Journal Closing

I thought 2012 was the sweetest one.
But I was wrong. Until I met 2013.

Which turned to be the year

I learned more about myself.

All year long, I'm telling you, all year long.
I kept exploring hidden potentials inside of me.

Potentials I thought were strong enough but eventually,
I kept exploring something bigger as days and months went by.

Flying Solo -- January - February

Never once in my mind, back then, that I'd actually ever gone traveling alone to some new places I never even been to. But I did. I completed the challenge I set to myself. And it was not only me, but my parents were also proud of what I did, my friends applauded me. A regular trip, supposedly, but the extreme touches I sprinkled, made it more interesting. I began to love myself.

First Real Jobs -- March - April

Things got more serious and it was more than just a traveling thing. So I got a freelance copywriting offer from my lecturer. To a guy in his junior year of college called "me", it was considered tremendous. I couldn't stop praising myself because, umm, she trusted me? :')

"The Field Trip" -- June - August

More about the professional world, yea as you knew I was called as apprentice by BBDO. One big, noted advertising agency worldwide. What I liked myself about this part was, I did everything by myself. Applying for the position, calling in the interview, doing the whole internship program ALTHOUGH, I have a relative who works for Lowe, I skipped the advantage and worked it all myself.

Getting American -- October

This, could actually be the highlight of the year and placed the last in this list. But after all, traveling should be placed one step below education and career so, it's placed fourth.

But still, this was the one I won't ever deny. The thing that makes me see myself higher. Although the success of this was achieved with my friends, I can't ever take myself for granted anymore. Or underestimate myself. So starting from US, when I felt down, I would just say to myself "dude, at least you been to America" :)

Done and Ready -- December

So as you know, the peak of my achievement was about myself in college. Yes. My degree. My title I worked myself to get. The phase where I could finally take a break from campus stuff. Well, the last break. Before I finally have to feel the real professional world. Not just an underdog freelance jobs. Nor a semi-real jobs called the internship.

But a real job.

That recently, has been haunting me too much.

Causing me lots of lots of thoughts and considerations.

Which actually, doesn't necessarily have to be like that tho.

Because I know somehow I can make it eventually.

Because I possess something greater than I ever even known.

I thought 2012 was the sweetest one.

But I was wrong. Until I met 2013.

And I hope I'm wrong again.

After I see 2014 :)

NP: The Lonely Hornet

Well sorry I skipped last week's Neverland Playlist.
I told you, yes? That I was facing my thesis defense stuff.

So let's get down to business, shall we?

Jadi dari tiga video yang udah gue post sebelumnya, category yang udah muncul adalah early childhood sama younger elementary. Oke, 'younger'. Kalo ada 'younger' berarti ada apaaahh? Yes, elder elementary yang dalam kasus ini, kartun tersebut adalah

Honey Bee Hutch

Category:

Elder Elementary

Tiap hari, seputaran Maghrib, deket deket lah jamnya kayak Captain Tsubasa. Jujur gue pegel nonton film ini. Banyakan cerita sedihnya daripada bahagianya. Ketemu mama nya juga lama banget dan berkelit kelit, udah tinggal seujung kuku tatap muka eh ada aja halangannya. Udah gitu sepanjang perjalanan kan sering ketemu serangga lain kan ya, eh udah baik baik bareng bareng menjelajah merajut tali persahabatan, mati aja gitu temen temennya. Trus satu lagi, harusnya kartun ini dilabel sadis sih soalnya banyak banget temen temen Hachi yang mati secara tragis. Yaaa gak sampe darah muncrat juga sih, tapi kalo diliat anak kelas 5 SD ya tetep disturbing juga :(

Hits banget sih ini kartun. Bahkan pas gue play openingnya barusan, nyokap gue yang lagi sibuk terdistraksi oleh per-kue-an dunia ini langsung noleh dan ikutan nyanyi. Bahkan nyokap gue!? Ya gimana nggak ya, kartunnya diputer hampir tiap hari, dan tv dikuasai gue sama adek adek gue jadi nyokap terpaksa ikutan nonton huhu kasian dicekokin film lebah ga karuan macem gini...

Sakit jiwa deh kayaknya yang ciptain ini kartun.

Gue kalo jadi penulis cerita Hatchi juga gak bakal segitunya nyiksa itu lebah.

Because sometimes...

I imagined myself flying solo

Where To?

You may noticed that lately, before the one-week vacuum, the posts I produced were all about childhood and childish stuff. Yea right, agree? I'm having this phobia of growing up...

When I stepped out of the trial room, it felt like
Okay this is it I'm free! I'm finally fvckin free!
Although the fact is, now I'm on the verge of

Getting into reality

Long ago I was so sure that after college I'll go straight to working. Then after a year or two, I'll be off to postgraduate stuff before I continue my professional world.

It was so firm until I talked to a friend, had my mind opened about how easy it would be for me to get a scholarship if I take the advantage of being a University of Indonesia fresh graduate. That made sense, really, because if I work first and search for scholarships later, the institution backing me up will be the place I been working for, not my college.

Yet, like I've recently been whining about, yea I'm not yet ready to face the cruelty of working. Taking 6 months off looking for the best scholarship while doing some freelance jobs, set myself free for a while while also traveling, the idea sounds like the best right?!

Until mom got in touch with her one of her old friend, it was the best idea indeed. So this friend of hers has two sons that started their undergraduate program after two years working, and of course, she convinced mom to have me do the same way. Now you know what happened next. I changed my mind again.

Shoot.

I'm really, seriously just one step away entering adulthood.

Yesterday was like, where should we go for summer break?

And today it's like... Like...

