Bye Bye Blogtober

Oh goodness here we are now, the last day of October! Which also means it's the last day of Blogtober 2021. And probably the last time I'll ever do Blogtober HAHAHA. Okay maybe not, perhaps I won't do it next year. Cause seriously, this year has been so hectic and busy, I didn't enjoy this Blogtober at all. So yeah if life gets less busy next year then I'll probably do it again! So lets see.

Anyway this whole Blogtober has prove yet once again that I cannot force myself to blog/write. And how writing everyday isn't really a good idea! But but, I am actually inspired by Marcus Aurelius and I'm thinking of writing everyday next year. Inspired by his Meditations haha. But now it's not like a page-long post kinda things. Just to write whatever there is on my mind. Perhaps when I wake up.

So yeah, I guess that's all for Blogtober 2021. Probably the least enjoyed Blogtober I've ever done. Sorry T_T but yeah I was just finding it hard to keep up with the posts.

Anyway, I hope you had an awesome October. We're down with the last two months of the year. So lets seize the year now! Wishing everyone a Neat and Nurturing November. See you soooon.

Sunset

Lying underneath the stormy skies,
I know the sun must set to rise

October's Leaving

We're down to the last 2 days of October. Is it me or has time flown in a weird and erratic way in 2021? It is as if.... I don't have much memories with this year. Like there's not much "exact" or "accurate" memories that I have of this year. All I remember is... July was a horrible month for Indonesia. As for the other months... It feels very wavy and blurry. Hahaha. Perhaps I'm just busy.

But for real though, this year has been way so hectic! I couldn't catch a breath. I wish there's just a way to slow things down, or perhaps for me to catch some breath. Hopefully soon by the year end. I feel like now things are settling down slowly. And we're just reaping what we sow in the earlier in the year. 

I'm not gonna lie, the 2020s so far have been pretty challenging. And somedays I just wonder when things will get easier. Perhaps we all need a miracle. Or perhaps we're just meant to go through whatever we're going through. And eventually things will work out. In the best outcome for everyone.

Well, here's to the last two months of the year! Lets go baby. 

Sustain

Okay, this might be the last time I'm going to do Blogtober. Because I cannot sustain it anymore T_T Okay well I'm just so busy this week that I actually never had the chance to blog every night. In fact I just managed to write this week's worth of blogs today. But like I mentioned, it's the end of the month where I get so busy. There's always things to do at night. Seems like neverending.

I find it funny how I can't wait for the end of month to pass. But then again, another end of month is dawning upon us heh. I guess I'll just have to live in the moment.

Invisible Front

Another music post tonight since I'm quite busy. A new EP from Olafur Arnalds was released also on Friday! This is actually a collection of old songs but they are now released into the world. It's a beautiful EP as always. This song is so beautiful. I'm not sure how but there's something about Olafur's music that really reminds me of a place I've never been before. Like a memory but.... Somewhere, a place. Perhaps I've been before. In my dreams, or past life.

Always

Rufus du Sol just released their new album on Friday and it's so good! I'm currently obsessed with this song from the new album - Always. It reminds me a lot of their amazing song from their debut - Innerbloom. Been listening to this song at night to wind down and it's just so good.

I really hope I can see them live one day!

Monday

It's gonna be a really busy week - cause it's the end of the month! I've been preparing myself for this haha. I think it's just become a norm for me (and us) that we'll be busy for the end of the month. 

So godspeed, let's go. 

Eternity

Some days feel like an eternity
Whatever I'm going through
The path I'm walking through
Seems to never end

Yet some days I'm reminded

That nothing is eternal

I wonder when the pain would stop

If we'll ever make a breakthrough

If whatever I'm going through

Will be worth it in the end.

Saturday

Just another random update post I guess. So as mentioned last week I've been waking up early on Saturday for the Buteyko breathing workshop for the past 7 weeks. Now that I've done the workshop, it feels weird to not wake up early on Saturday haha. But today I still woke up early cause I fell asleep early last night. In fact, my sleeping pattern has been pretty erratic lately. It's not fixed!

On some days I would sleep earlier. Or I would fall asleep unknowingly, earlier hah. On some other days I would sleep at the usual ungodly hours. I thought I was having a new fixed sleeping pattern. But then not really. The problem is I need to wake up early on some days, and on some other days, I don't. So on the latter days, I usually sleep a little later. Perhaps I need to sort out my schedule first hah.

