After I posted the whole "Dejeweled Housewife" thing, I continued on my quest to get on the leader boards of bejeweled. I finally had a fluke good game of 230k and was sooo happy. I topped the score of my brother and sister-in-law.
Yesterday, checked the scores again, "Ahhh...still there!".
Today morning, I have 3 notices on Facebook. Not only did my brother and sister-in-law top my score, another friend did too! So from No. 1, I have been bumped down to No.4!
Well, I blame my poor performance on the Internet connection here. It's so slow that sometimes, it hangs a little, and by the time it comes back, I've already lost 10 seconds. OK, OK, we all know that's just an excuse, but I have to put the blame on someone right?
So I choose to believe that it's not my skill but the lousy internet connection that I have! Let me repeat again, it's the INTERNET CONNECTION! NOT ME! INTERNET CONNECTION!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Ah! The bane of ants - Part II
As you all know, we've been having some problems with the weird half-black half-red ants here, that don't attack sweet things, but instead love wooden spoons and towels.
I was actually having a good week. Every morning, when I come out, they seemed to be steadily decreasing in numbers. I thought I was doing a pretty good job by crushing them with my fingers. We don't use insecticide, simply because it's the food preparation area. We're getting enough digestion problems from the food here. Wouldn't want to add poisoning to the list.
There was this one day I noticed that there were some ants on the floor near the dustbin. A quick check and I found that there weren't any ants in the dustbin or any trails leading up to the mouth of the bin. "No worries then", I thought. Just crushed the ones that I saw.
So, on a Saturday, I was about to boil some rice for dinner. We just keep the rice in it's original packaging in the bottom shelf of the cupboard. It's of course sealed with those plastic clip thingamajig. Take the bag of rice out and it's flooded with ants. Hundreds of them at least. I don't know if they were trying to make their little nest there or what...
We were dumb founded! Just sat there and looked at it. What do you do? How do you separate out the ants from the rice? You can't sift it, cause the rice is too big and the ants obviously are not stationary. It's late, we're hungry, so we just take out the amount of rice we need and decide to leave the whole bag of rice outside on the balcony.
The next day, we go to the supermarket and buy this chalk thingamajig. I've never seen such a thing before, but my hubby has. He said they used to use it when he was younger and that this was pretty effective. All you need to do is draw a line and the ants cannot cross it. Sounded good. Was also very cheap. So, we buy a pack to try.
We come home and test it out on the many ants running wild on our balcony. It does work. Well, eventually the ant walks across the chalk, but eventually, he dies anyway. So, we decide to sun the rice on plastic sheets, hoping the ants will leave and get killed by the chalk. Upon closer inspection, we realize that the whole bag of rice is damp! Oh crap! Then I remember that it did rain yesterday.
Well, since the rice is already damp, we decide to wash the rice and try to get all the ants drowned. After we did the whole drowning thingy, we decide that we should dry it inside the house since the weather is a little unpredictable. It's actually supposed to be rainy season here but it just rains whenever it wants and not necessarily every day like in KL. So we spread it on plastic sheets as thinly as possible. The only place that have free space in this whole apartment is our bedroom. So we put it there by the window (well, wouldn't call it a window since it doesn't open, but that's a whole other blog topic).
The ants are still there, but they seemed dead. They didn't move. Decided to leave it there for say 30 minutes and come back and check-up on it. Closed the door.
Come back 30 minutes later, the whole room smells of pandan (cause we bought pandan rice). Look at the rice and there are ants ALL OVER!! Those stationary ants were just unconscious. They weren't dead. So, apparently, it's not that easy to drown an ant.
Hubby brings in the chalk and draws lines around the plastic sheets. We can't do anything else. All we wanted to do was prevent the ants from roaming to our cupboards, where they would no doubt have the time of their lives burrowing in our freshly laundered clothes.
At night, when we were preparing to sleep, we decided to move the rice out to the living room and draw lines there as well. Come out in the morning to a beautiful sight! Ant corpses strewn all across the floor. I think most of the ants tried to venture out from the chalk lines at night and as a result suffered what I could only hope was a painful death! =P
Ah...peace from ants for almost two days now. Could this be forever or is there a Part III coming up? I hope it's the former.
I was actually having a good week. Every morning, when I come out, they seemed to be steadily decreasing in numbers. I thought I was doing a pretty good job by crushing them with my fingers. We don't use insecticide, simply because it's the food preparation area. We're getting enough digestion problems from the food here. Wouldn't want to add poisoning to the list.
There was this one day I noticed that there were some ants on the floor near the dustbin. A quick check and I found that there weren't any ants in the dustbin or any trails leading up to the mouth of the bin. "No worries then", I thought. Just crushed the ones that I saw.
So, on a Saturday, I was about to boil some rice for dinner. We just keep the rice in it's original packaging in the bottom shelf of the cupboard. It's of course sealed with those plastic clip thingamajig. Take the bag of rice out and it's flooded with ants. Hundreds of them at least. I don't know if they were trying to make their little nest there or what...
We were dumb founded! Just sat there and looked at it. What do you do? How do you separate out the ants from the rice? You can't sift it, cause the rice is too big and the ants obviously are not stationary. It's late, we're hungry, so we just take out the amount of rice we need and decide to leave the whole bag of rice outside on the balcony.
The next day, we go to the supermarket and buy this chalk thingamajig. I've never seen such a thing before, but my hubby has. He said they used to use it when he was younger and that this was pretty effective. All you need to do is draw a line and the ants cannot cross it. Sounded good. Was also very cheap. So, we buy a pack to try.
We come home and test it out on the many ants running wild on our balcony. It does work. Well, eventually the ant walks across the chalk, but eventually, he dies anyway. So, we decide to sun the rice on plastic sheets, hoping the ants will leave and get killed by the chalk. Upon closer inspection, we realize that the whole bag of rice is damp! Oh crap! Then I remember that it did rain yesterday.
