Tahu Isi

Wait a minute…. commercial break….

I managed to cook “Tahu Isi”. It’s tahu (not tofu), filled with some vegetables (carrot, cabbage, etc) and condiments (of course, my favorite=white pepper). First, I sauted the veggies and condiment with a little frying oil, then I put all those sautes into pre-prepared halfly-sliced tahu. Stiff rice-powder made the slice sticky. Half of all tahu were from cakson’s batter, the other half were from mine. It tastes good, while some tahu got overcooked.

Well.. I starkly enjoy the meal. Yummmmm…..

NPC

Monday 31 March 2008

Presenting my third paper on NPC (National Postgraduate Conference).

Title of my presentation: Separator Database Technique on Mining Sequential Patterns using PrefixSpan with pseudoprojection

Time: 10.30 –> first presenter!! Bloody hell…

It’s supposed to be a goosebumping situation for me as I haven’t rehearsed at all for my newly created presentation slides. Even when I mentioned my title, I was nervous coz I just stood in front of audience without having any chance to sit down before. And even I forgot to say Salam and “very good morning” to everybody. But finally once I explained the outline of my presentation, I can figure out the audience, how audience felt, how the chairman (and chairwoman) felt, examining why they looked at me, examining their eyes, give 100% confidence, then… blammmm…. magic….

nervous was reduced to 0%

Weird words came from my mouth, such as: “rapid progress in digital data acquisition has resulted into advancement on large databases technology”…. how come I said that?? I didn’t even realized what I have said about. And those weird words with good grammar kept scrambling out from my mouth.

Only one question came from the chairman, asking about how, technically, my improvement really reduces the redundancy in previous algorithm.

Then I went back to 02-02-11, my other lovely office. Checking my email…. and I got an email from Dr Wan.

From: Wan Fatimah Bt Wan Ahmad (ACADEMIC/UTP)
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 11:12:23 AM
Subject: [Postgraduate_IT_UTP] PG Research – Visiting Professor (Prof Olariu from USA)

Dear ALL,

Please be informed that in conjunction with Prof Olariu’s visit, there will be a slot for PG students’ paper presentation. The committee has agreed that two papers from CIS and two papers from EE are to be presented to Prof Olariu for his comments and views.

For CIS, Dhany and Agung will present their papers.

 …….

After lunch (of course refreshment is provided by the conference), I met my supervisor and she congratulated me and told me that my speech was good. The amusing thing here wasn’t about the congratulation, but rather on her new spirit she gave me to at last finishing reading my draft by her (confused with my last sentence? good…). And she told me about my preparation for the following day for Prof Olariu. I googled Prof Olariu… OMG…

I mean…. look at his biography. He is the editor for IEEE Journal, he published alotta journals, and surprisingly, he had a interest on my topic (pattern recognition) and parallel architecture.

Dunno… let’s see what happens on the next day.

Tumis Kacang Panjang

This evening I cooked Tumis Kecambah – Kacang Panjang… ah whatever the name. The taste is delicious… at least for my and mukhlason’s tongue. The sprout here in Malaysia is gigantic. So i chopped it into small sticks. This time I learned when vegetable get withered (Jv: layu) without touching it. Most of Malaysian served vegetables never been withered. Then I also learned how much water and sweet soy sauce I must put on tumis. With the magic of my most favourite pepper, this food becomes spicy and yummy… Then I eat it with rice and egg. Hmmm…. yummyyyy….

Day 5: Trip to Singapore (went back to utp)

Tue, 1 Jan. The last day in Singapore. I left Dana’s hostel at 1:30 pm. Before I went home, I took a picture with the thinnest building in the world near Beach Road [foto menyusul]. Dana said that all architects went to Singapore never forgot to take a picture with this building, since they knew the beauty and complexity of this building. We are going to Textile Center in Jalan Sultan, Beach Road, where usually an inter-country bus is located. The bus departed at 3 pm. The immigration matters (twice checking in two buildings) were too easy to pass. In custom declaration building, the guard let me pass without any checking, while some Malaysian (with red passport) was been stopped for passport checking. After a long time travel, at 5 we stopped at a Chinese stopover for 20 minutes for toilets and foods. I arrived in Kotaraya at 9. It’s time for me to walk around Ptaling Street for cheap shopping. Then I arrived UTP at about 2 am, walking faraway to reach hostel. Opening my notebook for a while, then I went to sleep.

