12.31.2009

31 Dec 2009

Thursday, 31 Dec 09, 9.26am at home

Hello diary..
Today is the last day of this year. The last day of 2009. I have been praying for something these last few years, and this year I managed to make that dream comes true. A dream to change something. Yes, I managed to change something hateful to be something hopeful. I should be happy about this achievement but I am not. When it used to be so hateful, I was so hopeful. Now it has become so hopeful, too hopeful, and it is so hateful to me. It's not that I demand more than this. It's not that I change my mind. It's just that I force this to happen too much and it does not turn out well now although I got what I want. I forgot that everything happens with a reason. And I never expected that the reason turns out to be something so hateful. It hits me back! I am so sad, I don't want it anymore. Something that I have been praying for years, suddenly I don't want it anymore..

A lesson to learn this year: Never force it to happen with our own strength. I know this. I always know this. But it's not easy to implement it in my life. Seems that my brain and my emotion control my acts.

Tomorrow will be a new year. Tomorrow will be a new day for me. I wanna leave everything so hateful in the past. I wanna be a person who always has hope and faith.

Happy New Year 2010, Diary..


-Abbie-

12.16.2009

Last Day In Office

Wednesday, 16 Dec 09, 8.48am on the bus

Hello my little diary..
Today is my last day going to office, this will be my last post on the bus on the way to office too. Today should be a happy day for me, I should be happy today, but why am I sad now? I guess the answer is only one: I already get used to this lifestyle. My colleagues have been my family in HK. This job has been my life since I moved to HK one year ago. I had nobody here, I had no expectation, when I first came to HK. This job gives me life and confidence. I really wanna dedicate this post to thank this company who has been employing me this one year, one month, and six days. But, if I turn back the time, I would still choose to resign. I will have no regret, I need to move on with life.

Yesterday I already had my farewell party with my colleagues. I have passed the job to my team mate. Today will just be a relaxing day for me. I brought all the used-newspapers today, I wanna give these to a grandma who collects used-newspapers every morning near the bus stop. Usually I give newspaper to her once a week since my husband buys newspaper only once a week every weekend. But today, I grabbed all of our "newspaper collections" that I usually keep for emergency purposes. This will be my last chance to help that old grandma.

Yesterday when one of my colleagues asked me "Will you just be a housewife and work at home? Won't you feel bored if you work alone?" *Tink!!* This sensitive question again!

Anyway, my posts have been quite boring to you recently since I'm very serious writing diary now. Let me tell you one lesson if you want to order food from a restaurant in Cantonese. I usually eat fried chicken ball with rice in Taiwanese restaurant near my office.
Me: "Ng goi, sei ye.." (Excuse me, I wanna order)
Waiter: ".........." [running around ignoring me]
Me: "Ng goi, sei ye!! Oei mai!! (Excuse me, I wanna order, take away!!) [I have to shout it loudly]
Waiter: ".....mei ah...?" (....what...?) [this is what I can catch so far]
Me: "Hai, oei mai" (yes, take away) [I thought she asked "oei mai ah?"]
Waiter: "......MEI AH....???!!" (....WHAT..??!!) [she is angry...]
Me: "HAI, OEI MAI!!" (YES, TAKE AWAY!!") [I still thought that she asked "OEI MAI?" and expected me to say it louder]
Waiter: "..........." [she looked at me with writing pose and one of her eyebrows was higher]
Me: "Kai gau fan" (fried chicken ball rice) [when she paused, it's the perfect time to say it]
Waiter: "...yam ah..?" (...drink..?)
Me: "Ng yu" (I don't want) [this part is smooth]
Waiter: "....cao....!!" (....go...!!)
Me: "......." [I shaked my head, I wanted to order, I didn't wanna go!)
Waiter: "....cao... Oei mai??" (...go... Take away..) [aha! This part I know!]
Me: "Hai!!" (yes!!)
Finally we finished the conversation and I managed to order Kai gou fan. Since I always buy Kai gou fan almost every day, when the chicken ball is finished, the auntie will shout "Kai gou fan mo le!!" right in front of my face even before I enter the restaurant. She recognize me now as the chicken ball lady? I will miss Kai gou fan in the future after I stop working... And that auntie..

I am reaching office now, talk to you again, diary!

-Abbie-

12.11.2009

Live Life to the Fullest!

Friday, 11 Dec 09, 8.29 am on the bus

Dear diary,
I will officially stop working at my current company on next Wednesday. I really look forward to that day, but at the same time, I feel nervous too. For the last two weeks, honestly I have been afraid to go back to my housewife life. I still can clearly remember how desperate I was when I was in Japan becoming a housewife. I don't like to be a useless person although I must admit that I'm not-too-usefull person too. Well, I guess this time will be different, I mean, slightly different. I know I will still be called housewife - a wife who stays at home, because I don't know what else I can be called. Apartmentwife? Flatwife? Anyway, that will be my new title, but my jobs will not be the same.

You must be wondering, if I don't want to be a housewife, why should I quit my job? Yea, that's what I'm wondering too. Am I crazy? No. Ok, yes.. A bit. What I'm feeling now is "my blood is boiling". *Isn't it winter in HK now? Are you still in HK??* Yes, I am still and will be in HK forever ever after! It has been officially decided, confirmed and endorsed by my husband.

Anyway, talking about my "boiling blood", if I can describe it using simple words, I feel that I can't live my life like this anymore. I am 28 years old now, turning to 29 in 2 months time. And, what have I done so far? What have I achieved? Ok, to make it simple, what is my best achievement in my life? Do you want to know my honest answer? You are right! I managed to find a guy who wants to marry me! That's my honest answer. My career life doesn't make me proud, I know I'm too dumb, I mean, not-that-smart to climb up the corporate ladder, so I should not waste any more time by just sitting dumbly in the office and waiting till my hair turns grey and my time is up! This corporate life doesn't fit me. I need to go out from my comfort zone, I need to take a brave step to at least try doing something else while I'm still young, do you think so? *you are almost 29, you are not young anymore* Haizz... Diary!!

I'm on the way to office now, I wanna enjoy these last 4 working days in my office. I will capture all these last moments and remember it in my mind, perhaps when I'm older *next year??* I wanna go back to this kind of life again. We never know what's going to happen in the future, so just keep praying, grab any opportunities in front of us, and do the best! Live a life to the fullest!

-Abbie-

11.25.2009

Diary on iPhone

Wednesday, 24 Nov 09, 9.07am on the bus

Diary!
Finally I managed to find blogspot application on my iPhone! Yea yeah, you are right, after more than 6 months I got my iPhone. I know I'm slow, but better late than never, right??

This is my first post of diary from the iPhone application. It's so easy! It's like sending SMS using a phone! *now you have no more excuse to not write diary!!* Let's see how it looks ^^

Oh, one big thing I wanna tell you today. I resigned last week! I will officially quit my job next month! I'm so excited to do my next business! I will update you again soon.. *now you absolutely have no more excuse not to write diary since you will have more time starting next month!*

-Abbie-

11.11.2009

Two Projects

Wednesday, 11 Nov 09, 8.57am on the bus

Morning diary!!
Surprise! I'm writing again now! ^^
Yea, I love writing actually, I love telling stories, I love entertaining people with my stories! But I guess, this diary is getting thicker and older now. Its contents are getting more serious too as my life is no longer simple. My brain only can think about serious issues *finally!* now. Many things happen recently, I just want to summarize them into 1 important point: I am currently in the mid of doing 2 big projects. *what a real summary!* Ok, let me elaborate more;
- One is a project in my personal life
- The other one is a project for my career.
After all, what woman wants in life is only accomplishing these 2 projects, agree?

I have been living in HK for more than 1 year but we are not moving to anywhere again now. This "moving around" issue has been settled now. I guess I will just live in HK for the next 5-10 years. I wanted to say 'forever' since we have no plan to move at all, but we never know what's gonna happen, right? So, I will just put '5-10 years' for now.

Haiz.. Time to rush to office again now since my bus is almost reaching office..
Talk to you again soon, diary!

-Abbie-

*Hey, isn't your explanation too brief for your "Two Projects" title??*

11.09.2009

Autumn in Europe

Monday, 9 Nov 09, 8.56am on the bus

Dear diary,

It's Monday again. I don't know how many Mondays passed by without me writing diary. I'm doing fine recently, not as busy as before. I just had an amazing Europe trip for 10 days with my hubby. Do you know why I call it "an amazing trip"? It's because the tour is only for HK people or at least for those who can speak Cantonese. Yes, I have been living in HK for more than a year now and I still can't understand Cantonese. Perhaps some simple words are understood but not the complicated ones. *what do you mean by simple words?* Well, it's something like "good morning", "how are you?", "sorry", "how much?", "what time?", and "on your left/right hand side", "toilet break", "get down from the bus". The last 3 phrases I learned when I was in Europe. It's amazing how I could learn Cantonese faster when I was out of HK, isn't it? Of course! It's because the tour leader kept talking in Cantonese! Not only talking, he kept singing old Cantonese songs using microphone on the bus to entertain the grandmas. You know, most of people who go to Europe are old folks and honeymooners and we are not under either category.

