Dhamma Camp 2008 - Find your OASIS!

Yeah, I'm finally back to Medan. I arrived last night. For the past few days, I was participating the NUSBS Dhamma Camp, so I'm going to share my experience about it now! In this camp, I am participating as a group leader. Thus, I had many to prepare.

7 December 2008
That day, it was group leaders' training day. Since most of us did not have any experience, we were called for this day to learn as much as possible from the seniors. The training itself was very fun. I also learned a lot that day. It really helped me in the camp.

8 December 2008
Finally, the day to check out from my room. We went straight to Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery, where our Dhamma Camp will be held. As the committee, we were there one day earlier to prepare everything.

9 December 2008
The 1st day! We, GLs, went to Toa Payoh MRT Station to wait for our group members. I was in Group 4! Every group had 2 GLs. Usually, the 2 GLs are a boy and a girl, but I ended up with a male partner. Hahaha.... But, it did not have any impact at all. In fact, he was really helpful. So, after everyone had arrived, we went back to the Monastery. We had them re-registered and kept their stuffs in their rooms. At 10.00 a.m., the camp started!
That day, our schedule was, Icebreakers, Bhuddist Etiquette, Temple Tour + Game, Sutta Studies, and Movie Screening (Title: Angulimala). By the way, my group's name was "Buddha Kids".

PS. I will only elaborate some nice activities.... ^^. For those who wants to know more can contact me directly... hahaha..

=Group 4: Buddha Kids=

10 December 2008
For morning, we had morning puja, morning exercise (Tai Ji Chian), Dhamma Talk (Topic: Dana). For the whole afternoon, we went to Bishan Home For Intellectually Disabled as a welfare visit. We were separated to 3 groups. The largest group was cleaning group. Next, we had another group to accompany the residents there in the library (telling stories, talk with them, etc.). And the last group, where I was placed, was there to organise games and play with the residents. After the game, we sang some Christmas songs for them. Later, at night, we had a quite interesting Dhamma Circle (Topic: When Buddhists fall in love)

11 December 2008
We had usual morning puja, morning exercise and Dhamma Talk (Topic: Sila). For today's main activities, we had a Dhamma Workshop (Topic: Relevance of Buddhism to the Modern World) + Debate (Topic: Does Premarital Sex Violate the 3rd precept?). For the debate, group 1,2, and 3 were in the proposition side, while group 4 and 5 were in the opposition side. Thus, I had 2 of my members to represent us. Both of them were not from NUS. One was a girl from University of Malaya. She was studying law! Hahaha... Another one was a boy currently a freshman from SMU. Both of them were very good speaker. However, the proposition team was also very good. In the end, we, opposition won the debate! That night, we had another Dhamma Circle (Topic: Is Media Selling Us Lies?)

=The Opposition Team=

12 December 2008
There would be Finale Night that day! Every group had to perform a performance. My group prepared a skit. I'll come back to this later. In the morning, we had another Dhamma Talk (Topic: Bhavana). In the afternoon, we had Dhamma Panel Discussion (Topic: Emptiness). The committee had arranged that we would have 3 venerables from different streams (Theravada, Mahayana, and Vanjrayana). The panel discussion turned out to be very interesting. I was really impressed with the eldest venerable. He gave a very very great speech and answers to questions. Before Finale Night, we had a Candlelight Procession.

Finally, the Finale Night! It started by the shows from each group. All the seniors came to see our performances. They would then decide the best performance. After the performances, we had a solo dance from Tong Shien (the best joker here!) and singing session. Before we ended the Finale Night, the judges announced the winner. And the winner is....... Group 4! Unbelievable, we won! A really big congratulations to all my members. We recieved a packet of snacks and we decided to share with everyone. After that, we took photos, photos, and photos!

=Group Photo (There is a new member!)=

13 December 2008
Finally, the last day of the camp. The last programme was the "3 Refuges and 5 Precepts Ceremony". After lunch, Hebert and I went directly to Changi Airport..... FIN.

It's Holiday Time!

First, let's see what I feel about my exams... (You can actually skip this ^^)
CS1101C - This killer module almost killed me that day. There are 22 pages of really long questions. The only thing I can say is I finished it on time. Hopefully, I was not that careless. So, it's quite good (since this is my last resort after the other 60% is not that good).
MA1505 - Well, another killer module. After unsatisfactory result of Mid Term, I really need to do good for this. I spent the most time for this exam in reading week. The result was okay, I think, though some questions are really not do-able. At the very least, I am satisfied.
EG1108 - This module suppose to be quite easy. However, it turned out that the final exam was really challenging. Hopefully, the day before I spent some time for it since I really could not bear with my CS1231 anymore. Actually, I do can finish the questions on time after some hindrance. But, still, I think I had done some mistakes.... but, forget it! Let's wait the result.
CS1231 - My last paper. The night before, I only spent one hour to review. There is really no much to learn/review. It's an open book exam. Thus, I needed a full 8-hour sleep. In fact, I slept for 9 hours that night. In the end, I did feel very relax in doing the exam. This is the longest 2-hour exam I had. However, I couldn't feel I know if I was doing good or not. Well, who cares? It's last paper and I could give the answers for the questions.

Now, let's forget about exam... Of course, I need to wait for others to finish before we are going out. So, yesterday, after Kelvin finished his math exam, which turned out to be quite perfect, we went to Habourfront for lunch. Since Hadi was going to be late (and he was really late!), we had our lunch first. Next, as Kelvin has planned for a very long time, we followed him to buy his brand-new handphone, Nokia E66. I planned to go and take my passport that day, but it turned out to be quite late. Thus, we decided to go straight to Orchard. That night, we were going to have dinner with everyone (who were still in Medan, of course).

Today, after a very complicated discussion between Hadi and Harris, we decided to have dinner at JustAcia, a so-called "economic" restaurant since we can have a free flow drink and ice cream. However, this afternoon, Hadi still had another schedule, so I went out with Kelvin first. First, we went again to VivoCity since Kelvin need to do something (for detail, ask the person himself). Next, we went to take my passport (in fact, I also took Hadi and his friends' passport) at Indonesia embassy. After that? We had nowhere to go. Kelvin and I decided to go to Dhobby Ghaut first (JustAcia is around there!). We arrived and "window-shopping" around the Plaza Singapura. As usual (Medan lang...), they (Harris, Hadi, Ady) were late. The dinner was wonderful. While sharing some joke (and "suan-suan" lang), we had our dinner. After dinner, we had an unpredictable accident! It was really a life-time experience. I didn't think it's a good idea to write what happened. So, just approach me for more details.

That's for these 2 days... Holiday is still long! Wait for more interesting one!

Facebook Virus!

