Best Of 2009

2009 isn't not really the best year ever but wasn't bad either. Actually it's pretty decent. So many great experiences happened this year (Summer holiday, new apartment & fashion show) and some down points (this semester in general among others). But it's okay, I learn and eventually moves on. But anyway, ending the year in positive note, I wanna show you something awesome and big!

I'm talking about the songs that's big this year. I always love to make list of anything since I was a kid, and the list about favorite music each year is no exception. Here's my best songs of 09, according to me.. in random orders!

"Bad Romance" & "Telephone" - Lady Gaga
"Use Somebody" - Kings Of Leon
"Bulletproof" - La Roux
"My Life Would Suck Without You" - Kelly Clarkson
"Don't Stop Believin'" - Glee Cast
"TiK ToK" - Ke$ha
"Halo" - Beyonce
"Boom Boom Pow" & "I Gotta Feeling" - BEP
"Empire State Of Mind" - Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys
"Party In The U.S.A." - Miley Cyrus
"You Belong With Me" - Taylor Swift
"Obsessed" - Mariah Carey
"Heartbreak Warfare" - John Mayer
"Track Of My Tears" - Adam Lambert

I'd like to give movies a try this year. I don't really watch a lot of new stuff and that's why I don't have a lot of good amount of movies to put in the list. I look for a great visual and story line in a movie.. and my choice of top movies are







I just saw 'Avatar' and '500 Days' like 4 days ago and I fell in love with them right away. 'Avatar' has the best visual effect so far (and surprisingly good story-line) and also '500 Days' was unique and heartwarming, or quirky if you will.

So.. That's it! The Best of 2009! Can't wait to find out what's in store in 2010!

Confessions In The Darkest Hour

I'm sleepless, I'm bothered and I'm fucked. That's right, I've to say that this end of the year, despite the great life and so on, I don't feel happy. I feel like I, once again, re-entered the dark time again and speaking of dark, it's really dark right here literally.

I actually it began with the distance between my house and school (40 min by train, one trip) and then It spread out into 'too many courses taken' situation. Which is kind of true: I took 5 courses - textile science, french draping, history of costume, college algebra & microeconomics - which every single course need an extra care. That means that I have to work extra hard this semester - and it kinda failed.

I managed to survived Math test on Friday morning (at 9 AM), although I skipped to many classes. That happened to History, which I kinda confident with, but I was absent 10 times - which can resulting in fail. So does Micro and Textile. As for French draping, I'm not really sure anymore. I have this wedding dress I need to finish by Monday and I haven't even cut the lace. Such a tragedy and ironic.

Speaking of ironic, my weight. I know I promised myself to not talk about it anymore on the last post, but I have to come clean that, I gained half of the weight I lost in 2006-2007 period. It's such a shame and disappointment because I worked so hard on that and I blew it. I hate to say this but, I started gaining weight the first day I went to Jakarta for holiday, and it went downhill ever since. It's uber-ironic because, that 3-month holiday was literally the best thing happened this year and yet, it also started my new era of darkness - and here I am writing about it.

I do think that I'm in denial somehow and I'm afraid of discipline. I felt like some of me wants an endless freedom and a lifestyle of an ultimate devil-may-care slacker, but I'm seriously feels like, it's enough. I can't let myself down the drain now.. It's time to get up. Hopefully with this entry, I'm ending my dark ages and entering a whole new chapter.

Wish List: Indonesia

I know it's premature, but I already been thinking about what I'm gonna do (If God allows) when I'm going back next summer.

1. See my Jokker & Rockey
2. Dance along to Lady Gaga, in the car, with Sianny & Rubby
3. Sushi Tei with Ingrid
4. Meet up with the trinity: Angel, Cyn & Bjay @ SoHo
5. Make some dresses (learn something new from Mom, hopefully)
6. Meeting my old friends.. after all these years.
7. Get some Grandma's sate ayam, karedok & more.
8. Drive around Jakarta

That's pretty much it! fingers crossed now!

Recharged

I love this week, such a relaxing - laid back week. Canceled classes, no intense quizes and shits. Anyway, TGIF! can't wait to get some therapy. Shop therapy that is. Actually last night I went out to get 2 sweaters from Marc Jacobs. Besides the label, the fabric actually feels comfy. But my favorite for now is the blazer I got! for only $30 from $88.90! score.

This past week, shows are kind of getting excited. Finales on both 'Top Model' & 'Project Runway'. Not their best season yet, but kinda pleased with the winners pick. But, my faves right now are Glee & 30 Rock. They never fails! Go to 'Rock' for some good laughs, and 'Glee' for some geek-y fantasy (read: musical numbers).

Despite the fun escapades, I do still have the projects that sometimes irritating. Both design and portfolio are super stressful. At least after all the fun, I feel refreshed and excited again. Besides, fashion supposed to be fun to begin with

Anti-Social

For the last couple of days (or weeks) I haven't really interact to people that much, except some class mates (fashion classes) and indo friends online. Yes, I'm on the edge into the anti-social world. Well, maybe I exaggerated that, but here's the thing: fashion classes really take your time, like a lot. It almost left me no time for social life.

Let me break it down; last week alone I spent average 10 hours at school, which for me a new thing, (well I never done that in high school or wtv) and sometimes stayed at the fashion lab until midnight. It's crazy, I'm losing sleep and uber-exhausted.

Last Friday, I was like a mad person, walking around Newbury street to do some window shopping after class. It's so sad but pretty relieving, cause after a week of torture, I can tasted a bit of freedom.

This week is no different, with two tests for Wednesday, portfolios due on next couple of weeks (need a lot of attention this one) and.. some sketch works, and design projects due Nov 13, I don't think I can be social for a very long time. I need vacation.

Freaky Friday

Last Friday was the freakiest morning I've ever had in years. I had this weird dreams that I was in this a 20-stories flying apartment (I assumed it was a plane), and I was on the 20th floor and it was flown during the winter storm which was dangerous (even in a dream).

In the same dream, I watched this 2 guys eating a funny looking things which turned out were seahorses! (this one, I think, because of I watched McQueen's Spring 2010), one was this bubbly-animated purple seahorse on a skewer (grilled) and the other one was gory-mythical looking seahorse (also on a skewer).

I don't know what happened to me and my dreams, but I think it's because I had so many things in my mind and mostly, I was sick. Which brought me to the next topic I'd like to share. I got to the nurse office, and the nurse gave these various meds: for cough and cold. What's interesting was she put em all in this plastic bad, and have label on it saying: "BIO HAZARD". It's humorous and dark at the same time. Just the way I like it.


It's been a rough week for my body and as a result, I was sick for 3 days (5 including the weekends). I, infact, still a bit sick, but I'll deal with it. So tired right now. I'll leave you guys with the must-download tracks of the moment!

DOWNLOAD: "Bad Romance" - Lady Gaga, "Morning After Dark" - Timbaland, "Who Says" - John Mayer, "Did It Again" - Shakira, "Doesn't Mean Anything" - Alicia Keys

Thanks, Weather!

Yep. This climate change just f***ed me up, right in the throat (and nose). It's been 3 days now that I feel ill, and I just need to get rest. But alas, I can't. Too many assignments and important things to do for me to just leave em for a while: design 1 garment due next Friday (got the laces!), Tests on Mondays (History & Math) and basically the next whole week will be bombarded by midterm tests and my condition 'really helps' me a lot.

Speaking of weather, the coldness comes early. Last year I remember it wasn't cold until early november. This make me sick! (literally, and I heard tomorrow's gonna snow! ouch). I really need vacation but I just can't think one. Btw, lack of internet drives me crazy lately. The internet in Malden is free no more (And I can only access it in the lounge area, which of course no privacy at all). So as I said before (in my last 3 posts), this week pretty suck.