Anyway, my Europe trip was fun after all! I love the scenery! And I especially love the colorful leaves autumn!! You know that I really wanted to see autumn leaves so much since last year, right? Finally I could enjoy autumn in Europe! Although the leaves in Europe were not as pretty as the autumn leaves in Japan, I'm very satisfied now. Europe gives me different feeling about autumn, not so much about the beauty of the autumn itself, but the combination between old buildings and yellow autumn leaves really can make anyone falling in love all over again.


See you again, diary!

-Abbie-

9.11.2009

September Now??

Friday, 11 Sep 09, 8.51am on the bus

What date is it today? 11th?? What month? September??!! Oh My God!! I feel like I have been in other world for few months, leaving my dear diary unattended. I am back now. I love my diary so much and I am not leaving you, don't worry. Lately I have been very very busy with my new business and my traveling. I am having hard times to manage time now. I really thank God that finally my own business can kick off, finally!! I have been waiting for this day. It's not about the money that I can earn, but it's a great feeling that you can do it without anyone's help. I always have low confidence in doing things, I always feel I am a stupid clumsy girl, I always don't dare to make further steps. This time, I still do it with low confidence, I did not think it's gonna make it, but God is good! He opens up a way for me!

I wanna start writing diary again now. I don't wanna miss this crucial moment in my life. My life is going to change now. I wanna build a new life for me, and a real family! I am really looking forward to it! ^.^

Diary, I am reaching office soon. See you again! *when???* Soon la, I wanna write about my stories in August. I don't like skipping month! Can I change the date in the diary backward? *you wanna make it as if it was written in August?* Please.. Please.. Only this time, ok? No? Why? Not fun anymore? Hmm.. Let's see..

Got to go now, see you diary! ^.^

- Abbie -

8.05.2009

My Holiday In Korea

Wednesday, 5 Aug 09, 9.41am

Hello diary,
I am back in HK again after few days break in Seoul. Just dropping by to upload some pictures when we were in Korea. One of my life missions: go to Nami Island with my husband, has been successfully accomplished! ^^


And you know what? During our day tour, we met another Indonesian couple who were in their honeymoon in Korea. I'm glad to see them! We got along well easily. Here is our picture when we had lunch together.

This dish is called Dakkalbi, which means chicken BBQ. Looks yummy? Yes, it is! When we finish eating the meats, they put our rice onto that pan, and mix it with the remaining sauce and fry it for a while like making fried rice. Then, we can eat the rice. That is how we supposed to eat but we did not eat like that. How can we eat the salty meat only without the rice? So we asked the waiter to serve the rice together with the meats so we can eat rice and meat at the same time. The Koreans thought we were two weird couples. We didn't care, we have been raised up in rice-and-meat-to-be-eaten-together society, so we prefer to keep this tradition.

-Abbie-

7.30.2009

Summary of July

Thursday, 30 July 09, 8.38am on the bus

Hi diary,
It has really been more than one month since I last wrote my diary. Yea, before this month ends, I need to write at least one post. Recently I have been busy with my new business. This is my first time I really can make money from a business, not just receiving monthly salary from a company. The feeling is so different! Now I respect money more than before, earning money is not that easy! At the same time, I feel so excited and rewarded when my hard work is paid off. All the tiredness is suddenly gone. I really can work 20 hours a day with less sleeping now. Now I know the feeling of a hard-working Chinese business man. The feeling is just "it's never enough!" ok ok, I know, I should manage time properly and the most important thing is "do not love money too much!". I got a dream of tsunami one night. In my dream, I didn't save my life right away when the water started to come, I went back home to get my Gucci bag, my Dior wallet, and my iPhone!! In rush, I grabbed a BIBLE instead of my Gucci bag! God reminded me! Yes, He reminds me again and again. I had dream of that tsunami is not only that 1 time but 3 times! 3 times in this month only!

This month is month of July. I celebrated my second wedding anniversary in this month. This should be the month that I thought I would look forward to have so much. I have gone through 2 years of marriage life. It's not about the celebration does matter now. The feeling is different now, no longer have that lovey dovey feeling. My feeling is more into "Needing him" now. I am stepping into a higher phase of life, I guess.

Diary, I will be flying to Seoul tonight to visit my husband. He needs to be stationed to work in Korea for 2 weeks. God is always good, I have been wanting to go to Korea with hubby but every time our plans were cancelled because of different reasons. And this time, we really can go to Korea! With less money too! Isn't that great?

Diary, need to go to work now, see you next month!
I promise I will come back writing diary regularly next month ^^

-Abbie-

6.12.2009

Having Short Hair

Friday, 12 June 09, 8.35am on the bus

Good morning my diary,
It has been several days since my last post. It's because I wanted you to really read the meaning behind that chicken love story illustration and understand it well. *Halahh it's just because you're lazy to write!* Well, honestly I have been busy struggling with my new hair! It's so hard to maintain hair above shoulder, especially when I wake up in the morning. I am not sure if my sleeping pose is not so ergonomics or it's the problem with my hair or both? Every string of my hair goes to all different directions they can think of in the morning. During the day, I have to sit with my head straight otherwise my hair will happily lean on my neck and it will be in that shape till I wet it with water. On the bus, I can't put my head on the head rest too as its shape will be as flat as the bus' head rest. Yesterday when I had birthday lunch with my friends, I thought that I had done all my best to keep my hair in good shape, but I was shocked when I saw my own photo which my friend took candidly. My hair looked like duck's lips from side, not even chicken's lips! *Hey, it should be duck's tail, not lips* Whatever. I am so frustrated! I really regret that I cut my hair this short, I thought maintaining short hair was easier. I was wrong. My hair is thin, its shape easily changes. With one blow of wind, my hair will go to the same direction where the wind blows to. With one drop of water from the rain or from neighbor's laundry, my round hair will suddenly be flat and will never come back to its original shape till I hairdry it again. My face looks rounder too with this short hair. Everything just doesn't feel right. I have been writing diary in the past 20mins now, I bet the duck's lips tail is back.

I write it here so I can remember "Do not ever cut my hair above my shoulder again!" Short hair just doesn't look good to me although I like short hairstyle. Never mind, I will wait till it grows longer! *Of course you will wait, where can you go without your hair??*

-Abbie-

6.05.2009

Chicken Love Story

Friday, 5 June 09, 11.52pm at home

Hello diary,
Just dropping by to upload these pictures. *Who took these pics?* Me. Why? Is there something wrong? These chickens are so interesting. Look at their love life!


[A guy is chasing a girl] === [The guy and the girl are finally in love]


[They are having kids] === [The girl is now afraid to lose the guy!]

This is an illustration of a relationship between a guy and a girl, before and after marriage.

Anyway, those chickens are actually for salt & pepper. I bought them in Bangkok last week in the airport. I took pictures of them to show you how cute they are, never had intention to create that stupid chicken-love-story.

Good night, diary!

-Abbie-

Having Haircut in HK

Friday, 5 June 09, 8.28am on the bus

My diary..
I just got a haircut last night. What was I thinking till I went to saloon out of the blue? Yesterday I finished work quite early, around 7.15pm I had arrived my neighborhood. I felt like I should use the time doing something. So, I went to a shop near my home to buy a shower curtain. My current shower curtain is no longer decent to use. At the end, I got a nice shower curtain with cute flower prints on it. I finished this mini shopping at 7.30pm and I still had time doing something else. Fyi, usually I arrive home around 8.15pm. That means I still had 45 mins free time, right? Then I saw a hair saloon just in front of the shop that I went in. That's when the idea of cutting my hair came along.

My last haircut was on weekend few months ago. You know, I don't wear contact lenses on weekend. The hairdresser kept asking me to take off my glasses as the glasses' hangers on my ears disturbed his work. Then I took my thick glasses off and put it on again whenever I had chances. Hey, how can we act blur when somebody is doing something with our hair? And I didn't act blur, my sight was really really blur without my glasses! This is the reason why I prefer having having a haircut on weekdays when I have my contact lenses on.

I actually planned to just trim my hair a bit and enjoy the hairwash and the head message. When I told the hairdresser on how I would like to get my hair cut, we had some disconnection problems and missing-in-translation problem during our conversation. So, here I am now with short hair, above my shoulder! The last time I had this short hair was when I was in Uni in Australia, which is about 6 years ago. I don't like having short hair because of my chubby cheeks. It's ok, at least there is a change in this year, I am also kind of needing some hair make over. Plant is growing, so is my hair.

