Roomies!

Since I lived at my house with my family in Indonesia, perhaps my rommies living started on my Freshman year in college.

My first roomie shared a dorm room with me. So it was the first day I arrived at UNI. I felt really happy slash sad because my family left me alone in the dorm. I saw the dorm door and it said 'Hanan'. I thought hahaha Vietnamese my roommate! :) I picked my bed and stuff cause I know that my roomie has not arrived on campus yet. When she came, my guess was wrong. Now I though Duh, which Vietnamese's name is Hanan. Hanan is from Saudi Arabia! She and I are close friends up until now, which is exciting because at the beginning of the whole year in the dorm I was not really close to her. But as time goes on, we enjoyed going everywhere together, share stories at night when we were going to sleep, and we even made a couple of comic books. We shared some trips together even during my sophomore year and senior year. Went to Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and South Dakota together! In the room we have tons of crap. Especially my area. As you can see in the picture. I do decorate my room with polkadot paper and I put on some of my sketches there. I also always change the mood board every month. Wow, think about it I really did have too much free time back then. Right?

Click on this picture to see the first short story we made:

My next roommate were Natalie and Mayeesha. After my Freshman year, I realized I was wasting money on food. I had 14 meals per week but I only used less than half of the meals. I also do not like American food (I know I am very asian), that's why unlike the traditional Freshman who gained Freshman 15, I actually lost some weight staying in the dorms. That's why me and my friends/ lawther neighbor Natalie as well as Mayeesha moved to an apartment nearby campus. Natalie was my neighbor and friends since I stayed in the dorm, while Mayeesha .. I knew her through summer orientation program. Natalie likes watching korean drama and Mayeesha likes studying? Both likes cooking.... Not me. I think staying in the apartment was nice and I enjoyed it a lot because we had lots of space. I feel bad though because if you know me I have a lot of stuff and in the end most of the stuff in my apartment was mine. :(





We were roommates for about a year and a half until my brother then came.... and I become roommate with my brother. OK I'm not gonna discuss living with my brother. 1, he doesn't like being talked about. 2, you know how much work you need to do when you live with a guy? we need more trash bags here!!!

Catherine

Nicknames

I have a lot of nick names. What I meant by nick names are not like Matthew --> Matt, or Robert --> Bob, or Katherine --> Katie. No, no, my nickname history has been even more adventurous and creative than those names. So here it goes.


If I remember correctly I have always been called Catherine until about the last years of primary school. Although I know that some people called me Cath-Jonk or Au Jong. My last name, I don't like it, but it seems to be very popular. If you google search my name: Catherine Au Jong, you will only see about 10,000,000 posts and images about me. I know I'm famous, note that I created all of the contents.

Starting from Junior high school is when nicknames started to became very creative. I know some people got called different things like daki (body dirt), jiban (type of awkward hero). In my first year of senior high school I got called Babon (Baboon). My friends interpreted baboon as a big monkey and since I was chubby back then, my nickname was like that. Second year of junior high school I
got called.... Dora, actually pathetically. I cut my hair short (shorter than now) and people said I looked like Dora and back then I was actually a Dora fan. In third grade I think people mostly called me Cathjonk again, or AuJong, but we had a group of girl called strawberry family so I think in that group my name was salty strawberry, don't know if it existed. but whatever, you know kids.

After I went to senior high school then my nick name was...Etin. That is because we had orientation for new students and we wear a hat or name tags that have our nickname on. I wrote Etin on my hat. That's why I got called Etin for about forever now. But this name is not actually made up. Let's just say that this nick name is about my age now. My mom actually called me this since I was born. Yes, it is kind of a given name. But I think If I ask my professors here to call me that, I will feel weird. It is not easy to say it :)
Besides Etin, I also had a group called Qt Frutee and here are my members. In the group, I was Pineapple because I have a personality fun and active personality! Like the color of pineapple. Besides pineapple, we have (left to right) orange, kiwi, cherry, honeydew, and blueberry. In senior high school sometimes my friends called me etinatoon just because I created their names. I also made some name called RedPolkadot it was popular for a bit, this is because I like .. minnie mouse.


In college. I got not that many nick names. But Cat, Cathy are often the two nicknames I heard. I actually hate getting called Cathy because... back home we had advertisement for deodorant and the song which infers to armpit was like keti keti (ketiak = armpit). so don't call me that!
Other nicknames I fight over are: Pancake and back to... Dora. I don't know why but my friends told me my face is flat like a pancake...


So yeah. Those are the nickname history!


Which one do you like the most?


Catherine

BiPolar

Sad, Hyped, Talkative, Reserved and Quiet.

You can see me in many or let's say two different moods and personalities. Up til now I am not sure if it is only me, or it is normal?
If you are my facebook friends you probably know my mood swings just like a pendulum (or maybe oranges?). Especially when the light and weather changes. I tend to be so dark and sad and gloomy when it is raining out. While some girls love playing with the rain, I hate rain. I feel sad :( That's why during winter I feel less happy and perhaps nag a lot!

