It stroke me when few weeks later I got a news that my grandfather was sick. I thought he would definitely be okay like usual. Then when my mom said he’s admitted to hospital, I knew I was wrong. He had never been hospitalized before. Something serious was going to happen for sure. My mom went to Kangean, an island near Madura in Indonesia. She’s originally from Kangean. All my family went to see him, except me, because I had several exams so I couldn’t go. I just couldn’t concentrate with my studies. In my head, I always thought about my grandfather. What if he couldn’t make it? What if he couldn’t survive until the end of this try outs? What if I could never see him again? I always panicked when the phone rang. I was so afraid it would me my mom and she would tell me the worst news. The news I was not ready to hear yet.

I got this really bad feeling since last night. I wonder what it was. So, I went to bed at 11.30 pm. Suddenly, at 3.30 am this morning, I am awake. But I got sleepy and sleep again. Then I am awake because my friend texted me. Just few minute after I read his message, I got another message from my dad. He’s gone. My grandfather has passed away this morning at 3.30 am. I couldn’t think clearly that I started pack my clothes. I want to see him for the last time. But my dad said, even though we wanted to go, but we can’t. The boat for today depart at 9.00 am and to reach the harbor, we need at least 6-7 hours. Today I also had a chemistry try out and I screwed up badly.

My grandfather was a lovely and funny person. He’s so nice and loved to smile. He laughed a lot as well. He was 87 years old and he always been healthy. He liked eating bakwan jagung (corn fried) and he liked to read word by word almost everything he could read of. He didn’t go to school because back then, Indonesia still under Netherlands colonialism. He always laugh and even though doctors prohibit him to eat a lot of sugar or everything that can lead to cholesterol and high blood pressure, he sometimes didn’t care and ate what he wanna eat. Like on my 17th birthday, I gave him my cake back then.

I remember when I went to Japan, I bought him a black t-shirt and he was so happy. I searched the perfect t-shirt during my visit to Asakusa. And even though I found the t-shirt in Narita Airport, but that t-shirt was a special souvenir from me. I remember he was smiling so wide when he received the t-short and wear it right away just like a kid. And he said, ‘You’re so right picking this one for me; I don’t have much black t-shirt at home’. His smile is what I’m gonna remember for my entire life.

What I really regret the most is that I didn’t have a chance to meet him for the last time. And just think about it makes me sad. I wish I had spent more time with him, he’s my grandfather after all. And I wish I had shown him my photos from Japan, he must be really excited to see them. Why didn’t I think about those things back then? Now, for all sudden, I understand how Miley Cyrus felt when his grandpa died.

Goodbye, my grandpa.

RIP Isa Abdullah (1923 - 2010)

Forever In Our Heart

So, here a short intermezzo. I would make a list, places or countries I wanna go:

1. Hong Kong

I don’t know why I really wanna go there. My classmates lived there couple years ago and from their story, it’s seems interesting. My cousin went there last year and she bought very cute sandals. Maybe it’s true that HK is one of that shopping heaven. And I really wanna go to Disneyland. I know it’s small in HK. But, visiting all Disneylands in the world is one of my wish list before I die. So I think I should get it started already

2. Shanghai

I read about Shanghai in one of Indonesian Local Magazine and it seems sooo interesting to visit. I just wanna know what China looks like. And I’d dare myself to eat their snacks. I heard they got a lot of unusual snacks. So, it must be one of my vacation list =)

3. South Korea

I went to Japan last summer and it was amazing. So I bet so does South Korea! I watch several Korean Dramas and I think Korea is a nice country. My dad went there two years ago and brought me a lot of cute clothes. I want to go there and shop by myself. I want to try (and maybe buy) hanbok, Korean traditional clothes. I want to go to their museum, seems nice.

4. Europe

Of course, everybody wants to go to Europe for vacation! But if I were you, I would go to England (still curious about London, thanks to Arien’s amazing story ;P), France (I wanna go to Disneyland Paris and Louvre Museum), Belgia, Holland (everybody says that Holland is beautiful), Italy (wohoo thanks to Lizzie McGuire the Movie), and Switzerland.

