You are reading Weblog Wannabe archived entries from the month of July 2005, written by Firda Beka.
The previous archived entries are from June 2005. Most recent entries can be found on the main page.
This weblog is powered by Movable Type. The entries are mostly the results of tireless web browsing with my best buddy, Mozilla Firefox. Site design is copyrighted by Firda Beka. That's me, not you.
Okay, where were we? Oh right, the weekend. Well, the weekend was tiring and my whole body is still sore. I sprained my right wrist and left ankle playing volleyball in the pool. I should’ve been sticking to swimming instead of joining the game.
Anyway, we got to Troy’s parents place Friday evening and didn’t waste time to jump into the pool. I can’t remember what we did after that but I do remember being half awake most of the time.
Saturday was spent roaming the streets of Brantford, checking out some thrift stores and the mall, looking for, um, well, stuff. It wasn’t a very successful trip. Then we got home and, once again, jumped into the pool and played some volleyball.
Saturday evening we went to see the performance of Wayward Sister in Lynedoch, near Simcoe. They gave an amazing performance, singing a capella versions of (mostly) pop songs, including a couple of my favourites, Strong Enough (Sheryl Crow) and Message in a Bottle (the Police). You should see them if you get the chance.
After the show, a bunch of us went to this party of friends of a friend’s parents. It was a ‘classic’ party of drunk, turkey-hunting Canadian farmers where a bunch people just sat around a campfire, singing some silly songs and just generally being drunk. There was even a redneck hot tub where you could cool off if you wanted to. I must say that it was pretty entertaining to watch. After standing around for two hours chatting and watching the party, we left home. My legs were so sore I couldn’t fall asleep until I took some Advils.
Sunday morning, we went to have breakfast with a couple of friends in Waterford. The place was more packed than usual for some reasons. After breakfast, Troy and I went to Simcoe to pick up stuff for the wedding reception and then made a stop at the Waterford Antique Market. We left the market with five vintage cameras for our collection. Woohoo! When we were back at Troy’s parents place, we jumped back into the pool and played some more volleyball. That was when I sprained my wrist and ankle. Joy! We drove back home to Waterloo after having a big KFC supper with the family.
My body felt really sore on Monday and Tuesday. It’s still sore now but not as much as before. And we still have so much to do in preparation for the wedding reception on Saturday. Argh! But the next Saturday, we’ll be off to the Atlantic Canada for our honeymoon. Yippee! I can’t wait! I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures.
I woke up this morning at 8 after only two and a half hours of sleep. I felt like a zombie and I was hungry. Didn’t feel like cooking. Quick decision was made. Tim Hortons to the rescue. It was a beautiful morning. So nicely warm. And at Tim Hortons, everyone was so cheerful. I’m pretty sure I was the only living zombie there. There was a line-up. The morning coffee people. I tried to decide between a medium iced cappuccino and a bottle of iced tea. Iced tea won. Took home that and a couple of danishes.
When I got back to the apartment building, I could hear the motorbike-riding neighbour from across the hall vacuuming his apartment while listening to “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Meat Loaf. If I ever made a zombie movie, that song would SO be in the soundtrack, just for the cheesiness factor. I don’t know why, but I find zombie movies cheesy.
I still feel like a zombie, but I have a feeling that after eating the two danishes from Tim Hortons, I would feel more like a human. Oh, in case you’re wondering, they’re chocolate danish and strawberry and cheese danish a.k.a. the best things to ever come out of Tim Hortons. Want some?
— Between the heatwave, design work, and Troy’s broken laptop, we definitely need more sleep.
— I’ve always wanted to write about the three things that Indonesia got right and Canada got wrong, but never got around to it.
— If you’re curious, it’s the food, the coins, and the movie tickets with seat number.
— I still can’t tell the dimes from the nickels. Well, maybe I could if I made more effort, but I can’t be bothered.
— If our vintage camera collection kept expanding at this rate, by the end of the summer, we’d need to move to a bigger apartment.
— Troy and I got a haircut yesterday and we now look so sexy. Well, at least Troy does.
