I got my wisdom tooth swollen for days now. It’s now the 9th of February 2011 and I remembered the first time I felt that it is swollen is on the 3rd of February 2011. I’ve been on liquid diets on the past couple of days (it doesn’t make me lose weight, I had lots and lots of ice cream to soothe the pain and throbbing of my swollen gum) and I miss chewing, seriously. Liquid diets make me feel hungry every 3 hours and it makes me drink and eat all these calorieladden liquids (milk, sugary drinks, ice creams).

My face is puffy and I look fat (well, I did gain some weight but seriously my face is not supposed to be THIS round??). I didn’t sleep much for the last couple of days because my tooth was throbbing. I googled puffy face and turns out it is caused by, guess what, lack of sleep (cause your body to retain water). THANK YOU. I guess swollen wisdom tooth and lack of sleep are not a very good combination.

Other causes include dehydration (yes, I did hot yoga 2 days in a row, I sweated like a pig and I didn’t consume lots and lots of water afterwards, or for the past few days – not to mention the high amount of caffeine that entered my body made it even worse because it’s a diuretic and makes my body FLUSH the water inside), lack of vitamin C (yes yes, I should have taken my food supplement, because my diet is not nutritious enough, but yet I keep forgetting to take it every day).

And I just remembered, I took lots and lots of painkillers (of course not exceeding the daily intake, but almost) and the painkillers contain caffeine. UGH, it makes this even worse. Maybe I should switch to Aspirin, should I? Anyway..

It’s not that I’m sick but my body is really not in a good condition at the moment. I definitely should do something to make it better!! And yes, I’ll list the things that I need to do IMMEDIATELY to get back on track:

• Drink lots and lots of water (I aim to consume at least 3 liters of water per day)
• Sleep EARLY (I might need to restrict myself to use my laptop at home)
• Consume adequate food supplement every day (Multivitamin + Vitamin C)
• Drink/ eat watermelon (It said to be high in Vitamin C so it’ll help to reduce puffiness)
• Buy some fruit from the supermarket
• Eat properly
• Consume as little caffeine as possible (or maybe I’ll switch my coffee to green tea)
• Buy green tea bags from the Supermarket (Hahaha)
• Go to the dentist (booked an appointment later today)
• Do another yoga class tomorrow

Okay, there. I’ll update the post and cross out the things that I done.

I cannot do selfpity now because I need to take some actions to fix my body condition. I hope I will feel better in the next couple of days. Fingers crossed.

I put a tempura pict, just to show how much I miss chewing crunchy food. Not that I’ll eat it if my gum is not swollen, I’m too fat already, I’ll stick to salad. And I miss eating salad A LOT (lettuces are too hard for me to chew at the moment)

However, there’s this uncomfortable feeling in my gut. I know the culprit. It’s because I keep leaving the things that I need to do to face the future (jeez, it sounds so deep) on and on again. Am I under pressure now? To be honest, I don’t really know myself because I feel fine and okay. But I realized that deep down I actually feel.. scared, a bit hopeless, inadequate, not good enough, and.. more. Basically I don’t feel good about myself.

Although I feel like I am one of the most positive-thinking person in the world (it’s an exaggeration, but anyway..) I still have some negative thoughts in my head that I can’t avoid but I’m doing my best to push it away from my mind.

Down under, I know if I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing I’ll feel better, but I just don’t want to. I know I need to kick myself in the back and tell myself to keep going and just do it, and I’ll do it, soon, not now. I know I keep making excuses and doing other stuffs except the one that I should do such as posting a new post in this blog just to keep my mind off that thing. And I know that I’m rambling now.

Pardon me.

I’m a bit crazy about list, and I like making list (I like the song Lisztomania by Phoenix too, not that there’s any relation to it whatsoever). Okay, so let’s start the list! The things I need to do (updated, as of May 2011):

• Updating my CV
• Following up on my master’s application
• Working on my Personal Statement essay (i did finish it, but i’ll make a better one)
• Follow up with the referrers
• Start studying for GMAT
• Preparing for transcript and other documents needed
• Start thinking about how am I going to move my stuffs back to JKT (in JKT already)

Hmm, I think that’s okay for now. The funny thing is I made several list of the things that I need to do already. And I did it more than once. Even more than twice. And it’s a bit frustrating that I cannot cross out even one of the item on that list(s).

