Welcoming Second Half of 2012 with Bus-Car Accident, Hello Singapore! [Author Corner]

Seems like this year my life is getting further beyond the social life drama. Started with mistakenly caught by police towards ending of first half of 2012, while this time I just experienced bus-car accident for the first time in my life.

Call me lazy or what, but I took bus with longer travelling time because I was too tired standing all the way during the journey back home. Well, there was a bad sign when I just reached the bus stop nearby YMCA building in Dhoby Ghaut: bus 502 doesnt pass that bus stop, which surprised me at first. (un)lucky me that there was another bus, 174, which going to Jurong Point, so I took 174 instead of 502.

There was no other bad signs anymore, unless if I want to count high traffic along Bukit Timah area as bad sign of the journey, but I am already get used to with no-moving at all traffic in Jakarta, and I have times that I can spare, thus I didnt even bother to worry about it. I am not pretty sure whether bus 174 driver or the car driver that should be accused as a wrong party during accident, but bus 174 was about to turn right, so it was moving toward the right side of the road, while the car (I think) tried to took over it from the right side as well, and TADAAAAAAAA, I experienced the very first bus-car accident in my life.

At first when I heard the sound, I thought it was the wheel of bus 174 that exploded, but when people who sitting at the back made noises, then I took a look and saw a car that can not move at all, as the picture below.

Is it wrong focus? O.o

Obviously due to this, all of bus 174 passengers need to alight immediately and change to the next available bus. Lucky us, it was not at quiet area of Bukit Timah, but it was in Bukit Batok area that has quite number of buses to choose. As for me I took bus 157. While waiting for bus 157, I tried to take few pictures of accident from bus stop.

while waiting for a bus to change

help reached within 10 minutes, considerably fast?

"Titik Nol" Preview Session: Reminded Me of My Mother, but Showed Director *** [Performing Art]

Knowing director or/and scriptwriter of a performing arts show will give audiences different insight of the play itself. At least, that's what I felt when I watched the preview of "Titik Nol" (monologue version by "Siti") just now in Telok Ayer Performing Arts Centre.

Titik Nol is a play which was originated from a short film by Nicolas Yudifar, who also involves in play production. Earlier, the play was showed in Substation, Singapore from 1st to 3rd March and from 9th to 10th March 2012 in Jakarta for first time within the region.

"Titik Nol" poster/flyer for last March 2012 show

Unfortunately, I was in Indonesia for short-break when it was showed in Singapore and I was in Singapore when it was showed in Jakarta, so the show and me were not fated together back then. But lucky enough for me that few days back, Agnes Christina told me that she will have a closed-preview session in Singapore for the upcoming Titik Nol show which will be held in Yogyakarta. The show in Yogyakarta itself will be held on 29th September 2012. Also, they will bring the show to Bandung and Semarang somewhere in December 2012, but with possibly another format/style.

As a person who just watched it for the first time, I was quite impressed by the actress, Emanorwatty Saleh. It was a monologue version and she needs to tell us the story which was previously played by not only her, but also another Indonesian actor, Agus Nur Amal. During the preview session, I can imagine and feel the situation that they tried to deliver to us as audiences regardless of limitation of props, lighting, and sound system. At personal level, first part of the scenes (older version of Siti) reminds me of my mother, somehow. Nevertheless, there are some areas that still can be improved which were discussed after the preview session among few people who had opportunity to watch, i.e. character development, timeline clarity, etc. The post-preview discussion was partly serving its purpose to give feedback to team prior to their real show.

I would say that it was new and interesting experiences for me attending such session and would like to thanks to Agnes for inviting me to the preview session.

I Need "Words of Affirmation", What About You? [Author Corner]

Some of my friends knew that every Saturday I joined this "secret gathering" from period of February to April 2012. During one of sessions, the discussion about Love and Relationship, and just happened there is this little quiz about knowing of a person Love Language. I never knew that actually there is someone who quantify it in such way and when I tried to google about it, I found that it is already been around since 1992, means it is already for over 20 years.

During the session, I found that my primary love language is "Words of Affirmation" and according to a website, it means

Actions don’t always speak louder than words. If this is your love language, unsolicited compliments mean the world to you. Hearing the words, “I love you,” are important—hearing the reasons behind that love sends your spirits skyward. Insults can leave you shattered and are not easily forgotten.

Well, it is possible that a person has same score for more than one language, just take it as you are a bilingual or maybe even multi-language person. It is kinda good in my opinion understanding what your love language, as you might realize whats the most important for you in relationship and for your partner to know about it, so yourself will be felt more loved by her/him.