5. Brisbane

Honestly, I don’t really know about this place. But, when I read about it in short review on Garuda Indonesia Magazine, I really want to go there. It looks nice. Wish I could go there someday.

See, I love Asia. Three of my wish list trip are on Asia. I would LOVE to go to Japan AGAIN. I haven’t gone to Disneyland Tokyo anyway. And I haven’t gone to Ebisu Garden Place! Just see, I’ll definitely go there someday!

Enough of intermezzo. I gotta get back to my routine. Just three more months and I’ll free! Yay! Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading. See ya’ and bye bye! =)

By the time like this, usually I always doing that resolution thingy. I get used to it quite often so I guess I’ll make one this year. But, to begin with, I want to have a quick flashback of what I’ve done in 2009. Just the highlights of the year, though, because if I wrote down all the great stuffs I did this year, you’d bored.

1. I made my very first video clip. I know it’s part of the school project, but it was so much fun. The best thing is I get a great opportunity to learn how to edit the video too. And I know that making movie is one of my passions. You can read my post about it here, or even watch the video clip here.

2. First time I got a surprise from my friends! Believe me; I’d never got a surprise before so I am glad when my friends made it. Thank you so much, guys! =)

3. I went to Japan. Japan! I loved Japan and it was really great and stuff. Maybe my trip was the best part of 2009. You can read about it here.

4.   I don’t know how but I think 2009 is one of my lucky years. I won prizes like 6 times this year. And I think it’s totally cool. Wish I’ll have the same luck (or even more) in 2010.

I want to know if I fulfill my last year resolution. So I copy pasted my last year resolution. Here it is.

1. I HAVE TO improve my grades. Really. -> Well, my grades were not really bad in early of year.

2. Buy a new camera digital and learn more about photography. -> At the end I don’t think buying a new camera had anything to do with my willingness to learn photography. In fact, my dad got a plenty of cameras at home.

3. Learn more of making a film (a short film, of course). -> YES, I DID! =)

4. Go and explore a new city to get more inspiration for my stories (I’m lack of ideas recently, no, for a year actually and I really know why). -> Went to Japan this year! And got home with some brilliant ideas!

5. Preparing for my TOEFL and AS Level Examination, for sure. -> I didn’t take TOEFL this year; maybe next year?

Well, it’s pretty good, I think. I wish I could do my next year resolution better. And to close today’s post, here’s my 2010 resolution:

1. Make another short movie or video clip.

2. Get into university (well, I’ll totally miss high school!)

3. Explore another new country, it must be fun!

4. Just be better me (lame resolution I know) but I really mean it. Follow my heart and do what I think is the right to do; not the best to do. It makes difference.

5. Wish I won’t screw up too much on my studies.

Happy New Year Everybody! Happy New Year 2010! =)

What I need right now is a holiday. Seriously. I am starting miss my last holiday. It’s very short (only 2 days) but at least I really enjoyed it.

I went to Bandung last Lebaran Holiday wth my brother, my brother’s friend, and my brother’s friend’s sister. Actually, I went there to help my brother moved from Bandung back to Jakarta. But, ended up having a good holiday. Thank you so much, my brother. Now, when he is far away in Surabaya, I am kinda miss him.

Usually Jakarta-Bandung is approximately 2 hours. But, my brother drove so fast that we arrived at Bandung at 7.30 am (it was 6.00 am from Jakarta; only one and a half hour!). Then, we went to my brother’s place to take a little rest. After that, we went to PVJ (Paris Van Java) Bandung. It’s a good place. We took a look a pet shop and seeing the cats reminded me of Boy, used to be my cat. And we went to Daiso.

Having lunch at Gokkana Ramen at Ciwalk Bandung. After years I’ve been to Bandung, finally I went to Ciwalk! It’s good. I was so terrified when we went to a pet shop and I saw a big snake on the window. I have phobia of snake.

