Jinx? What Jinx?

Good morning, Mother Earth!

Still buzzing about last night winning against manyoo... woohoo~

I went to the Rolling Stone Cafe which some BIGREDS members believed that it's got some jinx because every time they held LFC live match, the result would be either lose or draw... pokoknya menurut para Sesepuh, aura tempat itu kurang bagus buat pertandingan LFC.

Anfield, September 1st, 2013.

Commemorating Bill Shankly's legacy and his 100th birthday, also, Daniel Sturridge's birthday. Anfield was beyond awesome. The supporters were making Bill's famous hand gestures mosaic. I got goosebumps when they did it during the YNWA song. Bill must be so happy up there. I know you were, Bill. :')

It was the Skipper's corner kick. Daniel Agger got up to head the corner kick toward goal and the other Daniel, Sturridge, reacted quickest to Agger's headed flick off a corner kick in the 4th minute (whaaa...t? yes, exactly. 4th minute!). Provided the final touch with a glancing header from inside... my heart skipped a beat for a few seconds. Selewat, gol semata wayang LFC itu seperti diciptakan oleh Agger, tapi setelah dilihat lagi melalui slowmo... it was Sturridge who sealed it ke gawang Sun Go Kong. Eat that donut, De Gea! I mean, ball.

Saya nggak akan menganalisa pertandingan sedetil seorang pandit sepakbola since I am not one. I would rather stick to my sotoy opinions and keep doing so :)

Daniel Sturridge is a natural goalscorer as Rodgers said after the match. He's got all the talent in the world and not to mention, he's still young. Di chelski, Daniel kurang banyak diturunkan dalam pertandingan. Di LFC, Rodgers memberikan kepercayaan penuh padanya (bukan selama absennya Suarez saja) to show what he's got on the pitch. Kepercayaan itu dibayar Sturridge dengan performa yang selama ini bisa kita lihat. Saya pikir dulu Sturridge itu tengilnya minta ampun, like "will he fit us here in LFC?" or "bisa cepet mingle sama team nggak nih bocah?" But then again, semua kekhawatiran saya ternyata terbukti salah pake banget. I don't know about you but I think it's the Liverpool Way kayaknya yang bikin Sturridge jadi versi baru begini. Selain itu, Daniel juga mengakui bahwa fans, pendukung, apalah sebutannya itu, adalah salah satu alasan 'payback' dia ke klub. Dia bermain bukan hanya untuk dirinya sendiri dan klub, akan tetapi untuk para pemain ke-12 yang tanpa lelah mengumandangkan chants, meneriakkan namanya di setiap pertandingan. Daniel Sturridge sadar Liverpool FC itu bukan sekedar klub. Liverpool FC itu keluarga. Keluarga yang besar, besaaar sekali. :')

Begitu tandukan Sturridge merangsek ke jaring Sun Go Kong, sontak Ia berlari dengan ekspresi muka khasnya yang supeeeeeeeer tengil! Di belakangnya ada Skrtel yang berusaha mengejar dan memeluk but Sturridge ran and raaan to the bench. He stopped for a while to give a little glance to the supporters then the whole lads (except Mignolet, of course) hugged him like mad!

 

Oh, those happy faces... I would love to repeat that moment over and over again. What made my eyes bergelas-gelas-kaca-katakan-padaku-siapa-diriku was the moment when Sturridge approached Rodgers and hugged him. Oh, Danny Boy... :')

 

Seriously though, siapa yang nggak moved lihat scene seperti ini? Setelah foto Daniel berpelukan sama Coutinho minggu lalu, sepertinya ini another best photo deh... chemistrynya kuat banget. Rodgers is a very influential man, indeed... :')

 

HACEP!

Rolling Stone Cafe pecah seketika kalo anak gaul sekarang bilang. Jama'ah Liverpooliyah yang nonton sambil duduk bersila langsung berdiri sorak-sorak bergembira. Screamed! Shouted! Screamed! Shouted! HUGS! Yeah, Man... we're THAT happy. Buat saya, kami pendukung LFC, match ini bukan sekedar match biasa. Ya entah ini sudah menjadi tradisi yang diturunkan oleh Tetua kami sebelumnya atau memang otomatis mendarah daging di hari pertama kami ditahbiskan menjadi Merah... this match was THAT significant.

Prestige, dignity, pride, reputation, honor, you name it... semuanya seolah dipertaruhkan di match ini. I myself couldn't stop crossing my fingers during the 90+ mins. That was intense. I really mean THAT intense since it's in Anfield, our shrine, our home. We lost both games against manyoo last season so this home winning was a good start. I do hope we could keep the positive trend til the end of this season. Nggak muluk-muluk sih harapannya, semoga winning formula semakin solid dan sedikit sentuhan keberuntungan menyertai LFC. Amen to that.

The whole team work was paid. Iya sih 'cuma' 1-0. Tapi 1-0 semalam merupakan kado terbaik yang bisa diberikan LFC kepada Bill Shankly, dan yang ngasih kado si Birthday Boy pula. What a pleasant feeling! I think the 2nd half itu babak yang menguras emosi, energi, dan kinerja jantung sekaligus. Lost count of how many times I shouted, "OH MY GOD!" or "NOOO!" and "MIGNOLET!!!" Yep, our Belgian Goalie. He was stunning. Sempat dibuat ketar ketir dengan aksi a la Pepe Reinanya, tapi Mignolet melakukan beberapa penyelamatan yang sekaligus menyelamatkan jantung saya... TIMING DIA SELALU TEPAT! OK, saya memang berniat beli jersey goalkeeper untuk yang pertama kalinya. Awalnya sih simpel aja karena warnanya ungu, warna favorit saya. Dan sekarang saya punya alasan lain untuk membelinya sekaligus menambahkan nameset Mignolet plus angka 22 di punggung. Hehehe.

At first, I believe most of us didn't trust Rodgers that much. You know... sukses di Swansea belum tentu sukses juga di LFC. But Rome wasn't built in a day. Last season we only finished at 7th and decided to choose fans over the Europa League (which made me love LFC even more). I was one of those. Bitching and nagging about Rodgers' tactical plans, yada yada blah blah blah. Emang orang kayak kita-kita ini bisanya apa lagi sih selain concern sama keadaan klub? Ya okay maybe we could do something more, much more than that, tapi dalam skala dan kapasitasnya, nggak semua dari kita capable untuk itu kan? So, the closest one was to worry about the club. Y'all should check what Rodgers said after the match. :)

Oh well, let's leave it all behind and support Rodgers instead. Away match di Old Trafford kalo mau nonton bareng lagi di Rolling Stone Cafe, I don't mind. Jinx? What jinx? :)

YNWA.

Late LFC Tour Journal Day 3 (part 2): No Rain, Let's Train!

After I rode the roller coaster of emotion, I got back to the business. Task: tickets distribution. At the same day, LFC's open training was about to begin. Unfortunately, we ran out of tour scarfs that were complimentary given to BIGREDS members :( apologies all the way. Some people got angry because of this so we did the best we could to calm them down.

Task done. Off to the stadium. I was with Hanifa again. Honestly, I haven't seen other players or the whole team squad to be exact. Sad, of course, but hey... I just met the Man of my dream. Bittersweet. Besides, having LFC in Jakarta alone is already a blessing.

So we walked to GBK. We met Paul Cumming, accidentally. If you don't have any idea about him then what a pity. He's a great man. I'll let you find out about him here or go to his Twitter account @papuansoccer. When I saw him walked with some people (which I believed they're from Detiksport), I immediately noticed him. Paul was wearing LFC 2008 home kit (possibly yes) and a hat. His hair was almost gray. When I approached him, he was a bit surprised because I was a little too excited :D

"OH MY GOD, IT'S PAUL CUMMING!"

half-screamed I shook his hand, and said,

"Oh my God, you made it here. I adore you so much!"

trust me, my friend, I tried so hard not to cry at that moment.

Paul gave me his warmest smile and answered me in Indonesian,

"Thank you...yes, still alive and able to watch Liverpool."

right now, I'm feeling this spine-tingling and almost drop a tear. 

"please stay healthy, Paul."

I said my wish to him as I looked into his eyes.

"Thank you..."

he smiled and we shook hands as we split up.

"see you tomorrow, Paul."

I'm glad I met Paul Cumming. I followed his series of unfortunate events and couldn't believe that this Old Man finally made it. His wildest dream to watch LFC on the pitch came true on July 20th 2013 in Jakarta, Indonesia, the country where he experienced so many poignant occurrence. Oh, Paul... I wish you well. 

When I got into GBK and sit, I realised that I forgot to take a pic with Paul. Damn. I didn't make it with Stevie G. it's kinda ok but with Paul? Hmmm, ok maybe tomorrow I could do that.

And so we watched the Red Men trained. All of us BIGREDS members sang YNWA passionately. It was only a training session but still, YNWA never failed in making me goosebumps. I wonder what would it like on matchday. :o

Late LFC Tour Journal. Day 3 (part 1): an Emotional Roller Coaster

Boss finally granted my wish to dismiss office today. Couldn't be happier than that. So, first thing to do that morning was... texting my senior, Nana to go to Mulia together. We planned to give cookies to Gerrard, Lucas, and me, of course, to Martin Kelly. She made the cookies a day before. It was my idea to give such presents to the players. I mean, normally they got pre-season diet, yes. But a bite or two wouldn't be a problem. Heheh.

So... we got a cab, off to Mulia at 10-ish am. When we arrived, there were groups of people waiting for the whole players. It's like watching a band, there was this fence about a meter or so that the hotel put there to make us moved back. NOT GOOD. LFC closed training were scheduled 2 times a day, 10 am and 6 pm. It's getting crowd as a larger group also waited outside where the bus parked. Suddenly an Official told the hotel security that there wouldn't be any training that morning and the players wouldn't go anywhere too. SOBS.

I went up to a room of Nana's friends, apparently they booked one. Couldn't bear with their stories about coincidences! if you know what I mean, THAT coincidences: accidentally met random LFC players IN THE ELEVATOR and took some pics with them. YES. THAT COINCIDENCES. It's day 3 and I didn't get ANYTHING! Frustrated!

It was until someone checked the timeline when another someone updated a pic of him with MARTIN KELLY. Martin Kelly was downstairs at the reception! with John Flanagan. I didn't know what they did down there but I was MORE THAN JUST FRUSTRATED. I WAS ULTRA FRUSTRATED! So I went down.

Nothing left about Martin Kelly and John Flano existence. Just a bunch of people talked about it. 

MY GOD... 

"where the fuck is Martin Kelly!?"

I met Wafina again, this time she was with her friends, waiting for rooms to book. Phew... 

I told her about the hunting plan. Once she finished the business with the reception, we started to hunt. I came up with the idea to play the elevator. As Wafina's room was on the 29th floor so logically we could stalk the 23rd and 24th floor where the team stayed. Ok, so 24th floor. Door opened, SECURITY. Ok, closed. Then 23rd, we saw Jordon Ibe walked away. Oh kay... last destination: 5th floor, the lounge, the gym, the pool. Door opened. MARTIN SKRTEL, Mother Father!!! Couldn't help but addressed him spontaneously.

"Martin..."

He turned his sight to me.

Just when I took my camera off my bag, these girls ruined everything. They mobbed him like maniacs. I, on the contrary, didn't get anything but a pic of Skrtel's head. Yes, his head. ONLY.

Not only Martin Skrtel, there was Raheem Sterling, whom some people called snob. He's not. He stopped to give autographs and some pics. I never fancy him so... skipped. The last player there was Iago Aspas, the new lad. He was super nice. I got a pic with him, a close-up one. And oh, he's got gorgeous eyes and smile also. FINALLY, a pic on day 3!

Done with Iago, I went to the lobby and had a chit chat with Andhika Suksmana. He told me that the 4 players who'd be at FX for meet and greet... *drum roll* MARTIN KELLY, Jordan Henderson, and the ink brothers, Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel. YES. IT'S HIM. I didn't want to go to FX at first. I knew the crowd would go crazy. Until David texted me, convinced me to go there. Ok, FX, coming through!

As predicted. THE CROWD WAS INSANE. Too many fans there. I hurried, joined Dan and Jason. They told me about the mystery guest, which I knew earlier. Hahaha. I showed them my cookies. Dan took a pic of me holding the box and immediately posted it on Liverpool Echo's Twitter. Jeez... my hair!

I couldn't stop jumping and squeezing Dan's arm. Jason was there to calm me down, and I was like "HOW COULD?" Martin Kelly! it's Martin Kelly! My Man! Don't tell me to calm down because I can't. As we waited anxiously outside (well, Dan and Jase weren't anxious, it's just me), FALSE ALARM, again! The lads were already inside. Probably they took the same way like God last night. Jeez!

Dan, Jase, and I ran inside the mall. Thanks to Jase, I came inside as his working partner. Heehee! When I got there, Skrtel-Agger-Hendo-AND MARTIN KELLY were already sit on the stage. 

MY KNEES WERE NO LONGER BONES, THEY TURNED INTO JELLY. MOMMY, HELP ME! IT'S MARTIN KELLY AND RIGHT NOW I'M STANDING IN FRONT OF HIM. HELP. HELP.

Okay, so here's the situation: I LOST MY MIND. Didn't know what to do, like totally blank. Seriously last time I got this syndrome was when Hyde sang Forbidden Lover on stage. I swear to God I needed my Mom so much. Jase was busy photographing while Dan was recording some videos with his iPad. Nobody's there to catch me if I fainted!

I made it to the front line, so I could make sure that Martin Kelly noticed me. My to-do list: 

1. Look at him, don't lose sight, maintain eye contact.

2. When he notice, tell him "I love you" as many as I could. Don't stop til he react.

3. Give him the cookies

4. Ask him to sign the jersey.

5. Take a pic.

I looked at Martin Kelly. I smiled from ear to ear, I was like looking at my future husband :D When Kelly noticed me, I started to say this nonstop line of

 "I love you, Kelly. I love you. I love you so much!" 

lost count on how many times I said that but his reaction was beyond godlike! HE NODDED, THEN SMILED, AND OUR EYES WERE LOCKED FOR A FEW SECONDS. My Fowler, that was intense!!!

I type this with smile on my face fyi, hahahaha. I think my cheeks are red now. Liverpool red, yes. Okay, where were we? Oh, yeah. That I love you thingy. Actually I jumped to the number 4 first. I took my jersey out of my bag and showed it to him. I said, 

"Kelly, please sign this for me. Please, please." 

The fact that I didn't bring any marker made me borrowed one from someone who's got his turn first. Thanks to you, Man in Glasses! ☺

Typical Indonesian security, annoyed me with his insignificant warning. "No autograph, just photo." Unfortunately, Martin Kelly disagreed. He's angry at the security and told him, 

"no, I want to sign hers. Let me." 

I got the picture showed how angry he was. Most romantic scene ever! :')

I was warned at the 1st day that Martin acted snob. Well, it was all wrong! He was sweet, indeed... :')

Next thing to do, handed him the cookies. At the photo session, I jumped on the stage together with BIGREDS members hahaha. I was probably the only one who didn't wear any LFC related outfit. So I made it to the stage... NEVER BEEN THAT CLOSE TO MARTIN KELLY. MY HEART SKIPPED A BEAT FOR A SEC. I adore this man so much you could tell by the way I look on this picture (I found it on Propaganda-Photo, thanks Jase!), hahaha, I'm a total hopeless romantic!

As you can see, he got the cookies already. That, my friend, was the box. Inside it, my friend, the cookies. :') I made Martin Kelly brought a cookie box with him. HAPPINESS! When I handed him the box, I told him 

"this is for you..." 

he said, 

"thank you" 

in a husky voice then looked at it quickly. MY GOD... could you please look at me instead??? (Well, it's true that he's a shy guy. Ah, my Taurean... ♥) I must thank Dan for recording a short yet priceless video of me gave Martin Kelly cookies, he even uploaded it on Youtube. Thanks, Dan! 

I made it. I made all the to-do list. I'm happy that although my legs were turned into jelly that moment, I could manage myself not to faint. Phewww... You know, I learned a lot from day 3. Don't stop, don't lose hope cause the beginning is always the hardest. I thought I'd never met Martin Kelly but I made it. I made all the to-do list. Thank God!

THIS. IS. PROBABLY. MY. MOST. PRECIOUS. TREASURE.

