Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Hong Kong and Macau trip

Back from Hong Kong and Macau trip, but somehow I'm just too lazy to update it. So, I'm gonna copy from my sis, Nophie. Nah...it's not against copyright issue, coz we always share things. From food, clothes, to bed *haha*. Exceptions are made for shoes and boyfriends *hihi*
***
We (parents, sis and I) reached Macau International Airport at around 3 o'clock local time, we wanted to have direct transfer to Hong Kong but apparently the bus was full, so we had to get out from the airport, took public bus to the port and buy ferry tickets ourselves. It was rather inconvenient. Worse still, we took the wrong luggage >.<>

We decided to try the food in this small chinese restaurant about 5 minutes walk from our hotel. I ordered milk tea and the taste was....how should I put it...weird? Well, the milk and tea was too strong for me. I added a teaspoon of sugar but it still tasted the same. I guess, it didn't fit my taste buds at all. My dad ordered a glass of lemon beverage. It was weird too. It tasted a lil like salty water with this huge lemon in it. Sour bitter and salty. The food was good though. My mom ordered a meal package of white rice, roasted pig and veggies. My sis ordered a meal package of duck soup and rice. My dad ordered white rice with oyster soup. And I ordered noodles with salted veggies and meat. For all that, we paid HKD106. Overall, it was filling (although the provision of chilli would definitely make the overall experience even better!)

After dinner, we walked around the area blindly. Since it is Mongkok, the area was busy and crowded with people. We walked in to quite a number of stores, and some sales people can be really rude. I guess it was getting a lil late (around 10pm) and they were closing down. They can just tell you upfront to make your purchase decision quickly since they are closing down the store in minutes. I was like, OK, let's get the hell out from this store and look for the same product somewhere else since many stores sell similar products. It was rather eye-opening experience. Not that I never meet that kind of sales people before, but I was like "why can't they just be a little nicer?". It's just their way of living, I think. But there's this particular shoe shop with really nice sales people. They are young Hong Kong teenagers. They even tried to communicate with us in Mandarin and English. It was just outright funny. My mom and sis bought a pair of shoes there that cost only HKD100 (ard SGD20,-) for both. I was looking desperately for one that could fit me well but I guess I have feet that is too big for Hong Kong size haha. That's why I hate shopping for shoes! >.<

continuing my second day in HongKong....


We woke up at approximately 8 o'clock and headed out of the hotel at 9am. At first we were kinda confused as to where we would like to go. Disneyland? Nargh, we heard it is small compared to other Disneyland and quite dirty and disorganized now with loads of Mainland tourists overflowing the place. Besides, we have been to Disneyland in Anaheim and Japan. So we took Disneyland out of the list. My mom recommended Ocean Park as she watched the Dolphin Show before and would like to watch it once again. So in the end, we decided to go Ocean Park. First we took MTR from Prince Edward station to Admiralty. From there, we bought discounted entry tickets at HKD165 each (usually HKD185). We went up and bought bus return ticket at HKD21 each. So altogether, we spent about HKD700. Expensive!!

After a long bus ride (apparently, Ocean Park is in HongKong Island while we departed from Kowloon, so it took some time) we finally reached at about 10am and we directly went in.

Since we were all born with narcissism genes in our blood...it's PHOTO time!!!


With my mom outside the hotel, right before we left to Ocean Park.
Do you like my purple specs? haha

See, when I said I love my sis' cute facial expressions and actions...I mean it.
She's adorable *hee hee..

Ahhh....the shark doesn't like me...


The shark was in love with Nophie, but Nophie picks 'Whisker' instead :)


I pick the almost-extinct Panda *I love unique things haha


Owhh noo.... Don't take away my Panda, Nophie!
Shoo...shooo....



We got out from Ocean Park at around 3pm and it was freaking HOT! According to the weather man, it was 35*C and my face was burning. I am officially tanned.
Right after Ocean Park, we went to Tsim Sha Tsui to do some shopping. We walked around the area up until 8pm where we went to Victoria Habour to witness the famous Light and Symphony Orchestra. It was disappointing. The song wasn't good and it was too weak that I could hardly hear it. We went back to our hotel at 8.30pm.

End of our day? Hell no hahahaha.

We went out only after 10 minutes break to the well known Ladies Market. It's 10 minutes walk from our hotel. I never liked going to open market like this cos I am bad in bargaining. And as I mentioned before, the salespersons were extremely rude at one point that it always left me feeling outraged and unhappy. So much for being emotional haha. In the end, i didn't buy anything for myself. My mom bought a handbag, sis bought souvernirs and dad bought CD.