But I must say waking up earlier has its perks, and also downsides. The perks is that I get to do work and at night, I'm left with more free time. The downside is, I have less time to do the things that I usually do at night. Like journaling, surfing through YouTube and even Netflix. 

I mean I could do this in the day/morning. But you know it, it just feels different to do it at night. Perhaps it's because I've been doing this at night. So it feels weird to have a change in scenery/habit. But journaling at night just feels better. It's quiet, it's dark, I feel more "free" to journal and blog at night as compared to the day. Although currently I've been setting aside Saturday night as my journaling nights. That is provided I... Don't fall asleep again haha. Cause I usually do.

Nowadays I even fall asleep while listening to my vinyl records. Which is kinda a good thing? In fact I usually fall asleep to music now. I would play music on the speaker and switch my Spotify to Offline mode (so that the radio won't play) and then just unknowingly fall asleep. 

Alright that's all for this mini sleeping pattern update haha. I will see you again soon.

Time To Fall

Another music post today. This time is from a Enfant Sauvage, AKA Guillaume Alric who is half of The Blaze. About a month ago, he announced his solo project and released a song called Silent Love. The video for Silent Love is so so beautiful. This is the 2nd part of the trilogy and it's also another beautiful video. I love the ending shot of this video where the man falls asleep on the shoulder of the lady. And as the lady looks out of the window. That shot is amazing really.

Can't wait for the 3rd video and of course the whole album which is out next month! 

Vood

Right as promised in my previous post, here's a post dedicated to the vegan food I ate in my trip to Bandung mwahaha. Since it's only a day trip I didn't try many. But at least I managed to try one food that I've always wanted to try! Follow through the post.

First of all I just wanna thank my cousin and aunt for providing vegan food at the reception mwahaha. There's pumpkin soup and pasta with marinara sauce. Thankful for these vegan options <3

This is the vegan food I've been wanting to try. It's Eath Plantbased and they sell FRIED CHICKN! Oh my goodness haha. Their fried chickn is really really good. Best fried Chickn ever! I bought the cajun spiced and garlic parmesan flavour. Together with their honey mustard and ranch sauce dip. They are just so damn good. The dipping sauce is really good too. I can't wait to try the other flavour!

Look at this fried chickn with their honey mustard sauce! It's so good I finish them in one go haha.

And to wash it all off I have Burgreens brown sugar mylk boba. It's my first time drinking brown sugar boba and it's good I must say! I love the nuttiness of the foam. And they use vegan whipped cream which I believe is my first time having it too. I wanna try their earl grey mylk tea!

And last but not least I bought their fried chicken tenders home to have it for dinner haha. It's pretty yummy too. Love the chili sauce that comes with it. Burgreens is a go-to place for vegan food. Hope to return to try their other food. The last time I went there was in 2018 goodness haha.

Alright that's all from me today. It's not a trip out of town without me trying vegan food! I can't wait to travel again and go out of town to try more vegan food. Funny how I've been following all these restaurants and cafes on IG but I never get to try them hah. But I will one day :P

Skies Clearing

I love seeing skies clear up after the rain. It's like the sky telling me.

"Everything's gonna be okay in the end" 

Taken today after an afternoon of rain

596 Days (Part II)

So yeah as mentioned previously, it feels rather weird and good to travel again after 596 days. As mentioned in the previous post, the last time that I ever went out of town was on 29 February 2021. It was for Java Jazz. That's like almost 2 years of not going out of town! Haha.

Well normally I didn't go out of town often either. I only go out of town if there's concerts, or if I'm traveling abroad. Or of course the usual weddings and also business trips. After the pandemic hit I have never went out of town. Out of fear of my health and also yeah you know it. 

The COVID situation in Indonesia has improved a lot in the past few weeks. Cases are decreasing a lot. We still have about 1000 cases everyday (sometimes lower than that). I see many people are traveling again. I think Bali was packed last weekend too. And international travel has resumed on the 14th (albeit with not many international tourists visiting us). Things are kinda looking up. Even though news of a possible 3rd wave is coming in December. I hope we are so totally wrong this time haha.