— I’ve been listening to a cover of Britney Spears’ “Everytime” done by an Irish bloke over and over again since last weekend, and I still haven’t got tired of it yet. I think it’s the cello (or is it a violin?). You can download the song from here.
— I found justcurio.us through Jordan a couple of nights ago and had a lot of fun there. I got some person in the States calling me a “stupid Canadian” for spelling colour with a “u”. What can I say, I speak English, not American.
— Speaking of rude people, I once had a very concerned Indonesian man emailing me about 6 or 7 years ago, telling me to remove my photos from my homepage because he was worried that the international world would think all Indonesian women looked just as ugly as me.
— My homepage was one of the very few personal homepages by Indonesian listed on Yahoo! at the time. I avoided Yahoo! since because getting listed there seemed like an invitation for rude people to visit. I still got two or three more sites listed on Yahoo! after that. And no, I didn’t submit them.
— I don’t like rude people, but I realise that sometimes I could be unintentionally rude due to my lack of social skills. That’s why I’d rather keep my mouth shut when I’m among people other than Troy.
— Our wedding reception is only 9 days away! I’m so excited about being my own photographer during the reception. I wish I’d been the one to take our wedding pictures. (And no, I’m not a photographer.)
— I can’t wait for our honeymoon.
— God, how I miss Indonesian food.
I never thought it would come to this but I’m getting tired of web design. After finishing all the projects I’m currently working on, I’m taking a break to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life. It’s just that designing has felt more like a chore than a love to me lately. I don’t know if I want to do it anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I still enjoy designing for myself. I don’t always feel like designing, but when I do, I always enjoy it. I guess I just don’t enjoy doing it commercially.
So, after I’m done with all the projects, I’m going to bring Book of Styles back to life, but not in a new form as promised. It will be pretty much like the old form. Only problem is, I left all the Shades of Grey templates in my computer back in Indonesia. If you happen to have the whole templates from the Shades of Grey series, I’d really appreciate it if you could email them to me (firda at wannabegirl dot org) so I could put them all back up and everyone could take advantage of them.
In case you’re wondering, there is something else that currently occupies my heart more than web design does (other than my husband, of course). It’s photography. I’ve fallen in love with photography. Call me unfaithful to web design if you will, but photography is so much more rewarding. It gives instant gratification, or almost instant gratification in case of film cameras. I got out of bed at 6:30 in the morning last Sunday and went out to take pictures. It was the most satisfying experience. Morning light makes everything look so much better. Try to do it some time. You won’t regret it!
I like you. I like you a lot. We’ve only known each other for a a year, but you’ve already treated me like a member of the big family. I’m really touched.
When I just got here, I compiled a list of things about Canada I didn’t know about. I missed those things when I was back in Indonesia for a month after being here for 4.5 months. But when I’m back here in your land, I miss Indonesian food constantly. If I could have one wish, I would wish for at least one authentic Indonesian restaurant here in in Waterloo so that I could go there when I’m feeling homesick.
A lot has changed since I wrote the abovementioned list. Your oddities don’t strike me as odd anymore. I’ve been able to incorporate the Canadian “eh?” into my daily conversation, and I’ve also been able to tolerate your lower temperature better. Now I can stand not to wear my sweatshirt when the temperature is in the mid- to high-teens. I hope you are proud of me. I’m not so crazy about your higher temperature, though. 38°C in Spring was not cool! But I know it wasn’t your fault.
I’m married to one of your men now. He’s a lovely man; sweet, caring, and gentle. Like most Canadians, he likes maple syrup, but he still can’t get me to try it even though I’ve been here for a year. Not that I’m complaining. I really hope you won’t take this personally, but maple syrup scares me. I don’t know why. It just does. I’m sorry.
Finally, I just want to wish you a happy birthday. My husband and I are going to go to one of your birthday celebrations today. I enjoyed last year’s celebration, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy this year’s just as much, if not more. Please keep being friendly, open-minded, and beautiful. Those are the things that I like the most about you.
Sincerely yours,
Firda
Read all entries from June 2005 →