It's 2 more days to my very 1st final exam... I'm still not fully confident yet. I gotta do my best in 2 days! Bad news is, I have just received last Monday's 2nd Mid Term result. It's unexpectedly not very good for me! I'm so sure there will be maximum 2 mistakes, but it turns out that I have 3 mistakes! Argh.. On the other hand, my lab result is quite impressive with 2 'A's and 1 'B'. Hahaha...

Yesterday, I just had my English for Academic Purposes final test (well, since it doesn't affect my CAP, I don't worry too much about it). As expected, grammar editing and text reading are quite easy. However, I still had a problem in writing essay. I am really not satisfied with the result when I proofread it. But, still, there was no much time left, so I just did my best to improve it.

That afternoon, I took a break and decided to create our class' facebook group. I uploaded some pictures and a video. Without my knowing, it suddenly became hot! Comments and comments kept coming in. After dinner, I then made a photo album and uploaded some photos. Unbelievably, it became a chain reaction. Others started to upload more and more photos. They started tagging and left comments. I decided to switch off my MacBook before it was too late.

The next day, which is today, I found there are 99 notifications in my Facebook. I supposed these people in NTU are too happy about finishing their exam. Yeah, good for them. I need to work hard myself. It's only a week left!

Mugging....

Finally, it's reading week. However, I have another unwanted midterm tomorrow! I hope I can do well since I have sacrificed my beautiful Sunday. Hahaha.

Okay, I just want to share my final exam schedule. Here it is:
ET1000 (English for Academic Purposes) 21-Nov-2008 Morning
CS1101C (Programming Methodology in C) 24-Nov-2008 Morning
MA1505 (Mathematics I) 24-Nov-2008 Evening
EG1108 (Electrical Engineering) 28-Nov-2008 Afternoon
CS1231Y (Discrete Mathematics) 29-Nov-2008 Morning

So... I think this is the last post before exam. Wish me luck!

Birthday, Birthday, BIRTHDAY!

First, I would like to congratulate Sandoko for his passing the selection for APhO. I know you can do it. Great man! You have proved yourself to the world.

Back on topic, this week is sure a special week. I have a bunch of my friends celebrating their birthdays. The first one is Nadia on 4 November. We actually celebrated her birthday earlier than schedule since we could not go and visit her on the D-Day. We went to her house 2 days earlier and gave her her birthday present. Next is Tiffany. Well, she is at Medan so I just sent her a message. Today, it is Micheal's birthday. He is our senior in NUS. He is one of the most active person among Indonesian. Almost every Indonesian know him. We all celebrated his birthday last night exactly on 12 a.m.

For the main event, we celebrated another two friends' birthday today. They are Kelvin and Theresia. Their birthday supposed to be tomorrow. However, again, weekdays are busy days for us. For our surprise, Budianda is here in Singapore! He just arrived today and came to NUS. He is with his sister. Since they were here, they joined us to celebrate their birthday. So, tonight, we had dinner at KEVII Dining Hall. We first planned just to celebrate it here. Unfortunately, there were two of our friends from NTU coming here (they were late!) while Budi and his sister had to leave early, we decided just to have dinner first and took some photos.

=They are here! Budi and his sister=

=KEVII Dining Hall=

Finally, Aristo and Eric had arrived. Aristo was quite annoying since he was really really hungry. Thus, we went straight to the Foodgle Hub (PGPR canteen) and started the celebration.

=Blowing the candle (since budget is limited, they have share the cake =.= )=

=Taken using self-timer, the result is not really good=

=The annoying starving "Acek" Aristo=

Last but not least, a special message from Kelvin Anggara!

=P.S. "lu" refer to Ms. Caterine=

After that, those who were not NUS students went back to their respective "home". That's all for the day!

It's the same! What should I write then?

Well, actually, many events I attend are also attended by Kelvin. Thus, he has written all I need to say. Hahaha. Anyway, I'll write it in my point of view. Since I didn't take any photos, you can just visit Kelvin' blog.

Again, final exam is drawing near! It's exactly 17 days till my first exam. Fortunately, I'm catching up! I think I can start reviewing next week.

Last Wednesday, Esther came to NUS. She was with her mother and grandmother at NUH. Since she was here and I was free, I took her to look around NUS. Unfortunately, it was raining. There is no much for her to see. The next night, Kelvin, Lewis, and I went for the concert at Yong Seow Toh Conservatory of Music for the very first time. As I've seen in Budianda's blog, the concert hall is unbelievably cool. But, wait until the concert started. They played extremely good. I held my breath and felt the music ran through my body (too exagerrating). Anyway, it was wonderful.

As for today, Kelvin and I went to the conference organized by Microsoft with NUS, NTU, and A Star. It's called Computing for 21st Century. There were 3 Turing Award (Nobel Prize for Computing) winner came there to give a talk. Actually, after that I went to somewhere for special mission, so: to be continued!

DBSK TV Show!

It was really a busy week lately since final exam is drawing near. That's why I didn't write any posts last week. Besides, I didn't know what I want to write. I feel really no spirit to write anything. Anyway, I am ready for my next post!

Well, I would to thank Nadia for recommending a very funny video. Hahaha. I still have the image. It is a Korean TV Show called "Come To Play" and DBSK is there. You can search it on Youtube. There are 7 parts of them. They are really really nice. I really feel refreshed after watching it, though it wastes my precious time. (joke2).

Apart from that, I just recieved my result for 2nd Quiz. It's 14/20. Hahaha. It's not really a good result, but I'm really satisfied. At least, I'm above average (FYI: average is around 11). This module is really tough, and it's getting tougher towards the end. All the theories are really simple, but the application is unbelievably confusing.

Currently, I am reading a book "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. I haven't finished reading it yet (I've read until the 2nd person). The story is quite interesting. So far, I enjoy reading it.

Hope I can write more posts. Thanks for reading.

Microsoft Singapore Event - Walk the Success Lane

Today is Saturday. It is a bit unusual since we didn't play basketball today. However, there is a much better event. Kelvin and I were going to a Microsoft Event - Walk the Success Lane. It was at Microsoft Singapore headquarter at One Marina Boulevard.

As we arrived at the 21st floor, Microsoft Auditorium, my first impression is "awesome"! After we re-registered, we had our lunch (Well, one of the main point we were there! Hahaha). As we had predicted, it's a wonderful lunch. After lunch, we had a series of talks. The first one is to introduce us an event called "Imagine Cup", a yearly event.
-For more information, visit: www.imaginecup.com

Next, we had a talk that introduce us about the new Windows development application, which is called Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). It's a very cool software which can build a nice application with 3D objects! (I actually want to post a video showing how it works, but somehow I didn't find any interesting one in Youtube)

Lastly, we had a kind of motivational talk. In my opinion, this is the best one! Well, since he was going to talk about "Be a Web 2.0 Leader", he initiated a short survey. Everyone under 35 was supposed to join the survey. The question is kinda easy. First, all of them were asked to stand up. He was then going to say a Web 2.0 term and saw how vast our knowledge about it. If you don't know what it is, you can then sit down. The survey will end after all of us sit down. (He looked so sure that we will all sit down. Hahaha!)

