang…), gak bunyi2 juga, gue kirain rusak.. soalnya gue beli murah dan bekas, trus akhirnya gue loss interest, gue bawa lagi ke amrik, dan gue taro di gudang.
Summer ini pas beres2 gudang, gue menemukan saxophone gue lagi, of course udah berdebu…. hehehe…. kali ini, gue pengen bener2 belajar, jadi gue cari guru les…. akhirnya gue dapet guru les bernama Chris Lustig.  Yesterday, was the first day of the lesson.  God goodness, ternyata saxophone susah abisss…. abis gue tiup, kepala gue jadi ringan mo pingsan… gue ampe nanya, "is it normal to feel like I’m going to pass out ?"
oh well, emang gak ada hal yang gampang di dunia, gue hari ini uda bisa bikin 3 notes out of the sax, minggu depan moga2 udah bisa 1 tangga nada…..wish me luck… 

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »

Birthday Girl…

March 22nd, 2007 by lum-phia

My philosophy of why birthday is THE most important day in a year is because it is the remembrance of the creation of birth and the celebration of life.  It is so fundamental that birthday reflects our creator as being genuine, loving, and magnificent. Birthday proceeds straight to the validity of our basic identity.

Ok, this is a joke, who am I kidding.  I almost laugh when I wrote this. I love birthday because I want all the attention, hence the equation WORLD = ME is valid, haha. My best friend Lippe said, birthday is the day created only for you. Totally agree with you girl… We both are birthday lover.  But seriously, birthday is so special for anyone.  It’s the day when someone becomes so overly sensitive that when other remembers, she’d be soo happy, and when other forgets, she’d be sooo sad. It’s just cute. When I want my birthday to be special, I want everybody else’s birthday to be special too. I want to be able to remember and say happy birthday to as much people as possible.

For 5 years, I spent every birthday in Madison. And what made this year extraordinary is because it might be my last birthday in Madison. And every single year, my birthday is full of friends, love, gifts, cards, surprises. Let’s have a quick recap.

  1. Year 2003, ultah gue sebagai freshman, my first surprise party in the middle of the night, besoknya rame2 satu angkatan pergi ke RS buat suntik flu. Trus sore2 kita masak2 soto ayam.

  2. Year 2004, people just got creative and decided for the first time buat ngerjain gue. Kita rame2 ber-20an main ke rumah Hans, trus gue totally dicuekin, ampe gue sedih… trus nangis… (duh malu…)  Tapi ternyata besoknya udah dibikinin kue ama Noni plus balon2, dan koko gue Steven terbang dari LA, trus gue disurprisin rameee bgt di 2 kali di rumah gue dan di basement Allen House.
  3. Year 2005, people got more creative and decided to ngerjain gue. This time is mean… I think they want more tears… Jadi pas diretret, totally dicuekin… jahattt… padahal mereka udah siapin kue2 di mobil, trus ceritanya mau main polisi maling, trus kuenya taro depan mata gue. Tapi gue udah keburu sedih…. (aduh, malu.. GROW UP Sylvia !!!)
  4. Year 2006, people now got scared.  To make sure gue gak nangis, mereka suprisin 2 kali… sekali jam 12 pagi sebelum gue ultah, sekali lagi jam 12 malem setelah gue ultah, hahahaha…. Sorry to trouble you guys, hahaha…. I was really happy !!!
  5. Year 2007, could be my last birthday in Madison. Gue disurprisin malem2 jam 12, dengan blueberry cheesecake buatan Amanda… my favorite thing in the world. Trus kita semua ngobrol2 dan ketawa ngakak2 sampe jam 3 pagi… padahal gue ada kelas jam 7.45… so, gue telat ke kelas… ke sekolah, ternyata temen2 kelas gue tau gue ultah, so they took me to bar that night, and ordered a fish bowl for me. Gue baru tau, fish bowl it bukan makanan, fish bowl itu alcohol dengan gelas segede aquarium ikan (hence the name fish bowl)

-the birthday girl-

Ok, this blog is for my friends in Madison yang udah capek2 tiap taon planning surprise party buat gue.  Terima kasih buat darah dan keringat anda… hahaha… tiap kali ultah gue, udah kayak thriller.  But seriously, every birthday is special because of you guys.  No birthday like birthday in Madison.  So, thank you.