But, I don't like the way how the hairdresser cut my fringe hair! He was asking me something when he was about to cut it, and I just said "ok ok". I trusted him! After one cut, I screamed "Not that short!!", he looked scared and said "Oh ok" and he gave up cutting the rest! My fringe hair still needed some modeling, come on! And I didn't want to ask him to continue working on my fringe hair as I was afraid that we would have another disconnection problem while we were talking. So, now I am having a very short fringe hair at the center of my head and long-uncut-fringe-hair at the side. I struggled so much on this weird fringe hair this morning before going to work. I changed my hair path, it looks better now but not so much better. I gave up, I brought hair clip to clip my fringe hair up and the clip is gonna be there till it's getting a bit longer.

-Abbie-

6.04.2009

Kunci Pembawa Heboh

Thursday, 4 June 09, 12.37pm in office

Hello lagi, diary..
Kali ini aku harus menulis diary dalam bahasa Indo karna post kali ini sangat berbahaya, dapat mengancam pamor namaku di kantor untuk seumur hidupku!

Begini ceritanya. Dua hari lalu, sekitar stengah 7 malam saat aku mau pulang ke rumah dari kantor, aku ke toilet terlebih dahulu. Di kantorku yang sekarang, toiletnya berada di luar. Jadi aku harus mengambil kunci toilet dari dalam kantor untuk pergi ke toilet. Pada saat di toilet, Ron menelponku. Kami asik berbincang-bincang di telpon sampai2 aku lupa mengembalikan kunci ke tempatnya, melengganglah daku pulang ke rumah dengan kunci toilet masih di genggaman tangan. Aku berjanji dalam hati, aku bakal membawanya besok ke kantor dan mengembalikan ke tempatnya semula pagi2 sebelum teman2ku pada datang. Tidak ada yg salah kan? Dan semuanya akan baik-baik saja.

Pagi harinya, aku lupa menaruh kunci toilet kembali ke tempatnya! Teman2 sudah datang ke kantor. Aku baru sadar di siang hari pada saat teman2ku mulai membicarakan hilangnya kunci toilet wanita! Aku kebingungan, panik, tapi tetap memasang tampang tenang dan berlagak pilon pada saat salah satu temanku dengan hebohnya menceritakan kejadian hilangnya kunci. Rencanaku, aku akan diam2 mengembalikan kuncinya saat malam hari tiba, saat semua temanku sudah pulang. Kemarin malam, aku lupa mengembalikan kuncinya lagi!

Pagi tadi, aku membawa kunci toilet di dalam tasku. Aku berangkat pagi2 supaya ada waktu untuk diam2 menaruhnya kembali ke tempatnya. Sayangnya, aku tidak mendapatkan kesempatan! Pagi hari yang biasa kantor masih sepi, pagi ini sudah penuh ramai. Lebih hebohnya lagi, beberapa petugas keamanan gedung datang. Kulihat manajerku sedang berbincang-bincang dengan muka serius dengan si petugas keamanan gedung. Aku bertanya kepada teman yg duduk di sebelahku. Ternyata manajerku sedang melaporkan akan hilangnya kunci toilet wanita! Mereka akan mengusut tuntas kasus pencurian kunci toilet wanita tersebut karena hal ini dianggap membahayakan keamanan para wanita yang berada di gedung ini! Beberapa temanku sibuk berbisik-bisik dan saling menuduh, siapakah pria di kantorku yang diam2 mencuri kunci toilet wanita untuk dapat mengintip masuk ke toilet wanita. Terdengar beberapa teman wanitaku mengusulkan untuk melaporkan hal ini ke kantor polisi saja.

Aku benar2 tak menyangka, kasus kehilangan kunci toilet bisa berdampak seheboh ini di HK. Apa yang harus kulakukan sekarang? Sudah terlambat bagiku untuk diam2 mengembalikan kunci ke tempatnya sekarang. Petugas keamanan sudah mengerahkan kru-nya untuk mencari kunci di seluruh gedung, jadi tidak mungkin diam2 aku menjatuhkan kuncinya di toilet atau di lorong atau di lift, kan?

Hanya satu yang bisa kulakukan sekarang. Perlahan-lahan, kupindahkan tasku yang berisi kunci toilet dengan gantungan besar dan khas ke dalam laci meja kerjaku, dan kukunci rapat2. Aku akan membawa pulang kunci ini, dan menyembunyikannya selamanya.

Jika Anda membaca post ini, dimohon bungkam seumur hidup Anda. Tolong jangan laporkan aku ke pihak yang berwajib, ya? ya? ya? Aku tidak ada tujuan mencuri, tidak ada tujuan untuk mengintip toilet wanita (kalo itu kunci toilet pria, Anda bisa punya alibi lebih kuat), dan tidak ada tujuan untuk menyakiti para wanita di dalam toilet. Aku cuma.. kelupaan mengembalikan kunci. Mohon maaf yang sebesar-besarnya kepada pihak keamaan yg sudah direpotkan, dan kepada teman2 wanitaku yang sekarang selalu berdua (mengajak teman) kalau ke toilet. Maappppppp...

-Abbie-

6.03.2009

My Phuket Trip

Wednesday, 3 June 09, 10.56pm at home

Hellow my diary,
I'm in HK now. It's not that I had a long holiday! I was back from Thailand last Sunday, it was only 5 days trip. But I enjoyed it so much!


I experienced another type of life. I mean, I'm a land-creature; a living creature who usually lives on the land. When I was in Phuket, I experienced living like a fish. We were brought to another island by boat. When the boat stopped somewhere in the middle of the sea, I went into the sea with my mask, snorkel, a life jacket, and a pair of fins on.

That was my first time swimming on the sea. I did go into the sea years ago when I was playing banana boat, I did go into the sea years ago when my the boat that pulled my parachute was suddenly off in the middle of the sea so I had to voluntarily fly down into the sea with my big parachute while seeing the boat's driver trying hard to switch on the machine again. And for your information, I can't swim!


Luckily somebody invented 'life jacket'. Luckily I could borrow and wear life jacket! It's really a jacket that saved my life. The first time I jumped into the sea, the fins were really bothering me. My left fin was so big and heavy, I felt that it was going to fall off soon and be drown into the deep blue sea. I found out later that actually I was given a wrong size for my left fin, one size bigger than my right one. I had to struggle with my loose fin while I was already under the water. My feet had to keep moving so that I could keep floating on the water. But I also couldn't move my feet so much since at the same time I had to slowly take off my fins. I tried my best with all my swimming styles; frog's style, dog's style, whatever style to keep me floating. I managed to take off my left fin. The right fin was suddenly so tight as the water came in. And.... suddenly.... I'm sleepy now. Bye diary, let me continue this posting tomorrow, ok?

Good morning diary, I am on the bus to office now. Ok, where were we? Oh yea, the fin! Finally I managed to get rid of my right fin and put them back on the boat. I was so scared of swimming far away from the boat, I kept holding the boat while my mask and snorkel were already on my face. I felt like an orange nemo on the land. My hubby dragged me to the water. My legs kept moving, I was panic, I couldn't feel the land, yea that's 3m deep of sea! I was tired, salt-water came into my snorkled-mouth, I thought I would die there like a salted fish. But, I was floating! I wasnt drown! Yea, I was wearing life jacket! Stupid me was wearing life jacket and saved.

The next part is the most beautiful part. I was swimming floating here and there with my face down so I could see all the fish and all the beauty of the sea! The water was so clear. I was enjoying that different type of life. A life under the water. A life under the sea. The part that I like the most is; my hubby was holding my hand when we were snorkeling together, we were enjoying the beauty of the sea together. You may think that this sounds so silly and childish but I really love that moment. Because that was my first experience to be under the water with him. You will feel something different when you are under the water with your loved one. A couple should stay still in a good and bad time, in health and in sickness, in richness and poorness, in hot and in cold weather, and this time; on the land and under the water. It's a new experience. I wrote it here so that I can remember forever this very first moment. I enjoyed this trip so much! ^^

-Abbie-

5.24.2009

Snorkel

Sunday, 24 May 09, 3.56pm at home

Hello good afternoon my diary..
Today is such a raining and cloudy day. It has been raining since yesterday. The dark sky keeps appearing and disappearing as it likes. But I'm not as moody as the sky today because... because... I'm excited thinking about my next holiday! I just bought snorkel few days ago. You must be able to roughly guess where will be my destination. Yes, I'm going to the beach. I'm going to Phuket. I'm going to Thailand next Wednesday! I need some refreshments, I need some good food, and I need some massage! Thailand is the best place that is able to fulfill those three needs at the same time!! I am really looking forward to that trip!