Well, let's try with you all. For warming up, firstly we had.... "Friendster". And, as you all can predict, noone is taking a seat. Next level, "Blogger". And still, everyone is standing up, as we can expect from computing students! (All of you should know until here. Watch out for the next one!). And... here comes a trickier one, "Twitter". For this one about half of us took a seat. FYI, I knew this! Wakaka. (For readers, if you know about this, we are in the same level!). He then came with a more difficult one, "LinkedIn". Suprisingly, there was only one person left! (I took a seat, by the way). This person was quite tough. He ended up sitting after two or three more some term I cannot catch.

Anyhow, he then continued to his talk. First, he asked us: "Why would people want to be a leader?". Only one answer from the list I would like to share, which is one of my friend's favourite, "Money, money, and money". He then had another slide which contained a "better" answer. However, it is a little contradict from the first one, which is "Money must not be self-motivation!". Kelvin and I then laughed out loudly! Kelvin intended to take a photo from this slide, but it somehow failed.

Okay, let be a little serious. This talk is quite motivating. I would like to share with you all.
First, of course, why we should we become the leader.
1. We can learn to grow faster.
2. We also help others to grow.
3. We can share and apply our opinion easier.
(I think there's some more, but I forgot! I didn't have a chance to write it down.)
He continued with 5 Tips for a good leadership:
1. Deliver the goods
- Do all your jobs and do it the best as you can
- Always hit your deadline (be on time)
- Always try to produce high quality results from your assignments/projects
2. Build the network
- Always get involved in events
- Volunteer yourself in non-commercial events
- Always be initiative introduce yourself to others
- Go lunch with others if you can (Don't eat by yourself)
3. Become visible
- Let others know your talents
- Look for and take on highly visible assigments
4. Looks count
- Always wear appropriate attire
- Don't be the most casual
5. Learn to communicate
- Learn how to do good presentation
- Learn how to convince other people
Bonus: Be who you are!
- Always have fun in your tasks
- Always be honest, do what you want to do!
- Don't compromise your value

Well, hope this inspire all of you. If you need any elaboration from the points above, feel free to catch me with either email or MSN or the shoutbox there.

What will I do if...

If I wake up, I will go and wash my face.
If I am going to have my first lesson on the day, I will go to take a bath.
If I wake up early, I will go for a walk.
If I wake up late, I will just go to lectures/tutorials late.
If I do not prepare anything for breakfast, I will go and buy "Chicken Pau" in the canteen.
If I have a break around noon, I will have my lunch in the nearest canteen.
If I do not have a break around noon, I don't know! (I always have a break, hahaha!)
If I do not have enough money for lunch, I will go to the nearest ATM to withdraw money.
If I am going to withdraw money, I will always withdraw $40.
If the queue is so long, I will always feel very boring.
If I am going to have my lunch, I will pray before I had my first bite.
If I have finished my lesson early, I will go to Central Forum.
If there is nothing in Central Forum, I will go back to my room.
If there is some event in Central Forum, I will look around.
If there is free Milo in Central Forum, I will always drink at least 3 cups.
If there are freebies in Central Forum, I will always try to get one.
If there is a long break, I will go to Central Library.
If I am going back to my room, I will go and wait in the bus stop.
If it is already late and there is no bus, I will walk back to my room.
If it is still not that late, I will wait for A1/A2 bus.
If I arrive my room, I will lie on the bed for a few seconds.
If I feel tired, I will continue to have a nap.
If I do not feel tired, I will switch on my MacBook!
If I switch on my MacBook, I will be online.
If I have nothing to important to finish, I will check my email, Facebook, and Friendster.
If I have something important to finish, I will finish it first.
If I need more concentration, I will set "busy" status.
If I need full concentration, I will not be online.
If it is around 4-5 pm and I am in my room, I will have my own tea time.
If it's time for dinner, I will go to have my dinner.
If I am going to have dinner in PGPR's canteen, I usually go to so-called "old" canteen.
If I don't go to old canteen, I will go to "new" canteen.
If I don't go to both canteen, I will go to Gourmet cafe. (It's quite cheap!)
If I am going to the canteen, I will bring along my water bottle. (To refill, =.=)
If I have finished my dinner, I will go back to my room.
If I am out of stock, I will go to Nanyang Supermarket.
If I have some apples left, I will have one or two.
If I have finished my tutorials, I will have chat with my friends.
If I feel sleepy, I will go to bed and have a nice sleep.
If it's Saturday afternoon, I will wash my clothes.
If it's Friday afternoon, I must be cleaning my room.
If it's already 1 month, I will change my bed sheet.
If it's Saturday morning, I will play basketball.
If it's not basketball, we will play futsal at KEVII.
If I do not go anywhere on Saturday afternoon, I will do my tutorials.
If I am lazy to go out on Sunday, I will go to visit the library.

PS. This is my so-called university life! ^^

Hope you are just okay!

Let me start with a small announcement. After I read it again, I feel like the last post was too harsh! I decided to remove it. As for Gilbert, I truthfully apologize. I should not have done that, though I was feeling quite unstable. Please do forgive me, okay? (If you haven't read what I posted, you can ask from me. Who knows there is something you need to complain. Feel free to do it!)

After a week of hell, everything returns to normal. We have our usual instructional period. Since I got not sufficient result, I need to strive harder and harder for the rest of the semester. There is only one thing for sure, the lesson becomes more and more interesting. Probably, I start to feel comfortable with it.

Today, another usual Wednesday. However, when I was having a short lecture to discuss our projects, I received a message from Ivana, telling me that Eric got a trouble! I was shocked and quickly called his roommate after the lecture ended. But, I could not call Ady (which I knew later on his handphone has broken down!). I decided to call him later after all my lessons ended.

Time passed and I have finished my lesson. Finally, I could call Chan and I heard about everything. I quickly called the others (NUSers), but it ended only Kelvin took the phone. = = (Actually, I forgot about Theresia, sorry....)

Hope you get well soon, Eric!

Dinner!

It has been about 2 months since I came to Singapore. Since I am staying at PGPR (Prince George's Park Residence), I usually have my dinner in the canteen there. There are two canteen in PGPR. First, it is the so-called "old" canteen, which is near the R1,R2 and R6. Second, it is the so-called "new" canteen. It actually has a name called Foodgle Hub. The major difference between these two canteens is the air-con. The latter is equipped with air-con. Well, after 2 months I am here, I feel pretty bored with the food already, though there are still some stalls I have never tried.

