NP: Riding the Myth

Shall we begin?

Oh first of all, GUE MAU PAKE BAHASA ENDONESAAAHHH ANJEEERRR UDAH BERAPA WINDU GATAU DAH GUE SOK-SOKAN PAKE INGLISH MULU tapi ya jan salahin gua juga si, kan reader gue banyak yang internasional kan ya, makanya gue Inggrisan mulu mayan jir visitor kedua terbanyak dari US bukan Malay yaudahlah English it has been. Tapi untuk kali ini, karena ini cuma anak anak 90an Indonesia aja yang bisa relate, makanya ya mending pake bahasa Ibu Pertiwi aja gasih!?!?

OMG so excited wuwuwuwu.

Oke jadi bagi yang taun 2014 belum baca blog gue *azegg*, Neverland Playlist itu isinya lagu-lagu opening sama closing dari kartun-kartun -kebanyakan sih- Jepang -tapi bisa aja sih nanti tiba-tiba ada kartun apa gitu yang bukan Jepang- yang ngena banget di hati ini. Lantas apa kartun yang akan gue angkat sekarang, setelah hampir 3 tahun madol? Ini dia.

B't X

Category:

Younger Elementary

Well, sebenernya banyak sih kartun lain yang lebih membawa dampak dalam hidup dan lebih gue suka dari pada yang ini, tapi berubung kartun ini yang bikin gue jadi inget sama yang namanya Neverland Playlist, kayaknya gak sopan kalo bukan dia yang gue mainin duluan. Dan ternyata kartun ini gak seminor itu juga dalam hidup gue, karena pas gue play lagunya, merinding coy. Plus gue masih inget beberapa nada sama liriknya.

Dan gue inget banget dulu punya tiga mainannya. Pajangan X, robot kuda putih kece tunggangan si main character, sama Je T'aime dan Raidou, si phoenix merah dan naga biru yang alamak sumpah ya gue suka banget bentukannya huhu. Trus di ceritanya itu mereka berlima, tambah satu kuda item dan satu kura-kura ijo, adalah spirit animal yang mewakili arah-arah mata angin gituuuu ya gimana gue gak jatuh cinta sih gue paling doyan cerita-cerita yang agak adaptasi mitos-mitos kayak begini.

Tapi jujur buat gue ini kartun lumayan gore. Ya emang bukan manusianya sih yang dicabik-cabik, melainkan robot-robotnya. Tapi kan tetep aja, dari awal kan itu robot-robot emang hidup dan berteman sama manusia-manusianya ya, jadi gue yang kala itu masih polos dan belum ngerti apa-apa kan langsung nganggep mereka semua makhluk hidup ciptaan Allah SWT yang gak seharusnya gue lihat dalam bentuk kepala pecah, dada bolong, dan sejenisnya :(

But anyhow, gue suka banget ini kartun. Sampe muncul opening versi berikutnya pun, gue masih nonton dan 10 tahun kemudian gue masih apal nadanya. Nih bonus:

B't X Neo

Paraaaaaaaaahhh ya Tuhan Ilahi gimana nih gue jadi mellow sendu durjana. Di satu sisi gue nikmatin banget nostalgia-nostalgia ee' kayak gini, hunting lagu-lagu jadul buat diposting di playlist beraque ini, tapi di sisi lain rasanya bikin hidup jadi berat sebelah gitu gimana dong :(

I'm desperately in need to go back to the past.

And once again enjoy all those things happened.

But what can I do,

It's now just a myth

The Playlist Continues

So lately,

I've been pretty much in the mood of a nostalgia, I don't know why -well you know why: it's what you always do. Visiting Disneyland, binge-watching Naruto, watching Power Rangers, TWICE -one was at the cinema, you know, the recent remake film, and the other one was the classic MMPR The Movie with my same-interest coworkers!- the whole universe seemed to conspire on this.

And speaking of coworkers, actually, they bear this big role of making me trapped in this back-to-childhood dimension.

One girl watched all the shows and films I watched, including Disney classics—and when the songs play, especially Mulan's "I'll Make A Man Out of You", we'll be a couple of fools. One boy is a big fan of Spongebob Squarepants. And he could make a quiet fair similar imitation of the voiceovers which sometimes dragged me into doing the same.