But anyway, now that I’m 23, I still love birthday, aging is mandatory, but maturity is optional.  Birthday brings the kid inside of everyone, and it’s the only day that you could justify doing anything you want.  It’s so wonderful that birthday should be a national holiday just for that person, haha…

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I’m a F**Cking IDIOT

February 22nd, 2007 by lum-phia

I cannot believe this, I’m still so angry about myself until this second.  Dua minggu lalu gue dapet interview with Bechtel Corporation dan Mortenson pada hari bersamaan.  Gue pengen banget kerja di Bechtel, soalnya itu the biggest construction company in THE WORLD, bahkan dia punya kantor di Jakarta.  Dari university gue, cuma 3 orang dapet interview, including me, so I was sooo happy.  Besoknya, setelah gue interview, gue kirim email ke dia, bilang thank you buat interviewnya.  And the stupid thing happened, karena gue mau kirim email thank you buat Mortenson juga… gue dengan begonya, kirim email terbalik… yang seharusnya buat Mortenson, malah kekirim ke Bechtel.  Isinya so totally irrelevant, dan gue thank you ke orang yang salah.. dari "Dear Ms…." aja udah salah sampe kebawah2.  Dan gue gak sadar, sampai 3 menit lalu gue ngecek email gue, dan kaget sampe jantung gue mau berhenti.  I JUST BLEW MY BEST CHANCE TO WORK WITH THE BEST COMPANY.  I’M A F**CKING IDIOT… CAN’T BELIEVE THIS MAN…

hari ini juga, gue kirim email ke Bechtel dan thank you buat interviewnya.  I’m so stupid… I don’t know how to correct this.  Gue tinggal menunggu email penolakan.  I will regret this for so long… The only way to forget this is to get as rich as possible and to remind myself later that this is because I was rejected by Bechtel.  STUPID ASS… Oh god, please restrain me from killing myself.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

John Mayer Rockkssss

February 15th, 2007 by lum-phia
Hari valentine, 14 feb 2007 kemaren is one of the best time of my life, not because I got a boyfriend, but because I spent it with john mayer …. my god he’s so awesome.
Gue udah ngajakin semua orang di madison buat nonton John Mayer, gak ada yang mau… abis katanya konsernya hari rabu malem disaat orang lagi sibuk2nya… but for my john mayer, I don’t care.  Untung temen baik gue Mark mau, jadi dia khusus dateng dari chicago buat nonton… aduh baiknya…
So, demi konser john mayer, gue dengerin CD Continuum diulang-ulang sekitar 5 kali sehari sebelumnya, maklum, lagunya john mayer tuh sooo deep, kadang2 gak ngerti.  Gue paling suka album kedua, heavier than my body, tapi yang continuum juga keren, rada2 blues… Kemaren di konser, John Mayer nyanyi lagu almost everything dari Continuum: waiting for the world to change (the best so far), trus gravity, belief, bold as love, vultures, trus I’m gonna find another you…. but the best part was when he sang heavier than my body, no such thing, why georgia, and your body is wonderland as the encore….
Gue makin cinta nih ama john mayer…. dengan ini, gue udah menambah "my concert experience", dari mariah carey di berkeley, celine dion di las vegas, josh groban dan michael buble di milwaukee, daniel powter dan jolin tsai di taipei, rockapella di madison, F4 di jakarta (god, I used to be their biggest fan…), and now, john mayer in my very madison.  Gue pernah bilang kalo gue punya 3 pilihan untuk nonton konser, gue bakal pilih: john mayer, beyonce, ama jay chou.  Now I can cross one of my VIP lists.  Bulan april ada christina aguilera nih… I’m hoping I can go, hopefully with a LOT of people, so the fun could ensue.
Anyway, so valentine is not a bad day at all.  Selain gue bisa ntn john mayer, gue dapet kartu, boneka, dan coklat from my secret angel LOLITA (lagi main secret angel nih disini… besok is the day of revelation), trus USB gue yang ilang di campus yang penuh dengan file2 super important ternyata ditemukan ama temen gue sendiri, padahal dia gak pernah tau USB bentuknya kayak apa (how weird and how magical is that…. thank god). I had a great time with my roomate Eileen, who cooked me brownie for this valentine.. how sweat.   And for the first time, I sent a valentine card to my brother in LA, don’t know what made me did that, but I feel good.  I think I’m gonna do that again next year, and the year after that.
So the point is, even though you’re single, valentine shouldn’t stop you from having fun.  In fact, valentine should remind us of how much we are loved, and how lucky we are.   After all, valentine is about love… and we all have love.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Dinginnn…..

