Monday, December 29, 2003

Curiousity kills the cat and honesty is the best policy...

Man, damn, when you got curious of other's private stuffs, complications and disasters will follow...

Of course, honesty is the best policy and that seems to be the sensible thing to do, and I did..

What will happen? Ruining my friendship with someone that I care for...

Oh, well, damage has been done. Not much to do then...

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Hari bete nasional...

Gile..setelah libur seminggu lebih gw jadi bete banget di rumah..tiap hari isinya cuman nonton DVD doang mana asyik...ya sempat sih pergi ke Minneapolis, ikutan rayain natalan di tempat Jana, tapi ya itu deh..abis gitu bete lagi.

Makanya hari ini setelah bangun jam 11 siang *gile...sisa2 capek ke Minne kemarin* nonton the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings dan pergi ke public library, gw telp Michael, sapa tau dia dan Yiendra rencana mo bikin apaan gitu, kayak semalem pergi main bowling. Ternyata Michael mo ke Staples dan Walmart. Makanya daripada bete gw ngikut aja deh.

Abis dari 2 toko gede itu *gw akhirnya beli telp baru, buat ganti yg lama yg baterainya dah bapuk* gw nongkrong di 225 Hyland...spt biasa...maen game, nyanyi2, ngobrol2 dsb...lumayan paling tidak kita bete bareng2 hehehehe

I am who?

Accprding to the quiz about the Lord of the Rings characters, I am...

sam
Congratulations! You're Sam!


Which Lord of the Rings character and personality problem are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Really??????

Saturday, December 27, 2003

MINNEAPOLIS TRIP...ONLY FOR THE RICH!

It just happened that some friends were going to Minneapolis, Minnesota, so I was invited to tag along...and off I went! On sunny Friday morning...

As usual, Indonesians are identical to lateness. When I was told that we would go at 6 AM, some complications arose. I got to send money home through Western Union and the Hyvee, where the agent for Western Union is located, opened only after 6 AM after its Christmas holiday. So I woke up early, hit the shower, and rushed to Hyvee, back again to my apartment, waiting for the guys to show up, only to find that they would be running late...Damn...

But, finally off we went...We got two cars: Juhari's and Kelvin's with ten other persons going: Refina, me, Pipiet, Ardi, Andre, Adi Lila, Kelvin, Juve, and Denny. We hit McD for some of us hadn't had breakfast. And then, at 9 we went north to Minnesota. Along the road, as usual when you're traveling in Midwest, farms, farms and farms, usually interrupted by inns, storage facilities, etc. We stopped at Modern Rest Area which has a showcase of Iowa's stuffs. It happened to be at the TOP of Iowa, meaning the northest place in Iowa.

We planned to go to Mall of America, the largest mall in the USA. And it is. On the first floor, it has a huge theme park, with Peanuts characters as the theme. So you will find Snoopy and his friends painted everywhere. It has a rollercoaster, merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, etc. the usual fun in a park. But of course, they cost money and they are expensive. So, I was only staring at them, wishing to be one of the kids in the wheel. And my mind was off to Jalu. If only he had been there! He would have been thrilled, as thrilled as me. They also got a Lego section, with children busily building something out of the blocks. Jalu would love it.

Inside of the mall? Stores, stores, stores. Shoppers, shoppers, shoppers. Fancy chicks, dandy dudes, trendy pops, fashion-lover mommies and cute babies, from any ethnic groups. Got heaps of money to spend on winter sales. Bloomingtons, Express, JC Penney, GAP, Banana Republic, Barnes and Nobles, Victoria's Secret, Pottery Barn, you name it, they got it. But of course, those are only available for the haves. When you have money, all doors will be open in Mall of America.

Excuse me? Sure there are other faces in Mall of America, like my face. Have money but not sufficient to spend on a holiday spree. So we have our eyes to do shopping, dreaming that someday we can get a hold of the fancy stuffs. I want the sweaters, I want the perfumes, I want the books, I want the CDs, I want the jeans, I want the stationeries. Instead, I got a Franklin Covey journal (worth 3 weeks of my grocery shopping, btw) which for almost a month now I had been giving a thought of buying , busily considering if it worths the money. And a book about reflexology, hoping that it can help others in pain. In other times, I just set my eyes on those stuffs, those people, those expressions of joy of passerby shoppers.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not envious or anything. I was just dreaming, and I am still dreaming....