Day 4: Trip to Singapore (new year countdown)

Mon, 31 Dec. In the morning, we went to the nearest canteen to eat. Dana said that this foodcourt is the cheapest in Singapore. I ate nasi lemak with egg fried sunny-side up, sayur tahu (food that I usually eat in Western USM canteen), and chicken chop. It costs 2.5 S$. Remember… Singapore dollar, not Ringgit. And the jelly grass (long cincau) only costs 40 cents.

Then we go to Sentosa Island. There are two ways to go there, by cable car (gondola) or by MRT. We choose cable car. On the way we went to the cable car, I saw a bizarre mannequin of a shop, so I take a picture of it. First, we arrived in Imbiah, where Merlion giant sculpture is located. We also went to scenic Imbiah Terrace and took some pictures. Then, we continued our journey to Siloso Beach by free bus. Unfortunately, I had less time in Sentosa, for I must get to Esplanade for new year party on time. Thus, I cannot enjoy the beach. We chose to use free public cart to sightsee the beach. Some strange views never been seen in Malaysia were there. Couples riding bicycle with two saddles, bule rollerskating topless holding his friend bicycling, bule washing their body in public place while they used bikinis, and bule in bikini walked around. After walking around, we went to MRT for the next trip.

We arrived again in Clarke Quay to take picture with the medium-sized merlion statue and the small-sized one (with pimples… kekekekkkk…). The river was also awesome in the afternoon. Some people were skateboarding around the area. Some photos were taken while we went to Clarke Quay. One good Singapore aphorism I found that day was “Low crime doesn’t mean no crime”. Yes, Singapore had the lowest crime rate in the world. It was so damn secure to put our things everywhere (Jv: glethak-glethek).

The next journey was to Bugis Street. We went there by bus. Oh, I almost forgot to tell that every bus in Singapore was just like in Malaysia. They were gadgeted with many computerized machines for money payment and travel cards.

In Bugis Street, we, again, found a good place with words “Sex Life” and then guessably I took picture with these words. There, I bought some souvenirs to my family in Indonesia and for my friends in UTP. Then, we met the other guy named Vicky, who will also enjoy the new year countdown with us. Along the road, we took pictures, mostly with the weird Christmas trees we found on the way. Again, I found another banner “warning, illegal parking will be wheel-clamped”, although it was just a bicycle. I just realized how a Singapore was been called as fine city. The city not also fine, means beautiful, too much interesting place and best views to photograph, but also full of fine threats. Even in MRT, I found a banner “for emergency, press this button, and use the microphone below to talk to the officers”, blab bla bla. And this banner was again ended with threat “for emergency misuse, fine S$ 5000”. Insaneeeee……

We reached Esplanade in Marina Square at 9.30 or something. The place was too crowded. The strategic places had already been occupied densely. Therefore, we just sit near the other strategic spot, and hopefully I can go inside the crowd to take a picture of fireworks at 12 am. Vicky forced himself to snap the glowing balloon in the river from this non-strategic spot, and he failed. At 12 am, the crowds moved forward to see the fireworks while listening for the fanfare for about 10 minutes. After that, we tried to go home, but the road was too damn crowded. You know, Esplanade was the only place where fireworks launched. And all Singaporeans plus people from around the globe went to this place. Finally, I can find a nightrider bus. The journey to hostel was too damn long, since the bus visited every unimportant spot of its route. After one-hour travel, we are the first persons moved out from the bus. It means that the other people will travel longer. Go to sleep.

Day 3: Trip to Singapore (journey to Singapore)

Sun, 30 Dec 2007. Early in the morning, at 9.30 I and Assad went to One Utama Mall, to catch the bus. Assad said to stop at the carpark of One Utama. But the taxi driver brought me to the carpark of Jusco (old wing of One U). Dasar sopir taxi Malaysia, cappeee deee. Then I walked down till I found Assad and his girlfriend, named Afra, and Afra’s mother, sister, and brother. They went with the same double decker bus, AeroLine. The bus left at 10.10 (10 minutes late). The bus stopped awhile in a perhentian in Johor (Gelang Patah if I’m not mistaken) for toilets and foods in 15 minutes. Then, at 14.00 we arrived at Second Link, the exclusive land crossing from Malay peninsular to Singapore, which was less congested than the other land crossing, Causeway in Woodlands.

