It Finally Begins

Seven months.

Seven, fucking, months, oh for crying out loud - oh, yeah, I won't bother typing 'fucking' as 'fvcking' anymore because I've had enough I DON'T WANT TO BE POLITE HERE!? That's how long we F1 fans had to wait for the first race of the season, from the end of last year's.

This fucking pandemic is getting really out of hand. It RUINED everything. Oh, like totally everything, but since I'll be talking about F1 in this post, let's just stick to only F1-related stuff.

So to begin with, I planned to continue my 4-year-streak of watching F1 live this year. It was either Australia or Vietnam. Australia, because I still have a valid visa that will expire this year, and Vietnam, because it'd be their very first Grand Prix. But the outbreak got worse by the beginning of March, and so AustraliaGP canceled. Okay, let's see for Vietnam, I said to myself. But the outbreak got even worse and worse that flights are canceled and events are even canceled-er and so, VietnamGP of course canceled-est!

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!? But hey that's not the worst part. I've mentioned the worst part: with all these canceled Grands Prix, we had to extend our vacuum of F1 intake for another four fucking months, and so in total we had to wait for SEVEN, FUCKING, MONTHS!

Phew, okay, I've let go all the steam.

Now let's get into the better part.

F1 Finally Begins

To be honest, I prefer the 2019 version of the opening theme but

I don't want to complain because F1 IS HERE!

After GP by GP announcing their cancellation, we've come to the ultimate fate that the Formula One 2020 season would start THIS JULY, with two Austrian GPs back-to-back as the grand opening. Lol, yea you read it right: TWO. Weird. But for God's sake who cares about the quote-unquote weird formatting -- we no longer give any shit because we've been needing any kinds of racing action! ANY! Lol okay chill, Vick.

So yea, this was it. YESTERDAY, was it. The day we've been waiting for, after seven fucking months of waiting painfully. I got to admit that four months stuck in a self-quarantine was like an emotional rollercoaster ride to me with its ups and downs about many things in life that sometimes I forgot that I needed to watch F1. But when this week came, and everyone's euphoria sky-rocketed like crazy, I just realized that WE'VE BEEN MISSING THIS SHIT SO BAD!!!

I lie if I tell you that I didn't freak out when the race day finally came. Because I did, freak out like an old lady. Usually I had this annual watching-together with some fellow F1 fans - hi Arga and Chita! - for Australian Grand Prix but thanks to COVID, this year we started the season only through group chat. But the tension was the same lol because I swear we talked and screamed a lot - virtually - and flooded the group like crazy. From practices to quali, the nearer we got to lights out, the talkier we became.

And finally it was lights out.

MY LOOOORDDD I'VE MISSED THIS SPECTACLE!!!
Pic's from here.

Ugh my heart, felt like it exploded! WE HAVEN'T HAD LIGHTS OUT FOR 7 MONTHS OH MY GOD I WAS TREMBLING TO FINALLY SEE IT - too much? It started so smoothly, this Austrian Grand Prix, a bit disappointing to be honest, because we wanted crashes didn't we? Ha ha.

Not long after, drama starts: Max's P2 ended with, an electrical fault (?), giving a Merc 1-2 yet again which I would not love to see... oh, yes, if you're new to my F1 approach, I'm not the biggest fan of Mercedes' dominance. I'm rooting for Bottas, still, because he's the 'underdog' worth to support there, but as for collective Mercedes, I'm just not up for it. So Max's failure was such a loss to me. But not as much loss as Daniel's retirement. He failed too and seriously, I lost my appetite from there onwards. I thought that was it for the race, I'm done, I don't want to continue, but thank God I didn't make that stupid decision. Because other teams are WORTH rooting for.

Especially Racing Point. They had been oh so promising throughout the weekend. Said to be the Mercedes of the past. I was so joyed to see them, Checo, specifically, and it just felt so awesome to watch them fighting on top-tier grid, given their last year's not-so-fulfilling performances. He got a bit too fired up though, I guess, because at some point during a pit he sped up and almost hit Norris!

Ferrari was fun to watch too, because, admit it, you want to see them challenge Mercedes. So them starting weak was more like a good-guy-losing-first kind of moment that made us want to wait for whatever they had under their sleeve. They were slow-but-surely-rising, well at least for Lecrerc, as he started midpack then slowly gained position... Vettel on the other hand, ugh, well, I still feel bad for Vettel - the one versus Carlos, which sent him all the way back to the bottom.

Let me show you some turmoil my friends and I had during the race.
This is after Vettel had contact with Sainz.

