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July 31, 2004
back in NL
just got in this morning. pretty uneventful flight. somewhat of tearful goodbye at airport in jakarta. as i boarded my flight, i missed my parents and sister already :(
got here, slept all day, cuddled with boyfriend. i missed his handmade pizza while i was away so he made me seafood pizza tonight for dinner.
more stories and pictures later on. hooray i am back to my ADSL connection instead of 56K.
Posted by Yasmina at 10:40 PM | Comments (2)
July 25, 2004
Moving a friend
by Mr Robert, resident blogger
Last Saturday Laszlo, one of our best friends, moved to Rotterdam. Around 6:30 in the morning, we started moving all Laszlo's stuff here in Eindhoven into the van.
About 2 hours after we started, the 'house is quite empty' signal was given by Monica, Laszlo and Sven. That's when we started our journey towards Rotterdam, with me driving behind Monica and Laszlo to make sure we did not lose any funiture, washing machines or boxes on our way.
Upon arrival in Rotterdam, Laszlo was delighted to find his name already imprinted on the doorbell of the apartment in this really nice building. With the help of Katta and Anton, we found that moving everything 2 stories up wasn't so bad.
To end the day, we enjoyed the surrounding scenery for a bit with a nice salad and a drink on a nearby terrace.
Posted by at 10:45 PM | Comments (3)
July 22, 2004
Pimps and rebels
by Mr Robert, resident blogger
While Yasmina is enjoying herself, I'm trying to find an opportunity to show off my newly acquired shirts. I call them Pimp and well... Rebel (for those days when I feel like I want to make a point, but don't know how).
Obviously, Mr. wheather had other things in mind... Yesterday we had a real tropical thunderstorm here in Eindhoven with, what to me seemed like black rain (I've never encountered black rain, but this must have been close). There were all the ingredients for total mayhem: lightning, wind (stormforce), rain coming from all directions (even from below), hailstones with a diameter of about half an inch, trees falling on the road (big ones) and a city center that turned into a lake district.
Anyway, it's back to work now, it was nice to talk to you.
Posted by at 11:13 PM | Comments (1)
hot in the city part 3: update
wow, nice to read that my boyfriend has been productive and creative while we've been apart. ;)
last sunday had a nice family meal at my granddad's in kedoya, west jakarta. yummy food, lovely relatives. belly full of love.
afterwards, went to my cousin ine's house in bintaro and met up with this guy. hehe, business transaction. *ngga deh, cuma nyampein titipan, hehe, gue dikasih buku undiscovered territory, seneng deh, bukunya bagus*
then i dashed across town to PS to meet these guys at the foodcourt. for the full story please visit here. for the photos, you can visit nuniek's photo album here. she documents these things way bettter than i do, more descriptive too. ;)
monday i met up with mas godot of godote.com and mas yoel of creativebehavior.com. gee, citos really is much better during the day when it's quiet and you can enjoy a nice lunch, and have a chat, and browse through the bookstore before sitting down in the many coffee shops with your recent book/CD purchase.
tuesday morning, my parents, sister and i took the first flight to surabaya. which meant i had to get up at 3 am. and we spent 5 days there. but that's another story. ;)
Posted by Yasmina at 05:48 PM | Comments (2)
July 19, 2004
Being alone
by Mr Robert, resident blogger
What do you do when your girlfriend is away for 3 weeks and you're left all alone? Spending the nights behind the computer trying to be creative... and a geek (I'm not trying that, it just happened).
I'm currently attempting to give my media server a descent looking user interface. The media server is a basic pc that runs Freevo, a program developed by the open source community which runs on any Linux distribution (this is where it becomes risky trying not to appear to the outside world as a geek).
The program enables you to acces and enjoy your movies, photos and music collection, given that your pc is connected to a TV screen. It even enables you to record TV programs if you have lots of harddisk space and a tv card in your pc, but I don't have any of those 2. The whole thing can be controlled with any old remote control you have lying around the house.
If you're interested, they have a website: Freevo website
The problem is that most of the skins that come with the program have a blue-ish approach and I personally feel that blue does not really go with the interior (I do not have any blue furniture). Apart from this, I don't really like the other skins (you can see them at the Freevo website if you like).
I am trying to create a colour scheme that has a neutral appearance with subtle highlights. Here are some screenshots showing the first draft of the visual direction:
the main menu and the Music section and the Photo section and finally the Movie section.
I'll try and keep you posted in the coming days on my personal adventures (as long as there is any).
