I should’ve updated my journal with my impulsive trip to Singapore to watch Korean Music Wave, but I kinda lost the enthusiasm to write it down now since it’s been 3 weeks from the event *sigh*. All I can say is I don’t regret making that decision. It was an amazing short trip and the night of the show was truly unforgettable :) I saw live performances from FT Island, Teen Top, Touch, Dalshabet, The Boss, X-5, Miss A, 2NE1, U-Kiss and Big Bang. Big Bang was the reason why I flew all the way to SG. Their performance? Beyond awesome. Period.

Anyway, since I feel the need to update this LJ (at least to show you that I’m still here and okay), lemme share another list of my current favourite things. Starting from this one, my red notebook:



I’m such a whore for cute notebooks. Sometimes I bought it without thinking what it is for haha. But I’m using this one though! I bought this for IDR 22K, and I think the price is reasonable since the cover is pretty and the papers are soft. This notebook is like my idea book. Sometimes when I’m too lazy to write on cyber blog (which is quite often, duh!), I write it here. Or when I have some ideas for poems or just a simple sketch about something, I jot them down here too.



Another thing that has been accompanying my days is my iPod. I use it for music, videos, games, and e-books. Another impulsive decision of mine and no regret at all again. It really helps me through my days :) and that guy is G Dragon from Big Bang. My sis bought it as a gift from Japan. That is why the nickname for my iPod is Little GD :)



The last one on the list is JYJ, a Korean group. They’re not a boyband, and actually I don’t know what to call them. Just musicians are enough, I think. JYJ consists of Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu and I’m in love with them at the moment <3 I love their songs, their playfulness and not to mention that they’re cute, especially Yoochun *ahem* They’re actually a sort of injustice victims in Korean music industry (a long story) but they manage to stay strong and carry on. That, another reason why I love these guys so much!

Well, that’s my list. Care to share yours? I’d like to know :3

I just saw Kim Hyung Jun's live performance last Saturday at Jakarta's FantastiKpop festival and I've been soooooo much in love with this song. I play it everyday and even make this song my mobile's ringtone. It's a very groovy and catchy pop song, and the video is an eye-candy as well. It has Alice in Wonderland vibe in it, with Baby (his nickname) chasing the girl down the corridors and meeting many strange things there <3 Can't wait for your first solo album, Baby! :D

Oh hello everyone. I’m home again in Jakarta. It’s been more than a week actually but after going back from the Bangkok trip, I’ve been bombardized by tasks so it’s hard to find spare time to write down the story of my trip. So here it is, even though I’m pretty much sure there are things that I forgot to write.

Bangkok was nice, as usual. The weather was surprisingly friendly too. I thought it would be so hot in June so I readily brought my sunglasses and sun-block. Yet it wasn’t hot and it’s raining in the morning so the sunglasses and the sun-block were kinda useless. Boo. Anyway, let’s start with the accommodation first. this time I didn’t stay at Citadines Hotel but prefer to stay at a guest house named Hi-Sukhumvit, recommended by arancia. The place was really nice and the workers were very helpful too! My friends and I booked this triple room en suite, and it only costed us IDR 900K for two nights (IDR 300k per person). The room and the bathroom were clean, and since the guest house was located in a residential area, it’s so quiet at night. I even heard birds chirping in the morning. For that price, they also serve breakfast, like cereal and toast. All I can say is this place is highly recommended for you looking for a cheap yet comfy place to stay in Bangkok.

( Three days in Bangkok! )

All in all, this third time trip to Bangkok was fun :) it has made some new memories and it has made me love Bangkok even more. However, for my next trip, I would choose other cities, perhaps Hongkong or Seoul. So now, let’s work harder and save harder! Fighting, Ayu! :D

I’m going to Bangkok again this Thursday, this time with highschool friends. A trip always gets me excited but this time I’m somehow torn between (70%) happy and (30%) sad. I’m happy because I always love to visit Bangkok. It’s the city I’ll never get tired with so I don’t mind visiting it again for the third time. Howwwwever, it’s kinda hard to leave Jakarta because Super Junior will come to the city while I’m away! Argh! I thought seeing them live in Vietnam wouldn’t make me this sad to miss their performance in Jakarta. But I gotta admit it, I still want to see them live again T_T. They are always attractive and silly on stage, so this time I wanna see how they’re gonna be on Jakarta’s stage, like what Indonesian words they’re going to shout out here. I know that the Bangkok trip will be fun, but but but knowing that I won’t be here when the boys are here saddens me a bit :(

Oh well, or course it’s possible to abandon the trip and stay in Jakarta to catch Super Junior’s performance. I guess I’m just gonna enjoy every second of my vacay and hope that the boys will enjoy my city as well :)

See you in my next post then!