I'm lost

Relieved // Terrified

It's been a while.

I skipped updating about my last times at campus, I skipped sharing about how have my final thesis been going, I skipped continuing my Neverland Playlist... I was pretty occupied lately.

Got assigned to the thesis defense by Friday last week, December 20, and it really put my last week's early weekdays in such a mess. Yea you know, because before the trial I have to get all the administrative stuff done, then drop my paper to one of my examiners, then prepare for the presentation slides, the gimmicks, the souvenirs, ARGH I swear I was going to post a luck proposal the day before my trial but... I couldn't.

Anyway speaking of the day,
I might say that I felt so blessed...
To finish things smooth, and to have them.

Left to right are Ammy, Eda and Salsa. There were also Kidung -who
were inside the room, seeing me defensing my work, Dave and Jipi.

Left to right are Mbak Nadia, my oh-so-helping-thesis-consultant-damn-I-owe-her-so-much,
Mas Whisnu the chief and Mas Jaja the examiner. Thanks so much, everybody :')

Phew, well...
Now that everything's done...
Oh of course, praise Allah, everything's done.

I'm halfway patenting my degree, my title.

It's just several mini steps away to getting my degree, my title.

Anyway today was the last day like, literally THE LAST DAY of ours, being in an official academical activity. The next one we'll have, will be our graduation ceremony.

Lord...

Feels just like yesterday, I got involved in the orientation stuff.

Today, the future, the true life and the true adulthood wait before me.

I'm scared, inside out

NP: Japanese Cha Cha

Hellooo, it's been a week since what??
Of course, the Neverland Playlist!!

Hm tanpa disadari udah tiga kali ngupload video nostalgia -termasuk tudey- dan tiga tiganya pas hari Jumat. Yaudah deh diresmiin aja kali ya supaya gue juga gak bingung skejulnya, gue bakal ngepost opening opening ini tiap hari Jumat!

Dan buat minggu ini gue udah pilih satu lagu,
Yang lebih klasik daripada dua pendahulunya.

Kobo Chan

Category:

Early Childhood

Jujur kalo ditanya episode episode Kobo Chan, gue gabakalan inget karena ini termasuk jejeran kartun super jadul yang gak longlast macem Doraemon sama Crayon Shinchan. Tapi yang pasti, gue yakin banget kalo kartun yang satu ini sangat amat membawa dampak buat gue. Kenapa begitu yakin Vick? Simply karena pas gue dengerin ulang opening ini beberapa saat silam, hati gue bergetar. Dan bahkan gue masih apal!? Either memori tajam or, pathetic :')

Tapi yang bikin gue attached sama kartun -atau opening scene?- ini sih fix karena lagunya catchy banget kali ya? Yaiyalah siapa sih yang bakalan lupa sama lirik "Nipong! Nipong! Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha!" yang nempel banget itu!? Bokap gue dengerin itu lagu satu kali sambil tidur juga pas bangun langsung apal pasti.

Huhu Kobo Chan, maaf ya yang berkesan dari kartunmu cuma lagunya doang.
Tapi gue inget satu hal lagi! Dulu dubber Kobo kalo bilang 'melon' itu 'milon'.

Okay...

Sharp memory or, pathetic? :)

Get A Horse!

Mickey and Minnie went on a ride with their friends Horrace and Clarabelle. Clasically, big cruel antagonist Pete came to kidnap Minnie. Then there goes the rest of the story; Mickey attempted to rescue Minnie with the help of his friends, failed a little bit, came up with some good idea and poof! Pete's down and yes, I told you the whole story.

What did I feel right after? Thankful. It was only seven minutes long, and shown as the opening theatrical for Frozen but, I found it very, very appealing. Well why not? The scene was like the classic-est thing a Disney fan could ever enjoy the authentic piece of art of... Disney!

It simply brought me back to the first black and white episode of Mickey Mouse, the "Steamboat Willie". Similar plot, same exact characters. It was the first episode of a Mickey-and-friends cartoon compilation -I forgot the name of the CD- my dad bought me, then I watched it with my brothers, humming the tunes and mouthing the mini dialogues, laughing off the cliche jokes... Can I use some tissues here? I could cry now.

I enjoyed this one a lot. Feelin like an oldie when I was like the only one giggling along the classic humors -since every other audience inside the theater were like ten, fifteen years younger than me- but, umm to be honest, I'm proud.

Proud because I grew in such the best generation.

Proud because I could show those nowadays-children

The true essence of a cartoon

Image source: here

What a Relief

So I watched Frozen yesterday.

After all, Disney's stuff should be blog-treated better than any other movies.

Well why not? The movie's such a masterpiece.

The poster belongs to this website.

It's been a long time since I watched Disney Classic down at the cinema. The last one was Brother Bear -well I actually watched Wreck-it Ralph last year but what I meant by Disney Classic was, a human-based-story-with-some-magical-touch classic, not a parallel world of arcade kind of 'classic'. So what I'm saying is, it's been a long time not watching some musical animated feature as Disney always been specialized for -nobody sang along the story of Wreck-It Ralph, as long as I could recall, so don't blame me for skipping the movie.

With Frozen, Disney brought it back to me and I love it.

Now speaking about love, it's not a Disney Classic if there's no cliche about true love and stuff. Especially when it features a brand new princess. When the magical word of 'love' was mentioned, I was like, oh here we go again, sooo~ Disney. But as scenes went by, it wasn't the love I expected. Disney twisted it well and I fell for it.