Posted by at 11:14 PM | Comments (2)
July 18, 2004
Boy misses Girl
by Mr Robert, resident blogger
Posted by at 07:06 PM
July 17, 2004
a new lesson on eels
so we're in the mountains of cijeruk, west java, where my mother owns some land with some of her siblings. my mom's sister and her husband have put a lot of work into building a mountain cabin, fishpools, garden gazebos, fruit orchard and garden on their property.
so my uncle starts telling me a story of when he got the bright idea of farming eels. see, in his fishpools, he farms a variety of fish. so when the kids are up there for the weekend, we have to fish for our dinner, and it's so goood to have fresh grilled fish that you've just caught. eaten with hot steamed rice, and sambal and cucumber slices on the side.
*of course, sometimes my cousins and i are a bit naughty and we end up bringing our remote control boats and chase the fish around the fishpools, instead of fishing for food*
anyhoo, back to the eel story. so my uncle and a couple of his men (they help him run his property, i'd call them gamekeepers but that sounds rather posh) went to the nearby sawah, the rice paddies so nice and muddy, and got about 50 eels to put in the fishpool.
my uncle thought they'd check a month or so later and see how the population has grown. see, if you've ever tasted eel, you'd agree that they are quite tasty. eaten in a sandwich, smoked eel dutch-style, gerookte paling, or in the chinese-style of kung-pao eel or just plain fried eel sprinkled with chillies. yumm!
i imagine that my uncle was already counting how many eels a piece his family was going to consume that night for dinner.
however, they only found onemale eel left. so they got really confused as to how the rest of the eel population disappeared. he went to the bookstore and bought a book on eels.
apparently, all eels start out as girl eels. then after they reach a length of 30 centimeters (12 inches for you non-metric-conforming people), they become boy eels. then, if these boy eels don't have enough to eat, they start eating other eels. eek! they're cannibals!
anyway i thought that was a really funny story to share with you. that was the super-alpha male my uncle found in the fishpool existing all by his lonesome self with no one else to eat. :)
Posted by Yasmina at 01:11 PM | Comments (2)
July 16, 2004
woman
by Mr Robert, resident blogger
I liked this billboard advertisement, so I decided to draw her in Illustrator...
Posted by at 05:36 PM
JB - the Godfather of Soul
by Mr Robert, guest blogger
Last weekend was the annual visit to the Nort Sea Jazz festival in The Hague. Unfortunately without my beloved lady, miss Yasmina. This picture was taken with my camera, so you can tell I got the right spot (being tall also helps). This man has to be around his 70's, but he moves like he's around his 40's. They must be putting him on an oxygen supply after the concert.
Conclusion: he's still got it (whatever 'it' is), he's got sexy dancers, a great band, a funky groove, JB is a brand... He is James Brown.
Posted by at 10:37 AM
July 14, 2004
hot in the city part 2: the new school year
*my guest blogger robert seems to have shyed away from blogging, so i am writing about my adventures here*
so today i ran some errands with my aunt and her son. she is my father's younger sister, his only sister, and her son, denny, who is maybe about 12 years old. he's just finished elementary school and starting junior high. first we went to his school, labschool which is located in rawamangun near our houses in the east jakarta area.
denny also went to labschool's kindergarden and elementary school. his parents intend for him to continue his junior and highschool education there also, since it is a very good school and saves them a lot of hassle of registering him to other schools.
now, i spent less than 7 years in indonesian education and i hated half of my time in indonesian schools. plus, the last time i was educated here was over 10 years ago. so i'm no expert on the indonesian schooling and education system. my aunt enlightened me on this subject.
the amount of schools decrease the higher up the school level goes. so there's less junior high schools than elementary schools, less highschools than junior highschools and so on and so forth. you can imagine this gets pretty problematic. it somehow solves itself since some parents can only afford to educate their children to a certain level.
so the way to get into the next level is to get good grades. the top 275 students of an elementary school are pretty much guaranteed a place in the junior high. they also look at the report cards of your last 2 years of school, and listen to recommendations of teachers. so at least they have a better impression of the student. my aunt tells me they are looking at children's profiles in a better way, to get a good mix of kids together. if a kid has potential but didn't get particularly good marks at exams, he/she could still get into the school.
also there is a waiting list of 75 kids. so if people register to other schools and get accepted and pull out of one list, the people on the waiting list move up. the waiting list people also have a chance to take another exam to get into the school. this is an exam on top of the national school exams.
then there is always the "magic letter" kids. kids who get into schools through their famous, powerful relatives, say the governor of the city or a member of parliament, who will write to the school board about this kid wanting to attend their school. or, parents bribe their children's way into an expensive, good schools.
and all that is just getting accepted into a school.
remember, there are registration fees, tuition fees, all sorts of school contribution fees, buying new school uniforms, new books; the figures just add up. especially, lots of indonesian parents really have this method of "bribing" their children with prizes. they say, "oh, if you pass the exams and get into a good school, i will buy you a new mobile phone/car/digital camera" or whatever latest expensive trendy gadgets.
ok, maybe bribing is a bit harsh, but i hardly can call it a present.
it seems that education really is a business over here. :(
Posted by Yasmina at 06:15 PM | Comments (3)
July 13, 2004
scary tropical spider
so we're at the house that my dad bought, which is currently being renovated. i took a walk round the garden, with my cousins following behind me. i could hear my mom saying to them from her place on the front stoop, "oy, don't walk under those trees where yasmina is walking because there is a big fuck-off spider's web there."
sure enough, i look up and this spider was walking across its web a few inches above my head. eaks!