One other girl is a Power Ranger -I'm not saying 'fan', because for me, a fan of Power Rangers should be called a Power Ranger itself- and she was the one who organized this screening of the classic movie at the office. And there's this other guy, who is basically me, because apparently, we watched so many similar TV cartoons back in 90s. We work overtime a lot—most of the days we even stayed until there were only the two of us. And then began all the chit-chats and story-sharings about cartoon life back then.

One day he was talking about this robot anime I had no idea about, and it reminded me of one cartoon I used to watch, which I was pretty sure he also watched back then. So I asked him and what are the odds, it was one of his fave. We then browsed YouTube for the videos, Googled the images and the toys we had, and suddenly, all those reminded me of something.

My Neverland Playlist.

You remember some time ago, I have this plan to make my blog a bit more youthful, by posting the opening or ending credits of all cartoons I loved when I was a kid?

Yea it wasn't really that some time ago.

The last post of that kind was, August, 2014.

Ha ha. Fuck me, right?

But that night anime-talking with my coworker was a wake-up call. I told him that I had this nostalgic session in my blog, and he said that he'd really love to see it. And the next thing I know, bam, I had this sudden urge to resume what I had started.

So yea here it is,

We begin once again,

The tunes of the past

The End, in the Beginning

So it's 2016.

I'm all excited about everything that will happen to me. The personal projects, the new team, the new job, I feel like I'm ready to settle down.

But there's one thing that kinda struck me in the beginning of this year.

Yeah.

Damn American Idol.

When the first season aired, I was still in pre-elementary school. My first episode ever was when I was about to leave my friend's house after a stupid slumber party, and when I was crossing the living room I saw her family watching the show. Well I'm not a big fan of the show like, never missed any episodes from the very beginning. But still I was a part of it.

It's really nice to see a star shining right before my very eyes. Sometimes it makes me positive to reach my goals too. And sometimes makes me a little out of reality too by dreaming of doing an American Idol audition - yet I'm not even American, deciding which song to do - yet I'm not even a singer, and wondering how many friends I will make during the Hollywood week. Freak huh?

It's also nice when I was investing too much emotions to the show. Shed a tear when somebody made it to the next round, felt embarrassed over failed and weird auditions, fell in love with certain contestant and when they got eliminated I would cry as if they were my family or something. Damn, I will miss this weird thing.

And Farewell Season, huh?

I never thought the show would come to an end. It's always been taken for granted like, English Premier League. Or The Simpsons. It's endless, and will start over again not long after the finale. It's been on and on, years by years, till I got to the point where, okay I think I don't need to watch this year's American Idol, I can see it next season. That's why after Philips Phillips, I stopped watching.

But well, there you go.

The last season ever is here,

With one idol left to uncover.

The premise made me firm not to miss even one episode. Because, well, everything's gonna be the last. The last audition. The last Hollywood show. The last main show. And oh, the last audition, it ended last week.

It crushed me a little when Harry asked Jen how she felt finishing the last American Idol audition ever. But nothing broke me worse than when the last concestant of the audition got the last golden ticket, and everybody was like, "Here it is, the last golden ticket ever." Oh... Fuck man...

It's crazy to notice the idea that no one will say "I'm gonna try next year" anymore in this season. And the judges can't make the rejections any easier with comforting promises like "Please come again next year."

Well, what can I say.

It's a showbiz and things like this is expected. Like Oprah Winfrey Show, and of course, FRIENDS. Who would want those two to end? Nobody. But they have to.

But American Idol, I think it's gonna be weird without them. The pioneer of all voting-based talent show. The round and round singing competition. The phenomenon.

And you know what the worst part could be?

That someday, someday really soon.

When I'll be traveling to California,

And oh believe me, someday I will

It will no longer fun for me to yell

"I'm going to Hollywood!"

Second Child

Second child is something.

I looked up to my aunts from mom and dad. Both are the second child of their own sibling lines. Aunt from mom, she's a fighter. From what I see now, and from what mom told me about her, she is, was, and I'm pretty sure she'll always be damn tough. Then my aunt from dad, she's the central of my big family's attention. A determined lady I've ever known in my life.

But they're just a glimpse of what I know about second child. My complete belief, of course, comes from my own little brother. A nerve-wrecking guy. Independent as fvck. A kind of guy we can rely on.

Now what is this second child thingy all about?

