One of the best Sundays I've ever had

No, it's not a late post. It just happened last week, August 24th exactly. That was one of my best days ever. Why? Because, finally, I had a chance to see Ellie Goulding's live performance!

Ellie Goulding.......Ellie oh Ellie... Really, I don't know what I have to say about this young lady, this great singer, this great songwriter, she's truly an amazing woman. I knew her when 'I Need Your Love' was released, her single featuring Calvin Harris. At that time, honestly, I thought "This song is so weird.....really weird." I deleted that song immediately. And as we all know, karma does exist. This year, I started to love her songs. Since I heard "Burn", I began to listen to all of her albums, and man she's brilliant.

Then BOOM!! A promotor announced that there would be a concert, but it's more like a music festival I think. They call it We The Fest, #WTF14. There would be some artists from around the world, including local artists, from my country, Indonesia. I was so fckn excited when Ellie was announced to be on of the lineup. Maaaan, it was like WOW I just started to love her and suddenly she was going to come to my country. It came to my thought "I HAVE TO GO NO MATTER WHAT".

It's not always as easy as I thought. I mean, yeah, you know, in a music festival. It would be a lil bit difficult to focus on one performer. There were a bunch of another artists, such as Banks, Havana Brown, Timeflies, Miami Horror, RAC, Lala, Sore, etc. To be honest, I didn't have any idea who they are. I only knew Ellie Goulding, only her. That made me change my mind, I thought I wouldn't make it. I didn't have anyone to go there together indeed.. So, yeah, I gave up.

A week before the concert, my officemate asked me if I would go to #WTF14 or not. And at the moment, I was like "YES SURE YOU WANNA GO TOO, DONT YOU??". Then I bought the ticket. Lucky me, I got a ticket from someone who had a leftover and she sold it in a cheaper price. Thank God.
We couldn't wait till the weekend come. I barely could get my self focused on my works haha.

The weekend finally came. There were two stages, Crown Chella & Banana Palooza. It sounds familiar, isn't it? It's like coachella and lollapalooza haha. I and my friend chose to stay at Crown Chella stage because it was full of DJ set at another stage. We don't really like DJ set. So, we arrived there and saw a first performance by Maliq N D'Essentials, a cool band from my country. But we were bloody hungry at the moment so we went to the food town, they called it the food town. After we finished the foods we got back to the crowds when Timeflies were doing their performance. They're great, I like the vocalist, he was really get along with the audiences. He's very interactive.

After Timeflies, Miami Horror came up to the stage. Hellyeah, we were waiting for them, we wanted to see them so badly. Their music sounds like Vampire Weekend, Two Door Cinema Clubs, and MGMT sometimes. Yeah, sort of that. It was a lil bit disappointing because they didn't talk much. BUT the vocalist was really really crazy haha. He's really good at dancing, with his own crazy style! And one more, the keyboardist!!!!! He was jumping all the time while he's playing the instrument....for the whole performances. It was like everyone talked about seeing him weirdly lol.

We decided to skip Azelia Banks's performance because we didn't really know her. We were just hanging around, get some drinks, sitting on the grass........and the best part was Bungee Trampoline!! We pushed our nerves to try. That was really really amazing. However, it was pretty hard to move my legs in order to roll my body when I reach the top. There was a foreign man who could roll his body seven or eight times a row. That's crazy.

Banks came up after Azelia Banks. I knew her but not really listen to her songs. Her voice sounds unique. Her music style is somehow dark and gloomy. But she was really good on stage. I thought I love her live performance more than her recorded songs. She's great. And her voice when she's talking is very cute, really different when she's singing. We watched her from far, sitting and laying on the grass..enjoying her on stage.

It was almost 11 PM when Ellie Goulding came up. We used to wait her for like an hour since Banks got down from the stage. The preparation was bloodyhellyeah.
My body was like trembling, with excitement, when she showed up on stage. First song was 'Starry Eyed'. I was really happy to see her, she looked gorgeous!! Such a goddess. She perfectly did it. I was at a loss for words. Everyone was jumping around and singing along.

