rOMADhon 2023

Right since it's still day 2 of Lebaran, I'd like to talk about something I did once again in this year's Ramadhan or fasting month! Okay so as mentioned last year, I actually did OMAD for last year's Ramadhan. And ever since then I've been consistently doing intermittent fasting (IF) for one whole year! Well basically I did different types of fasting every day, but mostly a 16-8 IF.

In the spirit of Ramadhan, (or as I'd called it now "rOMADhon" haha) I attempted to do OMAD for one whole month too! I thought it's gonna be easy after one year of IF but... I was wrong.

Okay the first week was pretty easy. I pulled it off very well and it's just like an ordinary OMAD week. I didn't have hunger pangs and so on. By the 2nd week it was also okay, but my mouth was "itching" by 6 PM (oh my meal is at 1 AM hah). So that's about 17 hours fast. By the middle of third week, I was struggling hard hah. Okay actually I was experiencing some severe gastritis and diarrhea on the 13th day of my OMAD month. So I stopped doing OMAD for 3 days cause health > OMAD I guess.

I'm not sure if it's because I stopped doing OMAD for these 3 days that I "wobbled" and struggled to keep up with my OMAD habits in the 3rd week haha. But anyway I persevered again and managed to go back to my OMAD diet for the rest of Ramadhan. It was okay I guess!

Well the truth is an OMAD diet is not sustainable in the long run. This I know and that's why I don't do it every day hah. I just do this in the spirit of Ramadhan. And... Also I didn't lose weight as I hoped at the end of this. I'm not sure why T_T but I do read that there will come a point where we reach a plateau state, where we will no longer lose weight. I think I need to exercise more.

Talking about exercise I've actually added jump ropes to my exercising regime! I came across a jump rope video on YouTube and thought it'll be a great exercise to do. I bought one and I was like "Meh this looks easy, I'm gonna do 500 for my first time!". Oh my goodness HELL NO hahaha. I couldn't even do 50 in one go! I read up more online and it's not good for beginners to jump a lot straightaway. I built myself up from 200, to 300, to 500. Now I do 700 on alternate days.

My aim is to do 500 everyday and hopefully 1000 soon. It's quite challenging in some ways. Like now I can do 100 in one go but sometimes it's hard to keep up. The positioning of the hands, and the height of the rope and so on plays a HUGE part. So I've been experimenting myself. 

Alright that's all for my OMAD post this year. I'm going to continue doing IF for the rest of my life. Maybe until I reach a healthy weight haha. IF to me has been super helpful in maintaining my weight. Like I never increase my weight the past year even though I don't exercise. So perhaps I should do more exercise so that I can lost more weight faster. Jump rope come to daddy.

Silence

Today is officially Lebaran and so wishing all Muslims around the world Eid Mubarak 1444H! I hope everyone is having a great time with their family and loved ones. I would say it's finally a wonderful Eid all Muslims deserve after 3 years of Pandemic. So yes I hope everyone's having a great time.

One of my favourite things about Lebaran here is the sheer silence that we experience on this day. 1 Syawal is always a very very quiet day. I guess everyone is celebrating at home, and doing home visits. And after that usually they will rest at home. We usually spend this day at home to enjoy the silence. So I don't know how the road condition is. It's probably quite empty too.

I would say it's a stark difference between yesterday and today. Yesterday the Takbiran was roaring from the late afternoon till late at night. And today suddenly everything is so quiet. So yeah it's quite huge difference. At times the silence feel very eerie but it's also something I enjoy and look forward to every year. See the thing is Saturday nights here are pretty quiet too. When there's no one working and no activities around too. But things just feel different. I can't explain it in words.

Anyway today was a pretty chill day for us. We spent the day at home. I took turns taking care of my baby niece with my sister and parents. My cousin came for a visit too so my dad, him and I had a conversation too and we talk about many things. And I spent the evening watching TV with my nephew Stefan. We're fighting over the remote cause I want to watch Fantastic Beasts while he wants to watch Looney Tunes hahaha. But being a good uncle I gave it to him.

Alright I guess that's all for now. I've been enjoying these chill blogging!

Takbiran

So it's official, Lebaran will be tomorrow! The mothers are thankful that they don't have to panic to cook rendang and others suddenly yesterday night I guess haha. 

Anyway it's the eve of Lebaran now and my house is surrounded by the sounds of Takbiran. It's always a nice scene to be in. It's like a time of celebration and gathering and so on. A yearly tradition that I look forward to every year heh. The sounds of Takbiran always makes it feel like there's a lot of people in my hometown, and they're all gathering together and just having a good time.

But strangely the roads were kinda empty just now. I went around town with my dad at night earlier and the road was okay. It's not very crowded. Perhaps it's also because we went at like 11 PM heh. But I do realise that the barbershops were full. So do the eateries selling bakso and snacks and so on. We were also doing "Bedug hunting" and sadly only managed to see 2 bedugs this time. And they're not even in town but on the outskirts of it. I guess time has changed a lot.

Lebaran in a way always makes me feel old too. Cause you know it's something that I look forward to every year (except when I'm in Singapore, since we don't have a long holiday). So it's like every year we experience Lebaran and we just realise how much things have changed. And of course how much I've grown older. I guess it's just the simple inevitability of time. 