And I liked Anna. A lot. A type of woman I'll be spending most of my time with. While Elsa, man, she's a fine queen within. Queen. Oh yea she's a queen! Not a princess like people bragged about so, the Disney Princess line-up is no longer in a mess! Although if they still put Elsa as one of the princesses, I don't mind I'll never consider her as one anyway. Disney complicated stuff but I guess I won't ever bother about it.

To sum it up, the movie was fascinating. Entertaining and easy, the humor apparently, was fresh -either the comedy was purely fresh or I simply have a low sense of humor- I liked it a lot when children at the cinema laughed. The music, the story, the Olaf... Disney relive my childhood vision and I adore it.

This pic has nothing to do with my post storyline but umm, I just like it. It's from here.

After all, Disney's stuff should be blog-treated better than any other movies.
Well why not? After all these years, demand changed, techs been growing,
But they remained the same, creating childhood and maintaining ones...

Nothing could change Disney.
Even future won't be able to.
What a relief :)

NP: The Green Captain

Hi 90s kids, I'm back!

Pasti pada mikir, "ah mana nih si viki ngomongnya doang mau sok sok bikin kesan youthful di blognya... abis ngepost soal Digimon trus ilang..." kaaan?? Nggak? Yah sedih :(

Oke gapapa tetap semangat lah ya.
Karena tudey, playlist gue bakal ditambah.
Dengan skuad impian bocah lelaki 10 tahun silam,

Captain Tsubasa

Category:

Younger Elementary

Sejatinya, gue bukan tipe anak cowok yang sporty dan suka main bola. Dulu aja pas SD posisi gue cuma jadi bek yang kalo kebobolan bakal disalah-salahin... Tapi gamungkin gasih ada anak 90an yang gak nonton Tsubasa?? Gue nggak semaniak itusih sama kartun ini tapi berubung diputer hampir tiap hari, di waktu yang pas sepulang les dan sebelum waktu belajar, ya gue nonton deh. Eh tapi jangan berprasangka kalau gue gasuka Tsubasa loh ya. Jujur, gue nikmatin banget ini kartun.

Walopun waktu seolah olah lama banget di dunia mereka -satu pertandingan bisa dipotong jadi beratus ratus episode- dan kadang gue suka gedek banget sama komentatornya karena DIA SELALU NGEBEBERIN STRATEGI TIM, after all, Captain Tsubasa sangat amat menghibur dan berdampak cukup signifikan. Buktinya, setiap gue sok sok main bola, pose yang gak pernah absen adalah tangan terkepal, kaki kanan terangkat ke belakang, pause sekitar tiga detik sebelum akhirnya gue teriak "TENDANGAN JARAK JAUH!!!" dan gue tendang itu bola :)

Duh, Captain Tsubasa dari SD Nankatsu.

Musuh bebuyutan mereka adalah Perguruan Toho.

Gue gangerti apa maksud gue ngetik dua kalimat di atas.

Well thanks to y'all,

I explored one crucial thing.

I learned what offside was

Royal Complaint

Once upon a time,

On the land of enchantment,

Disney stopped producing handmade classics.

And so, computer animation rules.

I have a fling with Disney Princesses. I don't know they're all charming I like it a lot. From Snow White to Tiana, from the first to the ninth princess, I put so much love to them. But starting from the tenth, I began to stop giving shit.

Rapunzel, and the eleventh princess Merida, is not an output of Disney Classics. Although still, Rapunzel was originally made by Walt Disney Pictures -unlike Merida who was produced by Pixar Studio. But after all, she's computer animated and it just violated my value of Disney Princess, who should be drawn by hands!

So hey people of Walt Disney,

I'm trying to offer some ideas here.

Why don't you stop bothering the current Disney Princess, make it only up 'till Princess Tiana, and develop a new princess line-up that is, umm, computer-animated based? You can name it let's say, "Pixar Princess"? Or, "Computer Princess"...? Maybe? Yea whatever its name would be, just separate them!

And you know you have two other princesses joining soon, and again, they're computer-animated. And the worse part is, these women, Anna and Elsa from Frozen, are sisters! What the hell were you guys thinking about?? Two princesses from one same film, and siblings, all they gotta do is just crowding and confusing the line-up!

Okay now you guys have four computer princesses already, and they're not so phenomenal, and they appeared on movies which are named after one word that are not their names -Tangled, Brave, and Frozen? Got it now? and moreover, Merida and Elsa don't have a prince?? What more common things could they share? They meant to be together, so be it!

Left to right I got it from here, here and here.

So...

Once upon a time,

Princesses of 3D keeps appearing.

While classic ladies I always been admiring of,

Lived happily ever after

The Ulterior Motive(ation)

You know about the final thesis assignment I'm currently working on? The one with Whiskas? Yes the thing that lately distracted me from the real world? Yea? Yea it's getting intense.

I'm reaching the end.

My thesis adviser thought that it's about time. I'm just this close to being ready facing the trial. She kept rushing me about the date and stuff, and I'm so glad that she looks so excited.

When I imagine about the trial day, I swear I'm not ready.

But if I remember what I'm going to do by January, I'm super moved.

Mhmm, it's another trip.

To Vietnam and Cambodia.

Here's to get the picture of Ho Chi Minh, and here's to get to Phnom Penh.

Okay so I'll fly to Ho Chi Minh City on January 21 and will be back on February 4, just 4 days before the ceremony of my graduation. Get it? Four days. I won't have enough time to take care about the administrative shits, unless I have it all settled before I depart.

The same thing also goes to my thesis. After my trial, there will be a major revision I have to finish at least for a month. So if you do the math, the trial should be done no later than December 21!!

So now here I am, -instead of- rushing myself to finish everything like EVERYTHING -I just sit in front of my laptop, blogging- so I can go traveling with peace! And you know what, I'm gonna make an oath out of it.

