My Foodblog Exposures On My Internship

Because of above description on SGE website, few days back someone sent me an email to ask about recommended Indonesian food around Singapore. He asked me on behalf of his Indonesian friend who just moved to Singapore.

Well, my first reaction: what? how did the person know my email? After I read his intro then I recalled again, I remembered him vividly. He is one of people that I met during Echelon Day 0 networking dinner. He is not in my name card list that I put previously, because he never gave me his name card. :(

But I am a nice guy (obviously), then I replied to him, which apparently later on he intro me to his friend. Well, on the replied email I put quite some of recommendation places and of course I did free advertising about my foodblog in that email as well! Where there is opportunity, you shall grab it fast. LOL

Below is the print screen of our earlier email

It Is Not New Moon, It Is Second Moon!

Well, this event is nothing to do with Eclipse Saga, so if your only interest is Eclipse Saga, please do not hate me because I somehow invited you to this post.

There will be a dance play performance by Gianti Giadi and Sufri Juwahir with script writer is Agnes Christina. Personally I only knew the first name and the last name. Gianti Giadi or usually I call her Gigi is really a great dancer in my opinion. She was actively involved in mentoring dancers of Indonesia students across Singapore for most of cultural events that Indonesia student had (at least for the past 3 years I've been in Singapore). Meanwhile Agnes Christina is a good script writer in my opinion. It is not her first time that her script being played in Substation.

Well for you who are interested, yet dunno the story, here is the story that I took from substation website.

The second moon is inspired by the story of Lilith and Adam, and eventually, Eve. In the beginning, Adam and Lilith are one. As they become more aware of themselves and the surroundings, their personalities grow stronger. Lilith chooses to leave Adam in his own world, while she creates her own. They remain as moons in their own worlds. The second moon is a story about union, separation and ego. The story of Lilith and Adam illustrates the dualism of the universe, a situation where two strong elements exist and co-exist to retain a balance.

Further information, simply go to their website. Yup, I am so gonna watch this, but Saturday slot, the only free day that I have between Friday and Saturday. See you there if you are attending on Saturday! :)

Six Weeks With My Casual Dress At Office

Last week marks my sixth week of my internship, means it is already halfway for me! :)

There are more of fun and learning for me rather than any pains that most of my friends bragged about during their internship. As all of you can read from my earlier post, A Quick Glance About the Author, currently I am doing my internship at SGEntrepreneurs.

Well, basically what I do during internships are quite interesting in my opinions, coz such experiences are the things that I never experienced before in serious manner.

1. Writing
I like to write, but not about news and such. For the past 6 weeks, I have posted more than 20 news articles. Among those 20 news articles, we have 1 new section of article that we plan to publish it periodically: Key Indonesia Startup News (9th Jun edition and 23rd Jun edition). Well, it has nothing to do with I am Indonesian, it just a coincidence. :)

2. Running A Contest
Indeed running a contest is not as easy as it looks. Although you have great idea how it will work, yet executions of your idea are the crucial part here. We had one contest before that I was mainly in charge: Echelon 2011 SGE Ticket Giveaway. The responses that we had during the contest wasnt that bad in my opinion. During the contest, I see the power of social media whereby twitter is more useful than facebook in term of spreading the words about the contest to attract the traffic.

3. E-Newsletter
Well, it is true that I should know about basic html coding when doing wordpress blogging, but preparing E-Newsletter is more challenging. It is really challenge your eyes, but after you get used to with it, then it will be like a piece of cake for you. Initially it took me like half day to prepare it, now if I know all of the content inside the newsletter, it will only take me about 2 hours. :)

4. Networking With Others
This is what I like most during my internship. I have no idea why I like networking, maybe it is my basic nature loves to socialize with others. But as an intern, you will feel like a small fish in ocean (yeah I am the Nemo maybe..haha). But well, I did manage to know some other amazing people, some are written in my previous post: Have You Ever Heard About Echelon?

