Guys, I think I'm in Love (Tribute Post to The 1975)

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The first time I heard Girls was from an unknown radio that just happened to be aired inside a mall. I fall straight to the beat, since I couldn't understand anything the singer said. That time I thought people don't make music with that kind of beat anymore, or at least not the ones I heard daily in the radio. So I searched it up. And I was actually misheard the band's name. I typed The 1879 instead of The 1975. Like any other occasions when I found a great song in public, I searched it up to find the lyrics. The lyric is usually 83 percent of the reason why I love one song. When I read the lyric, I actually laughed, not in a negative way. In the contrary, I found that the lyric was so honest, covered in a beautiful blanket of decent vocabulary, and the beat... again it's amazing. I still listen to the song until today, in repeat!

Then I listened to Chocolate, and almost thought that the song was literally about chocolate until he mentioned the boys in the blue... and got confused. Because here, cops don't wear blue guys, they wear grey. But after that cultural roaming, I understand what it was about, and laughed again, Whoever wrote this must has a great personality. And the beat, once again. The beat is not something from today's radio music I guess. After hearing two beautiful songs, I was convinced to searched up the creator behind them. And there they are

Adam Hann, George Daniel, Matty Healey, Ross MacDonald

And after, it was never the same anymore. 

Of course Matty was the first person I fell for, since he was the spokesman of the band in almost all interview. And like every other person who also fell for him, I think he's not just physically attractive, but also verbally. He got this thing with words. And for a person coming from a place where English is not my first language, at first I got confused with his vocabulary, confused and amazed at the same time. 

Then I observed more of their live performance on youtube. And I saw The Sound live, and fell for Adam! He looks so quiet in interviews, but yet so outgoing once he hold that friggin guitar. Man, he IS the man with passion I always adore. And I saw this intimate accoustic performance of Somebody Else in one radio, when it was only Matty and Adam, and I just fell even deeper with Adam. 

And then in one interview with Radio 1 telling about their whole story, I heard George talked so much and I realize, he has a great talking voice. And this childlike personality that peeks through his voice was so cute! Did I just said cute to the coolest drummer ever? Man... I figured George was so talented in producing music. And of course I fell

Until I heard Ross start talking. I saw this interview with Coup de Main, where the boys playing this card games, and I get this fatherly figure, like the rock in the group, from Ross. He rarely speaks, but when he does, I think we can all spot that he does. 

And... I think I use 'and' way too much in this post. The point is, guys, you should listen to them! YOU SHOULD!!!!

All Attempts to Define Love : How it should be

Leave the boring definition in your textbook where they belong. I want to define it the way I experienced it. For those with skeptical mind toward any kind of romance, don't expect this post will change your mind. Because it won't,  and no post ever will. All statements was made solely from my personal experience. You'll find subjectivity and selfish point of view everywhere.  Well that's why I made a blog. To write all the subjectivity.

I have this childlike notion about how love should be. Like, in my head it always comes in stages. And in each stage, there is always this checkpoint where I asked myself,  'Will you go on?'. By that description,  it can be said that I have encountered that question several times.  Even I can bluntly said,  that one question was what made me out of love in many occasions. I found that the chronological order of these stages varied from one lover to another (I have fall in love several times,  like I sold myself too easily I guess). But I believe that the first stage have to be the same for me.  The first stage is what makes it love. 

The Jump

There is this song called 'Treacherous' from Taylor Swift. It said 'this slope is treacherous,  and I like it'. That song influenced me so much in how I see falling in love should be.  Like there was me falling in love before I knew that song, then there is me falling in love after I knew that song. What that line told me is that love should be like that one time you don't know what happen, you're not sure what'll happen,  and you have no idea whether anything had happened at all,  but you jump anyway. I don't know what makes you jump. Gut? Instinct? Belief? Faith? Or maybe impulsion? Whatever. The point is you just surrender your emotional balance to this unknown condition,  where the chance of getting hurt is usually higher than fifty percent. That's why I said I sold myself  too easy. I don't do this tip-toe careful kinda movement when it comes to love. I just let myself drowned and get myself soaked all wet at probably the first time I found someone beauty. 

Man, it is a treacherous thing to fall in love. But nothing safe is worth the drive, right?