Well, since the rice is already damp, we decide to wash the rice and try to get all the ants drowned. After we did the whole drowning thingy, we decide that we should dry it inside the house since the weather is a little unpredictable. It's actually supposed to be rainy season here but it just rains whenever it wants and not necessarily every day like in KL. So we spread it on plastic sheets as thinly as possible. The only place that have free space in this whole apartment is our bedroom. So we put it there by the window (well, wouldn't call it a window since it doesn't open, but that's a whole other blog topic).
The ants are still there, but they seemed dead. They didn't move. Decided to leave it there for say 30 minutes and come back and check-up on it. Closed the door.
Come back 30 minutes later, the whole room smells of pandan (cause we bought pandan rice). Look at the rice and there are ants ALL OVER!! Those stationary ants were just unconscious. They weren't dead. So, apparently, it's not that easy to drown an ant.
Hubby brings in the chalk and draws lines around the plastic sheets. We can't do anything else. All we wanted to do was prevent the ants from roaming to our cupboards, where they would no doubt have the time of their lives burrowing in our freshly laundered clothes.
At night, when we were preparing to sleep, we decided to move the rice out to the living room and draw lines there as well. Come out in the morning to a beautiful sight! Ant corpses strewn all across the floor. I think most of the ants tried to venture out from the chalk lines at night and as a result suffered what I could only hope was a painful death! =P
Ah...peace from ants for almost two days now. Could this be forever or is there a Part III coming up? I hope it's the former.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Dejeweled Housewife
There's this current craze for the game Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. Yes, you've probably tried it once or twice if you're not currently having it running in your background waiting for it to load as you are reading this.
I have, of course, also bought into this craze and you can be sure that it is loaded on one of my tabs for as long as the computer is turned on.
Almost everyone plays it. But can everyone do it well? Nope! I can attest to that fact. Getting say the 25k, 50k or even 75k Badge is a simple enough feat. But then you see these ridiculous scores of 200k or 300k. What in the ..? How are people even managing that?
One of the many people that are whopping my ass at this game is unfortunately my second brother. Me and my brother have always been pretty competitive when it comes to games. Although he's 5 years my senior, we get along very well and I have been trying to beat him at all sorts of games since I was young. I remember when we were younger, we used to play in the backseat of the car. Daddy was driving, so of course he didn't have any view of what was really happening. So sometimes, when I got sick of losing, I would cry and claim that "Richard beat me!". My brother would get a nice scolding and I would be satisfied! Haha.. =)
My sister-in-law is like the Queen Bee of Bejeweled. She gets scores that are totally ridiculous! How in the world people manage that is beyond my comprehension. I have yet to get a chance to stand behind her as she plays to see what she's doing so differently than I am.
So here I sit, everyday, wasting hours of my life, just trying to get a high score on Bejeweled. One minute is too short when you've got too many matches and too long when you can't seem to find any matches. Someone, please throw me a bone, put me out of my misery, and tell me how to beat this silly game!
I have, of course, also bought into this craze and you can be sure that it is loaded on one of my tabs for as long as the computer is turned on.
Almost everyone plays it. But can everyone do it well? Nope! I can attest to that fact. Getting say the 25k, 50k or even 75k Badge is a simple enough feat. But then you see these ridiculous scores of 200k or 300k. What in the ..? How are people even managing that?
One of the many people that are whopping my ass at this game is unfortunately my second brother. Me and my brother have always been pretty competitive when it comes to games. Although he's 5 years my senior, we get along very well and I have been trying to beat him at all sorts of games since I was young. I remember when we were younger, we used to play in the backseat of the car. Daddy was driving, so of course he didn't have any view of what was really happening. So sometimes, when I got sick of losing, I would cry and claim that "Richard beat me!". My brother would get a nice scolding and I would be satisfied! Haha.. =)
My sister-in-law is like the Queen Bee of Bejeweled. She gets scores that are totally ridiculous! How in the world people manage that is beyond my comprehension. I have yet to get a chance to stand behind her as she plays to see what she's doing so differently than I am.
So here I sit, everyday, wasting hours of my life, just trying to get a high score on Bejeweled. One minute is too short when you've got too many matches and too long when you can't seem to find any matches. Someone, please throw me a bone, put me out of my misery, and tell me how to beat this silly game!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Ragunan Zoo through my eyes
We went to the Jakarta Zoo last Saturday. It's called Ragunan Zoo. I heard from a Malaysian friend staying here in Jakarta that it's pretty popular with the locals. To quote her, "everyone and their uncles go there during the weekends". Well, I wish I knew this little morsel of information before I went there.
Anyway, that wouldn't have stopped us. Me and my hubby are Zoo people. We go to the Zoo of most countries or cities that we visit. So, that being said, I'm fairly certain that I have enough exposure to review this beloved Zoo that the Jakarta people love so much.
To begin with, we took forever to get to the Zoo because of the traffic. Jammed on this road, a long row of cars parked on the side of that road, a gazillion motorcycles taking over a lane on the other road. You get the picture.
After enduring the jams, we finally got to the entrance of the Zoo. Nice big arch with the name inscribed on it. Pretty impressive I thought. Then I looked to the left. Holy Crap! Another gazillion motorcycles parked there. OK. So parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunties and probably long lost relatives flock to the Zoo here on weekends. I asked my driver, "Alot of people like to come to the Zoo on weekends?". "Ya, ya!" was his reply. That doesn't sound good.
The only thing I could possibly not like about Zoo's (cause I LOVE ZOO'S) is the poor condition of the animals and all the screaming children running around the animal enclosures. Little did I know that I wouldn't have to worry about that here. The children in the Zoo couldn't be bothered much about the animals. Most families go there to picnic and play at the playgrounds.
We pay the entrance fee, Rp4000 for adults.That's only about RM1.40. Parking on the other hand, cost us Rp5000, RM1.80. What?!? Parking is more expensive than the entrance fee? That's so absurd. Not that I'm complaining that it's costly or anything, cause it's dirt cheap, but it's weird. Then they hand us this bunch of tickets and receipts.