5. Other Marketing Tools
Well, as I told my employer earlier before I get into the internships, I want to get to know more about marketing stuffs. Well, she is really open and frank about it to me, and she shared to me quite much about the condition and environment at this industry. Gaining a trust results in access of few stuffs where I learn a lot from that. I can say that all of my suggestions regarding marketing strategy is more of by looking though statistics that we have and looks at how the market plays and twisted a bit here and there to differentiate it. Well, I think thats the basic thing we learn from school, but I just experienced it from the past 6 weeks during my internship and I am really enjoy it so much. So far I knew that bit.ly is really useful, then I know also about mailchimp. LOL I am not a tech-savvy, so pardon me if I sound like an old generation. =.=

Well, thats the major things that I've done for the past 6 weeks, not much maybe as other people experiences, but I am really looking forward to the next 6 weeks that I have. And actually I am considering to work part time during school term, since I only have 9AUs for next sem. Meaning I only have 2-4 hours of school from Monday-Thursday, and I am free every Friday for next semester!

If you are aware of the title of this post, it is true that I always wear tees to office, either with jeans, pants or short, depends on my mood and events after office hours. :)

Let's Meet With Loudy, Lovey, Bitey, Nimrod, Captain, And Stinky In Mr Popper's Penguins!

It was Wednesday, when I watched this movie. I was supposedly watching it on Tuesday, but my movie kaki was sick. So we postponed it to Wednesday instead. :)

Initially I wanted to watch Green Lantern, but my friend told me it is not really that nice, so we decided watching this movie instead (not my idea tho, because Mr Popper's Penguins trailer is not that appealing to me).

Well, the phrase "never expected anything" is true and applied to this movie for me! I was not expecting any funtastic, but it turned out to be is. I will not try spoil any people expectation here, so I will not try to give any preview story about it.

To cut long story short, this movie is really good for family outing I think. It is really heart warming. In a way it is funny, but you can feel the family reunion bonding inside the movie itself, and how hopes and second chance in life were happened. :)

Well, for you who have no idea what the movie about, let you watch the trailer first:

My Freaking Early 21st Birthday Gift!

I have no idea what came up in my friend, Dinda, at that time. She simply gave me freaking early birthday gift! I was not expecting anything really that early! 4 months earlier than my actual birth date? O.o

Well, the bag is really useful for me, because I am really using it whenever I go during my summer internship (my summer internship doesnt require me to be in formal dress). And you know what? My boss even told me that the bag looks nice, but too bad I do not have this brand card name where I can give to her if I had thus she might know where to buy it. :(

Well, I do not mind be marketing guy tho, by simply provide me with the product and I wear it? haha.. :P

Talk about the brand, this brand is actually made in Indonesia. It is handmade, so the quality is better than the mass production by machine and with their competitive price with other brand at the similar class. It is about 70sgd if you buy it in Indonesia, the shipping cost will be waived if you are around Jakarta and Bandung!

Seems like I am promoting this brand? Haha.. Not really, because just want to share with my friends who asked me previously about my bag. Seems like there are few others who were interested as well when saw me used this bag, thats why I simply writting this blog post. Oh for you who want to know more about this brand, simply come to their facebook page: mouton leatherworks.

Oh, not forgetting to say thank you to Ayu Dyani because she was the one who deliver it to me all the way from Indonesia to SG! :)

Insidious VS Laddaland, Which One Is Better?

Finally, I have my horror movie kaki (means buddy/friend), Dylan! Initially I have no idea that he likes to watch horror movie as well, but was randomly asked and apparently he did not mind to watch Insidious and Laddaland with me. At least if I scream, I will not to scream to random person around me? Annoys random in cinema is not my type. :)

Insidious? Hmm.. This movie is kind of movie when you watch it, you will get haunted at least a night? Especially if you are visual person (because I am). During the movie itself, I didnt get so much of shocking feeling. But the feeling after movie, you shall take a deep breath whenever you want to take a look yourself at the mirror and whenever you will sleep and have a dream as well. The ending somehow they want to make insidious 2 or even more? =.=

Meanwhile for Laddaland, it is more shocking kind type of horror movie. Well, I can say thats what Thai movie style, but you know what? Since I am an Asian, I think I can relate more to this horror movie, well maybe culture that being portrayed also makes difference. But you will not expect the ending, it is totally sweet kind of ending for me at least.