See you again, diary! ^_~

-Abbie-

5.21.2009

Jonjing Shoes

Thursday, 21 May 09, 9.43pm at home

Hmm.. diary, you must know what I am going to talk about by just seeing this picture. I call these shoes as "jonjing shoes", meaning "not-at-the-same-height shoes".

Here are some information you need to take note about these shoes:
1. These shoes are a pair of shoes.
2. The left and the right shoes are exactly same design and same quality.
3. The left and the right shoes were bought at the same time with the same height of heels.
4. The left and the right shoes were always used by the same person whose left and right legs weight the same (or should be the same).
5. The left and the right shoes were always used together at the same time and same fequency.
6. The left and the right shoes were always used to walk to same places.

Now the question is; how can the right shoe have lower heel than the left one? Or; how can the left shoe have higher heel than the right one? You can choose which question you are more comfortable with.

Ok ok, I admit, these are my shoes. These white jonjing shoes are my shoes! Happy now? For the last few weeks, actually I had been feeling not so comfortable in walking. I thought one of my leg was suddenly longer than the other (or shorter than the other?) which made me slightly limping. I could not run so fast too with my floppy running style. This now explains why I came late to office most of the days recently.

I did not realize it till just now. I put those shoes on the floor near my home's entrance door and I went to kitchen to prepare dinner. My hubbie was looking at my jonjing shoes with one eyebrow higher than his other and asking me "How could this happen?". Not trying to be his echo, I spontaneously responsed "How could this happen?"

It's time to dispose these shoes now. I should write point number 7 then.
7. The left and the right shoes will be thrown away at the same time by the same person.

-Abbie-

The Sun Shines!

Thursday, 21 May 09, 8.40am on the bus

Dear my diary,
I am back in HK now. I am on the way to office. It is raining outside. The sky is dark. The weather is hot and humid. But it seems that people don't really care about the rain and the weather. They still do what they have to do. They bring umbrella to protect themselves from the rain. They sometimes run to avoid the rain as much as they can. Yes, this is what humans should react. Problems come and go, problems are part of our lives. There are only two ways; face it with an 'umbrella' or avoid it while you can. Many things happen in life, we still have to move on with life because time doesn't stop ticking, because everybody has a future that we should look forward and treasure.

Diary, I am really glad that I went home. Miracles happen when we believe, and I had good quality time with my family! I wanted to go home since months ago because I missed my family so much. Although the reason of coming home this time was not for holiday and not for having fun, I am still glad to have chance to see my family in bad time, this is what family is for, right? We can stay strong when we are together.

The sun is shining brightly now, the rain has stopped, the dark sky is no longer there. Yes, it's now time to go back to real life, back to routines, back to office, and back to work!

-Abbie-

5.14.2009

See you again, Ama..

Thursday, 14 May 09, 7.45am on the bus

Dear diary,
I am on the bus now, but not going to office this time, I am going to airport. I am going to Indo. I am going home, diary. My grandma just passed away yesterday afternoon. I was so shocked when I heard this super bad news because I thought she was doing well after the surgery. Actually her condition was ok after the surgery, she was put in ICU for the next few days. She was conscious few times and just suddenly her condition was worsen and she's gone. The only thing I feel relieved is, I know that she's gone with Jesus. She's gone right after the pastor prayed for her.

I am so sad. I am sad not because I want her to keep alive. I know that whatever happens is under God's plan, and I personally think that this is the best for her. She's gone few days after she got baptized, she was still so clean and God didn't let her to commit any sin. Her diseases were very complicated so she was so in pain. This is why I said that it's the best that she's gone now, to a much better place where there is no pain, no cry, no loneliness. The thing that makes me sad is I do regret that I can't keep my promise to accompany her, to stay with her. She was a lonely person. She lived with her only maid in her big house. What she needed was only an accompany. She was so happy when Chinese New Year comes since all her children and grandchildren come and gather. Yes, I admit that we all come and gather but the exciting reason was not to meet my grandma, we love the gathering because we can see all the relatives, all my cousins. But the main topic was never about her. Now we are all gathering again, all my big families, and for the first time and the last time, we all gather for her. Whenever I think about this, my heart hurts so much!

Life is short. Treasure your time now to be with the people you love. We are all now like having a holiday for 80 years at a place called Earth. When the holiday is over, when the plane has arrived to pick us up, it's time to have a real life, a real eternal life. I don't want to say good bye to my grandma, but I prefer saying "See you again, Ama!" I did mean what I said, I will see her again soon in heaven!

-Abbie-

5.12.2009

My First Credit Card

Tuesday, 12 May 09, 8.40am on the bus

Good morning, diary!
I am happy! Finally I got my first credit card, the very first one in my life! Well, when the world is now having economy problem because of the credit card, when people start avoiding/reducing their usage of credit card, I just got my first credit card and will start using it. You know, it was hard for me to get one although my salary is considered enough to apply one.

Ok, I tell you the story. On one fine day, I went to the bank to apply for my credit card. When I saw the details and the requirements, I was quite confident to aim for the gold card. One week passed, I received a letter from the bank saying that I should show them a copy of my employment contract. This was normal. When I submitted my employment contract, I asked them:
Me: "If my gold card application gets rejected, can you just automatically reapply it for a normal card?"
Bank officer: "Sure, you can"
Me: "I mean, can I be automatically considered for a lower card?"
Bank officer: "Yes, of course, you will still be considered for lower card if you reapply it"
Me: "So, can you reapply my card after it gets rejected?"
Bank officer: "Sure, you can. Would you be interested in some financial planning and insurance....."

That was my never-ending-conversation with the bank officer. Another week went by, I received a thin letter from the bank again. You know, thin letter means there was only one piece of paper in it, there was no card! Yes, it was a rejection letter and I was not automatically considered for a lower card.

On another one fine day, I went to the bank again to apply for a normal credit card. No gold. No silver. No platinum. Just a simple normal card. Again, I had to fill in all the forms! No exception! They should have had all my details by that moment, why should I fill in the same forms again? But, I still considered that as normal after I knew what's happening one week after. One week later, a piece of letter came again. Same letter. A letter from the bank saying that I should provide my employment contract! Have they lost the copy of employment contract that I gave them last time? Why should I go through the same process again? I was not giving my employment contract at that time because of 2 reasons; first, it's because I was really fed up, and second, it's because I really lost my employment contract since the last time I gave them! It's all their fault! I'm not a tidy person, I always forget to put the things back. So, I gave up, I didn't continue the application process. And another week passed by, another letter came again. It was not a letter with credit card, ok! It was just a reminder letter that I should produce my employment contract. I ignored the letter. I used to live for 28 years without even a single credit card and I lived well. I was sure that I would live well too without credit card for the rest of my life.

No, I was wrong! When I bought LV bags in Paris, I had to borrow my friend's credit card. I needed a credit card! There was only one way. Suddenly I remembered that I had a husband. He got a credit card and he could apply a sub-card for me! And yeap, this is how I managed to get my own credit card finally. A platinum card. With my full name written on that card. With my signature written at the back of the card. Ok ok, I remember, it's a sub-card, not based on my own merits. I'm not sure if I should be proud or ashamed of myself, for getting a credit card at the age of 28 years old.. and it's only a sub-card!

-Abbie-

5.07.2009

Burgundy Snails

Thursday, 7 May 09, 10.04pm at home

Hellow yellow diary..

I just took a shower. After taking a shower, I went to my kitchen and saw this burgundy snails. I bought this in Paris. I bought this because I like the shells of the snails. Cute, isn't it? Do you see the can below the shells? Yes, this can contains the snails. For your information, these snails are not toys, these snails are not living snails, these snails have died, these snails are edible, these snails are uncooked so need to be cooked. How to cook this? This is the part that I like the most.
• Insert a snail into each shell, then push a small amount of butter in the shell.
• Put on a snail dish and put into a hot oven at 210°C for about 10mins.
• As soon as the butter is bubbling, remove and serve immediately.
It's advisable to clean the shells after use and keep them at a safe place. The shells are reusable! This is interesting!

And this is how the snails look like after having 10mins sauna in a hot oven.

I wanna make a confession! The picture above is not how my real snails look like. My real snails are still uncooked and still sleeping soundly inside the can. I just grabbed a picture from the Internet just now just to show you how this Burgundy Snails dish should look like.

I have not cooked my snails yet because honestly I don't like eating snails. I like chicken meat the most among all meats in this world. Now I'm thinking of cooking chicken meat with some teriyaki sauce maybe and insert the pieces of the chicken into the shells. Hopefully the dead snails won't be mad as their shells are borrowed by chicken.