The Drums’ gig last nite is probably the most intimate gig I’ve ever attended to! And it was super awesome! (Yes, there’ll be lost of exclamation marks in this post!) The gig was held in a, what do you call it, a club? The promotor said that only 1500 tickets were on sale, but I think not all of them were sold out. Not a big deal though since that fact made the gig more intimate and friendly :) The stage was small, and it was located in a weird position, in my opinion. When I entered the club, I had to take the left turn and the stage was located in the corner. It’s kinda hard to explain it, but yes, it was a bit unusual to put a stage in that location.

However, I got this perfect position in the second row, in front of the singer Jonny Pearce :D I couldn’t believe he was so close I could see his pores (hyperbole, of course)! He was so attractive on stage and couldn’t stop dancing to the beat. Only looking at him made me tired, really. We in the front rows were also lucky since Jonny kept giving his hands to us. I lost count how many times I held his hand hahaha! The Drums performed really well, inspite of the fact that the sound was a bit muffled. I couldn’t really hear Jonny’s voice. But he was really good on stage so I didn’t take the problem seriously! They didn’t perform Make You Mine, one of my favs, but I Felt Stupid, Skipping Town and Me and The Moon have successfully made me dance and smile all night long :)

So this is what’s so good about indie band’s gig. They can get so close to the crowd, the atmosphere becomes so intimate and warm, and the band and the audience are all happy :D Thank you for the great night, The Drums. Come back soon! <3

( some pictures from the gig )

Because in the midst of piles of papers to check and courses outline to make, I wanna make my days colourful by sharing random things that I like.

( check the list here, it's fun, maybe )

It still feels surreal that I’ve watched Super Junior live. I mean, I just got into them in February this year, but then I got to see them live in May. It was unexpectedly so sudden and how I’ve been really thankful for this opportunity.

But just let’s talk about the trip to Ho Chi Minh first. The city was actually beautiful and progressive, which is beyond my expectation (I think I watched Tour of Duty too much when I was a kid ...). You can see high buildings and even shops selling brands such as Louis Vitton and Chanel. So I guess it’s pretty ridiculous if people still relate Vietnam with the war condition. Anyway, what I like about the city is that there are many parks where we can just sit enjoying the scenery and hearing the sound of the city. Oh, what I mean by the sound of the city is mostly the roar of motorbikes. Yes, motorbikes were everywhere and just like in Jakarta (even worse, I think), they’re driving like hell! I went to visit some landmarks like Ho Chi Minh’s statue, National People Committee’s building and Reunification Palace. And in Reunification Palace, I witnessed some pics that will never be shown outside Vietnam, I think, due to its violent content. All in all, Ho Chi Minh is a beautiful place although there’s something about it that I can never get connected with. Every city has its soul, right, and I don’t think mine is connected with Ho Chi Minh’s soul somehow. I still prefer Bangkok.














Now move on to the reason why I went to HCMC: Super Show 3, yay! Watching the boys live for 3 hours was a great experience because they were really lively and entertaining on stage. Yet I’m gonna be honest that there were some things disappointing. First, the stage was too far from the tribune seating. In other cities, no matter where you are, sitting or standing, it’s just damn close to the stage. Second, most of the fans coming were the supporters of SuJu 13 and they didn’t really appreciate the two extra members from Super Junior M, Henry and Zhoumi. When Zhoumi sang solo, some of the fans turned off their light stick to show their hatred. What the? It’s super silly! Poor Zhoumi, he has given his best but it wasn’t appreciated by these childish fans :( Well, in spite of those two things, the show was a blast! It was raining but the members of Super Junior were all out and seemed not to care that they would be soaking wet. They still danced and sang well (and some fan-service, ahem). They still tried their best to give happiness to their fans :) Yup, that’s the word that I always associate Super Junior with: happiness.




My favourite member is actually Sungmin, but that night, Leeteuk, Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun were the members who stole my attention the most. Leeteuk was really hyper on stage (well, he always is ...) and always gave efforts to communicate with the audience. Sadly, after the show, he had to be taken to the hospital since he’s too exhausted. Hope you feel better now, leader! Meanwhile, Eunhyuk, the dancing machine, performed really well. You will never get tired seeing him dancing! He even sang an English song quite well x) Then our evil prince, Kyuhyun! This boy is blessed with an amazing voice, and hearing him singing live just gave me goosebumps. Without meaning to underestimate other members, Super Junior is very lucky to have Kyu in the group! And despite the angelic face he has, he’s very funny on stage, making jokes and doing silly gestures! Too bad I couldn’t take the pics when they’re performing. One reason is because the stage was too far, and also because I wanted to focus on the boys teehee.