Actually laddaland can be considered as family drama psycho-horror movie while insidious is totally a horror movie! So, which one you think is better? :D

Below are the trailers for you to consider which one to watch first. :)

Insidious

Laddaland

Have You Ever Heard About Echelon?

As you can tell from the title, this chance I would like to address about the event that just ended and I was lucky enough can attend it for FREE! It was due to my working nature as an intern that required me to expose myself to entrepreneur environment. Well, I would not elaborate more on the event itself, because actually you can read on one of the article written by me about what one of the main schedules is about.

Here I would like to elaborate more on the people that I met over the past 3 days, start from day zero of networking dinner until day two on after party event. Out of numbers name cards that I exchanged with others, I picked up 6 name cards that somehow I think I would love to talk about. So, let me start chronologically! :)

1. Senior Assistant Director, NTC
This lady started talk to me accidentally when I was listening to one of conversation between Gwen and others. Like usual, I intro myself from SGE (where I am doing my intern at the moment) and she gave me her name card, automatically I also gave my name card in exchange. She was pretty surprised when she knew that I am an NTU student, because as you can see from her name card, she is from NTU. So we started to talk about some light stuffs and moving further to some heavy stuffs. Apparently NTC (part of NTU) plans to make a programme for businessman in particular to change mindset on how they view about China. Have you ever think China make something innovative? Not faking or imitating others? Well said for me, I simply gave my opinion about educating public about it and more of media exposure about it first before they execute their real programme. Moreover I also told her if she wanted to aim Indonesia market as well, she is better have contact to private sectors such Bakrie, Djarum, etc and maybe can try some organization as well that being organized by government for remarkable youth of Indonesian. Somehow later I might want to drop her an email about this.

2. Business Development, Cooliris
I always have difficulty whenever I read this company name. Well said, the guy is business development person and he is one of most approachable person in my opinion since his "face template" is a smiley face (indeed most of the time I found he keeps smiling). It is quite funny actually when he intro to me about himself and practically I remembered to one of post that I published a day before (I met him on day 0 of Echelon 2011). But due to my memory failure, I remembered it wrongly and thought it was an article, but in fact it was an event list! But at least I remember his product name since I stated it on that event post as well.

3. Co-founder, Brandtology
He is such a nice guy as well that I met, but seems like he is pretty busy guy (of course everyone there are busy, I am just being silly? LOL). Well, my impression about him is he is an approachable person as well and actually you want to know who is this guy? Read up more here. :)
When he intro himself to me that he is from Brandtology, I remembered that I read quite few of this company related articles such as their acquisition, investment value S$2M, etc. That is why I think that it is pretty interesting for me to pick up this card among all others name cards that I have now.

4. Co-Founder, travelnesia
I met him accidentally, because I accompanied two of Indonesian who just back from Echelon day 0 and they have no idea how to meet their friends. As my nature for being a nice host of country where I live for the past 3 years, I sent them to meet their friends. Among of those friends, this guy is one of it. He is such a nice approachable guy as well, as he engaged quite much talks with me whenever we met during Echelon event itself. But thats not the only reason I picked his cards among others. It is because that I really want to support Indonesia Tourism and his website is the website that being referred from government as the official Indonesia Tourism website. So, if you want to visit Indonesia, feel free to explore it! :)

5. LobangClub.com
For those of you who have no idea about what this is about, well I cant blame any of you tho. Their own name already attracted me in the first place to approach their exhibition booth, dont you think so? Well, basically they special feature is about scanning a unique barcode of product then we find the best offer based on that barcode, best here is not only in term of price but also location, because basically it is location-based apps. Actually it was not the reason I picked up this card, the reason is more towards my mind fighting regarding my deja vu feeling. After few minutes of mind fighting finally I remember something that I saw the name before! not the face. Finally my memory remember name as well? haha.. *note: I have difficulty remembering one time intro person name*