But anyway, I know I can, and I will, do it soon. I just have to be ‘in-the-zone’ or I may need to force myself to be ‘in-the-zone’. Right now I just want to enjoy my (now short) remaining time in HK, have fun and have the best of it. And it’s not like I’m bailing out of my task, I’m still doing it a (very tiny) piece by piece.

And there’s another list that I want to make. A typical, new year’s resolution list. I tend to make this list(s) because it works quite good as a reminder to me of what I want to do/ achieve in the future (no limitation on ‘future’. It could be tomorrow/ next year). And I admit, it’s pretty good to be able to cross out the item on the list. It makes me feel.. mm.. content. It eases my mind.

kennymoron’s New Year’s Resolution (updated, as of May 2011):

• Lose weight (I think this item will always appears on my NYR list) – i did lose some weight, but gained it all back now
• Drink more water – not quite sure about this
• Do more yoga – less yoga to be exact
• Stop picking my face  (i finally stop!)
• Read all the novels in ALL TIME 100 Novels (it’s a bit too ambitious though because at the moment the status is 1/100, but never say never..)
• Stop shopping too much and start saving (need to start saving soon!)
• Start selling unused stuff on ebay
• Start investing
• Start a good master degree in reputable Uni
• Spend more time to sleep everyday (being unemployed gives you LOTS of time to sleep)
• Stop my binge eating habit
• Less coffee and artificial substance (like sweetener and instant food)
• Less bread and refined carbs

Okay, that’s all I could think off now. Oh! I just bought a super-awesome camera (a Panasonic GF-2) and I named it Juliet Jones. So I think for now on I’ll decorate this blog with the pictures that I take.

And here’s one of them:

Let’s hope (and THINK! POSITIVELY ) that next year will be an even better year and I could cross out most of the items on my list. Fingers crossed!

update (as of May 2011)

Hmm, not so bad. I did cross some items on the list. I did make a progress, yay! And yes, I do realize that I still need to do (many) other things. But hey, the most important thing is that now I don’t have the bad feeling on the gut anymore! It is because (finally) I started to do what I need to do. And yes, I need to thank my friends because without them, I wont be able to do that.

So people, stop thinking too much and start doing what you need to be doing! I realized that what I did wrong is that I think too much about something without really doing anything about it. Thinking is good, but too much thinking could kill you (I seriously think that this is true).

*listomania – i made this word myself, which means crazy about making list. (Grammar police, pardon me about the thousand grammar mistakes in this blog. Me grammar no good. Me no native speaking english.)

Not a good match.

I love coffee. I love jelly.

Turns out to be a good match.

And I found something that really suitable for me at the moment. Something to eat, i meant. Because it’s not easy to find something that you actually want to eat on a diet (that’s won’t ruin your diet), at least for me.

So let me introduce you to my favorite dessert!

it’s coffee jelly! (duh?)

I like the one that I bought in a Japanese convenience store (I have a thing for convenience store, I just like it, no I meant love it) when I went to Tokyo a couple of months ago, that looks like this:

super yummy!

LOVE IT! It was a perfect dessert for me because it is relatively low in calorie, it taste great and it’s very satisfying as a dessert (at least for me). To bad it’s not that widely available in HK.

I found one brand beverage brand that sells coffee jelly in HK that is quite descent, but I cannot found it anymore. It’s a bit different with the Japanese one because the coffee jelly is put inside a bottle and you have to shake it well first before you eat it. It looks like this:

-need to find the images first, i even forget the brand of the coffee jelly -

Of course, you could always make it on your own, just google it there’s plenty of recipes out there. And I believe there will be the instant version one (not ready to eat) in the supermarket. I guess I’m just too lazy to make it on my own..

Oh! I remembered the Japanese super market in HK sell the ready-to-eat coffee jelly! Usually they put it together with the yoghurts and milks.

For coffee lovers, you’ll like it..

So, I have an idea of listing all the stuff that I like (and that I dislike, although it haven’t crossed my mind yet) here.

It wouldn’t be in order of preferences, so I’ll call a BULLET list, not a NUMBERED list.

and this is the first one.

It’s about Access Card.

an access card

I like access card. It gives you access

And the sound, when you open the door, makes you feel important!

YAY!

To be honest, I’m not quite good at opening a door with a key. Sometimes it’s just stuck and cannot be turn. So the idea opening the door by tapping a card sounds very good to me!

the place where you tap the card

And this is the picture where I tapped my card on it:

Sorry for the frozen yogurt cup that blocking the pict, my hands were quite full at that time.

So, there you go, an access card. Awesome.

