I'm welll~! I'm fiiineee! Yeheyyy!

Monday, June 11, 2001
06:44 p.m.

I am at my mommy's office. Mommy's working overtime, so I'm big boss here and playing with her stuff. ^o^ I just got back from the doctor and a little thing at the salon...err, yeah, strange itineraries but let me explain.
First, is the now regular blood test and check-up as I go into the fifth day of sickness. My blood cell count rose (yipee!), but I've been told to rest at home for the rest of the week. My next blood test will be this Thursday or Friday, and there it will be confirmed once and for all if it was dengue. If it was, well...my case is pretty mild. Milder than when Mica got it three years ago and had to be rushed to the hospital, at least in this case I got to be tended to at home and didn't need a dextrose strapped to me at all times.
Micaela recalls that the worse part of her dengue wasn't the fever, and she didn't even feel weak. The worst part was the splitting headache the whole time she was there and the nurses simpering over her.
Hmn...au contraire on my case then, as this freakin illness ruined my en grande celebration for the end of exams. Agh, gawddem mosquitoes!

Oh well. Next week I will be going to the beach for a school-related excursion for three days! Only the doctors could stop me now...!
...well, they can, depending on my results in the next blood test. Mou.

It's one of my classmate's 17th birthday party this coming Friday. Age 17 is legal age here in Indonesia, and so her party will be at a hotel. Heck, it's not just a party...it's a debut. The debut has well-treaded upon my mom's obssession-compulsion on being proper and pretty, so after my doctor's apppointment I got a facial.

Uhuh, yeah, a facial.

I believe I mentioned that I developed rashes from my fever?

It doesn't help that being my age, and constantly stressed, I am prone to acne, so more than a few major mountains went pop.

The remains of my acne plus the rashes leave me looking like a ripening tomato. Those rashes better dissappear by tommorow like they're supposed to!

Now, what have I learned throughout this experience of carrying a major disease in Indonesia?
-I've gotten very familiar with my mom's bedroom, office lounge area, and bathrooms [at her office and at home]
-Gatorade makes my teeth feel funny.
-It takes more than sheer willpower to get over a physical sickness.
-Liquids are very good.
-It is fun to be the cause of alarm, anxiety, and worry of the guy you are in-like with (nyahaha...).
-My doctor's accent sounds like JarJar Binks speaking backwards.
-My doctor even looks like a humanized JarJar Binks.
-My doctor is a worrywart. If he were an Ally McBeal character, he'd be a doctor who has to compulsively turn on a siren on his desk for every symptom he finds alarming.
-[skip this if you're queasy!] Lemon juice is the best fluid to drink if you are expected to flush out an illness.
-Laughing and talking with family and friends does help the immune system. Instant relief too!

And last, but not least:
-Mosquitoes are evil.

Monday, June 11, 2001
08:01 a.m.

I've got school, but I am home for obvious reasons. ^^ My fever did return yesterday afternoon, and it's lingering - though it has dropped from a 39 to a 37. Anyway, my doctor says that today being the fourth day of illness - the disease will be on it's way to being flushed out.
Yesterday at my doctor's, it was nearly RULED OUT to be dengue! With my fever dropping, I suddenly had weird rashes appearing on my chest, back and cheek area. My mom became worried and dragged me back to the docs for another check-up. The doctor took note of my rashes, and thought for a moment that my whole sickness may NOT have been dengue after all. I forgot the name of the illness, but it basically has the symptoms of a high fever for 3 or more days (check), runny nose (check - though congested...cause of Jakarta's pollution, I suspect ^.^), and as the fever goes down the rashes appear. This particular illness could also come from mosquitoes.
Unfortunately, just to make sure it wasn't dengue he had me sent for a blood test. The blood test results of the day showed that my red blood cell count dropped by a notch again, so dengue is not to be outruled yet.
Anyway, with my fever going down and this being the fourth day of illness - it means that even if it was dengue, it's finishing up its run and I'm on the gradual road to recovery. I just need to be monitored on a day by day basis and keep my fluid levels up. I have a check-up later today, but heyyy - I'm on the road to recovery!

The illness involving the after-effect of a rash...oro no da...
The medical journal given to my mom to inform her of this odd little rash explains that the illness is RARE in adolescents and children older than 8-18 MONTHS.

@.@

Mica: Bwahahahaha!
Me: What the heck is that supposed to tell me?!
Mom: Must be EQ or your IQ.

Sunday, June 10, 2001
06:46 a.m.

