Wednesday 31 July 2019

Super 8

Can't believe it's the end of July already. Every year goes by more and more quickly, it's terrifying! Well we shouldn't be surprised actually. I think that's how time work haha. 

Anyway time to share with you lots of great new music of July!

Great Music of July:
- Blue Sky In Your Head by Lighthouse Family (Album) (after 18 years!)
- Rouge by Yuna (Album)
- Weather by Tycho (Album)
- Pictured Resort by Pictured Resort (Album)
- Fever Dream by Of Monsters and Men (Album)
- Faith by Bon Iver
- Kids In The Dark by Bat For Lashes
- Mellow Medicine by Naoko Gushima

Song of The Month: Super 8 by Lighthouse Family

So, many, new, albums in this merry month of July! Not gonna talk about everything as usual. I will write a special post about the new Lighthouse Family album tho! Coming up soon.

Tycho released his new album Weather and I think it's a great album from him after 3 years! This is also his first album with vocals in it. I find it really ridiculous how some people wrote on his album release post about how adding vocals "was a mistake" or how he should "just stick to making instrumentals". I think every artists writes their music based on the freedom that they have to pour their creative output out, and not what fans want or don't want. I was a bit apprehensive too when he released "Pink and Blue" and said that the album will have vocals. But no, the album is just another great Tycho album with melancholic, luscious and smooth instrumentals, just with vocals in it. I'm digging it! <3

Discovered Pictured Resort from an Indonesian vinyl enthusiast that I follow on Instagram! PR is an indie-pop band from Japan but I think their music has a strong city pop vibes. The album is their sophomore album and it sounds amazing! Truly reminds me of 80s city pop. So thankful that I managed to discover them from him. Thank you @mugidingdong on Instagram! :D

OMAM also released a new album (finally) called Fever Dream. It's an album that I'm excited to listen to in 2019. I think they have fresh new sounds for this album, but still the same earthy OMAM energy that they carry in their music. Some of my favourites from the album is Wars, Stuck in Gravity, Vulture Vulture. I read from their page that they just have a new studio made and thus they're experimenting with new sounds etc. I hope I can catch them in this new album tour.

New songs from Bon Iver and Bat for Lashes made me feel excited for their new albums coming out later in this year too! And I'm exicted for Shura's new album next month whoop whoop.

Alright that's all for this month's great music. 4 more months to dicovering new music. I hope July had been treating you well. Here's me wishing you an Awesome August! Take care and see ya.

Sunday 28 July 2019

Where You Are

So as I mentioned in a previous post, a month ago my dad had a fall and it was quite bad that he needed some stitching. After 2 weeks his stitching was removed and now we're just waiting for the wound to heal and dry up! I think he might remove the plaster tomorrow whoop whoop.

I wanna talk about something quite... Interesting? That happened on that night where my dad fell.

Okay so my dad fell when he was bathing. Usually I would also bathe as he bathes, and I'll go back to my room to shower. On that night, as usual, I went back to my room to bathe. I grabbed my towel and just as I was about to enter the bathroom, I stepped on hmm okay I'm not sure what to call it in English. But you know termites would eat up wood and they would dig the wood, and threw out the chewed up wood outside. So yes, I stepped on those wood diggings from them.

I was felling annoyed because actually a few hours before, I was clearing up some termite diggings on the same exact spot. So before I went inside the bathroom, I went to clear that spot. Took some tissues and clear them slowly. As I was clearing them, that's when I heard a loud thud and my dad shouting. I quickly went to my house's bathroom and that's when I found my dad sitting on the toilet floor, with blood on the floor. I was so shocked! But when he replied to my mum and I, and even stood up again after that, I knew he's okay (I thought he was going unconscious or something).

So yeah can you imagine if those termite diggings were not there as I was about to step inside my bathroom? Can you imagine if I didn't step on them and just went to bathe as per normal? Well eventually I found out that he's okay (despite the torn skin). But if I were to bathe straight away, I wouldn't be able to respond to my dad's calling quickly. And yeah, things could go awry.

This whole incident reminds me of the story about how some people survived 9/11 because of "unfortunate" events that happened to them before work. How some people woke up late because of a faulty alarm, cause of a car that won't start, and because it was his turn to get coffee for the office. And the end of the article says something along the line of: the next time you are stuck in an unpleasant situation, be aware that you're supposed to be here in this very moment.

So yeah even though I was annoyed that the termite diggings made their way back to my room, I am glad that they gave me some time to clean them up, so that I can respond to my dad's fall.

I'd like to close this post with one of my favourite quotes by Robin Esrock from his TedTalk:

"Where you are, is where you're supposed to be"

Saturday 27 July 2019

Vegan Festival Indonesia 2019

Vegan Festival Indonesia 2019 at Mall Taman Anggrek

Not only did I go for We The Fest last weekend, I also went to this year's Vegan Festival Indonesia at Mall Taman Anggrek with Chris! Felt lucky to have the festival happening in the same weekend as WTF. I've always wanted to go for the festival but I couldn't make it last year as it clashed with something. So it was a great opportunity I guess. But seriously, you have to go for at least 2 days because there were too many food options to try! I only managed to try a few.