I didn't know that she would sing my favorite song 'This Love Will be Your Downfall' OMG I was almost crying I swear (well it's too much haha). My favourite part was when she did an acoustic performance of 'Guns and Horses', that was perfect! How could she do that eh????

She didn't talk that much actually. But there was a funny part when she said 'OMG guys you are so quiet, I really don't know what to say' haha. Yeah indeed, it was not really as loud as a concert should be. All people right there were like just enjoying her songs, clapping their hands, swaying their body. I shout her name just a few times, I couldn't do it because people around me were.......quiet. But I love that kind of atmosphere, I could focus on the music, the songs, and her beautiful voice.

Encore was always the best part in every concert, it should be. The last three songs were 'Anything Could Happen', 'Lights', and of course 'Burn'. Everyone jumped and sang along and raised their hands in the air. I felt like I was in the other world haha...cool. At the moment, I thought I would've regretted it seriously if I hadn't gone there. Man, it was the best concert I ever had.

Ellie you are great, you are amazing, everybody loves you!

Menikmati Masa Tua

Wait, it's not about me, of course. Saya hanya ingin berbagi cerita tentang seorang bapak yang saya temui di bus saat perjalanan saya ke Jakarta dua minggu yang lalu. Beliau duduk di samping saya. Karena kondisi arus balik yang sangat padat hingga macet berjam jam, kami sempat mengobrol cukup banyak.

Beliau asli dari Purbalingga, namun sudah menetap di Bekasi sejak lebih dari 30 tahun yang lalu. Beliau merantau demi mendapat pekerjaan di Jakarta. Kalem, baik, ramah, itulah kesan yang saya dapat dari sosok beliau.

Sebelumnya si bapak bekerja di salah satu perusahaan soft drink ternama di Jakarta. Beliau mengatakan, "Saya ambil pensiun lebih cepat Mbak." Jabatan terakhir yang dipegang oleh beliau adalah supervisor di bagian Sales & Marketing.

Awalnya beliau bekerja sebagai helper. Helper adalah asisten dari salesman. Beliau cukup lama bekerja pada posisi tersebut. Tugas helper adalah membantu salesman untuk mengangkut atau mengeluarkan rak rak botol minuman dari atau ke mobil box pengangkut barang. Ya intinya mah bantu bantu apa aja, namanya juga helper hehe. Tapi jangan salah, tes untuk menjadi helper ternyata tidak mudah karena helper harus memiliki ketahanan fisik yang kuat.

Setelah beberapa tahun bertugas sebagai helper, beliau naik jabatan menjadi salesman. Sebenarnya tugas salesman  tidak lebih ringan dari helper. Untuk mengirim produk ke toko toko atau warung, salesman dan helper pergi keliling menggunakan mobil box atau pick up. Nah, tugas salesman adalah menyetir, menawarkan produk, mencatat, ya pokoknya semua mua dia yang urus. Sehingga salah satu persyaratan menjadi salesman adalah mempunyai SIM A.

Saat diangkat menjadi supervisor, beliau membawahi empat orang salesman. Katanya jadi supervisor itu ribet, apalagi kalau harus menghadapi anak buah yang "bandel".

Dari awal merantau ke Jakarta, beliau tidak pernah keluar dari perusahaan tersebut. Bayangkan berapa lama beliau bertahan, dari seorang helper sampai menjadi seorang supervisor.

"Tadinya saya sudah mau diangkat jadi manager tapi saya tolak, mending pensiun saja...."

NAH. Saya sempat kaget dan heran.

"Lho Pak, bukannya itu kesempatan besar? Kenapa tidak diambil?"

"Tanggung jawabnya besar Mbak, jadi supervisor aja saya udah pusing, repot, kewalahan..."

