Third Beginning

Okay I gotta tell you something rather embarrassing. As you might or might not know, I actually started a Tumblr-blog a year ago. It was a blog I mage to post my photos. Well something like seratus-stories but more broader I suppose? I do own a (pretty inactive) tumblr which I made since like 2011 and I could have just used that. But that tumblr is mixed with a lot of stuff from random posts, photos, videos, re-blogs and so on. But this tumblr I created last year is solely used for my photos.

So I started posting photos last year and everything was going smoothly, kind of. Until one day which I forgot to blog for 3 days, then a week, then three weeks, then three months. And I left that Tumblr behind. So after I returned from Iceland, I was determined again to revive this blog. So what happened was I deleted the blog and re-created it. It was basically from scratch. From square one.

And the last time I checked that blog this year, the last post was made in November 2014. So I was feeling so urrgghhh and I told myself this time round: okay no revivals, let's just continue on. And tonight... I just did another revival of this blog. I didn't kill it though, I just deleted some posts and add new ones. So far I've been loving how the Tumblr looks. Let's just hope that I can continue this.

So ladies and gentlemen I present to you: cloudsofsunday.tumblr.com!

Clouds of Sunday is basically a blog that shows the photos I took. Doesn't necessarily be from 2015 (unlike my other project seratus-stories). Basically my favourite photos, from the past to present. 

Anyway moving on to another topic, it's the last day of March tomorrow! Can you believe it! I was reading my posts from last year and I wrote for March - that it felt like a really slow month. But this year it feels different. This year... March feels pretty quick! Maybe it's because of the increase in daily activity that I'm having now? Or perhaps because I am filling it with more interesting stuff too.

March has been wonderful, and I know April is going to be Awesome too!

Alright, time to share with you the awesome music I discovered in this month! A lot of music.

Great Music of March:

- Easy Yoke by Favela

- So Many Reasons by Sometimes and Andrea Britton

- Reminiscence by Olafur Arnalds and Sara Ott

- I Gave it All by Aquilo

- Blue by Marina and The Diamonds

- Breathe by Rhodes

- First Light by Racing Glaciers 

- Crystals by Of Monsters And Men

- Nevermind The End by Tei Shi (Saint Pepsi Remix)

Song of the month: Easy Yoke by Favela

Okay I don't even know where to begin, but March has been a month of great music discovery! The above are just one title from the artists, and I have a few favourite ones from them! Okay I shan't talk about Easy Yoke as I've blogged about it last time. So Many Reasons by Sometimes and Andrea Britton is another song I discovered from Youtube and I just love the beat of the music. It is kind of hypnotic and addictive hah. I listen to it on weekend nights. Feel good music definitely.

Olafur Arnalds and Sara Ott released an album called "The Chopin Project" in which the two of them play Chopin music with their own twist. I am very amazed by the distance that they go to produce this album. I saw from Olafur's Facebook page how Sara and he went on piano hunting around bars in Reykjavik, and also making some adjustments on the piano to look for the sound they want. And the album is overwhelmingly beautiful, especially the song Reminiscence. If Chopin is still alive today, I am pretty sure that he will be proud of the two of them. Kudos to Olafur and Sara! 

First of all I have to send my thanks to Brenda for introducing me to Aquilo's music! She asked me if I've heard of them and I have heard of the name somewhere before but I haven't heard their music. I gave it a listen and oh gosh I fell in love with them! I Gave it All is definitely my favourite from them. When I first discovered this song, it was on repeat for 3 nights in a row haha. Thanks Brenda for the intro!

I discovered Marina and The Diamonds while streaming Shura's new single "2Shy" on this website which I forgot (oh dear). I love her songs as they sound really upbeat and colourful. The title of her new album, Froot, definitely suits the songs inside. As for Crystals, it is OMAM's new music from their soon-to-be-released 2nd album: Beneath The Skin! I've been eagerly waiting for their new songs as I've been following them on Instagram, where they showed the recording process etc. And well, the waiting definitely pays off. I just can't wait to listen to their whole album now.

Rhodes and Racing Glaciers are another two whom I discovered in Youtube! I love Rhodes' music a lot. They are hauntingly beautiful and I just love his lyrics. Racing Glaciers is another band that I recently discovered and I love their style as well! Not sure what to call it... Well it's definitely indie-rock. But they do have some electronic elements too. Nevertheless I enjoy their songs as well because it is pretty upbeat! First Light is definitely an awesome song from them.

Last but not least, Nevermind the End by Tei Shi (Saint Pepsi Remix) is another song I discovered from the MORindie channel in Youtube. It is in the same mix as Favela's Easy Yoke. The song is a pretty chill song which I enjoy listening to at night. Hmm I've been into chill and slow music lately, not sure why. But they are so nice to listen to every night. Quiet and cold nights.

Alright these are some of the great music I discovered in April! There are more songs I discovered but I decided to stop here. I wonder what April and the rest of the year has in store for me! Oh yes I will blog about something special related to music tomorrow. In the meantime I hope you've had a great March, and keep on discovering new music too people! Have fun :)

Heavy Rain

My hometown has been pounded by heavy rains for the past week. The morning till the afternoon is usually a sunny and hot period of the day. And then in the evening, we'll be pounded by rain. Today was crazy, it was raining non-stop for 3.5 hours! It started raining at about 7 PM, but it was just a normal rain. And then at 7.30 it started raining heavily and it didn't stop till about 12 AM.

To be honest the rain was pretty scary. It was pretty heavy and it's a rare sight to experience such heavy rain. Reading from the news here, apparently March is the highest peak of the rainy season and that sunny days are coming our ways. Then... Another news source says that April is the month with the highest peak. So I'm not sure which one to believe heh. But anyway, let's just hope that tomorrow will be a sunny day! It's been too long since we enjoy some warm sun here.

Anyway today I went to the farm in the evening. I went alone with one of my workers. After dropping him off at the place he is spending the night at, I was driving around my hometown on my own. I'm still not hyperly confident of driving alone but well thanks to the drizzle the road was kind of empty. Inside the car I was blasting my favourite music. It was heavenly! Heh.

It truly reminds me of my days in Singapore, traveling on buses and MRT listening to my favourite music. These are some of the moments that I enjoy the most while in Singapore. Getting lost in my own train of thoughts, be it reminiscing or thinking of the present and future. And I realised that I never do this anymore here. I mean... I don't listen to my iPod while traveling from one place to another here in my hometown. Unless when I'm driving alone I suppose?

Well I do miss these moments but I'm still thankful that I get to enjoy my favourite music in the comfort of my room every night. I do miss these moments of solitude though.

Late Resolutions?

It's day 83 of the year, and guess what? I just wrote my 3rd resolution of this year like... Last night!

This year, I tried doing something new. Unlike the usual tradition of spending some time thinking about my new year resolutions on year-ends, and then writing them down on the first day of the new year, this year I wrote nothing. I thought of no resolutions as 2014 came to an end, and I wrote no resolutions as 2015 began. But instead, I thought to myself to actually come up with resolutions as the year goes by.

Perhaps it's a better way to stick with your resolutions, and accomplish all of them? Maybe, you never know until you try right. And so far I've been sticking with them so that's a good sign.

Just like 2014, the beginning of 2015 felt like a blank, white canvas. I didn't know what to expect of this year, I didn't know how I want this year to be like. I do have hopes and aspirations of course. Hmm maybe the huge difference in 2014 is that... I was really determined to go to Iceland. And I did go teehee. In 2014, I came up with a list of resolutions on its first day too. That's another difference.

So here are my resolutions so far, and how I plan to achieve them/what I've done so far:

1. Be more organised

My room has been a mess last year throughout, no joke. But this year with the mini renovation in my room, I've decided to give it a new life. Thanks to the new additional compartments now, my room feels less messy. And I've also bought small plastic drawers to keep my essential stuff organised. And guess what.. I finally have a table. Like a fully functioning, clean and neat one where I can do work. 

2. Do simple workout everyday (inspired by Cameo Project BIJI!)

I think this is like the resolution of most people every year. I have no more excuse because I said the same thing last year, and it failed! Anyway I subscribed to this Indonesian Youtube Channel called Cameo Project and they have this new video series called Project BIJI aka Badan Ini Jadi Indah aka this body will become nice, where they do a workout set everyday to achieve a great body! But well I modified it into a rather simple workout after doing some research and I just finished my first week.

3. Learn more about Buddhism

Okay so I recently discovered this Youtube channel called The Enthusiastic Buddhist, which is run by an awesome lady called Mindah-Lee Kumar (click here to see her channel)! She provides wonderful and easy to understand contents about Buddhism. I am so so glad to discover her channel because her videos helped me a lot to understand about some contents about Buddhism that I did not understand.

So my resolution is to keep this book which I'm going to call my mini book of Buddhism. And I am going to write whatever I learned about Buddhism be it via her channel, or some other sources online (or books). Well I really regretted not signing up for the Diploma in Buddhism at Mangala Vihara when I was still in Singapore. But well, regrets come too late, so I'll start here instead! :)

So yup. So far here are my 3 resolutions for this year. I do have some resolutions which I carry forward from last year like meditating and going vegan twice a month. Still going on so far so it's awesome :)

Alright I'm gonna stop here for now. Shall update when I come up with more resolutions.

Condolences to Singapore

First of all I would like to express my sincere and deepest condolences to Singapore, for the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew. The news came as a shock to me last night while I was scrolling through my timeline, and then seeing the news from CNA's page. I am not a Singaporean myself, but as someone who spent literally half of his life so far on the sunny island, Mr Lee's name is no stranger to me.

I see him in my history/social study textbooks, I see him on TV, and I see him every year during NDP. And seeing him on NDP is always something I look forward to, because after all, he is the man behind Singapore's successes and where the country is now. And it deeply saddens me that he won't be there with fellow Singaporeans during the country's 50th birthday this year.

History has always been a favourite subject of mine in secondary school. And I'm always awed to see how much Singapore has progressed from a small fishing village to a metropolitan, modern and sophisticated country in 40 years. All this, wouldn't be possible without the hard and endearing work of Mr Lee, leading and bringing the country to where she is today.

When I was young, I always hear how beautiful, clean and modern Singapore is. And it is evident from my first trip there back in 2001. It is indeed a clean and modern country. Little did I know that I would spend 11 years of my life studying there. When I was young, I didn't know the history of Singapore. But as I studied there, I learned it slowly and well, my admiration towards the country became more and more rounded too. And Singapore wouldn't be who she is now, without Mr Lee.

My social media has been very solemn for the whole day. My teachers and friends are expressing their gratitude for Mr Lee. Can't help but to feel sad and solemn too :(

Once again, I would like to express my condolences to the people of Singapore, for the passing of the country's founding father. And at the same time, I would like to express my admiration for the hard work that he had done for Singapore. Lets be honest, that not many people can transform a country from a tiny fishing village to a world-class country in that span of years!

And I would like to end this post with my favourite from the man himself:

"I have spent my life, so much of it, building this country. There's nothing more that I need to do. At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life."

So much feels....

Lost Souls

"We are lost souls wandering, finding the answers to the mountain of questions we have about our existence in this beautiful place we call life"

Photo taken at Arnastapi, Iceland.

Words Written

I've been writing a lot these days... Well not a lot, but I write often. Not stories and stuff but lyrics of a non-existent song, poems and short writings basically. I've always wanted to write a song but somehow it always ends up either being too cheesy or too vague. But no worries, I'm just doing this for the fun of it. It's therapeutic and also it gets your thoughts flowing through like a river.

My inspirations come from the new artists I discovered the past few weeks. The lyrics to their songs are just so beautiful, I really wish I can be as easily-inspired and I wish that my thoughts can flow as easily as theirs. Well of course I believe that their ability to do this is contributed to the years of experience that they have. Or well they're just talented since birth.

Sometimes I write about random things, sometimes about a thought that I have throughout the day. Most of the time I write about my feelings though. I think it's both easier and tougher (ironically) to write your feelings out in the form of poems/short writings. To me great songs are those that make a connection to your heart. It's like whenever you listen to these songs, you can just -feel- it right away. Some songs take time to develop this connection. But great songs connect right away.

I used to love writing stories. I wonder where did my love for writing go to.

Ruins Within My Dreams

"Living in ruins, of a palace within my dreams"

Team by Lorde

Envy

I am pretty sure that at one point of our lives, we feel envious of something/someone before. Be it because that someone has better things than you, or is able to do something you can't do, and so on. I used to be an envious person. Someone who gets jealous easily (in terms of envy, not relationship wise heh). Last night... I was thinking about it, about how much envious I could get in the past.

I remember when I was in primary school, I got jealous a lot of my "sporty" friends. My primary school, Pei Tong Primary was quite famous for its rugby team when I was studying there. I was never a sporty person, so joining rugby was not in my mind. But seeing how athletic and sporty some of my friends were, I sometimes asked myself "why can't I be like them?"

There was one time I remember during sports' day, my school's sport house (Ruby FTW!) was choosing people to represent the house in events. I think it was a running event, and I decided to try my shot to join the event. We were asked to run from point A and point B and... Of course I was the last person to reach point B. So my teacher kindly puts me as a reserve. It was cool.

In secondary school I was not a sporty person either. But I did enjoy sport as always. I love the times during PE when we would play soccer, handball, floorball and so on. Until NAPFA test arrives, when I would fail thanks to my pull up. Actually I got a bronze in sec one, but for sec two I was excused as I just got out from the hospital that time. And I failed in sec three and four, thanks to pull up and standing broad jump. It was irritating because the other guys only fail the either (and not both).

Even in poly, I did have my fair share of feeling envious of other people. For example how strong people are when I'm exercising at the gym. How sporty people can get, and how hunky these guys look.

Until one day, when I was talking to a friend of mine. I told her how envy I am when I see these people. It's like I can never be like them. Of course she joked by saying it's because I don't exercise as often as these people HAHA. Which is true obviously.

But she also told me one thing. She said the people you see at the gym can lift more than you, they are hunkier and more handsome than you. But can they play the clarinet? Do they know anything about photography? Do they know the different kind of immune cells in their body?

And what she said made me think a lot. Well yes, we have to be happy with who we are. Just because you can't do something that someone can, doesn't mean you are on the disadvantaged side. Or it doesn't mean you're "worst" than them. Just like my secondary school motto says, everyone is unique, all cam succeed. We all have our own special talents and ability that make us who we are.

Ever since she told me that, I have learned to be less envious of other people - but to be happier with who I am, and to accept and love who I am as a person. Of course I don't "instantly brag" about myself. But I've come to a realisation that being envious is... Pretty much useless hah. 

Be happy with who you are. And be who you want to be. If you decide that sports isn't for you, don't worry. Just be better and keep on going better with what you love doing. If you feel that you want to be a sporty person, then by all means go ahead and try things out.

Keep on doing what you love. You can do what trillions can't do - and that is being you.

Happy Cap Go Meh!

 Happy Cap Go Meh!

Today is the day where my hometown celebrates Cap Go Meh! It is a day celebrated on the 15th day of the 1st Lunar Month (hence the name Cap Go = 15th), to celebrate the end of Chinese New Year celebration. Since CNY is celebrated in a span of 15 days.

However, it's been a tradition that the festival is celebrated on the 21st in my hometown. So the folks call it Ji It Meh instead. Nevertheless it was a pretty festive day because the deities' sedans (we call it joli here) got paraded out on the streets around the temple this year as they didn't do it last year. Can you believe it's been 13 (or 14) years since I last participated in the procession? Time flies indeed.

The prayers began at 1 PM. It was raining super heavily then, and the rain got even heavier and gustier as time goes by... So I was a bit worried that the procession might be cancelled. At 4 PM-ish the rain didn't stop but I decided to head over to the temple still. To my surprise, it wasn't raining in the temple area. Whereas in my house it was raining pretty heavily. I was walking on the road following the procession when I met someone I know who was carrying the sedan for one of the deities in the temple called Kongco Han Tan Kong, who is one of the main deities in the temple.

 Taken while I was carrying the sedan.

One of the men who was carrying the sedan asked me to take his turn carrying the sedan and of course, I gladly take the chance! I've been wanting to carry the sedan and join the procession since young. So well today my childhood dream came true! :D Anyway the sedan is very heavy. Like they said, it really feels like someone is sitting inside it. So we take turns carrying it. I was carrying it for a few distance and another man took my place, and so on and forth. Anyway we don't only carry it but we also sway it. I think it's a significance of good fortune and luck.

 End of the procession

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and seeing the sights. I left home first because I had a delivery to settle. After that I returned back to the temple for the closing ceremony. So one by one the sedans enter the temple. Once they have been placed there, the idols of the deities are being carried back to the altars one by one. And then some prayers were carried out, and the event came to a close! People were being offered food and cakes, I just love the atmosphere inside. It was really a happy and festive one. I'd love to return next year. And definitely at an earlier time.

 The temple official taking the flowers out
PS: I've never seen the temple so smoky before

Today was definitely an eye-opener for me because... Like I said above it's been close to 14 years since I participated in one. 14 years ago I was a small boy who is shorter than the sedans. I can't even carry them! Hah. So I just stood on the side and watch them go by. Now I'm a young man, and I am pretty glad to be given the opportunity to carry the sedan. I supposed I'm kinda sad that I missed out a whole lot in these 14 years. But then again, what matters now is that I'm back here, and I would love to participate in this every year. To share the happiness and festivity with the people of my hometown.

 People taking turns carrying

Also, one of the things I love about today is the fact that many young people are taking part in this procession. And I feel it is important that we, the younger generation, should continue these traditions and festivities for many more years to come. These festivities are one of the most important things that bind the community together, that bind a city together. I'm not just talking about the Chinese/Buddhist communities here, but everyone. Because today, people regardless of race and religion came together around the temple to share the festivities. 

Alright, it's been a beautiful day. Looking forward to next year's Cap Go Meh already.

Discovering Music

 Easy Yoke by Favela

I've been into discovering new music these days, via Youtube! Well Youtube has always been a great platform to discover new music. Be it through my "recommended" tab on the homepage, or the related videos tab beside the video I'm watching. Some random clicks can lead to a discovery of epiphany!

And of course like I've mentioned in my "great music" posts, I discovered quite a lot of great, new music from channels like MrSuicideSheep, MORindie and Majestic Casual. Recently I discovered this awesome song called Easy Yoke by Favela through a "Swim High" mix by MORindie with Doofy Doofus (you can find it here). Gosh I just fell in love with that song! Such a nice feel to it. And also I just spent the rest of the night listening to that mix while doing stuff. Pretty relaxing.

So yup after finding these mixes, which you can find A LOT in Youtube, I spent the past few nights clicking through the mixes made by people to discover some great music. I purchased the nice ones and I've been having eargasms every night hah. Sounds wrong.

Since young, I've always loved listening to music at night. I can't wait to have my own house and buy a good sound system and play music at night while doing work. Well now I'm kind of doing that, just that I'm using a headphone and I play music through my laptop/iPod. Been reading up about audiophiles too, about amplifiers and DACs and great headphones. Well I haven't tried any of these yet, perhaps one day I will. I suppose being an Audiophile is a long-term investment kinda thing. It's expensive in the beginning, but you can carry on this hobby for a good long year ahead (with good care).

And talking about audiophile stuff, I'm really tempted to get a good pair of headphones... Not that my headphone is spoilt or anything but... I want better quality of music blasting through my ears haha. Currently using an Urbanears Humlan, which is a pretty stylish headphone with a good sound quality. I used their Plattan before this and was pretty happy with the sound quality.

Been watching headphone reviews and stuff on Youtube and now I'm hunting on a few headphones! Thanks to MKBHD, uravgconsumer and Lachlan Likes A Thing from Youtube :P I'm looking at Audio Technica ATH-M50X or their limited edition MSR7. And I'm also looking at Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro, or V-Moda Crossfade. And I don't have to worry about where I can get it cause... There's Jaben Indonesia! :D But oh well whatever the case, I'm a bit dilemmatic too cause I'm trying to save up my money and I'm abstaining from buying stuff. Battling the need vs want inside of me.

I mean I don't necessarily need a new headphone as my current one is serving me well still. I just want a better headphone (oh dear!). But well we'll see I suppose!

Alright hope you enjoy Easy Yoke by Favela, embed above! Let's discover more music :)

Ancestry

 Afterlife

So today was the 50th death anniversary of my great grandmother. Obviously I didn't get a chance to meet her in real life, I was probably still in my previous life. Or maybe I did meet her once in my previous life or something haha. Anyway it's been a family tradition to do prayers during the death anniversary of our relatives. Ever since my great grandparents set up the altar table for our ancestors. And my grandpa has been doing it for my great grandparents too. Now it is my father's generation (AKA my aunts and uncle) and soon, it will by my generation's turn.

But to think that we've been doing this for 50 years, for my great grandmother's death anniversary, made me truly proud of our tradition. And like my father told me, till how long more can we uphold this tradition? I suppose my generation will still continue it, but will the generation after mine do it? It's a big question mark, because somehow as life gets more modern, tradition seems to be forgotten and left aside, because it is deemed very "troublesome" and just inconvenient. And thankfully I don't.

I suppose I'm one of the luckiest people on earth who actually still has a painting of my great great grandparents! Yes you see it right, great great! They are from China, and they died there too I suppose. Because my great grandparents were the first people in the family who came over to Indonesia back many many years ago. And then my grandfather was born.

And I'm always curious. I always want to know the kind of life that my great great grandparents had. If I calculate correctly, they should be living in the 1800s in China. And it should be still in the ruling period of the Qing dynasty! Wow does this mean they're imperial officers or something haha. And not just my great great grandparents, but my ancestors above that! Where were they? What were they doing? I'm always curious. If I can time travel, I will definitely go back and check out my ancestors.

It's always amazing and scary to think about time. About our ancestors, the people who in a long and unique way, made who we are today. And I always ask myself questions too, like what if my great grandparents decided not to come to Indonesia. Well I wouldn't be here, my dad wouldn't be here. So yes, time, in its mysteriously beautiful ways, shaped our lives by the events that happened throughout the course of our lives. And it's pretty beautiful, to think of all these to be honest.

Yup, so... Take time to think about your ancestors. It's quite amazing to think of all these.