I think the pandemic has taken a toll on many of us. And yes it's sad to think about the huge negative impact that the tourism sector faced in the past (almost) 2 years. So it's great to see things opening up again. Although at the same time I'm wary of the possibility of a new wave with the eased restrictions and traveling of people. But yes, PCR and antigen tests are still a requirement for travel.

The world has changed a lot in the past 1.75 years. And sometimes I wonder if it'll change forever. 

Like I mean... I still feel wary somehow of traveling out. And I wonder when will I stop feeling this way? Or will I feel like this forever haha. Oh gosh I hope not. But yep, I am still looking forward to the day we can all travel freely again. I don't mind wearing masks when on the plane. But I hope I can take it off when I'm out of the plane haha. I can't wait to go back to Singapore again to see my friends. It's been almost 2 years since I last went back! I miss SG so much.

Well, here's to the future of traveling. It's a lot to take in sometimes, when you look forward to that day. The world has changed and it will continue to change. But will our love and thirst for travel be changed too? How will we step inside this whole new world soon? Hmm.

Of Pandemic and Weddings

Right so let me just talk about yesterday's wedding trip to Bandung a bit more!

So yes my cousin Iyo held his wedding reception yesterday. Congratulations to him and Melissa! <3 

The reception was supposed to be held in June. But back in June we had a surge in cases and Bandung was heightened to a red zone (like 2 days before the wedding). So back in June they just held the holy matrimony with their immediate families and the reception was postponed to a later date. Thankfully the COVID situation has improved a lot in the past few weeks and the government allowed (large scale) weddings again back in early October I think.

So I left my hometown at 6 AM ish after fetching my sister and the nephew. It was a rather smooth trip to Bandung with bits of jams here and there. I swear it feels kinda weird to travel again. I mean 596 days of not traveling out of my hometown haha. Reached Bandung at about 9 AM. The nephews reunited and went for a swim while I went to my sister's room to take a really short nap.

Mind you I have not slept a wink on the previous night!

After that the tea ceremony was held at 10:30. I didn't join but I just went down with my aunts, uncle and siblings to see it. After that the ceremony started at 12 PM! Okay health protocols were very tight in the event. Temperature checks, vaccination checks and what I love the most: Social distancing haha. The tables were separated widely so it feels very spacious. Everyone was wearing masks except when we're eating. No handshakes and so on but we could take photos. So it was great!

Also I think they only use like.... 30-50% of the ballroom capacity. There were a lot of space. Like a lot.

The reception ended at 2 PM. We took some photos and we went back to my sister's room to head back home. Before heading back home I took the chance to buy some vegan goodies! 

Okay maybe more of this on another post. #lazyme

Yup I think that's all for that wonderful Sunday! Once again congratulations to my cousin Iyo and Melissa for their wedding reception. Welcome to the Baros united family mwahaha. May you both have a blissful marriage, and all the best for the new chapter ahead!

Alright see you on another post.

596 Days

Right hello! I just got back from Bandung today. Well not exactly just got back but yes I went to Bandung today for my cousin's wedding! Got back home a few hours ago. Can you believe it, I finally took a trip out of town after 596 days! The last time I went out of town was 22 February 2020 for Java Jazz. Since then, I have never left my hometown haha. It feels weird and good to travel again.

Okay really tired right now so I'm going to save more for another post. Talk to you soon!

Breathe

Hello, it's another morning post from me! I woke up early today to attend my last online class for a Buteyko breathing course. In fact I've been waking up early on Saturday mornings for the past 7 Saturdays for this full course. It's been an interesting course so far and now I have learned a new knowledge about breathing heh. And I hope I can incorporate this into my life forward.

Personally I've always been intrigued with the human breath. As an avid meditator, I've learned to watch my breath. And ever since then I've always been interested with this mechanism of the human body that really keeps us alive. And when you think about it, our breath is one of the things we can consciously control. We cannot control our heartbeat, the movement of our organs or the firing of neurons. But we can control our breath. So there's something special and intriguing about it.

I've actually tried doing the Wim Hof method last year. It's also a powerful exercise, but this year I came across the Buteyko breathing training and I'm interested about it too. They're kiiiiind of similar, I mean both involve the control of our breathing but yeah different methods. I took the basic course back in April and have been practising it since then. It's only back in September that I joined the full course. The full course has more options and also deeper training as well.

