Goodbye November

 

 The last light of November

2014 where did you go to?

Great Music of November

It's the time of the month again! Didn't really discover lots of music in this month, but there are some music which I really enjoy listening to, or have been waiting for a long time to be released hah.

Alright here goes!

Great music of November:

- Get Away by Chvrches

- Dead Air by Chvrches

- Where You Go I Will Follow by The British Expeditionary Force

- For by Nils Frahm

- No Good In Goodbye by The Script

Get Away is a song by Chvrches which is part of BBC Radio One project called "Radio 1 Rescores: Drive". It premiered on end of October I think, but the song was released in November. The first time I heard the song, I fell in love with it right away! I just love everything about the song; the melody, the beat and the lyrics. I think it suits the movie too. Dead Air is a song from the Mockingjay Soundtrack. I was so happy when they played it in Singapore during their concert!

Where You Go I Will Follow by The British Expeditionary Force and "For" by Nils Frahm are from a free online compilation album from Erased Tapes Record called "Erased Tapes Collection IV". I was listening to Olafur Arnalds' album again when I discovered that slip of paper which comes with a code for the download so yeah, silly me for not realising it comes with the code! Anyway I love the first song for its catchy beat. Somehow the song reminds me a bit like Sin Fang heh. As for the second song, it's a pretty cool song and it somehow reminds me of my days in Iceland. I don't know why.

I just got the time to properly listen to the new Script Album.Well I mean I gave it a listen in the car when I got it but not a proper one hah. Anyway I really love the whole album, especially the song "No Good In Goodbye". I used to think that "Superheroes" is the best song of the album but after discovering No Good in Goodbye... I think this is the best song of the album. The Script is just so great with their lyrics and the lyric of the song just touched my heart in many different ways.

Alright these are the great songs I discovered in this month. Can't believe I've been doing this for this like almost 11 times (since I started this new "habit" in March heh). Well so far 2014 have been a great year of discovering music. And I'm pretty sure 2015 will be a great one too! It's always fun and a great pleasure to discover new music. Some music from my favourite artists and others, from new artists I discovered. Music is something I can't live without, so yep, this journey of discovery will never end for me. Till the day I die hopefully! Life's goal: to have a library of music CDs when I'm old :P

Which brings me to my next point...

I went to HMV when I was in Singapore to look for some new albums, and some old ones. And guess what, they don't have it! When I asked the store assistant he just told me "Oh we don't stock (insert artist name here) here". Okay I know sometimes I listen to bands that are kinda unknown but the bands I was asking for are not really unknown (e.g: First Aid Kit). I think my biggest fear is coming true: that they will no longer stock CD albums in the future. Well okay maybe not in Europe/America/Australia. But HMV is like the only (kinda) complete place where I can find albums. Don't tell me I'll have to travel to Australia to find CDs heh. Or maybe I was just unlucky that they're out of stock.

One of my wishes is to actually open up a music store in my hometown. I want to revive the CD era where people buy CDs of their favourite musicians. I think I'm the only person in my family who still collects CDs. Oh well, I will still collect CDs no matter what. Until one day (which I hope will never arrive) when all musicians decided to turn all of their works to be available only digitally. But I think that will happen in a very very very long time later.

Or I hope it will never happen, ever.

Speed of time

Can't believe that we're already on the third last day of November, and like the 34th last day of the year. Where did 2014 go to man. I always go and pray to my ancestors with my dad almost every night. Beside the altar, there's a small calendar and it scares me sometimes to realise we're flipping on to the last page of the calendar now. I can still remember how I used to countdown to my Iceland trip by looking at that calendar. And now we're on to December pretty soon.

I think 2014 is a year that went by super quickly. Sometimes I feel it's a yea that never happen. You know, like a year that happened too quickly that it doesn't feel you actually went by the year. It's been quite a great year I must say though. Learned a lot, went through a lot.

Anyway I went to Jakarta again today to accompany my sister and her colleague to meet with some supplier guy. Sometimes it scares me to realise how quickly time flies. Last time, it was us going to school and doing grocery shopping together. Now we're working already and sometimes I'm part of her activities at work. Time flies indeed, and it needs to fly. It's the law of nature and life I guess.

There was a huge jam just now - on the opposite direction of the read when we were heading home. It's all because of a road construction work, and it caused 15KM long of cars to be in a standstill. They can't move, and everyone is just switching off their cars to wait.

Not sure if I should feel happy that the road is finally getting fixed, or sad because of the 15KM of jam.

Saturday in Singapore

I stayed in Singapore till Saturday night. I think it was a pretty dumb idea back in February, when I was watching EOTS, where I actually went back on Saturday morning! So yup I decided to catch a night flight instead. Anyway I was pretty tired from the concert so I slept all the way till 9:30. I almost overslept, and was almost late because I kinda forget that I was staying in a hostel - which means bathroom is shared. I rushed to the bathroom but thankfully it was empty.

I was packing and re-organising my bag when one of my dorm mates talked to me. Turned out they're all Indonesians so we chatted a while. I went down to the lobby to check-out and headed out at 10:40 AM I think. Went to Tiong Bahru to meet with Ade, Jeslyn, Weiqi, Meng Fung and Jesher. MF was late so we waited for her. It's so good to see all of them again! And glad to know everyone is doing well. And so glad to have MF back cause she couldn't make it for our past meetings.

 More to this of course, but cravings satisfied!

We had a super filling but awesome Singapore brunch at Tiong Bahru market. 6 people sharing 8 dishes! It was really stuffing but at the same time I'm so happy to have "caught up" with the food I missed a lot, especially my favourite Chicken rice! And of course it was also a great time to catch up with the rest. We then make our way to Plain Vanilla nearby to get some of their cupcakes. Oh my goodness, their salted caramel cupcake is to die for. So so good. Definitely best cupcake I've ever eaten! Then we went to Books Actually beside to look around. After that we all say goodbye to each other. Thanks for the brunch guys! It's awesome to see all of you again :)

 Mind my big head, thanks for the brunch people!

Credits to Jeslyn's Note 4 awesome feature of wide-selfie!

Anyway after brunch I went to Tiong Bahru Plaza to meet with Jerrica! It's been so long since we met so it feels good to reunite with her again :) Anyway we decided to catch Mockingjay first there. It was a great movie, but I don't think it's the best Hunger Games movie heh. How can they end the first part at that scene! It's too short in my opinion (although it's about 2 hours long). I think lots of parts are going to be cut in the 2nd movie... Well I hope not, but well we shall see.

After the movie we decided to go for a late lunch at Bugis. After 11 years of studying in Singapore, and wishing to go to Arab street and Haji lane, I finally went there with Jerri! Hahaha. Sadly the cafes that we wanted to go to have stopped serving lunch (cause it was like 4:30 PM) but we went to I Am Cafe in the end at Haji Lane. Awesome place with great food! I enjoyed my pasta and Jerri loves her buttered prawns. We then went for a walk at Haji Lane. Oh gosh finally I'm here! Haha.

 Haji Lane finally!

We then walked around Bugis Junction and ended our trip at Kinokuniya. Wanted to look for some book but didn't manage to find it, or they're out of stock so yeah. Without realising it's 7 PM (which is the time I'm supposed to be at the airport), but I already checked in online so it's all good. I feel pretty relaxed actually haha. So we parted ways in Bugis while Jerri went to town. Thanks for the day Jerri! Great to meet you again after such a long time! :)

Thanks for the day Jerri!

Sometimes I love the fact that Singapore is a small country. Can't you see how awesome it is that I can do all these within a day, and then I can just go straight to the airport? Here in Jakarta well sure you can do that but you need at least 1-2 hours to go to the airport since traffic is unpredictable. It only took 30 minutes for me, no jams (and thankfully no train disruptions :P) from Bugis to Changi. Ah well, I miss Singapore convenience at times. So it's good to experience it again.

I then went for the document-check counter, went inside the terminal and yup, headed back home!

It's been a great weekend I suppose. Meeting people I haven't met in a long time. Although to be honest... It feels pretty weird, this time round, when I returned back to Singapore. I don't know why and I can't explain it either. This city is no stranger to me. And I don't feel like a stranger being in this city. The sights, the sounds, the taste and the people are all pretty familiar to me. Something felt different and I don't know what, and why. Maybe it's the fact that it's been almost 6 months since I went to this sunny island. Or maybe, it's just my feelings that made all of these feel off.

Nevertheless I'm looking forward to returning again! And I can't wait to see all of my poly friends again, some who are studying overseas. Like I once said, the life of a foreign student is a bittersweet one.

Before, during, and after his stay in the country.

Chvrches Live in Singapore 2014!

Blown away by Chvrches!

Hello again, yup I just got back from Singapore last night to watch Chvrches live! It was such a great night really, but I was so tired after reaching home last night that I knocked out right away. Anyway the concert was so great oh gosh, it was so awesome that I had a difficult time "moving on" haha. Severe withdrawal syndrome right here! But I'm just glad that I went for it. Even though it means I have to fly to Singapore to catch them. Totally no regrets!

Anyway I went to the concert with Brenda! I went to Sentosa straight and met her there as she had work. There was a queue already when I reached there. The wait went by pretty quickly and we went inside. The Coliseum is such a hot venue to hold a concert, not sure if the fans beside us are actually functional heh. But no complains, I just can't wait to see Chvrches! Riot !n Magenta opened the act and they are so good! You have a new fan here haha.

And then Chvrches came on stage! They opened their gig with "We Sink" and damn I am loving the energy. I can still remember when they entered the stage, my heart was beating so fast and I was smiling like a retard. Like oh my god, I'm finally catching them live. It's a dream come true! Haha. I am so happy that they play all of their songs from their first album, and also my favourite new song from them "Get Away". It was such a joy singing to "Gun" and dancing the night away to their music. Life was forgotten in that one hour plus or so. Pure adrenaline and endorphin really.

 Martin blowing us away with Under The Tide

Also... Brenda won a lucky draw contest by HMV where we got to meet them for a meet-and-greet (shortening it to M&G) session! It was a pair given out so Brenda and I went for it. I am just so thankful to her for this opportunity! Anyway we were instructed to move to the back of the venue "when the last song plays". But we don't know what's the last song, but we do know it's usually "The Mother We Share" so with a bit of heartache (since we love that song so much!) we moved to the back of the venue. And turned out, they played like 4 more songs! Including one of my favourites from the new Mockingjay movie - "Dead Air". But it's okay, I got to enjoy it still from the back :P

 Speechless, happy and star-struck

"point at Martin's arm on my shoulder"

The M&G session happened rather quickly after their concert. There were 2 more people who won another concert (by Universal Music I think) and we were waiting for the session to start. We entered a room where the trio were there and they greeted us. I shook hands with all of them and introduced myself. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW STAR-STRUCK I WAS. I just froze and stumble my speeches out but I was trying hard to keep my cool and tried my best to chat with them. They are such lovely lovely and friendly people! Anyway there's a funny moment in this session!

Brenda and I prepared some gifts for them. So when the M&G session organiser guy told us to exit the room, I asked if I can give my gift for them.

Me: Hi, I actually prepared some gifts for the band, can I pass it to them?

M&G Guy: *looking annoyed* why don't you give to their manager? *points at manager*

Me to manager: Oh okay... Hi this is some gifts for the band from me...

Martin: Hey don't give it to her, give it to me!

*walks briskly towards him*

Me: Hi oh yeah this is my gift for you guys... It's postcards from my country... You see I'm an Indonesian.. And there are some polaroids of my hometown and cats!

Martin: Oh wow cool, thank you so much! So you flew in here?

Me: Yeah I did!

*Time running out and we left the room*

IT WAS THE BEST MOMENT OF THE SESSION HAHAHA.

Brenda and I were so overwhelmed by the experience we couldn't speak after we left the room and we're just so excited about the whole moment! I just can't believe I actually talked to them... It's a memory I will never forget really! And once again thank you Brenda for this! All of this wouldn't have happened without you. Thank you so so so very much! :)

 Thank you for being such an awesome partner for this gig!

We left Sentosa to have dinner and then I went to her house as she has something to pass for me. Thank you for the gifts from Hong Kong and Turkey as well! I hope you enjoy drinking the Luwak coffee I gave you too. Which was supposedly for Chvrches but I was too excited that I forgot to pass it to them (silly me!). And then I made my way back to the hostel. And knocked out right away too.

 Thanks Chvrches for the amazing night!

Oh man it was such a wonderful night... I seriously can't believe that I actually talked and shook hands with one of my favourite bands (and favourite electronic band). The concert itself was so so good really. I love their energy, love Lauren's bubbliness and basically the chemistry of the band and the audience. I hope one day they'll come to Indonesia and I'll definitely be there again!

Okay I'm going to talk about my Saturday in Singapore on another post! Chvrches was so good! I can't seem to move on from the concert hah. Alright till then, see you soon!

Humbled

I feel really bad cause it seems like I've been neglecting this blog, for I haven't blogged for 9 days! But anyway I have my reasons for this, I am currently involved in another "project" which you will find out soon enough I suppose. And I feel bad too cause ever since I hit my resolution of blogging a hundred posts this year, I feel a lesser need of writing here hah, but no worries I am trying still to blog as often as possible. Just that in the past few days I've been involved in other stuff.

Anyway on Saturday, someone I know called me up to teach me something. It is something that not many people do now, in fact very few people do. And I am very humbled that he wants to teach this precious skill to me. And I hope I can help people with this skill in the future. When I think about it, I really feel that this is a very rare skill now. Not many people know it.

What skill you ask? Something to do with Fengshui!

Well so I am learning how to look for auspicious days for different events. Although like I said in my previous post months ago, about how I don't fully believe in this, but instead I tell myself that there is a reason to why we choose the days. As this method is based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar, and that every year the calendar changes according to the moon cycle, a book is published every year to look for such days. Not everyone can easily understand the book and so he's teaching me how to read it. And no, it's not easy. I'm still struggling sometimes.

I am pretty humbled and amazed sometimes when I think about this skill. This skill has been used in the olden days in China, where people still use stars and moons to look for signs of events. When to plant, when to harvest and so on. To me I feel very amazed by the fact that somehow, the universe is involved in our lives. Of course, when we use our "logic", it is out of our understanding to how the position of moon and stars can affect our lives. After all Shakespeare says it is not in the stars that hold our destiny but ourselves. But why do people in the past still use them, and are kinda correct about it. Like how some culture still plant/harvest crops at a particular period.

Well I suppose there's a lot of things that life can't explain. And a lot of things that don't need an explanation. They just happen beautifully by the power of the stars and the moon and how every atom and molecule of the universe seem to vibrate in their own beautiful way to produce such an event. If you get what I mean. Life itself is a big, great and beautiful unknown.

And I suppose, no one can answer life.

Distant dream

It's been a week since RRREC Fest In The Valley and I am still recuperating from the post-concert syndrome, which includes listening to songs of the band, watching performance videos of the band on Youtube etc. Which in my case, is White Shoes and The Couples Company. To me they are really an inspiring and talented Indonesian band. While not many Indonesians know them, they have toured around parts of Europe and the USA. How cool is that!

Watching them perform really inspire me, and I can tell from their performance of how much they love music and performing. Which reminds me of a childhood dream of mine - to become a musician. Or back then, a piano player. Now, I want to be in a band touring around the world!

Along my life, my dreams change and evolve. But one dream of mine never change much. Since young I've always wanted to be a musician. When I first heard Richard Clayderman music, I was so inspired by his music and playing that I really want to be a pianist. But as I grow up, I found out there's more to music than just the piano. So I don't want to restrict myself to the piano, but I just want to be a musician - anything that involves playing and performing with music.

As I grow older I discovered many bands. Many great bands. And I've always wanted to be in a band. Seeing my favourite bands live felt really awesome. Seeing these great individuals doing what they love doing, making music, and making the audience happy and inspired too. They get to travel around the world and see its great sights. They get to meet people, they favourite bands/musicians too. I seriously think it's such a great and ultimate life. Doing what you love doing everyday.

Of course life doesn't always go according to plan, or more like... It never goes according to plan. I'm not in a band now, I don't have a music career and so on. But I do know one thing, that I still make music and I enjoy doing it. I still play the piano, strum my ukulele and sing while I shower. I think of music everyday, sometimes I compose songs when I'm free and so on. You see the thing is - I never stop doing what I love doing. And I think that's most important.

Perhaps being a musician is just a distant dream of mine. But I just keep on doing what I love doing because well, why wouldn't I do things I love doing? And who knows one day, life will work in its mysteriously beautiful way, and this distant dream won't be so distant after all.

Reborn

Today I came across with a thought.

"What if you were to be reborn. Would you want to be reborn into a new life? Or would you want to be reborn to a similar life, but is able to make changes to it?"

There are days where I wish I can restart my life. I want to be reborn again, start anew, and I wish I can make a few changes to the present. There are days where I wish I can live another life. A new life, a new person, a new place and a new story. And also there are days where I tell myself to treasure what I have now, and hold on because bright days are coming.

So today I came across with that thought. If there are two buttons in front of me right now. If I press the button on the left, my life will restart from the beginning, and I get to make changes as I go through the same life I've lived thus far. If I press the button on the right, my life would end but I will be reborn into a brand new life. Without memories or connection with my current one.

I suppose restarting my life would be awesome. I can make changes to my current life. Do things I wish I could have done. Do things I regretted not doing. Very exciting. It feels like a better life is promised. A life I wished to live. Restarting into a totally new life sounds interesting to. Although you won't know where you will end up in, the thought of living a "new life" is exciting too right?

Well but then again, what if you have reached the current stage of your life, after restarting it? So you've done all the great things, the things you wish you would do and stuff. And then you ask yourself the same question: what's next? And no, you can't just keep on restarting your life. It's not fair hah. And also, if you were to choose the second option, what if you were to be reborn into a life you hate? Say you're reborn into a life that is much worst that your current one.

I feel that our existence here in this world, in this life, is a mysterious gift that no one can explain. Often I ask myself, why do I exist in this world. And like Mark Twain said, there are two important days in your life: the day you're born and the day you find out why. I'm still 22 so I am pretty sure it's way too early for me to discover why am I born into this world. And till I found the answer to that question, I shouldn't even think of being reborn into another life, before ending mine!

I've always told myself to believe that I am born into this world to do something great. Everyone is. When you believe this, it will give you a sense of hope and greatness in life, and a drive to keep on doing what you love doing. As much as I believe that life is a blank canvas we are painting on, I too believe that we are doing to paint something great in this big piece of canvas. And well, no one knows what we are going to paint. But if you believe you're going to paint something great, you will.

So back to the question. Well if let's say I am forced to choose those two buttons... Well I will choose the first option. I am given this life. And if I were to be given a chance to make better changes to it, then I will. And I will finish this story of mine, instead of jumping on to write another. We make regrets in life, and it's normal. Regrets are there for a reason in this life. Without regrets, we wouldn't learn the art of trying again. Without regrets, life wouldn't be so colourful. Seriously.

I don't have such choices now. So I will just continue to live my life to the fullest, to enjoy writing this story and to carry on doing my best in everything. And I hope I won't need to make such choices, ever, in this life. Let me just finish this story, reap what I sow, harvest what I reaped.

RRREC Fest In The Valley

 My favourite shot from today!

Nona Sari bernari dan bernyanyi bersama penonton :)

Today was a lovely lovely Sunday because I went to RRREC Fest In The Valley at Tanakita camping ground right here in my hometown! I wanted to catch one of my favourite Indonesian bands, White Shoes and The Couples Company! Although the event itself starts on Friday and last for 3D2N, I only bought the last day pass since I can't make it for the whole entire event.

 The concert venue. Isn't it awesome!

Anyway I arrived at the campsite at 1.30 PM, I am pretty surprised that I actually could just come in without any registration and stuff (I paid for the ticket already! Just couldn't find the registration booth). When I came it was lunchtime and everyone was gathering at the lunch place and talking/eating together. Since I came alone and know no one, I was just sitting down at one corner of the place and stare at the blankness hah. Until Seroja played on stage one and I went down to catch them.

 Seroja on Stage 1

So there are 2 stages which is literally at a valley! I love the view and the atmosphere man, listening to great music, watching great musicians perform while being surrounded by nature and great views is definitely an awesome package. The stages are located below the camp ground. I've never heard of Seroja before but I really find them pretty unique. And I like how they interact with the audience by asking some of us if we want to perform with them for their last song.

 Voyagers of Icarie

After Seroja was Voyagers of Icarie, which is an Indie band from Jakarta and they're definitely a great band I discovered today. I love their songs and man I wish I could just lie down on the grass while listening to their performance but I just remembered that I wore a white shirt and also it was kind of drizzling so.. Nope. Nevertheless, like I mentioned above, the view surrounding the stage definitely adds to the atmosphere of the performance. Sadly it was drizzling towards the end.

 Liyana Fizi serenading us with her beautiful voice

Today I also discovered a lovely singer from Malaysia, Liyana Fizi! Love her voice, and her songs of course. She's very friendly too and I like how she explains what each song is about. It was cloudy and the temperature was decreasing a bit, perfect condition for a soothing performance by her. There's a song I really love, I forgot the title arrghhh. I'll look her up in iTunes.

 White Shoes And The Couples Company!

And last but not least, the band I was waiting for years to see live was finally performing! Yup it's White Shoes and The Couple Company (shortened as WSATCC). They were performing at stage one and opened their set with my one of my favourites from them "Matahari". I think the highlight of today was singing and dancing to "Masa Remadja" which was their encore in the end. Everyone was just having fun too! The energy was irresistible. So happy to have caught them live! :)

 This was during one of my favourite songs, "Vakansi"

I wish I could stay longer but I gotta rush off as I was having a delivery so yep, that is all for today. Although while drying myself up, I went back up the the lunch space and there was a DJ set (I'm not sure of the DJ name) who was playing Japanese jazz songs. It was raining and I definitely enjoy listening to those songs as I waited for my clothes to dry off a bit, and for the rain to stop.

All in all, I am really loving the concept of RRREC Fest. If they come back next year, I hope I can make it to sleep on the campground as I think it will be an exciting and lovely experience. I love the atmosphere of the place and of the event as a whole. This whole idea of having a music festival at a valley really cliques with my heart hah. I hope something like this can happen at Tanakita again :)

After the whole event, I don't know why buy I feel really inspired watching all of these bands perform. They made me realise how much talent we Indonesians have! I wish I can write and compose songs, beautiful songs, as conveniently as them. I really have a lot of great hopes and aspirations for the music scene here. And I know all of these great bands will go far into the future.

Also, watching these performances make me really miss performing. I miss that feeling of making music together with people who share the same passion and interest as you, and then performing it in front of an audience. Enjoying music is a gift, making music is a privilege. I miss those days jamming with Vithya and Kai, and also those band days making music together in the band room, and performing in concerts at SPCC or Esplenade! I just miss making music together.

Maybe I need to find people here that wanna make music with me together. But I am very shy, and time is an enemy I can't fathom. But I will never stop making music!

Alright that's all for now. What a great start to November. And a great month it will be :)