No posts on birthdays

Some of you may have noticed that I had not made any single "birthday entries" at all during any point of time this year, such as proven by these supposedly special dates below:

1. 2 February
2. 12 April
3. 25 July

But as to make things fair and square, I don't even make any attempts to beautify my own birthday, which falls on 15 November last month.

Why is it so?

It's for this simple reason:

When I start putting this blog into a celebratory and/or jovial mood on any particular dates, that would mean that I have to set aside five to 10 days every year for all those well-wishes and uhh... it gets more perfunctory and less sincere when you say it too often, does it not?

Every birthdays should be filled with surprises, which is why I've made it my policy to ignore any birthdays (including my own or my family member's) in this Foreign Prophecies blog.

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When my own life decision also affected my friend's life decision

It may sound as if I'm overestimating the story here, but I'm not: one of the major decisions that affected my entire life...affected my friend's life too.

It always sounds funny when I think about it, but my decision in not continuing my education in Singapore had also affected Sis R's decision on her life.

There I was, visiting her home in Denpasar in early February 2007.

I was scheduled to go back to Singapore in mid-February 2007 and that time I was still largely undecided whether I should proceed in going to Singapore or waiting for an American education instead for an indefinite time being.

Coincidentally, on the same week she was scheduled to stay in Singapore in the long run too. She was to take a short training programme in Ngee Ann Polytechnic for six months and there might also be a possibility that she's going to continue her Master's degree in NUS.

In Singapore, Sis R was about to stay in her cousin's apartment block in an area not so far from the hostel I planned to stay in, which sounded very nice.

We discussed the whole "moving to Singapore together and living close to each other" for an entire day at her home, and we ended up with me finally deciding that going to Singapore would be for the best for both of us.

I'd be having my own 'sister' living in a same city outside Indonesia, at last!

I left Bali for Jakarta just a week before mid-February 2007, when I changed my mind into not going back to Singapore after all.

I phoned her Singapore number on the day she arrived there. Of course by making little whit lies that I was already "too late" to take a further scholarship application there.

She was unduly disappointed seeing that I was no longer eligible to continue my education there.

Despite the fact that there was aplenty of opportunities for her to continue her Master's study and take that short training programme and look for a nice-paying part-time work, she didn't last staying there for more than two weeks.

I asked her for the reason why she left Singapore and she answered,

"I couldn't stand staying with my cousin's family there, Toshi... They're always brawling all the time, I couldn't stand it! Moreover, do you know how disappointed I am in you? I had imagined how much fun we could have had together there, yet you were that dumb in being late for that scholarship education!" she jeered.

"So basically... You decided in not living in Singapore... it's because I'm not living there anymore?"

"Yep, that's one of the two major reasons", she admitted.

I don't know whether I was supposed to be flattered or disappointed by her decision.

How stupid or incredulous it may sound, it really did happen to her and it was me who had made her thought twice in not staying in Singapore.

However, it dawned upon me that time that... Sis R had decided against studying and working in Singapore just because I didn't keep my promise of staying close with her in that country.

If only I had decided differently back then, she may not be working in Bali right now!

Hahaha... how funny life could turn out, eh?

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Afblijven: my fave movie ending scene of the year

I've seen a couple of interesting movie endings these years, but only one of them impressed me this much.

This scene is from Afblijven, a Dutch youth movie.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Though he accepted her apology, there was no longer any hugs or show of fondness like they used to in the past.

He simply walked away.

"Wait!" the girl called, still standing there under the sun.

He glanced back, "Yea?"

"Couldn't we just remain... as friends like we used to?"

He stared at her for a second, and said with a glum face, "I don't think so"

And he continued walking, before she finally understood what he meant.

She ran after him, and he smiled at her.

They hugged and they kissed.

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Indo-lyric: Terpesona (Glenn Fredly feat. Audy)

English translation:

Captivated

when we meet
there is this feeling in my chest
you smile intimately
and make me enchanted

I couldn't bear myself
to resist this bubble
I just wanna say
that I like you

only you
whom I like

Reff:

captivated on the first sight
and I couldn't bear to resist my yearnings
your smiles always fill my dreams
I wanna hug and kiss your forehead
oh how beautiful

I feel it now
this love vibration in chest
I wanna be with you
forever

Original lyric in Indonesian:

saat kita jumpa
ada rasa di dalam dada
kau tersenyum manja
membuatku terpana

akupun tak kuasa
tuk menahan gejolak ini
ingin kukatakan 
aku menyukaimu

hanya dirimu 
yang aku suka

Reff:

terpesona ku pada pandangan pertama
dan ku tak kuasa menahan rinduku
senyumanmu slalu menghiasi mimpiku
ingin kupeluk dan kukecup keningmu
oh indahnya

kini kurasakan
getaran cinta di dalam dada
kuingin bersamamu 
untuk selamanya

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Let us all transfer our money to Nigeria!

If there is one country in the world where I think an internet ban should be imposed, I'd recommend Nigeria.

Nigerians are, by and large, the most retarded netizens in the world.

While the most evil vices that Asian people do may be limited to sharing and downloading pornography, Nigerians are always very eager to send illicit e-mails to those whom they think could be duped.

They would typically send us those e-mails that announce if we have won a lottery in London or inherit a large sum of money from some rich lad in Switzerland.

If we respond, we would then be asked to send some "small" amount of money, say.... US$1000?

Despite the fact that the lottery came from London, we are required to send our own money "in order to open a bank account in Abuja, Nigeria"

Ah, such a lucrative way of earning money. I really would love to send some "small bucks" to Abuja right now. Perhaps I could be as rich as Bill Gates if I decide to send US$50,000.... who knows?

My buddy Gilang has his own witty insight on this, feel free to go and have a look.

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