That is what I got from my one day trip to Minneapolis...



Thursday, December 25, 2003

LAGU GUE (IN PROCESS)

You and me
amazingly
two entities
in love but just differently

You are there
with your gazing eyes
but deep inside
I'll never see

Is it love
for me only
or is it just pure my fantasy
tell me baby
it is not just my fantasy

(to be continued....)


Wednesday, December 24, 2003

STRAIGHT A!

Oh, did I mention that I got straight A this semester????

Awesome....

CHRISTMAS IN AMES...FULL OF FOOD...

Today is the day before Christmas and I woke up at 6, cooking "oseng-oseng kacang panjang" for the Hertz Family Christmas. Done with that, I wrapped christmas gifts for Tom and Joyce.

At 10, Jana and Joyce picked us up to go to Nevada to Carl and Marjorie's farm to celebrate christmas with food and loads of Hertz family. We had wonderful lunch, talks, and baby sit the baby Grace. She's soooo cute and chubby. She's just 18 months old, reminded me so much of Jalu when he was her age!!!

I also went to their lake behind the house and do ice sliding....gosh...so fun!

Then, we left at 5 PM to...another christmas dinner! This time was the Dickson's (Joyce's side of family) and it was full of laughter. Dave and Bonnie (Joyce's brother) announced their engangement! So great...we raised a toast for them!

Great..great...great food and company!

Monday, December 22, 2003

ANNOUNCING THE BEST DRIVER IN THE US...CYRIDE DRIVERS!

I was out tonight, watching my beloved Hugh Grant in Love Actually at Ames Theater with Refina and Lydia. And, as it sometimes happens, I almost missed my bus.

You see, coming out from the world of the silver screeen, I checked my precious bus schedule and I noticed that I got only 2 minutes to walk *or should I say run* from the theater which is in Lincoln Way to the bus stop at Welch Avenue Station, and the distance is about 340 meter. Fortunately, the bus stopped for about 3 minutes or so at the traffic light at Welch Ave-Lincoln Way intersection, so I got more seconds for running.

The bus driver obviously saw me running like a mad man along Welch Ave so he stopped at the bus stop in front of Welch Avenue Station and waited for me. I was out of breath....golly gosh...

So here I am, announcing the best driver in the US *or shall I say the world?*: Cyride drivers!


This is the bus that should receive world recognition: cyride!



Wednesday, December 17, 2003

I'M (ALMOST) FAMOUS...

Check this out...I'm (almost) famous in Des Moines area...

ISU students teach Central kids of their homelands

I found this in Google and have fun reading about myself...what an ego maniac :P


Tuesday, December 16, 2003

WEB-BASED TEACHING UNIT DONE!

Cardenas, Grannis, Isharyanti, O'Bryan, and Perales proudly present:

The Stolen Mona Lisa: A Tense Consistency Mystery

Hope you love it and you use it!

MY CLASSMATES, MY BUDDIES...

This evening, some people in my 510 class decided to go to Boheme Bistro to have a drink and to wind down after we finished the WBTU (well, actually, we are not quite done yet, especially the other group, but we went anyway) and to celebrate the job done. Volker, my professor, did come, so it was good. The relationship between students and professors here in States is really good, especially in graduate programs. You can be friends with your professors too, unlike in Indonesia.

My classmates are awesome. We had Betsy, Erin, Chris, Shannon, Moises, Monica, Dessie and Anne. Plus Volker and Esteban *Monica's bf*. We drank a bit and chatted through the night. It's kinda of cool and relaxing. Boheme is usually a place where people dance, but this evening because it is on Monday and it is the finals week, so there is no dancing at all. Just cozy seats and slow music. Good friends around. It felt good. And I'm feeling contented...


