Finally..

| at 19:47

I finally won something! Yeaaayyyy I don't mean to brag, but I haven't won anything this big since....I was born perhaps? I mean this is a national competition, held by a national organization, or should I say, the Indonesian division of UNESCO? Well I wasn't the first winner, I scored the third, alongside junior high school students, but it's ok, at least I will get a big amount of money and a certificate of participation. Yet the certificate will be very useful. 


If you don't have any idea what it's all about, I wrote an essay in English about the importance of education in order to prevent HIV/AIDS in Indonesia. Actually they offered a lot of themes, but I'm not good in environmental thingy, so I decided to choose HIV/AIDS because I'm really interested in health problems (as a future doctor, AMIN!) 

Here is the announcement, posted on KNIU (Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO)

I will officially receive the prize and the certificate next week on Thursday, at Depdiknas Building. Thus, the certificate really helps me to apply for scholarship maybe like, 6 years later when I'm about to obtain my master's degree overseas or perhaps I should submit it to PBS UGM (wish me luck for this, but I really really wish for University of Indonesia International Class Program instead) 

Wish me luck for university entrance test (SIMAK UI! FMUI International Class Program) and last but not least, national examination aka UAN! 

This is might be off-topics, but I just opened google analytics, (a great site to review your blog's progress and stats) then I went to 'map overlay' section and found out that few of my viewers came from the States, 4 viewers from California, 2 viewers from Pennsylvania, and one viewer each from NJ, Missouri, NY, Arkansas, DC, Illinois, Maryland, and Georgia. Wow! And also from UK! Bloody hell, that's brilliant with 2 viewers from London, and one viewer each from Brighton, Wembley, and Brierley Hill. Well all I can say is thank you for viewing my blog and keep reading. Stay tune on my blog!

Cheers!

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Best in 2009

| at 19:51

It's wee bit late to write my very own list of 'best in 2009', but after reading People Magazine Best in 2009 edition, I am challenged to write my own, in my own perspective. Of course, I am not the editor of People magazine, so don't expect the best from me because my point of view is 'slightly' different from people out there who were praised for their contribution of best and worst in 2009 list

1. Best TV Show
GLEE! is my current addiction, if you go through my tumblr page (yes, I have a tumblr. Here's the link: denitabiyanda.tumblr.com. Please do visit and follow me), I have reblogged lots of pictures and quotes from Glee. It's like a mash-up between High School Musical, Mean Girls, and Friday Night Lights where you can find cheerleaders, a drama queen, football players, a nerd in a wheelchair, a pregnant cheerio, and a fashionista blend in together to revive the glory of Glee Club. With a bit of comedy twist and celebrity guest stars, it's a must watch in 2009. I only finished the whole season for merely two days thanks to Tyas for giving me the episodes for free (she downloaded from the internet). The musical numbers are fantastic, they have covered lots of hits from Rihanna's Take a Bow, Kanye's Gold Digger, Lily Allen's Smile, and even mash-ups between Bon Jovi's It's My Life and Usher's Confessions Part II. 
Favorite character: Sue Sylvestre, she is the cheerio coach, full of energy, ambitious, cruel, wicked, sly, loathsome, but very interesting to watch!
Favorite songs: Don't Stop Believin', Halo/Walking On Sunshine, Last Christmas, and It's My Life/Confessions Part II. Worth downloading!
Favorite couple: I'll go with Finn and Rachel. Al
though Rachel is a bit drama queen and she seems so overreacting, I always love the idea about jock and ordinary girl go together, like Troy and Gabriella on HSM. 

2. Best Teen Show
Sonny with a Chance! SWAC is so hilarious, featuring the new tween queen, Demi Lovato as the main character, Sonny, a girl from Wisconsin who just landed a part in her favorite comedy show, So Random! So Random is a comedy show like All That, which an ensemble of cast who performed different characters and sketches in every episode. Selena Gomez also guest-starred in one of the episodes as herself. Sonny must deal with different problems regarding her appearance in So Random, including the weirdo producer Marshall, a reigning teen queen Tawn
i, a weird kiddo Zora, and her rival from another TV show, teen heartthrob Chad Dylan Cooper. Demi is so hilarious, and she is not afraid to show her comic si
de! The sketches on So Random are so witty though. Talking about reminiscing the good old days when All That is still available on Nick. 
Favorite sketches: Check It Out Girls, Dolphin Boy (featured on the first episode), So You Think You Can PP Dance (a spoof of So You Think You can Dance)
Favorite characters: Sonny for sure! Oh and Tawni also with her funny yet dumb phrases and remarks. 