On our way back, my dad decided to have a haircut. All the hairstylists were youngsters. 3 of them, and they were cute hehe. I talked quite a bit with one of them since he was the only one who could speak english. Only in the end did he realized that I actually speak chinese too. My dad and I reached hotel at midnight.

Our last day in HongKong, we had a sumptuous YamCha with our relatives. After which, we left to Macau. Macau's weather was far worse than HongKong. We didn't go anywhere until 6pm when the weather was a little friendlier. The picture that my sis took inside the hotel:




Kiss the Zeus :)


We first went to DA SHAN BA, the ruins of the portugal invasion with canons and so on (don't remember the exact name haha). Anyway, here's the photo:

Dad, me and Mom


I love this pic ^.*


Toilet for dogs??

Woopz....don't kill me with your big canon, Nop!

The night scene in Macau... full of lights and casinos. But Hong Kong is much more marvelous with its lights :)

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Posted by Ddee at 11:12 PM

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juz three

Oh bozhe bozhe...

Shub tagged me long time ago and I didn't realize that *I'm so sorry Shub. I was in Ukraine then and there was no regular internet connection, so I didn't check your blog as frequently. Now, here it goes...

Three things that scare me:
1. Being lonely: I like having my own private time where I can self-reflect and enjoy no one's company, but I don't want to grow old and feel lonely *it's in the mind, I know*. Still...
2. Show me a pool of blood and I'll faint in a split second.
3. I gotta agree with Sharon in terms of 'being expressive', especially when it involves another party. It's never been a part of me and well... I don't know when it will be although I hope I could have a bigger scoop of that

Three people who make me laugh:
1. My sister: her actions and crazy facial expressions gets two thumbs up from me
2. My friends: I just can't split them into different entities. They do cheer me up, give the lamest jokes on earth, act in silly way and ready to take random pictures with me
3. ...

Three things I love:
1. Travelling: One of my dreams is to travel to more countries/places than the number that's appeared on my ID card (i.e.: age). This will be much better if I had great company, great music and movies and enough money to spend *hehehe
2. Meeting people and learning things from them (culture, life experiences, knowledge, etc), so I like being accompanied by great people and sharing while learning from them. Therefore, if we couldn't afford to meet physically...virtually would do good too
3. Eating: Delicious food and beverages, not too oily, no exotic food and with some chili please

Three things I hate:
1. Being miserable: For not doing something or doing it the wrong way, regretting, feeling guilty, being incapable of doing something, ... and missing someone
2. Intolerant people: helloo....life is not about you yourself! Give us some space...
3. Pretentious people: If I like then I like, if I don't...I'm sorry I can't pretend that I like you. Period. This includes back-stabbers *don't pretend you are nice and innocent, coz you are NOT

Three things I don't understand *Again...I simply has to agree with you, Sharon:
1. Myself: Being a woman is complicated. To add that, a Cancerian is complex too. If I don't even understand myself, how could others? Geez...
2. Love: Why does it happen when you least expect it? Why it brings happiness yet it hurts at the same time? Why and how does it start? How do I know if he's the right one? How can I possibly be in the same situations again and knowing it'd never happen? Why...
3. Life: It's just a puzzle for me to figure out. Enjoy!

Three things on my desk:
1. A 4-year old PC *still running but need to upgrade its memory and HDD haha
2. A 9-month old Casio Exilim *precious precious...
3. Mobile phones *just took my mom's NOKIA mobile haha and my own Panasonic

Three things I am doing now:
1. Listening to my playlist
2. Typing this
3. Missing 'you'

Three things I want to do before I die:
1. Make at least one of my dreams come true
2. Bring my parents for a travelling trip
3. Being in love without regret

Three things I can do *waks...this is tough:
1. Being supportive and cheering *really cheering..my voice is LOUD enough haha
2. Dancing *no particular style...just moving haha
3. Making hand-made cards
I'm like jack of all trades but king of none...

Three things you should listen to:
1. Family and friends' advices and suggestions: Think and consider 'em...but decide what's best myself
2. Nice slow songs with meaningful lyrics that suit my mood
3. My inner voice ;)

Three things you should never listen to:
1. Those words that are meant to belittle you, make you depressed and feel worthless. Mistakes are a part of learning process, take it easy. Learn and move on.
2. Silly excuses to justify someone's actions *It's your choice...
3. Rumours and gossips about yourself: I learn to stop listening to these craps. You can't satisfy everyone... so let it be.