"I, Rifky Ramadhan Amin, will officially announce that on LAST term of my college, I will rarely spend my TIME for flash-term pleasure things such as watching movies, eating out and buying things prodigally, AND HAVE MY THESIS DONE SO SOON."

-Indochina Trip Oath-

And I really meant it.

I want everything to be done by Christmas.

So I can "Ho Ho Ho" all the way

Catching Fire (Again)

After winning the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Ever--okay you know what, I've done this before. Please just read here if you want, it's not what I'm eager to talk about.

So...

What did I feel right after? Superior. Gue udah baca bukunya duluan kan, bahkan sampe buku ketiganya pun udah ludes. Jadi pas keluar dari bioskop, yang gue lakukan adalah melangkah angkuh dengan dagu yang naik. Sumpah ya, orang orang keluar studio pada diem kayak rombongan pelayat, trus berdiri gerombol sambil nanya nanya "itu tadi kok gitu sih?" ada juga yang komen "ah gue paling gasuka ending kayak gitu..." sementara gue udah tau kalo nanti President Snow bakal... Oke gue bisa mati dipanah kalo spoiler disini. Tapi gimanapun juga ya namanya udah ngefans, walopun sepanjang nonton gue selalu mendikte di dalam hati apa yang selanjutnya terjadi, gue tetep ngerasa terhibur. Hats off to the actors, bow to the director and his crew, but all credit goes to Suzanne Collins of course.

Tapi yang paling oke adalah deg degannya sih. Ngena parah, mulai dari sebelum, selama, sampe sesudah filmnya selesai. Gatau ya deg degan karena filmnya, plotnya, sinematografi, musik atau emang murni deg degan karena akhirnya setelah penantian satu setengah taun gue bisa nonton ini film juga -kayaknya sih deg degan karena alesan terakhir.

Dan sekarang mesti nunggu setaun lagi buat nonton Mockingjay. Okay that's fine. Setaun lagi gue udah kerja. Gatau sih yang pasti kehidupan gue baru karena bukan lagi mahasiswa.

Yaa I don't know. Anything's possible.

Like maybe, hopefully... I get to watch the movie

Straight down in Los Angeles?

Image Source: here

NP: World of Digital Past

Halo.

Gatau kenapa akhir akhir ini gue ngerasa mellow banget. Bawaan pengen nostalgia ke jaman kartun masih berjaya -dan bermutu- trus merenung, trus diem, trus... Nangis :'/

Oke jadi di postingan gue beberapa hari lalu, gue bilang kalo gue mau nambahin kesan youthful di blog gue ini kan. Nah jadilah setelah pertimbangan matang dan mumpuni, kayaknya gue mau bikin sesi nostalgia deh buat kesenengan pribadi.

And I'm gonna name it "Neverland Playlist"

Sesuai namanya, isi dari segmen ini adalah playlist lagu lagu jaman dahulu. Bukan lagu musik gitusih, dulu jaman gue kecil gue belom doyan musik kali ya, MTV juga belom kenal.

Instead, playlist ini bakal berisi lagu opening kartun populer -bukan populer as in "pokoknya pulang teler" ya, temen temen Bali ku :)- jaman dulu yang kalo gue dengerin lagi sekarang... Berasa muda dan bergairah kembali :')

Nah buat batch pertama, gue mulai dari yang paling gue suka dulu kali ya.

Digimon

Category:

Younger Elementary

Oke gue freak banget sama anime yang satu ini. Booming pas gue kelas 3 atau 4an gitu gue lupa, pokoknya bukan gue doang tapi temen-temen sekelas gue juga pada gila. Ceritanya yaaa bocah banget gitu deh, anak-anak kejebak di dunia monster, ngelawan monster jahat, ngebebasin dunia nyata dari monster jahat yang lolos... Fana banget. Tapi suka banget soalnya monsternya bisa berubah dan levelnya banyak! Ya tau kan gue kayak semacam orgasme gitu kalo ngeliat film yang tokohnya banyak dan ada hirarkinya.

Nah di Digimon itu ada 8 anak terpilih beserta Digimon mereka masing-masing, berarti ada 16 tokoh utama kan? Ya jadilah ya gue dan 15 temen gue membentuk pasukan Digimon kita sendiri. Favorit gue adalah Koshiro -versi Inggrisnya namanya Izzi- dan Digimon gue itu Tentomon, tapi gue lupa siapa temen gue yang jadi Tentomon.

Hm Digimon.

Saking maniaknya dulu gue bikin komik sendiri ceritanya gue dan temen-temen imajiner gue terjebak di dunia Digital trus yaa sama aja sih kayak versi kartunnya, tapi tokohnya aja berubah. Dan ada guenya.

HAHA UDAH KALI YA??
Jadi keumbar kan masa kecil gue.

But that's just the essence of Neverland, isn't it?
So I'm afraid it'll last quiet long with more posts coming.
Enjoy the time machine, Vick

And Then There Were None

Ten guests were invited to a mansion in the Soldier Island, owned by the mysterious Owens. Ten guests, ten different individuals and backgrounds, with no ideas at all about each others, and about the Owens whom never even showed up. Ten guests, trapped inside the island due to storm, no one could go out and no boat pulled over. Ten guests, one died down to nine, one died down to eight, seven, five, two, and then there were none.