Well, it's because I want those qualities from my closest second-child relatives, to be inside my very own second child:

"Cheating Hong Kong and Macau"

Don't ask me how,

I could barely believe myself.

Right after my trip to Hong Kong and Macau, I didn't waste even one second and started working on this book right away. Then I sent it to the same publisher I did my first book with, and the next thing I knew, we were doing the book process all over again.

By that time I got a job already. Several jobs, actually. So the editing process was somehow pretty packed. But still, I enjoyed it like, hey, I'm doing this again, which means that I will have another book displayed on the book store!

So I made it through everything, and did the same scheme I conducted last year. Bringing my family to lunch, forced them to the bookstore, and entered the book right before their faces. It took us another 30 minutes photo session just by the bookshelf, but hey, who cares.

What I cared is to see this spark of pride on their eyes.

This sense of trust about my bright bright future.

Oh this is a good sign.

My second child will be the point where my family begins to let me go. To let me do whatever I want to do. To let me off to the world. Which I actually am doing now, as this second I'm currently in Japan for the pursuit of my travel writing career.

Japan? But how--when--why--

Soon, okay, soon I'll tell you all.

Right now is about my book

And how to wish him the best

For what he's doing in Jakarta.

While I'm doing my best here

In Tokyo

Missing My Friends

When I was still in college... Oh this is cliche, but

When I was in college, I did have the best time of my life.

I got to taste a bit of adulthood. I learned to live independently, my parents slowly unleashed me from their sphere of over-protection. I had a valuable social life, balanced with my budding professional path, but on top of all, I still owned free time.

In which I used, mostly to watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

Pic's from here.

I was so crazy about this serial back then. When I was still staying at my TV-less rented room, their episodes had always been the only thing I watched on my laptop, to accompany my meal time. Not enough with that, whenever I returned home and despite the cable TV provided, I still preferred watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

Then my university period ended. My freelance year started and to fill all the spare time, I stood by Warner TV at 9 a.m. sharp - 9 a.m. and still at home, what a beautiful life I had back then, no?? - to never miss F.R.I.E.N.D.S., no matter how often and how familiar I am with whatever episodes aired.

I kept replaying and replaying the episodes, from "The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate" until "The Last One", or random ones which were my favorites, anything. Until I began working like a normal guy, and started losing my free time.

Oh yeah, real professional life has been drifting me away from maximizing my me time. Me time with my F.R.I.E.N.D.S. I used to be so close to all six of them. Backing Monica up for how weird her obsession is, mimicking Chandler's gesture, being on Rachel's side for her "on a break" issues, holding myself back from hitting Ross because he's such a pain in the ass, also from hitting Joey due to his idiotic acts, and laughing my ass off of Phoebe's natural innocence. They're the best, yet I haven't seen them in a while.

Until last night, they appeared in my sleep. Clearly, undoubtedly.

I'm not exaggerating here, I did dream about F.R.I.E.N.D.S. last night.

I'm not sure which episode, because I was in there. As a part of their gang. I arrived in New York and all six of them wanted to take me out. Rachel brought me to some lunch - we had grilled cheese, I remembered so clear because by the time I woke up, I was super craving for some bread meals - and Monica played tag with me on the park. Then Chandler wanted to bring me shopping, and Joey showed us this store with crazy ass discounts. Phoebe was there already and with her random ideas, she challenged all of us in a race to get the best discounted stuff. It was fun, really. And Ross, well, I forgot where he was, I don't really like him anyway.

All of us strolled by Central Park on Upper East Side, walking and laughing together like real friends do. Then we called it a day, everybody returned to their places and I returned to real world. I got up from bed, with a big smile on my face. And a bit sadness too, because... Dreaming that could possibly mean two things.

One,

I missed America and that's why I ended up in The Big Apple on my dream.

It's probably true, really, giving the fact that by this time two years ago, I was in New York. And I'm pretty sure for the upcoming two weeks I'll subconsciously be in my deepest commemoration because, sigh, should I say this again, America was the best trip so far.

Two,

I just missed F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Period.

I was still too attached to them a year ago, never spent a day without at least one line from anybody in the show, and today, it's been six months since the last time I heard the opening theme with that iconic fountain and sofa. It's a shock.

It's like you've been in a relationship with somebody you loved six time greater than anybody else you ever loved, then you gradually lose contact with them yet you denied, and when they appeared in your dream, you realized,

That you've been missing them too bad.