I LOVE YOU, MARTIN RONALD KELLY. I HOPE YOU STAY IN LIVERPOOL IN A VERY LOOONG LOOONG TIME. YOU MUST. ♥

Late LFC Tour Journal. Day 2: No Martin Kelly, More of The Legendary.

I had a great week. Ever. Like the best week. Wasn't able to blog since I got busy with few things regarding the LFC Tour in Jakarta. So, I'm gonna sum up what I've been doing recently.

Thursday, July 18 2013.

I was working at my office, no focus at all. Like AT ALL. I mean, how could I? I was in the same city with Liverpool FC ffs and I haven't seen them. Not even their bus! Frustrating!

12:00pm.

I left my office to pick Hanifa up at Sarinah. We went to my dorm first to get ready for Supporters Club Night. It was raining a bit and we're getting prepared. As the TJ took us to FX, we're sooo excited. We talked about what should we do to get autographs and photos, it's a fangirling thing. But the fact that we weren't able to come to Mulia and rushed to FX instead, made us even more frustrated. Well, FX was so Liverpool as I could see the Shankly's gate at the main entrance as well as the gigantic LFC team billboard.

3:00pm.
This Supporters Club Night we had was organized by BIGREDS. We invited the members to meet the 3 Legendary Players: Ian Rush, Robbie 'God' Fowler, and Didi Hamann. I personally have met Ian Rush in KL 2 years ago. This was my first time to see God and Didi. I like Didi. :)
The night before, I was at Goedkoop for a final meeting about this event (which never happened actually, I was waiting for more than 2 hrs there when the rest were at Mulia with the LFC team. OH!). So the preparation was not that smooth tbh.

4:30pm
Things gone manic. Members started to fill The Cone. I myself helped Hanifa and Wafina on the merchs booth. People deffo shopped! Well, this LFC Tour was the 1st time ever so I didn't surprise at all. So... while we were waiting for God and his lads, I met David, Jason, and later, Dan. They worked for Liverpool Echo and Propaganda Photo. On the first session, we had Jane Kavanagh from LFC to explain about the Tour and tonight's agenda. She's a bit confused with our wacko MCs. :D

06:00pm
Went down to grab myself a cup of iced peach tea then Jason and David came along so we had a chit chat. We were talking for a few moments then we realised that God and his lads weren't coming through the main entrance. I rang Andre at the Cone just to make sure that they're already upstairs and YES, THEY WERE. I brought my DSLR camera to photograph them when they're coming BUT they didn't appear. So up to the Cone we rushed! I apologized to David, Jason, and Dan. I didn't know, at all. Fortunately, I was forgiven. Thanks, Guys.

07:00pm
the 4 of us ran like crazy to the crowd at The Cone. Luckily we didn't lost the best moments. When we arrived, God led all members to sing YNWA. Oh my Fowler, that was intense. 

I took every picture I as quick as I could. Goosebumps all around. This was just a small gathering but still, it's YNWA they were singing.
The night was almost over as Iyan (@fagan1892) the designer of LFC Batik and The Kopiah were getting ready to present them to God and the lads. I must say that these Legendary Players were TOO CUTE in batik shirts. Like seriously, have you ever seen them put some shirts on plus the kopiah in front of you? NO. And this was the first time. Me likey!

My favorite, I must say, again, was Didi Hamann. Oh my Fowler he's TOO CUTE! I took some pic of him struggled to wear the shirt. Hahaha.

Look at his tummy. Hahaha, Didiii you're just too cute! He's got the same smile just like the old days. Pity I couldn't take a pic with him. :(

8:00pm.
After the whole crowded hours, God and Rush moved to the next room where they had meet and greet session with few listed members. I didn't see Didi around (where was he actually?) I was gonna ask him to take a pic or two but in vain. Didi's gone already.

9:00pm.
The meet and greet session turned out to be a little quicker than the original plan. God and Rush didn't want any photo session with fans, didn't know why. I looked at some people and they were disappointed a little bit. Anyway, it went well as God and Rush were in the good mood.

Jane handed me and friends LFC membership vouchers. WE WERE HAPPY TO RECEIVE THEM. Thanks a bunch, Jane!

and Jane's surprise presents were the end of LFC Tour Day 2. HAPPY. :)