Three things I'd like to learn:
1. Hip-hop dance
2. Cooking and baking
3. How to be a better person: by knowing myself, others and life more

Three Favourite Foods:
1. I like all sorts of -balls: fishballs, meatballs, cuttlefish balls, shrimp balls...etc
2. Spicy and soupy food *not too cheesy, too much dairy products, too strong unknown smell and too oily
3. Mom's cook...the best

Three beverages I drink regularly:
1. Plain water
2. Tea: Green tea, Chinese tea, ...
3. Juice *missin Ukraine's juice..

Three TV shows I watched as a kid:
1. Doraemon: Every Sunday morning haha
2. Sesame Street: Great show...learn alot of things from this
3. can't remember...huhu

Three books I read as a kid:
1. Japanese manga borrowed from friends *it's too costly for me ^^
2. A series of books 'Do you know...' *it's like explaining why things happen in a certain ways..
3. Textbook from schools *haha..what else?

Three people I would love to tag:
1. Nophie
2. Yap *eh...send link elo dunk....ilang lagi..
3. whoever is free enough to respond hee...

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Posted by Ddee at 4:02 PM

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trans-for-ma-ti-on

It's been four years since I stepped unto the 'city of possibilities'

Four years of sweats and tears and lotsa hardwork...

but it was also four years full of laughters and life-changing experiences

and not to forget...

four years full of changes ... of hair-styles *hihihi

My four years transformation
short to medium length, straight to permed hair, boyish to china-bowl style...
As we know: CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT!

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Posted by Ddee at 2:40 PM

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Friday, July 27, 2007

and I miss you so

This song was first heard when I was in Orlovschina 'Starry' summer camp. It was the song for the 'White dance' where a guy/girl asks their loved one to dance with them (or anyone else).

It is really sweet, and I still think it is. And everytime they played this song, I always smiled to myself and suddenly the feeling just went cuckoo. Just like when I heard 'Wish you were here'.

So, here it is 'When you're gone' by Avril Lavigne :)

I always needed time on my own
I never thought I'd need you there when I cry
And the days feel like years when I'm alone
And the bed where you lie
is made up on your side

When you walk away
I count the steps that you take
Do you see how much I need you right now?

Chorus:
When you're gone
The pieces of my heart are missing you
When you're gone
The face I came to know is missing too
When you're gone
All the words I need to hear to always get me through the day
And make it OK
I miss you

I've never felt this way before
Everything that I do
Reminds me of you
And the clothes you left
they lie on my floor
And they smell just like you
I love the things that you do

When you walk away
I count the steps that you take

Do you see how much I need you right now?

We were made for each other
Out here forever
I know we were
Yeah Yeah
All I ever wanted was for you to know
Everything I do I give my heart and soul
I can hardly breathe, I need to feel you here with me
Yeah


****

“If I never met you, I wouldn't like you.
If I didn't like you, I wouldn't love you.
If I didn't love you, I wouldn't miss you.
But I did, I do, and I will.”

Miss you heaps :)

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Posted by Ddee at 2:36 AM

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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

GRADUATION is here

I am officially done with you, dear NTU!

Thanks for everything... and I am glad we made it through ^.*

Moi... (Bachelor of Communication Studies [Hons])


My Final Year Project mates ^.*
our 100 Chairs project is in the book that was distributed during the convocation *yeay..

The THREE and ONLY Indonesians in School of Communication and Information *the coolest heh!


The @NTU President 07-08 and 06-07
@NTU ROCKS!


MCP... we love you, we do!


Thanks Mom and Dad! Love you more than everything else...

and my sweet lil sis too. Too bad my big bro wasn't there

ps: I declare bankrupt over my 20K bank loan

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Posted by Ddee at 11:35 PM

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

back back back

Ow...I forgot to say...

I AM BACK in Singapore!!

It's not as hot as Ukraine now. It was around 26-28 degree in Singapore when it was 55 degree in Dnepropetrovsk. Imagine that!

On my first day here, it was really strange for me to see so many Asians on the street ^^' and I almost forgot how to order my food. It took me some time to process their questions. Another thing, I ate noodles for 3 consecutive days haha *I just miss them

Comments that I received so far *well, I haven't met that many people yet
- You're seriously tanned -___-' like Spore girls
- Ow...I notice the difference now. You don't use Singlish, no more accent *wahaha...
- Nice hair style *yeah... as of now, NOT a month ago, I think :)
- ....
h...as of now, NOT a month ago. I think

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Posted by Ddee at 5:12 PM

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graduation

My parents are in town *muahahaha

and I am finally... GRADUATING ^.*
(the last one in the family...haha)

After 4 years of sweat and tears, I proudly declare...

I'm so happy to get my Bachelor of Communication Studies (Honours). Who cares if you had a Master or PhD... I had mine now.

Anyway, Hong Kong and Macau are waiting for me, so do Pheebs *yeehaa... see you there.

and still...

O.B.S.E.S.S.I.O.N kills -____-'

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Posted by Ddee at 4:56 PM

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Monday, July 23, 2007

wish you were here

That day when I took the ferry ride from Kabatas, Istanbul to Andalar, the Princess Island...

someone on board sang this song... yes, he did sing the ONE and ONLY English song among the numerous Turkish songs he sang...

and yet, what I heard was only this... 'WISH YOU WERE HERE...'

nothing else.


I googled it, and maybe... just maybe...

this Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here was the one.

I wanted to ask him, but he left before I opened my mouth.

Yeah... how this line could change my whole mood... and I seriously wish

WISH YOU WERE HERE :)

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Posted by Ddee at 6:12 AM

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here i am...

Heylooo Singapore!!

I am back...and to be honest, I am sorry that I don't miss you that much.

Whoopzz... the funny thing is that I find it a lil weird when I see so many Asians *oh no..

ow...and on Saturday, I almost forgot how to order food *wahahaha

Still, I don't like Singlish, but anyway.... welcome back to Singapore!

See you all very very soon heh :)
and really really Sorry if you got sick of hearing me whining now and then

ps: It's 6am now and I can't sleep at all. Geez.... pochemu??

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Posted by Ddee at 6:01 AM

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Sunday, July 22, 2007

On a day like that day....

It was a LONG day indeed. But I love it to the max!
We planned to go parachuting on Friday (I had to go to Kiev on Sunday and on Saturday we had a Welcome and Farewell party). I started my day rushing to the Internet cafe to check my email on my Istanbul's accommodation. Foolishly, I forgot to bring my purse and so I had to run back and get it. Left with only 30 mins max to go online, I found that I had no accommodation in Instanbul, YET! Aihh...who cares, I can do this later on.
So, I met Vova, Dasha and Nastya at European Square. Dasha and Nastya then went to pay for their YouCan conference fee, while Vova and I headed to the Aerodom, the old airport where we can do parachuting. Yippee!!!
After a 20 mins marshrutka ride and almost 1 hour walk, we finally arrived at the airfield. We had to wait for the lady to register ourselves. I might need to do a training too. Fear started to creep in. What if I changed my mind? What if I couldn't open my parachute? What if...

This is Vova's plane *hahaha

Ha! that's mine...

So, while waiting for her, we took a small tour around the airfield. There were rows of planes and parapets (is this how you call the small plane being 'tied' to the big one?). At 2pm, we were sitting under the sun. Mind the sun burn!

I surrender!!
No more sun burn please

Too bad....
I couldn't go for it. The government just changed the rules a month ago. We have to transfer the fee via bank, take a training course, no T-shirt and many more...
Ah... too bad then. Maybe next time I'll have a better chance of doing some crazier things in my life.

Luckily...I took a picture of myself 'flying' *haha
I'm flying without wings...
I'm flying without parachute...


So, bye bye Plan A.
Plan B, according to Vova, was to go for horse-riding. Nick would join us in an hour's time. MacDy was our resting place while waiting for him to appear.
So, at 5pm, we took another marshrutka and went to the ranch. Somewhere near the ranch, we alighted. However, funnily.... we're just not meant to go for any activities. We couldn't find the ranch at all, not to mention to hear any horse's shrieking.
Biez probliem...we just pretended that we're on a horse :)

Hieekkk.....no horse? Who said so?

And on our way back to the city, as part of our custom, we took many silly pics. I really like taking random pics with you guys *haha helps to make my day

Hey Vova, don't teach me bad stuffs... *peace


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.................. -____-'
The fishes will die if I fell down haha


We're getting crazier and that's unstoppable

I swang my magic wand and here you go..:
Small small tiny Vova *hahaha...

Shto??? Argh....

The day has yet to end. We had an appointment with Sveta and Losha at 7pm at Europe Shopping Centre. I was hungry... and well, I tried Shaurma for the first and LAST time *for the time being

My first and last Shaurma *as of now* with Sveta and Alex. Yummy but unhealthy *as I was told. Thanks for the company :)

Give me back my sunshine!!
We chatted and fooled around at the embankment, one of my favourite places in Dnepro. The sunset was really gorgeous. It was rather chilly on that evening, so at almost 8.30pm we decided to head back to the centre and met some more @ers there. We had to go to the train station to pick up the @ers from Donetsk.
Anna and Gul stayed at my place. Hihihi..by right, I am not supposed to let anyone stayover. But who cares? I am moving out anyway!
Yah.... long day... but I love it.