There's still bright sides though, I was granted second chance in History classes which, for me, is huge. I can regain trusts to the people and show that I can fix this. Also, fall means new fashion! and I'm eyeing some stuff at Marc! I wish I have time off. Oh! the Spring 2010 Collections also held last month and I will post my top favorites!

Nights To Remember

Last Saturday was pretty major for me; i and friends went to Four Seasons to attend a dinner and a speech from - get this - no. 1 man in Indonesia, a.k.a. Mr. President SBY. He's here because of the G20 Summit and also his son enrolled in Harvard, I think. Before we get into the highlight of the day, let's talk about the "dinner". I put the quotes because it's not exactly what I had in mind; the food as not good, almost flavorless. Oh, the guests were hot too. So many branded bags and killer shoes totting around the room, It was like soiree of a socialite.

Anyway, the speech was nice that he talked about Indo's economy, and also he addressed about Malay-Indo situation, which he handled gracefully. I never been so proud of my country until last weekend. So, It was a great night overall. But sadly I couldn't have a picture with him, he entered the room last and exited first, before everyone exits (and he's obviously guarded, so). It's a fun night. However, I forgot to mention that, not all the people put in the same room, there's an additional room next door installed with TV streaming live of him speaking from the other room. So I didn't really see him in person, except when he walked out the door. Pathetic? yes.

Talking about a night to remember, I had this talk with an old friend which for me a relief because it's been a burden for a while. We did talked it through and it wasn't easy. I said I need this to be refreshed completly - means we have to talked about every pain and let it go and then move forward. It worked on me and glad I did it.

Another night to remember was actually last night. I spoke to mom for a while, and it's been so long since I talked to her that candid. I talked everything about what happen to me recently and she did opened my mind once again. I kinda lost faith along the way, but now I kind of get my faith back. So I think last night conversation was pretty powerful and I see myself and life in a different way. So many things happen lately and I think I was overwhelmed, more or less, and needed a guidance. So thankful for her.

I believe there'll be so many things happen to me bad or good, I'll just never know when. Just need to be prepared.

Random Thoughts

This fall is definitely brings something new for me, from new classes to new apartment, new friends and some new adjustments that have to be made. So, almost everything is brand new and it's exciting in a way, but also makes me nervous.

So far, the classes have been great. Of course bad habit die hard, I couldn't help but skipped the first day of class (Sept 8) and last Monday, but I managed to got up at 7.50 for my 9 am Friday class (which I despise, despite the nice professor who teach us). But I mostly excited for my French Draping class; we were assigned to create a 3-piece collection and it was exciting. I couldn't scan the pictures yet, 'cause it hasn't perfected yet. The collection's gonna be a bit cliche (but very fall season-ish): it's gonna be dark and romantic.

I also surprisingly rediscovering Lady Gaga. I had her album last year, but until 2009, I started to hear her music on a heavy rotation. I love "Paparazzi" so much since the beginning and my love of it comes in full circle when she delivered the most exciting performance of the year at VMA last week. So great! And also, I became a fan of Kathy Griffin. After I watched her stand-up specials and all 5 seasons of 'D-List' I'm instantly in love with her. She has this sarcasm and sometimes snarky jokes toward celebrities, but I think she's just our inner-self that most of us afraid to let go of. Unlike normal people do (I mean when it comes to express our opinions), she's like talk about things honestly and brutally-deathly honest about it. That's why it's fun to watch her. Btw, I'm reading her new 'memoir', "Official Book Club Selection" which title referencing Oprah's book club. Genius!

I want to say thay this week's been fun, but exhausting. My body can't compromise with it, somehow it feels like I'm 57 year-old guy trapped in a 21 year-old body (with 12 year-old minds stuck in it). I really need to keep up with the 18 year olds right now. Maybe learn a thing or two from the 'Kardashians'.

