Attack of the clutter monster
I’ve only been living in Italy for about two years and already I’m starting to have problems with my stuff cluttering. I don’t think that I have that much clothes and shoes and make up. But just yesterday, I was trying to find my green top but after 10 minutes and not being able to find it, in my annoyance I pulled out EVERYTHING out of the closet and rearranged everything.
When I was done, I felt as if I was Cathy, proud of my arranging skills and wanted to call a friend over to show off my neat and tidy closet.
But one thing that come to mind was that, gosh, there are so many clothes. Some of them I haven’t worn even once because I’ve forgotten about it and some are clothes which doesn’t fit my taste, of which I’m packing it up to be donated.
The thing is, unlike Singapore where all my clothes were summer clothes which I wore every day, Italy is seasonal country and thus I had to have sets for Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter and so, there will always be a conglomerate of clothes lying in the closet for 6 months.
And that’s the same for shoes too. My boots for the cold season and my wedges. flats and heels for the warmer seasons.
Do you see my sexeh red Enrico Coveri wedges on the left there? I actually forgot about it and left it in the store room for over a year! Bah! I’m going to wear it now in the house for at least an hour. After all, I should maximize everything I own, right?
This makes me realise why I didn’t buy any clothes at all while I was back in Singapore (also the fact that Italian clothes fit me better). While I would love to have more clothes and shoes and bags and make-up, its impossible for me to make full use of them.
In fact, I’m throwing away some of my babies right now.
Sigh. My pretties. Some of them aren’t even opened yet but since all of them are over a year old, its better just to chuck them away.
Just don’t look back, Marina …
How to install a PC game into a Linux computer … unsucessfully
Cart and I both use linux as an operating system for our laptop/netbook. He’s using Ubuntu and I’m using Jolicloud. I’ve always liked these two distros because they are pretty straightforward to use and they load up pretty fast.
While waiting for our connecting flight in Beijing, Cart started to play Diablo. It’s a game that I used to play a lot while I was back in Jurong Institute. My favourite character was Rogue since she could attack from a distance and I remember feeling chills when the Butcher comes out of the door, sneering, “Aaah! Fresh meat!” Its so creepy that don’t remember if I managed to finish playing the game even.
I played Diablo 2 but it didn’t have the same effect and Diablo 3? Blizzard has been announcing and hyping out the release for what? 3 years now? Is it even going to be released yet? It feels so anti climatic.
Anyway, seeing Cart playing it on his laptop makes me keen on revisiting my favourite game classics. Since my netbook probably has enough juice to run a late 90s and early 2000 game proper, I thought that I’d try installing Roller Coaster Tycoon 1. Its a game where you create your own theme park and I had fond memories playing it.
I wish I am in my own theme park!
Theoretically, installing a pc game in a linux based netbook should be straightforward.
1. First on your pc, you make a CD/DVD image of the game using MagicISO or Daemon Tools
2. And then transfer the .iso file into a thumbdrive and plug it in your linux computer.
3. Mount the ISO file. This will create a virtual CD/DVD drive in your computer and you don’t have to waste burning a CD or a DVD. I’m using Furius ISO mount while Cart is using CDemu.
4. Now open the installer with WINE and click on install.exe or setup.exe or autorun.exe
By the way, all of these installers could be installed through Synaptic Package Manager. Its kind of like Install or Uninstall a program through the control panel in Windows.
5. Once the game is installed, find the folder, click on the game.exe you’re good to go.
Or so it seems.
I cant get any of my games to start! Each time I’d get an error trying to install the blasted thing or even when I’m done installing, the game wont start at all!
Urgh. I’m so sad 🙁
Yes, yes. I know that I can continue playing on my windows pc. But I’m lazy and I’d much prefer to use my netbook and play the game lying down.
A future room makeover!
I was in the study room a couple of weekends ago minding my own business when suddenly Cart came in the room with a swiffer and then rearranged his computer table. All the while mumbling and moaning and all dramatic like.
What on earth has gotten into you?! I looked at him incredulously. Cart hated doing housework you see, and it wasn’t usual to see him mucking around with the house’s feng shui.
This is how the room used to look like. Now that Cart has positioned his desk at an angle, covering the fish tank, this room now looks like an office!
Breathlessly he showed me this :
Eh? What is this?
Breathlessly but proudly he announced, “Now that I’ve shifted my desk, look … now we have a space for a sofa-bed!”