What did I feel right after? Merinding. Tangan sama kaki udah kayak ayam opor, bulunya bangun semua. Mesti gue jelasin lagi gak sih kalo gue suka sama cerita yang banyak tokohnya, trus satu per satu mati? Yang lebih serunya lagi, kan kita gatau kan ya siapa pembunuhnya, jadi YAGITUDEH! Dan yang gue suka adalah, serial killing ini bukan tanpa alasan, 10 orang itu dibunuh karena mereka adalah pendosa!! Mommy :( Pokoknya kalo baca buku ini, jangan pernah buka halaman terakhir karena disitulah nama pembunuhnya ketauan dan untungnya gue udah belajar dari pengalaman kan, jadi ya gue tahan ajadeh kayak b3'0L.

Duh tapi gak kuku nih kalo gak spoiler.

Nih deh ya, gue kasih kisi kisi biar seru

"The Killer is not a killer.
But at last, The Killer is the killer."

Image source: here

Freeze!

Recently, as you might all noticed, there are tons like TONS of TV series genre-ing action with stories of crime investigating. You know, CSI, NCIS, Cold Case, Law and Order, Rizzoli and Isles, la la la damn! So overwhelming.

And lately, as I told ya, I been distracted by these two out of many of them -well you know it's always been my habit to instantly 'fall in love' with serials I only watch like in several episodes. If I happen to watch all those serials at least two episodes each, maybe I'll spend the rest of my life watching TV.

And they are

Picture of Jane's from here, Logan's from here.

Okay. The Mentalist and The Listener. Both are exciting, both are sit-still-and-keep-watching making. Both are crime based stories, both are revolving about murders and both have the female protagonists who are somehow more firm and fighting-capable than them. Both, are identical. To each other.

Yea they're just too similar sometimes I wonder, who copied whom?? So I made up my mind and picked one of them as my favorite. Can guess which one? Let's hear my thoughts first.

So the main character, Patrick Jane and Toby Logan, both can read minds. Although some source refers Logan as somebody "with the ability to read minds" while Jane as somebody who was "previously employed to 'read' minds."

Spot the difference?

Yes. Patrick is a pure, skilled mind reader. He detects crimes using psychological point of view and traps victims by manipulating minds. The way his mind works, the way he sets suspects up to be confessing, sometimes it's just mind blowing.

Now Toby. He has sixth sense. He observes through 'extra' visuals others can't see. The facility helps his team finishes cases much faster and of course, easier. Yaa for me it puts less pressure to the serial. Interesting, still, but not nerve-wrecking.

So... Can you now guess which serial I like the least? Bingo! It's

Picture of blah blah blah's obtained from here. Boo 'em.

Got to admit, the serial's light and fun.

But a writer joining some detective unit to help investigating crimes with some excuses of making a crappy novel, that in every single cases becoming the one who can decode every single clue, making him the one who everybody, even the best detective depends on him? What the hell??? I don't like how Toby Logan works, but at least he's a part of the institution yet Rick Castle IS NOT.

Phew. Glad to let it all out.

I'm wondering why I acted so intense toward Castle--oh I know! It's because he's a writer, interested in crime, can write about crime and make it for the living.

I'm a -soon to be- writer, or copywriter yea whatever, interested in traveling but umm, still have no idea whether or not can I write about traveling for the living.

Stupid jealousy.

Hope this doesn't lead to

Committing crime

That's The Way It Is

So I call this blog "Neverland".

The land where age stops counting.

The place that promises eternal youth.

Well.

The outfit says it all.

Fully animated yet simple.

Disney-ish with some Peter Pan quotes.

But the content seems like it's ruled by some newly post-adolescent, standing on the verge of being mature. Not yet an adult, but definitely no longer a teenager. Well as a matter of fact, I am actually on that level.

But it's just, against the value of Neverland.

I gotta make some youth touches in this blog.

"The only way to feel again your childhood,
is by doing, watching, listening, sensing all
the things you sensed, as a kid."

Watching eh?

I think I know just the right thing to do.

Sit back and enjoy what I'm planning.

Local kids my age will feel what I feel.

Oh speaking about local,

I think I'll be using Indonesian for this.

You know life was much simpler back then

When the only English word I always knew was

Cartoon

殆どそこに - Almost There

Let's update about my Japanese skill.

Anybody's dying to know??? I do, I do!

Since next year or so I'll be going to Japan -AMEN O LORD ALMIGHTY, I been working my ass off to master how to speak Japan. I bought the textbook, I watched Naruto like everyday, reinforced myself with a dictionary, got to admit I began to know some words, how to use it and... I still can't speak Japanese.

So I asked to myself, where did I do wrong?

Apparently, it's because I skipped the basic part.

手紙 - The Letters

Yea stupid me, I started everything just knew some Japanese letters. I constantly forgetting certain letters it made me lose my will to get to know what words those are forming and at the end of the day, I earned no progress.

But call me Vickette if I quit so soon.

For the last four days, I gave myself an intense letter-memorizing-session every night. It was identical to common student studying at night with books and papers everywhere, trying to memorize some math formulas or historical chronological orders by writing it down time and time and time again.

A note I made to easily memorize katakanas.

To be honest, the method was kinda helpful tho because now,

I know each and every single letter of both Hiragana and Katakana!

So next stop: Kanji.

Okay, that's just it. Told you it'll just a brief update.

Now if you excuse me, Vicky needs to learn some kanjis.

Or should I call myself, フイキ ?

Solitude

You might be wondering where have I been, eh?

No? Ahh too bad, I prepared A good long story for that.

Hell no, kidding.

I've been pretty occupied by Whiskas. Yea you know my situation. It's D-31 due the thesis submission deadline and chapter four drove me crazy already but, I can do it MYSELF of course. I produced some print ads and other cool stuff I honestly want to show all in here but, maybe later after I graduate? :)

So. Basically this post is just a taken-for-granted one because I only made ONE post along November. There's no particular thought or experience I want to share now so...