Back to top, Mercedes' gaps with the others were totally unbelievable. They seemed untouchable, making me wanting some dramas so others could come closing in. Hamilton charging from P5 to P2 - partly thanks to Verstappen out, closing in with Bottas and constantly keeping the gap below 1s was, surprisingly, nerve-wrecking to watch. Because I would want the Finn to defend his place.

We're not even halfway done yet. In fact, it was about to get better. Especially when God gave us something even crazier: two safety cars - or more? - with highlight on the second SC, where Perez on P3 decided to stay with medium tyres while Albon on P4 switched to soft. It freaking created an intense prediction of who will conquer whom and apparently, the drama DID HAPPEN BECAUSE ALBON OVERTOOK PEREZ, but then he slowed down for yet another yellow flag - this time for Kimi - AND PEREZ TOOK BACK HIS P3 LIKE OH MY GOOD CAN WE BREATHE A LITTLE FIRST!? Fucking crazy I couldn't stop screeching like a rat!

With Kimi out, we had seven DNFs already! Seven!? Verstappen, Ricciardo, Stroll, Magnussen, Grosjean, Russell, and Raikkonen. Plus Albon and Kvyat toward the end, it all came to a total of NINE FREAKING DNFs! This gave me a side excitement remembering that this season's newcomer, Nicholas Latifi, WAS STILL ON THE RACE and could possibly GET A POINT! ON HIS DEBUT RACE IN F1!! AND DRIVING A FREAKING WILLIAMS!!? My God, there were just so much dimension of fun in this race alone, and honestly, I LOST MY GRIP MOST OF THE TIME, MY FRIENDS AND I STARTED TO MAKE TYPOS AND IRRATIONAL SENTENCES IN OUR GROUP CHAT!

Another fun stuff? Hamilton's downfall, thanks to his own mistakes. See, he should've started the race from P2 but got 5s penalty for not slowing for a yellow flag during quali. Then he succeeded in finishing 2nd for the race, but got yet another 5s penalty for his contact with Albon -- which leads us to something so worth talking about: I'm not a big fan of the Thai guy, BUT MAN I FELT SORRY FOR HIM!? He was like, the podium was just around the corner for him but then, it's Brazil 2019 all over again!? AND WITH THE SAME BAD GUY AGAIN!?!? Crazy.

And this is when Lewis(a) crushed Albon's chance to win.

Now we're reaching the end of the race. Bottas was clearly getting it, he was fast though kind of slowing down - him and Lewis kept scoring fastest laps, but towards the end, Lecrerc got it and finally it was Lando who came out to be the fastest... something's wrong, Mercedes? Hamilton was P2, but he got that 5s penalty from crashing with Albon. Charles was P3, and Perez was P4, but they'd be P2 and P3 once Ham's getting his penalty. IT COULD'VE BEEN A VERY COLORFUL PODIUM with red and pink on top, but guess what--PEREZ ALSO GOT A 5S PENALTY FOR SPEEDING UP ON THE LANE - the one where he almost 'kissed' Lando.

I was like, WHAT THE HELL!? So Hamilton gets P3?? I feel like this is it. FIA is vouching for the celebrity. He and his team was allowed for that DAS thing, then he was almost getting away with the yellow flag drama if it weren't for Red Bull's protest, and now this!? How can we stop him from benefitting??

But guess who saved the day: Mr Lando Norris. Snatched the third podium from the reigning champion. Finishing somewhat just point two seconds faster than Hamilton. POINT TWO!? GOSH, IF HE WAS SLOWER BY JUST POINT SOMETHING SECONDS THE PODIUM WOULD'VE BEEN DOMINATED BY MERCEDES AGAIN!? Oh my God he was such a savior. And not only for his last-minute gig.

Norris, along with McLaren, had been pretty amazing throughout the weekend - at least to me. Both he and Sainz made it to Q3, securing both P4 and P8, and even better, the milk guy got promoted to P3 for Hamilton's penalty. THE KID STARTED THE RACE FROM THE SECOND ROW! Then during the race they've been showing some constant performances, resulting in a podium and a P5. Amazing work, McLaren's, really. Their growth was just so pleasant to see, especially since we've  all seen them during their dark ages. They deserve this big win and that celebration of their team, ohh, such a delight to see!

Our reaction was as happy as those on McLaren's garage.

And there you go.

A race that we've been waiting for for seven months. SEVEN FUCKING MONTHS. On Saturday I was a bit hesitant because it would seem to be yet another Mercedes 1-2 score, with only Max as our trump card to spice things up - because both Ferraris were a bit on the back. Who would have thought that the result would come up like this???

Dang, man, I really can't wait for the next one.

Same track. Same drivers. Same day next week.

Some would say it's boring, I'd say it's exciting.

Because it'll be like revenge for many of the drivers.

For Max, for Daniel, for the others who did not finish, for Albon - OH MY GOD I WOULD WANT TO SEE HIM CHALLENGE LEWIS LIKE RIGHT NOW, for Latifi to actually score a point, basically, FOR EVERY ONE!

Seven months.

Seven, fucking, months, oh for crying out loud.

This color combination... I'm sincerely hoping that from now on, podiums would be
as colorful as this! Even with other colors! Pic's from here.

It finally begins. And it's

What we've been waiting for.

The 3 Musketeers

Let me open this post with a photo. 

And now, let me switch to Indonesian.

KARENA GUE MAU BANYAK NGOCEH DAN APALAGI INI OCEHANNYA BERHUBUNGAN DENGAN ORANG-ORANG BAHLUL DI ATAS JADI YA LEBIH ENAK PAKE BAHASA INDONESIA GAK SIIIIIHHH???

Oke.

Ini kisah perjalanan tiga bujang ke Pulau Dewata. Sebuah trip yang telah menjadi wacana berwindu-windu lamanya, yang akhirnya kesampean juga. Trip bersama bagi mereka, untuk pertama kalinya.

Wk sedih amat. Tapi emang iya, gue, Werdhi dan Ocit gak pernah jalan-jalan bareng sih. Seinget gue ya, maap kalo ternyata udah pernah. Ini juga baru kesampean karena Werdhi mau nikah. Jadi mau ala-ala Bachelor's Trip gitu deh. Soalnya pas Willy kemaren kan ada Bachelor Party semalam suntuk yang berakhir dengan tewasnya seseorang -gatau siapa, dan jangan tanya- dan ditutup dengan deep, sexual talk di apartemennya -siapa lagi kalo bukan- Natasya. Plus si Mpi ulangtaun, dan karena dia di Bali, ya pas banget gak siiiii?????

Long story short, akhirnya bisa terjadi juga trip ini. Cuma 4 hari karena susah cari jadwal yang bener buat semuanya. Itu pun hari terakhir gue masih keganggu dengan miting-miting gak penting yang mengharuskan gue untuk existing. Jadi kalo ditotal-total ya cuma 3 hari dah quality time-nya.

Anyways, gue gak hadir pada kesempatan kali ini untuk menjelaskan satu per satu apa yang kami lakukan dan kunjungi selama di sana. Seru kok, beneran, dan mostly belum pernah gue lakukan juga -ke beberapa secret beaches, nonton kecak di Uluwatu, sama ke Nusa Penida. Tapi again, bukan soal itu yang mau gue bahas lebih dalam.

Tapi soal kebersamaan kita.

Jijik gak? Jijik sih, kayak, orang-orang ini gak cocok gitu gue "so sweet"-in wkwkwkwkwk. Tapi kali ini gue mau serius dulu deh. Karena jujur, dari kurang lebih 10 taun kenal sama orang-orang ini, gue belum pernah merasa jadi sedekat ini sama mereka. Traveling does show us the true colors of people, right?

Dan gue mau mengakui sesuatu, tapi semoga manusia-manusia yang terlibat di dalam pengakuan ini gak pernah sekalipun menemukan postingan gue ini sehingga mereka gak kepedean sianjir males banget kalo udah pada kepedean.

Oke fokus.

Ini pengakuan gue.

Dari sekian banyaknya trip gue ke Bali, trip yang satu ini, bersama Werdhi, Ocit, dan sekilas ditambah Mpi dan Dindut juga, menjadi salah satu yang paling berkesan yang pernah gue lewatin. BUKAN BERARTI YANG LAIN GAK BERKESAN YA, WER, CIT, JADI SEKALI LAGI, JANGAN KEPEDEAN. Lantas kenapa?

Karena gue merasa kita semua rooting for this trip.

Semuanya semangat, semuanya gak ngikut-ngikut aja atau terserah-terserah aja. Gak ada yang males-malesan -bayangin seorang Ocit bisa excited tuh apa bukan sebuah pencapaian!?!?- dan gak ada yang berpangku tangan. Ya mungkin karena cuma bertiga anyway ya, jadi gampang buat saling mengingatkan -dan saling menghajar kalau-kalau ada satu yang mulai kurang ajar.