Or to be exact, just 4 food for me in the festival hahaha.


First up we have Bakmi Ahuat! This is one of the best, or probably the best vegan bakmi I've eaten. Although to be frank it tasted different from the one I ate last year straight from the shop. But I think it still tastes awesome. Also kudos to the organiser for choosing banana leaves on top of plates instead of just plastic containers. They actually encouraged the visitors to bring their own containers. I did bring mine to bring home some vegan cakes haha. Cake reviews later in the post :P


Next up with have ivegan pizza. They're a famous vegan pizza restaurant in Jakarta and I've been wanting to try their pizza! But like I said above, after Bakmi Ahuat I was so full already that I just tried one of their flavours - which is the smoked beef. Man, finally I can eat pizza without worrying that I'll get a pimple breakout from the dairy products like cheese haha. The pizza tastes good. The smoked "beef" really have a nice smoky flavour. I think I need to visit them again :)


For dessert we have Icekim, which is a vegan ice cream shop/producer, made using almond milk! I did try their ice cream at Dharma Kitchen last time. Haven't tried their green tea flavour and it's really nice and creamy! I don't really like the "weird" taste that some vegan ice cream have, especially when it's made using almond milk. But Icekim ones taste just like a normal ice cream! Creamy, not too sweet, and the green tea flavour hits the spot too. Not too strong nor too weak.

Special mention goes to Burger Vegtory for their mushroom burger! I had the black pepper burger which was made using a breaded mushroom. It tastes alright, just that I find it a tad too salty.


I bought home some vegan cakes from Rumah Juliet, which is a vegan patisserie in Jakarta and oh my goodness they taste so good! I bought some for my mum (thankfully they have gluten free options) and siblings. I haven't had cakes in a long time and wow their cakes are so awesome! Love the brownies and the doughnuts too. Especially the cinnamon one. The chocolate doughnut is also awesome. I need to visit them again and try more. I wish I can buy each of their cakes from the festival hahaha.

Alright that's all for the Vegan Festival Indonesia! Had such a lovely Saturday with Chris eating and also catching up on life over lunch at Common Grounds Coffee after the festival. Thank you for the book! Hope to see you again soon in the near future. And I hope I can go for the 2020 Vegan Festival Indonesia. It's like the only place I can eat my heart out without worrying that it's not vegan heh :P

Friday 26 July 2019

We The Fest 2019!

Yearly escapism of the mind. Thank you We The Fest

I think We The Fest has become a yearly affair for me, now that I've went for 3 consecutive years! Although as usual I just went for one day haha. Can't really afford to go for three days. Well now it's become a July event (2017 one happened in August) and I've been taking it as a birthday present for myself haha. This year's lineup was quite okay, even though I couldn't manage to catch all the acts I wanted to see. I went for day one this time round, cause there are 3 acts I wanna see!

Two are artists that I've been wanting to see for almost 5 years! They are Alvvays and Jai Wolf. 

Anyway I went for the festival at 7 PM ish this time cause Alvvays and Jai Wolf were playing at night. As usual I walked around the festival ground to see the layout and everything. Very important cause I'm moving between stages haha. I ate some food before the festival cause I knew there won't be any vegan option. And I was right! Sort of. There's a juice bar there hahaha.

All the way from Canada, Alvvays!

Alright so the first band that I caught was Alvvays and oh my goodness I am finally seeing them live after 5 years! And damn their set was so so good. I had a good time dancing and singing to their songs. Thankfully they played quite a few songs from their first album, which is one of my favourite albums from 2014. The crowd was awesome too, we were all rocking to their music. Had a great time rocking it out with Next of Kin which was their closing song. So good!

I was literally on a juice cleanse guys haha

Next I walked around the festival ground while waiting for Jai Wolf set which was 1 hour later after Alvvays' set. As there was no vegan option, I went to drink a few bottles of juice from the juice bar haha. So I was literally on a juice cleanse! And of course not forgetting the beer too.

Jai Wolf bringing us on an epic journey

Next up was Jai Wolf, and he's one of my favourite electronic music producers that I discovered from his song Indian Summer back in 2015! I've been wanting to see him live and whew his set was so mind blowing. Before his set he said to us: Jakarta are you ready to go on a journey? And boy he did really bring us on an epic journey! I can feel his passion and his pulse moving through his whole set. And to close the set with Indian summer was truly such an ethereal experience. 

Thank you so so much for coming to Jakarta. I hope to see you again one day!