6. Customer Solution Engineer, Google Asia Pacific
Well, you should know why I picked this name card, right? Okay honestly, I met this guy at Echelon After Party. Since it is party chillin' kind session, so I cant really heard what he talked about when he intro himself. As the chatting going on, then I realized something "hmm..why these guys comparing Microsoft and Google". Beside this guy, there 3 other Microsoft guys around me that moment, then when we exchanged name card, boommzzz.. then I know who I've been listening to for the past 15 mins. So yeah, my ear has its own optimized distance of hearing, so I guess more than 100cm is a big no no for me in the party with loud music for chit chat.

Well, thats my report about what I've been doing for the past 3 days. So, which one you think that impressed me a lot? :D

Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; Good or Bad?

Yeah! Jack Sparrow, by actor Johnny Depp, is back again to the cinema. Thats the first reaction that I had when heard the news about the latest Pirates of Caribbean movie. But I did not really think about whether it will be a good or bad movie at that moment (a month or two months ago) until I saw my friends negative comments who have watched it (2 weeks ago).

Due to that comments, then I forced my friends to watch it with me as soon as possible, so we decided watch it at Cathay (Map) on 24th May 2011, at 830pm, and yeah we watched it in 3D! My friends kept asking me whether I can reach on time or not, because my tuition usually ends at 730pm at Newton area at that night, but of course I managed to reach it at 8pm. :)

With slightly lower expectation, I watched this movie. Due to my hectic schedule for the past few days before that night, I fell asleep at some boring scenes, when they talked here and there. :(

Overall for me, it is kinda true that the previous sequels are better than the latest movie. I am not sure why, maybe the compositions and the chemistry of cast are not really good enough? I think next time if they want to produce another Pirates of Caribbean movie, somehow they should bring back Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom (I know he only can appears to the world every 100 years, but come on for the sake of nice movie!).

So actually, this time whats the story about? Here is the summary I took online:

Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) crosses paths with a woman from his past (Cruz), and he's not sure if it's love -- or if she's a ruthless con artist who's using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the formidable pirate Blackbeard (McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn't know who to fear more: Blackbeard or the woman from his past.

For those who want to view the trailer:

Do Not Ask Me Again Where You Should Eat For Supper At Town!

One night during hectic school term on weekday.


My Friend (MF): Egi! Where should we go if we wanna go for supper now at town?
Me (M): Ha? You mean now? It is already 10pm, you know!
MF: Yeah.. So where shall we go?
M: Errmm.. Spize?
MF: Eh we do not want to eat there, any other rec place? Do not rec me McDonalds.
M: Oh.. It is kinda difficult because it is weekday, you can try any hawker centre available there, but not sure also which hawker centre that open till quite late during weekday. What about Starbucks?
MF: Oh, which Starbucks that open 24 hours?
M: You can try the one at City Hall.
MF: Okay! I think we will go there.


Yup! Thats the scenario occured to me before. Imagine you are doing your assignments, lab reports, or maybe even watching TV series (the most likely case for me), then one of your friend asks you where shall he and few numbers of his friends eating for supper? Lucky for my friend, I was in good mood that time and picked up the phone, usually I do not pick. :)


Well, at this chance I would like to try give few places that you can go to if you are at town for supper.


1. McDonald

Haha.. Yeah, it is your first choice of all. McDonald maybe just like another meal for those of you who are super hungry. Maybe you skip your dinner or even worse do not eat at all the whole day? McD is located around SG, but only few chain that open 24/7. One of them is at City Hall.


Beside McD, maybe you can try other junkfood/fa(s)tfood brands i.e. KFC, Wendy's, BK, etc. Maybe you think, well we can always order it online, but the user experiences of travelling, order directly, and eat it at the place itself are different. So you should try if you never try before! :P


2. Starbucks

As you can see from the intro convo above, I rec them Starbucks. It just my subsconcious to tell someone during weekday to go to Starbucks if they want to stay at town until so late. Yup, I used to one of guys who camped at Starbucks doing assignments like I bring my own table. :P


But if you go to Starbucks at late hours, the food that left usually cake, cookies, or maybe if you are on diet, there are always fruits salad! :)


For sure if you go there you will purchase their beverages! Their menu on the board is clear enough for me, but you can always ask the barista in case you do not familiar with their menu. Oiya, not forgetting that do not surprise with the logo, because they just changed logo around first quarter of this year.


