Butterfly

Last night I heard something terrible.

A pretty bad news for us 90s survivors.

The singer of "Butterfly", the opening theme of Digimon anime, that nostalgic song that still gives me goosebumps today, the spirited upbeat song of my childhood—had passed away due to his cancer.

Kouji Wada

(1974 - 2016)

Come to think of it, I didn't really listen to the original song as a child. We Indonesian kids were exposed more to the translated version of the theme, which was great, as it showed how we appreciated his song that we didn't change the other part of it -unlike Americans who created a whole new stupid opening theme and I bet even the fans of Digimon in America have no idea of who Kouji Wada was. As I grew up I knew I had an extended love for Digimon. So I began to get myself exposed to the original version of the song, and I fell in love with it.

I knew him only from Digimon Adventure -the very first serial- and the latest Digimon Tri. What I didn't know is that he was apparently also the man behind each and every single latter series of Digimon franchise. I took him for granted.

And now that he's gone, I felt pretty crushed.

Well then what can I say now,

But to wish him a very peaceful rest.

Pic belongs to him. Or her, I'm not sure.

So.

Quoting my tweet,

I'd like to say it again.

Rest in peace Mr Kouji Wada,

You'll always be the prettiest butterfly

In my childhood garden

No Worries, You're Doing Good

"Realizing that you're closer to 30 than to 16, and you're screwed."

This is one of the scariest quote I ever read. Both numbers are like, two of the most important numbers in life. One is the age where you depart from childhood to early adulthood, and the other one is the age where you have to be all ready for maturity. I've passed the first one, and I am now halfway to the second one.

I came across that quote several months ago, then I freaked out because, damn, I'm so close to being 30. But when I did my math, I cooled down a little. I was still 23, so it made me right in the very middle—7 years to 16, 7 years to 30. No need to feel screwed. Yet.

I laughed as if I would still be 23 forever.

Until finally last week, the number left me.

Yes, I birthday-ed. 24 took over.

And now I'm closer to 30

If you don't get it, the greeting means "awww, 24, really???"

Honestly, I kinda lost the excitement of welcoming birthday because of this. Because of this feeling. Because of this fvcking quote that now I'm hating. I'm drifting away much further from teenagehood, and shifting ridiculously closer to the phase where I should think about settling down. No more irresponsible tidbits. No more reckless trips.

Things got a little rougher thanks to one of my dearest friends. He wished me a happy birthday, and to have a joyful last year of being "18-24". Got it? The age group in registration forms and stuff? Yes, it's my last year belonged to the group. Next year I'll be under "25-35", and it didn't even come to my mind until last week!

Plus, exactly on my birthday, I tuned in the TV and caught an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. It was "The One Where Everyone Turns 30". Fuck, yeah? What are the odds? I know it sounds like I made it up, but trust me, it happened. Well they turned 30 while I turned 24, but still, the feeling, it was all the same!

If I could whine a little, this year shouldn't be hard like this. It should be next year. The time when I'm in the middle of my 20s. The time I can consider as my silver age. Now with all these universe conspiracies, I think I must give in to feel the "dark moment" a year earlier.

But then again,
Come to think of it,

Well, it's okay.

Because looking back to what I achieved so far, I shouldn't have fallen too deep for this. It's not that I've been doing nothing all these times, that I should be worried of getting older.

As a matter of fact, I did quiet a bunch. Two published books, kickass trips, overseas internship -this is the best thing I ever done in my life, good career, good money. I should be grateful instead of anxious. I've successfully completed many things that most of my friends, or people my age -or even older- never even think about doing.

I went to an interview several weeks ago -in which position I failed winning because of some salary disagreement, and these interviewers -there were four of them, for God's sake- asked me what kind of thing I was currently aiming for. Without further ado, I chose "money". Not because I'm materialistic, nor because I had nothing else in my mind but money, no, not those. I then told those people that money was what I was aiming for, because

"I felt like I've done much. I've fulfilled many of my passions, accomplished most of my dreams, and now I feel like I want something more realistic."

And then I smiled to myself, in front of those people. I smiled because I just realized how I was so true about that answer. About how I've been here and there, doing this and that, while people my age were struggling with their office hours and boring routines. I took granted of how ambitious I was, yet so powerful and driven that whatever my ambitions were,

I could reach it.

My first ever permanent job.