February 6th, 2007 by lum-phia

Udah 3 hari di Madison suhunya sekitar -25 C, ditambah dengan wind chill, it feels like -32 C.  By all mean, this is not the place for human.  Waktu rumet gue Eileen pulang ke rumah, dia sampe teriak "It’s cold like hell".  Dan kelas 7:30 malem gue di cancel "due to extreme  coldness".  Gile, seumur hidup gue belum pernah ngerasain tempat dingin begini.  Menurut gue, ini gara2 global warming…. hohoho…. no kidding …. makanya musti save the environment, recycle your stuff…

Minggu lalu di kelas geology, ada satu cewek masuk untuk promosi environment club baru namanya WISPIRG… trus gue iseng2 tulis nama gue, setelah itu ternyata gue ditelponin 3 hari berturut2 ama mereka, supaya gue dateng dan volunteer bersama mereka hari ini …. damn, didn’t think that coming… tentu saja gue bilang gue bakal dateng, supaya gue gak ditelpon2 lagi, but who knows…

Btw, it’s snowing hard outside… but it’s a good sign.  It means the weather is warming a little.  Hope it gets warm soon…

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Holiday at J-town

January 12th, 2007 by lum-phia

Punya blog ternyata rese yah…. gue udah males nulis blog, padahal ini baru post ke 4.  Gue pengen punya mesin yang kalo gue ngomong, dia bisa ngetik sendiri…

Anyway, gue lagi liburan di Jakarta neh… pas natal taon baru kemaren, pergi bareng2 keluarga ke Bali.  Bali tuh bagusss banget yah, bangga jadi orang indo … temen gue orang Taiwan yang minggu depan mau kawin udah berhasil gue bujuk2 buat honeymoon di Bali.  Now they’ve booked the Hyatt hotel at Bali, haha… gue telah berjasa menambah devisa negara.

Di bali bagus loh, tiap hari kerjanya ke pantai, naik banana boat, parashute, jet ski, fly fish (mainan baru), dan di tanjung benoa ketemu seorang cowok yang super imut, orang indo yang lahir di Belanda…  man, too cute to be true. (Kalo gue berhasil menemukan friendsternya, I shall delete this post, hehe…) Setelah itu, besoknya ketemu orang itu lagi di Uluwatu, dan besoknya ketemu lagi di Kuta… busyet deh, gue dikira stalker kali. 

Terus hari2 dilewati di Jakarta, tidur2 dan makan2, seperti hidup di surga (tapi panas like hell), trus nonton sinetron indo. Dan kira2 seminggu sekali, pijat refleksi (padahal gue udah relax gini…)

Gue masih ada seminggu nih disini, pengen banget diterusin… tapi kudu balik sekolah dan lulus… so, mudah2an sebelum gue pulang, bisa nyobain transjakarta, hehe…

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Last Day of Work

December 20th, 2006 by lum-phia

Akhirnya, today is my last day of work in RESI, Taipei after 4.5 months internship.  What a feeling… relieved maybe, but also sad… because I was so happy in here.  I have two hour left in the office before I can get out of here, and may never come back again…

Kemaren, orang2 pada dateng ke meja gue, trus foto2, kasih kado… trus gue bilang "mm… besok gue masih dateng loh…" siapa tau mereka pikir gue kemaren terakhir, trus liat hari ini gue dateng, jadi bingung….

Karena hari ini hari terakhir, gue khusus nyalain alarm jam 6 pagi, supaya bisa sampe di kantor jam 8 pagi… ternyata gue jam 8 pagi baru bangun, sampe di kantor jam 10… wow… perfect impression… the last day turned out my worst performance… but anyway, I got a good review… plus, hari ini, presiden direkturnya bilang ke gue, setelah gue lulus sekolah, gue boleh dateng ke company ini untuk kerja lagi… hohoho…. so happy, mungkin gue mau kerja tempat lain, but that is such an honor.  Trus gue hari ini dipanggil ke kantor presiden komisarisnya … untuk pertama kali dan terakhir, gue liat mukanya… selama ini cuman kedengeran nama besarnya….. turned out he is such a humble and nice guy…. we talked and laughed for a couple minute. 

But anyway, this 4.5 month is incredible.  It’s such a great trip and the best decision ever.  I never feel so brave and proud of myself before.  Gue dengan chinese yang bego2, bisa dateng ke sini, kerja, bikin project, bikin laporan, and on top of all… bikin 2 presentasi dalam bahasa chinese sepenuhnya….  ditambah, gue translate 30 lembar contract bahasa chinese ke dalam bahasa inggris…. my god, I can’t believe it myself.  Gue tidak bermaksud sombong, I just feel… in a most humble way, that you don’t know what you can do, until you really do it… so, never limit yourself.  Everyone has this great power… and this power is limitless.  When you say it, you should do it. 

Oh my god, I can go on and on telling the story of taipei, but I figure I’ll do it slowly… today may be the last day of my internship, but a new day ahead (and new year is coming…) From this internship, I know I want to be a civil engineering.   I always know.