Now my question is; why this dish is called Burgundy Snails? From what I know, burgundy is the name of a color, dark red color. These snails are in green color, why is it called burgundy then?

-Abbie-

5.06.2009

Holland vs Indonesia

Wednesday, 6 May 09, 8.24am on the bus

Morning my diary,
I am feeling great today. For the last two days, I always woke up with heavy eyes and came to office late although I ran all the way from bus stop to office. However, today I woke up with fresh body and mind. About coming to office late? Let's see, I'm still on the bus now.

Diary, finally yesterday my grandma managed to have surgery to remove her tumor, the surgery went well! It was indeed a miracle from God! God really gives her chance to have a 'brand new' life. I am really really grateful and thankful for everything happened recently.

About my Netherlands' trip, I wanna keep my promise to tell you my story. It is actually no longer a hot topic now since few days have passed, I feel like writing executive summary for my thesis now. Anyway, my home country used to be Holland's colony for more than 350 years according to a subject that I learned in my high school, that subject is called History. This is why I find this country amazing! *Why? Tell me 5 good reasons!*

Ok, let me try if I can get 5 good reasons:
1. Holland has wonderful tulips!! *What does the tulip have something to do with Holland's 350 years colony in Indonesia??* Exactly! They used to live in Indonesia for hundreds years, why couldn't they plant tulip in there? They could use all those years to create special tulip which can live in hot country, right? Possible, right? *Please la, don't let your stupidity shown up la*

2. Holland and Indonesia are sharing same language for certain words. Previously I only knew some words they were sharing, e.g baskom (water bucket), knalpot (muffler), and pispot (pee bucket). After I went there, I know some more words like zegel (stamp), spoor (train platform), loket (counter), gratis (free), kantoor (office), etc. Amazing, isn't it? You don't think it's amazing? It's just normal??? I think some funny Indonesian/Javanese words could have been Dutch too, something like keteg (armpit) or phekog (stupid) or endog (egg). Hey, who could ever think that 'spoor' (in Indonesian: sepur) is Dutch?? I always make a joke of the words 'nunggang sepur' (riding a train) as it sounds so kampung. You will never know that 'nunggang' could have been Dutch too! My late grandma used to say "Holland spreken", I thought she wanted to say "Holland spoken" in her Javanese accent. But I was wrong! She knew Dutch! Don't ever undervalue Javanese, this is my conclusion.

3. I used to eat bread with butter and chocolate beads for breakfast at home. My mom made it for me. I never knew that it was originally from Holland! Those chocolate beads are very rare to get, not every country has those.

4. Holland loves orange so so so much! I mean, not the orange as a fruit. It's orange, a color. I love orange color too! *So?* I'm Indonesian and I love orange, can you see the connection? I also just heard that carrot was originally not in orange color, it should be in green or white or pink or whatever. Those Dutch people changed the color to orange! Can you believe it? No? Ok then.

5. And the last one... and the last one... let me think.. let me think.. ohh yes! Holland is popular with its wooden shoes. Indonesian/Javanese also has its traditional wooden shoes although the design is different, this Indonesian wooden shoe is called 'klompen' or 'thekleg'. Hmmm.. these funny words might be brought from Dutch too.

Diary, I've arrived office. I came too early today, I didn't need to run. The office was still dark, so I was the one who turned on all the lights! I was the earliest today! *What time did you arrive office?* It was around 9.19am. *And you were the earliest???!!* I'm feeling great today!

Time to get back to work now..
See you again, diary..

-Abbie-

5.03.2009

Feeling Down

Sunday, 3 May 09, 1.00pm at home

Hi again diary,
I wanted to make this post together with my previous post but I guess it doesn't feel right with my smiling pictures with the flowers since I'm feeling so sad now.

Diary, I actually have lots of interesting stories that I wanted to tell you about my journey in Amsterdam but I have no mood to tell you right now. My grandma is still sick in the hospital. Her operation is always delayed and delayed and delayed for more than 5x due to her weak condition. This morning I was so so so sad thinking about her. I always believe that everything happens for a reason, for a GOOD reason. Her always-delayed-operation should also have a good reason. Her doctor said that her living chance after having an operation is just 50%, not even 51%. God, please give her another chance of having a NEW life.. Miracles can happen when we believe, right? This is my will. This is my prayer. This is my wish. This is my desire. On the other hand, I exactly know that YOU know the best of all.. let YOUR will be done, not my will.. but, if possible, can YOUR will be the same as my will, God?

The Swine flu has been a hot topic every where in the world now. I was kind of scared of shaking hands with strangers when I was in Netherlands too, but that was part of my job since I was in the exhibition and I needed to meet lots of people. After I came back to HK, everyone here seems that they been ready for this virus. Many people in the service industry are now wearing masks, they keep cleaning and cleaning everything in the public area to prevent the virus. I am also now starting to keep myself clean *by taking shower more regularly now?* Yes! But more importantly, by believing that HE always protects me, and HE always protects you too! Diseases are always there but we will be protected, that's promised!

-Abbie-

Keukenhof, Amsterdam

Sunday, 3 May 09, 11.51am

Hello diary,
I just came back from Amsterdam 2 days ago. Again, it was a tiring trip. My seat on the plane was not upgraded to business class although I did try many tricks to get it upgraded. Well, on the way back from Paris to HK, I actually got my seat upgraded for free! That's why I tried the same method again by checking-in late and dressing up neatly and professionally. But, I was not successful this time. It's ok, there is one thing that I will not regret from this trip. I'm glad that I have chance to visit Keukenhof, the biggest tulip park in the world, in Amsterdam! The timing is so perfect, the tulips were blooming so beautifully. It's a rare chance to have come to Amsterdam at this right time! Here I put some pictures of the amazing tulips.




Fyi, I did not bring my tripod, and I was shy to ask my friend to take picture for me. I also did not dare to ask strangers. So, don't ask me how I managed to take those pictures.

-Abbie-

4.25.2009

Living below the Cloud

Saturday, 25 Apr 09, 4.51pm at home

Hi again diary,
Now the sun is shining. Yes, and I finally did my laundry, no more excuse. Here I took another picture for you when I happened to go into my bedroom and I saw them... doing this...

-Abbie-

Living above the Cloud

Saturday, 25 Apr 09, 11.23am at home

Hellow diary,
I woke up this morning under a very dark sky. I went down from my apartment to buy breakfast. It was not raining but I sensed that it would rain so heavily today so I did not do my laundry today. 30 minutes after I finished my breakfast, the sky was much darker than before! I saw very dark black cloud hanging outside, so near, so close, till I could see it, till I could feel it on my hand. I felt like living on the sky. Living above the cloud. A city above the cloud!

Here I took some pictures of the view outside from my bedroom and from my balcony. You can hardly see what's outside, right?

My two teddy bears were so amazed seeing nothing from my bedroom's window!

I was so amazed seeing nothing from my balcony, that's why I took this picture!

Now, the dark cloud has slowly vanished. The sky has been slowly cleared up. The sun has slowly been shining brightly. I've gotten my normal Saturday back and the question now is; should I do my weekly laundry then?

-Abbie-

4.21.2009

The HK Typhoon

Tuesday, 21 Apr 09, 10.28pm at home

Hi again, my diary..
I just had my shower and dinner. Today's dinner is pineapple rice without the pineapple and not-so-green curry seafood mixed with chicken, potatoes, and some broccoli. I tried to make thai food but ehmm... there is always room for improvement, right? I actually bought the pineapple in a can but I forgot to buy the can opener, that makes my pineapple rice without the pineapple. It sounds like ice tea without ice, or sate lontong without lontong. And about my not-so-green curry, it's because I put too much water in it and I did not want to waste my green curry paste so I just added coconut milk and salt and hoped that it would turn more green but it did not. Since there's so much soup, I needed to put more stuff inside so I put the potatoes and broccoli in. And yes, I know! Seafood can't get along well with chicken. It's ok, at least my hubby said "Wow, it tastes like sayur lodeh that my mum usually cooks!" Can I take this as a compliment?

Diary, the wind is blowing very strong outside. I'm not sure if this is already typhoon no 8? Or if it will turn to no 8 tomorrow? According to my employment agreement, if the typhoon level reaches no 8, we are allowed not to come to work and this kind of thing usually happens quite several times in a year. Now the problem is, how can I measure the level of the typhoon? I don't want to get stupidly stuck somewhere on the way to my office while all my colleagues are still sleeping tightly and soundly at home, enjoying extra holiday because of the typhoon. I also don't want to be the only one who is still sleeping tightly and soundly while all my colleagues already start working. So I asked my colleague and he answered with something very logical "Watch the weather forecast the night before and see if the forecaster says that the typhoon will reach no 8 tomorrow. In the morning before leaving for work, watch the news again to make sure. Usually the newspaper tells us too. The level of typhoon can be measured by colors too; yellow, red, black......" He also explained to me how the wind moves from south to north, or east to west? Whatever. He explained to me very clearly and technically but the problem now is; I dont understand what the forecaster or the newspaper says in Cantonese. Should I just assume it by looking at the color that my colleague mentioned? I'm not sure if he was referring to the color of the sky? Let's see if my guess will be correct.

