Insanity

It's the last day of June, and I am kind of glad that it's coming to an end. June has been... Such an intense and insane month for me. Financially, it is very stressful (refer to my previous posts back in the beginning of June). I am literally on the edge running the business, relying on my customers payment. But well I pulled everything out. With the help of some people, and the universe.

Although to be honest, I don't think I'll be at peace till Hari Raya comes. Or at least this Saturday when everything will fold to a beautiful end. Tomorrow we will harvest the flowers! Pretty excited about this. I will tell you more on Saturday I suppose, when all's good! I'm still gonna get busy.

Anyway I've been pretty busy for the past week. Lots of things happening and lots of things to settle. Thus I've been neglecting the blog and also my journal :l Well I feel rather guilty cause I think I haven't been writing on my journal for two weeks now :O I will write soon! This week has been so bustling really. I still got a couple of errands to do tomorrow but I'll finish it. No worries.

And as mentioned above, everything will come to a beautiful end on Saturday!

Okay before I forget again, let me share with you the great music of June :D

Great Music of June

- What's It Gonna be by Shura

- Make It Up by Shura

- A Deacon's Summer by Mondo Gascaro

- Text From Sweden by Yumi Zouma

- Yesterday by Yumi Zouma

- Gleymmerey by Boogie Trouble

- Dove by Pillar Point

- Ovedur by Sigur Ros

- Tempat Yang Indah by Classmate Journal 

So many great music this month! I'm quite blessed to have discovered them weee, Lets begin with Shura, who's gonna release her debut album in a week's time! I am so excited for her. She's truly my new favourite artist and I feel happy for her. She released two new music this month and they sound so damn good. I really can't wait for her album, which is probably going to be my album of the year.

Mondo Gascaro is an awesome musician from Indonesia and he's currently making a new album (I think). He released a new song; A Deacon's Summer, and it is such a wonderful song for the summer. He's truly an Indonesian gem! Another lovely Indonesian treasure I found is Classmate Journal. Discovered this new band from their new music video for their song Tempay Yang Indah. I love the lyric, I love the music, the melody and everything else. Looking forward to their EP/LP! :)

Yumi Zouma released their debut album in May, but I received their record in June and whew, I must say it's such an awesome album. I think it encompasses their elements and it's such a beautifully crafted album. I really hope that I can catch them live one day. I am currently hooked on Text From Sweden. And I am very sure that they will go far! This is a great and exciting beginning for them :)

Discovered Dove by Pillar Point via Majestic Casual and you should go watch the video! The video and the song is so on point. I love the appregios in the song, the synth and just the whole vibe of the song. And I think the music video of the song compliments each other very very well.

Sigur Ros released a new song! After 3 years, they're finally back. Ovedur is such a dark dark song... I'm not sure why but I feel a sense of warmth and reminiscence to the song. Maybe I took part on their live stream and that makes me miss Iceland. Hence the reminiscence. I think it's kind of a new material from them. I am very intrigued by their new album. Which I hope will come next year.

Alright that's all for now! Tomorrow marks the midpoint of 2016. Time flies eh. I hope you've had a wonderful first half of the year and an even more wonderful second half! See ya soon :)

Glastonbury

Currently listening to BBC Radio 2 live stream of Coldplay's set at this year's Glastonbury. And I so so wish that I am there right now. Instead of my room! I'd love to dance in the crowd! Glastonbury is definitely a festival goal for me. Together with Coachella, Iceland Airwaves and Lollapalooza! I am actually considering to go for next year's Glasto because... I think the timing will be right.

Anyway this is probably the closest I'll be in to Glasto and Coldplay (so far) hahaha. Thank you to technology for the live stream. Come to think of it isn't it amazing to be able to do this? To listen to a festival thousands of kilometres away on another different continent right in the comfort of your room. Although once again this is nothing compared to being there to experience the festival.