Saya mencoba berpikir positif, mungkin beliau memang ingin menikmati masa tuanya mengingat usianya yang sudah tidak muda.

"Sekarang saya jadi sopir pribadi Mbak, nganterin anak sekolah. Sebelumnya, setelah pensiun, saya pernah nyoba jadi sopir taksi."

NAH. Saya sontak kaget lagi. Bapak ini sudah pensiun, sudah dapat pesangon yang jumlahnya lumayan juga, kok masih nyari kerja??

"Walaupun sudah tua, saya nggak bisa diem Mbak orangnya. Kalo nggak ngapa-ngapain malah jadi capek, ntar malah jadi penyakit... Ya Alhamdulillah sekarang kerjanya juga nyantai, rumah majikan saya deket banget sama rumah."

Subhanallah.. Beliau yang sudah usia lanjut saja masih semangat bekerja, saya yang masih muda gini kadang masih suka males-malesan hehehe.

Begitulah cara beliau menikmati masa tuanya, menjadi sopir pribadi. Anaknya yang terakhir masih berada di bangku SMA kelas 3. Beliau mengatakan bahwa anak tersebut sangat pandai, rangking 1 di kelas. Biaya sekolahnya ditutup dengan dana beasiswa, beliau tidak perlu pusing-pusing memikirkan biaya sekolah. Terlihat wajah berseri beliau, pasti beliau sangat bangga dengan anaknya. Beliau berharap kelak anaknya mendapatkan beasiswa untuk mengambil pendidikan di perguruan tinggi. 

Selama mengobrol dengan beliau, saya belajar banyak hal. Hidup itu nggak usah dibikin susah, asal kita menikmatinya dengan ikhlas, mengerjakan sesuatu yang memang kita senangi, tapi yang paling penting harus tetap bertanggung jawab pada diri sendiri, orang tua, keluarga, teman, dan orang-orang sekitar. Materi atau uang bukanlah tolak ukur kebahagiaan yang bisa kita dapatkan, melainkan bagaimana kita menjalani hidup dengan cara yang kita senangi.

Pengen kaya? Boleh.

Hidup nyaman dan bahagia? Harus!

Just do what you love and enjoy the life ♥

Brain

How does the brain work to bring us decision that sometimes we didn't have enough time to change it like it works by itself? Is there something stronger than brain? Is brain actually separated with our real core mind?

I know it's stupid but I'm really wondering.

[BOOK] STEVE JOBS

Steve Jobs. Who doesn't know him? Father of invention. He is big. He is genius.  

I was a computer science student and I have worked as a programmer for a half year. I am an IT person. Wow. Haha. It would be funny if I don't know the man who invented computer and all of its derived devices I have been using until now. To be honest, as a dumb student, I thought Bill Gates were the first man who invented computer. God, microsoft had definitely blown my mind up haha. Yea, the first computer I knew was a windows based computer, and my current computer is also using windows. Well.....

What I knew about Steve Jobs was he is the founder of Apple Inc. I didn't know if he is the man who invented the first computer with GUI even before Bill  Gates. Then my college friend gave me a copy of a movie titled "Pirates of Silicon Valley". It turned out that he is not an ordinary man. He invented everything related to all computers and gadgets we are all using now.

This book tells us all about Steve Jobs from he was born until he became one of the most influential people in the world. It took me three months to finish this book. It's clearly obvious because it is an english book with more than 600 pages inside it and english is not my common language as well. I had tried hard, fellas. But thank God I love the way Walter Isaacson wrote the book. I could easily understand paragraph by paragraph. You know sometimes reading a biography book is boring, right? Isaacson has proved it wrong! 

I won't write the review or resume or whatever because I believe there are already thousands of articles talking about him, completely. Here,  I just want to share some interesting points I got from this book. 

Steve Jobs was a genius, but had bad temper.