Time to sleep again, diary..
The wind is still blowing so strongly. But, the living still must sleep.

-Abbie-

p.s You should be able to guess who that colleague is ^^

About My Grandma

Tuesday, 21 Apr 09, 8.40am on the bus

Hi again diary,
Lately I have been thinking a lot for my grandma. She is still in hospital until today and her condition seems getting worse and worse. My mum said that my grandma is very thin and weak now. She is the only grandma I still have. Her disease is very complicated perhaps because she is already old, around 85 years old, so some of the organs are not functioning well anymore. Honestly, I am not very close to her since she lives at different city and she doesn't talk much. Whenever I am in Indonesia for holiday, I always make some time to visit her but I never stay overnight at her house. I only visited her for few hours and whenever I was about to leave her, the same question that she always asked me "When are you going to sleep here? Please stay here with me for few days", but the way she asked me was with smile and did not sound so serious. So, I also always replied her the same answer like a template answer "Next time ya". Again she replied me with the same question "When is that next time?".

Now I am writing it here, this really makes me sad! I never keep my promise, not even once! She is now in hospital and is having operation on 29 Apr. We did not agree on having operation for her because her condition was too weak, we have been waiting for her to get better so she can have a surgery. However, her condition is not getting better, it's getting worse till she is cornered to have a mandatory operation now.

The only good news that I received about my grandma was; she was baptized last Saturday! Now she believes in Jesus, now she loves Jesus, now she believes that Jesus will take away her pains and bring her to the place where Jesus lives after this world. I really pray that her operation on 29 Apr will be done successfully. I really pray that she will be given a chance to have longer life so that she can experience a life after she follows Christ. I also really pray that I will be given a chance to stay with her and take care of her, just once will do. I feel like going back to Indo now but I can't! Exactly on that operation day, I will be in Amsterdam for another business trip. I am not excited for this trip at all!

Diary, please help me pray for her..

-Abbie-

4.17.2009

It's Gonna be My Real Little Diary

Friday, 17 Apr 09, 8.50am on the bus

Morning my super-little diary,
I'm on the bus on the way to office now. This is my first time writing diary using my iPhone. My diary now looks super cute and super little from my iPhone. Now I really feel like writing a real diary, not a blog post! You know what, I used to admire those people in movie who can take note every detail of every event on a small book and bring that small book and pen in their pockets wherever they go. *Are you admiring detectives??* No! those people who write diary on the park, on the bus, in toilet, wherever they find there is something interesting! Isn't that cool? Now I have this small diary that I can bring wherever I go. From now on, I wanna write more detail about my life, about what I do, and about anything that I see as interesting. Each post may be much shorter than my usual post, but I really wanna try it. Lets see if I can do it regularly.

Diary, I am reaching office soon.
Bye bye my cute little diary..

-Abbie-

4.15.2009

Nothing

Wednesday, 15 Apr 09, 10.18pm at home

Dear my lil diary,
I have not taken my shower yet. This is the real me. Every night after I go back from work, I have dinner, clean up the dining table and the dishes, and just play Internet till my husband shouts at me to take shower. Ron is now busy watching movie using his own laptop, so he doesn't really pay attention to my smell me. Soon he will finish his movie, so I better hurry up writing this diary.

Actually...
There is nothing special to report this week.

That's all I need to write here.
Good night, diary..

-Abbie-

4.11.2009

All About Paris

Saturday, 11 Nov 09, 3.43pm at home

Hello diary!
I was just back from Paris yesterday afternoon. That was a super tiring trip! Lucky that my seat on the plane on the way back to HK was upgraded to business class for free! So, at least I could sleep more comfortably on the plane. But still, last night I slept for 12 hours, the longest sleep in my life ever! I really feel sorry for my husband who already arranged for a one-day trip today to Lantau island. This morning around 10am, I heard he was telling me something excitedly about the trip, about the crystal cable car, about the factory outlet, and about the food? or the walk? I don't really recall it now since I was still in the middle of my reality world and my dream world when he said that to me. I couldn't really move my body, I couldn't open my eyes, and I fell asleep again after that. He kept entering the room to check if I have woken up. I'm really really sorry for ruining his plan because I slept too much like a pig. Can we arrange the trip again tomorrow or Monday? Please...

Anyway, my Paris trip was great! I had fun with my colleagues. The picture above was the first picture that I took when I was in Paris. When I was having my hot French Cappuccino and croissant as breakfast while I was searching for good places from the Paris Guide Book. I wanted to take picture before I sipped my coffee and before I ate the croissant actually, but it was so tempting till I couldn't resist and just realized it when the coffee was half-finished and when the croissant has been fully eaten.

I visited some nice places but this Eiffel picture is my favorite picture among all. I always wanted to touch Eiffel Tower with my own hands to make it more real. I know it sounds not too elegant but that's really the desire of my heart. I did enjoy the French food, quite amazed with the well organized menu; appetizers, main course, and desserts, at the beginning. After few days, I felt tired of waiting for the complete food to be served. Maybe you don't agree with me. Yes, I like a proper fine dining too! But the fine dining that I had in Paris was really too much longer than what I expected. Especially the first dinner that we had. We entered the restaurant at around 9pm and finished the complete course at 12.30am. Wasn't it too much of waiting? The restaurant was empty, we were the only customers at that time, and we were only 6 persons! And because that was the first day in Paris, we were so tired and some of us even fell asleep in the restaurant.

In that restaurant, I felt that my upper lip was swollen and numb! That was right after I sipped my coke light. I urgently warned all of my friends for not drinking this French coke light as it's too strong. I asked one of my friends:
Me: "Look at my lips, can you see it's swollen?"
Friend: "OMG, it's swollen so big!"
I was so panic, stopped drinking coke light, and gave light massage to my upper lip during the dinner. Maybe my lips were not so metropolis. Right after I reached the hotel, I looked at myself in front of the mirror. I just realized that my lip was not numb, not swollen at all. My lip was just dry because of the cold weather! It feels like numb because of the dryness. Now I'm wondering why my friend said that it's swollen so big? That was the shape of my lip at a normal size!

From this trip, I discovered something interesting. The buildings and the subway stations in Paris are all old. The subway stations' floor is still made by black stones. The ceiling is also like ceiling in a cave with some water dropping from the ceiling too sometimes. The train is also old, there is no automatic door so we have to open it manually by hand. Lift and elevators are seldom found since they only use stairs. It's very different with HK subway with shiny ceramic floors, elevators everywhere, and automatic doors for the train. The whole city looks old till I can call it 'classic'. Classic is artly and beautifully old. Now I'm looking at the buildings in HK from my 45th storey apartment's window. Yes, they are old too. *Classic?*

I'll tell you more about my stories next time, I'm tired and sleepy again now.
See you again, diary..

-Abbie-

4.05.2009

Leaving for Paris!

Sunday, 5 Apr 09, 4.04pm at home

Hi my little diary,
It's a bright Sunday today. I just finished cooking for my hubbie's meal for the next few days after I leave. I did cleaning for my home, and finished all the laundry. I did my shopping too! You know, last Friday after work, I went shopping for clothes! It's been a long time since I last shopped for clothes. I didn't intentionally want to buy clothes actually, it's all because I need some formal clothes for my Paris trip. I need to dress more formally and professionally as my work requires me to do so. And I don't want to look like a country woman who's just out of the chicken farm.

This morning, I've started my packing, I put the essential things on my luggage, such as all the work-related things, passport, documents, and my new formal clothes, and I stopped. I stopped packing because I was confused what casual clothes I should bring, which type of shoes I should wear. Hey, it's Paris! The city of fashion! I don't want to wear a dress that is like 10-years-old behind for them although I have just bought it last Friday. And how about the shoes? Honestly, I already packed 2 pair of shoes in my luggage, and I will be wearing another pair of shoes later. I can't make up my mind which shoes I should bring.
1. I bring my high heel open-shoes (to match with my formal clothes)
2. I bring my high heel long boots (just in case it's too cold to wear the open-shoes since it's still Spring over there and it's too casual to wear sport shoes)
3. I bring my sport shoes (just in case I'm tired of wearing high heel shoes)

Now I'm also thinking if I should just take off my contact-lenses, wear my thick grandma-like glasses, remove my make-up, wear pajamas, just go to the airport for my midnight flight and be ready to sleep? Or, should I still dress up nicely just to get on the plane and remove my contact-lenses and make-up after that? Or should I dress nicely till the end?