Something that my family knows and only a couple of my friend knows is I can be a different type of person depending on who I talk to. I am naturally very loud and talkative, sometimes I am too explicit too.. to a person that I feel comfortable to talk to, or usually within my age range. I don't know how to describe it, but I guess I live and accustomed to sort of be very or over polite to the older generation or friends or family. I grow up knowing that what parents or grandparents say are ultimate truth although I do not agree I will keep it inside. I am quiet in front of people, have very small voice, and look shy. (My family make fun of this too once they knew it). But with a friends my age, or younger, and usually people that I am comfortable with I can really tease them (wink), be loud, be silly, hyper and all that. I cannot help it too. OK real life example, I am known as being quiet and shy and the office, and my friend Spoo did not know it until one of my friend, Yan mentioned it in the lunch time. I prayed and hoped the day before I started interning so that I can be my real self, but the day of it was difficult for me. I felt obligated to be quiet and just follow what I need to follow. It has gotten slightly better? or maybe worse? Perhaps my family and close friends can tell me. But I feel as of now I'm still stuck with these personalities change.

That is more of a dark (perhaps) side of me. What do you think?

Cooking

If you know me well, I am a dumb in cooking. I can cook water, I can cook instant noodle, but I cannot cook more advanced than rice in a box. I do love baking, though.
Lately I have been so much into cupcakes! Unfortunately I don't do scratch, I use Pillsburry or Betty's boxed cake (again)

I have two stories that I always tell my friends about me cooking:

When I was in primary school we had one day of cooking class. I don't quite remember whether it was assigned or we chose.. to cook sayur asem, Indonesian soup. The soup being very complicated to make, I asked my nanny back home to prepare everything for me so that in the class I only need to boil it. So I carried the stuff I needed (a package) to school. Other students were cooking eggs and fried rice. I was wondering why everyone were using that pack of salt, so I thought maybe it is necessary to put them in our food. So I believe I told my friend to go to our canteen and got a pack of salt. Now If you don't know how big the pack  is, let's say probably 5inchx6inch package (I know it's big). So me not knowing how much stuff to be put, we put either 1/2 or the whole package into the soup... Now it's time for my teacher to taste it. One comment we got: "is this a soup or sea water???!" .. yea yea. I have no instinct in this kind of things..

Next was... my willingness to take cake baking classes when I was in junior high school. I took a class on how to make a birthday cake. So one time (July), it was my brother's birthday. My mom figured it'd be nice If I bake a cake for my brother. So I agreed and she bought me Wysmann butter, and all sort of fancy baking supplies. I already knew I am gonna make a soccer shaped (round) cake! that'd be great! Everything went well and neat.. until I made the icing. If you are from Indonesia you probably know back then we do not have Pillsburry icing or those icing from the stores, we gotta make it from scratch!!! And I recalled the recipe using vinegar to make the icing hard. The birthday came and cake was ready...
Turned out... the cake.. tasted like vinegar. No one dared to touch it even the nannies back home (they usually eat whatever).


So, cooking/baking. Definitely not my talent. Period.

Dance!

Another life milestones for you! Here is a life of a 'sorta' dancer:

Age 1-5
I learned how to do Ballet. Let me rephrase it, my family told me to learn Ballet. When I was little I have a couple of friends in the Ballet place. Unfortunately, I retained that lesson only because if I go to the lesson place, my nanny would buy me a cracker. I love eating! And I always slept in the class, when I was dancing. I dance when I sleep. I sleep when I dance.

Age 6-11
I was in primary school back then. I learned how to do cultural dance from Indonesia. I remembered one song called Bolelebo. My teacher would teach us how to dance this song using a fabric on our hand. It is very pretty and even until now I remember the song, not the dance though.


Besides cultural song, I also went to a dancing/modelling school across the school. I learned modern dance and one of the song I remember was "Lucky", by Britney Spears. I remembered that I got to do modelling in the mall, even though it was not dance. But later on I got to perform it in junior high school I believe with a couple of my friends.

Age 12-14
I was in Junior high school back then. I joined the theatre and cheerleader team. I do like performing. However I was not elected to be in the main cheerleaders team because I was too weak and not very flexible. I failed in lifting people up on me. So that was bad. But I remembered we used the Let's get loud song. I still remember the choreography until now! :)

Age 15-17

After failing cheerleading, I went to join Modern dance group at school. But before that I actually learned hip hop from a dancing school nearby my house. The funny thing is.. I was the oldest student. Most of the students are in primary or junior high school. But preparing for the modern dance group selection, I actually paid extra to my teacher in the dancing school to prepare a choreography for me. So me and my friend went for the MD selection and got into our school's modern dance team. Unlike the previous year, starting from our year the modern dance theme was then switched to hip-hop. We made a pretty solid team with 1 guy and 5 girls.


Dancing video:


Age 18-now.
Not much. I just like dancing and following kpop dance. I did perform dancing a couple of times on campus. But I don't think I have the video :(
Anywho I love performing! I now choreograph, cover kpop dances, help people choreograph. Last one we made a flashmob of gangnam style!

Fear

Isn't it interesting? Now, today, you get to know what I fear..

I will give you let's see... about 10 seconds to say out loud what do you think my fear is.