Anne~Erin~Volker~Monica~Chris (pics by English 510)

Monday, December 15, 2003

FULBRIGHT SEMINAR IN ARIZONA

Wow, I just received the confirmation that I'm selected to go to Fulbright seminar in Tempe, Arizona on Feb 19-22, 2004. Isn't it fun? I'm not going to Pittsburgh for the CALICO conference but I got the substitution...probably not the one that I want, but the chance to travel is a good thing.

Sunday, December 14, 2003

GOING HOME...

Today Yudi and Jalu are going home to Makassar. I'm happy that finally my parents-in-law meet their grandson for the first time. I know Yudi loves going home. It's been five years he did not see them at all. From the sound of him in the telephone, he is happy and I feel happy too. I got the chance to talk to my brothers-in-law: Irham and Guntoro. They loved their nephew!

Probably this is the best for Yudi and Jalu...being surrounded by people who understand and love them...

Friday, December 12, 2003

PROJECT ENGLISH 510: PAINSTAKING, TIME CONSUMING...REWARDING!

So here is the situation right now:

We're stuck here in the computer lab, doing our Web-Based Teaching Unit project. It's 8 PM, we have been here since 11 AM and still working! We've been like this for weeks, and we don't want to leave it, because we're sick of it and we want it to be done tonight and tomorrow we can have our social life back :)

Our WBTU (that's what we affectionately call our project) is about the stolen Monalisa painting. The fun part of it was we had to dress up in Reinassance costumes that we borrowed from Fisher Theater and acted. I acted as Duke Ludovico Scirfoza and I looked so silly! We're teaching the Tense Consistency in the website. Our group members are fun: Anne, Dessie, Moises and Monica...you got to see their websites in my link "Pertemanan" in this blogsite.

I'll post the link here when it's up and running! It's gonna be awesome...

Thursday, December 11, 2003

MY FAILURE...ACADEMICALLY...

That's it! I'm not going to go to Pittsburgh to present something in the conference! Our proposal got rejected....

I'm totally upset to myself...

DONE DEAL! BUT...

Finally, I finished my English 518 paper, but without a problem. I don't feel that it is a good piece of writing. I should have done it better. Again, I don't know what is going with my mind. It seems to refuse to cooperate. All stuck in the mud of uncertainty....

Anyway, it's done, alright!

And this evening, in the cold snowy temperature of -12 degree (Celcius...always in celcius you Americans! like the rest of the world...) I went home with 11.51 PM bus, the last blue route bus. I had to attend the very last 518 class from 6-9 and I had to finish 511 research paper with Monica *as we did it as a team, although the idea was MINE, it was MINE* because it is due tomorrow. Finally, there is only one thing left to finish: the Web-Based Teaching Unit for 510.

Oh, forgot to mention what classes I am taking this semester. I am taking three classes, i.e. English 518 is a TESL teaching methods class with Prof. John Levis, English 511 is a class of introduction to linguistics with Prof. Dan Douglas, and English 510 is Computer-Assisted Language Learning Class with Prof. Volker Hegelheimer.

OK, gotta sleep now...if not I might catch a cold...

Sunday, December 07, 2003

AGAIN..PAPER...BELUM JADI!

Hah, sebelnya kalo ilham tidak datang! Ini nih, kalau otak lagi macet, gak tau musti tulis apa. Atau sebenarnya bukan otak gw yg macet, tp gw yg kurang membaca, kurang wawasan, jadi tidak punya bahan utk ditulis. Gila nih, udah duduk hampir tiga jam di sini, cuma menghasilkan 3 lembar, itu pun yg satu lembar bibliografi. Parah kan?

Aku lagi butuh teman diskusi tp entah lagi pada kemana. Oh, I hate being stuck here with no ideas! Siapa nih yg bisa dijadiin korban buat diskusi, Tyas dah tidur, Monica dah bobok juga...:((

What should I do? Bobok juga? Entar ketiduran ampe jam sembilan pagi...udah tau hawa winter gini bikin bobok tambah nyenyak....

Help!