Oh I do have one!

Today everybody left to Singapore.

It's only me now at home, with six cats of ours.

I never been literally ALONE at home. And there's no historical track in my family that they go traveling just the four of them, without me. Well I just got home from US and I have this purple thingy to take care of so, I have to let them go.

Now the interesting part is, as I told you, that I'm alone.

But that doesn't seem too desperate for me. In fact, I like it.

Woke up early to wish my family a fun trip, chilled inside the air conditioned room watching The Mentalist -seriously, lately I been exposed by many serials that turned out to be so entertaining, talk about it soon, fulfilled my curiosity watching some Bermuda Triangle documentary, spent the whole morning singing to MTV, bought some random chicken black pepper that turned out to be extra yummy and ate it while streaming Naruto, took nap while the TV aired Lilo and Stitch, wasted all afternoon down to the evening watching Hell's Kitchen, The Apartment, America's Next Top Model and Miss Universe 2013 -I honestly have no idea whether I should be proud of watching these things or not.

Well the point is, as you might guess,

I seriously enjoyed this total LONELINESS.

And to make it complete, it rained most time of the day.

It's just me getting to know and hangin out with me,

Talking, judging and having intense discussions with myself,

I might just gonna marry you, Vick

Took Me All The Way

It ended yesterday.

You do know what I'm talking about.

The best time of my entire life so far.

A moment I never expected to come. 

October.

How couldn't it be not the best?

First of all, dad was having his 50th birthday. A special number not just for him, but to every single member of this little family of ours. It was just a day we all together realized that, in no time, dad -and mom- will start settling down, and there'll come our time, the kids, to take control the life business. Crazy.

Also, I finally finished the pain-in-the-ass Mirai Ocha task -although on some level, it was all majorly done by my teammates because I left them... ごめんね、皆さん :(

And for the whole month, my mentor made it smooth for my final assignment -the Whiskas stuff. It's now down to the last complicated chapter, and one complementary part to finish. Should I say I can't wait for the trial? No? Of course not, I'll regret saying it...

But the best part, as you know... Is USA.

Want me to tell about that all over again?

Haha don't worry, I know you're tired.

It won't feel good for me anyway.

Yes, because I still haven't completely moved on.

And I'm tired of keep thinking about it, honestly.
But umm, can I say just, this one last thing?

Okay.

"I'll be back there, somehow.
But for this trip, I'm done.
So memories,

Safe flight!"

Halfway to Half Done (Pt. 1)

Selamat sore, sobat sejagat!

Huff udah lama juganih gak bikin postingan pake bahasa Indo haha pegel juga euy ngomong pake bahasa orang. Sudah saatnya bahasa sendiri dikumandangkan!!! Padahal bahasa yang dipakai pun tidaklah baku :)

Oke jadi gue udah semester 7 kan nih ceritanya. Semester akhir. Nah tengah semester pun udah lewat minggu lalu, jadi masa masa gue sebagai mahasiswa tuh kayak cuman... Tiga bulan lagi? :')

Minggu lalu udah pitching klien pertama buat matkul Praktikum Periklanan -which was Mirai, yang sukses bikin anak iklan UI 2010 trauma denger kata "ocha". Laporan magang batch 1 out of 2 pun udah diluncurkan. Nah buat TKA Whiskas gue tersayang, udah memasuki bab 3 dari 5.

Intinya, semua udah serba setengah jalan.

PrakPrik udah ngeluarin brief kedua soal, ehm, kondom. Laporan magang udah harus dilanjutin sampe abis dan TKA, tanggal 17 Desember udah harus dikumpulin buat disidang Januari.

Serem gasih?

Gue sih sebenernya excited.

Excited karena udah mau lulus aja.

Tapi kalo mikirin mau kemana dan mau berbuat apa sehari setelah wisuda...

To be honest,

I still can't tell

Taking Worldwide Citizenship

Hi. So, I'm guessing that you're getting tired of me keep talking about USA eh? Well... I'm sorry, but I don't care. This is just how I get over it. The impact was just too big. It kept appearing in my dream for like fourteen days in a row and stopped three days ago. Not just mentally, it also bugged me physically. My jetlag completely finished just two days ago. So now you know how much this trip really matters to me eh?

But I promise, this'll be the last one because it's the overview and for you who've been keeping up with my writings -is there any? :(- you knew that I've always made an overview by the end of my interesting trip.

So here it is, the summary of my journey to...

U S A

Now let's see what I can summarize about this trip.

There are too many, I tell you, so you better brace yourself.

I'm totally, like genuinely into traveling

No doubt. Traveling turns me on. Booking flights are the foreplays. Boarding the aircraft gives me tiny orgasm. Visiting places I could only read from books or see from TV, hanging out with locals, eat their dishes OH GOD those are all like having sex to me and going back home is like the post ejaculation sensation. Hm this topic is getting inappropriate but HEY, that's the truth.

Now let's tell some other truths. I've been thinking about switching my direction of professional world. From that harsh advertising world, to magazine kinda stuff I'm actually more attracted to, since I was a kid. But of course, a traveling magazine. It's still all about writing but now, there's this added value I can benefit, and that is just my other passion. Won't I be on fire all the time about that??

Oh. There's one more thing I learn from this trip. That everything's possible. All my life, USA was just a fantasy. Never once on my mind, I would actually go there. NY has always been something sacred to me and DC, never thought I'd go there. But now that I ever visited US, I have this huge huge confident about the upcoming, undecided, unexpected trips ahead in the future. Why can't I do visit any other places??

So who knows next year I'll spend a month observing animals in Serengeti?