One of them is an Insurance Premium receipt! It says:
Dengan membayar premi sebesar Rp. 500,- setiap orangnya pengelola mengansuransikan pengunjungnya terhadap risiko kecelakaan diri kepada Ansuransi Kerugian PT. Ansuransi bangun Askrida dengan nilai pertanggungan untuk:
Meninggal Dunia : Rp 16.0000.000,-
Cacat Tetap : Rp 10.000.000,-
Biaya Perawatan : Rp 1.000.000,-
To be honest, I only noticed it after we got home and my hubby showed it to me. If I had known earlier, I probably would have been freaked out and not gone inside. What in the world did they expect could happen in the Zoo? Do the animals regularly escape and wreak havoc with the visitors? Are there monkeys jumping around freely in the Zoo? Such thoughts would have been running wild in my head. But thankfully, I didn't know as hubby was keeping all the tickets and documents and we continued into the Zoo after we found a parking spot.
The first thing we saw when we got inside was ALOT of people gathered at a rather big field and really loud music blaring. Is that people I see playing games? Yes!! After conferring with my driver, I found out that the Zoo regularly rents out this place for company family days or gatherings. OK. I'm thinking all that noise can't be too calming for the animals.
Next thing we see is a bunch of street vendors littering the streets of the zoo. ALOT of vendors!! Selling snacks and drinks. One thing people in Jakarta are, are industrious. They sell snacks even on the roads, while you're stopped at the traffic lights or during traffic jams.
Ah! And there's a playground there. Nothing strange about that though. Alot of European Zoo's have playgrounds to entertain the children. Oh, but wait! Towards the end of our trip to the Zoo, we come across an amusement park! Seriously, an amusement park filled with rides and games etc. Now, that's weird.
Now, we've been walking quite a bit now and we haven't seen a single animal yet. Notice anything wrong with this scenario. I'm starting to think this Zoo doesn't have much animals. Still, giving it the benefit of the doubt, I just figured that this was a really really big Zoo. That fact was true. It's really big (space wise). It has three exits; north, south and main. That's how big it is.
Their collection of animals we notice are not too great. Just the more common ones like flamingoes, storks, bats, reptiles etc.
An interesting exhibit is always the lion exhibit. We find a lion all right. A balding male! BALDING. I wish I could upload the pictures for you but my laptop is not here yet. Be sure to keep an eye on this space cause when I get it I'm going to upload it for sure. This is not a sight to be missed. I'm not sure if it's because of old age or the stress of all the noise, but that lion sure was balding. *insert pic*
They had Komodo Dragons there. That was interesting as we hadn't seen one real life before. Four full exhibits. You could have your pick. Giant, small, fat or thin.They probably have so many because it's native to them I suppose. It's like seeing kerbaus, sang kancils and cows in our Malaysian Zoo! There was this really fat (maybe he's just giant but he does look fat) Komodo there as well. *insert pic*
We moved on to the Orang Utans. Always entertaining. They had both types there, the Sumatran and the Bornean.
Other than that, nothing much more to mention about the zoo. They had some bears. I saw an Elephant (yes one!). We were walking round and round and round searching for the Gorilla they supposedly have (I think they do la, just that we couldn't find it).
After an hour or so, we gave up and left the Zoo. Even searching for the correct exit proved to be a problem. There was the exit sign that brought us in circles around the zoo. When we finally found one, that exit was apparently only for cars. Continue on our search and found an exit, but not the one we came in from. Took it anyway. Got a little disorientated when we got out but found our car.
In a nutshell, if you were going to the Zoo to see animals, I wouldn't recommend the Ragunan Zoo. If you were on the other hand looking for rides for kids, that's probably the place to go. There is also no KFC, I repeat, NO KFC at this Zoo. I found this hard to believe, as from young I was taught that the Zoo had a lot of things to do and the food was finger-licking good. That totally destroyed my illusion. It's like being told Santa Claus is not real (children, if you are reading this, HE IS REAL! Continue being good and writing your letters to him).
Anyway, that wouldn't have stopped us. Me and my hubby are Zoo people. We go to the Zoo of most countries or cities that we visit. So, that being said, I'm fairly certain that I have enough exposure to review this beloved Zoo that the Jakarta people love so much.
To begin with, we took forever to get to the Zoo because of the traffic. Jammed on this road, a long row of cars parked on the side of that road, a gazillion motorcycles taking over a lane on the other road. You get the picture.
After enduring the jams, we finally got to the entrance of the Zoo. Nice big arch with the name inscribed on it. Pretty impressive I thought. Then I looked to the left. Holy Crap! Another gazillion motorcycles parked there. OK. So parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunties and probably long lost relatives flock to the Zoo here on weekends. I asked my driver, "Alot of people like to come to the Zoo on weekends?". "Ya, ya!" was his reply. That doesn't sound good.
The only thing I could possibly not like about Zoo's (cause I LOVE ZOO'S) is the poor condition of the animals and all the screaming children running around the animal enclosures. Little did I know that I wouldn't have to worry about that here. The children in the Zoo couldn't be bothered much about the animals. Most families go there to picnic and play at the playgrounds.
We pay the entrance fee, Rp4000 for adults.That's only about RM1.40. Parking on the other hand, cost us Rp5000, RM1.80. What?!? Parking is more expensive than the entrance fee? That's so absurd. Not that I'm complaining that it's costly or anything, cause it's dirt cheap, but it's weird. Then they hand us this bunch of tickets and receipts.