So according to some studies and people sharing their experiences with the method, it is deemed to have the ability to improve our well being, and even improve some conditions (like asthma etc). The interesting thing is that.... Perhaps why and how I can get through Covid without any severe symptom, is this breathing method that I've been practising? It might be one of them.

I mean okay apart from me eating a plant-based diet, drinking turmeric water everyday, practising Buteyko, taking cold shower in the morning. I believe one of these habit (or all of them) definitely contribute to my prognosis. Okay I'm no expert in explaining how Buteyko helps in the improvement of the immune system or something like that but it has to do with one simple thing: breathing through our nose. It has shown to have many benefits. Like increasing Nitric Oxide intake!

And there are lots of studies showing how Nitric Oxide is a powerful gas that helps to fight infection. So yeah maybe it does help with my infection. Nevertheless I definitely want to make this a part of my daily life. Even though I'm not gonna practise it as often as when I began the course.

Alright that's all from me now. Special thanks to Pak Gobnd and Bu Adel for the course and teachings! If you're interested please check Buteyko method out. Hope you can give it a try too.

Music of The Spheres

Happy Music of The Spheres day everyone! So I just gave this album a listen last night and wow wow wow. Okay this is definitely Coldplay's most adventurous album. I mean... We have electronic pop, a choral piece, a rock anthem (this song), a pop banger with BTS and to close this album off, a 10-minute ballad. Pretty pretty diverse and ambitious but well that's Coldplay ladies and gentlemen!

My favourite song from the album is definitely this song above. People of The Pride. The day is finally here, the day Coldplay writes a rocking gay anthem mwahaha. I love the lyrics of this song as it really reflects the current situation of the world. I think it doesn't only apply to the LGBTQ community but also to everyone who's fighting for justice. So kudos to that Coldplay.

If Chris Martin says at the end of their AHFOD tour that this is only just the beginning, I am so excited for what's coming ahead for the band. I hope you enjoy this album too!

The Return

It's Thursday and it's an exciting one too. Simply because so many artists/bands are making a comeback tomorrow haha. We have Coldplay with their awaited new album "Music of The Spheres". Then Aquilo with their new album "A Safe Place To Be" and last but not least, Adele is finally releasing a new single after 6 years tomorrow too! Seems like tomorrow is a great day to release music hah.

I think 2021 has been a great year of comebacks for music. So many bands/artists released/are releasing new music and some of them even drop surprise albums haha. I'd say it's a special treat for us music lovers to have new music and to have our favourite musicians releasing new albums. Especially in this tough year. At the end of the day, music is still some sort of escape for us.

Alright I'm gonna spend tonight listening to these new albums and music. Will write more soon!

Happen

“Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you." - Epictetus

I'm currently reading Stoicism For Inner Peace: Ancient Philosophy for Everyday Life by one of my favourite Youtube Channels Einzelganger. So far it's been an enjoyable read! I will share with you my thoughts about it soon. In the meantime, I came across this quote in the book and it's such a comforting sentence to come across with. I really love Stoicism! 

沖縄からの風

Another short music post. Current earworm which I discovered on Spotify's release radar playlist. Such a beautiful song. I'm not sure what genre does this music belong to but it sounds like Japanese folk-pop? Cause I hear elements of Okinawan folk tune in it. Lovely song.

Ideas

Today was rather a productive day. Went to a meeting and discussed lots of great ideas. I hope it's a start of something great, and a light at the end of the tunnel. May what we aspire become our achievements! This year has been a year of learning. Learned many things, exchanged ideas and squeezed my brain out. It's quite challenging but I think that's what living is all about. 

Just making sure we pull through everything. And make our way through here and there.

Let's pull through this.

Self Care

I know I'm probably going to get flagged for saying this. But sometimes, a bottle of Soju and a can of beer is a form of self care. Photo from last night. When I got a good drink. 

Local Valley

Hello, back again for another music review/post in this Blogtober. Today I will be talking about one of my favourite albums of 2021, and also one of the most anticipated albums of 2021 for me! 

It's none other than Jose Gonzales' Local Valley. When Jose released El Invento back in February, his return was really something... Comforting? I'm not sure what to call it, but yeah it's been quite long since he released new music so it was kind of a respite to have him back.