Anyway, this blog is dedicated to one person, my best friend in Taipei.  A girl name Elvina whose bravery and passion is not to second anyone else.   I only know her 4 months ago the first time I went to Taipei, but yet we build friendship and bonding which is unique and absolutely amazing.   If you read this, thanks Elvina for everything, I will miss the days we send emails every 5 minutes, miss the day we bake cakes and always fail, miss the day we shop till late night (I think the term "shop till you drop" really applies in here…haha), .. well, simply miss you.   Thank you…

OK, one hour left before going home.  I guess I’m going to mingle with my friends here.  I’m blessed. 

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I’m ALWAYS Late

December 13th, 2006 by lum-phia

My BIGGEST problem is I’m always late.  First reason, because I love to sleep, and the second reason: the world wants me to be late.  Hari pertama gue kerja, tante gue bilang ke gue "tante yakin kamu pasti bisa bikin prestasi di kantor, tapi cuma ada satu masalah, kamu pasti sering telat…"  Sejak gue pindah apartment lebih jauh dari kantor gue di Taipei, udah 1 minggu gue telat SETIAP HARI… hari pertama, gue telat 1/2 jam.. busyet… ampe lari2 dan malu, hari kedua, gue telat 10 menit, hari ketiga gue telat 5 menit, haha… improvement. 

Finally, hari ini, hari keempat, gue udah bangun 2 jam sebelum kantor, bertekad buat gak telat, udah naik MRT secepat mungkin, akhirnya for once, gue dapet tempat duduk di MRT (selama ini berdiri di MRT selama 45 menit…) Gue udah bangga banget, dan hari ini gue bisa ke kantor with a winning face.  Udah sambil pikirin ntar pagi mau mampir ke bakery store beli roti… who knows, gue dapet tempat duduk dan ketiduran sampe kelewatan station. dan bangun2, jantung gue kayak mau jatuh saking kaget… gue musti balik lagi, dan ganti MRT 2 kali….. F**K !! #$%^&*~!*$^#% …. mau marah…. telat lagi….

This does not include the fact that I was ever late for airplane flight, 3 TIMES !!  (koko gue juga pernah ketinggalan pesawat 3 kali, so I think it’s genetic…) Tapi gue gak pernah kapok, dan terus2 ketinggalan pesawat.  Gue bahkan pernah kelewatan 1 FINAL EXAM dan 1 MIDTERM gara2 ketiduran…. what the hell.  How can I find the cure for this curse?

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Premiere

December 10th, 2006 by lum-phia

Hari ini tanggal 11 December 2006 adalah premiere blog gue yang pertama kali seumur hidup.  Bikin blog kayaknya udah mulai bertahun2, tapi hari ini gue baru mulai.  Sebenernya pengen bikin kapan2 lagi, tapi tiba2 roomate gue Mia, orang paling telat dalam segala hal terkhususnya technology, tiba2 bikin blog, gue jadi sadar kalo…. mmm….maybe I should start now, hahaha…. it’s like a wake up call.  if I’m behind Mia, I’m behind the world, hahaha….   

Well, nothing really special happens today (should’ve picked a better day for premiere).  Yesterday was my friend Sheena’s 23rd birthday. So today, let’s just say a day after a friend’s birthday, that’s something too, right.  I’m sitting at my office in Taipei, 2 weeks before my internship ends, and celebrating christmas at the J-town.  Oh my, so many stories in Taiwan.  I’ve been here for 4 months already, working my ass off to calculate steel, concrete, earthquake loads,etc.  Can’t believe they trust me for doing this.  I don’t even trust myself, haha.

I got so many great stories during my stay in Taiwan, but we’ll start slowly.  Maybe not today on this premiere (this premiere sucks !!).. because I’m sitting right in front my boss’ office.  Friendster blog and work don’t click.  Plus, I had caused so much trouble in this office already.   Gue masukin tissue ke WC dan bikin mampet WC selama 3 hari, dan harus bayar 900NT untuk menutupi kerugian kantor.  Gue buka msn dan chatting diem2, tiba2 besoknya msn diblock dan seluruh kantor gak bisa chatting lagi, hiks.  And the latest, gue buka website di internet, trus komputer kemasukan virus selama 2 hari.  For this last two weeks, I want to rebuild my innocent image again, and hopefully they trust me, haha…

Okay, that’s all for the premiere.  Ngomong2 soal premiere, minggu depan tgl 20 Dec, film terbaru Jay Chou, Chow Yun Fat, dan Gong Li keluar… yay… judulnya kalo gak salah "golden curse" atau "curse of golden" anyway, should watch it.  Peace … -phia-

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »