a Sudden Blog Comeback!

Oh, hello... it's already 2020 and I haven't published any blog post since the last one on 2016. It's not that I meant to abandon this blog, but during the past years I was not into writing long ass paragraphs in order to update my life events. I prefer to use my social media accounts (Instagram and Twitter) 'cause I don't need to type much.

But anyway, I'm in the mood for a long ass paragraphs now since the pandemic happened and I must stay at home to flatten the curve. A lot of things happened in my life during my blog hiatus. I travelled a lot. I went to concerts (as always). I gained weight, still single and don't give a damn about it.

Life has been treating me kinda good. I won some competitions. I went to countries I never been to. I even managed to give myself an unforgettable birthday present last year. But what is life without a series of an unfortunate events? I failed to get BTS ticket. Not to mention my trip to Himalaya got suspended. Also, still stuck in the same office. Those were only some parts of my life events in the past years that I didn’t share here.

Uhm, I got myself a brand-new laptop. The first time since my master’s degree. Mine was overheated and just like that, it died. Actually, I bought this for personal entertainment purpose only. Like, when I need to stream BTS live or watching Korean dramas, and to keep my photos. But then I never thought that I would use this for work from home purpose. I was like, “I’m visionary…”

This pandemic has changed my daily routine and for a Taurean, it’s not good. AT ALL. Changes are not Taurean’s best friend. Not even close. I had to change my daily routine and to be honest, I was kinda bamboozled during the first week. Don’t get me wrong but I’m not the kinda person who brought works home, and now my bedroom is the new office. As much as I love to lie down (another Taurus’ trait), I found it hard to position myself as a remote worker. It’s really challenging I must say.

Our government decided to extend the physical distancing or local quarantine longer than the previous schedule. People who reside in the red zone are forbidden to leave the area which means I won’t be home this Eid al Fitr. I just cancelled my flight and apparently the refund process will take longer time for about 30 working days due to the high amount of request. Mom also rescheduled her Euro trip. Well, everybody is affected and being safe is the most important thing right now.

I do hope that this catastrophe will be gone really soon as I can’t wait to travel again. I will never get tired of reminding people how important it is to stay at home to flatten the curve. Meanwhile, I’m gonna do my job from home and keep myself entertained.

Stay safe and vigilant, People!

My November Concert Parade: ONE OK ROCK Who Are You?? Who Are We?? Tour 2013

My 2nd concert in November. I already posted the news and the ticket before, so this time I'm gonna share my experience on the concert day. Yeay!

To be honest, I don't know where to start since I had one of the most memorable moments in my life that day. I think I should start with me after office hours rushed to the venue by taxi. The traffic was awful! I promised my friend to be there on time but it didn't work that way. I finally reached the venue at 5-ish PM. After I exchanged my e-ticket at the ticket box, my friend's mom took me into the venue. I heard a song or two were played from the stage inside, I was like, "soundcheck time?" and what I thought was right...

ONE OK ROCK were there on stage, it was really.........soundcheck. I tried to behave normally but it only lasted for 2 mins. I started to jump and stuff and almost forgot that I was not allowed to do that during soundcheck (sorry not sorry, I couldn't resist). My friend also cheered crazily on her wheelchair. We were that crazy hahaha. 

It was the moment when Om Ricky approached the two of us and asked, "do you wanna go there?" and by there he meant in front of the stage. We were waiting in a booth, about 20 metres from the stage but it's located inside the stage area. I was like, "seriously, Om? are we allowed? Is it OK?" cause I didn't believe him. Then, he said, "why not? it's OK. You guys are with me."

So I pushed my friend's wheelchair and we ran to the stage. You see the thin white line on the pic above? I stopped there. I didn't wanna cross the limit cause being that close to the stage and watched them played on soundcheck was more than just OK to me. It turned out that Om Ricky was the promoter. He was the one who brought Metallica here recently. WOW. Thanks to him, he was not only brought ONE OK ROCK here but also brought me in front of them. :)

The members were all checking stuff on stage. Until........ Taka turned his back and recognised us. I can tell that he was surprised. He said, "how do you feel today?" and I cried, "more than OK! Amazing!" then he replied, "good..." and smiled.

Well, I was more surprised because he suddenly jumped off the stage and came to us. HE REALLY DID. My friend Ilma whom I met on Loka's concert was the reason why he jumped off the stage :') 

Taka was so..........hmmm, can't say he's short (but he really was), uhm let's say cute? hahaha. and he was sweet indeed. 

He said, "thanks for coming," and before he continued, I said, "no, we THANK YOU for finally having your 1st ever concert here. I hope this won't be the last." Taka smiled and said, "no, it won't be."

Taka: so do you like us?

Me: yes, my friend here, she's a big fan of Toru. And me, well, consider me as your fan. :)

Taka: thank you. :) 

I was trying so hard to resist myself in front of him. I really wanted to take a picture with him. I mean, Man... I was THIS close. But then I looked at his face. He looked tired. So I pulled myself back. We chatted for about 10 mins or so then he went back to the stage. Meanwhile, we tried to manage our estrogens as we ran back to the booth.

We waited again, and while we were inhaling-exhaling... another surprising moment happened. This time, the guitarist, Toru called us to come to him. I grasped my friend's wheelchair and ran into Toru's arms (kidding!). Last time I checked, I liked Alex Ramon (OOR's ex-guitarist) and not so into Toru. That day changed me. I started to like Toru more. He was sooo nice. I mean, really nice. It turned out that Taka went back to tell the other members to sign a paper for Ilma. Toru brought it and gave it to her. How thoughtful, Toru-kun. :')

Ilma who lost her words, couldn't say anything but "I like you." I told Toru that she's a big fan of him and she's very very nervous. I was glad that Toru could understand English. I think other Japs bands must do this too. It's hard to communicate with fans who don't speak fluent Nihongo. Thank God, ONE OK ROCK speak English a little. I also said the same thing to Toru, that they must come back again some other time. He nodded. 

I didn't know why but I asked him this: CAN I HUG YOU?... surprisingly he said, "sure." then we hugged, People. IT HAPPENED. Ah. Toru. O! We took some pics later. 

Last week, somebody told me that there's an odd version of my pic with Toru. Speaking of odd, that somebody (I believe it's a girl) edited the pic and changed my face. HA HA HA. No matter how desperate I am, even when it comes to Martin Kelly or Hyde, I never did such thing. Whoever you are, just stop stealing my pic from Instagram :)

The gate opened at 6:00PM. A few minutes before that, I set myself on a mini stage where the videoman stayed. It was prepared for Ilma. Thank you Mas Reza, Om Ricky and Nada Promotama for being so thoughtful.

That was the view from where I stood, about 10ish metres away from the stage. Oh, I forgot. The setlist was exactly the same like the ones in Bangkok and Singapore. There was no All Mine and Et Cetera, sobs sobs. Et Cetera was the song which made me like ONE OK ROCK. Probably Alex's factor. Hahaha. Alex, genki? Miss you, Boy!

As you can see, it's like Jinsei x Boku album playlist hahaha. The way they put Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer before The Beginning, well... I kinda liked it. I was full of excitement since the very beginning (how could I not??? *hugging Toru again*) til the end of the show. I should highlight these songs: Ending Story??, Deeper Deeper, C.h.a.o.s.m.y.t.h., Clock Strikes, Be The Light, Liar (I screamed from the top of my lungs! Deep song!), Answer is Near, Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer and The Beginning (again, SCREAMED!)

 Why did I put some highlight on certain songs?
This is why.
This happened when they played Answer is Near. Fans must know about the famous oooh~ in the beginning and in the middle of the song, right?
Or some have watched it on the DVD. Well, I must tell you that the live version of it was TOTALLY INSANE!

 Taka jumped off the stage and led us with that famous line of oooh~

Man, that was intense!

I lost words to describe how crazy that moment was. Seriously, the crowd and the band were in a deep bond, you could see that strong chemical reaction was seen in this pic.

HANDS UP!

The only break they took was maybe just for drinking and stuff. Their showmanship was undoubtedly exceptional. The audience were more than just fans as what Taka said to us.

What I love from Japs musicians is, whenever they had concerts here... they always prepared some Indonesian convo on stage. Yes, ONE OK ROCK spoke in Bahasa Indonesia. I enjoyed every single pronunciation. They were cute, especially when Ryota told us about his fave Indonesian food. Ah, you guys were too adorable!

ONE OK ROCK's management and the band themselves set some strict rules in every concert. The list were too long, you guys better read it on their official page (I'm that lazy). BUT... the rules were totally worthed every single song. No this, no that, at first I was "WTH?" but then after the 4th song, I knew why and I was like, "aaah... saikyou!"

Before the encore, Taka came up with the Indonesian flag. Now that gave me instant goosebumps. As they promised to come back again in the future, I will keep them in mind and heart as one of the best memories in my life.

ARIGATOU... :')

So Long, 2013.

It's been too long. 2014 already. Time flies. I had too many splendid memories in 2013. I left home, moved to a whole new place, broke up with the boy who's been with me for almost 6 yrs, Martin Ronald Kelly, met a lot of strangers; some of them became my close friends, months of concerts, and ended with another heartbreak.

I'm glad I survived 2013. Now I have 2014 to deal with. The NYE was the worst. The first week was the worst. The second week was awesome. I guess I know what this year would be. Another roller coaster I must ride. I wish I could bear a lot better this time. Amen.

Well, bring on, 2014!

My November Concert Parade: Ash at 280 Fest

So, Ash was my 1st November Concert. I found out the news on their official Twitter that they would be performing in a fest called 280 Fest.

Ash's first MV I watched was Candy. I remember MTV aired it when I was chillin' at home. I liked the MV and the song also. So, Free All Angels was my first Ash's album. The album was a hit. Like seriously the whole songs........ coolness! I didn't attend their 2001's concert in Jakarta. In fact, the only concert I attended was L'Arc~en~Ciel (last year) since I lived in Jogjakarta. Then I began to find out about their previous albums and singles. I was into them that easy, no surprise, this Irish teenage punk slash pop band really pulled me in.

When I arrived at the venue (Lapangan D Senayan Jakarta), I was quite shocked. First and foremost, there were no such thing like banners, flags, or any promotion related to the fest. Plus, the taxi driver admitted that he had no clue about where Lapangan D Senayan was (like seriously?). Pretty frustrating.

The second shocking thing was the audience. Man, for a fest and for a band like Ash, too too too few people there. I was worried and kept mumbling together with my friend about the band members' feelings when they finally saw them from the stage. I was thinking about their feelings a lot. Frankly, I was sad for a few moments.

But Ash were professional (of course they were). I thought they knew about the amount of people there but they performed like thousands people were watching them. Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton, and Rick McMurray were stunning. They aged like rock stars. Wait, they ARE rock stars! X)

Tim with his favorite guitar amazed me as I didn't realise that he was no longer young as he was before. His voice didn't change much, Tim got his mojo :)
Mark also enjoyed the stage. Too much. He did some moves up there. He did make me a teenager again hahaha. Rick at the back didn't lose the beat. They didn't age! :D

A day before their show, there was this setlist I found on Twitter. Actually there were 2. One of them was signed by the whole members. Idk, some kinda souvenir?

And yes, the setlist was right. Ash opened the show with Meltdown (Meltdown, 2004). Then, a single which also a movie soundtrack from a movie with the same title, A Life Less Ordinary played. 

The next song made us audience cheered and shouted. Yes, it's Girl From Mars (1977, 1996), one of Ash's best songs. Mark was so energetic during this song. They brought the good ol' times on the stage. We sang along with Tim, not to mention the jumps also. We were all young!
Hehe.

Ash played 6 songs from 1977; Girl From Mars, Oh Yeah, Goldfinger, Kung Fu. They played Lose Control and Angel Interceptor for the encore. I must say that the setlist was pretty OK. They knew how to play with our expectation, hahaha. I was disappointed that my fave songs Candy and Carnal Love were not on the list.

sobs, sobs.

This concert was more like reminiscing the good times with Ash. It's kinda a time machine where I could see myself back then, young, so careless and free! Or I may use the Indonesian words "Konser Tembang Kenangan Ash" hahahaha...

I guess most of the audience would agree with me. :)

19 songs in total, 5 albums (if I'm not mistaken): 1977, Free All Angels, Meltdown, Twilight of the Innocents, and A-Z (Singles Collection).

4 songs as encore were pretty interesting. As I thought they'd only play one song only, once the setlist leaked I was like, "4? encore? really?" and yep, 4 songs that night.

I already knew that Burn Baby Burn (Free All Angels, 2001) would be the last encore so I wasn't surprised. Too bad I found the setlist earlier :(

I must highlight these songs: Walking Barefoot, Shining Light, and Return of White Rabbit. Most importantly, the last song. The longest one and the most attractive performance. I LOVE IT!

See the picture on the left, this was Return of White Rabbit. There was this break in the middle of the song and Tim suddenly appeared so so stunning. I didn't know how or why but it happened just like that.

We did sing along with him as he led us by giving hands gestures.

Pleasure was all mine, Tim.

Despite the number of audience that night, I was satisfied with Ash. Happy that I could see them live (like finally! it's better late than never, right?) The sound system was good, esp. when Return of White Rabbit played, (hehehe, Idk after that night, I began to like it more. Mark made it even cooler! bass! bass!) I cheered so loud at Mark. It was worth more than the price I paid. Thank you, Tim, Mark, and Rick. Hope I'd see you again! Rock on, Ash!

My November Recap

Hello, everyone!

It's been a while since my last post. Well, I've been busy lately. Too many things to do in a very tight schedule. And finally I'm here again cause I've got truckloads of stuff to share. Mostly happy stuff :)

Okay, so I'm gonna sum up my November, uhm, okay maybe I'll include a October also. These two months were my ultra busy time during 2013 (I think so). Well, here are the points:

October:

Received some great news about Japs and other musicians' concerts in Jakarta. I also happened to experience the next level of MoFA's enrollment phases. These got me nerves as F!

November:

I may say this is MY MONTH. Well, I was beyond happy on this month. Many good things happened and most of them involved my emo side hahahah. I rode a roller coaster on this month. But I was happy tho' :)

I also knew some cool people, musicians, Japs musicians to be exact (well, don't blame me for my extra interest in that country, I loved it since I was a kid!), I have met a few and some of them I'm gonna meet soon this December. Heheh.

More or less, that was my November recap, but.............................I will share you my highlights. My November Concert Parade! on the next post of course. I'm gonna post them one by one since there were more than just one concert hehehe.

Alright then, see ya at the next post!

x

Anak-anak, Ibu Rindu...

Tiba-tiba saja aku teringat celoteh Yco David,

"Ibu, look! Look, Ibu! I can do this alone. I'm so awesome!"

Anak itu... fisiknya kecil, kulit cokelatnya membedakan ia dengan saudara-saudara yang separuh Belanda, tapi kecerdasannya cukup besar untuk mengalahkan mereka. 

Kakaknya, Aaron, tampan dan fisiknya besar. Jago olahraga dan matematika namun lemah dalam bahasa. Si kecil Jesse, 4 tahun, menganggapku teman mainnya dan selalu memanggilku "Kamu," bukan "Ibu" seperti kedua kakaknya. Ah... iya. Tara. Bagaimana mungkin aku lupa si bayi mungil bermata bulat itu. Entah apa yang membuatnya selalu bergelayut manja saat aku tiba. "Anyiiiiiiih!" sekuat tenaga ia memanggil namaku dan berlari... hap! Aku menangkapmu, Tara! :)

Keluarga David menjadi bagian dari hari-hariku sejak 2 tahun lalu. Aku adalah guru home schooling bagi putra putri Meneer Raymond dan Ibu Endang. 4 anak sekaligus. Kekacauan kerap kali terjadi di rumah besar bernuansa eklektik itu. Aaron ingin didahulukan. Yco tak mau dinomorduakan. Jesse capek ketika membuka buku PR. Dan Tara... Tara ingin ikut semua pelajaran yang kakak-kakaknya ikuti. Chaos. :)

Keadaan 180° di rumah keluarga Revuelta. Lily Dhevi Revuelta, si cantik muridku yang lain. Putri kesayangan Monsieur Hugues Revuelta dan Ibu Sita. Lily tak punya saudara perempuan. Setiap aku datang, ia senang sekali. Selalu ingin cepat menyelesaikan pelajaran karena hendak menghabiskan waktu yang tersisa dengan menonton DVD bersamaku.

"I wish you could stay longer every time you come here..." ujarnya setengah memohon.

Anak-anak. Makhluk-makhluk kecil itu telah menjadi ciptaan Tuhan favoritku selama bertahun-tahun.

Perjalananku memberikan bantuan ke desa-desa pasca gempa Yogyakarta beberapa tahun yang lalu tak akan kulupakan begitu saja. Itulah awal dimana aku menemukan passionku, alter-egoku. Aku, seorang guru.

Masih kuingat betapa sulitnya menahan cucuran air mata saat pertama bertemu anak-anak yang mencari buku-buku pelajaran mereka diantara reruntuhan tembok rumah. Hal yang dapat membahayakan jiwa mereka.

"Belum ngerjakan PR, nanti Bu Guru marah."

"Kertas ulangan saya yang dapat nilai 10 ada di dalam rumah!"

"Buku tulis saya masih baru... itu hadiah dari Bapak."

Sungguh, besar sekali keinginan mereka untuk kembali bersekolah. Mengabaikan keselamatan demi mendapatkan kembali 'harta' mereka. Saat itu juga aku kembali ke mobil. Aku masuk, mengunci pintu dan menangis. Aku tak ingin terlihat sedih di depan mereka yang jagoan itu. "Tenang, Rani, tenang... pikirkan bagaimana cara membantu mereka..."

Kuseka air mataku kemudian berlari menghampiri mereka.

"Kalian mau belajar lagi?" tanyaku kepada salah satu dari mereka

"Ya mau, Mbak. Tapi kan sekolah ambruk."

"Tapi kalian mau kan belajar lagi? Dua hari lagi Mbak datang ya, kita belajar!" ucapku ke mereka.

"Belajar di kemah (tenda) ya gak apa-apa kok Mbak! Tapi gak punya pensil..."

"Nanti Mbak bawakan. Buku tulis, pensil, penghapus, penggaris, apa lagi?"

"Jajan, Mbaaak!" celoteh mereka serempak.

Sinau. Sejak saat itu Sinau menjadi sekolah berjalan mereka. Aku dan kedua teman yang kuajak bersama-sama mengajar anak-anak bersemangat itu. Satu dusun, dua dusun, tiga, begitu seterusnya. Hingga saat aku mengambil Kuliah Kerja Nyata, aku pun memilih seksi pendidikan dasar. Seperti cawan kosong, aku merasa penuh setelahnya. Aku menyukai hal ini. Anak-anak, mengajar, ini menyenangkan!

Aku masih merasa, mengajar, menjadi seorang guru adalah alter-egoku yang terbaik. Selepas memperoleh gelar Sarjana Sastra, aku menjadi guru di sebuah sekolah berkurikulum internasional di luar kota Yogyakarta. Petualangan baru yang tak kalah menyenangkan.

Wajahku yang tergolong antagonis menurut orang kebanyakan, ternyata tidak demikian dengan anak-anak di kelas Austria. Mereka dengan cepat akrab denganku. Aku sendiri heran. Kok bisa ya? :D

Aku rindu anak-anakku...

Aku rindu suara tawa dan tangis mereka.

Aku rindu tangan-tangan kecil yang berusaha menggapaiku hanya untuk sekedar meminta pelukan.

Aku rindu mulut mungil mereka memanggilku, "Ibu..." sebuah panggilan yang mulia.

Aku rindu perasaan dibuat kesal dan geram karena mereka merajuk.

Anak-anak, Ibu rindu...

:'(