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The hypnotic sounds of the gamelan

Singa Nglaras Klenengan

Last friday, I hanged out with my friend Mus, who invited me a Klenengan, which I found out later, is actually and Indonesian Gamelan music.

It was a very cooling evening when I reached the faculty of the arts and social science in NUS, with no difficulty, I was able to find the gamelan room (which is surprising as I get lost easily) and I said hello to the friendly people in the group who were coincidentally having their break.

Singa Nglaras Klenengan

I then saw Mus, who looked genuinely surprised to see me (hehehe) and he showed me around and the different types of instruments. Many of them looked like xylophones. I was curious to see that there were different types of hammers used to hit the instruments – I noticed at least 4 different types. I’m sure that this effects the resonance and sound.

Singa Nglaras Klenengan

They group started their practice session and I find myself fascinated while listening to the hypnotic sounds as they hammered away happily on their gamelan. Sitting in the middle of the room, it was an experience to not only hear the sounds but to also feel the sound. This was something new to me!

The gamelan, in particular, the selemtem, which looked like a xylophone didnt looked too difficult to play. Mus explained that each panel was actually a number from 1 – 7 and you hit the panel according to the score. It was much easier to understand if compared to a piano.

It was so much fun! I was tempted to hammer the selemtem myself if not for the fact that I’d probably be disturbing the others.

Singa Nglaras Klenengan

Cant wait for the next session. Mus! Quick! When is the next one?

Here is a quick video :

view on youtube

Singa Nglaras Klenengan

Links :

Updated : Too funny! Eileen, a fellow pingster was there at the session but we didn’t recognize each other!

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Microblogs – An evolution of weblogs

Evolution of blog

Blogs are evolving.

When I first subscribed to the internet in 1996, we recorded our thoughts with newsgroups. We used outlook express to search and subscribe for threads and to discuss with other people.

Later on, we learnt HTML to code for webpages like geocities and tripod (which was commonly used at the time). We used guestbooks or forums to communicate with others.

These online logs was refined to what we know as blogs, with one of the first sites to offer them being blog city and blogger. Archiving thoughts has become much easier. It not even mandatory to know HTML – just insert content and hit publish to update.

Now, blogs are evolving to include a more variety of media, such as podcasts, video blogs and even sketchcasts. These has been made easier, as compared to several years ago with the technology that we have now.

As much as I enjoy blogging, there are times when I just want to record my stream of consciousness. For me, blogging can be a tedious process with the editing of pictures and videos. There are times where I would like to record my thoughts as it is without having to think and plan what I would like to write.

This is where the microblog comes in. Microblogs are where you could record short burst of thoughts. The two microblogs that I use currently are tumblr and twitter. I found out about these services quite by chance and I started an account just for experimental purposes and I am surprised at how much I enjoy using them both.

Both of them function differently

rinaz twitter

Twitter is a convenient way to keep up with friends to see what they were doing in real time. And because one could set it to their mobile, one could send and receive messages as they were sent. Organizing events becomes so much easier when you can twitter it once, as compared to calling up a person one by one. Although tech guru, Kathy Sierra, does have a point in the dangers of twitter, its still a convenient tool nevertheless.

Twitter has been gaining popularity that even the TV show, CSI, has featured twitter in its series. Twitter has a lot of potential for mysteries. A while back, a victim’s murderer was found through his blog. I can imagine something similar for twitter.

For all the new functions, I still kind of miss the days when twitter used lolcats as an icon.

Twitter LOL Cat

Tumbler on the other hand, can be compared to as a mini blog. It doesn’t send short messages to your friends, however, you could post short thoughts and other mediums that twitter cant do. Because Tumblr is not as serious as a regular blog, I feel that I have the freedom to post up any stream of consciousness I have, without the need to journalize it as I would do in my regular blog posts.

rinaz tumblr

My tumblr page might not be impressive or even useful to anyone who stumble upon it, but I think that its a wonderful outlet of self expression. Especially now with the improvements done to tumblr, such as the search function as well as the pictorial archive, it is easier for me to look back and remember past experiences.

Tumblr

But as much as I like tumblr and twitter, I don’t think that it will be a replacement to blogs, but a convenient complement.

Links :

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K. Gourmet Cafe – An insiders secret to affordable food

After many trips to my work headquarters, I am surprised that I did not know about about this place sooner. The K Gourmet Cafe must be an insiders secret that there is even hardly any results from a search on google!

K Gourmet Cafe - Singapore

I was back at the HQ today to judge the finalists for a blog competition with my colleague Joy. It was noon when we ended and we decided to have lunch together with our other colleagues, Eka, Weilin and Rou Hui.