Anyway, I just realized something. Whatever I will wear later, I will still look like 10 years old behind their fashion. There is no way I can match how Paris-women dress. So, just be myself and hopefully their latest fashion is back to 10 years ago so I will look on track. Hey, fashion always changes, right?

I'll try to be online when I'm there and tell you my experience in Paris! ^_^
See you diary..

-Abbie-

4.01.2009

April Fool

Wednesday, 1 Apr 09, 10.50pm at home

Dear my little diary,
I just had my evening shower. A long evening shower with hot water. I like showering actually. *Is there any hidden meaning behind the word "actually"?* You know, it's like a little kid when his mother asks him to sleep, he always refuses. But, once he falls asleep, he wouldn't wake up till the mother tells him so. I never say that I refuse to take a bath, ok!

Today is the first day of April. People call the 1st day of April as April Fool. I don't know why they call it 'Fool'. Why must we have a special day for fools? Anyway, we are already on the fourth month of the year 2009 now. Time indeed goes by so quickly, time never listens to the girls who scream "Stop ticking! My wrinkles are coming out!", time also never listens to the boys who yell "Stop ticking! Tomorrow is my wedding (read: prisoning) day!"

This Sunday I'll go to Paris for 5 days. The most romantic city in the world. I've been dreaming to go to Paris on my honeymoon with my loved one. Yes, I've been to Paris, 13 years ago, when I was young, when I was still 15, when I was still so excited to know what love was, the time when I decided where I would go on my honeymoon! But, life is not always smooth-sailing. Life sometimes doesn't go on like what we have planned and expected. *What do you wanna say??* Ok, cut the story short, I didn't go to Paris for my honeymoon. And this time... I'm going to Paris neither for my 2nd honeymoon nor for my holiday. I'll go there alone, without my husband, for work. *Does this have something to do with April Fool?*

I was very excited when I knew that I was going to Paris months ago. But now, I am so nervous of being on the plane for 12 hours. I am also afraid of being jet lagged. I feel like I have to do my houseworks. Who will do the laundry and the cleaning then? And how about preparing dinner for my hubbie? Suddenly I feel old and weak and sleepy and lazy. I feel like not going anywhere now. I know that I'm a house-person but I can't believe that I've turned to be a turtle who can't leave its house forever. I think I have started having air sickness especially when I'm on the bus *Hey, it's because you always play with your iPhone on the bus!*

Oh, about the iPhone, I can get the GPRS thing on April 6th since I have to finish my current voice plan contract first. It's ok, I can wait till April 6th.

Can you see the picture of my iPhone's red casing on my previous post? It's so beautiful, right? Yes, I love the casing so much since it really matches my elegant iPhone. However, that casing is already half broken now. Yea, you can guess it right. It's all because of my stupidity that already reached the max limit! Last night on the way back to office, I had nothing to do on my mini-bus. Although the mini-bus runs very fast, I felt so free and bored doing nothing on it. So, I took out the phone accessories with the word "Abigail" which usually was hanging on my old phone. I wanted to put it on my iPhone, then I suddenly realized that there was no place to hang it. I looked at the casing and saw the clips at the top right and left of the casing that grab the iPhone to stay still. I tried to insert the accessory in between the gab at the top right and suddenly "Crack..!". The clip at the top left was broken. I gave up. I put my iPhone back on my handbag.

This morning on the way to office, I was bored on the bus. Again, I took out my iPhone and my "Abigail" and wanted to try other method to hang it on the casing. And I saw the 2 clips at the bottom of the casing that grab the iPhone from the bottom right and bottom left. These 2 clips at the bottom have holes! Then I quickly tied the string of "Abigail" on one of the holes. I was so excited and kept tying it till I made a big knot. Then I tried to insert the iPhone back in the casing again and I was shocked when that familiar "Crack..!" was back! The knot was too big, the space wasn't enough for my iPhone to be in so the clip at the top left was broken. I really gave up. I put my iPhone back on my handbag and sit quietly till my bus arrived to my office. *April Fool is indeed for you!*

Diary, need to sleep now. I need to collect my sleep whenever I have time to sleep now to prepare for my Paris trip. *Are you a kind of camel that can collect water in its special stomach??*

Good nite, diary!

-Abbie-

3.27.2009

iPhone

Friday, 27 Mar 09, 11.40pm at home

Hi Diary!!
You know what? Finally I bought iPhone!! Yaaayyyy!! This is the phone that I have been wanting and dearing for the last 2 years. Today after office, I already planned to go to Mongkok to buy that iPhone after so much consideration for weeks. Just 10mins before I got off from work, my hubbie called me and he wanted to take me to buy iPhone! Maybe you think this is nothing, but it really means something for me. What I really worried most before buying this phone was about the money and how my hubbie would think. His action today made me so happy and less guilty ^^

Ok ok, these are the pictures of my new iPhone. I took picture of every step of the grand opening process.



Before I bought this phone, I was worried if my intelligent was not high enough to use this smartphone. Now I got the answer. Even before I had the chance use this iPhone, I knew the answer. Even before I had chance to play around with this iPhone, I knew the answer. Even before I turned on this iPhone, I knew the answer. Even one second right after I held this iPhone on my hand, I knew the answer. I knew that I was way too stupid for this super smartphone. You know why? I don't know how to insert the simcard into the phone! Hey, this is really the first time I don't know how to insert a simcard, usually I'm not this stupid. There is no information on the manual book. Maybe Apple assumes that the users of this smartphone are smart enough to own this phone. It's like "there is no guidance on how to insert CD into the laptop", right? It's ok, I'm browsing on the net to find out how to insert the simcard now. I'm now out to catch up what I have left.

See you diary.. I'm too happy to sleep now, but I have to sleep. My iPhone needs to be recharged for 10 hours before I can use it. So even I will not sleep for the next 9 hours and 59 minutes, I will still not be to play around with my iPhone. So, I better sleep now, I need to be recharged too for 10 hours.

-Happie Abbie-

3.25.2009

A Blessed Day

Wednesday, 25 Mar 09, 10.24pm at home

Diaryyy!!!!!
Ooopss.. sorry, did I scream too loud? I'm too excited to see you!
Today I'm happy because I was lucky in several ways today. Well, there is no 'lucky' in this world, but I'm blessed!

1. I managed to catch my bus in the morning although I had to run as fast as possible and the most important part is I did NOT faint! *You almost fainted!* NO, almost! I did NOT.

2. I still had time to go the bank to re-apply my credit card (my first credit card application was rejected, well, in this case I was not really lucky). I hope that the bank is touched by my persistence, my sincerity, and my loyalty so they will grant me a credit card, with the lowest limit will do.

3. I was not late coming to office this morning! This is the best part. My office hour starts at 9am but they give us 30mins tolerance so if we come at 9.29.59 is still ok. Every morning (since we moved to new office), we have to send email to the HR people to show our attendance and they mark down the attendance time based on what time the email is sent. In the old office, we used card to open the door and they marked down the time when the card was flashed. Since we are in new office now, there are some differences:
- It takes more time to walk from the bus station to the new office since the new office is further than the old office
- It takes more time to take two escalators to reach the 3rd floor and take a lift to go up to my office
- It takes more time to walk from the office door to my desk since we don't use the card to mark the attendance anymore now
- It takes more time to switch on the computer
- It takes more time to open the Email system
- It takes more time to write the email address and the email subject
- It takes more time to click the 'send' button.
- It takes more time to wait the email moved from the 'Outbox' to 'Sent'
Yes, I did think a lot on how to automatize this. I did try many ways to save time too! One of them is by not switching off the computer when I leave office in the evening so I can quickly send email in the morning. As a result, my computer hanged! And it took more time to restart the computer again! Now I don't use that method anymore, I do my traditional way to save time, which is..... wear sport shoes, and RUN!!! It has triple impacts; save time, exercise my heart, and cut down my fat.

Where were we now? Oh yes, number 4.

4. My mini-bus' fare was $12 instead of $14! Hey, I didn't cheat, that was the real fare and I don't know why the driver charged differently.

5. My mini-bus took me to the nearest stop so I only needed to walk for 5mins to reach my apartment. Usually he dropped me at the stop quite far from my apartment; around 12mins walk. I don't know what's the reason too, maybe because the driver wanted to buy the tofu-rice near my home. Hey, you must believe me, I'm telling the truth! I saw he was yelling "Tofu-fan!!" at the shop owner from inside the mini-bus when it stopped at the red light and one auntie came out from the shop giving him a packet.