Well jujur Aries-nya gue mayan keluar sih di trip kemaren, di mana gue bertindak sebagai ibu kos yang ngumpulin duit semua orang buat kita belanjain bareng-bareng. Jadi gak sebentar-sebentar itung-itungan karena semua udah gue yang pegang dan gue yang bayar. Dan untungnya dua begundal itu mangut-mangut bae. Gue juga yang mastiin kita harus bergerak dan serba tepat waktu biar gak ada plan-plan yang miss HAHA maaf ya jiwa solo traveler gue kadang emang gak bisa dibendung, padahal lagi traveling rame-rame :">

Alarm yang gue pasang tiap malem biar kita selalu jojing selama di Bali.

Trus ya, gue juga ngerasa trip ini lancar banget.

Gak ada drama, gak ada sungut-sungutan, all smooth sailing and flawless. Ujan gak masalah, yang ada malah joget-joget berdua Ocit di depan stage Finns bareng bule-bule sok akrab. Kehalang odalan on the way ke Sanur gak masalah, meskipun deg-degan yha karena kalo ketinggalan boat ke Nusa Penida berarti besokannya mesti do it all over again padahal hari itu udah sampe Sanur trus bingung mau ngapain.

Siapa pun yang ngasih ide, yang lain pasti hayuk. Nyanyi-nyanyi kecak sepanjang perjalanan dari Uluwatu ke Seminyak, hayuk. Turun 100 lantai ke pantai bawah Kelingking, hayuk -meskipun Ocit kayak udah mau tewas. Beli minuman, hayuk -yha ini mah emang doyan. Ciwik-ciwik didrop di lobi hotel trus cowok-cowok bye langsung ke pantai, hayuk. Gue disuruh bawa motor melintasi rimba Nusa Penida meskipun beberapa kali mau kepleset, hayuk -gila ye seorang Vicky Amin disuru motoran di pulau yang masih 80% alam, sadis emang GAK LAGI-LAGI!? Werdhi disuruh boncengin gue yang udah setengah tidur jadi mesti nyetir sambil jagain biar gue gak jomplang dari motor, hayuk. Ocit disuruh traktir gue makan Subuh-Subuh karena dia yang bikin kita meninggalkan La Favela jam 2 malem, hayuk -lagian siapa sih orang di dunia ini yang masih pagi udah pulang!? Mpi disuruh nyamperin ke villa atau makan ikan di Sanur, hayuk. Dindut disuruh jangan flight pulang dulu trus extend satu malem bareng kita, hayuk. OCIT DICENGIN KARENA TIBA-TIBA PULANG BAWA BINTANG RADLER 0%, HAYUK -HAHA NGAKAK BANGET SIH INI UDAH RADLER 0% PULA MENDING MINUM UC1000 ANJIRRR BERFAEDAH ADA VITAMINNYA.

Ini... apa karena kita udah dewasa atau gimana dah jadinya pada legowo gini? Gampang amat padaan wkwk. Ya dari dulu juga emang gampangan sih kita, main culik menculik jaman SMA udah bukan merupakan sebuah hal yang patut dipertanyakan. Tapi ini beneran deh, orang kan kalo udah traveling pasti punya agenda masing-masing ya, ini kok lagi pada luvly banget???

Well.

Sepertinya gue tau alasannya.

Yang mana juga merupakan alasan terakhir kenapa menurut gue trip ini berkesan banget.

Karena kita tau, mungkin ini gak bakal keulang lagi.

At least buat gue. Gatau deh Ocit Werdhi pada mikir gini apa nggak. Tapi ya coba diinget-inget lagi. Trip ini aja terjadi buat celebrate Werdhi yang mau nikah. Which means after this dia udah bukan lagi manusia lajang. Which means cari waktunya dia udah hampir impossible karena bakal udah punya keluarga. Willy aja akhirnya gak ikutan trip ini kan.

Ocit pun diem-diem udah punya gandengan -jir siapa sangka. Gada yang tau kapan dia nyusul Werdhi. Kayaknya sih very soon. Ini orang dari jaman kapan tau selalu bilang dengan gaya sotoynya, "gue sih walopun udah kawin tetep bakal bisa kumpul-kumpul" cuman ya tau apa kita heyyyyyy anak muda?? Manusia boleh berencana tapi Allah yang memutuskan -- Hadits Qudsi.

Well kalo ketemunya ketengan sih gue yakin masih bisa kejadian. Kayak gue sama Ocit only, atau sama Werdhi dan keluarganya, atau janjian sama Dindut pas lagi sama-sama di Bali. Kalo sama Mpi sih yaudah lah paling gampang ini wkwkwkwkwkwk. Tapi buat bisa ramean kayak gini, gue rasa bakal susah sih. Ngumpulin buat ketemu sebentar di Jakarta aja ujung-ujungnya kembali jadi wacana. Apa lagi trip yang harus commit begini?