The Stars Align

This week has been exciting despite the mellow weekend I have been experiencing (thanks to the weather, now I'm not feeling well). The classes have been great so far, met up with classmates (i called em personally as my extended sisters) and also the new Indonesian friends. So it's been a fun week.

So.. I just watched the VMA 2009 and! I must say it was the craziest show so far! (lebay). Well let's break it down of what's the highlights of the show:



- MJ tribute was awesome for an opening number and Janet just simply killed it when she performed a dance sequence ("Scream") with her late brother on screen behind her.

- Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift when she was accepting her Best Female Video award. It's just sad to be completely honest. Kanye used to be cool but now he just a tool. However, I agree Beyonce deserves the award more, but hey it was fan voted awards. Btw, Beyonce's reaction shot was priceless.

- Lady Gaga. Well, the most awesomest yet her most gruesome performance ever of "Paparazzi". It was crazy! referencing "Phantom of the Opera", the chandelier, the thong, the blood!? U have to see to believe.

- P!nk & Shakira wore the exact same Balmain Fall '09 leather minidress. I love it! despite it would be called as "oops" moment. Btw, P!nk's performance was gutsy! so exciting - singing while doin' trapeze? awesome.

- Beyonce's winning Video Of The Year. She's so gracious that she called Taylor to give her a second chance to have "her moment" which was robbed by Kanye. So humble that lady.

So there you go. I love every minute of this year's VMA. It was grand, it was different. It was starry. Goodnight!

Shout out to my sister: Happy Birthday!

Knowing What's Up

Hi! For the last couple of days, it was pretty fun and super exhausting. Last Thursday I went out to see 'UP' in 3-D at Senayan Plaza and It was great with a capital G. The movie was fun, the visual was off the hook, the story-line was okay though - and oh! the 3-D was great! and I can say that Indonesian is really catching up in the entertainment department. So you knew by now that I really enjoyed it!

On Friday afternoon I woke up after a 12-hour sleep at 1 PM. I didn't know what happen but I felt incredibly tired. Anyway, I spent the whole day with family (my aunt and brothers - including Russell), went swimming, checked out some culinary school, went out for Chinese food and so on. Well, I felt really laid back yesterday and it felt nice.

Btw, I watched 'Knowing' for the first time last night and I was intrigued by it. Well, the disasters were pretty shocking, but I'm thinking about this world - people in particular. Is the world has been tainted by human so much, that we - the grown ups - deserve to be left out on earth and 'burned' alive? and what's up with the aliens anyway.. why they're portrayed like they have the rights to decide who's right and who's wrong? I think all we can do is start taking seriously about the green movement.. save the earth thingys. Save energy, conserve the forests, for the sake of our future. Good night!

It's Never Enough

I'm the worst person to be told enough of something, because I never feel enough of anything, especially the good stuffs. I'm a big believer on "there's never enough of a good thing". So yeah, like you guys didn't notice, I do overindulge myself during my stay here, and stuff myself up with shopping and foods.

I don't know why, but I think I just can't help it. I do get happy from that - and it becomes creepy. I think I get addicted to what makes me happy. For some reason I can't stop eating; I found great happiness in it and I refuse to let go (big problem if you want to reach your weight goal), also I really can't help in buying things that's, let's just say not really necessary and there's the internet 'addiction'. The last one, I just can't help it period. I will go online from as soon as I wake up until right before I decided to go to bed. It's ridiculous! thanks to Youtube, Facebook and all those gossip blogs.

I'm not a wise man on this one, but I do want to have control of myself, discipline. The 'D' word is really, really tough for me, because I used to get that a lot when I was a kid and I don't like being under control, so I used to let go of myself once in a while. But now it's kinda too much and I have to pay the price. This is just another reminder for me everytime I go online.

One thing that never enough for me is holiday. I just never feel it's enough. I still remember vividly, my first arrival in Jakarta May 23rd morning. It was awesome and now, my I'm only 19 days apart from going back to Boston. I'm so sad, yet I wanna go back to Boston to, for the sake of reliving my memories for the past 1,5 years there. I know I'm weird. I never feel enough of anything.