It can't be denied. Since he was a child he had learned about electronics from his father. His father gave him a 'working table' therefore he could learn anything he want using some little equipments. He was a curious boy. He also had a high sense of design and art. He knew how to turn simplicity into something elegant and fancy. But badly, it turned him into a bloody perfectionist person. The impact was when he led Apple, everytime his employees couldn't fulfill his expectations of making a product, he would shout to them in a very annoying way, or he could fire his employees right at the moment. I can't imagine if my boss were like him, I'd better resign soon LOL.

That's a complete apple!

Details are everything.

When his company was making a product, he had to know every part, every tiny part of it. Each part must be perfect. If he said the color is not match then the product wouldn't be released. That's what makes his products are all amazing. He didn't think about money, he just wanted to make good and powerful products.

He was handsome, wasn't he? haha

Father of innovation.

Machintosh?

iPod?

iPhone?

iPad?

iTunes?

He brought everything that seemed not possible to reality. 

I don't need more words.

Steve Jobs with iPad

Oh yes, don't forget PIXAR.

He was also the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios. He's one of the founders, along with Edwin Catmull and John Lasseter. Toy Story was their first animation movie, one of the most successful animation movies of all time. Then it followed by another great movies like Finding Nemo, Monster Inc, The Incredible, Cars, Wall E, Up, Monster University, with all great success. 

Edwin Catmull, Steve Jobs, John Lasseter

I do admire Steve Jobs. He was genius. He knew what people need. He knew what was gonna be hits. The world of technology would be nothing without him.

CHVRCHES

C H V R C H Ξ S

Chvrches (pronounced as "churches", sometimes stylised as CHVRCHES or CHVRCHΞS) are a Scottish electronic band, formed in 2011. The group consists of Lauren Mayberry (lead vocals, additional synthesisers, and samplers), Iain Cook(synthesizers, guitar, bass, vocals), and Martin Doherty (synthesizers, samplers, vocals). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chvrches

This band is one of my favorites. First time I heard them on BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. They covered "Do I Wanna Know" by Arctic Monkeys and "Team" by Lorde. The lead vocalist has such a unique voice, perfectly combined with amazing electro-sound music. They made me fall in love. Then I started to search their music on internet and WOW I love their songs. My favorites are Recover, Gun, and The Mother We Share.

The band released an EP titled "Recover EP" on 2013 and an album titled "The Bones of What You Believe"  on the same year. They have been known worldwide and already attended some big music festivals like SXSW and Coachella. They also had won some awards, the last was "Twenty Quid Music Prize" for best British pop single of the year: The Mother We Share from Popjustice.

You can check them out on their Youtube channel. You won't be disappointed, I guarantee it!

Everything happened for a reason, a good reason, or even some good reasons.

Hari Jumat ini merupakan hari libur yakni untuk memperingati Good Friday atau Paskah.

Hari Jumat ini merupakan hari seharusnya ada di rumah, di kampung halaman, Purwokerto.

Hari Jumat ini merupakan hari di mana saya tersadar kalau pagi ini saya masih terbangun di Bogor.

Kecewa? Sedih? Wajar, itu sudah pasti. Bayangkan saja saya belum pulang ke rumah berbulan bulan, terakhir bulan Agustus tahun kemarin, hiks. Seharusnya semalam saya naik kereta Serayu Malam bersama sahabat saya, Hanna. Namun sepertinya Allah berkehendak lain. Hanya Hanna yang naik kereta tersebut.

Semua berawal dari kemacetan Jl. MH Thamrin. Selesai shalat Maghrib, saya bersama sahabat saya, Bimo, pulang dari kantor. Saat melewati jembatan penyebrangan HI, kami berdua ternganga. Macetnya luar biasa, hampir tidak ada pergerakan sama sekali. Pemandangan saat itu lebih mirip jalan raya yang disulap menjadi area parkir gratis. Kami tadinya berniat untuk naik kopaja ke Stasiun Sudirman, namun pemandangan luar biasa dari ujung thamrin sampai ujung jalan menuju Sudirman membuat kami memutuskan untuk menuju arah sebaliknya, arah ke Stasiun Tanah Abang. Kebetulan kondisi jalur menuju Tanah Abang terlihat lancar.