And then he showed me a Mondo Convenienza (its like an Italian version of Ikea) furniture booklet to the page with the sofa-bed that he was eyeing. It looks like a regular sofa, but when you push it accordingly, the hinge releases a mechanism and becomes a bed!
We were at Mondo Convenienza yesterday to see how it looks like in person and it was actually large enough to fit two Asians.
Oooh! I could just picture how it will look like in the study room. It would be a huge improvement compared to the air-bed that we used while hosting our friends. I’m contemplating to throw it out even … Just read Jerrick’s comment 
But if the sofa will be shifted there, where will my computer be? And then I started to get excited. Since my touchsmart could function as a television, we could put it up on the bookshelf and we could find a laptop stand or something for the wireless keyboard and mouse and I could do my computing work straight from the sofa!
Classy!
I’m liking this idea already. So much so, that I’m willing to give all my babysitting and tuition money to fund for this makeover … hehehe! Yes, I’m totally brainwashed by playing Restaurant City.
I hope we could do this in time before we host Daphne, her sister and Nick in May 
What’s in a name?
This is an interesting topic that Zoori has brought up in the last blog post.
Unlike our Western counterparts, the Malay naming system is usually First name + Bin (for males) or Binte (for females) + Father’s name. Indians have a similar naming system too. They’d have a First name + son of / daughter of + Father’s name.
Anyway, while I was working in Singapore, I was always addressed as Ms Marina. Once in a blue moon I’d be called Ms Noordin, but I’d be quick to point out that that’s my father’s name.
Once a Malay woman gets married, she has a choice of adopting her husband’s name or keep her own name but be called a Madam instead. My mum for example, she’s either a Mrs Noordin or Madam Sariah.
I know its a polite title. But the thing is, I’m not too fond the label, “Madam”. It makes a woman sound so much older and sterner and unpleasant. I keep thinking of a woman in army uniform commanding her troops to polish their boots, while they scream in unison, “Yes Madam!”
And now that I’m married, sometimes it feels odd when former students continue to call me Ms Marina. And yet, I just can’t bring myself to label myself as Madam Marina. How oppressing it sounds. How ominous it sounds. How … old …
Or I could adopt Cart’s last name. But it feels so awkward to me. Don’t get me wrong, Cart has a beautiful last name. And it does sounds quite elegant to be going around being called Signora Marina D’Andrea. And yet, at the same time, I feel kind of unpatriotic to my own Malay-ness by doing that. Maybe it is just me?
Lets put it this way. You are working and your boss lets you know that you have a new co-worker joining you and are informed that her name is Marina D’Andrea. And you think to yourself, “What a pretty name!” and start to imagine a blonde haired Caucasian woman with blue eyes who will be your future co-worker.
And then psyche yourself up so much and then finally … you find out that she’s a Malay … Eh?! What an anti climax! Wouldn’t it be wierd to you? Or is it just me thinking this way?
It sounds awkward enough with parents naming their kids with colourful names like Siti Rihanna Binte Abu. Or Muhammad Beckham bin Bakar.
Danial Alexander Shah Ahmad Mawi bin Abu. Why didn’t you reply when I called your name, sweetie? Because at home, daddy and mummy calls me boy!
I’m just not accustomed to it.
I’m feeling bitter that I’m not considered a ‘Native English Speaker’
I’ve been so engrossed in doing some online learning that I’ve neglected to blog regularly for a while. And now, after several weeks of sleepless nights, I’m finally done with my TEFL course and now I’m certified to teach English as a foreign language 🙂
It probably sounds strange because prior to coming to Rome, it has never crossed my mind to teach English. But after two years of living here, I was starting to get restless. I miss being able to contribute my skills and getting paid for it.
Ever since I’ve lived in Rome, I’ve been looking at online advertisements like wanted in Rome and sent in my resume, some to companies finding English speaking travel writers, some looking for someone good in social media who are English speakers. But with the influx of people coming into Rome, jobs like that are snapped up quite quickly.
And that was when I contemplated to teach English. As much as I preferred to teach computing, it seems that there is a higher demand here for English teachers. I tried sending my resume to a few private schools. And tried to a few more. And then to a few more after that.
No response.
The last straw was during the beginning of February, after I’ve sent my nth resume and nothing happened. Not even a reply to tell me that I was rejected. It was very frustrating. This gives me the impression that 99.9% of these private schools are only wants Native speakers.
What does Native speaker mean? Does it mean that only people coming from countries like USA and UK, Australia and Ireland are considered Native speakers?
I strongly disagree with that.