A Party

I'm not a party animal kind of person, but if you held a party, but most of the people who participate just want to get it over with, then there is something really wrong happened. That's what I thought of this year governor election. 

Chatime Bucketlist : #1 Hazelnut Milk Tea

You guys must know Chatime by now, so I don't need to explain anything more. What I want to write is the fact that Chatiime has so much flavour that it is so intriguing to try the all for the element of surprise. When I say surprise, I really mean it. Because for me, Chatime has the ability to make the best beverage and the worst combination drink ever at the same time. So I think, it'd be fun to order a different flavour everytime I had Chatime, just to guess whether this time, I got the best or the worst.

I'm not an expert in beverages, so all the writing in this feature solely come from my personal incompetent taste. You don't have to listen to me and just buy anything you want. This is just for fun.

Hazelnut Milk Tea : Best / Worst
Taste : Sweet /Fresh /Awful
Better served : Cold / Hot
Sugar : Less / Normal
Better topped with  : Pearl / Grassjelly / Coconut Jelly / Red bean / Aloe Vera / Cofffee Jelly/
                                  Rainbow Jelly / Egg Pudding / Malt

Note : Don't mix it up with Hazelnut Choco Milk Tea because it's different.

Jodipan, Malang, East Java

There is this settlement by the Brantas river in Malang that takes so much attention from youngsters these days. It's called Kampung Warna-Warni Jodipan, or Colourful Town of Jodipan. I heard that it used to be an ordinary settlement (which was said to be quiet vile) until a group of students from local university decided to make a change, simply by painting the houses in colorful tone which successfully inspired the people to make their household a better place to live in

We can safely say that the initiators were probably inspired by Cinque Terre, Italy. The romance I got after hearing the story was how these young people able to make such a huge change to a conservative environment. The first thing you have to know about Malang, is that the city was crowded by students. It has two state universities and more than five local universities if my count was right. Malang City per se, is a small city. You can go from one side to the other side of the city within 45 minutes. And yet, inside, there are probably thousand of young minds wandering the city, chasing the things they called education and experience. As I was once a comer in that city, I stayed there for about four years, I often heard how these comers usually bring bad influence. From the way they drive, the way they speak, the way they spend money, etc. And it turns out that today, the line between comers and the natives are blur. The young soul of Malang are now enjoy the taste of consumerism, supported by the increase of cafes and shopping places in the city. Well, it doesn't sound bad at all to the modern minds. It increases the economy, business, and Malangnese prosperity (perhaps). But try seeing it from the conservatives point of view. All that we bring was nothing more than a loud noise and places that sell foods they don't even like. 

I don't know how Malang before all these modernization come, but it was definitely not the way I see Malang today.

Then Jodipan happened. It probably still a form of modernization, but was created in a subtle and good manners, means the creator refuse to change the settlement entirely, but instead bring out the true color of it. No I wasn't talking about the paint. I was talking about the people. Their hospitality, their modesty, their collectivist culture, those are what I'm talking about. 

You can still see things you, big city people, rarely see in your place anymore. Kids playing soccer, parents gossiping in front of their houses, old men clipping their nails (:P), and it's probably weird, but I love seeing it around. It makes me feel warm inside. And the things I miss the most about Malang was there too, people talking in East Javanese accent and language! Local language always amazes me. That's why I always smile when I heard people talk in their mother tongue inside a city bus in Jakarta. It proves that they had an exotic cultural background, something I wish I had. 

And to make it more fantastic, there are some spot which creativity shines through its edge. It seems like you can feel the young hands making it all possible from the way they decorated it. They had this mini library beside a small food stall. I really wish people would actually open the cabinet and read something from there.  Look at the way they keep this old public phone. Whoever decorate this place knows well how to remind people to have a good grip at cultural roots. The details are not only painted on the wall but also on the floor. And it is also a heaven for you Instagrammers, since they provide A LOT of photo spots for you to use to beautify your feeds. 

Well, as it now become a tourist attraction, of course you can see a bunch of people with cameras and selfie stick wandering around. It might not be a good idea to live in such place for super introverted people who values silence like me, but like I said, people of this settlement are collectivist people values such crowd, as long as you are not being annoying and impolite around. And by annoying and impolite, I mean please don't speak rude and dirty words out loud, don't show any PDA with your lover (I just feel like over PDA-ing ruins the homeliness feel it gives you from the first place). I think they have more than one entrance. You'll wander in the hallways, and at the end of the road, the center of attraction, you'll see Brantas River. 