Or travel from Kiev to Reykjavik and the other way around from Lisbon to Helsinki?

Or in two years I'll spend the whole year studying in Cali, spending summer vacation in Hawaii?

Everything seems to be un-impossible after that trip.

Including my dream to be somewhere else's local?

Yeah, at least I can be a global local

Highlight Three: The Study

Let's not forget the essence of me, going to the US.

To be honest, it wasn't for traveling or for some culinary trip.

Well have I actually told you before? No?? Oh my God, what have I been doing??

There's this Model United Nations held by Columbia University the girls and I wanted--okay, HAD TO attend. Neither of us four had ever joined to this MUN things before, and it was actually a total shock when we first came inside the class. So umm, I guess we might gonna skip this topic.

So. Columbia University. To tell you the truth, I barely hear about the name before all this MUN thing started to be a part of my life since April this year. I'm more familiar with Harvard or Yale. So I took it for granted and never expected that Columbia University would be umm, what's the best word ya... Okay,

Magnificent.

Architecture-wise, enchanting. I mean, three years in college, all I ever known about a "good" campus is a hundred-acre-woods one with buildings spread around, bus connecting one area to another and is placed out of town. In fact, an excellent campus doesn't necessarily have to be like that.

Columbia's placed in town, and is not organized too strict. I mean, they don't place their buildings in one full complex of their own. From one building to another, those are all in walking distance and are blending with public buildings. It's also easily accessed, you don't really have to spend like one hour driving from your house. And the important part is, you don't feel like you're traveling out of town when going to campus.

Aside of Columbia, I visited like, three other big universities in US. NYU was the first -even firster than Columbia- so when the girls and I stepped near the area, because we have no standards yet about how American universities were, we were like amazed with it. We convinced ourselves that we would be continuing our studies there -but once we saw how Columbia was looking better, we simply forgot about those empty promises.

In two or three years, we'll be posing again like this as two of the students. AMEN O LORD!

In DC, my local friend gave me a tour to Georgetown and George Washington University. Okay, Georgetown was like this fancy European castle, while GW, it's a university where rich human beings study. The fee, my friend said, costs a fortune. It's the most expensive one across US.

This is Georgetown University. I didn't take a pic of GW :(

Seeing Georgetown and GW, it changed my mind again about the best university. I mean, NYU and Columbia were good. Big cities good. These two were good. Elegantly good. It just depends on which kind of city I'd love to live in, to complete my study experience.

Haha.
I blabbered as if
I'm about to study in US eh?

Well, I'll work on it.

I been thinking to continue my study in Europe. Germany to be exact. People said that the cost won't be that harmful to Indonesians, both for academic and daily living. Plus, I have some friends whose apartment I can crash in for a while so, it's just the scholarship matter before I fly to Germany.

But studying in US, well, the cost and stakes are higher but...
This, is America. Who would say no to America?
Well some random people would.
But not me.

Back in the day those girls asked me to join their delegation attending the Columbia University MUN, it took only a single night for me to decide that I'd spend my mind, my money and my effort to be a part of them. Because this, is America. Who would say no to America? I won't.

I was worried that we'd probably get no sponsors and I had to pay like, millions.
But guess what? It turned out to be the best experience ever.

And studying in the US, well baby,
I should be worried if I get no scholarships... I have to pay like, millions.
But I'm sure I'll figure some way out, making this studying experience better than anything.

Because by studying in there,
I'm feeling like, I'm halfway localized.
Now who would say no to be American local?

Not me

Highlight Two: Foods

When it comes to lifestyle,

It also comes to styles of eating.

So I guess you figured out already what this post is all about:
Foods I tried in the US.

American Authentic // Diners and Street Eats

I must admit, we visited like, thousands of diners while visiting US. Let's start mentioning! Crown Diner near Yankee's Stadium -the sunny side up was the best, The Diner in Adams Morgan -I ordered a turkey platter but my thumbs go to their mashed potatoes, Artie's by the Upper West Side, 82 Cafe, another one named The Diner in Meatpacking District -first time eating the genuine grilled cheese, oh Lord! But the best one was Boar's Head in Staten Island. I don't know, the place was good, the Filipino waitress was nice, the bacon--TURKEY bacon was top notch, it all just blended too well.

On the left is Crown Diner, I was so excited because that's the first diner experience,
and on the right is the meals served by Boar's Head.

And yaaa, we also spent much dollar on street foods. You know, sometimes we need to secure our money just to shop more HAHA. But it didn't necessarily mean that the foods weren't the best choices. We tried both American and Arabian street foods. The gyro, cheeseburger, wraps, lamb and chicken over rice... Sometimes they tasted boring but, I missed them :(

The authentic street-made cheeseburger and chicken gyro

Asian Delight // Spice and Ollie's

Some other night, a local friend wanted to meet me over dinner at some Thai restaurant. She's Vietnamese and was longing for some Asian spices so, Spice it was. I liked the restaurant. No lights, just candle-lighted. I didn't really read the menu -because it was dark anyway- so I ordered some, I don't know, weird sweet chicken and sticky rice. It turned out that sticky rice is fvckin LEMPER in Indonesian. Worst dinner ever, since I have to pay like $14 and didn't manage to finish my food. But well, at least the place was good.

Near Columbia University, there's this Chinese restaurant where students usually dined in. The girls and I kinda liked the place. Also the food. I once ate some chicken rice with spinach, and share-ordered a big bowl of noodle soup on the other day. The best meal? Was the pan-fried dumplings. I'm telling you, if they apparently double the price of the dumplings, I don't care and will still buy it anyway.