Namun, kami kembali ternganga (ini bahasa dari mana sih 'ternganga' haha). Baru beberapa saat kopaja kami melaju, pemandangan 'luar biasa' yang sama terlihat dari sebelum halte Sarinah sampai ujung perempatan. Oh God. Saat itu saya masih santai karena waktu masih menunjukan pukul 18 30. Kereta Serayu berangkat pukul 20 36. Selow...

Baru kali ini saya merasakan Jakarta macet luar biasa, sebelumnya macetnya biasa aja. Serius deh. Karena kami tidak tahan dengan macet yang super duper tidak manusiawi, akhirnya kami jalan kaki. Iya jalan kaki. Kami pun sampai di Stasiun Tanah Abang pukul 19 30. Sesampainya di sana ternyata kereta jurusan Stasiun Jakarta Kota berikutnya datang pukul 20 18. Yassalam itu sudah pasti saya bakal ketinggalan kereta Serayu. Untungnya Bimo langsung dapat kereta arah Serpong. Tidak lama kemudian kereta jurusan Stasiun Manggarai datang. Saya memutuskan untuk naik kereta tersebut. Namun, entah kenapa kereta yang saya tumpangi sempat tertahan hampir 10 menit saat akan masuk Stasiun Manggarai. Saya mulai was was. 

Di Stasiun Manggarai saya masih harus menunggu kereta tujuan Stasiun Jakarta Kota. Pukul 20 00 saya berangkat dari Stasiun Manggarai. Saya sudah yakin bahwa saya bisa mengejar kereta Serayu. Namun lagi lagi saya diuji, kereta tertahan lagi saat akan masuk ke stasiun Juanda. Saat itu saya sudah pasrah "Ya Allah apapun kehendakmu, hamba pasrah... Namun sesungguhnya hamba ingin sekali pulang ke rumah". Saya mengirim wassap  ke Hanna, menanyakan apakah keretanya sudah mau berangkat atau belum. Sesampainya kereta saya di Stasiun Jayakarta (satu stasiun sebelum Jakarta Kota) Hanna memberi tahu saya bahwa kereta sudah berangkat. Saya langsung...............lemes. Saya mulai merasakan ada liquid menggenang di ujung mata, namun saya berusaha untuk menahannya karena tidak mungkin saya tiba tiba nangis di depan para penumpang lain.

Kebetulan sahabat sahabat saya yang lain sedang meet up di Stasiun Jakarta Kota. Saya langsung menemui mereka, baru deh saya bisa menangis •.• Beruntung sekali saat itu ada mereka, Iis, Nurul, Aziz, dan Ari. Terima kasih Ya Allah untuk mengirim malaikat malaikat penghibur ini. Entah kenapa saat bertemu mereka kesedihan & kekecewaan saya (karena ketinggalan kereta) langsung berkurang. "Saya ikhlas Ya Allah, mungkin ini memang yang terbaik untuk hamba."

Kami berlima menuju KFC di stasiun tersebut. Kebetulan saya memang kelaparan setelah melakukan perjalanan dari kantor yang sangat luar biasa melelahkan. Seperti biasa kami mengobrol dan untungnya ada Aziz yang suka ngebanyol membuat kami tertawa haha. Suatu keajaiban malam itu obrolan kami cukup serius. Padahal pas jaman kuliah mah obrolannya teh suka nggak penting hehe. Kami membahas tentang politik, ya maklum Aziz dan Ari adalah duo KPU. Karena sepertinya sudah larut dan KFCnya mau tutup akhirnya kami langsung menuju peron, menunggu kereta pulang ke arah Bogor. 

