In Tokyo

TechChickRock

The itinerary reads CGK-SIN-NRT-LAX.

10 hours in Singapore was well spent in random conversation about life and career (that happens when I meet people from the industry), a te-o at a mamak stall completed with entertaining drunk Singaporeans on the street -- chair bashing and all, to taking pictures of Dali's sculptures.

Narita, Tokyo was only 2 hours and I thought what would be more appropriate than joining the ranks of businessmen in suits in opening their laptops and get connected with the rest of the world. As I logged into MSN messenger, it felt like I never left. It felt really cool.

I feel like I'm part of this uber cool gang of technochicks who's traveling to save the world and raise awareness on importance of being connected and to be technologically trendy.

You must excuse me. I'm typing this amidst the snoring sounds made by the passenger next to me and I'm desperate to finish this post since I'm running out of battery. Long flight does that to you.

Until LAX...
Sep 22, 2006

Past to Present

an excerpt from Eco's "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana"

"You're saying you no longer live in time. We are the time we live in. We live in three moments of expectation, attention, and memory, and none of them can exist without the others. You can't stretch towards the future because you've lost your past."

"I'm holding a long note, like a stuck record, and since I can't remember the opening notes, I can't finish the song. I wonder what it is I'm supposed to finish, and why. While I was singing without thinking I was actually myself for the duration of my memory... I think a pianist works that way, too; even as he plays one note he's readying his fingers to strike the keys that come next. Without the first notes, we won't make it to the last ones, we'll come untuned, and we'll succeed in getting from start to finish only if we somehow contained the entire song within us. I don't know the whole song anymore. I'm like... a burning log. The log burns, but it has no awareness of having once been part of a whole trunk nor any way to find out that it has been, or to know when it caught fire. So it burns up and that's all. I'm living in pure loss."

Being in between at this moment often brings me to reflect upon the past and how it shapes my present. As I started reading Eco's latest work, I was reminded of how important our past is to our present and our future. I shall dwell and read more. You'll read more about Eco soon.

... somewhere above the Atlantic.

RANDOMNESS

Sorry, attributing the mess to jet-lag and inregulated internet connection. I promise that I will be more chronological next time.

LA Weekend

Today is the end of my first overseas weekend. The City of Angels is yet to work its charm for me, but I'm sure my time will come as I start tomorrow being businessy and meeting people and stuff, and hopefully get a feel of what living here is like.

Rewind.

Fri, Sep 22

I arrived in LA on Friday morning. Immediately things went wrong. My luggage, yeah the only luggage that I have got lost somewhere and they couldn't figure out where. (All I had was a number and small toiletries kit with an aplogy from MW). My mom's kolintang trainer was called in to immigration for more questioning (that delayed our departure from the airport for about an hour) and the guy who picked us up was really annoying. We went to lunch straight away, joined by my dad and his friends. We parted after and continued to be driven around Hollywood Hills, Grauman Chinese theatre, Rodeo Dr, Wilshire Blvd, etc, etc. Typical. Experienced LA traffic. Sucked. Got to the hotel and the key cards kept failing. I needed to go back to the reception desk 3 times. I wasn't having a good first day. I'm just tired, grumpy and without clean clothes. Can't really blame me for being grumpy.

Sat, Sep 23

Cal picked me up early in the morning. She had to be back by 11am because it was her roomate's baptism that day. I met her roomies; they're all really cool chicks and went to the beach for the baptism and then we all went back to the house for lunch. It was a really nice party. Lotsa people came and I got to know some of Cal's friends. Yeah, hangin out with the locals...No news from NW. Still hanging out in borrowed clothes. People cleared the house around 3pm and a few horus later Cal, Katie, Priya and I decided to walk to Venice Canals. Sigh. It was an amazing voyeuristic walk into people's homes. Great designs, cozy homes, great view. Another sigh. A mexican take out completed the day.