If you are curious about the quiz, I tried to consolidate the quiz and the result brief explanation. Simply download following file  (password: egi). Sorry, but the file I protected, so it is Rad-Only file mode.

The Five Language Quiz

There will be 30 pairs of statements. Read the statements and imagine yourself having to choose ONE out of the two statements. Choose one that fits you best, and put "1" under your choice column. I tried to make it easier, so by the time you finish all of the questions, simply go to the Result sheet to find which one is the most dominant.

Indonesian Cuisines are NOT Only from Ayam Penyet Ria, M Nasir, and Tambuah Mas [Food]

Whenever people in Singapore mentioned about Indonesian cuisines, residents or tourists, somehow their association to it will be somewhere quite well-known places i.e. Ayam Penyet Ria, Tambuah Mas, or Warung M. Nasir. Well, in my opinion those places are fine, but if you want to find somewhere that not really mainstream, perhaps you might want to try these following five other places that I tried before.

1. Warung Lele

With their wide various choices of menu, actually you can try something new that you never heard before (even for some native Indonesian). Located just outside the exit of Tanjong Pagar MRT, Warung Lele is quite convenient for commuters, and not really that crowded whenever I came there during dinner time. So if you thinking to book a place with big group for a dinner, actually this place is one of best choices due to the availability. Price-wise, usually I will spend about 8-15/each person. It really depends on how many menu that you ordered, since the style is more to a-la-carte, or in Indonesia we usually call it "menu tengah" (center menu). Their menu varied from Ayam Kalio to Es Teler.

2. Ayam Bakar President

The name of the shop itself literally means Chicken Grill President. Located in Lucky Plaza, I think they want to perceived that they have a top notch quality in their grill stuffs, which I am kinda agree. This place has the same style with Ayam Penyet Ria. I usually spend about 8-10/person in this place. My favourite menu will be Empal Bakar, Nasi Goreng, and Avocado Juice.

3. Sinar Pagi Nasi Padang

In Singapore, usage of "nasi padang" phrase is overused island-wide. Some of the stalls in hakwer centre use the phrase without any kind of understanding the different between Malay cuisine and Padang cuisine. Well, it is true that Padang people indeed are Malay people, but it does not mean that all Malay people are Padang people, and it applies to food as well. First time found this place was during my internship, and it all thanks to SGEntrepeneurs co-founder, Ms Gwen who brought me here. Located in Circular Road, with nearest MRT will be Raffles Place or Clarke Quay, this place passes my standard as a true blood of Padang people (both of my parents are from West Sumatra, practically Padang foods are my daily food back then in Indonesia), or even I can say one of few places in Singapore that serves good-quality of Padang cuisines. If you come here alone, you always can order "nasi campur" (mix rice) like what I ordered, but if you come here with a group of friends, I will recommend you order "menu tengah"-style. Normally I will spend about 5-11 SGD/person, it all depends again on how much you want to order. Just take note for sensitive stomach person, some of their foods are spicy, although they already tried to adjust it to local standard taste.

4. Resto Surabaya

I tried the branch in Far East Plaza before, but according to hungrygowhere, there is another branch in Lucky Plaza as well. This place has an interesting menu called  Ayam BumbuSate (Chicken Satay Sauce). Well, the satay sauce is not really that Indonesian taste I can say, as they try to adjust it with local taste as well. Perhaps, they could make it become 2 different type of sauces, because in my opinion there will be some people who prefer Indonesian-style of sauce (talking about myself indeed). Price-wise will be similar like Ayam Penyet Ria or Ayam Bakar President.

5. Pondok Jawa Timur

Well, if you know about Indonesia map well, at least Java Island, you might wonder why so many people from this island use city/province names as part of their restaurant names. Well, for Indonesia restaurant, most likely the owner itself is from that location, not because the foods they sell are the cuisine from that region only. Pondok Jawa Timur used to be located beside Plaza Singapura, but the last time I ate here it was relocated to Wilkie Edge, a mall after Pomo, behind School Of The Arts (SOTA). After tried some places around Singapore, the satay here is the one that really close to Indonesian satay taste. The portion of each skewer is quite big, which justify the higher price, on top of the taste of it as well. Beside the chicken satay, you might want to give a try Bakwan Jagung as well. But if you are ordering a set meal, Nasi Kuning Komplit will satisfy your tongue and empty stomach.

Well, the numbering in this post doesn't mean anything, and all of the write-up above are only based on my experiences and my own judgement, so it might be different to others. Hopefully, it will give you more places to go for dinner/lunch next time you are in town! :)