Since last Thursday, I felt ill, had very high fever and my red blood cell count was below normal. The doctor attributed the symptoms to early signs of dengue fever, and I had to go back to him daily for blood tests to monitor my condition.
Yesterday, there's been a slight rise in my RBC count - hardly significant, but every little thing counts. The doctor says that its likely that it would keep rising, on the condition I keep taking my medicine and taking in fluids.
Today, I don't have a fever. The only icky thing I feel now is hunger (where is my breakfast dammit...?), but that doesn't signify a full recovery yet. When the fever goes down or goes away, there's the danger that the disease could get into full swing.

I'll keep guzzling those liquids now.

Tuesday, June 5, 2001
10:17 p.m.

2 down. 6 to go. A big thank you to all those who greeted me, by the way. :) And oniisama, that was sweet! Hang in there, ne? It's just the hours of work draining yer energy.

My 17th birthday served Filipino food, and that was something very new for my international school classmates who NEVER tasted Filipino food. The winning commentaries:

NJ: *poking at the dinuguan, whispers to Mica* Is this really pigs blood?
Mica: *loudly* IS DINUGUAN REALLY PIGS BLOOD?
Me, Pao, Rox: *chorus* Yes.

Charon on lechon: (said with British accent)
"Oh my god, there's a dead pig on the table."

A runner up is Charon poking through pancit palabok and trying to identify the toppings admidst the noodles and seafood. "I see mussles...shrimp...I'll start eating before I recognize anything else."

I will further gloat here: NJ GOT ME THE FINAL FANTASY 9 ARTBOOK!!! HOLY SHYEEETTTT! *.*

But I have little time to really immerse myself in the gorgeous visuals, with those freakin exams. *scowl* Speaking of, I better log off now. I have a math exam tomorrow morning.

Saturday, June 2, 2001
11:49 a.m.

This will be a quickie. I have to study trigonometry in ten minutes.

Eloisa~! I checked my mail, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE CUTECUTE QUATRE GRAPHIC!!! ^o^ My birthday isn't till tommorow (June 3) though. ^^ But thanks so much for your greetings and thoughts! I do owe you email, I'll get back to ya after these grudging exams are over!

Silverwind-san, thanks for the suggestions...I'll keep them in mind for the next project. ^^ I got my paper done, but had to elaborate a little more than I should on even the tiniest details on Ambon culture. It must've worked in the end, I got a 32/35...woo...

My week's been busy. Over a course of a week, I got 3 projects done and submitted accordingly. I have exams next week. Yesterday Mica graduated from her elementary school, and we all partied a bit before heading to home at 8pm. I arrived home, and fell asleep before 9. I woke up with an aching back and the urge NOT to get up. The thought of my math grade came to mind and got me out of bed though.

Gah. Five minutes to when this sweet study break is over, and I have to figure out when to apply cos, sin and tan to which problem. @.@ I hate math.

Saturday, May 26, 2001
04:29 p.m.

Ergh...where can I find in-depth information on Ambon's history, society and culture? I'm going crazy wading through newspaper articles on the Ambon religious conflicts for the last hour and a half! This paper is due this coming Monday! *panics*
I'll be taking a break from typing this paper out in a minute. I DO NOT want to be stressed on a freakin' SATURDAY!

Saturday, May 26, 2001
07:24 a.m.

Warning: This entry will sound like someone at a bar drinking himself to death and telling everyone and his cat about his everyday angst. I'm not drunk, but I'm up too early. And I've warned that my entries get more and more senseless day by day. :P

Yesterday, I realized it was the 25th of May. This coming Sunday, I will be turning 17. The following Tuesday, is the start of my mid-year exams. *dies*
I have school projects to get over and done with later so I'll have time to prepare for my impending doom come exam week. Great, I just HAVE to do my homework on a Saturday! Geh. -_-

At the end of June a very dear friend of mine will be moving away to the U.S.
As my friend Charon mused before - the thing that sucks about international schools is that hardly anyone stays long-term.

I think I need a bit more sleep.

Thursday, May 24, 2001
07:48 a.m.

It's an Indonesian national holiday today! No school! Total bumming around! I'll be going to Taman Anggrek with Mica and NJ later, whee!

I have projects to do, but I'll be doing that over the weekend. Seriously. I really want to get good grades this year, my future draws near and I want to get into a really good college. My grades for this year and next are very, very crucial to whatever I may be in the future. I hate the impending pressure upon me, but that is how it goes.

Maybe it's a bit too early for me to be writing. For some reason, I'm being extra careful in how I write in here. I fear I may sound totally incoherent. Oh well, that's what the 'edit entries' link is for. If I ever have time to edit my entries, that is.
Maybe it's food I need. I haven't had breakfast yet, Mica hasn't awakened yet.
Yes, it's food. I need food. I think I'll drag my sister out of bed now.

