Incidence

I am not a superstitious person. Okay maybe I am but I'm definitely not a hundred percent superstitious. I do believe in traditions, religious or regional or racial. For example I believe in not washing my head during Chinese New Year cause I don't want to wash my luck away. I don't like to walk alone during Maghrib (evening, around 6 PM), and I believe in ghosts and supernatural things, because I've experienced them somehow somewhat.

Okay the thing is, I still believe in some superstitions haha.

Okay something interesting happened to me today. The Chinese believes that there are good days, and bad days for everything. For marriage, setting up your business, opening a shop, funerals, and etc. Every Chinese New Year there is a book for such dates for the rest of the year. And yes I read them and sometimes I take it as a guide. Sometimes it's true, sometimes it's not but well, I'm just taking it as a guide. Besides it's very interesting to know about this.

Today something got stuck in my eyes. I think it's a hair or a fine dust but anyway, I was trying to get it out. I tried folding my eyelid up but it failed. I use eye drops and failed too. So I decided to leave it alone. Just now in the night, I was just flipping that book to see what today brings me. And in the "things to avoid doing" section, it is written: "treating your eyes". I gasped and lots of things went inside my head. But one thing pops out the most: is that how co-incidental it is.

I was already thinking what will happen next. What bad things will happen to me next. Because well it is something I shouldn't be doing today. But well it has happened so I couldn't do anything either. I can't turn back time and not-treat my eyes right. So I sit down and ponder. Well maybe... I don't know. But I'm still very surprised about how co-incidental this whole situation is. And all these made me to where I am now, writing all these thoughts.

There are a lot of life lessons I've learned the past 21 years but one of the most powerful lesson I've learned is that everything happens for a reason. I saw a photo on Tumblr/Facebook once about the recounts (not sure if it's true or not) of some people during the 9/11 incident. How someone missed his bus to work, someone lost her wallet or something like that, and all these made them not-be at the world trade centre on that day. And the post ended that well where you are and what you are doing is happening for a reason, and that you are where you're supposed to be now.

I couldn't agree less to this. I've always believed that the littlest things we do in life happen for a reason. Why we walk on a certain road, not the other. Why we ordered this food and not that food. Why we ate this first, and not that. Why we do this second and not first. All of the small things in life, they all lead up to something that we don't know. And it's pretty scary and wonderful to know this fact at the same time. Isn't it quite cool eh? All these mysteries.

So yes going back to the Chinese calendars. Well after getting all these thoughts I kinda think that why some dates are good dates and bad dates to do certain things, is because we don't really know the answer to what lies ahead. I choose to think of it as this way. If we choose the good dates, there is something behind that date that will make everything smooth. AKA, nothing will crop out during that day. And if we choose a bad date, something will screw up.

And in the end, we choose that day ourselves. It's not like we are pre-destined to choose that day, but we chose it. So yes, I feel that in the end, we are the ones that choose our actions, which will lead up to something else. So perhaps, there's no such things as "superstitions" because at the end of the day we are the ones that choose our actions and do them.

I suppose the good and bad days are there for a reason too. And like what I believe in, I think they are there to guide us along. And as a Buddhist, I believe whatever good and bad things that come between us are the result of the good and bad karma we plant on ourselves. So I'll just keep on doing good deeds in hoping to repay my bad karma of my previous life. And hopefully, not so many not so nice things will come in my way. If you know what I mean.

So yes. Life is wonderful indeed to tell us that everything happened for a reason indeed. Because eventually, all of these superstitions are the result of our actions because we choose to believe in it. And because we choose to believe in it, we let life, fate and destiny decide what will happen next. We don't know the future. No one knows.

Alright I guess that's all for now. It's a pretty quiet Saturday night somehow.

Hooked

Whew it's been a week since I blogged. Kinda feel guilty about it but well I've been busy for the past week... Because I spent the night watching Games of Thrones!! Hahaha. Well so what happened was two weeks ago I went to watch the second episode of GoT season 4 because Sigur Ros played there as a special appearance. So they were a group of musicians for the stupid king jeoffrey in his wedding and he threw coins at them. How dare he :O

I didn't know what was going on because I didn't watch since the first season. I know Vithya watched GoT so I was talking to her about it and she told me I need to watch it from the first season (oh cause I told her I'll just watch from season 4 onwards). But when I heard that each season only has 10 episodes, I decided to give it a go. And boy oh my, I actually got so hooked that I watched 2 episodes on the first night (Sunday night) hahaha.

So yes I kept on watching every night. No I'm done with season 1 so I'm giving it a break.

And another reason is because Vithya and I actually joined an online class! Well it's like an online course about music by Novoed which I believe is (somehow somewhere) associated with Stanford university. It is free, which to me makes it such an amazing and meaningful course to attend, and I really love the lecturer of this course, Ms Tina Seelig because she's really inspirational and her weekly lectures are really interesting! I've been doing assignments too which is fun.

So this week's assignment was a team assignment so Vithya and I had to think of 100 ideas how music can be used to solve a problem. It was pretty exciting and interesting how we managed to come up with 100 ideas when well to be honest I was feeling really skeptical about coming up with so many! But well thanks to the lectures in the previous weeks and also Vithya's interesting ideas and creativity I managed to think quite a lot of ideas so yay kudos to that!

Pretty excited to know the rest of the course. It's pretty interesting! And I truly enjoy it as well because it makes me feel like I'm going back to school again with all these lectures and assignments. Although umm it's only once a week. I wish I can be in Singapore so that Vithya and I can discuss things more easily cause now we communicate with emails and Whatsapp haha. But no worries, it's still manageable thankfully. So yup looking forward to more lessons!

Anyway before I left poly, someone very special to me told me to not stop learning. To join whatever online courses I want to join. And to seek him if I ever need help. I'm living up to his words so thank you for the gentle reminder you told me :)

Alright I will try to blog more okay! GoT is really hooking though. Love the story!

Generation

 Don't stop searching

It's been quite long since I blogged well as usual, didn't have the time to. Besides I was busy for the past couples of night cause of some other stuff. Nevertheless I'm here. Today was a lovely Thursday indeed I suppose. The weather was fine, and for the first time in weeks we don't have heavy rains. Just a lovely drizzle with blue skies above. No rainbow though sadly.

Today my grandmother's sister (that makes her my great-aunt eh) came to my home. Well she was walking to my house actually, under the drizzle oh dear! I approached her and sadly she forgets my name hahaha. Well she knows I'm my dad's son, just that she forgot my name. So I re-introduced myself and turned out she came to visit my aunt who was at that moment not present at home. So she just passed some food for her and me, and she made her way back home.

It was drizzling so I offered her a car ride but she declines and she told me she just wanna walk (her house is near mine by the way). So I took an umbrella and walked with her but she insists of walking alone oh dear! But so did I insist to walk together with her, home. So yup thankfully it stopped drizzling so we were just walking and chatting. Until I ensured that she reached her house safely. And then I just made my way back home by myself.

It truly frightens and shocks me to know she actually walked to my house alone, and that she had to cross a busy street, and she couldn't walk quickly (I think she's 80 now?). I was so worried! I told her to be careful and maybe next time she should ask someone to accompany her. She even told me she went to Bogor by train alone and back and forth. And she even got lost once where she took a local transport here and she didn't know where to stop.

While walking home with her, she was just holding my hand and we chatted away. It really makes me sad because she reminds me so much of my late grandmother. They look like carbon copies seriously haha. And with the worry that I had about her safety and my memories with my grandma. But then again, I realised that the old people of my hometown are really brave. I know a few of my relatives and also other people who make walking long distances around my hometown something so normal and easy. Something, that many people of our generation don't feel so.

So yes which brings me to the topic I wanna talk about today - generation.

I'm very sure we all have went through those situations where our parents/grandparents/older people criticise our generation. That we are weak, incapable, not concerned about things, this and that. It has become some sort of a familiar song to us? Growing up, listening to all these words come out from people who are much much older than us. From people, who come from a generation way before ours. A generation of great differences from where we are now.

I come across a TedX talk about Generation Y by Eunice Hii (you can watch it here) and it is one of my favourite TedX talks. Because she really speaks about how I feel at times. Well we're generation Y. a generation born in the early 80s to late 90s. And our parents are generation X. A generation before us basically. Two very different generations.

On one hand, we generation Ys live and grow up in a current world where things are far more convenient than the times where our parents grew up. Lets do a comparison. Okay I'm going to term X as the years where our parents grew up and Y, the years where we grow up (AKA now).

During X years, technology isn't advanced yet as compared to Y. In X years times were rather tough too because a lot of countries are in hanging in a period of instability (wars, revolutions etc) but in Y years things are pretty much settled down. During X years, since economic stability isn't there yet, having an economically-stable family is paramount. That's why I think, in my opinion, this is the reason why a lot of Asian parents would love their kids to be doctors/lawyers/businessmen - so that they have a stable income who can support.

Where opposed to Y years now, people have learned that maybe going for your passion is more important than making money. This is why a lot of people from X years feel that no one should go to the Arts industry because you won't be able to support yourself. I suppose we live in what I call the days of dreams. Where we chase our dreams, more importantly, than our economical stability. Which is both good and bad I suppose. Nothing is perfect.

And technology truly supports this days of dreams. Let me give you an example. The internet and Natgeo magazines have helped me to form my dream of traveling around the world with all of their beautiful images of this planet. In the past there's no internet, there's no flight from Singapore to Germany, or Indonesia to Australia. Traveling around the world was so tough, so little people wanted to do it! So yes, in a lot of people's minds - traveling is a waste of time.

And with this, people go for a more secured and straight-forward jobs and they make economical stability their priority. 

I am feeling pretty thankful about where I am today. The world I'm living in today (although yes it's still pretty much a terrifying world). I've heard stories of my parents about how tough life was back then. No technology, there was war and revolutions etc. And life is definitely (not to a whole extent) much better than how it was 50 years ago.

Although people of generation X chose a more straightforward approach to life, and working. Where they choose economical stability than dreams and passions, they have helped to support their future generations. All these careful planning have made us who we are today. They're able to send us to school, till university. Sometimes even help you till you're married, or help for your marriage where they help your housing and loans and etc.

Some of my Indonesian friends call it the "father mother scholarship" hahaha.

And once again, I am very thankful to my parents because they have been supporting me throughout, till where I am now. I wouldn't be here blogging well in English if it weren't for them, who supported my study in Singapore.

But do we also mean that generation Y is wrong? That we should all just ditch our ideas of chasing the dreams and choose something safe instead? Should we just make sure we have enough money for our future generations, over choosing our dreams and passion?

No. Because I (or hopefully we) believe that we generation Y are bringing about a change in the system. I'm very sure we can support our family while doing the things that we love. I'm very sure if we pass down our morals and teachings about loving our families and so on to our children, we can make them support their families whole-heartedly too. That money isn't everything, really, to support our family and our generations to come.

I come to a conclusion, that nothing is perfect. Both generations have their flaws and beauty. And that if we can combine them both like a beautiful tapestry, we'll for a generation that is so well, so beautiful, it beats both generations. Generation X are the hardworkers while generation Y are the people that want to bring a positive change to the way things used to be. That's my opinion about these two generations. At the end of the day it is up to the people of both groups to how they see themselves and the other party. You know.

But ultimately, I also come across something:
We will never be able to go through what our parents went through.
And neither can our parents go through what we go through.
Because we both live in two very different generations, two very different ages.

I'm going to end off this post with a saying by Ali Bin Abi Thalib
"Do not raise your children the way [your] parents raised you. 
They were born for a different time"

100/365

 Happy 100th day!

Right today is the 100th day of the year! Time flies indeed eh. And also at the same time I feel happy because I accomplished 100 of the 365 photos taken so far for Project365! Yay. I did a collage of photos which I took over the past 100 days. Looking back it is quite pretty to look at these photos haha.

It's quite challenging I must say to take 100 different photos everyday. Although sometimes I would "repeat" my photos, like taking photos of skies etc. But hey no sky is the same from any given day right so it is considered different, you know what I mean. And sometimes I take pictures of objects like food and others. I know they may seem not as "wow" as you would expect it to be, but I suppose it's fine. Because I have more than one goal in this project.

The main objective of this project is to ensure that I do what I love doing everyday - and that is taking photos. I'm not a photographer so it's pretty difficult for me to go for a shoot everyday, or even every week or month. So I am using my trusty handphone to take these photos and I'm fine with it. Of course I hope to be a better photographer but that's kinda hard since I'm using a phone camera instead of a proper DSLR like my awesome Sony.

But like the saying goes, it's not the camera but the photographer! Heh :P

And I would also want to make this project like a visual diary for me? It feels pretty amazing to look back on the photos and really rewind to the day where I took that photo. What was happening, why did I take that photo and so on. And also I want to take this opportunity to take pictures of things I love, and also things I'm grateful for. Thus the food. I love food! So I don't mind taking pictures of food and remind myself how lucky I am, actually, to have something to eat.

A lot of my friends are joining that 100 happy days movement thingy. And I truly support it, because it is one step closer to being a happy person. If you find 100 things that can make you happy consecutively everyday I'm sure you'll find it easier to find things that make you happy for the rest of the days. And also you'll realise you don't need a lot of things to be happy. You don't need money and expensive food and so on. Simple things make you happy!

Although I find it really ironic where some of my friends would post something like

"#100happydays. Monday is here tomorrow and I'm dreading it"

That just completely destroy the purpose of this project heh.

Anyho, taking 100 different photos everyday is a challenge for me because number one, I don't travel much here. Unlike in Singapore where I have to take 2 buses to school, walk a lot around school, take 2 buses home or even walk home, go to the supermarket by walking this and that. So I have loads of photography opportunities. Here, is a totally different story. So yeah I find it rather challenging with this aspect of not traveling a lot here (by foot).

Number 2 is the fact that I don't spend much time outdoors. And outdoors is where the magic is. But this adds up to the challenge. Like sometimes I'll capture interesting things that I find indoors. Like for example the tea leaves in a container, or the butter cookies in a can that looks pretty inside. Or I can find interesting patterns and so on.

However with all of these things, I also learn a wonderful lesson that actually everything around us is beautiful. It's really up to us to whether we actually see it (or want to see it). Like what Confucius said, Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it. So Project365 has definitely helped me to think outside the box, and to see the unseen beauties of this world. So yes, I'm eager to know what the next 265 days have in offer for me!

Alright that's all for now. If you wanna jump in the band wagon you can do so! You can start Project265 and it's not so bad eh :P

All the best, Indonesia

Today I voted in my country for the first time.

All the best, Indonesia

Qing Ming

 

A day that reminds us of our roots

and reminds us that we only live once.

Qing Ming Jie, or Qing Ming festival is a Chinese festival in which families will visit the graveyards of their ancestors for a cleanup, and to well basically pay a visit. I think different families have different traditions and ways of celebrating this festival. For us here, we would go to the graveyard, scatter some paper across the graveyard (photo below), burn some offering papers and light some incense. Without fail we would have a great chat about a lot of things. Most importantly, about our family and our roots of how and where we come from.

I've always enjoyed this day because I like it when my family bond together in this day of the year. And at the same time, as I grow older I kind of learn the other significance of this day, apart from instilling family roots and respect for our ancestors.

 The paper is actually rolled and folded,

you open it up and scatter them across the graveyard! :)

As I grow older I kinda learn to enjoy the cemetery. Especially my grandparents and great-grandparents ones, where it is so serene there. And it also has a great view, which makes it, actually, a popular spot for people to have a date at (no joking!). When I was young I used to be very afraid of cemeteries. I always thought to myself that that's where dead people are! But now I realise, that's where we will all be in eventually. Unless you're cremated.

Death was once to me something terrifying. Something I wish I wouldn't want to encounter, and something I wouldn't want others to encounter. But of course as I grow up, I encounter them like a part and parcel of life. My grandfather passed away when I was in P5, my aunt when I was in P6, grandmother when I was in secondary school, great-uncles, long distant relatives, and so on. So as I grow older, I realise that we cannot run away from death.

Instead of being afraid of dying, I actually use this fact as a reminder to me to live my life to the fullest because eventually my life is going to come to an end too. It's just a matter of time, or I would call it here... A matter of life, that we will all leave this wonderful life once and for all. So don't be afraid of death, because no one is going to live forever.

This is kinda similar to the story of the Buddha. How, when he was a prince, and he witnessed sufferings and death, and that becomes kind of a revelation to him. I think that is the purpose of life. To find revelations about things, that make you change the way you think about life (for the better). To make you really treasure it and live life to the fullest.

So qing ming jie not only teaches me about my roots but  it is also a reminder for me to live my life to the fullest. Because eventually, we'll all gonna end up either in a cemetery or in an urn or floating on the sea exploring the world (as ashes). And somehow knowing all of these make me feel how beautiful life is. Don't you think so? How we only have one life and how we can make so much out of it, create something so beautiful out of it.

So yes, start living my friend. You only live once. Really.

Here's to a superb second week of April!

Clocks

Today is quite an awesome Saturday indeed. Had a mini family reunion for the whole day because we'll be going for qing ming tomorrow, which is a Chinese tradition to go back to our ancestors' graveyard to clean up or well to basically "pay a visit" there. And before this, we usually pray to our ancestors first which is complete with food. I think this is done because in the past people need to bring food to the graveyard but since it can be a hassle, we do it at home.