New Moon Shopping

Today is the first day of the 3rd Lunar month and I went to the temple as usual. I went in the afternoon and the road was kind of packed with cars already. In fact I was driving through this road and I thought it's gonna be a smooth passage but oh hell no. I was probably stuck in a 100-200m long jam! Well yesterday was officially the start of the Lebaran holiday in the government sector, and most other businesses follow the same day. So I guess it's just a "right" timing for the jam to happen hah.

I went to the temple first and along the way home I decided to do some shopping first. Actually I was just planning to shop for some dehumidifier (serap air in Indonesian). You know that calcium chloride crystals your put in a container where you put inside drawers etc. Cause I realised my stock just finished! But err lo and behold I decided to spent 500k worth of drinks and snacks and chocolates.

I hate my lack of self control sometimes hahaha.

After that the day was spent at home. I guess we're too lazy to go out knowing how jammed up the road will be. It was a pretty relaxing day one where I spent it just reading books and also just lazying and laying around my bed. Gosh I love this period of time, where I can do this without feeling guilty and also without being chased by time cause I'll have to do other things and so on heh.

Anyway the government is carrying out Sidang Isbat today. Or the meeting where they will carry out the sighting of the moon to determine when will Ramadhan officially end. It's kind of like a yearly practice and everyone is waiting for the result. There's one Muslim organisation here which has decided that today is the last day of fasting and tomorrow is Eid. So there's a chance that tomorrow may be Eid (instead of Saturday). I can't imagine the panic of the mothers if Eid will fall tomorrow haha.

Alright I guess that's all for now! I guess I'm just waiting for the result of the sidang.

Holiday

Nope I'm not going for a holiday nor am I in a holiday elsewhere but hello hello it's the Lebaran holiday finally! It's one of the period of time that I look forward to the most every year haha. Cause I get to rest, reset and recharge. It's just a period of time where I don't have to do anything. Or should I say... Where I'm not expected to do anything heh. But just a wonderful time to rest! Something very rare.

Anyway as you can see I haven't been blogging here and as usual I'm not gonna give any reason but I was just very busy! As usual the weeks leading to Lebaran is always a very busy and hectic period. So glad that it's over now and we went through it smoothly (again) this year. 

Anyho I'm just thinking, now that it's the holiday, and my blog post number is really depressing this year hah, maybe I should liven it up a bit! I was reading an article a few days ago, and also was just reading a book and I'm thinking of doing a Stream of Consciousness blog post. Basically writing whatever that is coming to my mind. Or whatever things I want to blog about anyway.

We're having a long holiday here until the 2nd of May so that's not too bad it's about 13 days worth of post. I know I told myself that I'm not going to pressurise myself with blog posts number this year but somehow I feel kinda guilty when I realise my post number is so little haha.

Okay I'm not sure how this goes but hello holiday!

The Soul Trembles by Chiharu Shiota

Threads become tangled, intertwined, broken off, unraveled. They constantly reflect a part of my mental state, as if they were expressing the state of human relationships //
The Soul Trembles by Chiharu Shiota, Museum Macan Jakarta

So while I was in Jakarta, I also went to Museum Macan to see Chiharu Shiota's installation "The Soul Trembles", courtesy of Wilus who gave me a ticket! Thank you Wilus!! I haven't been to a museum in like... 10 years? I'm not sure when was the last time I went to one (if Angkor Wat is considered a museum then, 5 years hah). But I'm glad I went to see this installation. It's so amazing.

Personally I feel it's such an emotional-blowing one. The museum was quiet but Chiharu's installation was definitely visually deafening. It touches your heart, makes you feel a lot of things and think about her work as well. Personally I'm just awed by how Chiharu can put what's on her mind into these amazing artwork. Her dedication, her thoughts, and her passion manifests beautifully here.

Anyway here are some of my favourites! Here's to more museum visits in the future.

An Unknown Journey

Collecting Small Memories

In Silence (my personal favourite)

Searching for The Destination

Where Are We Going?

Out of My Body

Kings of Convenience Jakarta 2023

Kings of Convenience in Jakarta, 9 March 2023

Last Thursday was the best night of 2023 so far for me. Cause I finally caught Kings of Convenience live! My goodness I can't believe I finally saw them live after... 14 years of waiting! And it was a magical night. I've been a fan of them since 2009 and they've been one of the bands that I constantly listen to throughout these years. And of course they're one of my favourite bands ever.

As expected their voice is so magical. The harmonisation, and of course the guitar playing is just oooh "chef's kiss" haha. I really want to learn how to play the guitar now.

Anyway the concert is at Ritz Carlton ballroom at Pacific Place in SCBD. The concert started at 8:30 PM but I went in at 6:30 I think. I waited for 2 hours with 2 wonderful opening acts. But err I waited while standing up! So yeah I had to pay the price later on. My body was aching hah.

The concert was amazing. It was a wonderful 1h45m and also I think KoC should call themselves Kings of Audience Interaction haha. The way Erlend and Eirik interacted with us throughout the concert was just fun and friendly. And the (singing-loving) Indonesian fans just add everything up.

Anyway it was a fun, emotional and sentimental night all mixed up with KoC. I'm so happy that I managed to see them live. Definitely a concert bucket list ticked off! Thank you Erlend and Eirik for coming to Jakarta. Do come back and visit us again soon!

PS: I did actually see them live at Laneway Fes SG in 2013. However I only managed to see the last 10-15 minutes of their set. Which was a decision beyond my control. So I'm not sure if that can be considered as catching them live heh.