I'm still hoping and hoping and praying that Coldplay will come to Southeast Asia. Or at least Asia. I will gladly fly to another Asian country to catch them live actually haha. Well I almost bought a ticket for their Brisbane tour but... I think it's quite crazy haha. Plus I don't have the money! Currently broke. Still holding on to a hope, and continuously praying every night for them to come haha.

Watching Coldplay is one item from my things to do before I die. So let's hope I can make this a reality!

Route One

Sigur Ros just ended their 24 hour live stream of them going around Iceland via the famous Route One! I didn't follow the whole stream, just the beginning last night and the end of the stream just now. It was such a total Deja Vu moment for me. Passing through the roads I once drove on, the streets of Reykjavik, near Loft Hostel and so on. Thank you for the magical ride! It's amazing.

 I had hotdog here in Borgarnes!

Guess what, in fact, the bus stopped at a stop in Borgarnes, which is a place I stopped by too 2 years ago for toilet break haha. I even bought a hotdog and some drinks there hahaha.

Anyway sorry for not blogging last week. I've been pretty busy and I didn't have time to blog! Nevertheless here I am now. Things are getting pretty exciting because Hari Raya is nearing. It is always a busy time for us here haha. Right now I'm finalising stuff. 

Kinda stressful but well I'll get through everything.

 Takk Boogie Trouble!

Talking about Iceland - I was pretty surprised to receive a package from Iceland about 2 weeks ago. My sister Whatsapped me saying that I have a package from Iceland and I was like what? Since when did I have a friend there haha. Turned out it was the debut album of Boogie Trouble! Which is a band I discovered about 2 years ago. I joined their crowdfunding campaign for their debut album and alas they sent it to me. Pretty amazing huh. And I love their album as well :D

Still a bit sad with the fact that I missed their gig at Loft Hostel by one day!

The past two nights have been pretty sentimental to me. I miss Iceland! I wish I can go back there. Passing through the same streets I once walked on and roads I once drove on, pretty amazing feeling. Sigur Ros is such a genius. I love Jonsi's concept of the project. Which goes like:

"In a day and age of instant gratification and everything moving so fast, we wanted to do the exact opposite. Slow tv is counter-active to the world we live in, in that it happens in real time and real slow.”

Yup. I feel that time is moving way too fast too. 

Less Horrible

It's been two days since I read the news about the mass shooting at Pulse, a gay bar in Orlando, and I'm still left in shock. When I read the news on Twitter, it was breaking news and it only read as "mass shooting in Orlando". Then it got updated into "mass shooting in a gay bar in Orlando" and my heart just sank. It was only a day after Christina Grimmie got shot and died from her injuries. And this had to happen? It felt like a tiny part of this world just collapsed into the abyss. Gone forever.

I still couldn't and wouldn't understand why people need to kill other people. I don't get why we have to hurt one another. Why can't we all be nice to the people we come across with in this life. Before all of us leave our bodies behind, why don't we make full good use of this body to be kind to one another. Instead of using this body of ours to make someone unwillingly leave their bodies behind.

As I follow up on the news of the shootings I felt sick. I felt so disgusted and I feel like I've lost my faith in humanity. We are all the citizen of this world and I feel so urgh whenever I think about the fact that there are people who kill one another. Another fellow citizen of this planet. Out of what? Hate? Anger? Ego? I just couldn't fathom it really. I was just so frustrated that I couldn't sleep that Sunday night.

I couldn't fathom the fact that people love to add and create more suffering to other people in this world where we already have more than enough suffering. And I wish everyday that we can all be free of our suffering one day. Before I meditate, before I chant, that's what I wish my practice would give.

Ellen Page said in her coming out speech:

"This world will be a whole lot better if we just make an effort to be less horrible to one another"

I hope we can  all ponder on this statement for a while. And spend a bit more effort to make this world a better place. And this, I believe, is a collective effort that all of us have to do. Not just one or a handful of people. Everyone. And I really hope that we can make this world a better place.

Heaven was filled with rainbows that night. To everyone who lost their lives, may your beautiful fabulous souls rest in peace. Go on and paint the sky with rainbows. And tell them, love always wins in the end.

Take care everyone.

Reunion

 Happy Kuezhang Day!

I've been down with flu for the past 2 nights now. Wanted to blog last night but it was pretty bad. Blocked nose, dry eyes and itchy throat. Perfect package isn't it. Not sure if it's the change in weather pattern (it rains in the evening now, instead of the day) or maybe there's just some flu bug running around. But anyway, it was a great day yesterday! Cause it was Dragon Boat's Festival yesterday (no dragonboats though) and I also went for a mini reunion with my primary school friends here!

As usual we eat rice dumplings (bazhang) on this day. But now that I'm a vegetarian, I can't eat them as they either have chicken or pork inside haha. So I ate kuezhang instead (picture above). Which is just glutinous rice flour mixed with water, wrapped inside bamboo leaves and steamed. It's served with sugar but here we eat it with gula melaka syrup too. Which is really yummy. I had two for breakfast.

I really wonder if this tradition can go on in the future. Well I'll make sure it will definitely.

In the evening I went for a mini reunion with my primary school friends here. My friend, Nicky, is in Sukabumi for a short holiday. He studies in India and has just graduated, but he'll be working there soon. So it's a great time for us to meet up and get reunited together. The last time some of us met was in 2012 when Nicky was back in town as well. And I haven't met some in 14 years.

 Dinner // Reunion

It was just a nice and chill dinner session with them. Funny how we're all grown up now, some working, some trying to find work, some helping their parents and so on. It's just so weird to think that 14 years ago we were all small kids in uniforms running around. Well who would have thought that we'll be where we are now, or where we are not. Nevertheless it's good to see them again. I wish all of you the best in everything you do and I hope we can meet again for some food someday :)

I went home after that and did some calculations as usual. It was 11:30 PM when I finished but my body was having chills and my nose was blocked. So I went to take a bit of nap until about 12:20 and that's when my nose got severely blocked. Went to do more work for a while and I couldn't take it anymore. Slept on my bed till dinner and yup I was like okay I need to take some medicine haha.

I really hate getting flu cause it's super annoying when your nose is blocked heh. But anyway felt much better today, although I'm still having flu and blocked nose during random times of the day. Raw garlic really helps. I've eaten 8 cloves today. Apologies to my dad for bearing my awesome garlicky breath hahaha. I feel so bad cause he was covering his nose while doing work just now.

Alright that's all from me. I hope you had a great week and have a great weekend ahead!

Bye Android (For Now)

 

Goodbye (for now), Android

And so, I've decided to get myself... An iPhone 6! Haha. Well I'm going to say goodbye with Android for now. I was spoilt between the choice of Samsung S6, S7 or... Well I'm kind of paranoid but I was thinking of the new LG G5. But then hmm the price is rather expensive. Besides to be honest I'm kind of paranoid with Android phones now. Don't get me wrong, they are wonderful really. Well I just wanna try iOS I guess! I've been both an Android and Apple user anyway. Owning an iPad and iPod.

I've been an Android fanboy for 5 years. And what I love about Android is truly the diversity. One operating system with hundreds of phones to choose. Whereas for iOS there's only one brand of phone you can use. Although to be honest I've been a sucker for iOS. Because I love simplicity. So far LG is the phone that I find the simplest among the Android phones I've used. I would gladly get another G4, but knowing that I may receive another faulty model, why would I right?

Yes I'm guilty of making fun and being stubborn that Android > Apple. An example of a victim is my sister, who's been using iPhone since 2010 hah. She told me that this is my karma for making fun of Apple users hahaha. But now come to think of it... It's just a phone. I think we should all leave our pride behind. And create a harmonious and peaceful community of Appledroids. What.

So why iPhone you might ask? Yes like I mentioned above, I really love Apple's simplicity both in its layout and user's experience. It's pretty nice and smooth, as I've experienced from my iPod and iPad. And also since I got most of my music from iTunes, it's gonna be pretty convenient for me to transfer music too. I'm also very intrigued by the camera. There's something different about Apple cameras. But nope, I don't think it can be as awesome as my LG G4, sadly. But we'll see!

