Red White

Independence Day?

Yes, that's the main dish.

But this year, it's beyond that.

It all started on last Sunday night.

Just when I thought the fun was over, giving the fact that weekend reached the end and Monday was coming, something amazing happened in England. Yes it was the first matchday of Premier League, and Liverpool was playing.

Against Arsenal.

At Emirates.

It was supposed to be uneasy for us. And I didn't expect much anyway. But since it was a big game, and it was the debut match for the whole season, I streamed to London anyway.

The drama was real. A real emotional roller-coaster. Penalty against Liverpool, but blocked. First goal by Arsenal, but the lads could catch up with more goals. Gunners leveled up their game with more goals, but eventually, Liverpool managed to survive 'til the end. And won.

Pic's from here.

I swear, it was a sweet night for me. And I swear I woke up with the biggest smile on the next day, despite it was Monday, and I had to go to work. But what made it "the biggest", was because on that Monday night, I was going to have another open trip which I hadn't done for so long.

Yes, just like last year to Krakatau.

It was a trip for Indonesia's day.

This time,

To Dieng

I know, it's a crazy view eh?

I was all excited. Plus this was my first time joining a non-sea trip. And, it was my very first time using an office day-off - I'M AN ADULT! And the 2-day-2-night trip itself, it turned out to be so incredible.

Rice paddies along the way, rolls of hills on top of the plateau, multi-hued lakes and awesome craters, ancient temples and insightful historical watchings, countryside people with their fresh routines, new friends sharing the same Indonesian-treasures interest, nice warm local specialties with mountainous weather, DAMN! I never felt a trip more Indonesian than this.

But the main show of course, was the one on the August 17th itself. When we trekked the 2600-meter-something mountain to have our annual patriotic ceremony, with flags waving everywhere and scenes of sick hillsides graced the background. And with the moment when "Indonesia Raya" was marched from all corners of the mountain, leaving back to reality was indeed a difficult thing to do.

They called it Puncak Sikunir

Well. Mesmerizing, huh?

But that was not it.

Just when I thought the fun was over, giving the fact that my wonderful trip reached the end and another working day was coming, something amazing happened again. This time, in Rio. Yes,

The Gold Medal

by

Tontowi Ahmad | Lilyana Natsir

It's a big thing for me. No, not because of the event. Not necessarily because it's Rio, and everybody is talking about that, and posting things about the athletes, that it became a big thing for me. No. I've been a supporter for Indonesian badminton since long ago. I even watched it when Hendra Setiawan and Markis Kido won their gold in Beijing 2008. I ain't any bandwagon fan who suddenly became interested in this sport just to swim along the stream.

So my love for them is real. And seeing them winning, seeing them getting back the gold tradition Indonesia didn't have in 2012 Olympics and on top of all, seeing them giving it all right on the day Indonesia was celebrating its Independence Day, it was too beautiful.

Pic's from here.

So intense, yet beautiful.

Full of all red and white things.

And you know what makes it more touching?

That all of these happened in just 4 packed days.

It overlapped, in the most delicate ways.

Thanks, Liverpool.

And I love you so much

Indonesia

M&Ms

You might not know but

Ever since Indonesia entered F1,
I kept following the tournament.

For the first round or two, it was still for Rio Haryanto of course. You know, karbitans euphoria. But finishing Chinese Grand Prix on week three, when I found out that Nico Rosberg had won 6 GPs in a row, I began to completely un-biased-ly enjoy the show.

It's apparently fun to see the race. Probably less nerve-wrecking than MotoGP where changes in positions can happen in just a matter of seconds. But Formula One has its drama too. I started to realize the true beauty of F1 when they did it in Monte Carlo. When Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo spiced things up the shortest circuit. I remembered the time I screamed to my TV for what I saw, my subconsciousness told me

"Man, you've never been manlier than this before."

Best race I've ever seen so far, in my debut season.

But last night, another one came to my amateur sense.

Austrian Grand Prix

Pic belongs to F1's Official Twitter Account.

Too many things happened yesterday. From Rio Haryanto gained his best position ever -12th place- before an incident put the whole circuit in major rearrangement, to Sebastian Vettel's ironic car breakdown in lap 20s despite the fact that it was his birthday, to Felipe Massa and some other drivers having to leave the race unfinished when entering the last 10 laps.

There are some good news as well. Like Rio's Manor Racing teammate Pascal Wehrlein that finished in 10th place. It was a big stepping stone for a minor team like MRT. In fact, it was their first point ever in the tournament so reaching the end of the race, they were like all hysterical and exaggerated. It was so funny seeing the big drivers took it easy receiving their big wins, while these newcomers celebrated like crazy for a mere last position. But that's no wonder. Because it was, something really big. And hopefully this could make Rio fired up too.

However, the biggest drama, of course, happened during the fight on the last lap. Two Mercedes boys Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were after each other for the first place, resulting in a disappointing collision between them. It was so unfortunate. The crash sent Hamilton to the first place in the podium, but Rosberg had to finish fourth due to some severe damage on his car. On some level people took it as Hamilton's unwillingness to let Rosberg win, so those Germans booed him pretty bad during his podium speech.