For last night's dinner and tonight's dinner, I have a unique one. Last night, I had a dinner with William Luimenta (a.k.a. Winong) and Thomas Edyson Chandra. Both of them are my senior. They are PGPR RAs (RA=Resident Assistant) and on their third year. They were Sutomo 1 students. That night, we had carrot cake for our dinner. Since I cannot cook anything, I prepared a loaf of bread and "sambal hebi". The cook was Winong. He is so skillful. The carrot cake he cooked was awesome! Although it is just a simple dinner, I had a very good time.

As for tonight's, I had my dinner in KEVII's dining hall. Hall-ers have a unique way of dining. They get to choose 2 main dishes and 1 side dish. They also have fruits, soups and drinks. Having dinner in dining hall does have a different taste. It can be more fantastic if the dining hall is full. Hahaha. ^^

Finally, it's Recess Week!

After 7 weeks of the instructional period, we had our recess week! Yeah!

Last Sunday, I had UNLEASHED (my ex-class' name while in high school) re-union for the first time in Singapore! We decided to go to Sentosa and played at the beaches. I cannot really describe all our activities. I'll just briefly write about it. We all first gathered at Vivo City. Around 12 pm, we went to Sentosa! Firstly, we went to Tanjong Beach. We went to one spot of the beach and started to put down our things. What else we will do other than playing some water? However, nobody dared to initiate. Thus, I started to splash some water to others and we ended up splashing water towards each other. Still, there were some of them who did not want to play with water. We decided to drag them down into the water. Hahaha. Finally, we ended up soaking everybody! (PS. Thanks a lot to Nadia as a photographer. In return, she was not soaked. ^^)

=UNLEASHED @ Sentosa=

After that, I had a crazy idea of burying myself. Accordingly, everyone started to help burying my self in the sand. Hehehe. Before we had our lunch, we cleaned ourselves and headed to Palawan Beach. There is a nice foodcourt at Palawan Beach. One thing that is unbelievable, it is very affordable price! Even though, I had prepared my own lunch. So, I only snapped some from my friends. Hahaha.

I wondered what were we going to do next. I decided to buy a volley ball (thanks to Ady and Eric for their little share!). Since we just finished our lunch, we decided to walk around first. We went to a place so-called "Southernmost Point of Asia Continent". Time passes and it was time to play ball! We firstly wanted to play volleyball. However, it ended up failed. So, we tried another game. We wanted to play captain's ball in the water, but not everyone would like to be wet again. = =
At last, Kelvin, Aristo, Setiadi, Hari, Theresia and I were the ones who played. It was really not an easy game. We just played for a while, but it was quite tiring. Moreover, it was quite boring since there was only six of us. Thus, we decided to play on the beach. As predicted, more people joined us and we had a great game.

="UNLEASHED" written on the sand of Palawan Beach=

UNLEASHED re-union ended very nice. Next, I had to serve Ady and Eric. Both of them decided to stay one night in NUS. After we had our dinner, we went to KEVII Block F lounge to play board game "RISK". It was so fun despite it was just a usual game. We really had some fun gathering together. The next day, we had some tour around NUS. We took them to have our best canteen in NUS "The Deck", which is Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences' canteen. We then took them to Central Library, University Cultural Centre, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.

Well, I am not satisfied just for that. I decided to go to NTU for overnight. So, here I am, writing this blog in Ady and Eric's room. I played badminton after dinner in NTU's SRC just now. This recess week is really fun. Still, I had to remember. I only can play for these few days. Starting from the day after tomorrow, I had many things to catch up. Anyway, I will still try to update my blog!

PS. For more photos, please visit http://vixklen.multiply.com

UNLEASHED OFFICIAL WEBSITE!

Hi, guys and gals! Please visit my class' official website at here: http://sutomounleashed.tk/
This website is created by Kelvin Anggara. It will also be maintained by him. Actually I want to help him, I'll ask him later. Hahaha. Anyway, for all Unleashed-er, please do visit this website. If you have any queries or suggestion, please fill free to contact Kelvin. Well, you can contact me as well, I think. Hahaha.

PS. You can drop your comment in the website, please try! Have fun. ^^

Manual, should you read it or not?

Although we are now in so-called "hi-tech" era, many people still find out it hard to use the technology. Many drawbacks happen, such as, functions in a smartphone that is not fully used. In fact, the manufacturers always give a manual along with the hi-tech items. It is just that this manual is always quite boring. Furthermore, when it is needed, for instance, when you are looking how to solve a problem in your PC, it always turned out that this manual cannot solve your problems. However, this manual is given because it is very essential.

First, you can probably wrongly install your sophisticated item. This happens usually to someone who has been using hi-tech things. These kind of people usually think it is just the same as the older one. In fact, new item is preferably made because it has new functions or features. Most people will read the manual when they have made a mistake. Usually, it will be too late to read the manual.

Secondly, you can miss out many functions or features that are actually very useful. For this phenomenon, it is too common. I can give one very simple example, my simple scientific calculator. I am quite sure that most of my friends who are using the same type of my calculator do not know about this feature. As a matter of fact, I just found it out few hours before. My calculator is CASIO fx-350MS. I just knew that it can help us convert a complex number from rectangular form to polar form, and vice versa. This function is actually very very useful, especially in electrical engineering(because I am studying it!).

Lastly, of course, you will know how to use it. Why do I state this reason? It is because there are still many people asking how to use this certain item or how to install it. Well, for some countries such as Indonesia, where people still feel more comfortable by listening than reading, it is a common problem.

To conclude, although it is very boring sometime, please read the manual for your own sake. Don't you feel you are in disadvantage since you have paid so much for it but you are not using its full features?

written by Prajnananda Kusuma

PS. Wah! My first essay that is written by my own will. Well, actually I am writing it so that all of you do not experience the same thing as I am.
PS. 2? If you want to know how to use the function I stated earlier, please just find me in MSN!

The Book Costs S$ 0.00 ?

It was Tuesday, so my lesson finished at 14.00. That day, I met Wilson while I was having my breakfast. He said that he wanted to buy a textbook. Since I had a NUS Coop membership, I could buy things at NUS Coop with 10% discount. We decided to go to NUS Coop at Central Forum after our late lunch at 14.00.

The books Wilson was going to buy are "Intermediate Accounting" and "Corporate Finance". Actually, he did not really want to buy "Intermediate Accounting" textbook. It was because his lecturer had an online assignment which uses the software(not so sure, for clarity, find Wilson) which you could get by buying the textbook(a nice way to get the students to buy the textbooks. She(or he?) is indeed a business' expert! ^^).

Wilson took the books and handed it to me. Thus, I went to cashier to pay the books. *Bip. *Bip. Two sounds indicated that the books were scanned. I found out that the books were so cheap. It was only about S$37(after discount). But, who cares? I paid and went out. I handed the book back to Wilson and asked, "Business books are quite cheap despite their fancy look." However, Wilson was confused. He then took the reciept and checked it. We soon found out an interesting fact. "Intermediate Accounting" costs S$ 0.00!