One of them is an Insurance Premium receipt! It says:
Dengan membayar premi sebesar Rp. 500,- setiap orangnya pengelola mengansuransikan pengunjungnya terhadap risiko kecelakaan diri kepada Ansuransi Kerugian PT. Ansuransi bangun Askrida dengan nilai pertanggungan untuk:
Meninggal Dunia : Rp 16.0000.000,-
Cacat Tetap : Rp 10.000.000,-
Biaya Perawatan : Rp 1.000.000,-
To be honest, I only noticed it after we got home and my hubby showed it to me. If I had known earlier, I probably would have been freaked out and not gone inside. What in the world did they expect could happen in the Zoo? Do the animals regularly escape and wreak havoc with the visitors? Are there monkeys jumping around freely in the Zoo? Such thoughts would have been running wild in my head. But thankfully, I didn't know as hubby was keeping all the tickets and documents and we continued into the Zoo after we found a parking spot.
The first thing we saw when we got inside was ALOT of people gathered at a rather big field and really loud music blaring. Is that people I see playing games? Yes!! After conferring with my driver, I found out that the Zoo regularly rents out this place for company family days or gatherings. OK. I'm thinking all that noise can't be too calming for the animals.
Next thing we see is a bunch of street vendors littering the streets of the zoo. ALOT of vendors!! Selling snacks and drinks. One thing people in Jakarta are, are industrious. They sell snacks even on the roads, while you're stopped at the traffic lights or during traffic jams.
Ah! And there's a playground there. Nothing strange about that though. Alot of European Zoo's have playgrounds to entertain the children. Oh, but wait! Towards the end of our trip to the Zoo, we come across an amusement park! Seriously, an amusement park filled with rides and games etc. Now, that's weird.
Now, we've been walking quite a bit now and we haven't seen a single animal yet. Notice anything wrong with this scenario. I'm starting to think this Zoo doesn't have much animals. Still, giving it the benefit of the doubt, I just figured that this was a really really big Zoo. That fact was true. It's really big (space wise). It has three exits; north, south and main. That's how big it is.
Their collection of animals we notice are not too great. Just the more common ones like flamingoes, storks, bats, reptiles etc.
An interesting exhibit is always the lion exhibit. We find a lion all right. A balding male! BALDING. I wish I could upload the pictures for you but my laptop is not here yet. Be sure to keep an eye on this space cause when I get it I'm going to upload it for sure. This is not a sight to be missed. I'm not sure if it's because of old age or the stress of all the noise, but that lion sure was balding. *insert pic*
They had Komodo Dragons there. That was interesting as we hadn't seen one real life before. Four full exhibits. You could have your pick. Giant, small, fat or thin.They probably have so many because it's native to them I suppose. It's like seeing kerbaus, sang kancils and cows in our Malaysian Zoo! There was this really fat (maybe he's just giant but he does look fat) Komodo there as well. *insert pic*
We moved on to the Orang Utans. Always entertaining. They had both types there, the Sumatran and the Bornean.
Other than that, nothing much more to mention about the zoo. They had some bears. I saw an Elephant (yes one!). We were walking round and round and round searching for the Gorilla they supposedly have (I think they do la, just that we couldn't find it).
After an hour or so, we gave up and left the Zoo. Even searching for the correct exit proved to be a problem. There was the exit sign that brought us in circles around the zoo. When we finally found one, that exit was apparently only for cars. Continue on our search and found an exit, but not the one we came in from. Took it anyway. Got a little disorientated when we got out but found our car.
In a nutshell, if you were going to the Zoo to see animals, I wouldn't recommend the Ragunan Zoo. If you were on the other hand looking for rides for kids, that's probably the place to go. There is also no KFC, I repeat, NO KFC at this Zoo. I found this hard to believe, as from young I was taught that the Zoo had a lot of things to do and the food was finger-licking good. That totally destroyed my illusion. It's like being told Santa Claus is not real (children, if you are reading this, HE IS REAL! Continue being good and writing your letters to him).
Friday, October 16, 2009
My plethora of sounds
Noise pollution is something that's not lacking where I am. You see, I stay in an area that's still being developed. It's like MidValley City in KL, you have condo's, malls, shop lots etc. All within a relatively close radius. They're still building a mall, another condo and finishing up on the shop lots.
Construction here goes on 24 hours. Yup! 24 hours. Although, they're kind enough to keep the less noisy work for the nights.
Here's my dictionary of sounds:
*woosh-woosh-woosh*
I am greeted in the morning by the sound of my VERY loud fan in the bedroom. I haven't decided if it's just very strong or plain faulty.
*hummm...hummm...hummm..*
Ah! That would be the sound of my trusty water dispenser. Again, very powerful or badly engineered? Eh...no comment.
*vooohhh...vooohhh...vooohhh*
As I take my morning leak, the toilet ventilator takes it as his duty to fully awaken me.
*kring-krang-kring-krang*
That would be the people sorting rubbish right below my balcony (yes, they sort rubbish manually here). You know those giant bins that all the rubbish from all units gets thrown into? Conveniently position below my balcony. Lucky me!
*ding-dong*
Like the announcements you hear at the airport! Except here, it's for the construction site (no seriously!) and it comes on like...oh...every 5 minutes or so.
*branng-krong-bang*
Contributed from our trusty construction site nearby. I just thank God that it's not opposite my balcony. In this case, I would really rather choose the rubbish dump over the construction site. There's barely any smell from it and the sound of glass banging together is rather soothing compared to the sound of drilling throughout the day.
*vrooom-vrooom-honk-honk*
Another thing Jakarta doesn't lack is motorcycles and motorists that love to honk their horns. They honk when they're passing by, they honk when you move too slow, they honk when the light turns green and you don't immediately step on the gas and sometimes they probably honk just for the sake of honking.
*wee-ooh-wee-ooh*
No, not the sound of ambulances but police escorts accompanying some big shot in traffic. Guess it is a necessity seeing as Jakarta roads are stuck in a stand still most of the time. We hear this occasionally, not everyday. Oh...I should elaborate a little. By occasionally, I mean about twice a week!
