quotes of the day

"My mother drew a distinction between achievement and

success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that

you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is

in you. Success is being praised by others, and that's nice too,

but not as important or satisying. Always aim for

achievement and forget about success."

- Helen Hayes -

"Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting

difficulties, passing from one step of success to another,

forming new wishes and seeing them gratified."

- Samuel Johnson -

Again, trying to motivate myself...

My Saturday in a few words

Well, may be not very few.

Sometimes I feel like I am being obssessed with working -- which is not good, because not everytime is your peak and productive time, right?
So I decided to blog instead of working -- there's a temptation there.

I had a pretty disturbed sleep, started waking up, dozing on and off since 5 am. At 7:30 am I really got up and started thinking of my research, blah... Then I took shower, breakfast, check e-mails, chatting and reached office at 9:30 am.

I worked until I realized that:
- I was really alone in office (in fact, on the whole floor)
- I was hungry
- I was (and am) a bit fed up with the food around campus

So I opened my outlook window and lo! My friend Sonja just sent me a mail and we reached the conclusion that we both are hungry and would like to have lunch together =).

We decided to meet in Student center and then walked to Pepper Sky. I love the Shrimp Pad Thai!! They cooked it so nicely today that I felt obliged to finish them though I was already a bit full.

When we walked back, Sonja said "Want to drop by Toscanini? You can ask whether they have Khulfi flavor."

To no surprise, there's no Khulfi shown in the flavor list on their board. Khulfi is known to be one of the most popular flavor and somehow it's SO difficult to get it. So I asked the guy behind the counter *semi-desperately*:

"When can I get Khulfi? You know, I've come so many times but never managed to get it." <- it's really true!!

Him:
"Hmm.. wait, I'll check the kitchen"

And lo! He comes with a bucket of khulfi ice cream -- rock hard from the freezer. For a moment, he was my Knight in Shining Apron Carrying Khulfi.

Him:
"How many scoops?"

Me:
"A pint, of course!!" *beaming*

Sonja got the CBC Amber Wort (yes, the kecap-manis-tapi-ngakunya-beer-flavored) ice cream. So we walked back beaming carrying a brown paper bag each with our precious Toscanini tubs.

I got back and reached my dorm at 5:30 pm. Read a bit of "The Places in Between" (Rory Stewart) and took a nap. Had a mixed dream -- partially Afghanistan (from the book), partially my research and some write-up that I have to prepare.

So I woke up before long, read a bit of paper and started working again until 10:30 pm. Shower, and couldn't decide which ice cream to take so I took both pints. Ate them while watching a movie. But as I am not a movie fan, could only stand it for half an hour. Luckily my mom called afterwards.

Going to sleep soon...

"laughter is the best medicine"

Who said that mantra to me? My mom.
Who has just made me laugh so hard? My mom.

She called me through skype by *accident*. You know what happen?

When I was *trying to* watch a movie, suddenly her skype popped up and called me. I frantically plug my headset to my laptop (it took a while) and I could hear my mom was talking to my brother. When she realized that I was on (she saw me through webcam) she said *loudly*

"Whoaaa.. why is it you? I didn't mean to call you but call my sister instead... hoahahahahaha Ron, see how stupid I am hoahahahaha...."
blablabla so she talked nonstop for few minutes making fun of me etc and suddenly "oh, my sister is online again. bye." Even before she finished saying "bye" she was off.
Then she called me again and complaining that the connection to Hongkong (where her sister is in) is really bad. It got disconnected few times.
Then she saw her sister online again. Then she abandoned me *very abruptly*.
On and on like that, yeah I was only a replacement hahahahah =D

Now I am for the n-th time being cut off.

But OMG, how I've forgotten how to LAUGH OUT LOUD. My roommate is away to Niagara falls this weekend so it's a perfect timing to have a cacophonous phonecall with a living cacophony called my mom =).

She really never fails to make me laugh, somehow. I laughed so hard until I cried. Actually it's so unfair, as I laughed when somebody is making fun of me like:
"oh my god does your nose grow in the US? It looks so big!"
"look at your forehead!! how can it be so shiny!!"
and ...
"why can't you sit still? You've been moving forward backward left right nonstop since I saw you from webcam. Do you have something on your b*tt?"

Me:
"Well, mom... if you could only remember, I inherit it from you"

Her:
"But that's impossible... I am so calm, quiet, demure, and shy."

Me:
*almost fell off from my chair*

Her:
"Show me something..."

Me:
"What?"

Her:
"Hmm... show me the handbag that you bought. I will see whether I want to get it from you or not."

me:
*got the new soft-leather handbag from my drawer and show it to her*

Her:
"Naaahh... it's too casual. Not elegant enough. Hmm, the belt?"

me:
*i really love this belt but alas it's a bit too big for me but at first i thought of giving it to my sister because, you know, it's too *young* for a mother*

Her:
"OK, that's mine"

me:
...