The earlier I get up, the hungrier I am, or the more I'm stressed - means that thesehere entries get more stupid. Nyaha.

Monday, May 21, 2001
07:09 p.m.

I learned to play Counterstrike today. And damn, the game kicks ass! I didn't get to kill anyone, but hey - at least I got to wield some nice, nice, nice artillery.
I MUST get the macintosh version of that game! I must train! I must search, then destroy!

I'm not a violent person at heart, I know that. I'm not the ultimate pacifist either, though I really prefer to negotiate through disagreements rather than throw the first punch and start the fight. In spite of this, I do have a penchance for fighting games, and I do get a little...uhmn, involved in them. =)
Fighting games gets my adrenaline pumping. I cut loose, I throw punches and kick characters and neither of us suffer consequences. Cept for maybe the occasional angry word and light bap to my real-life opponents...right NJ? ;)
Same things apply to counterstrike. Today was my first time at play, so I don't get all cocky. I don't want to play against the guys in my class yet, as they have been playing and training long before I did - I'll be dead within seconds against them.

Now, I'm checking random blogs as I'm quite behind in reading the newer entries of the blogs that I link to. ^^ I've just read Selene's blog about deteriorating english. *laughs* Selene-san, I second you on that! My mom's worried that my english grammar is taking a turn for the worse, since I study in an Aussie-based school. xD She also fears that I'll adopt the Australian accent during my stay there. I'm still safe. ^o^ I have a bit of a mumble with a word here and there, and I tend to say 'reckon' and 'arse'. ^^;
I'll start worrying when I start making liberal use of the world 'mate'.

Whoops, dinnertime!

Thursday, May 17, 2001
09:26 p.m.

My last week and early this week was just horrendous. I've been stressed and emotionally drained due to some most unfortunate events (from a flood of homework to lower-than-expected practice ASAT scores).
But when one's own life sucks, it's always the material possesions which get better...I'm now re-reading the Harry Potter series, and I've just gotten my very own Luna Sea album! At local price, no ridiculously high import tax! Yipeee!

Material happiness doesn't last long, nor does it completely dissolve real-life problems...but hey, at least it lessens the burden for a short period of time. That's dandy enough for me.

This heat is making me drowsy and I must, must finish Harry Potter book 3 now.

Saturday, May 12, 2001
07:42 a.m.

*rofls at Tin* Pity. I rather liked Miriam...^^; Though I would opt for the airplane jump prize. xD

Silverwind-san, the present Philippine president (say that 5 times fast now...) is still quite busy, and I reckon we'd like to keep her. Would Indonesia settle for the impeached ex-actor instead? Though I cant gurantee any good major changes in the country. Or any changes for that matter. ^.-

Funny, really. There are a LOT of similarities in Indonesian and Philippine politics. Especially between Suharto and Marcos. Suharto's reign over Indonesia lasted a bit longer than Marcos, but I'd think they'd have a LOT to talk about.
Another interesting tidbit - it was the construction firm of Suharto's daughter that made the highways and flyovers of Manila.
Mom fancies Ibu Tien (Suharto's wife) and Imelda Marcos meeting up for tea: "Oh darling, that's simply terrible! Don't cry now, come on, let's shop for some new shoes..."

It's too early for me to be discussing such issues. What in the world am I doing up before 8am on Saturday?! And to think I slept at what...9pm last night?? It must be the stress talking.

Oh yes, before I forget again - Rei-san thanks for offer of the H.O.T. mp3s! Sure, I'd like them...just tell me where I could find them...^^ Thanks again!

Thursday, May 10, 2001
09:44 p.m.

A lot of my entries in this blog mostly concern my hobbies. I tend to muse and tweak at what may seem to be trivial, from music countdowns to anime merchendise...rarely do I muse on my personal life. My mom once said keeping a journal and not really getting personal in its content is pretty pointless, but in this case - I think my reasons are good enough. The topics I raise in this blog are topics I rarely get to converse with other people about. These are hobbies I do take quite seriously, and it's pretty rare to find anyone else who would listen to me ponder and tweak on what I think are interesting trivialities. These are just minor things I need to get off my chest.
Besides, I really am not comfortable confiding the more personal aspects of my life online. I'll make mention of it, but I prefer not to go into detail. So either bear with my shallowness, or go find some other blog if you really cannot take my petty gushing over anime, manga, bishonen, j-music, gasoo, and whatever else.