Well.

I was so crazy about this serial back then.

I still am, only different is, my time now is limited.

But what kind of a friend I am,

Deserting them just because I'm busy?

I'll start watching them again,

I'll never leave anymore, I promise, because

They'll be there for me too

Stop, Marv, Okay?

Superheroes has always been a thing to me.

Especially they who are under the red flag of Marvel.

There are tons of them. With diverse superpowers. Made my childhood like, gangbanged in a superhero fantasy, sent me off to my adolescent phase hoping to witness the live-action movies of each hero—and my dream came true. As Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic 4 all invaded the screen and satisfied my lust.

Then some others came. Some that weren’t much of my favorites: The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America. I initially didn’t really like them as much as I had this weird obsession towards X-Men or Fantastic 4 and, to make it worse, their movies turned out to fail me too. The Hulk was too dark and serious, Iron Man was too destructive –plus I finally realized something: what so superhero about Iron Man? He’s just a weakling covered with irons made by money, and Captain America was… There was nothing wrong with this one, I simply just started to get sick of Marvel’s newer heroes.

Then. To make it all the worst, all of them were PROUDLY joined forces. With a bunch of more heroes I had no interests in, and some others that I didn’t even know! No Wolverine, no Mr. Fantastic and their companions, why should I be excited about these things?

Marvel indeed got me bored but then, who am I really?

The world liked what they did so, HEROES INVASION began.

They succeeded on so many levels. Ever since, they kept planning sequels back-to-back in tight schedule like a barbaric animal, recreate stuff, getting all cluttered and, ugh, it’s just too much for me! Although obviously, it’s nowhere near “too much” for everybody else in this universe because, as you know, they never stop demanding more and more hero tales.

I kept holding back. When my friends kept talking about new hero movies and stuff, yes, I kept holding back. I stopped updating about Marvel’s newest shits if it’s not about X-Men or Fantastic 4 –yes, I even got sick of Spider-Man I didn’t watch any of those “Amazing” series crap. I lost count of what sequel it was for Thor, for Captain America, I didn’t even have interest in “Age of Ultron”!

Yes I kept holding back, until I finally reached my limit.

Spider Man that’s just too young, and Fantastic 4 with black Johnny Storm?

Seriously, this has got to stop right now, Marvel.

Pic of Peter and his underrated cast is from here, while Johnny's from here.

I’m a fvcking OCD person, for God’s sake. I brought this matter long ago when Chris Evans played both Johnny Storm and Captain America and I was all raging in disappointment about it.

Enough with Spider-Man, will you!? First of all, this new Peter is just too young. It disgusted me. Then knowing the fact that now there are three Peter Parker’s in total, it’s not nice at all! I know, maybe you’re following the path of Batman –or, James Bond?– that has more than one actor for each role but… It’s somehow not just working for Spider-Man ;(

And black Johnny Storm… What the hell—go to hell, Marvel. You fail me, you fail many of your sharp and critical fans but most annoying-ly, you fail Stan Lee. It’s not about this new actor is black, ew, no! Drop all those racism shits. It’s just, c’mon you know that Johnny Storm is supposed to be white and is a biological younger brother to Susan Storm. So stop being innovatively nonsense, and quit making such unnecessary changes—and please, go to hell of Human Torch’s flame on.

And here's the worst thing. With Peter and Johnny initially being best bud, there will always be this big chance to make Spider-Man | Fantastic 4 movie. If that happens, and Marvel uses the current casts instead of Jessica Alba and the gang plus Tobey Maguire, well, I knew it for so long that you've been conspiring to ruin my OCD senses, Marvel.

Pic's from here.

Oh look how much I’ve complained about this.

Don’t get me wrong because I know more than anyone else in my circle about Marvel’s license share things. Some go with FOX, some with Sony, but why—you have all the rights to monitor everything and stop those studios –and YOURSELF– from overdoing those stupid changes.

Sorry but I’m not one of those people you gladly get benefits from. This has been a fiesta for them so-called superheroes geeks but seriously, for me, and hopefully there are some others who feel this way too—this is too much, and has gone too far.

I lost Fantastic 4. And I lost them in such failed reboot. Well who am I to talk, the film is not even released yet—you know what, I’m not talking about quality because this version could possibly be better and much more entertaining, who knows? I’m instead just talking about how too soon these reboots are made. And with some useless digression—oh I’m done talking.