--- continue here!---

To be honest with you I am one of those dirty girls that are not afraid of bugs.. Yes, I would be fine touching cockroach or worms. In fact I have been in a big dumpster late night accompanied by hundreds of cockroach and some mouse diving in the garbage, that was fine for me.

I think I am afraid of... people hating me and getting into a fight. PLUS cucumber and papaya. OK the last two are like what?! but seriously I've cried once because my friend throw a group of cucumber slices on my face. Those stuff are scary man!

When I was in primary school, I was just a good kid. Nice enough to say.. I did not invite a couple of my friends in my house's halloween party conducted by.. ME! Yes, because I thought it's gonna be an exclusive party! Some miscomm and all that resulted in a bunch of students in my class and my course place hated me. They made a group called something like anti-Catherine (of course translated back to my language, primary school kids don't speak Engrish). I heard lots of bad comments and sighs about me day-to day to the point where I cannot stand it. Some of my ex-best friends were in it, making it even more painful. I was so scared, my days felt so lonely. I would cry at home and I did attempt to kill myself.. with a knife on a dining table. So my grandma asked me why? I said... everyone in the world hated me. I cannot live. So, being a humanly grandma she prevented me from suicide and she came to course place the next day... solving problem together with my teacher. Yes, the hatred thingy was solved but best friends were never back to me... Damn Halloween party! Since then I realize that.. I hate being hated. I am afraid to be alone and the world is against me. Sometimes just fights with friends and family makes me feel alone and afraid..

Now back to papaya and cucumber. Hate it!
Since I told a lot of people I hate both of these, they always play around with me with these crap! Mostly touch and smell are big NO NOs to me! Do NOT hold papaya and cucumber near me. ah! no!





LAST I just remembered that... I am afraid of POCONG. Now most of you probably don't know what it is... This is it:

Yea, I know it is scary right? Yet I dared to actually watch the movies with my friends. But... after I watch it I will ask my nanny to accompany me to bathroom all the time for ... approximately a month. These things seriously! soooo scary!

Anywho.

My fears are standard... Just wanna let you know! BUT don't play with me!

Fashion Life Milestones

Out of gazillion dreams I have had, fashion is one field that has been consistently within my dream range since I was in primary school. So here is the milestone:

My drawing for first Fashion class

1. (Age 5-8) When I was in primary school, just like other kids around, I used to love drawing manga girl characters. One of my friend, Marissa, was famous for drawing the best manga character in the class. She always inspired me to keep practicing sketching (although until now my manga character is ugly!). Starting from then I realized I enjoyed sketching the dress on the characters more than drawing the characters itself. Of course, sailormoon-typed clothing was popular for manga drawing back then. I started to sketch a lot of gowns and wedding dresses. I showed the sketches to my dad, so then he told me he is going to send me to Paris for college!!

2. (Age 9-14) When I was in 5th grade or so, something inspired me! WEIRD CLOTHING LINE. OK of course I didn't think it was weird when I was 10 years old. But I thought of making/designing FROG clothing and WIRED wedding dresses, which until now I still remember and wish I can make one day. I kept sketching....

Qt Frutee, my group and business partners!

3. (Age 15-17) My dream has been on and off, because I see so many talented people ahead of me. But no matter what I feel like I am not ready to let it off. Sometimes I also think about being a graphic designer or artist instead of being a fashion designer.. In senior high school, I started to enjoy fashion more because now I can shop by myself and I and some friends sold some fashion bracelets and necklaces in school bazaar. It was really fun. So that turned my dream into... fashion business woman. uh more complicated right??

4. (Age 18) College stage, finally I gave it up. I realize there is so much talented people out there and I cannot win the competition. Anyhow.. one day my friend asked me if I am interested in modelling for a fashion show... thanks to Codye! because of all the dresses I saw in the show, I have been wishing since then I can design and make a dress... So, I fall in love again.. with fashion.. for the million times !

www.etinology.com

5. (Age 19-now) Then I started blogging about fashion! (Hey, if you don't know check this out: www.etinology.com). Yes, I have not much time updating it now, but it was rather popular once (around my friends! ;p). Some facebook or twitter friends message me saying they are my fans!! (^^). It was fun, until my tripod... broken. Seeing my obsession there, I actually decided to take some fashion class: beginning with my creative textile and apparel class. And... my dress (out of rulers and rubber) got into the spring show at school! Enjoying many classes that I took in this program... finally I decided to take a minor. As of now I have taken materials class, computer aided design, creative textiles and apparel, and apparel design and analysis. Not only college classes, I learned how to sew from my Theater friend, Becca and took some classes in Jo-Ann's fabric. Finally now I now how to sew (and pssst.... now I'm sewing a gown!). Well I still cannot make a pattern yet though, so I really cannot say it is my design! But at least I start somewhere besides sketching!

6. (Today???) And.... today I just called some art and tech schools! I am thinking of going to a Fashion school after I got my bachelor in MIS and Accounting this May! I am so excited and hopefully there will be more milestones ahead of these on my fashion life!


Fashion stuff:

                      

   

Lesson: Deep dreams are hard to throw away, love it, learn it, do it!


Cat-Jong ( <--- highschool nick name)