Italian Regale // Sofia's and Eataly

Well, we only ordered one big plate of pizza for the four of us. It wasn't that remarkable, but this Sofia's restaurant was in Little Italy area. And the area, was too damn cozy. It was more like blocks of restaurants in Europe with people hanging around with their friends, chatting and laughing, sitting in front of the building, seeing others walking down the streets checking out each restaurants' menus... Delightful.

Another Italian experience I had was Eataly in Flatiron District. It wasn't just a restaurant, but also a market. Too bad when I came down there, the place was so full that I could only bought a raspberry sorbet. Now about the sorbet. Okay imagine this. The weather was kinda hot. Hot enough that on that day, we actually went to Coney Island and had a brightful beachy experience, and the sour-fresh-berry sensation could actually made my day. Get it? No? Well that's simply because I can't describe how tasteful that sorbet was.

Mid Eastern Feast // Ilili

Just when I was on my mood to spend more money and try some fine dining experience, another local friend of mine asked me to go with him to this Mediterranean restaurant. First step in, some Arabic music welcomed me. Some Arabic scent rushed into my nose. And some Arabic menu confused my mind. Okay, do you know moujadara, tabbouleh, shawarma, atayef, and mouhamara?? Yea he ordered them all.

Now though I had no idea what the hell those were, I actually enjoyed everything. Turned out that those foods, are small bites called mezza. Some kind of appetizers I guess -but since we ordered like six different appetizers and better yet, it was all American people's portion, so I considered those as full main course. The unique part was, those foods could be eaten all together because the rule is

"There's no exact way of eating these,

Mix everything with everything else."

Mexican Fiesta // Chipotle

Along the trip in US, I saw like many times, people wandering around the streets, bringing this huge paper bag with name "Chipotle" written on it. Finally I knew that it was some kind of Mexican fast food restaurant but I never get the chance to try one. So on my last day, before going back to the hotel to get the girls and grab our luggage before heading back to JFK, I stopped by and got a spicy chicken burrito.

Oh my God, American tummies, they're seriously big. I ate this stuff for my early dinner -in the airport, yes, and those girls just stood there doing nothing, it rushed me really. I was so hungry because I skipped lunch and that's why I bought this big sized burrito. But when I tried to finish it, still, I gave up.

Saturday Night Out // McGee's

While Ted, Barney, Robin, Marshall and Lily get together at MacLaren's, Vicky, Ammy, Salsa and Ami hang around McGee's. Lol yea. The place is where the series take place. Lol kidding. McGee's is the pub where MacLaren's was based on. So the shooting's not at all done at McGee's, but inside the building, you can always find all gimmicks related to HIMYM.

The food was so so. The margarita was the highlight of the night. What's the best was the fun times I spent with the girls. You know it was Saturday night. And the weather was totally splendid. We laughed, we did stupid stuff, honestly we always do that the whole trip but I don't know, what we did at McGee's, it felt kinda different. Guess I just realized I love hanging out with them so much.

Drink Spots // Domain and Serendipity

As a part of MUN agenda, I was invited to Domain Bar to attend the head delegates social night. It was a new place. Small yet cozy, but the best thing was the open bar. Got some cranberry water and joyed myself near the snack buffet. Now aside all those chips, tortillas, nachos and any other snacks served upon the table, my favorite one was the goat cheese. Red drink and goat cheese, and the attire was my slim fit formal suit. Feelin like a fancy gentleman, eh?

Another noted place for drink that I paid a visit was the place where the famous frozen hot chocolate originates: Serendipity. In NY, it was seriously that famous that we had to wait to be seated just to taste two big bowls of frozen hot chocolate and a plate of apple pie for four of us. Worth it? Of course. Until we visited DC and spotted another Serendipity, where people didn't really have to take queue for drinking. Still thinking it was worth waiting in NY? Ha-ha we just laughed in bitterness and left.

Small Bites // Nathan's and Georgetown Cupcake

Okay so I mentioned visiting Coney Island. It was bright, sky was clear, the best food I could ever had was something small and chunky. So I bought a mini box of melted-cheese potato and a freaking ice cold strawberry lemonade -God, the drink came down straight from heaven! Oh did I say I had a mini box? Hm. Yea I didn't finish it. Americans and their gigantic portion.

While in DC, the girls dragged me to Georgetown cupcake. Naaa I'm not a cupcake kinda guy, but hey at least I stepped my ass on that worldwide famous cupcake store. But don't worry, I still tried the cake anyway.

Home Savored Meals

There were foods I bought outside, there were also foods I ate indoor, like a local citizen. Peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, taken away Chinese food from Ollie's -I've always wanted to feel how it is like eating Chinese food from a box like Monica Geller and Sheldon Cooper had always done, frozen pizza-in-a-box, frozen bowled fried noodle, and, delivered Cuban meal.

Okay for the last mentioned meal. I was invited by my local friends to have some Cuban dinner over their apartment. Dumb stuff was, I came late and the feast was over. The food entered the fridge already so they had to heat it up for me. *ting!* the microwave said, and there goes my leftover roasted meat with red bean sauced rice. And guess what. That was the best cold meal I ever eaten. The roast meat was still so juicy and tender, and the salad was still fresh. Those Cuban cooks made their meals with heart, I'm sure.

No matter how great the foods were and how fancy the restaurants looked, to be honest, the best culinary experience came from the last category.

You can always do fine dining everywhere.

You can always have someone cook for you, or serve you, everywhere.

You can always eat what you see in some restaurant, at some other restaurants everywhere.

But to eat like locals,

To eat what locals eat,

Not everybody can, want,

And will ever do that sincerely.

Wow.

I'm so proud of myself,

For being a semi local traveler