Basically there are few numbers of Starbucks at town that open 24/7, such as City Hall and Liat Tower. Well for further details, you can view their website.


Similar like McD, Starbucks has their own competitor, maybe you can try TCC and Coffee Bean. TCC for sure they have 24/7 operating boutique, while for Coffee Bean I am not really sure, only went there occasionally.


3. Spize

As a local "makan" place, Spize is famous enough among people in SG. Currently, there are 2 branches. One of it is located at River Valley Road (Map). Yup, I consider River Valley as town because it is quite nearby to Somerset area (I was quite surprised to find out this when me and my friend driving around).


It has built a reputation for its quality, value-for-money authentic Singaporean, Thai, Indian, Western & Mediterranean food. I have tried several menus since my first visit back then about 1.5 years ago, such as nasi goreng ayam tiga rasa and roti john.


4. OldTown White Coffee

Why OldTown White Coffee? Here is the short story behind it:


It was quite late that night when I complained to my friend who fetched me at late night for dinner. Surprisingly my friend did not want to eat at late hour while for me I was totally hungry and can eat a cow meal at that moment.


At first I wanted to strict my diet as well that night, so we went looking for a milk yogurt and my friend suggested a milk yogurt at Cineleisure, Orchard. Here we go, we went to Orchard all the way just to find out that the shop already closed! It was about 11pm and it was weekday if I am not mistaken.


Since my stomach was in hunger and my friend somehow felt responsible for it, so we went around nearby there. And for the first time that night, my friend did his job nicely by saw Old Town White Coffee and I ate there! :)


Basically Old Town White Coffee is a modern street coffee shop where the authenticity is their priority. Started from Malaysia, now they have expanded their business to Singapore. Of course they want you to take break and stay there for long time, because their motto is "Where life is happy because We take our time".  


5. Hawker Centres/Coffee Shops
As you do realize that Singapore foods mainly are supported by Hawker Centres. Can you imagine Singapore withour Hawker Centres? Some parts of Singapore will look like a death region I think. :P


Basically if you want to have supper anytime anywhere at Singapore, you do not need to worry, except for those ulu areas (hello my NTU fellas!). My experiences ate supper at town do not stop only on those four places, of course I also eat at hawker centres! :)


While at town maybe you can try maxwell foodcourt, makan sutra beside Esplanade, and maybe few others shop along selegie road, newton or even around china town area (I am not really familiar tho, so you can explore).

The Lion King: Personification or Anthropomorphism?

It is the most anticipated musical show for 2011 in Singapore, The Lion King Musical Show!


It's being seen by over 51 million people around the world and being premiered for the first time at the Sands Theater at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore for South East Asia Region. Disney’s beloved film has been transformed into a spectacular theatrical experience which has won over 70 major international theatre awards by acclaimed director: Julie Taymor.


As for me, I had witnessed by my own naked eyes the truly amazing of the show. I am totally impressed by the cast performances (esp the dance moves), the props, musics composition, and many more.


We booked our tickets about a month before the shows date and yet we still can not get the front seats of the section that we bought (there are 6 different sections). A week after we booked our tickets, we just knew that the shows period being extended up to July 2011 (refer to sistic website). If we knew that earlier, we would rather wait for few weeks to get better seats.


Although the theater is not as big your expectation, for sure DO NOT EVER BUY CIRCULAR SEATS! You will know the reason why during the show. :)


Here are the comparison video between Lion King cartoon (full version) and Lion King Musical Show (trailer). Don't you feel it under your skin? :)

So now, back again to the title of this post. Which one do you think: Personification or Anthropomorphism? :P

Fast Furious 5: Amazingly Awesome Plan!

