A long-overdue hello

 Blogging from Starbucks at an Ibis Hotel in Menteng...

On a Friday at 06:25 PM GMT+7.

It's been almost five years since Instituto Italiano di Cultura stopped their weekly Italian movie screenings. From 2009 to 2019 I never once skipped the screenings. It was every Wednesday first, then probably starting 2012 screenings were held on Friday at 7 PM. So every Friday, even at 5 PM I would already be at either this Starbucks or any of restaurants in Menteng, just near Instituto, sometimes with a laptop in hand. 

I remember these two occasions, in 2012 and 2016 respectively. In the former, I brought my laptop to Starbucks Menteng to work on my postgrad thesis (can't recall whether it was a chapter or a post defence revision), then after that I blogged about Lena Meyer-Landrut. In the latter, I brought my laptop to the same venue to work on my first China publication. After each occasion, I headed to Instituto to watch an Italian movie.

Good times.

It's September 29, 2023. 

After revising my part in an Indonesia-ROK policy recommendation, here I am blogging. Reminiscing. I'm heading home after this. 

Back from China!

Hi everyone,

I just got back from a one-week trip to China, covering Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing. The trip, which started on December 17, was a business one - in fact it was semi diplomatic as I went with Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) China Foreign Policy (of which I'm a member), The Coordinating Minister of Politics, Law and Human Rights, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and The Ministry of Trade.

We had seminars at Fudan University, Nanjing University, China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) and China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), as well as visiting Yangshan Deepwater Port. In our leisure time, we went to Temple of Heaven and Nanjing Presidential Palace. We would have loved to go to the newly-opened biggest Starbucks in the world and the iconic Oriental Pearl Tower, both are in Shanghai, but our schedule was so tight there was no time to squeeze them in.

As this might be my last entry in 2017, I might as well conclude that even though 2017 wasn't as good as 2015, it's still better than the majority of my post-NZ years thanks to the two overseas trips I had this year. Here's to more overseas adventures in 2018!

Reflections...

While answering a question on the best year (or in my case, years) on Ask.fm, I felt compelled to include 2013. Ever since I hit rock bottom disguised as a severe quarter life crisis upon returning from NZ, I felt that adulthood was nothing but bitterness - to the point that I stopped caring whether said bitterness would ever end. However, 2013 - the year I hit big 3-0 - did more than show that adulthood wasn't something that's automatically granted to anyone finishing university. Adulthood is indeed earned. To recap, in 2013...
- After a lot of job-hopping and a postgraduate degree which I partially funded myself, I embarked on a short vacation to Singapore. It was the first time I went out of the country in 4.5 years since leaving NZ. Nothing feels better than a much deserved holiday.

- I turned 30, as already said...with no fear. Congratulations and good luck to all those who hit that milestone this year and beyond! You can kiss those turbulent 20s goodbye as 30s are much more stable...unless you make no effort whatsoever to grow up.

- I got a wonderful belated 30th birthday present in terms of career, but I wish not to discuss that in detail.

- My long comatose boyband phase was revived - yes I'm talking about Infinite - which led to my first ever K-pop concert which was held on August 31 2013.

- I had my first taste of speaking at a conference, and this first conference of mine was held at Andalas University in Padang. Later after the conference I got to admire the beauty of my maternal ancestral home of Bukittinggi, also for the first time.

- I started making friends with Starbucks baristas again since coming home from NZ. Back in Auckland, I had a knack for befriending Starbucks baristas to the point of knowing at least one barista at each of the five Starbucks stores in Auckland CBD. I'm in touch with the majority of them.

The year 2013 actually had a slightly bitter end, but it didn't affect my 30s so far. Here's to better times ahead!

Last entry in 2011...

A very quick recap of 2011. Got a dream job (notice, job, not a career yet) in September, a part-time one which allows me to earn more money, more responsibility, more authority, more benefits plus travel opportunities. I was actually asked to go to Malaysia on an assignment for ten days on December 18, but I had to decline it due to the crazy load of uni work. Might go to Turkey and/or UK in February on another assignment. For that, I thank the ever-almighty Allah.

I've also just earned a 2012 Starbucks planner by collecting stickers, for the first time! Hahahaha. I got my 2008 Starbucks planner from a good friend of mine who was the manager of the Victoria Street, Auckland store in March 2008 and the 2009 one from another good friend who was a barrista at the Pasaraya Grande, Jakarta, store in February 2009. If you're as crazy about Starbucks as I am, you know that the deadline for sticker collecting is always December 31. I didn't get the 2010 and 2011 planners.

Meanwhile, something noteworthy also happened on the love front. Been sort of involved with a guy six years my senior since October. Hopefully this turns out alright.

May you have a blessed 2012!

NOT the last entry in 2011...

Hi guys!

I'll never hit the 35-entry mark this year as I was unbelievably busy with uni assignments until yesterday. The ordeal is yet to be over though, as I have more assignments due on the 2nd, 11th and 13th respectively. But at least until NYE I'm free, can breathe. LOL.

This crazy chain of assignments has stood in the way of communication with my parents. So much so that they've decided to stop talking to me almost completely and leave me in my own world of books, Microsoft Office, campus, Freedom Institute and Starbucks (I'm still collecting their 2012 planner stickers...I have seven more to go, maybe anybody would like to donate one?)

Hokay. I've been a Within Temptation fan since 2004. While I don't dig the band's Gothic fashion style, most of their videos have been perfectly executed to embody their Gothic spirit by invoking imagery of memory (as in "Memory" and "Frozen"), dark fantasy (as in "Stand My Ground") and binary opposition (utopia and dystopia in "The Howling.") I don't see that in the video of their recent single, "Shot in The Dark." Take a look.



The dark atmosphere is still there, albeit not elaborate. Oh, and I kind of like Sharon's style here. It's like she's finally grown out of her usual Gothic get-ups phase, which is a good thing.