Covered in Fashion TV Magazine.

Trip to Harapan.

Trip to Pahawang.

Trip to Krakatau.

Published on MyTrip Magazine. Great timing, because exactly one week after...

You know this scene: my second book.

And exactly one day after I showed my new book, I had to say a temporary goodbye...

To have this beyond amazing Japan trip.

Then I returned to Indonesia, went back and forth to Bali (this pic was Ceningan tho)

Until finally I wrapped up my last days of being 23 in Singapore.

Well.

Not sure if I've given credit to myself but umm, here goes: I'm so proud of me. And now I don't feel like I need to fear being 24. Because being older means that I have to achieve more, and unlock more potentials in me.

And oh hell yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
So no worries, Vicky, you're doing good.

Plus, on that episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S I was talking about, Rachel's boyfriend Tag was 24 -she turned 30—THIS EPISODE WAS MEANT FOR ME. He was still playing with the scooter, unsure about his life, and the gang (especially Rachel) still sees him as a youngster.

One of the scenes I hate so much because they're actually really cute together.
Now I hate it even more because I'm turning 24. Pic's from here.

So really,

Vicky, oh my dear,

Really there is no need

To feel screwed

Hippy Holiday

March is way past my annual trip schedule.

By this time three years ago, it was two months after my first solo trip ever—to Malaysia and Thailand. Two years ago, I had my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia already finished for about six weeks. And today last year, I had even finished my book script after I visited Hong Kong and Macau. For the last three years, my annual trip has always been done somewhere around end of January to the beginning of February, as for this year, well, all I did was just working and escaping for a while to Bali.

I don't want to break my habit.

So I planned a simple trip to

It wasn't big, like what I usually did for my annual trip -I'm kind of financially overwhelmed too anyway, after Japan. And unlike any other annual trip of mine, Singapore is not someplace I've never been to. I've been there several times. With family, with friends. But yeah you might know why I finally ended up choosing Singapore.

Because I want it to be done solo.

Booked everything myself, flew alone, slept at the airport -I've finally crossed Changi off of my list!- and stayed at the dorm, talked with random people, made new friends, got lost, did all the things I wanted, man, it doesn't really have to be Singapore, honestly. Whenever I travel, if I just do it my way, and no one is there to interfere, I'll have the best time of my life.

Plus this was my visit to Singapore for the umpteenth time -lol no I'm just making that big, it was only like my sixth time- so I've roughly seen most of the tourist spots. And thanks to that, I had all the four days and three nights of my visit last week, in a complete serenity and non-rush sense. And I got to visit more of the 'hipster' places.

Staying around Chinatown instead of Orchard or Bugis,

Crossing the water to some other island instead of Sentosa.

I really enjoyed every second of it. People on my feed would probably think "okay Vick, it's only Singapore. Don't make a big deal out of it." but I don't care. I cycled through the real jungle of Singapore, while all you can do is just walk around in the fake-jungle-you-call-concrete-jungle-it's-not-even-a-real-jungle and shop.

I really enjoyed every bit of it, and guess what, the timing is just right. It was a long weekend, and I was there far before Friday, and I returned on Saturday just before everybody returned on Sunday -which I'm pretty sure would create a messy scene of Indonesians everywhere in the airport. I dodged all the bullets!

Although actually, it's not the right timing I was talking about.

It's more because at the end of the trip,

Just in one hour, after my arrival in Jakarta,

Is my big day

So yeah, I planned it really well.

Because returning from the Hippy Holiday,

I got a "Happy Birthday"

The Foolish Ones

It's been pretty confusing to be Indonesians lately.

Between pride and disappointment, it all mixed up.

Like tourism. I'm pretty much head over heels with my country right now as Indonesia keeps attracting the world with its natural charm. Yet on the same time, our internal harmony is on jeopardy. The race and religion issue is getting too much and I'm this close to... You know, stuff you religion freaks don't want to hear.

This makes me realize how low-educated my fellow citizens are. And how trash their talk is. No I'm not going to discuss the topic of "race and religion" no, oh God, I've had enough. I want to talk about something else. That also shows how poor Indonesians' mindset is.

I want to talk about Rio Haryanto.

Pic's from here.

The first ever Indonesian in Formula One.