This game is highly recommended! (acting like a god is quite fun)

Here’s what it looks like:

Do you have enough mana to do wonders?

Basically, you could build your own planet, have your followers to work for you (to gain some gold!),  buy new buildings (for your followers to work for even more gold), and decorate the planet!

I don’t know why I always like the “decorate-part” of a game. It’s actually what keeping me play the game over and over. Just like The Sims, I spent a very long time to build the house and build the ‘sim’ itself.

Hmm, to be honest playing this game is more like a routine rather than addiction. But maybe that’s because I don’t have an iPhone so I have to use my iPod Touch and since you need to be online to play this game, I have to find a wi-fi first.

That’s why it’s like a routine because I usually play it in my house (before I go to bed, and when I wake up in the morning – just like brushing teeth).

For more information about the game, it’s here!

http://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/godfinger-all-stars/id384222393?mt=8

And it seems like this post is going out of topic and basically, empty. Unimportant.

Anyway, I just feel like writing, so, here it is.

Lemon is good?

my curiosity almost killed me, i try google buttt, there are soooo many version of the saying which makes me even more confused. I asked several people but nobody sure about it.

so, please, anybody, let me know?

Image taken from Swissmiss, a design blog and studio run by Tina Roth Eisenberg.

life. lemons. god! suddenly i’m craving for some lemonade. might go to the nearest convenience store and buy one. ughhh my consumerism is killing me.

——-

Thanks to ‘acct student’ now I got the answer. Turns out that the opposite of lemon is: PLUM.

Really?

Plum?

Not sure.

Well, at least in terms of accounting, it is.

LEMONS AND PLUMS, in finance, LEMON is an investment with a poor or negative rate of return; and, PLUM is an investment with a healthy rate of return.

http://www.ventureline.com/accounting-glossary/L/lemons-and-plums-definition/

Speaking of plum and lemon, there’s this one veggie (or fruit?) called ‘Plum Lemon’. WHAT? yeah, things couldn’t get weirder. Thank you google, you expand my knowledge extensively (i hope! amen!)

The plum lemon looks like this:

Plum Lemon Tomato

Plum Lemon Tomato, it’s like combining 3 different fruits (botanically, tomato is a fruit) into one. And it’s actually a TOMATO that SHAPED like lemon.

So why bother put ‘Plum’ to the name of the fruit??

Hmm, I just can’t understand sometimes. . .

(taken from http://apiqquantum.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/10-paradoxes/)

10 analysis and opinion from trying-to-be-creative-kennymoron.

read along.

(caution: this is only opinions)

mr. csikszentmihaly and a woman

1. Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet and at rest.

well, I do think this is somewhat true since creative people sometimes spend their time to think (in unusual way) of something that not-very-creative people won’t even care to do. And yes, based on my observation people that I considered to be creative are like rechargeable battery that hyperactive, super talkative when the battery’s full and take sometime to charge the power it when it’s low (by being quite, thinking of something, at rest, or maybe meditating? who knows?)

2. Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time.

in my opinion, I don’t think that creative people is naïve. it’s just that I think creative people have somewhat different way of thinking that not-so-creative people may considered naïve. And yes, I do think creative people tend to be smart but no always in terms of academic (in my point of view that is)

3. Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.

yes yes yes, I agree with this paradox. I do think creative people may seems to be unorganized and irresponsible. However, they have their own way to be organize and responsible (in organizing song in their iTunes, perhaps?), even more than so-called responsible or organized people. And yes, creative people ARE playful.

4. Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.

I agree, behind their extensive imagination and fantasy I believe that alternately inside, creative people is realistic. But now, what is considered realistic? Because I think creative people have different kind of ‘reality’ with normal or common people.

5. Creative people trend to be both extroverted and introverted.

hmm.. I’m 60% agree with this. Because we would not know what is actually inside the brain of creative people. They may be totally introvert but on the outside extrovert? because there is no objective measurement on what is considered extroverted and introverted. In addition, for creative people, I do think there is something else other than extroverted and introverted. They could play to be extroverted today and introverted the next day but I do think inside, creative people is either extroverted or introverted, but not both. Well, I actually don’t really know about this.. It’s only my opinion and weird analysis.

6. Creative people are humble and proud at the same time.

Yes, they humble and proud. They proud of being creative (in terms of work, thinking, and et cetera) but also humble with other people. This may be due to the broad mind that creative people have because narrow-minded people won’t be able to be humble but also proud.

7. Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping.