We were stunned for a few seconds. Wilson then rushed back to the Coop and asked his friends who had bought the book(we met them while we were inside). He then came out and told me what had happened. He somehow missed the instructions how to buy the book =='. The book we were taking was actually taken from the box. It was actually the book they haven't inputted in the database. As a result, it costs S$ 0.00. In fact, if you are going to buy that book, you should ask for the barcode at the customer service! Why? Because the so-called "software" you need is on the customer service, along with the books that have been inputted into the database. Well, accordingly, we returned the book into the box and bought for a new one. It turned out that the book is really expensive. It costs about S$ 45(after discount).

It was indeed a funny experience. See you in my next post! =)

PGPR Mid Autumn Festival!

=====================

PGPR Mid-Autumn Festival
------------------------------------
Venue: PGPR Plaza
Date: 13 September 2008
Time: 07.30 p.m. till finish
======================

It's another PGPR big event! It was very crowded. Everyone was enjoying themselves after the long week. I am sure it was quite a tough week since it was so-called "quiz-week", though some major do not have quiz. I, myself, had a tough quiz. Uh... I hoped the result was still okay. Anyway, let's talk about this event.

There are 7 booths. First, it is the "Chinese Calligraphy". There are some people from Chinese Society Club came here to write our names in Chinese. I also got one for myself. I pasted it on my room. Hahaha! Next, we have "Chinese Traditional Costum". Kelvin, Harris and I took a photo together. Moreover, it's free. Why should we hold back?

=Kelvin, Harris and I=

We arrived to the 3rd booth "Riddles". There are a lot of questions for us to guess. I didn't find it interesting, probably because I couldn't answer it. Hahaha. We then went to the 4th booth "Chinese Tea". They provided 3 types of tea, jasmine tea, phu erh tea, and guan yin tea. I loved this booth a lot, hahaha. I even asked for some tea leaves to take it back to my room.




Next, we have "FOOD" booth. There were some traditional cookies and tea-boiled egg. I didn't get the egg. Arghh... Next, we got "Chinese Chess" booth. This booth was filled up by the RADs. These proffessors all are very good players. Ckckck. I played with one of my friend who was in charge of this booth. With some luck, I won the game. Hahaha. Nice one.

=Thomas... Waiting for my turn=

Here is it! The most crowded booth -- "Make Your Very Own MOONCAKE!". Everyone get to make one mooncake. They first showed us how to make it, then we did it ourselves. In fact, it was very easy and I made it quite excellent. It's because we only did the very last step. Hahaha!

=Thomas... still trying to make a good one=

Yup2! That's all! There will be another Mid Autumn Festival by NUSBS next week. Wait for the story!
PS. Sorry for not giving labels of the photos... I'm quite lazy right now. Hahaha!

Unbelievable Skill!

Last night, after I am almost stress because I chased up reading my book, I decided to have a chat. So, I started to look for someone to chat. Usually, my chat always ends up like this:

Me: Hi!
Others: Hi!
Me: How r u?
Others: Fine, u?
Me: I'm just so-so (or whatever)

Last night, I was really annoyed by my messenger. It couldn't connect. So, I decided to use meebo, instead. However, it's also failed. Finally, I used ebuddy. Luckily, it worked! Yeah!

Then, I saw one old friend (not really that old, hahaha, just dunno how to describe her). Her name is Nora. I knew her back there in high school when we went to Surabaya for National Science Olympiad. Thus, as usual, I will start with "Hi!". Well, usually, it wouldn't be long, unless there are really some interesting topic to chat. On the other hand, she could bring up such a warm chat! Can you imagine? It is started just because she asked why I was so blue that day? (Because I was using blue text and it is a default by ebuddy). I'm really impressed with her social skill. She really showed that social skills are very important. I am always weak at this point. I wish I have some sort of these skills.

For those reasons, those of you who are studying social sciences, don't worry. You got some skills that is very important for life where many natural sciences' students, like me, not very good at it. Last words, thanks Nora for the chat. It was fun! ^^

It Doesn't Seem Like a Fire Drill...

When I was writing the last post, suddenly, the bell rang! Argh, it was very very loud. Actually, I had been informed by my cluster leader. Well, it was sure annoying. However, why didn't I try it? Just for refreshing... Hahaha

I took my passport, handphone, wallet with me. Then, I locked my room door and walked slowly out from the emergency exit, which is just there beside my room. I saw nobody came out. I entered again to my cluster and saw my cluster leader and a cluster mate. The others? Probably they were going somewhere to avoid this so-called "fire drill". Following the cluster leader's instruction, we went to the basketball court, which was the assembly point. On the way, I saw some smoke coming out! They even made some fake fire for it. Hahaha. It's interesting.

We were then told to line up according to our block. After they have finished marking the attendance, we were given instruction on how to use the fire extinguisher. We then also allowed to try it. Well, this was the first time I'm using it.

Here's how to use the fire extinguisher. There are 3 main steps.
1. Pull the pin (which is used to lock it)
2. Aim carefully
3. Kill the fire!!!

It was very easy. Hahaha. They also demonstrated how the flame is getting worse if we use water, instead. Well, don't try it at home! To sum up, it was a nice refreshing.

Why didn't I reliaze it?

I've been waiting to write another post! Finally, I got some stories and some time to write it.

It was about last Sunday. Since my Dad was here, we decided to visit my relative. But before that, since it was Silvia's birthday, Kelvin and I decided to buy something for her. It was very sad for her spending her birthday in the house doing her homework. We bought something (if you curious, you can ask her directly what it is ^^) and went straight to her house. At the main gate, my Dad suddenly said, "Eh, it's Yong An Park". I stopped and asked my Dad, "Yeah, someone Dad knows live here?". My Dad explained to me that one of my distant relative is staying here. Hm... I just know that. So, we decided to drop by later.

Knock..knock.. I knocked the door. It was Sylvia who opened the door! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Kelvin and I said to her and handed over the present. We went in and had a chat. Suddenly, someone who has just slept for half an hour came out. Well, it was Nadia. With her sleeping face, she greeted us. After some chat, my Dad said we were going to visit our relatives. To my surprise, Sylvia said she could guide us there. Ha??? But... wait a minute, yeah! Why didn't I realize it? This relative of mine is also Sylvia's relative, which means Sylvia and I are distant relative. I should have known that from the very first time.

Accordingly, we went there and we were greeted very warmly. Their house was very like home. I felt very comfortable. We had a long long chat.

Kelvin and the others decided to visit a temple. I didn't join them since my Dad and I were going to another relative's house. In the end, I have visited all my relatives in Singapore. Hahaha.

R3 Potluck Dinner

It's another new event from our residence. This is one of the greatest event! Hahaha... Each cluster(for instance, block 9 level 1) has to cook a dish for the dinner tonight. There will be some winners for 3 categories, which are the most creative, appealing, and popular dish.