Okay I need to set things straight here: I ain't some bandwagon fan -or what you call in Bahasa as "karbitan"- who starts to track Rio's journey ever since he made it into F1. No. I've been exposed to him long ago, as he is on the same age with me, and I've always had this jealousy—I mean, I've always had this MAJOR SUPPORT for people my age -I once brought up Neymar and Sam Smith to this blog, you can look it up. I've known him far before 2016, unlike most Indonesians do, so no, I'm not that kind of spontaneous groupie.

Back to topic.

Today was the Race Day for Australia Grand Prix. Yesterday was the qualification and as you might knew, Rio had some incident that forced him to start from the last position today. And as you might as well knew, many Indonesians whom are mostly clueless about the racing world and stuff, started their trash-talk galore.

Saying that it's an unnecessary thing done by Rio, cursing about how reckless that poor guy was, self-observing that this was a super bad start for Indonesia and could not be good for the future, this shit, that shit, oh man! Shut the fuck up already!

You guys wanted somebody to lift the dignity of Indonesia? Rio stepped up. You guys wanted something fresh to clear up your minds from the negative vibes that has been all around the nation lately? Rio delivered a very good news. You guys made this really nice support so he could finally get the money and made it through the event, and now you think that it can give you the courtesy to mock him? You guys are such a disgrace, really.

"Seriously, people, you need to keep your uneducated mind and mouth shut. All you can do is just talk, and talk, and talk more nonsense crap, yet you know barely nothing about the race!" -- Vicky Amin, 23, furious on some level.

Last night I watched an interview on local TV station, featuring one of Indonesia's racers. She described a comprehensive rules and regulations about Formula One, and stated that such incident is common and more racers will do the same thing throughout the tournament, even worse things could possibly happen. So really, it's not that big a deal.

Remember, he's the only Indonesian in F1 now.

Plus, he's like, the only Southeast Asian.

Oh better yet, the only ASIAN.

And you, you got nothing.

Nothing but your trash mouth.

I'm not here to defend Rio -well, okay, I'm here for that too, a bit. I'm writing this more likely to emphasize on how upset I am with Indonesian citizens today. Especially the ones roaming about the internet.

They're just too fool, too lazy to dig up the complete facts that they get too carried away already with just unnecessary details. It's like, sometimes I think we're really not ready for such freedom in information exchange...

Well well, that's too much to think.

Let's just now forget about them assholes.

Obviously, F1 is not for

The Foolish Ones

Homey Holiday

I've been talking much about Bali.

How I adore the island, the atmosphere, the people, and of course, the scenery. I never get bored of this place, and I've always had the urge to write everything about it—from the very first time I landed my feet there, started blogging about it after the second visit, then back and forth, back and forth, with different stories and companions, until finally I reached the time that I don't feel like writing about it anymore. I'm still in love with Bali, I just gradually lose my interest to keep reporting about my journey every time I finish a trip.

Like after I returned from Lembongan during 2016 New Year holiday. It was sick and crazy nice, but I didn't even have the interest to write about that because I knew, I'd be back really soon. And I did. Just last weekend. Initially I'd want to not write anything about it.

But somehow, I can't.

Because this one was different.

All these years, I've always traveled to Bali with tons of objective. Exploring this side of Bali, that side of Bali, this beach, that beach, Gili, Menjangan, Lembongan, blah blah blah. All was fun, oh really. Never once in my lifetime I visited Bali, and had a bad time in there.

And now, as it seemed like I've been to almost all Bali's top destinations, I felt like it's time to enjoy the island in a new way. Not to spot a new place, but to celebrate the whole place, in a new way. A more relaxed way.

Yes, a way to live Bali,

With not much of an agenda.

I call it Bali staycation.

Enjoying the island, by doing nothing.

Hotel, swimming pool, hip eating places, hotel, swag cafes, laptop by the rice paddies, hotel, clubs, nice drinks, good meals, hotel, slow bike ride, book by the beach, hotel, bright sun, hotel, rain, hotel, cotton candy sunset, hotel, hotel, hotel.

Damn.

I stayed in Batu Belig area, and not even once going much too far away from my hotel. For some people it may be considered a waste of time, but, honestly, it was really worth the waste. Beyond valuable, precisely.

Because apparently,

Bali is a good place to apply

The art of procrastination.

I've unlocked another way to enjoy the island.

And I've always found more reasons to return.

Well Bali,

You just can't ever fail me