3. Best Albums
Black Eyed Peas
' The E.N.D. and Beyonce's I Am...Sasha Fierce. These two musicians took the center stage last year with their ear-popping tunes. Their songs were almost everywhere, from middle-class department store to the hip
 nightclubs. You could hear people humming their songs everywhere and put the lyrics into their facebook status and personal message on instant messenger. And there were lots of self-made video based on Beyonce's Single Ladies on Youtube as of last year, even Joe Jonas and Justin Timberlake did one. They even received Grammy nods for this year. 2009 was all about the Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce! 
Favorite Tunes: I Gotta Feeling-BEP, and Halo-Beyonce

4. Best Social Networking Site
Forget Facebook, it's time for the birdies to tweet! Twitter really took the world by storm in 2009 (quoted from my article in Youthspeak). Twitter is the best way to share the news, no need to open your laptop or computer, you can do it at your fingertips with your cellphone, you don't have to own blackberry to keep twittering, even your old-fashioned cellphone can access twitter (I already proved it, when my nokia cellphone broke down, I used my old nokia from junior high school or elementary school and guess what? I could still access twitter!). Now you can be 'this' close to your favorite celebs with twitter, you can see what they are up to and the best part is, you will always get the fresh-from-the-oven news. Did you know that most of the headlines in 2009 were first delivered (or published) and spread via twitter? 

5. Best Movies
Most people may declared Avatar as their best movie of the year, but I won't say so. As far as I'm concerned, the best movie according to me is Transformers, Harry Potter, and New Moon for the adventure/family/fantasy genre and The Ugly Truth and He's Just Not That Into You for the romantic comedy genre. I highly praise Transformers for their outstanding special effects and robots and also the shooting locations. Again, I love Harry Potter installment and it's so hard for me to kick Harry Potter out from the list. New Moon is definitely better than Twilight and the appearances of the new characters make it more captivating to watch. And I will always go for romantic comedy, and my favorites for last year are The Ugly Truth with the smart appearance by Katherine Heigl and He's Not Just That Into You with the intertwining stories. 

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Wish list

| at 22:48

As the clocks ticking to my 17th birthday (yes it's 17! Yaaay I'm officially legal) and as 2010 approaches, there are many things I'd like to accomplish in 2010. So here is my wish list. Enjoy

  1. Accepted in Faculty of Medicine University of Indonesia International Class Program. My utmost goal in 2010! See you in Melbourne in 3 years! Hiyya mate! (AMIN)
  2. Go to Universal Studio Singapore. I already planned a summer getaway to Spore and I hope the constructions and everything have finished by the time I go there. 
  3. Lots of new clothes, high heels, make-up kit
  4. Lots of new self-help books, and more intellectual books rather than the corny ones. 
  5. Getting my driver's license and drive a SUV (I always have something for SUV, it's very spacious and upscale (?)
  6. Graduate from Labschool Kebayoran High School with satisfied overall scores. Tee-hee
  7. Learn new language, maybe simple catchphrases will help
  8. Become more spiritual-minded and religious 
Hmm that's all I could write I'm kinda out of my mind actually (maybe because in 1 hour I'll turn 17) see you later fellas!

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Laguna Beach

| at 21:07


Welcome to Laguna Beach !

Finally, I just finished watching the first season of Laguna Beach. I know I was sort of late because it was filmed like 5 years ago when Lauren Conrad (LC) just graduated from Laguna Beach High School. Actually I bought the DVD like, years ago, but apparently I haven't got the chance to watch it completely. 
Laguna Beach revolves around the lives of LC and her friends during their senior year, including Lo (stands for Lauren Bosworth, her bff, inseparable, almost like twins and they even share the same first name), Morgan, Christina (a Reve
rend's daughter), her childhood friend slash crush, Stephen, and her rival slash Stephen's girlfriend, Kristin, a junior. 

So, as now I am in LC's position during the filming, I'm gonna say their lives are way different than my life as a senior. 

LC never looked really tired or exhausted during her senior year, beside she spent her nights by having dinner with friends, watching fashion show, watching blink 182 concert, partying with friends, trip to Cabo and Catalina, and going to the spa on the daybreak. But perhaps the show was filmed on weekends?

But watching the first season of Laguna Beach gives me a glimpse of senior year's stuffs, such as prom, graduation, including saying goodbye to our closest pals. I just love the way the cast asked their dates to the prom, so lavish yet romantic. My favorite one is when Dieter asked Jessica to go to prom with him, and I must admit it, Stephen's prom proposal is pretty lovely, with white roses, a bouquet of flowers, and a surprise appearance from him. 


Dieter and his girlfriend slash prom date, Jessica. Look at those pink roses!

Next stop, prom. I couldn't see the whole prom activities because they only shot few scenes, but I don't like their outfits, especially the girls. For me, their outfits are more suitable for beach party or semi-formal party rather than prom. Maybe because it was 2004? And wow, talking about renting a limo! It was so fun, but it's impossible to do it 
here. 

Last stop, graduation. I think it's usual for parents to give graduation presents because all the cast were given presents such as car and macbook. Wow, a car? Holy mackerel! 

Lo with her graduation present, a car! 

