To Kindle or Not To Kindle

To Kindle or Not To Kindle, that is the question that I've been asking myself for the past few years. As a self-proclaimed avid reader and book lover, I was skeptical about e-readers when it first came out. It will never be the same as reading physical books. It can never replace the feeling that we enjoy when we hold a physical book, the sensation of turning the pages and the smell of a new book. However, As the years go by, I have less and less time to read and started to think about the convenience of owning an e-Reader. 

I can't seem to reduce my to-read list, and my pile seems to get higher and higher, and the desire to own an e-Reader gets even higher. For the past 8 months, I read books in both formats, real and digital. My first attempt at e-Reading is using the iBooks application on my iPad. I found that I quite enjoyed reading books on my iPad. It's more convenient to take when I travel, rather than bringing a couple of books with me which can get really bulky. However, the problem with reading on the iPad is the glare and LCD light which can tire the eyes quickly. No matter how good the book is, I have to put it down after a maximum of 20 minutes of reading. After spending 8 hours a day in front of the computer at work, I really didn't want to strain my eyes for longer time.

I started exploring the idea of purchasing an e-Reader. It can get really tricky, because I don't have many options to buy them here. There are some stores that sell different types of e-Reader, but they are generally so expensive that it's not worth buying. I also explored online stores in the hope that they might sell used ones, but it's still more expensive than buying a new one. There are different types of e-Reader available: the most popular being Amazon Kindle. They also sell Kobo from Kobo books, Nook from Barnes and Noble, and the Sony e-Reader. After spending many times online doing research to compare these e-Readers, I finally decided to purchase the most basic kindle touch 2014. 

New Amazon Kindle Basic 2014

I've been using this Kindle touch for almost 3 weeks now and I'm loving it! Although I still read my physical books (I have to reduce the To-Read pile somehow LoL), I start to use my Kindle more and more. Here's some of the reasons why I love reading on Kindle: 

1. First, it doesn't have that glare on the screen when you read outdoors in direct sunlight (compared with the iPad), and it has no LCD light so my eyes are not tired easily. It reads just like a book. 

   

   Kindle vs iPad

2. The Kindle Touch is so light. It only weighs 191 gram, and lighter than most paperbacks. I can carry it everywhere in my purse, and it doesn't hurt my arm from holding it for too long. 
3. The Kindle is perfect for traveling, especially if your travel takes you places far from home. You don't need to bring a couple of books with the possibility of buying more at the airport. You can carry hundreds and hundreds of books on my Kindle. Plus, I don't have to rush to finish a book when I'm going to travel just so that I don't carry a nearly finished book with me and bring a new one. I can continue reading the same book until i finished it and then choose a new one from my Kindle library.
4. Since English is not my first language, there are so many words that I don't know. There's a build it dictionary on Kindle and you can find out the meaning of that words and continue reading without having to look it up in a separate dictionary. The best part is, Kindle saves the words that you looked up and you can go to the vocabulary builder to see those words again until you master it. 
5. You can increase or decrease the fonts in the book to suit your mood. If i'm feeling tired after a day of work and just read to unwind, I would read in a larger font, and just switch it back to normal the next day. 
6. Kindle tells you the reading time you have left in a chapter based on your reading speed. This is particularly useful if you're reading before bed time, and wants to finish a chapter before you go to sleep, so you know how much longer you can read before you have to stop. 

I believe I will find more reasons to like my Kindle as I get more use out of it. 

All of the advantages of an e-Reader as I have outlined above still cannot take the place of the sensation and feel of a Real book. The smell of the book, the sound the book makes when you turn the page, and the sensation of turning the pages itself and holding the book is what is unique to reading. That's why I will keep buying Real books and read them, I just change my reading habit when I travel or go outside of my home :) 

First Travel in 2015

Off We Go to Singapore

One of my favorite vacation destination is Singapore. Some people might wonder why I love vacationing in Singapore, it's small and expensive. But for me, Singapore has always been a quick escape from the chaos in Jakarta. Singapore is tidy, Singapore is clean, Singapore is organized, and best of all, Singapore has clean air and nice sidewalks and it's only 1 hour and 20 minutes away by plane from Jakarta. 

My first trip in 2015, of course, is to Singapore for a family vacation. Traveling as a group is a lot more difficult than traveling by myself, but it is also more fun than traveling alone. What can we do in Singapore, you might ask? Shopping is always an attraction in itself. The Singapore Great Sale has been a reason to visit Singapore since more than a decade ago. But with the Indonesian Rupiah in its bad moments, shopping in Singapore doesn't seem that attractive this time of year. 

So we went to Sentosa Island instead, and spent three days and two nights in the island. This is my first visit to Sentosa Island as an adult (I might have visited the island when I was a little girl, but I have no memory of it). There are plenty to do in Sentosa Island, but we're not interested in seeing them all. 

S.E.A. Aquarium

Some say that this is the largest aquarium in the world. I have to disagree. I've been to one that's bigger than this one. Maybe if the aquarium were not as crowded with so many people, it might have been an enjoyable trip. But our time in this aquarium were not good. There were too many people, it's difficult to see some of the fishes, people kept blocking our view, and in some parts it was hard to move around with so many people there. My favorite of the fishes is the baby Manta Ray or Sting Ray. It's so cute, and I get to see it up close. And they do have a large ocean view theatre, but we mostly just sit down there, have a drink and rest our achy feet :) Overall, for S$ 38 for a visit, i would not recommend visiting S.E.A. Aquarium if you have better things to see in Singapore. 

Universal Studios Singapore

The second day of our stay in Sentosa was spent mostly here at the Universal Studios. I love theme parks, it's a Happy Place for me :) Universal Studios in Singapore is small if you compare it to those in the U.S. It's the closest one for those of us who live in the other side of the world. Most of the rides in Universal Studios Singapore seemed to be made for kids or young adults. There's not that many "Scary" rides. I guess my favorite is the Transformers 3D ride. The rest is just so so and the wait time in some of those rides is just too long. The shortest wait time was for The Mummy, an indoor roller coaster, much like the Magic Mountain in Disneyland. The gift stores were disappointing too. There's a Minion store, but there's nothing interesting in it, so I didn't get any souvenirs there at all. 

But, it was still a lot of fun for our family. And the weather during our whole stay in Singapore was good, it was gloomy for some of the time, but no heavy rain during our five day stay. 

The last 2 days in Singapore were spent at Orchard Road and Marina Bay Sands for some culinary enjoyment. You can find all sorts of food at the food courts in most shopping malls in Singapore. Most of them have a large selection of food from different parts of the world, not only the local food. Our favorite is usually the noodles and roasted meat dishes, and of course the Singaporean Hainanese Chicken Rice!

Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2014 and Welcome 2015

It was a few days ago that I said goodbye to 2014. I didn't get to enjoy the countdown celebration this year because I had a morning flight to catch and have to get to the airport a little bit before 6 am, although the sound of firecrackers did wake me up from slumber at sometime a little bit after midnight. 2014 was normal for me, no particular ups and downs that I need to specially highlight, which is a blessing for me in a way. 

People usually make resolutions at the end of every year, jotting down what they would like to do in the next year, sort of like a strategy to go through the new year. I've done several resolutions myself, but this year I decided not to make one, and just live! Embrace every moment in my life as if it's the last one. Have a work-life balance, and have more meaning to life as I go through it day by day. 

The recent tragedy with several airplanes that happened in 2014 just reminds us that life is short, you never know if whatever you're doing is the last thing that you'll ever do, or the last words that you'll ever say. And so, enjoy every blessing that you're given with and embrace each day like it's the last one on earth.