I suppose this is a plus side of being in a Chinese family? The fact that a lot of these tradition bring us closer, because as a sign of respect it is good that we're present in such occasions unless we can't. So in a sense the family will not forget our roots, and at the same time we're all brought closer together through such traditions. Oh and don't forget the food too heh.

Anyway yup so today my aunts all came to my grandma house as usual for the prayers etc. And had a good time talking and chatting with them. We had a satay session at night as well and oh gosh I love goat-satays haha. Yes goats! At the same time these days I realised we're all grown ups now. We don't talk about games and other "child" stuff. We talk about business, music and travel etc. Things we find such a bore when we were kids eh.

I used to love Fridays but ever since I got back here, Saturday has become my favourite day. Although well to be honest there's no such things as TGIF for me because I always have something to do on the weekends. Unlike when I was in Singapore where Saturday was really an off day for me. I could wake up at 10 AM, do whatever I want, eat/cook whatever I want, go out with friends and etc for the whole day. Unless exams were in the corner, or I have loads of assignments.

I suppose there's no such things as an "off day" for me here. Maybe until Hari Raya holidays here where we really have a proper off day heh. I don't know why but I think a day doing anything you want (keyword: want, not need) is definitely not a day wasted. In fact I believe everyone should do that at least once a week. I suppose that what weekends are for? But since to me I don't really have weekends... I can only enjoy hours of this moment.

And that moment comes in Saturday nights and run till Sunday dawn or something. There's something so magical when I listen to music on Saturday nights. And when it's music that I love. It feels like something just cliqued right through me, inside me, to give such an indescribable feeling. So yeah, Saturdays have become my favourite days due to these reasons.

I hope when I grow up, I can redeem my off days haha. I don't know man. But I surely miss those Saturdays I had back in Singapore. Weekends are really weekends, days where I had fun and just relax before a week begins. And well even here now, I have calculations to do on Sunday nights heh. So yeah gone were the weekends I suppose.

April is here already! Sometimes I feel really dumb when I just realised that we're already into the fourth month of the year. Sometimes I would just stare into the emptiness and like "oh yeah we're in April now... Ohh..." and then "wake up" from this dream. Sometimes I got so busy here that I just couldn't keep track in time. And at the same time there are days where I really feel the heartbeat of time beating alongside my heartbeat. So yes.

Anyho, can't wait for Qing Ming tomorrow! I like visiting my grandparent's graveyard. It feels so serene and quiet there. Well well. Here's to an Awesome April! The month where I'll get things done. Yeah baby!

Happy 100th Birthday Sukabumi :)

 My hometown at night, from the top

Right today is the 1st of April so Happy April's Fool day! Hahaha. I think the best joke of today was SP "rebranding" its name to Dover Polytechnic instead on Instagram. That cracked me up in the afternoon when I saw it heh.

But today, is also the 100th birthday of my hometown, Sukabumi! So my hometown is older than my country haha, of course. It is already there during the colonial times, where my hometown is nothing but forests and hills and tea plantations which during the Dutch colonial times. Well apparently it was used to be called Soekabumi but now it's Sukabumi. Which in English it literally translates to Like-earth! Or well if you translate it from Sundanese like-home.

I've never really talked about my hometown here, or in fact anywhere else. So since today is her birthday, I shall blog about her, and what I like about her eh?

When I was in Singapore a lot of people used to think that all Indonesians come from Jakarta. Some even think that Indonesia = Batam. When I told people I from Sukabumi, they gave me a big question mark. So I told them I'm from West Java and they still gave me a question mark. So okay, nevermind, to make my life and their life easier I just tell them I come from Jakarta/Bandung because these 2 cities are more well-known than my humble hometown.

Although eventually I'll tell them "I'm from a town 4 hours drive south from Jakarta"

Yup my hometown is located about 80 kilometres south of Jakarta. Well it used to be a 2-hour drive from Jakarta but thanks to globalisation and the ever-increasing number of cars and ever-deteriorating road condition it now takes AT LEAST 4 hours to Jakarta. If you drive at like 2 AM in the morning you can reach it in 2 hours plus. But it's okay, over the years I have become used to the condition of the traffic and road here so it's fine.