After talking for around half an hour, suddenly she grew quieter and asked me quietly:
"am i disturbing your study?"

me:
"Naah, in fact I was looking for a distraction to stop me from working when you called me"

then we continued having silly and funny and entertaining conversation (she can be very engaging at times) until...

her:
"Oh, she is online again... Bye!"

then... it was her again
"Blah, the connection is really bad. I will just ignore her and talk to you instead"

before long
"Oh, she's online again... Bye!!"

me:
...

quote of the day

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end.

It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing;

it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it."

- Margaret Thatcher

Yay, I'm trying to motivate myself here...

CBC ice cream

CBC is Cambridge Brewing Company, our local beer producer here in Cambridge, MA. Not that I am a beer drinker.

I came across it in Toscanini that offers many 'exciting' ice cream flavor. So, few weeks ago I had this CBC flavored ice cream which I really thought was nice. It somehow has some familiar taste in it.

I have been so stressed up lately and am almost burnt out =( -> so I haven't updated my blog for a while. Anyway, this afternoon I reached a point where I couldn't think anymore, and my eyes would no longer cooperate. So I went back to my dorm after making a detour to Toscanini. Hoping to get the Khulfi flavor (simply da best) but have never managed to do so for weeks now. So I ended with Lemon Vanilla and CBC beer again -- I bought a pint.

When I ate the CBC again just know, I realize why the taste is so familiar. It really tastes like sweet soya sauce, Indonesian style. Yoi. Kecap manis. ABC gitu2 deh.

So much for a beer-flavored ice cream...

haiiiii....

Haiii!!

It's been a while. My life hasn't evolved that much, though. I am still doing my research, the same old one. My courseworks have been over since mid-May, well I believe I've told you about this. Since then -- I've worked hard during weekdays and sometimes on Saturday, too and had great fun on Sunday.

There are loads of things I feel compelled to tell you about -- Niagara trip, my birthday, our lab BBQ, our lost-random-Colombian friend's farewell, etc. But that can wait. Today I'll be off to another holiday!!! I'll be in DC for a few days.

Sonja and I have SO MANY plans for this June. And both of us are working with a very nice professor -- disappointing her is the last thing we want to do. Thus, we've been working like there's no tomorrow everyday before we go. I was working like a machine -- nonstop, super excruciatingly exhausting, on the verge of tears few times but I've finished what I have to finished this week yesterday at 8 pm. Woo hoo!! Part of being a massochist, I always feel that I have to truly deserve a holiday =).

This June will be very busy for me. Many farewells are coming up, lots of coffee, hanging out, picnic, exploring the town -- in short, my weekends are filled. Imagine how my weekdays will be like, phuh... I feel like topping up my Vitamin C daily intake =)

Back to last night -- as I mentioned, I was exhausted yesterday. I got a severe gastric pain when I reached my room. Then I had to do my laundry, ironing, packing, printing out stuffs, managing some other stuffs, calling my mom -- I almost fainted. It's not good -- man, I am going for a holiday today!! I felt lethargic so I slept at 12:30 am. Damn, I woke up at 6:30 am!! Ugh, why can't I sleep longer? I tried to sleep but couldn't -- tried so hard until my eyes got all watery. Anyway, I got up and recognized noises outside. This early? Today is the MIT 2007 COMMENCEMENT DAY!!!

Sooooo exciting. I made a detour before going to my office (why did I come when I don't feel well? -- I had a short meeting at 10 am, ugh). I went to the DOME, to Hayden, to Lobby 7 -- all jam-packed with people!! Asian, White, Black, all kind of people. Grandparents in wheelchair, babies in pram, people selling flowers, teddy bears -- I so want to march for my very own commencement next year!!!!!

We'll have Graduation reception for the graduating CDO students (yes, current students are also invited!!) later at 2 pm. Afterwards, Sonja and I will be off to Logan airport. Woo hoo!!

Hopefully I'll get better soon.

PS: OMG I will meet Sr. Francesco this Sunday!!

one freaky moment

I was alone in the office one night, and was *deeply* concentrating on my laptop. Suddenly, I felt a "presence" next to me, so I turned my head and lo!! There he was, a Jesus Christ impersonation, standing quietly and smiled to me.

Heck, can you at least say hi?

Haha it's not an epiphany-kinda-story, but I do have a friend who is a Spanish concoction of Jesus Christ and Aragon from Lord of the Ring. I was the first to mention that he really looks like Jesus (with beard and long hair) and apparently, everybody agrees. He works in an office next door and both of us are working for the same professor.
Believe it or not, when I looked at his *younger* picture in his driving license, still with short hair, he looks like David Beckham.

May be his parents just couldn't decide whom they want their son to look like...