Well, creative people should be open-minded, they are open to everything, even impossible, weird stuff. So yes, creative people should not narrowed their mind with something like stereotyping. Being creative means to use the brain beyond any extend, so why limit the thinking scope with such insignificant stuff like gender role stereotyping? this world means more than that.

8. Creative people are both rebellious and conservative.

Conservative = not creative? I don’t think so. However, creative people does not have to be rebellious. and yes, I agree with this statement because like a two-sided coin, creative people have two different side (or maybe more? some-kind of a dice maybe?) both rebellious and conservative at the same time. But I think sometimes people just view creative people from one side (which is the rebellious side) so people just relate creative with being rebellious. But maybe it is also because the ‘creative people’ only want people to see one of their side (because creative people sometimes have weird way of thinking, not in a bad way though) even though they actually the combination of both. It’s complicated (like friendster said) but it is true.

9. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.

Yesssssssss, creative people does not mean being all-so-subjective. In terms of their work, I do think creative people could be super objective since they could see something from different kind point of view. By looking their work objectively, the creative people could feel what the ‘objective people’ see and think about their work. As a result, they could even use their creativity to greater extend by trying to make ‘objective people’ could think subjectively about their work. Well, it’s only based on my opinion.

10. Creative people’s openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment.

Yeah, suffering and pain could be such an enjoyment for creative people. I do think sometimes creative people think backward and by suffering from pain, they may get the enjoyment from being able to share the suffer and pain that the others feel. Because what is the point in being creative if creative people only enjoy it for themselves? Because openness and sensitivity means care about other people, even though it equals to suffer and pain. Oh what a world..

The Energen Family. Chocolate is my favorite one, I'm salivating now.

Energen is some kind of instant breakfast food (or drink?) that you could eat (or drink?) anytime and anywhere. It is packaged in a sachet and has powdery texture. Energen has three kinds of flavor, chocolate, vanilla, and ‘kacang hijau’ (what is kacang ijo in English? Is it green beans?). The chocolate is my favorite one. This is the description from www.mayora.com,

‘Skipping meals is not an option. This instant milk cereal is made from natural ingredients and so full of nutrition that will give you a daily dose of healthiness with the taste that will leave you wanting more.’

‘Taste that will leave you wanting more.’ Exactly! Energen has just-the-right-amount of sweetness, a bit salty, and bitterly taste that united beautifully (unlike Nano-Nano candy, I HATE IT) to become a pleasantly delicious taste (a bit exaggerating here). Nevertheless, I don’t like the ‘Kacang Hijau’ (green beans in English? I don’t know, do you know? I know the Latin name, it is Phaseolus Radiatus) taste, since I think it is kind of bizarre (bizarre love triangle?). I don’t even like the taste or the appearance of ‘Bubur Kacang Ijo’.

The Energen box. It's empty, because I eat (or drink?) it ALL.

At this moment I’m going to tell you how exactly I eat Energen Cereal. Firstly, I open the pack (duh?!). Secondly, I lick my index finger until it is kind of damp. Thirdly, I plunk my index finger inside the Energen pack until the Energen powder glued to my finger (gross, I know, but it is marvelously GREAT!). Fourthly, I lick it. Continue step three and four for several times until the pack is empty. In between step three and four; I also use my thumb to aid the process of grasping the powdery Energen (and usually end up with the powder scattered all over my clothes). I just love when the Energen powder feels gluey on my finger, gross but irresistibly good at the same time.

Thumbs up for Energen!

I know, I know, the pack said (what? The pack can talk?) that after you open wreck the plastic open you should empty the content into a mug (or a bowl, I don’t know, because Energen is also considered food, right?). And afterwards, put some hot water inside the mug (or bowl) and enjoy (drink it or spoon it, it’s up to you!). However, I think it is much more tasty to eat it my way. And we don’t have to follow the exact rules right?

Energen Cereal is one of my favorite food (or drink? I still can’t decide) since I could eat it (or drink it?) in loads of ways. It is cheap (well, sort of, not in circle K though, Rp. 3000,- for a pack!), quite fulfilling, low in calorie, contains loads of vitamins (according to the pack, it is also good for your skin), could be prepare only in a split second (literally), and really long lasting if you eat it my way.

Any thoughts? Share your way of eating (or drinking?) Energen Cereal!

HA HA HA

This picture is featured in JAK & JIL, a website contains the ‘most-fashion-forward-people-ever-and-the-model-too’ picture in London, Paris, New York and other sophisticated fashion spots.