Mt Gede, above a sea of green paddy field

It is located in the foot of Mt Gede, which is a mountain, or in fact a dormant volcano here! It last erupted hmm I think 40 years ago? When my mum was still a young lady haha. And it translates to big mountain by the way. And I love the mountain a lot. I think the mountain is something that make Sukabumi, Sukabumi. There's the mountain, the fresh morning air, and lots of paddy fields. I think that's Sukabumi for me. These three things always remind me of my hometown.

The location of my hometown makes it very cold and chilly especially in the morning and at night. During the day the temperature ranges from about 27-29 ish? I don't think we've reached 30 over here. And at night it's usually below 25 degrees. There was one night I remember though where the temperature reached 15 degrees! It was very very cold that I had to wear a jacket inside my house. And I spent the whole night snuggling under the blanket.

And the geographical location makes Sukabumi an awesome spot for tea-plantations. This was why the Dutch owned a lot of plantations in the colonial times. Even now, tea plantations are spread over the foot of the mountain. And my hometown produces some of the best tea ever! Or maybe it's just because I've been drinking them since young so my tongue is accustomed to the taste of the tea. But no harm giving it a try if you want! :)

Being in West Java, we're all considered Sundanese here. So we have a Sundanese culture, be it in the dialect we speak, the food we eat and the things we do. Sundanese food is lovely, lots of chilli and fried stuff. We proudly eat our food with our fingers, because it's the best way to eat it. There are a lot of traditional food still being sold here and they're all pretty good.

I am born and raised in this humble hometown of mine. Although well practically, I lived half-and-half of my life in Singapore and Indonesia. Since I spent 11 years studying there. But now I'm back and it feels good to be back I suppose, being close to the people whom I've been far away from, for too long. While being in Singapore, and after returning here, I have a deep and grateful sense of gratitude with the fact that I grew up in this hometown of mine.

A lot of people don't really consider growing up in a small town with nothing much a privilege. But I do. My hometown may not be like Jakarta and other big cities in Indonesia (where most of my Indonesian friends in Singapore come from). It may not have so much to offer, but it has definitely taught me how to be happy in so many simplistic ways.

I grew up in a town where malls don't exist. When I was young there wasn't even any fast food outlets etc. After school I would play catching with my friends or cousins, have food by the roadside and with the abundance of natural places, we get to be in touch with nature. This is probably why I love taking walks outside and being outside so much.

I suppose we have definitely learn that happiness can be derived from the simplest things in life. And this is definitely a lesson that not many people can have when they are young. And hopefully, something they can carry till they grow up. So I am really proud that I come from a small town, that I am raised here, and it is with this pride that I'm longing to go back.

The world is a beautiful place, but there's no place like home

Anyway, my hometown has long been progressing now. We have Macdonalds, KFC, A&W, you name it. Okay we still need Starbucks here HAHAHA. But there are loads of Cafes springing over around. And there's an awesome cafe which I always enjoy going to. We don't have malls but we have like 5 supermarkets and also a few shopping outlets. And yes I wish for the cinema in my hometown to be revived. We need it back!

My biggest dream in life is to bring my hometown to the world map (for good things, not bad). When I joined the Noise photography competition last year, I sent in a lot of photos of my hometown, hoping that one of them could be displayed so that people can see how my hometown looks like. But alas I didn't get selected so no worries. But I'm glad I have Instagram to share my hometown to the world! Heh heh. And also this blog, and my tumblr.

In fact there's a really big sense of pride of the things that I did in Singapore. For example, me performing in Esplenade gave me a sense of pride that me, someone from a town not many people know of, have performed in one of the world's renowned concert halls. I'm probably some of the first people in my hometown who reached the summit of Mt Kinabalu? Maaaybe. But nahh it's not important, I'm just proud to be someone from Sukabumi.

My hometown is definitely one of the loveliest places on earth. I am born here and I would love to die here as well. And be buried here, unless we run out of cemetery slots that I got to be cremated. Then at least scatter my ash here. My hometown has come a long way, and still has a long way to go. It is in my biggest and ambitious dreams that I make my hometown a better place. It is the dawn of a new generation, and well, we're the ones who'll continue the great works of our forefathers here. So I hope for a brighter future for this tiny hometown of mine.

Like what Adele sang in her song "Hometown Glory",

Round my hometown, memories are fresh
Round my hometown, the people I've met
are the wonders of my world, are the wonders of this world.

Happy birthday once again, Sukabumi! May you grow to be a great city for the future generations.