I discovered Jose back in 2014 after watching Walter Mitty. His song "Step Out" actually soundtracked my trip to Iceland in the same year. I went to listen to the rest of his discography and really fell in love with his music! So this album is truly something I was anticipating a lot in 2021.

The singles from the album have been incredible and I just couldn't wait for the album to arrive. To me this is such a beautiful album. I was a bit puzzled and intrigued to why he named the album "Local Valley". But after listening to his explanations in an KEXP interview, how Local Valley refers to earth, this place in the universe. And the title track of the song refers to two tribes not being able to talk with each other, and not being able to see other tribes nearby living in harmony.

I feel this whole theme is so familiar in today's world. The pandemic has really divides us into "two tribes". Anti vaxxer vs vaccinated people. Conspiracy theorist (and basically people who spread hoaxes) and people who believe in science. There's this whole divided conversation between these two groups but the ignorance from the other group really shadows these whole groups.

Personally I love this album because it arrives at the right time. These whole 1.5 (soon 2) years of pandemic have really made me contemplate a lot. Contemplate a lot about life, and this whole mystery that we're living in. And I think this album really provides that platform for us to contemplate. 

The first single El Invento is still my favourite form the album. The chorus speaks a lot about what I'm feeling above. The lyric of the chorus is translated as "Tell me why is it so, tell me where you're going, tell my where we're from, tell me why is it so, and tell me why". 

These are the same questions I've been asking myself in this pandemic. I feel like as we went through the pandemic, I asked myself how did we land ourselves in this position. Why are we here, on this planet. Why and how do we allow this to happen and take over our lives. These are the questions I've been asking myself and I still haven't found the answers to them. So yeah.

And his song "Visions"? Wow that is truly a masterpiece that talks about the whole pandemic!

So yeah personally this is such a wonderful album for humanity. For all of us, to contemplate on what has been going on for the past 1.5 years. And personally it's truly a beautiful album to really accompany us. Although I'm probably gonna be reminded of the whole pandemic when I listen to this album in the future hahaha. But that's music for me. It's a time machine that brings me to a certain point in time.

Alright that's all from me now. It's Saturday and I feel more free. I have time to write more stuff haha. Maybe I should do a music review every Saturday. We'll see how it goes. See you soon!

Afternoon

Sorry folks, was really tired last night that I didn't write at all. Woke up earlier today and I'm just done finishing some work so here I am writing on the blog! So yeah as you can see I kinda have a new habit now. I actually slept at about 2-3 AM last night. Can't remember the exact time. I woke up at 10:30 just now, with an occasional wake-ups at about 5-7 AM. And then I finish up some work till now.

On one hand I kinda like this new habit of mine, as I get to sleep earlier and also wake up earlier. Although at the same time I kinda miss the night. But these days life become so busy that I don't have much time to do things I like at night. Most of the time I feel really tired and worn out by the end of the night that I just go to bed straight away. That explains my lack of presence in this blog.

Well I guess I just need to find a new balance, as always. We're always bound to have a new habit and we'll get used to it. I think life is all about finding balance in everything.

Alright that's all from me now. Gotta go shower.

Tired

Sorry folks I really have no mood to write. Just tired. 

Slither of Hope

Was making my way to the temple today in the evening. The sky looks dark and overcast but along the way I see a streak of pink in the sky. And as I continued to drive, the pink gets brighter and brighter and boom, there was this big patch of pink in the sky. The sky looks gorgeous really. 

I don't know. I'm just suddenly thinking of hope. There's a slither of hope that can appear out of nowhere. Just like this patch of pink clouds that appear out of the dark and overcast sky. 

Reclamation

 

First music post!

Recently discovered Brandee Younger from Spotify. I was listening to Nubya Garcia's Pace when the radio plays on and this song was playing. I thought Brandee was another saxophone artist but when I found out she plays the harp, I was blown away! As if playing harp is not already difficult, now she plays jazz with it. She is such an incredible player really. Glad to have discovered her! 

Open Space

I miss being in wide open spaces
I miss being in places I've never been in
I miss breathing in the air of strange lands
I miss seeing the unfamiliar

Even though I'm traversing through
the unfamiliarity of life itself

Somewhere in Inner Mongolia // 2011

This Is What The Living Do

Hello! Here's my Blogtober entry for the day. I decided to try doing one of the Isolation Journal (IJ) prompt for today. And I do this by generating a random number and seeing which prompt the number lands on my folder haha. Today's number is 72! 