*kraaak-kraaak-kraaak*
That would be the sound of my a/c telling me that it's time for a service. So I go to sleep to this sound and in the middle of the night, when it gets too cold, me or my hubby turn the a/c off and turn the fan on. And in the morning, the beautiful sound of swoosh-swoosh.
*bang*
One of my many neighbours leaving/entering their unit. Either the walls are too thin or they're just too lazy to shut the door properly.
*wah-wah-hee-hee*
Children running around & babies doing what they do best; cry and wail (my absolute most favorite thing in the world, by the way!); outside on the corridors. Well, I guess the walls are really too thin.
I know, I know, someone's gonna comment that I'm pregnant and that I myself am going to experience the wailing baby 24-7 blah blah blah. Well, my plan is to fully soundproof the baby's room with egg cartons that I collect from the local supermarket. Then all I need is a baby monitor. If the baby cries for no reason, turn the baby monitor off for about 5 minutes or so and check if he/she is still crying. Repeat as desired. Ingenious don't you think!?
All I can say is, with my kid growing up in such an environment, he/she is going to grow up to be the soundest sleeper in the world. I also have a suspicion that I've lost 10% of my hearing already! =)
Construction here goes on 24 hours. Yup! 24 hours. Although, they're kind enough to keep the less noisy work for the nights.
Here's my dictionary of sounds:
*woosh-woosh-woosh*
I am greeted in the morning by the sound of my VERY loud fan in the bedroom. I haven't decided if it's just very strong or plain faulty.
*hummm...hummm...hummm..*
Ah! That would be the sound of my trusty water dispenser. Again, very powerful or badly engineered? Eh...no comment.
*vooohhh...vooohhh...vooohhh*
As I take my morning leak, the toilet ventilator takes it as his duty to fully awaken me.
*kring-krang-kring-krang*
That would be the people sorting rubbish right below my balcony (yes, they sort rubbish manually here). You know those giant bins that all the rubbish from all units gets thrown into? Conveniently position below my balcony. Lucky me!
*ding-dong*
Like the announcements you hear at the airport! Except here, it's for the construction site (no seriously!) and it comes on like...oh...every 5 minutes or so.
*branng-krong-bang*
Contributed from our trusty construction site nearby. I just thank God that it's not opposite my balcony. In this case, I would really rather choose the rubbish dump over the construction site. There's barely any smell from it and the sound of glass banging together is rather soothing compared to the sound of drilling throughout the day.
*vrooom-vrooom-honk-honk*
Another thing Jakarta doesn't lack is motorcycles and motorists that love to honk their horns. They honk when they're passing by, they honk when you move too slow, they honk when the light turns green and you don't immediately step on the gas and sometimes they probably honk just for the sake of honking.
*wee-ooh-wee-ooh*
No, not the sound of ambulances but police escorts accompanying some big shot in traffic. Guess it is a necessity seeing as Jakarta roads are stuck in a stand still most of the time. We hear this occasionally, not everyday. Oh...I should elaborate a little. By occasionally, I mean about twice a week!
*kraaak-kraaak-kraaak*
That would be the sound of my a/c telling me that it's time for a service. So I go to sleep to this sound and in the middle of the night, when it gets too cold, me or my hubby turn the a/c off and turn the fan on. And in the morning, the beautiful sound of swoosh-swoosh.
*bang*
One of my many neighbours leaving/entering their unit. Either the walls are too thin or they're just too lazy to shut the door properly.
*wah-wah-hee-hee*
Children running around & babies doing what they do best; cry and wail (my absolute most favorite thing in the world, by the way!); outside on the corridors. Well, I guess the walls are really too thin.
I know, I know, someone's gonna comment that I'm pregnant and that I myself am going to experience the wailing baby 24-7 blah blah blah. Well, my plan is to fully soundproof the baby's room with egg cartons that I collect from the local supermarket. Then all I need is a baby monitor. If the baby cries for no reason, turn the baby monitor off for about 5 minutes or so and check if he/she is still crying. Repeat as desired. Ingenious don't you think!?
All I can say is, with my kid growing up in such an environment, he/she is going to grow up to be the soundest sleeper in the world. I also have a suspicion that I've lost 10% of my hearing already! =)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Bird's nest drama
I've only ever eaten bird's nest in those tiny glass containers that you buy from the supermarket. You know, the ones with more sugar water than actual bird's nest. So now, being pregnant and all, thought I would milk it and ask my hubby to buy me some REAL bird's nest.
We went to the shops and got bombarded by this array of bird's nests with different colors and in different packaging with different grades etc etc. So, we asked a friend who regularly eats bird's nest to help us get some since we had zero knowledge on the subject. She recommended that we get the unprocessed ones, those with the feathers still in them, as it's better. We agreed.
When the bird's nests arrived, it was of course a costly affair. We expected it to be expensive but not THAT expensive but that's market price and well... we're just plain stingy! =)
So I heard from a friend that when you're pregnant and eat/drink nutritious stuff during the first and second trimester, it's the mother that gets most of the nutrition. But, if you do it during your third trimester, the baby gets most of it. Being a good wife (and a stinge), I decided to save my hubby some money and only start consuming the bird's nests in my third trimester. We brought some to Jakarta with us (not the whole lot in case it got confiscated by the customs).
Well, I'm not in my third trimester yet (far from it actually), but lately I have been feeling very tired and thought "Mommy needs to have some goodness of the bird's nest before I become an old hag!".
All excited, I open my tupperware of bird's nests that I brought here. The pieces are not of standard size, like those cleaned ones you see in the shops. Some are thinner and some are broader. I took a piece out (keep in mind that I planned to consume this in one go) then took another half piece out (haha..greedy). "Looks like it's very little but I guess it should be enough", I thought.