So if I wasn't mistaken, their graduation was held on Paramount Studio or somewhere renowned in LA. They wore toga for the occasion, white for the girls and crimson for the guys. I really love the speech by a guy name Jonathan, a perfect choice to deliver the final speech. And I love the moment when they threw their caps to the air. I also love when the whole students were interviewed about their moments during high school and you know what, I burst into tears during the graduation scene, when they threw their toga caps and hugged each other. Well maybe because the song 'Graduation' by Vitamin C was being played during the scene. It was so tearful and I realized that when you graduated from high school, it was harder to keep in touch with your friends compared with when you graduated from junior high, because you and your friends will go on your separate ways and even miles and miles apart. 

LC in her toga on graduation night


And another tears-worthy scene is when LC moved to San Francisco and she had to say goodbye to her parents, including her mother who was in tears and reminded her to call her 'every hours'. Now I kinda understand how a mom feels if her child leaves her to study in the different city. Even LC's mom, who doesn't seem to be like an overprotective mother on the outside reminded her to call every hours. 

So I guess I'd better hire someone to shoot my days during senior year, eh?

Oh, and one thing I learn from Laguna Beach, going to college does make you skinnier, edgier, and more stylish. Just look at LC on Laguna Beach and The Hills. And Lo definitely looked chubbier on Laguna Beach and her outfits were a bit skimpy, but now she looks so fashionable yet elegant. 

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Things I got from economics class

| at 20:47

I used to learn about hoarding back in the 10th grade when economics was still compulsory. It cited that hoarding was against the economics principle because you hoarded something rare and then you sold it with higher price simply because it was nearly extinct on the market.
When I tidied up my bedroom, I found some old belongings which I have never used from the day I bought those. I just realized that hoarding was my new temptation. Pretty silly.
Every human was naturally born as homo economicus. You have to consider the economical matters before doing something. For example, I am an avid fan of sale or store reduction, I even buy things only when they are on sale, even if I don't need it. Just to hoard it, in case I need it someday.


I rarely buy original CD or dvd, I usually download them for free on the internet or buy the counterfeit ones. I know it's against the law but hey, I haven't been sentenced for buying pirated dvds or downloading cd from the internet. Think about the pros when you buy 10 high quality dvds for only Rp 60.000,00 (and bonus one dvd for every purchase of 10) and you don't have to spend Rp 75.000 for a cd, you just need a fast internet connection to download cds. One high quality CD can take up to half an hour.And I can burn the downloaded songs to an empty cd-r and sell it, but I haven't done that (but I intend to)

I also found few unused game consoles such as nintendo and psp, which I got them for free (except the nintendo) and other freebies. I even haven't ripped off the seal because I thought someday I would sell it on ebay and made a huge profit, since they were collectible items.

So it's clear that sometimes less is more. Hoarding, counterfeit cds and dvds, freebies,you don't have to be a law-abiding citizen forever right? Remember that we were born as homo economicus, try to make everything as economical as possible.

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Youthspeak!

| at 19:53

Hello pals I want to be very quick on this one so I don't mean to brag or be smug but I just wanna say that you can see the online version of Youthspeak, a supplement from The Jakarta Post where I usually write my article(s).


Here is the link: http://www.thejakartapost.com/youthspeak/

If you want to go straight to my articles, here are some:
Trick or Treat article (October 09)
Literature and silver screen article (October 09)

I think they haven't uploaded the latest edition, where I wrote an article about the vampire trend throughout the media. Don't forget to mention New Moon. OH-M-G

And actually I did attend the Youthspeak meeting at Sate House Senayan with the entire crew, it was great! I had a chance to know the people who work behind Youthspeak and I got the Jakarta Post readers card with lots of privileges and discount (talking about freebies, I got some!) I canceled my encounter for this, but it was worth attending to expand my networking.

Don't forget to attend Youthspeak Fun Day on November 22 at ISCI Ciputat! Meet lots of foreigners (including JIS students, I know you guys fancy them) and also RAN will be performing there! Be there! for more info, click here.


Keep reading!

TTYL, got chemistry exam later on!

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Poetry task

| at 18:54


This is a poem that I wrote for English assignment, I should tell you I really can't write a poem, even in Indonesian. Metaphor, personification, or whatsoever, I just can't seem to understand. Guess I'm not likely to major in literature, simply because I can't write a poem and I always have a hard time to understand one.

It all starts with rhyming words

Which buzzing around in my mind like a group of bees

And as the clock ticks so swift

I crumble my 20th paper and feel like a total spendthrift


Then I grab my 21st paper of the day

And start to scribble down my dismay

But it didn’t turn out into a poetic writing

Instead it was just an illegible writing


Suddenly one hour just passed by

And I guess I should say bye-bye

Because I can’t write a poetry

Since I’m no Shakespeare, even if I try


Denita Biyanda XII IPA 1

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