At Midnight

It's 12.01 AM right now, and I don't really want to close my eyes and off to dreamland yet. So here I am. Well, for the last couple of days, I've been going out with my friends, and had fun. I think I'm overindulged myself, went out to karaoke and ate loads of stuff. I'm fat already. But you're not gonna hear me bitchin' and moanin' about my everlastin weight issue. Not tonight. I wanna talk about what I like to do.. at midnight. Nothing x-rated or whatever, it's more like what I enjoy to do, by myself or with others (as a kind reminder, there's no sexual innuendoes goin' on).

First I enjoy late night chats with friends. I must admit sometimes we don't have topics to cover, but I somehow enjoyed it much. Maybe the 'bonding' factors that made me enthusiastic. Then, I love watching DVDs! especially the feel-good ones: Pirates of The Caribbean or Sweeney Todd to name a few. Movies that somewhat cheesy or lame, but makes you feel good, sorta like that. The guiltiest pleasure ever, of course, eating late at night. The later the night, the more pleasant the dining experience. I don't know why, but maybe the fun factor of eating at night makes you happy? Oh, besides that, I like to update myself on latest musics! Cause they usually come out at nights.

Speaking of musics, I recommend these following songs for you playlist! Happy listening: Madonna - "Celebration", Shakira - "She Wolf", Michael Jackson - "Ben", James Morrison - "Man In The Mirror", Nelly Furtado - "Manos Al Aire"

Another Tragic Events

Two bombings occured in Jakarta this morning, in two of the most luxurious hotels in Jakarta (Ritz-Carlton & J.W. Marriott, which restaurant is my favorite). It breaks my heart, cause for obvious reasons, there's deaths and once again, Jakarta is not safe any longer. I just wanna say that my prayer goes out to those family who lost their loved ones.

Did July To Me?

Ok that title was a lamer. Anyway. I'm just in the mood of a new post so, I thought a "nice & fun" title would be, of course, nice & fun.

I'm just finished open my Facebook page and played some games. As soon as i closed the window tab, I'm thinking.. what did they use Facebook for? Of course for reconnecting with friends, get in touch and all that jazz. Well that's boring excuses. I have conclusion what's the "real" purposes of using Facebook! here's the top 5!

1. Stay In Touch With Friends (a.k.a. Collecting people)
Yeah, of course, the stay-in-touch part is true. But these days, I saw lots of my friends, somewhat "collecting" the people. Means that they just accepted friends request without considering or whatnot. I mean, in real life, nobody would be really have that much of friends as much as 2000 friends. That's redonculous.

2. For the sake of having a Facebook page.
Read: people wants to be updated with what's hot right now, at this very minute.

3. Stalking
(This one's for the FB addict) The reason of having so many friends, beside of "stay in touch" with them, we want to stalk the hell out of em. We just know what happen with them, the latest photos in the bar, getting artsy and shits. People buy them!

4. Competition
Well, as much as you denying it, people somehow competing to show each other (or people) how much they own friends. The bigger the number the merrier.

5. Self Expression
You know, photos, status. Show off a abit. (Hey, you like doing that too don't cha)

Well, that's just what I thought about facebook-ing. What do u think? or can you come up with another 5 reasons?

Just So You Know

So everyone must know about the death of MJ and Farrah Fawcett by now. They're gonna be truly missed. Michael Jackson is a truly music legend and he will gonna be as legendary as Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley. He made huge impacts on our life, regardless. While Farrah, she's the iconic 'Angel' from the famous tv series Charlie's Angels and I believe she's one of other people who defined the 70's era. Farewell icons..

On more personal notes,

I saw something on Facebook that makes me sick (too). Too bad if you don't like what you read. That's reality, NOT everything is always going your way, so get over it already. I'm human, and humans have bad days. And speaking about Facebook. I have to say, ban the word "Yummy" or "Nyummy". It's sounds retarted and cutesy-sluty sounded. Again, not my fault if you don't like what you read.