In the meantime, I'm suffering from major physical, emotional and mental burdens. I'm stressed and very exhausted, but I feel a little better now than the last two days. I perked up at the Star World premiere of 'Angel' and the new season of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' (one of the few TV series I adore), and I have officially declared Angel as my bloodsucking fluffball!
That ought to be a little ray of light for the remainder of the week. I hope it is, anyway.

Saturday, May 5, 2001
07:36 a.m.

I'm up at 7:38am. There must be something seriously wrong with me.

My family and I will be off to a spa at Sukabumi tomorrow. It's a holiday on Monday, we've hardly been out of the Jakarta city limits (I haven't been to Bali or Borobodur yet! Agh!), and so off we go!
Catch is, we neglected to call the kennel earlier this week to have our dogs fetched and kept from tomorrow till Monday. I hope we can manage to snatch whatever available slots that are left! Or our poor dogs will be placed in a second-rate animal shelter which will just cage them for the whole day...;_;

Oh! If I only knew, Silverwind-san! I already have plans for today...the event sounds really fun! And I haven't seen, or been around the area of your university. ^^ If I knew of this, I'd have my Japanese classmate come along, she took up Bahasa Indonesia lessons there and she'd probably enjoy the event. Nyah, next time. Thanks for telling me though. :)

I had sate kambing yesterday at school. Yum. ^o^

Friday, May 4, 2001
10:14 p.m.

I keep getting called off the computer nowadays. I was just doing my usual Friday night routine in #pinoy_otaku, then Mom comes home so I have to log off. Nyah. :[

Speaking of, I'll be logging off right now. Nyah, again.

Thursday, May 3, 2001
09:08 p.m.

Outside Castle by H.O.T, now playing. Wai. *.* I want to download more H.O.T mp3s - dammit napster, how dare you say you dont have them!
Oh damn, I realized I missed Boys Be on AXN, AGAIN! Anytime I really, really, really want to watch that show I end up falling asleep and waking up when it's time for dinner. Agh!
My legs hurt...and I have to go wallclimbing at Pondok Indah tomorrow for my school's recreational studies. Gah.

Enjoy bible camp Selene! I was required to go to a spiritual retreat at the end of seventh grade. That was very fun, and very enlightening. ^.^
Your comment on Indonesia and the Philippines reminded me of one conversation my mom had with her close friend, also a Filipino expatriate in Jakarta. This was when people were still rallying to get Estrada ousted from power in January, my mom's friend proposed that she gather anti-Estrada Filipino expats in Jakarta and head to the Philippine Embassy to voice their support for 'People Power 2' in Manila.
My mom replies, "Very good idea, but then the Indonesians might think we're protesting against GusDur! We might get arrested!"
The idea certainly wasn't pursued, though not because of my mom's reasoning. xD

Hi Silverwind-san! Thanks for the link back! ^^

Indonesian food...my mouth is watering at the thought of it, brought upon by the discussion on it on Silverwind, Selene and Lysette's blogs. I have a weakness for Bakso, ayam kulit, and es cendol. :9 I just had that two nights ago, whee! And lets not forget the nasi kuning...

I originally could not handle spicy food, but after about nine months here in Indonesia, spicy food is difficult to ignore. ^^ I now have a certain level of tolerance to it, though I cannot handle anything with green cabe in it.

I'm getting hungry. MUST STOP.
I'll just attack the timtams I left on my desk before Mica does...

Wednesday, May 2, 2001
07:00 p.m.

New layout. I wanted to upload it yesterday, but I was picked up very late from school and mom immediately had dibs on the computer. Enough said.
The new layout here isn't anything to impress anyone. I'm happy with it, and I don't care what anyone thinks of it. I just had that idea to use the pic of Miyu and Larva with the Alanis lyrics above, and acted on it. I'm satisfied with the results, nyah.

As for the demonstrations in Indonesia, things didn't get violent and the crowds have gradually dispersed. Last I heard there were small demos around the parliament and particular embassies, but no rioting. There was no need for me to eat canned food and instant noodles. *grin*
Selene, I never encountered Ayumi Hamasaki's male following, though I've been told a particularly interesting little story involving her. I refrain from stating it here for it may be dubbed as slander. ^^; I'll email you sometime, if you're interested. ^.^
Jpop's pretty rare here in Jakarta (not counting the pirated ones that is!). I haven't been to Citraland...though I've also heard of the hentai VCDs that can be found when you look in juuust the right places. xP No, I don't watch that stuff either - but I hear about them from schoolmates of mine.

I saw a Shinhwa music video awhile ago. 'T.O.P' I think it's called? Wowwww, a remake and remix of Swan Lake music! Must, must, must, must download!