We started to cook our dish at around 4 p.m. Our cluster leader, Adi, came out with an idea to cook some soup with macaroni. So, we had a macaroni and mushroom soup for main dish. Since we still got some budget, we bought some more things. Finally, we ended up buying a loaf of bread and chicken sausages. Eventually, we started to cook the dish! One and a half hour later, we managed to finish it! Yeah! Here is our dish!

=Sunflower Macaroni=

Yeah! That it is! We named it "Sunflower Macaroni". Hahaha... Do you wonder how did we cook it? It's very simple. First, we boiled the sausages. Second, while someone cooked the soup(it's me! ^^), another person sliced the sausages into small pieces. Meanwhile, the others cut the bread and toasted it. Next, I mixed the sausages with the soup and stir it for a while... Then, the soup has finished! Great! The last thing we needed to do is to decorate it. Hm2... I tried to put the toast here and there. As a result, I came up with an idea and there it is, the Sunflower Macaroni(I gave the name, too!).

Oh... There is one thing you must not forget to do when you have finished cooking your food. Taste it! I took one spoon of the soup and tasted it... Hey! It's not bad! We did it! Hahaha... Group of boys finally succeeded to cook their first dish in the cluster kitchen. When it was almost 7 p.m., I reheated the soup and went to the event venue, which was at R3 Lounge. Most of the others were already there. Wah... All the dish were very appealing and creative, especially the girls'. I got some pictures of them.

=Ice Cream Cake(It's full of chocolates!)=

=Pasta(You surely know it's from Block 10 Level 4)=

=Spagetthi(It's the most appealing one!)=

=A kind of desert(I don't know the name, hahaha)=

It was 7.30 p.m. and the event started. At first, nobody wanted to try ours. I was kind of a little sad. However, ours wass the first one finished! Actually, it was not because of ours is so delicious, it was just that ours was only for roughly 12 people. Hahaha! Well, in the end, we did not win any categories, of course. But, I really had fun! I am looking forward to the others event!

P.S. You can buy all the ingridients we used at Nanyang Supermarket at PGPR. ^^ It's simple and cheap!

Getting More Familiar with Singapore

Finally, it is Saturday! Hahaha. I started this morning by playing basketball. And, just after lunch, my trip today started. I actually needed to accompany my brother to airport. That's why I went by myself first. I then joined the others, i.e. William, Kelvin and Harris. They were having early dinner at Pizza Hut. When I arrived, they have just finished it.

Next, we went to see the COMTEX, which is a once a 3-month-IT fair. There are so many people at Suntech. You wouldn't can imagine it. However, I got a photo of it. Hahaha. It's not a very good photo, however. But, I hoped it can give you a little fraction of picture how is the situation.

=Level 1 at Suntec City Mall=

The IT fair is very crowded. You can barely move around freely. I decided to wait outside. I then saw some other friends who also came here, too. It was about 8.30 pm and I haven't had my dinner yet... Finally, with our so-called "Mr. GPS", Wilson, joined us and Harris finished his shopping, we went to a food court known as "Lau Pa Sat", which in Hokkian means Old Market. We were a little lost since the GPS had some technical problem finding the bus stop. Hahaha...

We took a bus and eventually arrived there. I quickly started to look for food. Hahaha. Wilson and I decided to share a dish called "Kway Chap". It is a dish with pig's organs and Kway Tiaw. As I heard from Wilson, it is so delicious. I then had a desert, which is "Es Kacang". I am very satisfied with my dinner. I think that's one of the best dinner I have ever had since I came to Singapore. It's cheap and delicious.

=Lau Pa Sat, main entrance=

=Lau Pa Sat, the food court=

Next, we had a walk around the Singapore River. As usual, Kelvin and I took some photos here and there. Hahaha. Well, I got one nice view. Hm2... I posted it below. Give some comment later on. We later had a chat while we were walking around. However, time passes surely fast. It was almost 11 pm when we realised it. We decided to return rather than we missed the last bus. Accordingly, we arrived back and we are all very tired. Despite that, I still want to write this post! Hahaha.

=Esplanade and Singapore River=

Uh... Although I said I wanted to write the post, to tell the truth, I was very very exhausted. Okay2, it's enough I think. One last think, please keep reading my blog and give comments! Thank you!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratz, Ady! Congratz, Esther!

Hi, everyone! These 2 days I received a very good news! First, Ady finally can secure his gold medal(although he is not so sure about it, :p) in IOAA(International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics). Hm2... I know he won't make us disappointed. Hahaha. You are indeed great, congratz, pal!

Next, we have Esther. She is one of the most hardworking friend I know. She has just been offered tuition grant for Singapore Polytechnic. Unfortunately, it's the April intake. I wonder what's wrong with the Singapore Polytechnic. Ckckck... Anyway, she really deserves a big applause. Her hardworking really impress me. Hm2... I wish I can be so hardworking like that. I feel I am really not that worthy for NUS to offer me a course here. However, since I have been offered, it's time to start working hard! Oh yeah, don't forget it. Congratz, Esther!

Well, I don't have many to say. If you have anything to ask or you have something to say, again, please don't hesitate to leave some message in my shoutbox. Keep reading my blog!

Last Weekend to Relax...

I'm not expecting to post so often like this. It's just that I have the mood. I hope it's not a boring one. ^^

Firstly, I would like to introduce my new template. Hahaha. And, I also edited it a little bit by placing my logo just in the bottom right. I hope you like this new look. Once again, please leave any comments. I really appreciate it.

This morning, I had a plan to join the walk to Kent Ridge Park with my cross-cultural group. The major problem is that it has been raining since I woke up and it keeps raining until now =='. However, it sometimes stops for a while, and that makes us decided to continue the walk. The park is actually a very nice place. It's the rain that makes it not that nice to walk around.

=It's me and Hebert somewhere near the exit of Kent Ridge Park=

This afternoon, I had my cluster kitchen cleaning. Looks like most of my cluster mates don't really care about it. Finally, I ended up cleaning the kitchen with my cluster leader(Adi Leo) and Ming Qi(his room just across my room). Thus, three of us start cleaning the kitchen at 4 pm. The kitchen was dirtier than we have expected. With just three of us, we spent 2 hours to finish the cleaning. However, it is really a fun one. ^^

So, just before I write this post, I was doing my tutorial questions. I thought I can finish in a very short time since there are only a few questions. Unfortunately, the questions is not as easy as I think. Luckily, I can solve it...

Probably, I will not be very active in writing post next week onwards. According to my senior, I will have lots of assignments to do starting from 3rd week, when all tutorials have started. Even so, I will keep writing a post at least once a week!

What a Comment! What a Speech!

Hi, my dearest blog-readers! This post is really an important one. Today, I received a very nice comment from my friend. Finally, there is someone who want to give her honest opinion. Well, according to her, my blog is quite boring. I mostly wrote about my experience which is not really interesting. She told me to write more about myself. For example, problems I face or . I am very pleased of the comment. I will try to write some posts in that context. Thanks a lot for it! I hope you keep reading my blog and leave me more comment!