Second Link, photo was taken from the bus.

We stopped at immigration and got my passport stamped. Oh my god… I forgot to bring my other document… But the countergirl said that it is ok. I just need to fill up the form. The bus was almost left me since I was too long in immigration. I answer the officer without thinking a lot. The questions were such as “where do you live”, “what course do you take in UTP”, etc. Ahh… finally I can catch the bus. The bus ran awhile and stopped again in the next immigration building, custom checking. They checked my passport again, I went to “nothing to declare” counter… and it’s finished. It’s so simple, especially when you brought the complete documents.

In 30 minutes, the bus disembarked at Harbour Front (Sentosa Island). Assad n the gank went to Orchard Road and I went to Farrer Park, to meet Dana. Wow… surprising for me, we use touch n go card, which were hard to find in KL lately, to go by MRT. In Singapore, we must deposit 1 $ when we buy a card for monorail and we can take those deposit back after we arrived or later. Moreover, the other difference was that MRT in Singapore uses four languages to utter each next station they stopped, Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, Tamil, and English. I saw many differences compared to Malaysia. In my opinion, Singapore is a much better version of Malaysia. Sightseeing Singapore, I missed Bandung, the city of fashion. In this city, Malay, Indian, and Chinese seemed more contemporary in fashion as well as in behavior. And one significant difference between Malaysia (and Indonesia) and Singapore. There is almost no litter. This city is so damn clean. Person who litter must pay 500$ fine, which costs more than Rp 3.000.000,-.

Then I arrived at Farrer Park MRT. After taking my 1$ deposit, I saw Dana there and go with him to his hostel. He allowed me to live there for this new year holiday. After taking bath, we walked around Singapore.

United Square, Singapore

Essex Road

Alley in Singapore

Bus in Singapore

First, we went to Malay Street, but it seemed that Bugis Street was almost closed, so we decided to go there earlier the next day.

Malay Street

The Golden Compass

We went to Orchard Road, the main shopping street in Singapore.

Nobody breaks the pedestrian rule. They wait for green.

First, we went to the Singapore Visitors Centre to get maps.

Then we continue walking in Orchard Road.

I saw a lot of tourist attractions such as robot statue, which was actually a real man dressed like statue.

Also, we ate the famous cuisine in Singapore, a huge bar of ice cream, covered with a plain bread. I chose choco chips, my favorite ice cream flavor.

I also stop by Ngee Ann City or Takashimaya, the most famous shopping mall in Singapore.

Road of Singapore from top

The Hour Glass

Malaysian Year End Sale banner in Singapore

Wisma Atria

The darker night, the more exciting street attractions such as ballet performed by two little Chinese girls.

We decided to go to Riverside, the most famous riverwalk in Singapore. The place comprised Clarke Quay, Boat Quay, and Robinson Quay.

Wow, in Clarke Quay I found that Clarke Quay was very beautiful and romantic.

Also the Riverside Point.

No wonder many young couples sat in the bank of river.

Another strange view, there built a restaurant with clinic nuance. We can choose dentist operation chairs,

hospital ward nuance,

or table with wheelchairs.

Also, I saw a reverse bungy jumping. People riding this will be thrown from the sky to near to the ground with their head up and down arbitrarily. What I saw there was people too scare to drive, but two Indonesian group of three tried that. They were screaming in Bahasa Indonesia, I think they were from Jakarta.

Also, I saw the beauty of riverwalk tunnel.

And again, I saw the prohibition for riding in the tunnel, otherwise fine $1000.

Many things can be seen also around Marina Square. Tired of walking in this pedestrian friendly city, we went back to Dana’s hostel. Yes… it’s true. Singapore is the most pedestrian friendly city. Almost all people enjoy walking in Singapore rather than renting a car. Hence, prepare our feet before go to Singapore.

Day 2: Trip to Singapore (still in KL)

Sat, 29 Dec 2007, In the morning, I had to go back to Puduraya alone to sell my ticket to Singapore. I used Metrobus 99 to go to Kotaraya and back to Damansara. The previous day I loathed the ticket scalper, but that day I was the ticket scalper!! A simple trick, I just spied on the other ticket scalper. Once I heard “Singapore Bang?” from one of them and the person they proffered rejected due to outrageous price, I came to him and offer a 50% discount of ticket. He agreed and gave me the money. My task has finished. I went back to Damansara, but before that I walked down to Ptaling Street to sightsee Ptaling Street in the afternoon. Also I ain’t forget to call Assad to buy me the ticket for the next day’s journey.