6. Just now, my hubbie cut a dragon-fruit and gave it to me. I didn't mean to include #6 in this list but since the topic is relevant so I'm writing it here too. You wanna know the reason why I consider myself lucky for #6? It's because usually cutting the fruit is my job! Now he starts doing it himself. I must give him some credits here to remember this eventfull moment when I'm old later.

I'm tired today. Need to sleep now.
Bye diary...

-Blessed Abbie-

3.22.2009

Indonesian Food

Sunday, 22 Mar 09, 11.00pm at home

Hi diary,
I just finished cooking! Usually I cook at night for tomorrow's dinner. I just realized that I haven't posted the pics of my food for quite long time. Ok then, here is my food ^_^

Pork Ribs with Pete & Curry Prawn

Recently, the menu is mostly Indonesian food. I love Indonesian food the most! I'm happy that I can get some of the exotic Indonesian ingredients in Hong Kong, such as lemon's leaves, pete, tempe, red onion, even coconut milk from Kara! In this way, I love Hong Kong so much! *Are you sure the pork ribs with pete is Indonesian food?* Yes! Pete is the typical Indonesian food! My mom-in-law taught me how to cook that when she was here. *How about the pork ribs?* Errr... yea, Indonesian don't eat pork. Anyway, I don't care. The recipe is from Indonesia!

I feel refreshed after the weekend. I have enough sleep, I have enough rest, but one thing I don't have enough during the weekend. I don't have enough eat on weekend because my hubby watches my diet tightly and restlessly. He's really scared if I turn to be a fat ahjumma (old auntie) one day since I eat like pig. Actually I don't agree with his statement. Pig doesn't eat pork, but I eat pork.

Diary, I need to sleep now. Tomorrow need to go back to the battle again!
See you diary..

-Abbie-

p.s you know what, I feel like a crazy woman now. I keep covering my computer screen with my both hands whenever my hubby passes by. I'm really scared if he sees my writing here while actually he is not interested to read. Well, I'm just shy if he reads my secret diary.

3.21.2009

New Goals for My Diary

Saturday, 21 Mar 09, 11.49pm

Dear my little diary,
Now is almost midnight and I'm still awake writing my diary now. My hubby is watching soccer. He loves soccer. I hate soccer. That's one of the clear differences we have beside our famous "clumsy vs well-organized" character. Wanna know what's our clear similarity? It's so obvious! Can you notice that? We are both lazy. We are both house-people. We love the moments of just being at home, laying down on the bed/sofa, watching movies, eating, and sleeping. I'm glad that God gives me such a similar partner!

Today is Saturday. You can guess what I was doing today. Yea, I just stayed at home the whole day. We had dinner at sushi restaurant. *Are you still going to the same sushi restaurant every weekend??* Thank you. That's the question I was waiting for. I'm now proudly saying that we didn't go to that sushi restaurant we usually go to. Yohoo, finally my life's changed! My life's changed only for today. We will go back to our favorite sushi restaurant next week again because the sushi that we had just now was not good. That restaurant is selling Chinese sushi! The moment when I entered that restaurant, I felt something was wrong. The music that they played was Chinese song. The lighting was also too bright for a Japanese restaurant. And when the sushi came, hmm.. they put tomato sauce with the sesame seed (it's exactly like the sauce for siumay and jeungfun) on top of the Tuna Sushi, and the name's amazingly changed to Spicy Tuna Sushi. The other sushi that I ordered was Spicy Salmon Sushi. *Another tomato sauce and sesame seed on top of it again??* Errmmm.. No comment. No offense. Anyway, I'm always the one who wants to experience new food and new restaurants. My hubby is always the one who says "Don't play play, just go to our usual place". Well, this is our other difference in.... Ahh! My hubby just shocked me! He always screams and screams when watching soccer, especially whenever the ball goes in! Haizz.. I knew his habit of watching soccer, but he still makes me shocked everytime he screams so loud like there's an earthquake! Where were we just now? What were we talking about just now? See! He made me losing my concentration in the middle of this silent midnight.

Now is already 12.35am, I better go to sleep now. No, don't sleep now. I have to keep awake if I don't want to get awaken in the mid of my sleep because of his screaming again.

Ok, let's talk about something. Keep me awake, diary. Oh yes, starting from now, I wanna promise myself (not promise you as I don't want to get blamed by you if I can't keep my promise) that I will be active writing my diary again whatever* happen! (see the T&C of * below). Do you know what's the reason? It's because one of my good friends motivated and encouraged me to keep writing. She likes my stories, her sister likes my stories too, even her mother likes reading my stories too! I really want to thank all my readers here. I started this blog to record all of my life stories just for my own readings when I'm old. Now I've changed my goal! I want to keep writing this blog to make my readers happy, to encourage them when they are down, to share my own bad experiences so that they will not make the same mistakes as I ever did, to share how loving and great our God is, to inspire.. *Hey, how many goals do you have??* Wait, one more, no, two more... to inspire my readers, and to make money from blogging (hopefully)!

My hubby is silently and seriously watching the soccer. I can go to sleep now. See you diary.. remind me if I pretend that I'm too busy to write diary in the future. Well, sometimes an excuse "too busy" sounds so sweet to hear. We will suddenly feel that we are so important and needed by others. Maybe not for you, maybe just for m.. no, not for me too. I just heard this statement from... somebody, at somewhere.

Nitezz diary..

-Abbie-

* Except if Ron makes me losing concentration.

3.12.2009

Things Happening to Me Recently

Thursday, 12 Mar 09, 1.14pm in office

Hellow my diary..
Now is lunch time. I'm in the office, just finished my lunch. We just moved to our new office last Monday so I'm still in the process of adjusting my office life now. My new office is further than the old office from my bus station. So, my life has slightly changed:
1. I have to walk more
2. I have to wake up earlier
3. I have to skip showering (if necessary)
But, there is always a but. My new seat is much better than before. Because I have none siting behind me! I only have a white wall behind me that becomes a mute witness to whatever I do in the office. The only bad thing is, my seat is so near to the entrance door so people come and go just in front of me. Even the toilet keys are put on a table just beside my desk so I have a new position and a new title; Toilet Manager! However, I don't get any responsibilities following my new title. Well, actually nobody calls me with my new title, it's just my own creation. Ha Ha Ha! *Hellooo, are you.. by any chance.. having your own world now? Is it a symptom of autism??*

You know, I feel like a robot who's having the same life every day. I also always complain to you that I need "warmness". My dining table doesn't give me the "warmness" that I expected. Recently, the thought of having a real family life comes up. But, it's not as simple as that. Life is full of constraints. I'm also still not ready to give up my freedom now. Can you believe it?? It's been my dream since many years ago, and I've suddenly changed now! But, deep inside my heart, I know I'm missing something. I just opened my drawer now and I grabbed whatever food inside there. I'm eating my banana now. Whenever I feel that I'm missing something, I eat. And I'll amazingly feel contented. Magic instant solution, isn't it?

Yesterday there was something happening that shocked me. Nothing to do with the topic above. This is a brand new topic! I just don't want to create a new post specially for this topic. Ok, here is the story. Hmm, where should I start? It can be described easily with 1 sentence actually, or do you prefer 2 sentences? No, I think 1 sentence is enough, but must use "," to separate the sentences. *Just tell me what that is!!* Hey, hold your horses! Be patient! I'm measuring how long your intestine is now (meaning: I'm testing your patience). Actually there's nothing happened yesterday. I just want to create the mood, I just want to excite you, I just want to excite myself with something so happening in this sleepy office environment.. sorry, I'm just imagining things.. *Wake up Abbie, stop having your own world!*

Ok, I'll just list down all the things that were happening in my life:
1. My grandma is admitted into hospital now, praying that she'll be fine soon!
2. My jacket was wrecked using scissor by I-dunno-who in the office
3. I just realized that I'm so addicted to coffee now. I really can't live without drinking one cup of coffee in a day. I can't concentrate working without coffee. I can't go to toilet without coffee *Hey, you are the Toilet Manager, you have all the keys with you, why can't you go to toilet??*
4. I found a mini-bus that can take me home from office within 25mins (usually it takes 1 hour by bus), it's just that I have to really hold the hand rail tightly.
5. I bought a new shoes one month ago, and I broke that new shoes one week ago.
6. My parents are coming to HK in April if my grandma is doing better.
7. Edison Chen still looks handsome to me regardless whatever he did.
8. I've been transferred to a new company (still managed by same company group) and doing new tasks now.
9. Me and my sister are doing something new every day.
10. I want to monetize my blogs.
11. Some people asked me a direction on the street and I dropped coins accidentally to all over the place on the street and they ended up picking up coins for me, I'm so sorry..
12. I'm looking forward to my Europe trip in Autumn! (if the condition permits)

Ok, have to go back to work now.
Bye, diary!

-Abbie-