Dear Marvel,
I sincerely hope you never get your license back for X-Men.

And dear FOX, please,
Don’t ruin my beloved X-Men franchise just

Don’t. Ever. Reboot. X-Men.

Body Full of Sins

"There’s no such thing as pure human.
As each and every single one of us
Are always under those deadly sins.”

Just today I realized how I am actually covered with negativity. It’s normal, nothing wrong with that. But when three out of seven deadly sins came right at you on the same damn day, still think you’re not an apprentice of evil?

Gluttony

You know I got a job already. It comes with good money, good side benefit, complimented with good bosses and co-workers. But I don’t know, I’m still on the stage where I can’t just stop looking for something else. Something new, and probably something better.

This morning there was this offer as an interpreter for joint exercise of Indonesian and American army. Okay. Being an interpreter sounds so~ interesting. But that’s not it. The job will be in the middle of the woods, keeping up with both armies doing their exercises to always bridge their communication! Shit man, in the middle OF THE WOODS! With ARMIES! Could it be any more interesting!? I really don’t care where in the world I’ll be placed—I’m with armed men, remember? Even tigers teaming up with apes and crocodiles can’t touch me.

But of course, I couldn’t take it. The joint exercise is next month, and by that time I’d only be working on my current job for four months only. Do you think I could just resign for that super-exciting-out-of-the-box-one-thing-I-never-think-I-would-ever-do offer? I wish I could.

Envy

But wait. If there’s one sin I’m greatly dying to get rid of, it’s envy. This brat has the worst effect on me. I don’t just envy people I know—I envy people I don’t even know, or ‘better’ yet, people far-far away that actually deserve to get what I envy them about.

So to distract about the army thing, I browsed news on the internet. About this young skinny singer whose overall figure looks a lot like me. One thing led to another, I ended up at his Wiki page, only to find out that he’s in a relationship with this musician I’VE LONG BEEN A FANBOY OF. I felt like a monster truck hit me in my chest. For normal people, this could be just so-so heartbreaking moment. For me with this irrational amount of jealousy, plus the fact that he looks like me makin me like "how the hell could he get it and I'm just here, browsing the internet about his life?" - I swear the first thing that came out of my mouth the next second I found out about this thing was: “I hope your relationship never works.”

But of course, I couldn’t do anything about it. It’s a life apart of mine, in a place afar of mine, and hey—it’s a celebrity universe and who am I? Do you think I could just fly up there, track where they are, ruin their relationship and build a good one for myself? I wish I could.

Wrath

Things didn’t go emotionally better for me as by the end of the day, I had this big argument with a friend from abroad. Long story short –because believe me you don’t want to keep up with the drama, we had this smooth long-schemed plan we’ve been dreaming about for a year, and all of the sudden he was out of reach and ruined everything.

My wrath, is not like what you think of: exploding, violent, rude—no. My wrath is the one you don’t want to deal with: silent treatment. Think you can handle that? No, if it also comes with maneuvers that can stab you from the back, making you hurt even worse than when you hurt me from ruining my plans. However, no matter how hurt he ended up to be, eventually I was the one who suffered the most. Vengeance is sweet, for the first seconds. But guilt that comes after that, lasts forever.

And of course, I couldn’t change what has happened. I told him that I now have zero interest to keep on doing what we planned because in fact, with all these jobs I have now, I actually can’t. Do you think I could just travel back in time to forgive, let go of everything and enjoy smooth life as it was back then? Oh, I wish I could.

Huh. Human.
We just can’t get enough.
Body full of sins, secrets, selfishness.

“There’s no such thing as pure human.
As each and every single one of us
Are always under those deadly sins.”

Which in my case,
I think I have seven…ty

Rebirth, Again

In the last two Ramadans,

I've always felt like, you know,

A little bit too carried away.

As I realized that I became too busy and I started to slowly lose my childhood Ramadan rituals, I felt like I'm now far from doing my best on the holy month. So that's why reaching the end, I always begin to feel this discomfort and extreme sadness of the fact that my month is about to leave, again.

Today was the last Friday for this year's Ramadan. Since last week I had this plan of wearing my signature koko outfit for the last Friday, giving the thought that I wouldn't be meeting this day again until next year. It wasn't a necessity tho, because wearing koko is really not my thing. But I don't know, I felt like I had this urge for myself to MUST wear that.