Another interesting I had is a speech given by an experienced Buddhist while we were having our welcome tea. She gave a very nice speech. She told about herself when she was still young. She had many unexpected thing. Well, I will just summarize the story.

When she was 16, she wanted to skip "O" level, so she planned to go to medical school in India directly. However, she was found that she didn't have the qualification for it, thus she came back to Malaysia(she's from Malaysia, btw). Next, after her "A" level, she went to study at US. She went to science, because in US, you had to be bachelor in science before you went to medical school. At that time, computing is very popular. All her friends were in computer science. She decided to major in computer science for 1 semester and she found out it is very easy for her. After she has graduated, she was married to a Singaporean. Accordingly, she went to Singapore. But then after 2 years, they divorced. In fact, they did not hate each other. It was just they did not have that fate. That's how she ended up in Singapore.

Well, that's the summary. Probably it's not that interesting because I don't have that skill to elaborate it so nicely. To sum up, she told us that everything cannot run as planned. We need to be more flexible. We should not feel desparate if it was not as planned. We must quickly shift to plan B.

Yeah, that's all for today! To finish, I am really pleased if you can leave some comment. I will not be hurt by sharp "negative" comment, so don't worry too much. I know you all leave sharp comment because you want me to improve. Anyway, thanks a lot!

Another Week Is Passed...

Hi, everyone! It's been about a week I had not written anything. The bad news is I was sick last week. Oh... However, I've been a lot lot better now! Hahaha...

This is the first week of our instructional period. We only have lectures for first two weeks, so I am quite relax. I have 6 modules for this semester(I should only have 5, but I couldn't pass the QET. My English needs much improvement!), i.e.
1. CS1101C - Programming Methodology in C (My favourite module!)
2. CS1105 - Computing and Society (It's quite interesting)
3. CS1231 - Discrete Structures (The module is okay, but the lecturer...)
4. MA1505 - Mathematics I (Maths...as usual)
5. EG1108 - Electrical Engineering (Okay la...)
6. ET1000 - English for Academic Purposes (no comment...)

Today is Saturday! This morning, I went to play soccer with other friends from Indonesia. It's a nice exercise. I have skipped to do exercises since I was sick last week. Then, we (William, Kelvin, and I) decided to have our lunch outside NUS. Hahaha... Then, after Harris and Hebert joined us, we began our journey today! Suddenly, Kelvin got an idea to ask Nadia to join us. We made an agreement to meet in City Hall MRT station. Gosh... We waited her for quite a long time.

After lunch (and some stupid discussion), we decided to go to Sim Lim. Another idea came out. Now, we asked Sylvia to join us(FYI, Sylvia is Nadia's elder sister). For my surprise, Lasalle, which is the so-called "art" university that Nadia is currently enrolled, is just a stone's throw from Sim Lim. Accordingly, we went to look around this "Lasalle".

Wuah... Laselle is as expected as an art university. The design of the building is so cool! So, what am I waiting for? I took photos here and there. However, it was only Kelvin and I that have this anthusiasm. Ckckck.

=It's me at Lasalle=

=Kelvin and I=

Then, we went back to Sim Lim. Nadia was going to make his life-time decision. She was going to buy a laptop!!! Finally, she chose Sony VAIO VGN-SR13GN with red colour. It was a nice one, really. Next, we were going to take Kelvin orders from Medan. But before that, we had our dinner at Sim Lim's food court. I had "Bi Bim Bap" for my dinner. Hm2, it's really a nice one!

The next issue was... we were lost while we were searching for Kelvin's uncle's friend house... For our surprise. The apartment was just accross the girls' apartment. Wew... Thus, after Kelvin got his things, we sent the girls back to their apartment. In fact, it is the girls' relatives' apartment. Fortunately, their relatives were not at home, so we could quite relax there.

=Left to right: Nadia, Sylvia, Prajna, William, Harris, Hebert. Front: Kelvin=

Today is one of the greatest Saturday. I am really enjoying today's trip. Argh... It was already 11.40 p.m. Oh no! I need to wake up on around 6! I am volunteering for RunNUS tomorrow. Just wait for the story! Keep reading my blog!

FIC and Flag Day

04 August 2008, Freshmen Inauguration Ceremony with the theme "Inspirato: A Whole New Horizon" was held at the University Cultural Centre Hall. All freshmen were instructed to wear formal clothes. Every year, there is different souvenir given by the committee. For our batch, we had a laptop pouch!

The next day was Flay Day. Rag and Flag Day is a tradition of NUS since long time ago. In Flag Day, all NUS students will spread to whole Singapore to collect donation. It will then be used to help the unfortunate ones. As a NUS student, I also participated in this. In my group, I am the only one who has never done this before. Raising fund is common for Singaporean. Though it seems a tough job, but I really had fun.

The Rag Day will be held this Friday, 10 August 2008. Wait the news in my next post!

Freshmen Orientation Week starts!

1 August 2008, 1000 hours... Freshmen Orientation Week of the School of Computing starts! We freshmen were divided into 14 groups. My group is group 13, the "Moon". The first two days, we are just playing games and games... The point is to make a solid group and know more people in SoC.

=Group 13: Moon=

Last 2 days were very tiring... We had a night game until 2 am last 2 nights. But, it is so exciting. Most of them needs teamwork. We could do it well thanks to our group leaders. Both them are very nice and friendly seniors.

The most exciting game is the game held in LT17. We had a mission to enter the lecture theatre stealthly. The lights were switched off. There were 2 "guards" patrolling around. This one was really challenging.

Today, we all take a rest. I went to NTU this afternoon to kill time. Wait for my next post!

New Laptop!

Hi readers! I got a new laptop now! It's a MacBook! Hahaha... I post the picture of it. Take a look! Btw, I also got a free iPod shuffle!

=My MacBook=

=A free iPod shuffle 2 GB=

Well, that's the cool news. Next, I want to share another story. Today, I went to Singapore Polytechnic. Win Jonhson(not Johnson!) and Novaria are quite free today. So, we(Wilson, Harris, Theresia and I) decided to visit them. Singapore Polytechinc is quite nice! The environment is great. Hm... No wonder everyone likes it. Hahaha. I had my dinner in their canteen. 

=Singapore Polytechnic=

Well, that's all for today. I am very tired now... It's just I want to post this asap. Have a nice day!

Building Network

This is the first time I write the blog for 2 consecutive days. However, I don't think I can write that much soon after the academic semester start.

First thing first, I will post the photo of Mr. Harris Kristanto, due to the request of his fans. So, here it is...