Your prompt is:
This is what the living do...

Use this line from Marie Howe's poem an inspiration - perhaps as the opening sentence of your journal entry, or as a poetic refrain. Reflect on the mundane; revel in the glorious everyday details of living.

This is what the living do
Living in the comforting illusion
of the ebb and flow of ignorance
Floating on the sea of suffering
But not asking for help
Not save themselves

This is what the living do
Doing everything they could
To try and prove their worth
To try and tell they're right
Even though they're wrong
Without knowing, without thinking

This is what the living do
Thinking they own this planet
When it's the planet that owns them
Exploiting the hell out of it
Without realising they're releasing
hell from doing it.

This is what the living do
Hating each other,
With no logical reason
whatsoever
Living in an imaginary fear
Of the false things they hear

This is what the living do
But we can always change
We can always improve
What we do wrong
There's time to save ourselves
Only if we want to

Blogtober 2021

Right as mentioned yesterday, I might do something crazy this month.

I'm going to attempt Blogtober this year!

Yes to make up for the lost posts that I should be writing in the last two months, I think it's a good idea to do this challenge. Also I hope my "more humane" sleeping patterns are going to make this a breeze. Also perhaps I need to go back to blogging. Not gonna lie, I kinda miss blogging!

Anyway there are no rules for this year's Blogtober. I'm not going to write a list of posts to write, but I'm just going to attempt writing everyday. I do have some inspiration and ideas for this year's Blogtober.

Firstly as usual I might look out for ideas and blog prompts. Prompts have been kinda my saviour in blogging. But I'm not going to make a list of it. Also there are lots of ideas for Blogtober too!

Secondly I'm thinking of writing prompts from the Isolation Journal project. Not sure if I've talked about this before but year Isolation Journal is a project started by Suleika Jaouad last year, when the world went into lockdown. I've been receiving journaling prompts and I kept them in a special folder in my email. So I'm going to use some of the prompts to write in this month. I do write some of them on my journal as some of the questions can be pretty personal at times!

Last but not least, as usual, I'm going to post some photos that I take, music, posts, articles and so on.

Alright let Blogtober 2021 start today! I wonder what I will write tomorrow. Okay I'm kind of cheating cause I didn't write a Blogtober post yesterday but well, lets count it as a post haha.

See you!

Hello, It's Me

Hello hello hello.

Look who's back after not blogging for TWO MONTHS!

Look who's back after missing his blog's 13th anniversary?!

It's me. I'm back again HAHAHA.

Okay sorry for the cheesy intro but yes I'm here again and oh my goodness what have I been doing! I've been so busy that I neglected this space for two months. Once again I don't wanna explain why, you know the reason! But okay maybe I'll give you an update for a while. 

Firstly as always yes I've been busy. September was truly an intense month. Both in terms of work and emotionally. Shall not explain why. August was also quite a crazy month. In fact I think 2021 has been a crazy year. And I'm glad I made it this far. July was a dark month for Indonesia, where we saw crazy amount of cases. Thankfully things are slowing down now. For the first time in... I don't know how long, we're seeing under 2000s cases daily. That's a big improvement.

Next, I've also been changing my sleeping habit. I think I should be happy that I'm sleeping earlier now. I've been sleeping at 2-3 AM now, and of course waking up earlier. Cause in the morning I usually have meetings. And also I've been enjoying doing work in the morning actually. But I've been trying to stay awake at night/afternoon cause somehow I usually feel sleepy then. But there are some days where I'm back to my weird sleeping times. But I try my best to be "humane" again haha.

Anyway yes that's kind of a mini update. 

We're now down to the last 3 months of the year. I hope we're going to write an awesome epilogue of this year! But as COVID has taught me, we need to be prepared for everything. Just really do your best and give your best shot in everything. Life should be in your favour. Like I said in the previous years, every year seems to be going faster and faster, faster than the year before. Perhaps it's just growing old, perhaps it's us getting busier. Or maybe it's just a law of the universe.

Alrighty that's all from me today. I might try to do something crazy this month. See you tomorrow!