Then, we went shopping! I got a cool black cardigan and shawl. We went to factory outlet. Then went back to my brother’s place in the evening before went to Sierra Restaurant for dinner. The view was great because the restaurant itself is on the hill. It was beautiful at night, but it was really cold.

So now, having tired everyday, I wish I have a holiday. Just one day would be enough for me. I really look forward to weekend because only in weekend I can rest fully.

Okay then, I’ll post another post as soon as possible. Please wish me luck for tomorrow exam. I spent almost 10 hours today for studying chemistry. I hope it worth it. Bye bye and see ya’!

I dressed up as a wizard hahaha.. but I didn’t have a witch hat so, I just wearing coat and holding a wand =) My friend just announced the dress code about a couple days ago so I didn’t have time to get a more creative costume. Like I said, it’s been 12 years for me since the last time I celebrated Halloween.

12 years ago, I still remember it very clearly, October 1997, me and my brother dressed up for halloween. My brother even made the lantern pumpkin. Then, with my brother wearing a mask and I wore Princess Jasmine costume, we went door to door in our small apartment and said , “Trick or treat!”

We got a lot of candies. I love it. But, we got into a small fight when my brother wanted to keep most of the candies for himself. Hahaha. When I went to the school, I also wore the costume and everybody at class wearing different costume. It was fun.

I tweet some of my halloween memories on twitter. I just did.

mayaandhilda : the children got up as their dad came in to their small apartment. their dad brought something for them. to cheer them up on that Halloween.

mayaandhilda : the little girl opened her present first that her brother. her smile was on her face when she held that small snow globe.

mayaandhilda : inside the snow globe there was a teddy bear as a witch with orange snow flakes. she shaked it and her smile became wider.

mayaandhilda : up until now, that little girl always loves Halloween and every year she hopes that her dad would come home with a snow globe again for her.

That little girl was me. I still remember when my dad gave me the snow globe. It was pretty. One for me with a witch teddy bear inside it and one for my brother with a ghost inside it. I still have it now. Sometimes, I shake it and watch the flakes fell flawlessly.

This is one of my favourite photo. Wizard vs screamo. My friend cannot even took the photo properly because she wanted to laugh so bad, that she’s shaken the camera a bit, that’s why the photo is kinda blur.

Halloween actually is not Indonesian thing. We don’t celebrate halloween naturally. But I love Halloween that I got excited when my friend told me she gonna have a birthday party with halloween theme. It’s creative. But, yesterday I didn’t do any make up. Maybe I should have put some horror or gothic make up. But, I don’t have the make up kit and well, I am not really good at using make up. I wish I learn how.

Okay then, I am going to sleep now. As I promised yesterday, I post a report of my Halloween Day =)

I was kinda exhausted, I had Aikido Exam and it was so exhausting. And I wish I can pass. Yesterday, my dad forgot the way to get to my brother’s girlfriend’s house, so we lost our way and got home at 11 pm. I was so tired but this morning I have to wake up early so I can go to BSD for my exam. So now, I am going to take a rest.

Thank you for reading my post.

Bye bye and see ya’!

I cannot write a long post today, I am sorry. But, I am gonna report my Halloween Day as soon as possible, I promise.

The thing is, I love Halloween and this year might be my first year celebrating it after 12 years. So, everybody, please enjoy your Halloween Day!

Bye bye and see ya’!

ps. why oh why my aikido exam must be tomorrow? I mean, the day after Halloween? Well, wish me luck for tomorrow guys!

I think, the old us are who we really are. When we were child, as I already told you before, chose our dream without thinking twice. We chose our dream because we like it. Purely. Not because it’ll guarantee us a good job, high social status or big salary. And that’s why, every time I ask myself who I really am, I’ll remember who the old me was.

Since I was in Pittsburgh, I liked science. Maybe it was influenced by my brother. I got a lot of books of science. Three sets of series of encyclopedia, four books of science experiement and one medical book. Nobody in my family is a doctor. But when I was in elementary, I wanted to be a doctor so badly that I read that thick book. It’s really thick and heavy. And then, I changed my dream from a doctor to be an astronomer. Not like my classmate who wants to be an astronaut, I prefer to be an astronomer who study about stars, planet and galaxies only.