Since I am very bad at explaining direction, you can just google it to get there. The parking lot is acceptable even for you who reach it by cars. The entrance ticket (yes they charged you of course) was two thousand rupiahs (which was not even close to a dollar). If you have a chance to get there, please keep the place clean, and always remember to be as friendly as possible. 

 And here is a picture of me showing some "mimicrial" skill to end this post
Personally, I have so many attachment with Malang. It can be said that I get the knowledge of who I really is while I was there. And Malang environment taught me a lot about maturity. And if you asked me how I would describe Malang, then I will say if you want to see the miniature of Malang, just go to Jodipan. Because I feel like the town explains it best. It was colorful, both modern and cultural, crowded by tourist with hospitable host. And if I can suggest something to people of Jodipan, try to sell your staple food. It would be perfect.

Java Jazz Festival 2017

I've been wanting to go to Java Jazz since I was in high school, but the ticket is always too expensive for students. And when I finally breakaway from students income, I thought, well this is the time girl. Go to Java Jazz and enjoy your weekend. And more, they had Ne-Yo!

We arrived even before the gate was opened. But we didn't have to wait for long. We first explore the foodtruck and searched for something that can fulfill our hunger. And after we went stage to stage, exploring. We first saw Barasuara, but we were not in luck because we arrived only to find that it was their last song. After we decided to see Glenn Fredly. Well I haven't been on any of his concert before. I of course like many Indonesian, know his songs. But I never knew that he was such a good performer on stage. He interacted well with the audience and knows where to put the jokes to lighten up a little bit. He also announced that his saxo player was about to get married. He played very well that night.

We were at the very back of the stage at first, but after seeing the schedule that Ne-Yo would come straight after this performance, we made our way through the front. And we did it!

Ne-Yo is special for me, because of one thing. His song Miss Independent was the first English song I memorize, even though I barely understand the meaning. He helped me through my English lesson so much. I listened a lot to him like I listen to The 1975 today :p His songs can always make me dance and sing unconsciously

Watching him on stage sure was brought some memories from middle school to high school. Remember that first guy I have a crush on, man that was long ago. It wasn't much. He was there with several band member and two hot dancers. I forgot how many songs he performed, but sure he sang Miss Independent, So Sick, One In A Million, Mad, etc. I croaked all the way to the end!!

It wasn't just the lineup, the whole package of the festival was awesome. I love the decor the most. It was full of decorations yet still gave a spacious place for the crowds. The stage was spread everywhere even in the food court. We could enjoy The Overtune performing while having meal. 

So overall, I was satisfied that night. Work was giving me a hard week these days, and having Java Jazz in the meantime was totally refreshed my brain out! It was good music, good atmosphere, good food, what a complete package. Can't wait for next year's!

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Honestly, I rarely read non-fiction. When it comes to one, I usually read biography of someone famous. But I always have a high interest in evolution and history. And this book gave me both just by the title, which somehow remind me of the book written by Stephen Hawking. It has a fascinating opening at the back of the cover that made me so excited just when I opened it for the first time. It says: "Fire gave us power. Gossip helped us cooperate. Agriculture made us hungry for more. Mythology maintained law and order. Money gave us something we can really trust. Contradiction created culture. Science made us deadly."

 The book literally start from the very beginning. From the time there were six Sapiens living on this earth, and how we thrived to be the only one left to rule this planet. I know it sounds so arrogant to say that Homo sapiens rule the earth, but if you look closely and diminish all the hypocrisy, we are on our way to make this planet our playground like a preschooler who got crazy on sandbox stepping on anything on their way without caring much of the mess we created. The author faced us with some facts that slaps me with no mercy! Like how modern human treated calves! I cried. I was crying on the bus on my way home after work because I just read how miserable the life of calves are. He also talked about money, how this psychological concept become the sickness in our mental state, but at the same time become solutions to several of our issues. About religions of the world and their position in building today's civilization. About the rise and fall of empires. About how science made us into this completely different kind with uncontainable minds which goal is to be immortal!

(By the way, I made that collage above from combination of pictures I found in Pinterest that might represent the content of this book). I think I can consciously say, there was me before this book, and then there is me after this book.
Thank you Sir.