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Blog novel perdananya Yunisa, cewek Jogja yang kini bekerja di Singapura.

Which guy is your favorite character?

Merry Christmas for those who celebrate it (like me), and Happy Holidays for those who do not celebrate Christmas.

I was asking several people who is their male favorite character in my novel as I am in the slow progress of translating it -- hence I recall whom / what I base my imagination for each character / scene. Here some of my thoughts of three young men in Yuki's life.

Shinichi Serizawa -- Michael Chang's two dimples and great hair (ingat iklan "Ketombe? No way!" Itu shampoo Rejoice di Indo taon 90-an awal?) Definitely he has the most prominent dimples on a guy! Hence I also named my main male lead as Michael *LOL* Shinichi is an improved version of Michael Chang. He is tall, a type who wears glasses to look "serious" (Clark Kent - Superman), sings and plays music as well (in real life, one of my church friends is in choir and church pianist, but he is not handsome at all hahaha). I think Shinichi is definitely every girl's soft spot and every man's dream to be one!

Takuya Tosha -- Takeshi Kaneshiro. He is definitely the most handsome pure Asian guy (Asian parents 100%). He does not need any dimple to look good hahaha... He masters all kinds of martial art (jagoan), macho and yet very cultured. He is understanding (he allows Yuki to visit Shinichi in the hospital) and yet he kept his grumbles to himself -- except the scenes with Dr Toru. (Photo is a courtesy of Jemmy Soenjaya's friendster. It is a screenshot of a PS game).

Dr Toru Toshiyuki -- can't recall which Japanese drama I watched that time -- probably Takuya Kimura's type or there was this good looking guy (I don't know his name) who acted as an antagonist-turned into-the good guy, hence it inspired me to suddenly create this character. A bad boy type who repents to be a good guy at the end.

Polling result
Shinichi Serizawa comes first (even my lil sis Martha Rinna also likes him). However, my other sisters: Riana - she likes Toru Toshiyuki. And Mayrinna likes Takuya Tosha. So who do you like more?

The 6th Copy in National Library

I have asked NLB to take some action on the faulty copy in Jurong Regional Library. I checked the NLB catalogue and surprise, surprise, there are 6 books of Sakura Bersemi di Yokohama - and not 5 that I have been sent to them!!!

Dari mana buku ke-6 nyampe NLB ya? *wondering who gave the 6th copy to the library, Jurong West, compared against September's NLB catalogue*

Things outside my control

I just received an e-mail from one reader who borrowed my novel @ NLB. Salah cetak!!! Misprints. Empty pages. Repeated pages. Banyak halaman kosong atau malau diulangi!!! (Olala, is Indonesian publisher's QC that bad???). The problem is that I didn't flip through page by page for every single book I've given away. I just signed and sent. And now I can't contact my publisher at all!!!

I haven't received any complaints from those people who received my autographed copies. (Or maybe not yet! My best friends all have perfect copies - confirmed, otherwise they will scream to me, Pak Harry juga nggak komplain. I don't know about Dr Dede's copy. Dia belum komplain).

Readers in Singapore: if you find any disappointing printed copy, kindly drop me a note and I would contact you personally with a PDF file of my novel.

Big Mistake by me, why nobody protested??

Currently I am working on my translation to English for this novel. I can't promise when I can finish it since it is really depending on my availability. But so far the progress is quite promising. The difficulty I face is to translate the expression correctly, e.g. not every Indonesian proverb (with its beauty) has an equivalent English proverb.

In doing this translation, I re-read my manuscript and I found a big mistake of mine. It is not the editor's fault. I'm aware she may not realize that as it is out of her expertise and it is of my responsibility. But the readers, especially those who share the same faith with me, who go to church at least every Sunday, oh dear, why all of you haven't screamed to me???

Halaman 26

"Wah itu kan perkataan Shakespeare. Tapi nama itu penting lho. Di bawah kolong langit ini, cuma ada satu nama yang menyelamatkan..."

"Itu kan dari Roma 4!" sahut Keichi.

Keichi salah!!! Itu dari Kisah Para Rasul 4!!!

Sebab di bawah kolong langit ini tidak ada nama lain yang diberikan kepada manusia yang olehnya kita dapat diselamatkan.

Readers in English:

Page 26 in my Indonesian novel, it's supposed to be Acts 4 not Romans 4

The translation I put is: For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

Analysis: why I wasn't aware of the big mistake

I try to rationalize why I made this big mistake. First, I didn't check my Bible and relied on my brain instead. And my brain was wrong! Kis (Acts) and Rom (Romans) are of the same author, i.e. St Paul (Rasul Paulus) and they are in order (berurutan). Acts is followed by Romans (Kitab Kisah Para Rasul diikuti oleh Kitab Roma). It seemed like my brain only clicked with the numbers and authors instead of the book's name. Thousand apologies. Mohon maaf sebesar-besarnya.

PS: I also lost the Haloscan comments. Apologize for those who have written nice encouragement words there... I didn't back it up =(

The winners of the quiz

Kuiz acara review buku pada 3.11.2006
Quiz for book review on 3 Nov 2006

Pertanyaan: Apakah nama watak utama dalam buku Sakura bersemi di Yokohama?
(Question: What is the name of the leading character in Sakura Bersemi di Yokohama?)

Pemenang / Winners

1. Sabri Bakar,Bukit Keteri,Perlis, Malaysia
2. Umi Kalsum Rahman, Serdang Bedagai-Sumut 20986.

Congratulations to the winners! Selamat kepada para pemenang!

Three more autographed books to win as the quiz will be repeated 3 times this December. (I think the question will be changed). Stay in tune to www.rsi.sg/malay

I don't win the Pantene Shine Award

As I have predicted, I didn't win it. I am still a foreign talent *hehehe, bisa digontokin kalau menang -- if you follow recent Singapore's debates on Permanent Resident vs. citizen*
(Molor tuh pengumumannya. Rubber time. It should be on 30 Nov, today is 6 Dec, by the way).

Cheers!

Touching Words

Oh yeah, to appreciate the kind words of Gallup Singapore (the ladies), I'd like to post their e-mails to me. Anyway, the competition has nothing to do with my hair! *_*

• Hi Yunisa, Your hair must have the recognition it deserves - It's absolutely beautiful! You are already a winner - No need for votes! =) Take Care (Charlotte Lourdes)
• Voting type not accurate - can be manipulated easily. Don't worry, in our hearts, you're a winner! (Angie Ng)
• Well…your hair always looks good and naturally shiny! (Vidhya Thomas)
• Yunisa, We are still very proud of you! (Glady He)
• Oh…………sorry to hear u didn’t win but it was a good try :) Cheers (Lee Kum Phoeng)