=Mr. Harris in his so-called new hair style model=

Okay, it's now the main story. We had our dinner in PGPR canteen, aka old canteen (just because it doesn't have any air conditioner). Just as planned, the alumni and friends from last night group were there. We had our dinner together while we were having a chat and we were exchanging contacts. We then went to the Sheng Shiong Supermarket, which, according to the alumni, is the cheapest supermarket around here. We really built a strong friendship as we had our way to there. It is great to meet these people!

Now, to close this post, I will post a link for all of you. Please watch this! Our hero was on the TV! He'll be coming here tomorrow night! I have prepare a warm welcome to him.
Watch this:http://www.liputan6.com/sosbud/?id=162880

It's University Live!

Dear blog-readers! I have come with a new posts about my university live. Since I'll be studying in university for 4 years, my posts will mainly about the university live. I'll share my experience here.

The orientation officially started last yesterday, 25 July 2008, as the Matriculation Fair started. Today, I visited Singapore Science Center. It was my senior's idea. The place is awesome. I saw many things I have never seen before. However, because of this, I was late for the event Nations Combined. It's an event for every PGPR residents to get know each other from all over the world. We were divided into groups and we played games as a team. Each team has its own name. Our team's name is Black Knights. All the games are very challenging. Most of them needed our teamwork. Finally, we got the second place. I got to know many friends from this. This is what I called a university live!

Despite all this, I actually have many things unsorted and unclear. I still need to find seniors that can help me. Well, anyway, I really feel that I am stepping into the bridge to my career and life.

That's all for today! Oh yeah, one more thing. There are many freebies here. Hahaha. See you in next post!

Welcome to NUS!

I have been in Singapore for 6 days. I am quite used to NUS(National University of Singapore) already. Everyone is so friendly that I feel I can work well here. From now on, I will be living at PGPR(Prince George's Park Residences). My room is at block 9 level 1- F. It is a type B room, which is attached with a wash basin.

There have been series of event since I arrived. There very 1st one was QET(Qualifying English Test). It is as hard as I have predicted. Just now, I was attending the Library Orientation. Fortunately, I will be free tomorrow. I think I will be going out to know more about Singapore. Hahaha...

I cannot write everything about the new environment here. To sum up, it is great!

PS. Coming event: Matriculation Fair and Nation Combined. Wait for my next post!

NTU and NUS Freshmen from Medan

Hi! It is only 1 more week before I go to Singapore. Today, the photos have finished! So, I post it here so you guys can also enjoy it. I only got 3 photos by now, and they are all from Mr. Andrew Darwitan, who has been willingly scanned it. Thanks a lot to you!



This one is the most formal out of all. However, if you see it carefully, you will realize there is something unnatural here. Hahaha... I only had this one as my hard copy.

And here are the other two...

Well, to sum up, here's the list of the freshmen.
NTU: Andrew Julius, Andrew Darwitan, Aristo Muktabar, Albert, Chan Swee Hong, Alvin Francis Tamie, Muliadi Limanjaya, Gregorius Gerry, Setiadi Juan, Jacky Poea, Vincent Forest, Tommy Anderson, Eric, Sheila Widya S, Juliaty Surya, and another girl(I don't know her!)
NUS: Kelvin Anggara, Theresia Cudori, Caroline, Hebert, Harris Kristanto, Anthony Salim, and Prajnananda Kusuma(it's me!)

Well, actually there are some people not there... From NTU, Ady Suwardi. He didn't take a tuition with Johnson, so he is not with us, but he is awfully great. He is in national team for IOAA(International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysicis) right now. From NUS, William, a former IChO(International Chemistry Olympiad) participant for 2 times. He didn't take any tuition with Johnson, too. Last one is Hadi Wijaya. I had better not say anything further.

Okay, that's the end of today's post. Wait for my next more interesting posts.

Final Decision...

Hi, everyone! Today's post will be very short. I just want to announce that I am going to Singapore on 17 July 2008. So, probably there will be no posts until I am free enough to do so.

Well, that's all. However, I will try my best to keep updating the blog. Even though it's just a nothing-to-read blog. Hahaha.

Regards,
Prajna.

Holiday, huh?

Hi, blog-readers! It has been ages since I made my last post. This holiday really is making me very lazy. Hahaha ^^.

Well, I think I'll share some of my tour to China. I went to GuangXi province. Why??? It's because my brother is there studying at Nanning. Well, his university really impressed me. I've never thought it would be that great. Cities there themselves have been developing very fast. In my opinion, Nanning is still better than Singapore! Believe it or not.

One of my favourite place is Nanhu Gongyan. This lake is human-made. It is really big. If you are going to Nanning, don't ever forget to visit this place! I heard from my brother, its view is much more beautiful at night. Unfortunately, I still do not have that chance.

=Me at Nanhu Gongyan=

So, when I returned, I recieved a very good news. I got the scholarship! I've waited it for a long time. Hahaha. I'm so happy about it. Well, first, thanks for my parents. Of course, thanks for you all my friend for supporting me!

To close up today's post. I posted the picture of gundam model I built yesterday. This one is really awesome. Its gold colour makes me really fall in love with it.

Okay, then. See you in my next post!
Regards,
Prajna.

A Sunday Trip to Langkat

Today is 1 June 2008. My family and I went to Langkat. There was a celebration of Vesak Day there in a Vihara called Kassapa. It took around 2 hours to arrive there. When I arrived, it was already noon, so we just had our lunch there. The vihara itself was quite nice. Moreover, I felt very peaceful there. I sat on the Bhaktisala for a few minutes to have meditation. I could easily concentrate and feel relax.

After that, we went to nearby river. The river was so nice! It was clean and cold. We had fun for a while before we went back to Medan. I remembered the river in Taman Simalem. The river here was just as clear as there. In fact, this river is much bigger. Local children liked to play here in the river.

In our way home, we stopped at Brahrang(West Binjai). We bought He Ci for dinner. I loved it very much, especially its Tau Kua. A nice Sunday! Hope I can go there again another time. =)

UNLEASHED to Brastagi! -- Day 3

This one would be quite short...
---------------------------
Day 3 - 25 May 2008
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It was the last day of the trip. This morning, we had a special guest, Wilson NC. He came to Brastagi with his family the day before. Unexpectedly, he ended up being our cook. Hahaha. He helped us to prepare our breakfast. Thanks a lot!

Before lunch, we went to visit Vihara Dhamma Shanti. It is just a stone's throw from our villa. All of us walked to there. Since everybody was already hungry, we did not spend much time here. We had lunch on a Restaurant called "Siang Malam". There were noone else in the restaurant except us. Despite that, the food was quite okay, though I thought there were too much MSG. The only left to do was to pack up and went back to Medan. Just before we started to move out, it rained again. These 3 days, it rained almost in the exact time, around 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. I wondered everybody else realised it or not. The trip back to Medan was quite fast. It took only about one and a half hour.

Okay, that's the end of our trip. Last word, it was very fun! And thanks for reading

Best regards,
Prajna