Posted by Yasmina at 06:19 PM
hot in the city part 1
dear everyone,
while i am away, the delightful mr robert k will be resident blogger and fill us in with interesting details of his daily adventures.
a few words on jakarta:
it's hot in the city. a cold shower is really the best thing for the heat. oh, and opening the freezer door and sticking your face in front of it. :) i've been running around town in skirts and light linen clothing to keep myself cool.
my belly is full of delicious, glorious food. pempek palembang, soto betawi, nasi goreng kambing pedas manis, avocado juice, dendeng paru, sambel cabe ijo, and i've been eating a fruit salad for breakfast every morning, with fresh papayas and melons. yumm!
i have also been for a facial and a creambath, as well as a shoulder massage and a feet massage. i love getting pampered, and all soooo cheap too. although, it was not a nice sensation to get my eyebrows plucked. ouch!
i have forgotten how insanely crowded jakarta can get. one saturday night i went to citos (abbreviation for cilandak town square) and it was jam-packed, smoky as hell and some obscure band was wailing their way through a sweaty set. it was unfortunate that i went on such a weekend night. i can imagine that citos is a comfortable place for a lunch date, as the things on offer look really tempting.
you can see photos of my citos night out with cousins, uncle and aunt over here, here, there and there.
today i spent 4 hours traipsing the muddy market of blok m and melawai with my mother and her sister buying school supplies (shoes, uniform, books) for orphaned students. apparently my mom and her sisters sponsor orphaned kids and the elderly in the mountain village where they have their mountain cabins. so i donated some funds and shopped with them today. :)
more stories and photos later on.
*gee, i wish the delightful mr robert k is here with me--he'd go nuts at the food*
Posted by Yasmina at 04:27 PM | Comments (2)
July 08, 2004
leaving on a jetplane
so today i am taking my sister to amsterdam schiphol airport where we will together board a flight to jakarta via singapore.
and in 24 hours time, i will probably be posting from my parents' house in jakarta, and moaning about the dial-up internet connection, the long-haul flight and missing robert.
see you on the other side. ;)
Posted by Yasmina at 02:28 PM | Comments (4)
July 05, 2004
giraffe
giraffes are tall and are almost always featured in documentaries about africa. the french word for giraffe is giroffle.
sometimes in these documentaries where they show the giraffes running across the savannah, i wonder if any of them has ever lost their balance due to the weight of their long necks and toppled forwards. and whether any giraffes have ever seriously injured themselves that way, and whether they'd get eaten by lions while they are lying on the ground waiting for help.
Posted by Yasmina at 12:55 PM
July 04, 2004
euro2004 cup goes to greece!
oh poo, the portuguese lost. bummer.
humm, the greeks deserved it, they played really well. their defense was just so solid and they seemed to be without fatigue all the way until the end. i think once the goal was scored, the portuguese immediately panicked and just got sloppier. anyway it was a good game!
i am now going to update <a href="http://robico.bananeira.com" target=_blank>robico's site</a> before going to bed. i realize i have been neglecting his site as well as my <a href="http://oneword.bananeira.com" target=_blank>oneword</a> and my <a href="http://visual.bananeira.com" target=_blank>an image a day</a> site. :(
Posted by Yasmina at 11:40 PM
logic
i can start solving logic problems through a logical process but then my imagination and emotions get in the way and my mind starts to wander and i jump to conclusions, so maybe i am not so logical after all. :(
Posted by Yasmina at 10:28 PM
July 03, 2004
goodbye mr portfolio
so i keep an A0 portfolio folder with a lot of my pre-college and college portfolio in it. life drawings, studies for paintings, pre-computer layout sketches, typography work, etc etc.
today i discovered that somehow moisture had crept in and ruined the entire thing! everything was black (with mold) and stuck together and everything looks as if it's been burned. and stupidly, i don't have them in digital format. so, poof! everything's gone. :(
however, i did manage to save 2 pieces which were in the least damaged plastic sleeves and 2 'time out' mag cover posters that i bought in camden market in 1995. i'm still sad, though. boo hoo!
Posted by Yasmina at 02:09 PM | Comments (1)