Phew.

Now that's the "true beauty" of Formula One I told you about. You got 22 drivers, each of which has the same chance to serve one hell of a great, unexpected performance. The top ones can fall with no further ado, or retire on lap 65 out of 71 -that sucks!- while the underdogs can suddenly be only stones away behind the pole.

So unpredictable. It's like, eating M&Ms off the pouch. You pick one, and whatever color you get, you'll enjoy it anyway because it offers the same damn delicacy.

No preference, no differences in taste.
Anybody can be your main entertainer.

The celebration for first position, and celebration for tenth.
Both pics belong to F1's Official Twitter Account.

Well, Mercedes and Manor.

It's obviously a great weekend for both of them.

But now, can you spot something pretty ironic?

That the one which ended up in the first place, on some level didn't enjoy their victory. Meanwhile the one which ended up in the bottom, celebrated and made it like they won the whole series.

Life's weird sometimes.

Even in the sweetest moments,

It can still go nuts

Iceberg

Hello, and welcome to the evening Neverland Sports Network.

I'm Vicky Amin, your smartass host that is actually incapable of talking sports.

Tonight I will be discussing on the ongoing international tournament UEFA Euro 2016, and some little snippets about the participating nation(s). Now let's begin!

Background image belongs to The Guardian.

Off to the first exclusive coverage, we have, of course, the football thingy itself. Now honestly, I missed all the group rounds because boy, I've been really damn busy the last couple of weeks. Doing work. That triple life I live, which I'm not planning to talk about right now. So yea I missed all the group matches, but still I got the updates from my timeline thanks to my fellow football-enthusiasts and George Lineker's talkative tweets.

Then drifting away a bit from sport, but still about Europe—we got the UK's off-EU referendum. Well I'm not the type of a politic lover here, but bite me, this one really fancy my arse. It's just so interesting how it all started, how it all affected the global life, and how it all unveiled many things many people had no idea about -such as how British people didn't even know that they were a part of EU, and how people couldn't differentiate between United Kingdom, Great Britain, and England.

Now with these two topics, I'd like to narrow it down.

To a simple one phrase, two nouns, three words:

Iceland and Wales

It's crazy how both amateurs performed. Looking back to their participation history in which they neither entered nor qualified, this one, the Euro 2016 series, can be actually considered as their first ever major tournament appearance. And both progressed amazingly throughout the tournament!

Iceland

Has been a bad-arse since the very beginning of the cup. Even long before it. It's funny how this underdog can be a killing hound, biting all other teams. Especially when they defeated England. The momentum was spot-on, as UK just announced their #Brexit and England had to walk out of the tournament as well. People started mocking England for being lost to a team that has "more volcanoes than footballers", whose second coach was a dentist -crazy trivias how could they find these out!?

But after all, Iceland is something worth considering about. Remember, they kicked Netherlands out even before the tournament started so, it's not just mere luck. Tomorrow, they'll be facing the host France. It'll be really alluring if they win the match -and I got a feeling that they'll do- because one, the host will be taken down by a newcomer, and two, the semifinal round of this Euro will be crowded with two amateurs—the other one being

Wales

Oh Wales. Ever since #Brexit broke the internet followed by the fall of England and Northern Ireland, people started making jokes about how both UK as a nation and UK as a collective of football teams exited Europe. They took Wales for granted, assuming that the tiny dragon would also fall respectively.

But now, what do we get? This not-so-popular team just beat one of European's top teams Belgium last night with a surprise victory—even their fans go wild and couldn't believe it. Well why not, they're the last hope for the UK to stay in the competition and prove that they exiting EU didn't affect anything in their football sense.

Well.

Iceland and the last nation yet to Brexit.

If both of them do meet in the final round,

It'll be as colossal as that classic time when

Titanic met the Iceberg

For more fancyarse views about football, log on to www.turntoneverland.com/booger.

Settling Down, Part Three

I liked today, again,

And these past three weeks or so.

I've been bragging much about how Jakarta had improved in here and there, making my life easier. Well apparently it's not only the tangible outer atmosphere that has shifted. It's myself, and my surrounding too, that gave a big portion of happiness to... Myself.

Lots of things happened to me recently. And it was like boom boom boom, so fast, I even forgot to breathe. My jobs were crazy. My fast-paced activities came and went away before me. Yet somehow, I managed to get myself in the zone.

Zone of life I've always imagined I'd live.

Sweat

It's always my major weakness. But I knew I've put off enough. So I did some friendly sports I can always tolerate doing. Swim, with my family; walk, like really far - most people find my walking habit crazy, but that's the only way I exercise! - and jog, not that typical mini run at some tracks near my house, but more to real jogging at one of the city central park.

Simple exercises. Yes. But for me, for this lazy ass bastard, pulling off those movements are considered pretty cool. And if only I can keep doing this, well, it's a wonderful life I'm really living.