Sun, Sep 24

Mosaic was amazing. I heard an amazing sermon; something that hasn't happened for a while, but then again I haven't really been going. Finally got something from NW, it will reach me from about 1pm. Cal gathered some people together to go to the Abbott Kinney Street Festival, but because we had to wait for my luggage people kinda dropped out. Sorry Cal! Had lemonade and had the best pizza this side of town (according to Cal) and did plenty of walking. The weather was soooo nice. It was sunny but fresh and cool. It was beautiful to be outside. I got Erwin to join us and ended up hangin with him the whole day. It was good seeing people you haven't seen for a while. Even if in actuality you really haven't seen him for more than 10 years.

Here I am typing senseless words about my last few days. I can't write anything profound just yet. There are a few things I'd like to write about but I need to ponder on it a little bit more, hopefully tomorrow I'll get to catch up on some writing and let you all feel my LA impression.

Until tomorrow...

Airport

Generally I love airports; or rather the idea of what the place brings. It is a connecting point for air travel and if I'm there it can only mean one thing. I'm traveling again. There can't be anything wrong with it because generally it means going to a new place, or simply someplace else. A change of scenery. That can only be a good thing.

For the next few weeks this blog will be filled with stories from the American coast as I made my way from the sunshine coast of California to scenic Canada and back into the cosmopolitan New York. It will be the Jakarta's girl tale into the crazy world of uncle Sam and you know what, despite my dislike for USA.. I'm very very very excited.

Airport does that to me. Travel gives me the butterflies in my stomach.

A few hours of fame

I was a celebrity for a few hours yesterday. At least I got to learn about what those celebrities feel like when flash lights and journalists bug you for a never ending photo-op and interview requests. Ha! That wasn't fun at all. It was for a book launch and we were 2 nobodys and yet the media was doing their job.

My friends were teasing me about being a famous author and a celebrity and stuff. Thwy do that because they knew that it would get to me. They know how much I despise these 'celebrities' and their moments of fame; of how often people received credits not because of their work but because of their looks. Not to say that we have the looks, but one of the reason why I wanted yesterday's event to be low key was because of that. I was afraid that the marketing hype created over the book clouds the actual work (even if the work isn't THAT fantastic). It's just my first work and I didn't want to scream about it...

Maybe it was the fear of being shunned and abused because the work is crap. Maybe it was the fear that people will see me differently because of what I write. Maybe I'm scared that I will be seen as less of the person that I am. Alas, all is out there. Someone once told me that an artist has to learn to part with his work when the time comes. That time was yesterday.

It felt good when the whole thing was over. It felt better knowing that I only have two more days in this town before I leave for North America. My co-author will have to deal with more press while I'm gone. That feels good. I don't like that celebrity treatment. Maybe I'm just lacking that star quality... but, yeah this feels good. It feels right.

I still haven't found what I'm looking for...

I stopped blogging for a while. I'm leaving my current employment to embark on another path of unknowing. Some people asked me what is it that I'm looking for and why this restlessness goes on and on. It was the same month one year ago that I terminated another employment. Like U2 said, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for."

Believe it or not, it is not as aimless as it seems. Life showed me emotions I didn't know I have in the last 6 months. I learned to be angry and to care only to have to learn to forgive and forget. I can't remember the last time I felt such strongly about things. I'm used to indifference. I hate to see the people around me endure misery, and I wish I have the energy to stick around and see things through but I need to move on.

For those I've worked with the last few months, you've been an important part of my life and despite everything that happened you guys rock!!

I've moved on...again...

You think you know someone. You don't. You think that person is an open book. He/she is not. Life's one of many great mysteries is the fact that nothing is ever what it seems. It's all about figuring things out. In the process, one will bound to experience many different emotions; anger, dissapointment, shock, horror until the feelings subside and then yeah, nothing left. Moving right along...

Somebody told me earlier that everything will be okay, and that soon everything will be over. Ha! Isn't it good to know that things are actually over? And that you're about to embark on a new adventure? Yep. Just something new. Anything.

Saturday Night

Dinner. A Movie. What a typical saturday night out for two people. Problem is, I haven't had that for a while. Strange.