I'm living for your every move, Troye

And... Surprise surprise. The gay gods have blessed me to see Troye Sivan Live TWICE this year! Yup he's the 3rd artist I wanted to see in WTF. But meh the rundown times was quite bad. His set started during Jai Wolf set so I only managed to catch 1/3rd of this set. But it's okay! I did catch him live in Singapore with Brenda and I had a good time dancing with the Indonesian crowd whoop!

Alright that's all for this year's WTF. Well I think I'm getting old for music festivals haha. Okay I'll write another post for this. But yes I had a great Friday at WTF last week. It's always good to lose yourself to music sometimes. And to go to a place where the music is louder than the noise in your head.

Wednesday 17 July 2019

Twenty Seven

Thanks to Baros United Fam!

Hello, man, I am officially no longer able to call myself someone in his mid-twenties, but now I am someone in his late twenties hahaha. Officially 27 today and whew I feel old! Funny how I used to tell myself that I don't want to feel old on my birthdays anymore because well, we are all growing old. Nothing can stop time for moving forward, and nothing can stop us from growing too.

But well, I hope I become wiser as I get older. I don't really know what to feel anymore after each birthday. I just wish for great health and more wisdom. And of course, as always, to be more mindful at all times. I no longer wish for happiness. Mindfulness is way cooler than that haha.

Anyway today was just another ordinary day. Thankful for the dinner (or lunch for me) that my family organised at my uncle's cafe to celebrate my uncle's belated and my birthday! And thank you to everyone for your wishes, presents and everything else. Appreciate it so much :D

I don't know how to put turning 27 into words. Life feels weird to me these days. 

Nevertheless, here's to surviving another revolution around the sun on this weird and beautiful world.

Sunday 14 July 2019

Mood. Where art thou

I'm gonna be honest with you, I find it harder and harder to make myself blog haha. Ever since the Lebaran holiday I guess! I am addicted to resting now. I used to put Saturday as my blogging and journaling day, along with music playing on the record player, or the trusty laptop. Now, I don't even journal on Saturdays haha. I pushed it to Sunday, or if I have the mood and drive, it's done on Saturday. I turn Saturday into music nights now. I just play records and chill. Like literally.

I don't even surf the web, I don't read articles. It's quite a blissful experience to be honest. I love how I become more rested at the end of each session. And yeah, after every session, I lost all my feels to blog, journal and so on. I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, of course. Everyone deserves a break.

I definitely won't neglect this blog tho, that's for sure. I think I'm gonna stick to the 100 posts a year.

I think I need to go back to 2014 maybe, where I dedicate a day to just blog. And I should go back to making lists of the posts I want to write. Or back to dedicating monthly special posts, like music, food etc. Well I'm gonna blog more often in July. It's a favourite month of the year anyway.

Okay I'm gonna head to bed now. I am pretty excited for this week. Kind of been waiting for this week to come for months now so yep. You have a great week too! And a splendid other half of July.

Saturday 6 July 2019

Buzz

Haven't been blogging here again, for quite a long time, well the past week has been really happening. Thus the title of this post: I feel like my mind has been buzzing here and there throughout the week hah. Anyway yeah here I am, let me give you a bit of an update. Or lots of it.

To begin with, my dad had a fall last Saturday night. It was quite serious that my brother and I had to bring him to the hospital as he needed some stitching. He also did an X-Ray but thankfully everything is normal. He just had a slight fracture on his nose but it's not of a huge concern. After he got stitched up, we went back home at 4:30 AM. I'm just glad everything went smoothly and nothing serious (except for the stitch) happened to him. And he's recovering well now, with his wound drying nicely.

And then on Tuesday, I fell sick by catching the flu bug. I think I got it from my dad who was having flu and sore throat on last weekend. On Monday night (Tuesday dawn), I began to sneeze a lot and felt slightly feverish. I went to spam some chamomile but when I woke up on Tuesday, I began having chills and my nose were runny. And on Tuesday evening, I had a fever. 

Then on Thursday I woke up with a very itchy throat. Urghh, just when I thought I had recovered from my flu with the fever and runny nose gone, my throat decided to betray me haha. Was feeling better yesterday on Friday but today, I woke up with chills again. Gosh, dear virus please make up your mind. Feeling okay now, just that I still have the occasional itchy throat. And random coughing fits.

I always don't like it when I'm having a fever cause I know there's nothing I can take to heal it. Apart from drinking water, resting and chamomile really helps for me. I actually drank like 5 cups of chamomile from Thursday - today! Well from my improving condition (except for today), I think there is something about chamomile really haha. Please give it a try! But yeah whenever I have a fever I always subconsciously go into "panic" mode, constantly asking myself if it will go down or not.

Alright, I hope this is just a bad start of a Jubilant July. Few things are happening in this favourite month of the year for me. I think we know why haha. Okay I hope that you're going to have a Jubilant July too! Take care and I will see you soon alright. I have a few posts coming up weeee.