Because of my dream to be an astronomer, I read lots of books and encyclopedia about astronomy. Even though I read the same all over and over again (about the sun, the planets, the galaxies), I didn’t get tired of it. I wanted to have my own telescope, but until now, I never get one. I’d thought once to built it, but I didn’t know how to do and no one in my family interested in astronomy like me. Until now, I still like reading about astronomy and medical. The medical book I have in my room right now, explained a lot of how to help people from suffering disease with common symptoms. And in my spare time, I like reading it over and over again.

Then, I changed my dream to be a scientist. That time, I didn’t really understand what scientists do. In my mind, I always think about people wearing lab coat in the laboratory (in the basement) with all chemical tube in front of them and discovery something incredible. My science grade were good. I can say that since I was a very little, first knowledge I know was about science. Really. And when I was in Pittsburgh, I always amazed with all those experiment. Science experiment. My life is so close with science.

In middle school, I started learning science in more advanced and I was disappointed of how Indonesian Education is all about theories. I just can’t get it if only reading it through book that the book itself was not interesting at all. No full color and somehow contains text text and text. And formulas. It’s not interesting at all. The classes are not appealing. And suddenly, Physics became a subject that I don’t like the most. I cannot help it. How can I understand it if I can’t see all those stuffs they explained in that textbook? It continues until now. In middle school, since first year, I am into science class. I don’t even study about social studies at all except history. And it’s not world history by the way.

Now, I am very confused. I think I am going to take social studies such as literature or design. Something that would never involved science anymore. When I saw the social studies past paper, I felt something strange. I felt sad that I won’t learn science anymore (well, I’ll be very glad to not learning Physics =p). Science’s been my thing for a long time. Deep down down inside my heart, I still want to study about medical or astronomy or chemistry. But, I cannot think what’s the best for myself.

Astronomy, medical, science -> they all are my things. They all are like my old friends from the old me. And it’s so sad to say goodbye to them. If only I can have more than one job. But I know at the end, I have to choose one. But, if I am going to take science major in college, I probably want to go overseas. Here, the apparatus doesn’t good as in another country.What do you think, readers? In your opinion, what should I take?

And about that telescope, I really want to get one before I go to college. Last December, I tried to make my father bought me a telescope in Singapore, but I failed.

Okay then, I have to have dinner right now. My mom just start yelling at me to stop blogging. Thanks for reading anyway.

Bye bye and see ya’!

I use some cute food picks to make the bento looks delicious and fun to eat.  And this is what I ate for lunch today:

sandwhich for lunch =9

Okay, I got really tired now. I think I’m really going to sleep now. And poor me, I still cannot find the way to change the font on this new designed blog. Please, for any of blog.com user, tell me how to do it =)

My mom said my lunch looks like a kindergarten lunch. But I don’t think that way. Maybe it is, but as long as enjoy it and it can make me become more creative, I don’t really care what people saying. It doesn’t mean I’m rebellious or something :p

Okay then, I have to go. By the way, have you follow my twitter? If you want to, please follow me on http://twitter.com/mayaandhilda, see you everybody and goodnight!

pretty much like the first one but I love it though

It’s fun! Don’t you wanna try to make it? I know I’m still far from professional, but I want to learn more! Have you googled the word Bento? What don you think? They’re amazing right?

Even though I’m not that concern about the nutrition (for me, as long as it healthy and makes me want to eat it, any kind of home-made food is okay), I always try to put vegetables on my bento menu. Something like broccoli is enough for me. Sometimes I add apple too. Maybe you’re wondering, is this enough for my lunch? At first, I thought it won’t be, and I’ll get hungry after an hour eating them. But, somehow, amazingly, I feel full for almost the rest of the school time. Maybe because I eat the bento with vegetables and fruits too? I don’t really know hehe..

By the way, somehow I cannot find how to change the font. It changed so I cannot find the button. I’ll edit all my new posts once I found it =)

Okay then, byee.. I think I’m gonna post what I make today which is sandwhich