When I came back, Fritz got bad luck. He lost one of his private belongings. However, at night we enjoy watching National Treasure 2 in The Curve cinemas, the biggest cinema in KL.

In the curve cinema

Outside the curve

Me outside the curve

Damansara Leisure, still outside the curve

I really enjoyed the movie. I hardly recommend this movie a lot.

Afterwards, I went online for a while in an internet cafe near Damansara apartment, then prepared stuffs to bring for the next day.

Day 1: Trip to Singapore (go to KL)

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 1:30 am, Mas Dedi, a friend of mine, accompanied me to Taman Maju bus station near UTP. The bus was supposed to arrive at 1:45, but it arrived at 2:15. We conversed about plenty things, even until I felt that there was somebody near the ticket counter. Mas Dedi also said that there was somebody (ghostlike creatures) accompanied us there.

The bus came, Ekspress Kesatuan. I arrived at Kotaraya at about 5.30 am. Then I went to Puduraya bus station on foot. I must buy a back-and-forth ticket to Singapore. There I saw ticket scalper shouting to everybody walking near them. “Ipoh Ipoh…. Johor Bahru…”. Near those people I saw banner poster near those people, written be careful with “ulat” (Malay=caterpillar), they may deceive you”. I really loathe that people. Then, I bought a ticket, but with wrong date of departure. I thought that maybe a “gendam” (black magic) or something by the ticket scalper brought me to buy those tickets. I bought the ticket to Singapore 31^st December in the morning and to Puduraya 1^st January. What the…. How come….

Then I continued my journey. I walked down to Ptaling Street to buy nasi lemak for breakfast. Then I went to KL Sentral by LRT to wash my face and went to Bukit Bintang by MRT monorail. Arriving there, I slurped some coffee and white milk in Coffee Beans while enjoying the rehearsal of Leang Leong dance on the street.

Then I walked to Sungei Wang, a famous mall in KL.

Next, I went to MRT station, transit to KL Sentral (again) to go to Masjid Jamek by LRT, since it is 12.30 pm, time for Jumaat prayer.

I heard that this masjid is the biggest mosque in Malaysia… but still Masjid An-Nur UTP is the best mosque I’ve ever seen. I toke a bath while there were only 3 bathrooms available, and there is a long queue. Patient Dhany….. There were neither bath tanks nor shower sticks in the bathroom. There was only a short hose and water closet there. And no door lock!! Too bad. But I still continued taking a bath, since I need my body to be clean and fragrant when I faced Allah especially in Jumaat prayer.

The khotbah was too long and it was too crowd after sholat finished.

After finished sholat, I went to KLCC to visit PetroSains. Till that time I have never gone there, and that was my dream. But, I was disappointed with it. Petrosains was not as exciting as I’ve ever imagined. I was bored. It was pleasurable only for children and elementary/secondary school students. But not for us, old men. Except the Malaysian wayang. Petrosains presented Wayang, talking about petroleum drilling, while children laughing enjoying the story.

Video of wayang kulit Malaysia: http://www.youtube.com/v/BiIlwA-YvcI

Afterwards, I met Hexi in KLCC. It’s her last day in KL. I treated her waffle and we converse a while.

Then, I went to Bang Zani’s house, a friend of mine. He’s a student of ITS Surabaya who lives in Ampang – KL. After talking a lot with him in his house, we went to Fritz and Assad’s apartment in Damansara by Bang Zani’s car. I, Bang Zani, Fritz, and Assad hanged out to eat nearby. I, Bang Zani and Fritz talked until late at night (3.30 am) in the carpark, while Assad went to internet cafe and went back to apartment earlier for sleeping. We talked about many things in the carpark, from Benazir Bhuto’s death till Indonesian political policy. About the map of Malaysia until Indonesia.

First post

This is my first post. I’m sooo disturbed writing on my other blogs. For multiply, I think I’ll keep my blog as my brand new song i wrote, not for my personal story. For friendster, I plan to delete it all, and move it all to wordpress since my undergraduate faculty put RSS feed of my blog in FTIF-ITS official website. I don’t know whether it was annoying or good.