I do consider myself as a native speaker because Singapore is an English speaking country. Even though we have a mother tongue, we are educated since young in English and we communicate to each other in English. Many of us are able to balance our bilingual trait. I myself feel comfortable speaking in Malay to my parents and English to my friends. Perhaps we might not sound English because of our accents. But it is English.
Its a huge fallacy that just because one does not come from an “English” country that they are not able to speak English well. In fact, only 3% of Britons speak queen’s English while the rest of the population speak in a mix of cockney and all sorts of other regional dialects.
But I can understand why too many Italian private schools have that perception. If you wanted the best Tom Yum Goong, naturally you’ll think of Thailand. The Best Sushi? Japan. Best Pizza? Italy. And so on. It’s a strong mindset.
I do understand.
But it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true the entire time. I just cannot accept that ONLY Italian people are fantastic pizza makers for example, and ONLY the Japanese are great at making sushi.
And so, I started to take up my online course more in anger than anything else. I felt so maligned and felt judged that I wasn’t even given a chance. I needed to do something to prove that I am just as qualified.
And so I took an online course with i-to-i TEFL course. I’ll probably write more about my experience in another post but all in all, it has been a positive one.
Of course learning in a class is superior compared to learning online. But despite what many might think, it’s not necessarily easy. There are pre-requisites for being certified and for me, I was required to pass all my modules. If I fail one module three times, regardless of which level, I’m out of the course.
All in all, I think that online learning isn’t for everyone. It takes a lot of self discipline to sit down and study and write your homework without being distracted by external factors.
In the end, perhaps my certificate might not be worth it in the end because it’s an online course but with the new knowledge that I’m equipped with, I feel more ready to teach.
At the moment I’m tutoring two kids. Things look fine so far. And I’ve been trying to apply the new things that I’ve learnt and my long term goal is that they do better in school. I’m looking forward to having more students if possible. Teaching has been quite enjoyable for me and I’ve always liked sharing my skills.
As for private English schools? I’ll just give them a passover for now.
I hate angry birds
At first, it started off with this really funny video I watched some months ago :
Amused, I showed it to Cartcart.
A month later, we went to Singapore and the first thing that Cart did was to scour for a new handphone. Eventually he bought for himself a Nokia N8 and immediately fiddled with it. And you know how boys are when they get new toys … He started to talk incessantly about his phone.
And when we had dinner together with some friends, he was so engrossed with his phone, he doesn’t talk or socialise with anyone at all. He didnt even noticed Mintea‘s awesome tee shirt when I mentioned it to him. By this time, she was already long gone 
But I had to be understanding. After all, it is natural for someone to feel extremely excited at acquiring a new toy. I’d probably act the same way too.
But then not too long after that, Cart decided to install Angry Birds in his handphone. At first I was amused. But that quickly turn into alarm when he played it ALL the time to the point that he spent the entire weekend trying to get a high score.
Just picture your partner, ignoring you 90% of the time playing Angry Birds, playing it the first thing as he wakes up and the last thing you remember as you go to sleep is “Weeeeeee!” and “Woohoohoohoo” and “na na na na na nah! na na naah naah naah!”
Sometimes I feel like cutting off his angry bird. Good thing he seems to be slowly waning off from that bugger!
Italians like to karaoke too
Ohai!
Thought that I’d dress up a little since it was valentines day. I look *cough* sexeh *cough* don’t I?
Anyway, even though I’m not all that overtly enthusiastic about Valentines day, it’s nice to take a break from our regular routine and have a nice evening to ourselves.
And knowing that restaurants will be insanely full and overpriced, we headed to this modest place called Squisito which isnt too far away from our place. Having eaten here before, I was enamoured with their seafood pasta.
I ordered the Valentine’s day set meal and while the food wasn’t bad …
My potato and fish dish (the fish is hidden underneath the potato) was quite nice …
And I really liked my orange cake dessert …
It was really really really hard to talk to Cartcart over the loud KARAOKE singing. I thought that only Asians liked karaoke 
Check it out :
Yes, please dial 62353535 to vote for this singer. Hurry!
How does one have a romantic dinner when one has to scream to their date the entire time? 
If you liked this post, you might enjoy :
A berry happy rinaz
I saw a contest being hosted by Tech65 and for fun, I thought I’d enter too.
Here is my submission .. Hope I win! 
What do you think of it?
Sidenote : Gosh, I’m so rusty in animation! Moreover with the new changes in Flash in CS4, it took me a very long time to re-learn how to do a motion tween again! Freaking heck!
Also : Check out Tech65 in 2007, they’ve gone a long way!