(see www.jakandjil.com for details)

And I saw this picture. I laugh my ass off (literally)

Isn’t it ironic? HA HA HA

When the ojek speeds up and take us to race to the destination, maneuvers along the unimaginable traffic jam in the city, bend over here and there, going on top of the sidewalk, agonize us with the way he drives but keep being ignorant; while the actual suspense drama occurring at the moment.

Look around and you will see, a stage act full of various genre of incident (not always means in a bad way): Two fat policemen with bulging stomach hang out and chilling (hangcil?) and gossiping, whereas the traffic situation is excruciating and needs to be taken care off (satire comedy); mbak-mbak (young women) office employer hurriedly go along the edge of the petite alley, anxious over the preman (free man – hahaha – well, it’s actually like gangsters?) who follows her ordered by her broken-hearted-ex-boyfriend (thriller); High School students ‘gang’ fight using all scary apparatus (knife, sword, or even cutter? you named it) (action); or an in-fashion-and-in-love-adolescence-couple intently observe each others eyes inside a top-of-the-pop car (owned by their parents) and waiting for the right time to kiss (just another teen movie).

All those stuffs happening at the same time, in a huge setting called ‘THE STREETS’. (jalanan maksudnya)

It applies the same to the beggars at the intersection of the road who sings out of tone due to darting back and forth at the same time from the ‘ugal-ugalan’ ojek (a taxi motorcycle riding recklessly). While on the other hand, his fingers strumming the Kla Project song that represents himself; “..musisi jalanan mulai beraksi, seiring langkahku kehilanganmu..” (..The streets musicians are starting to take actions along with my steps to losing you..) Perhaps he was just lost a couple thousands of rupiah or in the state of feeling sentimental. Nevertheless, we knew that streets are not ‘all-about-the-losing’ but also ‘emerging-a-variety-of-things’. Because it is a fact that most famous artists get a hold of their inspiration from the streets.

Let me take an example from the movie City of God (2002) that illustrated how the streets could means severity, and personal vengeance could materialize into a brutal collective force that is menacing and daunting. All the drama on the streets that is vicious and full of blood, including the war between the Rio de Janeiro gangs with firearms, clearly grasp by the director Fernando Meirelles as an amusing and entertaining raw materials in order to be transferred into a celluloid tape.

Still engaging in the ‘streets’ theme, Garin Nugroho choose Jogja and crafted a moving sketch of poverty (cause the feeling of tenderness) through the act of the non-actor-street-kids (anak jalanan, red.) in the Daun di Atas Bantal (Leaf on a Pillow) (1998) movie.

While in the Slacker movie, Richard Linklater seems like intended to gives a positive vibe to slackers on the side of the streets, bohemian style, and babbling about Dostoevsky, UFO, Marxism, JFK conspiration theory, and Madonna.

In addition, also observe a movie called Breathless (1960), the masterwork of Jean-Luc Godard with the legendary scene: an American girl yelling to peddle the newspaper in the streets of Paris, “New York Herald Tribune! New York Herald Tribune!” It is tremendously fascinating to scrutinize street fashion in the movie: Jean Seberg appeared so sweetly with pixie hair cut, semi-turtleneck t-shirt with rolled sleeves, complemented with capri pants and flats; walking along with Jean-Paul Belmondo who wore suits and ankle-high slim pants, a fedora hat, taking a drag on his cigarette and feeling like Humphrey Bogart.

The famous scene:

It is where the uniqueness of the streets culture located: there’s nothing precisely the same with the other. What’s unique in the corner of Paris have got to be different with the main streets in Latin America, the remote spots of Jogja, and hullabaloo at Shinjuku. And isn’t it exciting and challenging to excavate? Celebrating the diversity, provide the place for expressing our freedom, and the streets are full of inspiration. No wonder, a filmmaker apprentice who puzzled to find idea for his first movie, receives a short advice from the old hand: “Get your camera out, and go out to the street.” Maybe he could start from asking what is on Damon Albarn’s mind when he’s astonished by the graffiti words in the corners of London streets. Is the expressive voice in the street style really that important until Albarn use those graffiti as the title of Blur’s second album: “Modern life is rubbish?” Maybe yes. The modern world is truly worn-out, monotone, in desperate needs of new enlightenment. And it is not impossible the illumination actually emerge from the streets: the maneuvers action of the tukang ojek (“mana ujan ga da ojek, becek!” said Cinta Laura), unpleasant clothing style, or the graffiti on the wall. Exactly similar to ‘prediction’ Simon and Garfunkel:

“…the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls..”