So to backtrack a little, my friend did ask me, "Do you know how to remove the feathers from the bird's nests? Do you need my mom to teach you". I told her it was OK. I should be able to handle it, thinking to myself, "How hard can it be? It's just removing some feathers, right?". She was a little worried (and with good reason, you'll soon discover) and proceeded describing to me roughly how her mom does it. Well, the gist of it was that her mom uses tweezers and plucks the feathers out under running water. "Cheh! So easy!", I thought.
Now, back to present day, armed with my tweezers, I was ready to conquer this bird's nest. The moment I gazed properly at the bird's nest, I was greeted by the thought, "Whoa! That's alot of feathers!!". Well, that didn't dampen my spirit (yet). Still, with my initial gung-ho attitude, I proceeded to try to pull the feathers out.
"Wah! I think it's stuck"
The feather's were stuck like glue to the bird's nest. So I thought I'd soak them a little, but just a little because I didn't want them to all fall apart and accidentally miss out on a few strands that floated down into the sink (a tiny strand of bird's nest prob cost me a few ringgit you know? ya, ya..i'm a stinge).
"Aiyar! Soak also still cannot. Maybe must soak longer"
So I continue half soaking, half trying to pull out the feathers. The bigger ones weren't a problem. It was those stray ones that pissed me off. I took a chair to the sink and continued my job.
"Eh! Getting a bit dark already. Can't see clearly. Need to turn on the lights. What time is it anyway? Ha?!? 2 hours already ar?"
Yup! I started at 4 and when i checked the clock it's was already 6 (it gets dark early in Jakarta). So like the chinese say "Do until the sky also dark already". That's when I said to myself, "I think sacrificing a few ringgit worth of bird's nests is not that bad!". I let those few strands with the super glued feathers go and finished off with the rest of the bird's nests. I put the "cleaned" (yes, in parentheses, you'll see why) bird's nests in a pot with water to boil.
"Aiyor! Still got feathers one? Nevermind la, eat little bit of feathers won't die one la....kua?"
After all my hard work. I wasted 2 hours of my life. STILL GOT FEATHERS?!?! STILL GOT FEATHERS?!?! WHAT THE *#$@! After uttering a number of expletives, I soon calmed down. There must be an easier way to do this. I decided to go online and do some research.
"Ha?!? Have to soak one is it?"
Turns out you're supposed to soak the bird's nest for 3 hours before starting with the pulling of the feathers. Oh well, lesson learned. There's another twist to the story...wait for it....wait for it...
Scene: Mary checks on the currently boiling bird's nests.
"Wah!! So much one? I thought I only put in 1 1/2 tiny pieces? So "tai" one meh?
Back to my trusty internet I go. Oh...turns out it expands to 3 times it's dry size.
We learn something new everyday don't we?
We went to the shops and got bombarded by this array of bird's nests with different colors and in different packaging with different grades etc etc. So, we asked a friend who regularly eats bird's nest to help us get some since we had zero knowledge on the subject. She recommended that we get the unprocessed ones, those with the feathers still in them, as it's better. We agreed.
When the bird's nests arrived, it was of course a costly affair. We expected it to be expensive but not THAT expensive but that's market price and well... we're just plain stingy! =)
So I heard from a friend that when you're pregnant and eat/drink nutritious stuff during the first and second trimester, it's the mother that gets most of the nutrition. But, if you do it during your third trimester, the baby gets most of it. Being a good wife (and a stinge), I decided to save my hubby some money and only start consuming the bird's nests in my third trimester. We brought some to Jakarta with us (not the whole lot in case it got confiscated by the customs).
Well, I'm not in my third trimester yet (far from it actually), but lately I have been feeling very tired and thought "Mommy needs to have some goodness of the bird's nest before I become an old hag!".
All excited, I open my tupperware of bird's nests that I brought here. The pieces are not of standard size, like those cleaned ones you see in the shops. Some are thinner and some are broader. I took a piece out (keep in mind that I planned to consume this in one go) then took another half piece out (haha..greedy). "Looks like it's very little but I guess it should be enough", I thought.
So to backtrack a little, my friend did ask me, "Do you know how to remove the feathers from the bird's nests? Do you need my mom to teach you". I told her it was OK. I should be able to handle it, thinking to myself, "How hard can it be? It's just removing some feathers, right?". She was a little worried (and with good reason, you'll soon discover) and proceeded describing to me roughly how her mom does it. Well, the gist of it was that her mom uses tweezers and plucks the feathers out under running water. "Cheh! So easy!", I thought.
Now, back to present day, armed with my tweezers, I was ready to conquer this bird's nest. The moment I gazed properly at the bird's nest, I was greeted by the thought, "Whoa! That's alot of feathers!!". Well, that didn't dampen my spirit (yet). Still, with my initial gung-ho attitude, I proceeded to try to pull the feathers out.
"Wah! I think it's stuck"
The feather's were stuck like glue to the bird's nest. So I thought I'd soak them a little, but just a little because I didn't want them to all fall apart and accidentally miss out on a few strands that floated down into the sink (a tiny strand of bird's nest prob cost me a few ringgit you know? ya, ya..i'm a stinge).
"Aiyar! Soak also still cannot. Maybe must soak longer"
So I continue half soaking, half trying to pull out the feathers. The bigger ones weren't a problem. It was those stray ones that pissed me off. I took a chair to the sink and continued my job.
"Eh! Getting a bit dark already. Can't see clearly. Need to turn on the lights. What time is it anyway? Ha?!? 2 hours already ar?"
Yup! I started at 4 and when i checked the clock it's was already 6 (it gets dark early in Jakarta). So like the chinese say "Do until the sky also dark already". That's when I said to myself, "I think sacrificing a few ringgit worth of bird's nests is not that bad!". I let those few strands with the super glued feathers go and finished off with the rest of the bird's nests. I put the "cleaned" (yes, in parentheses, you'll see why) bird's nests in a pot with water to boil.
"Aiyor! Still got feathers one? Nevermind la, eat little bit of feathers won't die one la....kua?"