Connect, Connect

I have to say this: internets here are super suck-a-delic. I've been using internet for 8 years now, but still has no progress what so ever, regarding connection and stuff in indonesia. They should make it faster, reliable and qualified enough to provide faster service and whatnot. In Boston, I could download a song faster than I could say "it's done!", while in here, it prolly could take thousand years to download a thing or to stream a youtube video. It's frustrating sometimes when you're downloading something, and it's cut because of the connection down, or while's u're chatting and there's miscommunication and so on. It just makes me wanna go mad (and to create a post about it).

Also, the mobile providers. Gosh! as a very loyal XL customer (been using this number since 2000!) here I'm announcing: this year is the worst XL service I've ever have. OK, bars are lacking, almost no signals everywhere. I think since the blackberry era came over here, XL connection has been busified (pardon me vocab and grams). It's hard for me to call from inside the house using XL, while any other providers could reach. It's major annoyance. Gotta be honest; as much as I love Indonesian life, I miss my mobility in Boston.

Nobody Should've Read This

It's me again with a post from the 'complaining-post' department. Today was a very, very weird day - a sensitive day to me. I haven't been this emotional and stiff since I don't know, 3 months ago? Anyway, yea, today I felt like I was pissed. This is sad but true, I felt like someone's arrival here destroyed my mood almost completely.

I don't wanna say I hate that person, or cursing or whatever, but I'm human and I just react naturally when somebody acting fucking annoying: I just get super annoying too. That's my natural reaction. Regardless the background or the history, NOBODY should be that fucking annoying. Why would I be the only person against that and I'm the one who's not understanding. Shitness.

Ok. I recommend you to not mind this post.. this just a random, crazy emotion that I could hold any longer. Thanks anyway for reading!

Übersexual

I miss the blog so much, I take some time to write a new post - although I don't have any idea what to talk about. But I came with one interesting topic I just had conversation with a friend.

Well, I just had this conversation with a frien and we talked about something, quite NSFW and very racy (I mean, late night, cheap phone rates, hello?). We talked everything from 'tips', 'pleasure' (I'll leave those for your imagination) - also on the serious note; family problems, friendship etc. But the most interesting topic wasn't the sex or whatever; it's sexual preference. Sorry guys, I'm gonna stop there and I couldn't let you know what was our conversation. But basically, we talked about gay, bi, lesbians and stuff and I ended up with one conclusion, which I highly agreed. Ambiguity is Sexy. Yea, nowadays, being sexy is the way to go. Let's face it, it's all about the looks now. I have to confess there's something mysterious with sexually ambiguous people: they're unpredictable and crazy attractive, and also, they mostly good-looking (I'm hopelessly Hollywood).

You may disagree or agree on that one, but that's just me. Maybe I'd change my mind.. or not.

Berry Berry Boring

After I saw couple of friends' photo with their Blackberrys, I think I have to voice my take on that matter: It's annoying.

First of all, I'm not a big fan of Blackberry since day one; I have no desire to have it (ok I lied. once. It doesn't look aweful). Besides, I already have a sidekick and I'm more into iPhone. Second, it's everywhere!! I'm sure that in every 5 miles radius, there's one person has it, in this case, Indonesia. I think, Indonesians are easily getting into trends (too much), latah (Indonesian must know that word), and they need a sort of prestige. I'm not saying that's bad or whatever, because it's their own money and they have rights. But to me, they kinda get sucked by the trends and eventually trends come and go.

To me the BB is annoying. Why? because every friends I know with BB, they hooked with their little chatting machine. They constantly checking the messenger, updating Twitter and so on. I don't like the fact that the regular conversation got interfered by that little thing called Blackberry. Beside, it makes us forgetting how to communicate naturally. I'm afraid that one day, people forget how to exactly talk to each other, show emotions, in person (at least on the phone).

Well, BB can be both good and bad. Use it wisely!