The Place

It was just a walking distance from Science Park II. We walked past a couple of condominium looking buildings which I found out later was the NUS hostels, and then we headed to a white nondescript looking building.

The inside revealed that it was already quite full of people whom were having their lunch. We waited for a moment for an empty table and I admired the surrounding scenery of the fountains as well as the bright, cheery and cosy interior of the cafe.

The Service

Being that we were there during lunch hour peak, the service was a tad slow. Nevertheless, the staff were friendly and hospitable. Impressively, despite the crunch, none of them appeared harried at all.

We queued up at the cash register to order what we wanted and paid for the food. There, I was most amazed when I saw the prices. The items here were pretty affordable. There isn’t even any service charge. I did not spend more than $10 for my food.

The Food

K Gourmet Cafe - Singapore

This was my grilled chicken pizza ($4.50) It was not the best pizza that I had but it was still pretty decent. I love that the crust was flat and the toppings were pretty succulent. The chicken was pretty juicy and the bell pepper and mushroom tasted fresh. I wish the dough was softer and warmer but really, for this price, I am not complaining 🙂

K Gourmet Cafe - Singapore

For drinks, I had ice lemon tea ($1.20) You can tell that this was home made as it was pulpy which I loved.

K Gourmet Cafe - Singapore

This was Joy’s fish and chips. It looks really good. When asked, the only issue that she felt that would make it better was if it arrived warmer and crispier.

K Gourmet Cafe - Singapore

This was Eka’s fried rice with fried chicken. The chicken looks appetizing doesn’t it? The fact that Eka finished the entire plate shows that she enjoyed her meal 🙂

K Gourmet Cafe - Singapore

And this was Rou Hui’s beef rice which he said was decent. Judging from the amount of meat on the plate, it looked like a hearty meal and filling meal.

K Gourmet Cafe - Singapore

And of course, seeing how affordable the place was, I could not help myself and bought dessert. Isn’t my ‘Last Man Standing’ ice cream colourful? My vanilla ice cream has a piece of wafer, slice of strawberry, sliced almond, sprinkles and even fudge! And its only $2! I am loving this place more and more 😀

I’m definitely coming to this place again.

Here’s a quick clip of our lunch :

K Gourmet Cafe - Singapore

K. Gourmet Cafe

  • 33 Prince George’s Park Residence (NUS)

You may also be interested in :

Sidenote : My exams are over!

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Dance exhibition at the Frontier Community Centre

It was a fascinating Sunday morning for me at Frontier Community Centre. I spent my morning enjoying the time watching at all the different types of dances.

Mass Dance in Frontier Community Club

It was hard to miss the colourful flyers which was pasted in the glass display beside the lift at my house. Even though I did not have much interest in dance, I felt compelled to drop in to the event.

Mass Dance in Frontier Community Club

Ushers to the event

When I arrived, there was such a cheerful atmosphere as the entire hall was full of people doing the line dance, each person shouting out an enthusiastic cheer every now and then as they danced along.

There was supposed to be a bachata demonstration but I missed it while stealing a moment to go grab a drink. But I was consoled while watching the beautiful salsa dance. It was most impressive! They were dancing and spinning so fast! At one point, the male dancer balanced the head of his female partner on his foot in less than a minute. I was completely astounded.

Mass Dance in Frontier Community Club

I like her dress. I like her legs even more. Can I have it?

Later on, there was a modern dance and hip hop display performed by youths. While showing mum the video that I took, she commented at how naturally flexible the kids were. We’d probably be warded into the emergency room should we do something similar 😛

One of the things that crossed my mind while watching the youths dancing was how heartened I was that these kids were doing something positive with their time doing things that they are passionate about, rather than indulging in negative influences.

Mass Dance in Frontier Community Club

Dance – Not only for youths!

After the kid’s performances, came the Bollywood dance exhibition. Indian dances are so exciting with the drum instruments in the music. What would complete the exhibition if there were a bhangra dance and workshop at the same time 😀

One of the highlights were the new vogue dance exhibition and mass workshop. This dance, having originated from Australia, was a repetitive dance of a couple of steps – it looked easy enough to pick up, but I couldn’t help laughing when we all tried to do it ourselves – we were all over the place. Hehehe! 😀

All in all, it was a surprisingly lovely morning for me. Apart from the dance, it was really nice to see all those smiling and cheerful faces around me. Radiance all around. And it was beautiful 🙂

Here is a short clip of the event

Link :

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Goodbyes are never easy

Last tuesday was the graduation ceremony for the graduating batch of students at the school I am working at.