After all my hard work. I wasted 2 hours of my life. STILL GOT FEATHERS?!?! STILL GOT FEATHERS?!?! WHAT THE *#$@! After uttering a number of expletives, I soon calmed down. There must be an easier way to do this. I decided to go online and do some research.
"Ha?!? Have to soak one is it?"
Turns out you're supposed to soak the bird's nest for 3 hours before starting with the pulling of the feathers. Oh well, lesson learned. There's another twist to the story...wait for it....wait for it...
Scene: Mary checks on the currently boiling bird's nests.
"Wah!! So much one? I thought I only put in 1 1/2 tiny pieces? So "tai" one meh?
Back to my trusty internet I go. Oh...turns out it expands to 3 times it's dry size.
We learn something new everyday don't we?
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Ah! The bane of ants...
Everyday I wake up and the first thing I do is walk to the kitchen sink to check for ants. Then I crush each and every one of them with my finger until they are all DEAD. I'm not too sure if that's bad karma, seeing as I'm pregnant and all, but it's not like I have a choice.
The ants here are a little different from those in KL. It seems strange I know but at least that's how I see it. The ones that are currently making my life a nightmare are those half black half red tiny ones (please await pictures patiently as I'm using a dinasour age computer that doesn't have a card reader).
Now, let me tell you about these ants:
The ants here are a little different from those in KL. It seems strange I know but at least that's how I see it. The ones that are currently making my life a nightmare are those half black half red tiny ones (please await pictures patiently as I'm using a dinasour age computer that doesn't have a card reader).
Now, let me tell you about these ants:
- They seem to attack in small groups so you cannot find any trail leading back to their home base.
- They not only attack food (which honestly there aren't any lying around here, I'm very particular about that) but they like towels! Be it kitchen towels or bath towels, there they are. Just burrowing in the fuzziness that is towels.
- They like freshly washed wooden spoons. Yum yum! That's one of their favorites. Leave those wooden spoons drying out too long and there they are.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Horrible laundry service!!
We live in a rather small apartment with a tiny balcony, so all the space is really taken up by the necessary furniture like sofa, tv, etc. The balcony, being as tiny as it is fits some brooms and mops plus our two a/c condensers and some space to walk. As such, we barely have space to fit a washing machine, much less have enough space to dry our clothes (seriously, it's like choose one or the other!)
We were advised to use one of the AMPLE laundry services that are available around the apartment block. A rough look at the prices and they seemed VERY VERY cheap. Only Rp7000 to wash and iron 1 kg of clothes. There was another laundry service advertising Rp5000 per kg even.
We closed our eyes and picked one of the laundry services from the MANY MANY brochures we had. Obviously from the title, you know we picked wrong!!
Oh, the initial round we called them, they were excellent. All my husbands working shirts came back ironed crisply and on hangers (of course right? otherwise it wouldn't make sense ironing it if you were going to fold it back). We, of course, being laundry service virgins assumed that our OWN clothes would be returned to us and therefore didn't take inventory of our clothes going out to the laundry service.
The second time we called them to come pick up our clothes, husband's working shirts came back folded! Hmm..maybe it was a one time mistake or maybe they didn't have enough hangers that day.
Third time we called them, husband's working shirts still folded plus we got a little bonus. We were handed back a t-shirt that wasn't ours. "Oh, poor sucker who owns this t-shirt. Probably wondering where his t-shirt went. Nevermind, we'll return it to them when they next come to collect our laundry" we thought.
Fourth time we called them, husband's working shirts still folded (notice a pattern here?). Now my husband is getting really ticked off and has already decided not to use their service anymore (guess it's not too much fun going into work with wrinkly shirts).
This morning, when my husband tried to put on his working pants, guess what happened? Well, you would have guessed it already. The pants weren't his!! Surprise, surprise.
So at 7:30 am, he's already ticked off (seriously, I didn't even get a kiss goodbye this morning). Calls the laundry service looking for his pants. They actually do pick up. So my husband goes "Semalam, hantar seluar salah. Bukan seluar saya". Then I hear him say repeatedly "seluar...bukan seluar...seluar.." (you get where I'm going). Then I remember, from my vast TV watching (don't say you don't learn anything from TV), that here they call it CELANA. Anyway, I shout from the bedroom "I think they call it celana here". At that point in time he had already been handed over to someone else, who I assume understood what seluar meant, and had said "ok, ok". Well, how they're going to manage to find the right pair of pants that belong to my husband is beyond me.
Then I get a "ding" moment (imagine light bulb going on above my head). Oh...that means we're missing a t-shirt as well since we got someone else's t-shirt. Now THAT is going to be a problem, because I have no recollection whatsoever, of the missing t-shirt.
If we were in KL, they would be getting an earful about how lousy and undependable they are. But here, people only probably understand 30% of what I'm trying to say. They usually just stare at me like I'm speaking some foreign language (which to them is probably true). So I'm thinking, save my breath and move on bravely to the next laundry service.
My theory is that they are secretly siphoning out our nicer clothes and replacing them with lousy ones so that they can sell it by the streets! If only I were in KL, I would probably be able to find them back by going to the Pasar Malam. Here, well, for safety reasons, we only hang out in shopping malls.
Well, I guess lesson learned. Cheap things aren't always good quality things. Now we have to make a choice, to buy a washing machine or to continue using the laundry service. Personally, I would vote for the washing machine and hang my clothes to dry in the house (yes, sad I know but that's our only choice). I believe that the only way you can get things done right is by doing it yourself (how optimistic of me ya?).
P/S: Some clothes even came back with mysterious red spots on them!!
We were advised to use one of the AMPLE laundry services that are available around the apartment block. A rough look at the prices and they seemed VERY VERY cheap. Only Rp7000 to wash and iron 1 kg of clothes. There was another laundry service advertising Rp5000 per kg even.
We closed our eyes and picked one of the laundry services from the MANY MANY brochures we had. Obviously from the title, you know we picked wrong!!