Kami melanjutkan obrolan dan makin lama makin asyik. Saya memang tidak mengerti tentang apapun yang berkaitan dengan politik sehingga banyak hal yang baru saya ketahui dari obrolan tersebut. Di dalam kereta pun kami masih mengobrol, diselingi dengan candaan kecil dari Aziz dan Ari yang sepertinya membuat penumpang lain melihat dengan tatapan aneh ke arah kami haha.

Over all, saya bersyukur karena walaupun saya ketinggalan kereta tapi saya dipertemukan dengan sahabat sahabat saya. Sahabat yang selalu mengerti, sahabat yang akan selalu simpan di tempat paling spesial di memori saya. Banyak hal yang saya pelajari dari mereka. Saya yakin Allah mengirim mereka untuk suatu alasan. Selain itu, sudah satu minggu saya batuk tidak sembuh sembuh, mungkin Allah memberikan kesempatan kepada saya untuk beristirahat total agar saya segera sembuh, amin...

I believe everything happened for a reason, a good reason, or even some good reasons because He knows what is best for us, He knows how everything should be. 

To Him we shall be brought back.

stop—trying

People said "Don't stop trying, don't ever give up."

I totally agree with it. But in some cases, it's different. Sometimes we need to stop trying for the right reason. Like when you really fight for someone but that person doesn't seem like you to do that, I think you need to stop. In my opinion, no matter how hard you like someone you can't force him/her to like you back. We don't always get what we want. That person might has some acceptable reasons and you have to understand.

I've been there and I already did it. It doesn't mean that my feeling will change, it won't. I'm just afraid that I'll make everything worse. You know, I feel suck when I make a person feels uncomfortable with me. All I can do is just stay away.

I believe God has another great plans for me, because He is The Almighty One.

There is something bothering me lately. Friendship stuff. I know there’s always problem in friendship but this time it’s getting serious. Try to imagine, you had been in friendship with someone but now it’s not the same anymore. You have no idea how to settle things between you and this person. You have even said sorry but this person didn’t say anything. You have no idea what to do. You ended up being ignored.

That is not me actually. They are both my friends. I am sad to know that kind of situation. It hurts me to see that to be honest. I miss the moment when we were all together. I want to see us together again, like the old times. I can’t do anything because I do not want to interfere. All I can do is praying that sooner or later we can hangout together, forgetting all the past, become good friends.

Friendship is one of the most important parts of my life that makes it beautiful. 

Meditation.

It's been a long time since I wrote my last post in this lonely blog. I might be too busy, too busy watching movies, reading books, and eating (certainly) hahaha.

I realized that being alone makes me stressful. But I can't deny that I also want to be all alone sometimes. I would make my room like a prison cell. No body could get in. I usually lock my self and doing anything I want: watching movies, reading, blogging, or.......just sleeping Zzz. It's not that I become anti-social, I just want my own space, my free space, without anybody bothering. I call this as a meditation. I find it fun to do this kind of meditation. Just be ware that don't do this too long, it will even make your head explodes!

Do not ever pity yourself too much because of stupid excuses like 'Nobody cares' or 'My life is so pity' or 'I don't have anyone' or 'I am forever alone' or whatsoever. Just believe that we are not alone because there is always our Almighty God, He will always be with us. Be grateful of what we have now.

Nina Nesbitt - Peroxide (Album Stream)

FINALLY, Nina Nesbitt realeased her debut album "Peroxide" ! Her first single of this album is "Selfies" and it keeps climbing up on music charts. Good job Nina! In this album there are 13 tracks, including her previous songs like "Stay Out" and "Hold You". It's such a big success of a debut album. Like always, her unique voice makes all her songs interesting. Love  it! xx

Tracks

1."Peroxide"  

2."Stay Out"  

3."Selfies" 

 4."Two Worlds Away"  

5."Align"  

6."Mr. C"  

7."He's The One I'm Bringing Back" 

 8."18 Candles"  

9."Tough Luck"  

10."The Outcome"  

11."Hold You" (featuring Kodaline) 

12."We'll Be Back For More"  

13."The Hardest Part"