Yah, mungkin karena itu kita jadi lebih rooting dan semangat buat trip ini.

Jadi lebih lepas, lebih ikhlas. Biar jadi penghujung yang manis buat masa muda kita.

Suka banget versi ketawa karir ini bangsat :')

Paan si.

3 Musketeers kan vibe-nya harusnya macho, penuh aksi, penuh ambisi. Di Bali kemaren udah kayak gitu, tapi napa di postingan jadi mendadak mellow gini wk.

Ya gapapa lah sekali-sekali.

Dari awal juga udah dibilang ini bakal jijik so...

Here's to complete the jijik-ness of the 3 musketeers.

Tuh bonus Mbok-mbok genggeus.

Well now you guys know.

That one of those Musketeers,

Is actually soft on the inside

Fratelli d'Italia, L'Italia s'è desta

It's a bit too late to start talking about this, I know, but I just can't let it go.
Because this, could've been one of the best moments in my life.

Oh, "could've"? No.

This is, one of the best moments in my life.

[pics coming soon]

Dancing with a Stranger

Imagine that you meet somebody you know at heart.

But this time they're acting different. Stranger different.

You went to this club you've always been to, danced the moves you've always danced. And that was it. No talks, no exchanges. Just dances to the music, as strangers usually do.

It's exciting, yet on the same time, confusing.

Because they seem to be ignoring you. Yet they want to connect with you. You seem to know exactly what you need to do. But still they're playing hard to get. Their moves, their signals, make you think about the things they do. Until they left, without saying anything. You know they want you to come, because basically you know them. So you come. To their place. And they light the fire. And now you know exactly what you have to do. You take control. Start dancing again the way you danced inside the club. This time more intimately, more warm, as if the stranger in them had gone, and that somebody you know at heart finally come back.

Crazy how they play with you like that.

But this stranger feels addictive.

That when you wake up the next morning, you feel like you're clearly not over them.

That when the night comes back on, you feel like you don't want to be alone tonight.

Look what you made me do, Bali.

I'm dancing with somebody new.

Your new you.

It's still you, yes,

But it's like dancing with a stranger

Two Sides of A Coin

I've been to Bali for, too many times.

But never once in those "too many times", did I visit the island as

A solo traveler.

Crazy how I've never been there alone! Because I always travel solo. Vicky Amin equals solo traveler. Yet Vicky Amin never been solo traveling to Bali? Yea I myself don't know exactly why. It's always been with my friends, or my family, but never with just myself.

So it just felt so weird to treat Bali this time as I treated any other travel destinations. Because all these years, I've always traveled Bali differently. Nicer hotel, nicer dining, car rentals, not too ambitious itinerary, because well, I was always with somebody. Now that I was alone, it's always the cheaper local foods, and going here and there by ojek, and packed schedule, and even a hostel with sharing dormitory! Something I always do when I solo travel abroad, but never even once in Bali!

I even made new friends during this super short trip. A French, an Australian, and a numerous locals. One was my dorm roommate. One I met at the club. The rest were everywhere else. Exchanging stories, exchanging contacts, listening to each others small talks and brags. Something I always do when I solo travel abroad, but never even once in Bali!

It's so weird to be for once a traveler in this place, and not a tourist.

But it's even weirder because I was bearing one other role there.

Also a new one, a role I never did while traveling to the island.

A business traveler.

Yes. The reason why I dragged myself and forced my ass to do this semi-urgent solo trip to Bali, was partly because I had this article to cover. For a Singaporean news portal. What it was about, and who I was contributing to, it's still a secret because I'm currently still cooking it.

I don't know which part I enjoyed the most: solo traveling part, or this article covering part. Because I'm actually living life as a travel contributor here! Making appointments with sources, coming down to multiple venues to gather information, holding a freaking interview with each informants, getting completely-new insights while trying to dig some other completely-different things, pivoting through my plans and making last-minute changes, discussing the topic with my editor remotely, starting to write down anything that came up my mind, laying down restlessly thinking about how I could nail the final article, dang! Can I stay like this forever??

With the fact that this was also my first solo trip to Bali, turned this trip to be wholesome despite the short duration. At some point I even felt like the 3-day trip brought way richer experience than any of my previous Bali trips, combined.

Just a hint of the article I'm covering.

Mandatory solo traveling memento: Vicky Amin's selfie.

Imagine.

It was just only two of my faces, two sides of me which colored this trip.

What if I came here also as an explorer? Or a content creator? Or an investor?

And what if I came here for a week? Or six months? Or even move in here?

There are many other Bali adventures waiting for me to uncover.

So maybe next time I must arrive here with my other side.

Which one?