I used to brag about how convenient it is for Android users to get expandable storage and removable batteries. But then again, it seems like the future of phones is everything but expandable storage and removable battery. Because we're pushing for designs and stuff. So well can't brag about this anymore. And I'm fine with it. I think it's just the way technology is moving towards to.

It was rather a stressful night last night trying to salvage my contacts and messages. So thankful that there's the move to iOS app in Android that allows me to transfer my data to the iPhone. I actually put my phone inside the freezer and it did work! Giving about 15 minutes, just enough to salvage my contacts and messages. I was so relieved for this to happen whew! Because the phone died again just after I finished transferring the information. It's so stressful really. Glad everything worked out.

So far I've been kind of enjoying my time with the new iPhone. Well I'm used to the OS since I've been using my iPod and iPad. Kinda surprised to learn more tricks and tips on YouTube though. Oh well, goodbye for now Android. Maybe one day out paths will meet again, maybe I'll walk on the Apple path. Not sure how but for now, I'm going to make good use of my new phone.

Also, lesson learned: BACK UP x 1000

Brick

So just as I was bragging and feeling awed about my phone's camera being able to capture the beautiful night sky, it decided to turn into a brick last night! Okay so I was just charging my phone and unplugged it after it's fully charged. It then went to restart on its own so I was like okay maybe it's just a normal restart. But it just stayed on its "LG" start screen and it didn't turn into the home screen.

I tried taking off the battery and putting it back again. It still did the same as before. So I was okay maybe let me just leave it without battery for hours and... It's still the same. I searched online and apparently lots of LG G4 users are experiencing this too. I saw YouTube videos and people who commented that they are experiencing the same thing, commented within this month (or May).

After doing more research online, apparently it is indeed a product glitch and LG has announced it. So it's "officially" a product defect. Damn! People in the US are experiencing it and thankfully they can get replacements by their providers. However I saw some people commenting that even though they actually have a replacement, the same thing happened to their replacement phone after a few months!

There are some temporary solutions to the problems, but not many permanent ones. Unless you send it to LG to fix it once and for all. However some people were even denied warranty because apparently the phones are not made in their own country and they don't have international warranty or something.

I feel... Really upset. I'm not upset because my phone is spoilt but I'm upset because it's less than a year old! I bought in in early October last year and now this has to happen. And the worst part is I really really love this phone. It is literally the best phone I've ever used in terms of everything. Camera, battery life, performance and so on. And I'm so sad that this has to happen. I really hope that LG can fix this issue and it won't repeat again in future phones. Because I will gladly use LG again.

But as of now, I'm feeling kind of paranoid of using LG heh. I'll use you again in the future.

Don't judge me... But I've decided to go for an iPhone mwahaha. Okay lots of reasons to why I decided to jump ship. I've been an Android fanboy all my life (although I have an iPad and iPod). But oh well at the end of the day it's just...  A phone. Let's not make a big deal out of it.

My sister is currently in Jakarta so she called me just now if I want her to help me get one. With a heavy heart, I bought it. Because this is such an unexpected unnecessary purchase. If only all of this didn't happen. Thankful to my mum who decided to help me financially as an early birthday gift haha. 

Anyway the reason why I quickly bought a new phone is.. I feel really crippled without one. Not because of social media or stuff like that - but because I can't communicate with my customers and workers! Which is very very crucial to me. Thankfully we didn't do a lot of delivery today so everything was sorted rather easily. But still, I feel very crippled heh. I've decided to get a cheap phone as an emergency backup. It was rather chaotic last night, trying all my ideas and ways to communicate.

Well I suppose everything happens for a reason. I'm kind of thankful that this happened last night, on this day, on that moment. Can you imagine if my phone decided to die when I'm stranded in the forest or something haha. Or when I was in Tibet! That would be quite devastating. And I'm thankful to backup my files on my memory card. Although I'm still trying to find ways to import my contacts to my new iPhone later. Kinda found a way and I hope it'll really work.