So I just followed where my guts led me. I went to the office looking all muslim-ish, my bosses were all like "well, Amin, you look awesome in that!" and my co-workers forced me to "you have to wear this again on the last day of Ramadan, and I'll join you!" and it brought up my day. I knew I would do that for a reason.

But that wasn't it. That, wasn't just it.

Hours went by, and I suddenly recalled a thing.

Today was my Hijri birthday.

I was all psyched about that. Because unlike last year, I finally remembered that I have two birthdays. And eventho I was the only one who recognized this special day of mine -of course, who else would bother about my Hijri birthday? I'm pretty sure they don't even know theirs, I really enjoyed today a lot. Because I got to celebrate my second birthday, again.

To sum it up, I had an awesome day well spent at basically, everywhere. Nice atmosphere, nice mood. Then it led to a meaningful last Friday prayer for this year's Ramadan, and I got to close today with some good old pals I haven't met for a long time. After all it's just another great birthday I felt this year. And it was a blast, again.

"I knew I would do that for a reason."

The plan to wear koko, yes.

I knew there was something good behind it.

And starting from this year on, I promise that

I wouldn't take my Hijri Birthday for granted.

Ever again.

Tale From the Past

If there's one thing Disney is loving to do lately,

It's creating the human version of their classics.

I was pretty cautious, because, hmm yea I have this OCD thingy and Disney is like my precious treasure from childhood. So if there's even one single detail missing from the classic animated movie I'll be like, screw you Disney. That's why up till now, I haven't watched Maleficent. But for their next human version project, my friend dragged my ass to the cinema already.

Got the poster from here

Frankly, I've prepared myself mentally before I stepped into the theatre. Movie started, welcomed by Frozen Fever -which was super entertaining, to be honest- and the tale began. The prologue was super long, compared to the animated version, telling too much about how Cinderella's parents died. And oh, her default name was Ella instead of Cinderella which was given by the stepsisters. Clever tho, it was still tolerable for me.

Overall movie was okay. But I really hate how they violate some details. Like outfit colors. Cinderella's light blue was constant. Good. But Lady Tremaine should've been dark purple, Drizella should've been green and Anastasia should've been lavender! The prince and the King should've worn broken white with maroon accent, not such complicated royal costume! Phew, I've warned you, I have a weird OCD obsession.

Speaking about the King, what the hell Disney, why should he die!? Because you need some drama in it!? Didn't work for me! Instead of killing the King, you can consider adding Ella's misery, making Lucifer a bit more of an ass, or, this is what's more important, making a bigger scene of the evil ladies destroying Cinderella's dress. It was so ugh, anti-climax, she should've suffered more than that.

That's not all. My biggest pet peeve was, the Fairy Godmother. I mean, why, why would you change the dreamy fairy's personality to be Helena Bonham's? It wasn't nice okay, and her appearance was not even funny at all. You should've stick with the wise and a little bit clumsy old lady, and casted someone with charm like, Meryl Streep maybe? It's, ugh, all the scene with the Fairy Godmother in it, sucks!

Anyway, enough with the critics. I brought home positive thoughts too like, the ending. I didn't expect any changes for how Cinderella is found tho, but the twist they made was okay. Although honestly, that's not what I cherished the most about this movie.

It's how I kept recalling and mentally playing the original piece inside my mind, during the whole movie. How I had always been charmed, ten, fifteen years ago, when I saw the animated movie, with its delicate craft and beautiful story. Oh, I've always enjoyed Disney Princesses tales, I don't care if it's not meant for boys. Disney Classics had always been a thing for me.

But the best part is, when I looked around the theatre, and see sparks on today's children's eyes.

I felt like, damn proud. It's my cartoon they're now watching. Poor them, they didn't get the chance to enjoy the original movie. Of course they can always ask their dads to download them the classic Cinderella movie, but will they watch it from CD player? With wrecked subtitle and bad recordings? No.

And the portrait from here

I have the best childhood ever.

Better than my parents' and

Definitely will be better than my kids'.

90s are the luckiest

90s Strikes Back

It's been almost two weeks since I returned from Hong Kong.