Saturday, December 06, 2003

BIROKRASI...OH BIROKRASI...

Sebagaimana warga negara Indo yg baik, terang dong keberadaan gw di tanah sebrang ini musti diketahui oleh pihak2 yg berwenang. Makanya hari ini gw dg niatan baik ikutan acara Permias yg mendatangkan pejabat2 Perwakilan RI di Chicago buat segala urusan konsuler tetek bengek. Yg gw butuh sih melaporkan keberadaan gw di Ames dan niat sampingannya adalah spy gw gak perlu bayar fiskal lagi entar klo abis balik liburan ke Indo.

Hmmm..birokrasinya sih lumayan lancar. Gw cuman perlu mengisi formulir, menyerahkan foto, memperlihatkan DS 2019 gw (kayaknya gw satu2nya di Ames yg pake ini soalnya gw kan satu2nya yg pake visa J-1 alias visa exchange student), dan meninggalkan paspor. Nah, meninggalkan paspor ini yg bener2 lama bener! Artinya proses dari penyerahan segala berkas hingga paspor gw dicap dg tulisan "telah melaporkan diri di KJRI Chicago blah blah blah" ini yg bener2 laaaaammmmaaaaa. Dari jam setengah dua belas, hingga jam empat. Pasalnya bapak dan ibu petugas tampaknya harus menggunakan tulisan tangan utk menindaklanjuti tindakan konsuler thd paspor ijo nan nasionalis itu. Dan yg hrs ditindaklanjuti ada berpuluh2. Coba pake komputer plus bar code plus sambungan internet, bukankah tinggal disorot barcodenya dan gw bisa melenggang pergi pulang ke apartment buat ngerjain tugas paper gw yg ndilalah kok ya belum kelar2 jg dari kemarin????

Anyway, birokrasi Indo memang mengagumkan...either lama...atau jer basuki mawa bea...well...di negeri sebrang ini yg kedua tidaklah berlaku tp yg pertama masihlah ada....

FALLING APART lyric

Music : Yierick, Yiendra, Raymond
Lyric : Neny

This is just an empty space
I must fill it anyway
I don't feel that I belong
I'm just an entity

People are clamoring
expect me to be here
Don't they know that I'm lost

* I live it up to you
I live it up to you
Living it up to you

Reff: When my sanity's running wild
It's the day I'm falling apart
When my common sense's running wild
It's the day I'm falling apart
It's the day I'm falling apart

Will you help me out this pain?
Through this anger I crusade
I've been sinking way to fast
I've been deeply in vain

Sunshine is out of reach
Freedom is just a dream
Lost in lonely mist

back to *, Reff

DOB: Nov 29, 2003

Friday, December 05, 2003

I LOVE MY BAND! The Others Band Eight...

Whenever I'm feeling down, singing especially singing in a band, can always lift up my spirit. Here I am with my band mates, just jamming some sounds. I love it!

This evening, we are practising our song "Falling apart" (Yierick, Yiendra and Raymond created the music, I wrote the lyric) and it feels so good playing our own song. Then, we're jamming "I will Survive", just trying different solo for different music instruments. Yierick is trying on the new variations with his guitar, Raymond is practising a few beat, and Juhari is enjoying his bass with an ecstasy look in his face. Here I am, feeling completely being myself. I'm just Neny, the person who loves music in her heart. I'm not a student, I'm not a student, I'm not a mom, I'm not a wife, just me, plain Neny.

Don't take it wrong, I never forget my attributes. For a couple of hours, I just want to sing.....

THE OTHERS BAND EIGHT are: (in alphabetical order)

Edward Surya Seputra ~ Vocal
Elaine Steffanny ~ Bass, lyric writer
Muhammad Juhari ~ Bass, Guitar
Neny Isharyanti ~ Vocal, lyric writer
Raymond Sidharta ~ Drum, Bass, song writer
Yiendra Porayouw ~ Drum, Vocal, song writer
Yierick Porayouw ~ Guitar, Bass, song writer

Studio address : 225 Hyland Avenue, Apt. 8, Ames, IA 50011, USA





PAPER ATTACKS!!!