Sometimes I just have no luck with technology. It's kinda funny how I always try my best to stay off-grid. But this incident just kinda shows how much crippled I can get without a phone. Although yes, I'm "crippled" in a sense that I can't communicate with the people I have to communicate with. 

Okay once I got my new phone, I'll tell you why I decided to jump ship.

Meteor Garden

 An accidental shot that turns out quite lovely

Taken with my trusty G4!

Don't judge me about the title! But well the above photo really reminds me of the lyric from the Meteor Garden song 流星雨 (Meteor Shower) that goes like: 陪你去看流星雨落在这地球上, 让你的泪落在我肩膀. Which means... Let me accompany you to watch the meteor shower falling on earth, to let you tears roll on my shoulder? Haha. It's so cheesy but it's so beautiful.

But anyway, I can't believe that it's been 15 years since this song was released! I remember those days when Meteor Garden was such a huge show here in Indonesia, starring F4. All the young people know how to sing the songs, they know the characters, we even have rivalries to prove which one is the better character and stuff. Those were the days, when we were so young and naive!

Fifteen years ago, I couldn't even speak, read and understand Chinese. We sang the song like as if we know how to speak Chinese haha. I can still remember we used to brag that we "know" how to speak Chinese because we know how to sing this song. That's kinda embarrassing.

It's kinda terrifying to really see how fast time has passed us by. Like 15 years ago I was still this 9 year old boy. In 15 years so much has happened to him and his world. So far time has been going faster and faster as I grow older. I'm pretty sure the next 15 years will feel like 5.

Anyway, the photo was taken with my LG G4! Manual mode, 30 seconds of exposure. I was at the farm last night and the sky was so clear. We've been having cloudy and misty nights for the past few weeks so I was quite blessed! I was annoyed because I didn't have my DSLR with me but then I remember I have manual mode on my phone! So I just take long exposures of the sky and the result was pretty pleasantly surprising. I didn't expect it to be this nice to be honest.

I'm always so fascinated by the universe. So I always enjoy staring at the night sky, and if given the chance, to capture it with my camera. It's pretty amazing to see the milky way. Actually last night, the sky was so clear that you can see glimpses of the milky way with your naked eyes! Amazing.

Alright that's all for now. I'm going to keep up with my blogging. June is here!

钱

I don't really like to talk about... Money. But well if you refer to my previous post, I'm currently experiencing some "problems" with money heh. Which really reminds me of a Chinese saying:

钱不是万能的, 但没钱是万万不能的

Which translates to: money isn't everything but without money, you can't do a lot of things.

Well it is very true actually, both parts of the saying. Money truly isn't everything in this life. It cannot buy happiness. Well it can buy you chocolate and chocolate gives endorphin and thus happiness haha. But you do get what I mean right. My dad always reminds me to never ever make money your destination. And well I have never ever thought of making it my destination. Because I believe that money is truly the root of evil heh. Although you might rebut by saying that it's greed.

My dad says that money is just a tool. An object that allows you to do some things. But you should never make it a "goal" in life. Or a destination as he puts it. Which I totally agree, like it's sort of a bridge I think? To let you do some things you want to do in life. Some things don't require money and some things can't even be done even if you have an unlimited amount of money. Like time and health.

You know there's a saying that goes like: you can buy the world's most expensive watch but you can't buy time. You can buy the world's most comfortable bed but you can't buy sleep. You can buy the world's most miraculous medicine but you can't buy health. Ayyy.

At the same time, when you don't have money, you realise that you can't do a lot of things. I won't go into details but yes, I realise how much "crippled" I am in some ways, now that I don't have enough money to get this and that. Not for me, but for the business. And that Chinese saying was ringing in my head as I am encountering this. Ah well, things are kind of working out thankfully.

I suppose this is what my dad means about never making money your destination. Because when you do, this search, this thirst for money will make you insane once you run out of them. You gotta be smart I guess. It reminds me of The Hobbit. How Thorin is so obsessed with gold.

Ah well. What a bittersweet world we live in. Perhaps money truly is the root of all evil.