As they went up the stage and said their goodbyes, my heart ached a little. These was the batch of kids whom I first encountered when I arrived here. Slowly one feels an attachment to them and now it was time for them to leave the nest.

Its always easy to take things that you are used to, and take it for granted, benignly believing that things will always stay that way.

And I start to wonder if this was a fraction of the feelings that mum is feeling, knowing that I too, will one day leave the nest.

Its not easy to let go. But life goes on.

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Donation drive for the earthquake and tsunami victims of Indonesia

In late September, the vesporeans, as well as other various biker associations participated in the Bikers Aid Charity Ride.

TAA Charity Ride 2007

This year, in lieu of the Hari Raya Haji Celebrations, the Bikers Aid will be organizing the “Ibadah Kurban 2007” for the tsunami and earthquake victims in Jogyakarta and Aceh.

The bikers aid are seeking your kind donations. These monies will be contributed for the purchase of live sheep to be distributed to the needy as food. With each sheep costing $170, you may consider pooling this amount as a representation of your association.

The last date for donations is on the 10th December 2007. For more details, please contact the Scooter Owner Group Club, Mr Ramle Ismail and Mr Wan.

Handphone : 9059 5292
Email : sogspore@yahoo.com.sg

P.s Please feel free to spread the word! Thanks 🙂

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Behind the scenes of a ping.sg interview

Wi is teh ping.sg

Arzhou, Uzyn, Estee, me and DK trying to form the letters ping

Ping.sg is a Singaporean based blog aggregate where members will have a higher chance of having their blogs read by other members.

Somewhere in mid August, Uzyn asked Arzhou, DK, Daphne and me to join him in an interview for blogbuzz.tv – an online video channel for bloggers.

We met Estee who will be hosting, and then introduced to a Todd Murray, of Activechannel.tv who will be filming.

Here is a short clip of some behind the scenes footage, taken by Daphne! 😀

Links :

Sidenote : My exams are almost over with only literature to go! 😀

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rinaz wins the 2007 weblog awards – best asian blog!

rinaz wins 2007 weblog awards - best asian blog

Marina’s Bloggariffic is the winner for the 2007 Weblog Awards – Best Asian Blog! This is so surreal. YAY!

I can most definitely not have made it without the help and support of everyone whom voted, cartcart, my PR Managers, my wonderful blogger friends from ping.sg, my colleagues and especially from Hisyam whom has been unbelievably supportive of me since the beginning of the competition.

rinaz wins 2007 weblog awards - best asian blog

Rinaz and Hisyam on Racial Harmony Day

Of course, at the same time, there will be detractors that say that the weblog awards is nothing more but a popularity contest. And in a way, I do agree – but at the same time, I have to emphasize that I have put in time and effort to research, to showcase and share the experiences that I’ve gone through. Just read through the archives. To negate this fact is personal to me.

Not to say that the competitors are less worthy. Among the list, I think that both Terroir Byte and Webbed Feet are wonderful bloggers, each of them writes about their point of view in a fascinating and engaging fashion.

With that said, I agree with Footsteps in the mirror saying that this competition needs to have someone who has thick skin – I find myself psychologically trapped, deperately doing everything I humanly can to get votes – from mass posting in friendster, daily twitter messages, messaging everyone on msn to the point of some getting hostile by it, as well as approaching colleagues to have votes – trust me, it’s not as easy as it looks. We worked really hard.

Anyways as a closing thought, I really thank everyone who’s voted from the bottom of my heart, and gosh, I won passes to the Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas! I wish I could go! I would have liked to meet Matt Mullenweg, one of the developers of WordPress, as well as Kevin Aylward and Sean Gleeson from Weblogawards. Argh!

p.s. Yes, yes, I owe you guys 385 cups of coffee @ Geek Terminal. Lets set a date after my exams! 😀

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rinaz is a finalist in the 2007 weblog awards!

I’m still on hiatus because of my examinations, but I just couldn’t contain myself! I’m most delighted to announce that Marina’s Bloggariffic is a finalist in the 2007 weblog awards! How exciting!

If you are new here, I’m Marina, nice to meet you! Do take a peek as an appetizer

I’m sure you’ll find something that you’ll like 🙂

The 2007 Weblog Awards

Vote for me! – You could vote once every 24 hours till the 8th November, 2007, 2200hrs GMT or 6 am Singapore time 🙂

p.s Thanks Malique, Uzyn, Daphne, Hisham, DK, Adrian, Sha and Farinelli – my new PR Managers 😀