Oh, the initial round we called them, they were excellent. All my husbands working shirts came back ironed crisply and on hangers (of course right? otherwise it wouldn't make sense ironing it if you were going to fold it back). We, of course, being laundry service virgins assumed that our OWN clothes would be returned to us and therefore didn't take inventory of our clothes going out to the laundry service.
The second time we called them to come pick up our clothes, husband's working shirts came back folded! Hmm..maybe it was a one time mistake or maybe they didn't have enough hangers that day.
Third time we called them, husband's working shirts still folded plus we got a little bonus. We were handed back a t-shirt that wasn't ours. "Oh, poor sucker who owns this t-shirt. Probably wondering where his t-shirt went. Nevermind, we'll return it to them when they next come to collect our laundry" we thought.
Fourth time we called them, husband's working shirts still folded (notice a pattern here?). Now my husband is getting really ticked off and has already decided not to use their service anymore (guess it's not too much fun going into work with wrinkly shirts).
This morning, when my husband tried to put on his working pants, guess what happened? Well, you would have guessed it already. The pants weren't his!! Surprise, surprise.
So at 7:30 am, he's already ticked off (seriously, I didn't even get a kiss goodbye this morning). Calls the laundry service looking for his pants. They actually do pick up. So my husband goes "Semalam, hantar seluar salah. Bukan seluar saya". Then I hear him say repeatedly "seluar...bukan seluar...seluar.." (you get where I'm going). Then I remember, from my vast TV watching (don't say you don't learn anything from TV), that here they call it CELANA. Anyway, I shout from the bedroom "I think they call it celana here". At that point in time he had already been handed over to someone else, who I assume understood what seluar meant, and had said "ok, ok". Well, how they're going to manage to find the right pair of pants that belong to my husband is beyond me.
Then I get a "ding" moment (imagine light bulb going on above my head). Oh...that means we're missing a t-shirt as well since we got someone else's t-shirt. Now THAT is going to be a problem, because I have no recollection whatsoever, of the missing t-shirt.
If we were in KL, they would be getting an earful about how lousy and undependable they are. But here, people only probably understand 30% of what I'm trying to say. They usually just stare at me like I'm speaking some foreign language (which to them is probably true). So I'm thinking, save my breath and move on bravely to the next laundry service.
My theory is that they are secretly siphoning out our nicer clothes and replacing them with lousy ones so that they can sell it by the streets! If only I were in KL, I would probably be able to find them back by going to the Pasar Malam. Here, well, for safety reasons, we only hang out in shopping malls.
Well, I guess lesson learned. Cheap things aren't always good quality things. Now we have to make a choice, to buy a washing machine or to continue using the laundry service. Personally, I would vote for the washing machine and hang my clothes to dry in the house (yes, sad I know but that's our only choice). I believe that the only way you can get things done right is by doing it yourself (how optimistic of me ya?).
P/S: Some clothes even came back with mysterious red spots on them!!
Friday, October 9, 2009
dosin?? losin?? what??
We went for dinner at Anggrek Mall yesterday. Decided to do a little shopping for some pants (I'm 4 months pregnant and getting bigger by the day, so not surprisingly, most of my shorts cannot be zipped up anymore) and groceries. After that decided to treat myself to some J.Co Donuts for breakfast the next morning.
Stood in line waiting for my turn. Then comes the staff and asks me "Berapa dosin?". I say "Apa?". Then it sounded to me like he said "Berapa losin?". I'm thinking "Holy crap! what is this guy talking about?". So I'm thinking I wanna buy two pieces of donuts. Ok! I'll just try my luck and say "2". Maybe dosin or losin means pieces in Indonesia.
Guy squats down behind the counter and takes quite a while. Digging and digging under the counter. I'm thinking "This can't be good!". I console myself my telling myself that they probably don't get too many people coming in asking for only 2 pieces. The boxes are probably right in the back.
Up he comes with two GIANT boxes. "Oh...no no!", I say, "Hanya 2". Then he gets it!! "Oh...2 pieces", he replies. Then of course I get this look like "Oh..where is this girl from? she doesn't even know the difference between pieces and dozen?".
Anyway, being nice and friendly, as all service staff here are, he continues packing my choice of 2 measly donuts and sends me on my embarrassed way with a nice smile.
I have to say, my Bahasa Malaysia is pretty decent but the people here can't seem to understand me and I can barely make out what they're saying.
After coming back and consulting my dictionary (yes! I have an English-Indonesian dictionary that my father-in-law gave us when we came here) losin or dosin means dozen!! So guys, remember that!! This will prevent you walking away from a J.Co red-faced!
Stood in line waiting for my turn. Then comes the staff and asks me "Berapa dosin?". I say "Apa?". Then it sounded to me like he said "Berapa losin?". I'm thinking "Holy crap! what is this guy talking about?". So I'm thinking I wanna buy two pieces of donuts. Ok! I'll just try my luck and say "2". Maybe dosin or losin means pieces in Indonesia.
Guy squats down behind the counter and takes quite a while. Digging and digging under the counter. I'm thinking "This can't be good!". I console myself my telling myself that they probably don't get too many people coming in asking for only 2 pieces. The boxes are probably right in the back.
Up he comes with two GIANT boxes. "Oh...no no!", I say, "Hanya 2". Then he gets it!! "Oh...2 pieces", he replies. Then of course I get this look like "Oh..where is this girl from? she doesn't even know the difference between pieces and dozen?".
Anyway, being nice and friendly, as all service staff here are, he continues packing my choice of 2 measly donuts and sends me on my embarrassed way with a nice smile.
I have to say, my Bahasa Malaysia is pretty decent but the people here can't seem to understand me and I can barely make out what they're saying.
After coming back and consulting my dictionary (yes! I have an English-Indonesian dictionary that my father-in-law gave us when we came here) losin or dosin means dozen!! So guys, remember that!! This will prevent you walking away from a J.Co red-faced!
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