Today I declare as a paper day!

I'm not going to go outside (duh, it's snowing and freezing outside!) and bury myself in my books, cramming myself with ideas and thoughts and notions from those experts in order to come up with something called a bloody paper!

Well, it's a paper for English 518. We're supposed to write a research paper. Somehow, I'm always drawn to write something related to culture, and in this paper which is supposed to be about ESL, I'm going to make a set of criteria of how web-based ESL materials should be created in a way that they reflect and teach the readers of the cultural values of the target language, in this case English. Sounds complicated, huh?

Let's see how I can survive this day...

Thursday, December 04, 2003

A LITTLE LATE, A LITTLE LAZY...

Alright, I have to admit to you all that I'm lazy. Yes. Lazy as a lazy bum. I have two papers due next week and a project due next week, and I haven't done any single thing for the papers!

With this snow all over my apartment, my campus, every where, the chill of the weather has affected my body in a way that the only safe and heavenly place I can think of at the moment is my bed. I want to sleep. I don't want to work on my bloody papers. Something in the weather that makes you feel sleepy all the time. And somehow you are constantly hungry and need a rest.

But, life sucks! As always. So here I am in the library, looking for books for the resources of one of my papers. Looking at pages and pages and pages....

So forget all about the slumber that I'm dreaming off....

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

NENY ON THE WEB!

Tell you what, people...I finally updated my professional website. You see, I used to do website designing as a creative outlet but now in this English 510 with Professor Volker Hegelheimer, you do it as an assignment. So don't get startled if I sounded very 'professional' in the website, but I managed to sneak some of my cool stuffs *heheheh, so Neny!* Check it out here.

Also, do you know that I'm a profile of the month of Permias (Persatuan Mahasiswa Indonesia di AS) Ames website! Well...no wonder .... ;P Go take a look quick, before someone replaces me!

Well, gotta eat now, the snow is making me hungry all the time :))

ON SNOW

My comment of my first snow (after looking from my apartment window)

Oh My God! It's SNOW! It looks beautiful!


My comment of my first snow (going to the bus stop, walking to Ross Hall)

Oh My God! This SNOW! It doesn't feel beautiful! It's cold!


On the conclusion:

Snow: It looks beautiful, but it doesn't feel beautiful...


Lake Laverne, Dec 2003 (pic by ISU website)

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW! OMG, SNOW!

Snowing today! Hah, can't believe myself! Gila, bagus banget tau gak? Dan gw sampe histeria ngeliatnya! Ndesit bener....

Di depan apartment gw, dari jendela gw liat, orang2 sudah sibuk shovelling snow dan semua mobil yg parkir di parking lot tertutup salju. Atap apartment dan pohon2 jadi serba putih...hmmmm, beauty! Kayaknya ini harus difoto utk dokumentasi bhw I have experienced snow!

Tapi jeleknya snow, jalanan jadi licin. Si Tyas bilang, dia sudah mengalami berapa kali yg jatuh krn terpeleset. Si Nonik tadi malam pulang2 dari kampus langsung gedor pintu kamar gw mengabarkan kalau ada bbrp kecelakaan yg dia liat selama dia pulang naik bis. Si Tyas langsung mengumumkan ke gw bhw dia gak lagi bisa nge-drive gw kemana-mana. Pasalnya dia gak berani setir mobil di atas snow! Yah...

Yg jelas sampe aku tulis ini aku belum actually out there and touch the snow..well, klo snow yg kecil2 sih seminggu yg lalu udah sentuh (si Monica ama Moises dah siap dg kamera, tapi saljunya gak niat banget... dan gak menutup tanah sama sekali) dan kemarin malam (jam 7) pulang dari kampus aku udah berlari2 di bawah hujan salju yg mikroskopik, tapi aku belum ngerasain jalan di atas snow. Makanya abis ini musti foto di depan apartment dan di atas salju.

Kebingungan selanjutnya: baju! Wah...klo hari biasa Fall aku pake 4 lapis, hari ini musti pake brp lapis????