I zzz-ed at 3am and woke up at 7am. Get ready for a short city tour with Dianka, babes!

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Posted by Ddee at 5:33 AM

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Friday, July 20, 2007

crazy lil me

MISSIN YOU ALL HEAPS!!

I'm missing my family in Ukraine but I also miss my family in Spore and Indonesia.
I'm missing Ukrainian dishes but I also miss noodles and chili in Spore and Indonesia.

I'm getting crazy

Arghhh....


I'm reaching Spore soon... (it's 3.25pm, not 10am).

ps: Do I gain weight here?

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Posted by Ddee at 4:40 PM

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Thursday, July 19, 2007

One of the best...ever

A LONG due post, am so sorry....

but the content is always VALID.


Thanks for the surprise Bdae party! It was one of the best Bdae ever in my life ^.^

I arrived in Dnepropetrovsk at around 1.30pm after spending 2 week at ‘Starry’ camp site. I reached my flat at 2.15pm as we had to reload and store the stuffs we brought to the camp. I needed desperately to wash my laundry and had a great relaxing shower (finally..phew! The water at the camp site contains iron, and it makes your hair frizzy. And it smells).

Kate and Ira arrived at 3.10pm. They told me that we’re going to an @ girl’s party. But I wanted to have my hair cut before hand. So, after showing them pictures from the camp, we left to the hair dresser, but Ira has to go back to take a cassette.

There I was…looking at my new short hair on the mirror. I didn’t know if I like it…short short short..and makes me look chubby and boyish *I think -___-‘*. Anyway, it will grow *muahaha*. But I am imagining myself in such a short hair for my convocation…Ugh!

After I had my hair cut, we met Ira and then took a marshrutka to the party place near my flat. We met Losha and Yulia at the entrance. Then we saw Vova walking towards us. Waved frantically *hahaha*. Greetings on the cheek to all and then I received a bouquet of flowers from Vova. Still, I had no idea what was about to happen as we went down the staircase to enter the shop. As I stepped in, I was greeted by a ‘Happy Birthday’ song by all of them. Bozhe bozhe…Surprise! I didn’t expect it at all.

I was speechless coz it was just too beautiful. At a small cosy cake shop, there were only 12 of us celebrating my Bdae. They gave me a secret friend to accompany my travelling trip, a soft pillow. A cute Giraffe. Toasts were exchanged as well as words and testimonials from all of them. From cute, intelligent, energetic, cheerful, funny, smile-ful to charismatic. I couldn’t ask for more… it was really sweet and beautiful for me. They later asked me to give a short speech and I didn’t know what to say. A very unorganized speech I suppose *hohoho. So, we had another round of Happy Bdae song, make a wish and then we played ‘Gagu’ *wahahaha…so fun.

But, that was only the first round.

It was raining outside so we couldn’t go anywhere and had to wait for some time. They started walking in and out the store, and I thought they were checking the rain or how to go to our second destination. Yet, I was wrong. They were preparing something.

I had to stand in the centre while they sang Happy Bdae. I was abit freaked out coz I was some more crazy surprise *as always*. Then, Kate told me that Vova would give the second surprise, and they were joking about getting Vova as my present *hahaha….a night with Vova ^.* hahaha. Apparently, he prepared a card with our pictures and messages from all of them at the back of the card. Owh…I love it much!

Then we headed to the city centre and met a few more @ers there. It was a real honour to have them celebrating my Bdae. The gathering was then followed by a dinner at an Italian restaurant at MOST. We ordered pizzas and I finally had the chance to use chopsticks again *for FUN ONLY lar.

Ow…and here is the custom for the Bdae girl -__-‘:


23 times….


It was one of the best Bdae ever. I was grateful, and I still am. Thanks much for all the surprises; I really didn’t expect it to be like that at all.

Thanks Kate, Ira, ‘dancing’ Vova, ‘curly’ Vova, Losha, Inna, Sasha, Julia, Nikolay, Richard, Nikundj, Dasha, Yulia, Artem, Lesha and Denise. Bolshoye spasibo, muchas gracias, terima kasih banyak, thanks a lot!

Love you guys….MUCHIE! You made it even more difficult to leave.

Geez…my mellow mood is on.

I am gonna MISS you guys like crazy.

Err…nope, I already am *sigh*.

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Posted by Ddee at 4:13 PM

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

My Lviv Trip

Pictures from my trip to Lviv.

Attended Ivana Kupala celebration (old tradition), city tours with @Dnepro, cool time with friends from other countries too, and silly crazee games on the 20-hr train.
























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Posted by Ddee at 4:52 AM

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