Overall, the trip was a success, I might say. Now I’m saving my money for Super Show 4, which I hope will be a much much more amazing experience. Thank you for the happiness you guys have given me, Super Junior!

Ps: more pics from the trip can be seen in my Facebook account :)

Yesterday I had lunch with mom. Well, it’s common to have lunch with her, but this one was kinda special because we talked openly about a certain topic: about her future sons-in-law. The topic came up kinda unexpectedly, actually. Maybe she was thinking about that since my sis just had her 30th birthday and my mom was worrying why my sis never told any story about her boyfriend or any of her crush-on. Then mom asked me what kind of husband I wanna have. Seriously, it’s hard to answer that! Why, because I think I still have a random taste. I can adore some mature and classy guys; on the other hand, boyish and cute guys can attract me too. Really, I might look picky but actually any type of man can steal my heart! I asked my mom back, ‘Is it okay if I marry someone from another race or with different nationality?’. She answered she doesn’t have any problem with that, as long as he holds the same religion with me. This is quite challenging. I think I have come to this thinking that it’s okay if my husband has a different belief. He can stick to his while I stick to mine. But parents have different opinions, and somehow I still respect that. Well, I hope who’s best for me will be the best for my parents too :)

Still about Korean music, you know what, I’ve been listening to this Korean hip-hop album! A kind of music I never thought I would listen to! I guess after all good music knows no boundaries, right? So here it goes, I introduce you to my current favourite track that never fails to cheer me up in the morning. The music video has been banned for its ‘naughty’ content (I dunno why a cute song like this can have a naughty video ...), but fear not, this live performance is still very enjoyable! Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you G Dragon and TOP with Don’t Go Home!

In the lecturer room, everyone was busy eating or checking the assignments. A lecturer was feeling bored, so she tried to break the ice.

A: Hey, Dik, what is the meaning behind your name?
D: Huh? Oh, it simply means 'child'.
A: I thought it means 'first'
D: No, it's 'Pratiwi' that means 'first'.
A: Just like 'Pratama', yes?
D: Actually, if I was born as a boy, my dad would name me 'Andika Pratama'
A: *laughs* just like the name of that actor!
D: Hahahah, true!
A: And how about you, Sher? What does your name mean?
S: *coldly* I don't know.
** silence **
D: How about your own name?
A: *excited* I was waiting for that question, actually! Well, I have two versions about it.
D: First?
A: Well, the name was taken from Prajna Paramita. A goddess of wisdom. *pretending to look at the ceiling* *trying to look wise*
S&D: *laughs* you're making it up!
A: No, seriously, it's true! Another version says that 'Paramita' is one of the highest virtues of human beings.
S&D: *laughs hysterically*
L: (who has been silent) You know what? Our names are prayers from our parents, but sometimes the pray is granted, sometimes it is not.
S&D: *getting more hysterical*
A: *finding a corner to cry* *wishes she didn't start the convo*

Oh God, finally I can take a deep breath! The students are going to have their midterm exam next week, so it means that I’ll have two weeks for myself. And I already have a plan for that. A HUGE PLAN, to be exact. You guys know how I’ve been really in love with this Korean boyband named Super Junior right? Especially you who follow my Twitter account, bet you’re fed up with my SuJu-related chirpings x) Anyway, they’re coming to Jakarta in June for this Korean music festival. Sadly, I’ll be out of town at that time. However, fear not! Since I’ll be flying to see them in Vietnam this May! Let’s say YAY together and dance down the street, shall we? I’m really excited for this since 1) Super Junior’s Super Show is always entertaining, from what I’ve seen on DVDs. 3 hours for them only! 2) I’ve never been to Vietnam, so this will also be my first encounter with the country 3) This will be my first experience seeing a gig abroad. Hell yeah, I’m psyched, I can say!

Besides waiting for this special occasion, I also enjoy writing letters to a friend. Yes, postal letters, not e-mails. We’re doing this since she once wrote in her blog how she missed getting postcards and letters. Because I’m also into this classic kind of thing, I told her I’m gonna send her a letter. This is really self-theurapetic for me. I can share many things to her, and the most exciting thing is the happy feeling when I receive the letter and tear the envelope then read it :) I hope we can do it regularly!

Naooo, lemme share one of my fav songs from Super Junior. A video of them getting classy and all. Enjoy!