6:20:00 AM
As if I haven't travelled enough lately, I'm going to Los Angeles this afternoon. I'm going to be really busy until the next month, I suppose. Here's my schedule for the next two weeks:
July 25 - 30 : Los Angeles (I'm going to meet my mom & my second parents there)
July 31 - Aug 2 : New York (with my mom, my second parents, and Bayu)
Aug 2 : Dad arrives
Aug 4 : Commencement day
Aug 8 or 9 : Moving day (to Washington DC for a short term while I'm looking for jobs)

About Boston...
It was very fun, in my opinion. Slightly not enough time to do more things, but we enjoyed the things we did very much :3 As I've said, I and Alexa stayed at Boston Park Plaza Hotel, which is a very nice exclusive hotel located at the heart of the city; close to Newbury Street, Copley, Boston Commons, etc. Pretty much in the center of Boston's elite area. We were lucky, yes, but at the same time it was hard to find cheap restaurants or fast foods =P

We went shopping at Newbury for a while on Friday, since it was already late afternoon when we arrived in Boston. Afterwards, we had dinner at a Thai restaurant, Siam Cuisine, in Brookline. Since I only had 4 hours of sleep the night before, I slept early that night.. at 11 PM. We woke up early on Saturday & went shopping at Newbury and Copley. We had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and decided to spend our Saturday night's life at Jillian's (an entertainment and dining place that has a restaurant & a club at 1st floor, arcades at 2nd floor, and billiards at 3rd floor). We played billiard for an hour (Alexa sure was learning fast ^^v), then spent another hour playing some arcades. We had fun alright, but my legs were incredibly sore from too much walking ¬_¬

On Sunday, we went to Cambridge: Harvard Square and Porter Square. At Harvard Square, we went to HMV, had lunch at a Chinese restaurant nearby, and strolled around Harvard University campus, taking photos and enjoying the atmosphere for a while. No more shopping that day; we had shopped too much on Saturday (and I'm really broke -_-). At Porter Square, we went to Sasuga Bookstore (bought a lot of manga ^^) and Kotobukiya (I bought some bottles of Japanese tea & Alexa bought a lot of Pocky snacks) at Porter Exchange Building. We took a few sticker photos as well. My scanner is broken, so I can't scan it until I buy a new one. We went back to the hotel afterwards. An hour later, I went back to Harvard Square by myself to meet a highschool friend & chilled out at a nearby cafe with her... pretty much just chatting while having light meal.

It's pretty funny how I always encountered at least one Indonesian everyday in Boston. After all, I used to go there a lot three years ago and I spent the entire 3 months of summer 1998 with my ex-boyfriend there. What makes me happiest is that I met a girl whom I had lost contact since two years ago. She's the ex-girlfriend of a good friend of my ex-boyfriend (rather complicated? Not really. Read it closely and you'll understand =P).

I had wanted to ride on a boat on Charles River, but we didn't have time for that, unfortunately. Nor did I have time to eat at Grand Chow Chow (a very good Chinese restaurant in Chinatown) and Ginza (a delicious Japanese restaurant in Brookline). But I'm satisfied with the short vacation *nods* :D I and Alexa had been very comfortable with each other after Boston, especially because it was only the two of us (Bayu had been here before I and Alexa went to Boston). I'm glad that she came to visit me and hope that someday we'll be able to go somewhere else together (if I'm still here by the time she goes to the US again). New York, next time, Alexa? ^^v

Melisa, I don't think I can go to YaoiCon... as much as I want to go ._. Next year, perhaps. Are you going for sure? Boleh nitip gak Mel? ^^v

Anne, when I read the words "Pocari Sweat" on your entry, I suddenly remember my having had a bottle of Pocari Sweat (which I bought at Kotobukiya in Cambridge) and Alexa saying, "This logo and the blue & white colors remind me of a gas station! We have something like this in Germany". (Elyse: "A gas station?!" ^^;;) She then tasted it and exclaimed, "This drink tastes like a mixture of energy drink & medicine!"

That reminds me... yesterday was hilarious. I cooked tom yum squid soup (as opposed to shrimp) and when Alexa saw me eating the squid, she screamed in disbelief, "You actually eat the tentacles?!" (Note: she hates anything -seafood-) And then, five seconds later, "Look, you can even see the suction marks!" Eeeh ^^; It tastes good, even better than the body of the squid itself =9 The funniest thing is: she took a photo of the squid's tentacles on the soup...!! XD XD As if my food was peculiar of some sort... ^^;;

I bought ossetra caviar, goose foie gras with truffles, some crackers (poppy & sesame crackers, yum =9), and Valrhona chocolate at Caviar Assouline at Pittsburgh airport (where we were in transit on the way to State College). After I had eaten the tom yum soup, I fixed myself two crackers (with the foie gras & caviar on top), while Alexa watched with excitement XD She also took some photos of me fixing the foie gras & caviar on the crackers & eating it.... ^^;;; It tastes really good, though =9 The best combination I've ever tried, mostly due to the crackers (because I've always gotten ossetra caviar & goose foie gras with truffles in the past).

Oh, I have always wanted to write about Alexandrite (a manga series by Minako Narita). I love the series a lot, especially because the story is about Columbia University students and the setting is, obviously, in New York City, my favorite city :3 The storyline & characterization are well done. Everything in the story reminds me a lot about NYC & the people. If I have the time in the future, I might create a site to Alexandrite. I've already had some ideas as to the content, which will remain a secret until I can make it a realization.

I guess I'll call it a night. I still need to pack for LA trip & do some more errands before I go. I'm so tired of travelling by plane >_<