Nightout

Gone are my clubbing days—that's not the type of nightout I'm talking about. Well, I'm actually still eager for that, but it has become one of those mere "nice to do" activities which I'm okay not doing. So my newer type of nightout consisted of something like going to a themed dinner, a pasta night one, and having a long talk with strangers, enjoying beer—I mean, ROOT beer, conducting some ambitious discussions, dining Thai food, going on a night lone ride, visiting street fairs, picking up some random eateries by the street, having a big grilling dinner, attending musical shows, completed with a late eat at downtown hub afterwards. My city pretty much never sleeps either so, these kinds of nightout never seem to be a bad idea.

People

Well I don't know why, but recently life seems to be generous enough to me in the sense of sending great (new) people throughout my days. Old ones getting closer, new ones making me grateful of being a human: a constant mentor, helpful locals, like-minded stranger, friends for life, new friends, new co-workers—hm. 'New', co-workers?

Work

Some of you might know that I'm a proud freelancer. I work from home, doing the job I proudly claimed after returning from Japan—and some other job in film industry. When I'm pretty much sick of just staying at home, I bring my laptop out and chill at some cafe. Needless to say, it's a really nice routine. People I share my work stories with are always jealous of me not having to go to an office.

But then again, I realized I need to progress. I need to learn more, in which I need to make mistakes and have got to have a next-to-me superior I can always take lessons from. Plus, working from home is not always beautiful. The boredom and the stress you can't share with anybody else (like an office team, for instance) can sometimes be unbearable.

Therefore once again,

After all my on-and-off habit,

I'm employed one more time.

And this time I'm convincing myself not to go anywhere else, unless it's for the master degree. I've explored enough, and this company I'm now working at, is too hard to get and too big to ditch.

See, even the random restaurant I chose off the street told me to work hard.

So.

Jakarta has decided to transform, with all those elements I fond of. And I, without myself knowing it, has been slowly immersed to the life in the capital.

I think, I THINK, this is

My real "Settle Down"

寂しい

Ever since I returned from Japan,

I still haven't got the spirit to go back working at the office. I'm still enjoying my life working for the Japanese company from home, and doing some other projects. So I got lots of spare time, and--wow, hold it. It's not what I'm going to talk about.

Okay.

Ever since I returned from Japan,

I still haven't completely moved on.

Best trip so far.

Well, I've always said that after finishing one trip.

But seriously, this one, is crazier and incomparable.

Giving the fact that it's a trip I find really, really immaculate, I never want the memories to fade too quick. So I write many memoirs about the journey, I keep contributing for the company I did my internship with, and, this is the one I like the most:

I watch K-ON.

I stood here, right where they were standing. Pic's from here.

An anime about a school band, consisting of five female high school students. Despite the title ("K-ON" derives from word "keionbu" which literally means "light music"), most of the episodes tell about the girls' daily routines like finishing homeworks, going on a vacation, arranging their club room, and many other non-music-related stuff. Yet so rich in Japanese day-to-day dos.

And that's why I love the show.

Watching K-ON reminds me a lot to the country I've been, and am still in love with. And it's smoothly created with delicate human gesture, natural dialects and intonations, and most importantly, 100% representing Japanese high school students. Unlike any other anime which sometimes can be, too much. Like Naruto. But still, I love that bastard ninja.

I've watched the show for quiet some time before I flew to Japan, but after my trip, everything seems to be much more relevant. How they go to the convenient store, how they arrive in Kyoto Station and visit the major tourist destinations, how they eat the soba sandwich I once ate in Osaka, damn, I'm now one million steps closer to the girls.

And of course, you know what happens next.

I'm emotionally invested to the show.

I have spare time, remember? So I spend my afternoon on Monday to Friday to get myself closer to the girls. And weird things have started crawling inside my mind ever since.

Like the fact that I began to think that Mio is cute and could be a perfect girlfriend. Mugi, too. And Ritsu could be a best bud I can do crimes with. I also constantly laugh to their jokes -the humour it's really my kind of sense, I imitate the way they speak as a part of my Japanese practice, I can even relate the feelings they create to each other, and the feelings that they are feeling.

Including the time they performed at the school festival on the senior year. Yes, their last performance. Finishing the top-notch play, they returned to their club room, and started recalling that performance they just did. One thing led to another, and they began to imagine how would their life be after this, after high school, when they go on separate ways and can't spend time together again. And being girls, high school girls, of course, they cried.

When Mio (the one on the very right) started crying, I began to lose control. Pic's from here.

The scene was so touching I even shed a--kidding, I didn't cry, I just, well--okay, I was going to deny, but no, I'll man up now. I cried. I knew exactly what they felt, and I felt like I was so close to them so, I also cried.

What made me feel worse that this episode remarked the end of the show. Literally. The anime is about HIGH SCHOOL music club. When they are to go on for university, of course, the club has to be broken up. But apart of the fact that "I feel close to the girls" thingy, which I'm pretty much disappointed because my bonding with them will end soon -am I starting to sound like a weird otaku guy now!?- it also upset me that, I was going to lose my main channel to reminisce the journey in Japan.

You see, I traveled there alone.

I met people, lots of people, but that's all. It's not like they were 24/7 with me during the trip, and it's not like they're available 24/7 for me to talk about the trip with.

And that's why I hated it when these girls left.

But yea, that's the price of solo traveling.
All stuff that happened, only matters to you.

Damn you, Japan.
I miss you