It was in the middle of my exams period when my friend, Ayu Dyani, came over to SG with her mom. I surprised with her sudden visit but apparently I managed asking her to get some stuffs for me that I can not get easily in SG i.e. chewing gum. :)


Lucky her, she came when there was public holiday in SG: Deepavali, so we can watch a late midnight movie because I only can watch after my intern work. FYI, currently Indonesia does not show such big Hollywood movies due to tax issues by the companies who hold the copyright in distributing the movies on cinemas (details here).


When we reached Cineleisure Orchard, we saw the only available movie that we wanted to watch is Fast Furious 5. As the title said, it is sequel #5, so I am a bit curious whether there is relation between this sequel and the previous one (Fast Furious 4).


Apparently, there is relations between the latest sequel and the previous one and here we go when I thought I have not watched the previous sequel before! But the fact is I watched it before after I saw the cast faces (I have terrible memory for names, visual FTW!).


Basically, what is Fast Furious 5 about then? Below is the summary that I take online:

Former cop Brian O'Conner partners with ex-con Dom Toretto on the opposite side of the law. Since Brian and Mia Toretto broke Dom out of custody, they've blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom. As they assemble their elite team of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he's not the only one on their tail. Hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs never misses his target. When he is assigned to track down Dom and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them. But as his men tear through Brazil, Hobbs learns he can't separate the good guys from the bad. Now, he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey... before someone else runs them down first.

With the stars rating 7.7 out of 10 from IMDb website, this is one of the must watch movie in your list for 2011! Especially with their nicer story plot that I think they might be inspired by Leverage TV Series. Yes, they do some kind of con-artist scenes!


For those who would like to check out the trailer:

A Quick Glance About the Author

It was 21 Sept 1990 in one of clinics, a mother tried pushing so hard in order to get a baby out of her body. All of these 9 months, she endured obstacles she faced by having another soul inside here body and finally this little soul can see the world with his own eyes.


Yup! That is maybe the story of mine when I was about to born and see this "ugly world". So, a son of her is finally can feel the world by his senses on 21 Sept 1990 and his name is Egi Septiadi.


During his childhood, Egi Septiadi or usually being called Egi, is a quiet person. He did not really talk unless people initiated the conversations with him. He spent his childhood in a small city of Indonesia, Bengkulu.


After more than 10 years in Bengkulu, he asked his parent to get him being transferred to Jakarta, capital city of Indonesia (there is another story behind it, so you might ask the author). He moved to Jakarta when he was at Junior High School 2 while he lived with his aunt back then at Jakarta.


To make long story short, he spent 5 years at Jakarta: 2 years of Junior High School (Labschool, Rawamangun) and 3 years of Senior High School (SMA Negeri 8 Jakarta). (un)lucky him, after he spent 5 years at Jakarta, he moved to Singapore to continue his study at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).


Currently, he is studying Chemistry at NTU, under School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS). Hopefully he will gradute by next year, 2012. While he studies his major, he realized that Chemistry is not his true call and tried looking for an alternative. At the end he decided to take Minor in Entrepreneurship.


He finished Minor in Entrepreneurship last year, Oct 2010 to be precise. During the programme, he found that he is more passionate to such subjects comparing to his major. Given a chance knowing few of Startups Co-founders, he tried his lucks asking for internship during his third year under them.


Mr Kah Howe Lee accepted him for one month internship during last December holiday while for this year summer holiday he is currently doing his internship at SGEntrepreneurs under Ms Gwendolyn Regina Tan. So far, his ideas about exploring himself regarding what kind of job he loves to do are still intact in his mind. But yet, he has not tried any jobs that related to his major.


So, that's the quick glance of author life.

New Blog? What Will You Write?

Hello Everyone!


I have so many things in mind for a moment about what kind of blog it will look like. Basically, I will blog about spare time activities here with my own perspectives opinions, i.e. food and "makan" place, movies and cinemas, books, sports, and some other topics.


So, just wait and see what I can do to this blog.