I know, I owe you stories but I've been pretty busy with my other project--that's why I kinda abandon this blog. But I have something I really can't stand keeping anymore. It's about the group I met during my trip. These cool people whom I had this hiking adventure with, down to cliff and through the woods, in an island called Tap Mun.

Well I don't know where else to run but here so I'm gonna spill it here anyway. It's seriously kinda weird and might be WTF for those people so, I hope they never find out about this post. And hey guys if you happen to bump into this post, please, before you go on, leave at once!

So there were the eight of us. Five boys, three girls. With the jungle-ish setting and wild fantasies of ours, everybody started talking about scenarios we could possibly play, from "Lost", "The Walking Dead" to "Hunger Games". As a 90s kid, I, on the other hand, drove my mind straight to Digimon Adventure.

I completely forgot where I got this pic but the thing is, it's not mine.

You know, one of my favorite anime during my childhood. Well, it's not just "one of my favorite", it's what made me I am today. The whole cartoon is still so relevant to me I mean, if you want to open a dumb discussion about Digimon, I really can do it like right now.

So yea back to my team. Eight of us were on our way from the cliff back to the harbor, racing with time because we have to catch the boat. We were like taking a detour in the middle of the woods, directed by this French guy named Fred. Okay he's one hell of an adventurer so we counted on him to lead us back using shorter route. He then subconsciously became our leader, and lineup of who was who suddenly appeared in my mind.

Tai - Fred
The leader. The one who's so eager about adventures. The one that will most likely be the last person alive in a zombie apocalypse. Or in our case, in digital world. Fred and Tai are just so alike. He leads our way out of the jungle by using his own map, and that's what Tai did for their whole adventure.

Matt - Calvin

One of our leaders. He could stand up to take the role of the head of the pack, if it's not about surviving in the wild. He plays music, and so does Matt. And by that time, he was hosting me it made him frequently look after me. A familiar scene in which Matt protects his younger brother T.K., yes?

Sora - Sherry
Sora is the girl of adventure. That's what I saw on Sherry. And both are the eldest girls of their group. At first, those reasons are not pretty strong to me. But when I realized that Sherry and Sora have the same hair style, nobody can change my perception anymore.

Izzi - Kit

The only pure local, made Kit be the one with the most knowledge about the Hong Kong (compared to others). Sounds so Izzi? Not until I found out that his CS profile was the richest of us all. Which roughly made me assume that he's so active in cyber world as well. Sounds so Izzi.

Mimi - Zoe
Mimi was, damn cheerful. She was a happy-all-the-time type of girl, and that's what I thought about when I see Zoe. But what's more coincidental was, Mimi was a year younger than Sora, and two years older than Kari. By that time Zoe was 25, Sherry was 26 and Emily was 23. How's that?

Joe - Ray
If you're a fan of Digimon Adventure, you must remember who was the only one who brought food to the digital world, yes? Joe. And guess who brought most food for our hiking trip? Ray. Aside of that major serendipity, Ray was also calm, wise, more action than talking which all resemble Joe's personalities.

Kari - Emily

Emily was the youngest of all the girls and she's my age, so that's the first reason. But I'm not finished. She was also the last one to join the group before we head to Tap Mun, making her so much alike to Kari which was the last digi-destined. Don't you like all these "OMG IT MATCHES!" things??

T.K. - Vicky
Well I was the youngest one of all. So was T.K. And Matt is T.K.'s brother, which on the time being, Calvin was my temporary brother because I stayed at his place and I was basically counting everything on him. More (stupid) reason? Well, I wore a beanie, and T.K. did that all the time.

But on top of all, did you remember the true ending of Digimon Adventure? Yea, that apparently T.K. writes every single thing about their adventures, on his book. He's an author. And would you care to guess what I am right now? :)

This shit has just got real.

I know this weird obsession is, weird. But I can't help it!!! I'm all about Digimon and those too-real-to-be-true things are, TOO REAL TO BE TRUE!

You know what, rumor has it that this year there'll be a continuation of Digimon, highlighting the original eight characters. Well, after more than a decade, I finally get to see them again. And let's see if this coincidence still relates to the cartoon. I can't tell.

What I can tell is,
I don't want to wait for a decade
To meet these people again.

Oh no,

I'm not talking about the cartoon characters.
It's about those crazy silly Hong Kongers which,
I'm so gonna meet again someday, somewhere.

Because we're destined