Throwback Music week

For the past 1 week, I had been having the craving of listening to old songs. Good pop tunes that, although were considered as lame and cheesy that time, are million miles away better than any music by justin bieber, austin mahone, and stupid lame current boy bands.
So, this week, i made a list of 10 90's to early 00's musics that i love:

1. M2M - Mirror Mirror (arguably the best single from them)
2. S Club 7 - Never Had a dream come true (one of the best pop tunes i had ever sang in karaoke)
3. Incognito - Still a friend of mine (pure classic)
4. Plus One - Last Flight Out (I don't know why they were not as big as their contemporaries)
5. Kavana - Will you wait for me? (my brother influenced me to listen to this song when i was a kid)
6. Britney Spears - Baby, One More Time (The beginning of my love affair with Ms. Spears)
7. Boyzone - Baby can I hold you tonight (I love their version as much as I love Tracy Chapman's)
8. Blue - If You Come back (Duncan James is Bi/Gay, at least i have half a chance to be with him =) )
9. Aqua - Barbie Girl (Who did not love this song?! I still listens to them once in a while)
10. N*SYNC - Drive Myself Crazy (One of their best songs ever!)

Close to the top 10:
1. Mariah Carey - Butterfly (Still loving it)
2. Jay Z - HOVA (IZZO) (one of the best Jay Z's song ever)
3. BSB - I want it that way (I want them my way!)
4. Michael Bolton - Said I love you, but i lied (A little touch of the Bolt and I am sold)
5. Christina Aguilera - I turn to you (very inspirational and a good karaoke song!)


there you go, amigos!!

The consequences of baking myself for 4 hours

Most of my friends know that I am a big fan of tennis and by big fan, i meant that i can play everyday for hours. However, sometimes my body could not keep up with the physical exercises that I did. So, yesterday, I got a text message from one of my good friend asked me if i wanted to join him for a round of "healthy walks" and after considering that I had not been an active person for at least 3 days, I said yes. 

At first, I thought by healthy walks, he meant that we are taking several rounds of walking in the track & field area in our campus, but boy, i was in for a surprise. He said we are going to walk the whole village! My jaw just dropped after he said that. But, it turned out to be just the thing that i need. We talked a lot about our countries, the economies (surprisingly) and our private lives. Regardless of the distance, i was happy to get myself re-connected with a good friend. 

After 2 hours of walking and 4 laps of walking in the track & field lap, i got a text message from a Russian friend of mine asking if i would like to play tennis at 2 pm. As a tennis addict, I instantly said yes and will meet him at 2. Unfortunately, when I arrived, he was not there and I end up playing for 2 hours with a chinese guy, who I drove crazy from one side of the court to another. 

Around 4 pm, my Croatian and Russian friends came and as usual, they would not let me go. Although, I would like to go to the soccer field to see my newest crush played his football match. 2 hours and 3 1.5 liters bottles of water later, I was done with my tennis. I am so tired, i could just drop dead on the court. Walked back to my room, I took a long cold shower and realized that all of my body parts, especially ankles and knees, hurts a lot. So, i had my dinner and took a pain killer that act as a sleeping pill as well. What do you know, I woke up at 12 pm today and I am still in pain.

Obsession: Crazy Rich Asians

During one of the hottest summer day in Jakarta, I decided to go to the nearest Starbucks for a retreat from the heat wave. With my cold Green tea Latte on the table, I begun to browse the internet to find the next hot thing to read. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am a nerd at heart! While i sipped on my heat wave remedy, I came across an article written in Vanity Fair's website about a novel by a Singaporean that apparently had been taking the lit world by storm elegantly. The book is called "Crazy Rich Asians."
My initial thought on the title, and the book, was maybe its a glamorous version of Amy Tan's novels. However, the more I read  the article, the more intrigued I am by the content and vowing to get my hands on a copy of the book. So, I spent the next hour running around between two shopping malls to find a copy of the novel to no success. Everywhere i went, they will either said "We never heard of it" or "I am sorry, we are sold out (which translates to What novel is that?)". Disappointed, I went home to prepare for my trip to the Negeri Jiran in the morning. After a week getaway to Kuala lumpur, I finally found a copy of the novel and bring that book back China with me. Whoop Whoop!
Reading this novel is a pure joy and I could not count the hours I spent laughing at what happened to the Youngs, the Tais, the Tsi'ens, The Shaws, The Chus, and more. Not only this novel give you non stop laughing materials, it also provides the readers glimpses of how the richest of the rich in Singapore lives and the politics within as well between Chinese families. The locations of the story stretched from NYC, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and, surprisingly, Shenzhen. It's a pure addiction to read this novel, even a friend of mine finished this book only in a day and i did it in 2 weeks.

For those who are interested, i have a copy of the book and would gladly lend it to those who wants it.

I might not be a Crazy Rich Asians, but i am thankful that i am not a Crazy, Rich Asians!

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

You Better Work Bitch!!

Some people might think that my love for Ms. Britney Spears is laughable, but I grew up with her music and she is the only person i will dance to when I am either sad, happy, or just having that tingles in my spines to bust some moves..so, i am very happy when she released a new MV..a HOT one!!

Enjoy and GET TO WORK BITCH!!

Part 3: Mr. Campbell

-       “Would you like a cup of Campbell’s?-

      “Beep, beep, beep” my small white Ikea’s clock chiming to say good morning to me and as I turned it off, I realized that I am no longer in my home. I am in china, living my life in another country that I never thought I would step my feet on. People said that everything is different in China and I must say that it is true. For the first time in my life, I lived in a dorm of a University and my bed is made of a wooden plank that is designed to torture my back. Dragging myself out of the bed, I went to have a nice dose of cold shower to get the sleepiness away from me. I decided to wear a light outfit today because its summer and taking more showers than normal is not really in my agenda.

      I moved to China about a week ago to attend the so-called “Harvard of Asia” and because I earned a scholarship to attend their master course.  I don’t have any expectations about anything, especially about boys. Ever since that tragedy with Jonathan, I have sworn myself for not being in love with boys or men, just used them like Samantha did every week for 6 years and don’t let them get to you. So far, that attitude is working so well for me. I might be an ice queen inside, but forgive me boys, once you fulfilled your duties; you are out of my bed and my life.

      In my agenda today, I am scheduled to take a crash course of Chinese language for a week, just some survival skills so I can speak the language when needed. As usual, I am late to the class and took the front seats just like any good Asian student will do and sitting sideways so I can always see the people in class. In the beginning of the year, I always like to be alone and figuring out people before befriending them. After two hours of grueling language course, I had decided to go back to my room as soon as possible because of the heat. However, when I was walking away from the class, I heard someone said “Hey” to me and I turned around, he was smiling at me and due to my Royal Javanese upbringing, I have to be polite and replied his smile. He introduced himself as Mr. Campbell from the US and he taught in one of the school in Peking University. He was polite, smart, and kind, a perfect gentleman to sum it up. Because he had to go to his office, I decided to ask him his phone number and email, so I can just contact him. To be honest, that little boy inside me indicates that I might be infatuated by him, but my brain stopped it and helped me to cool down.

       So, I went back to my dorm room and decided to spend my days listening to the new album by Zedd. While “Clarity” is playing over and over, I can’t help to think about Mr. Campbell. My mind is debating if I should just pick up my phone to call him or send him an email to meet up. In the end, I decided to turn off my Internet connection and just go take a nap. Awake refresh after a few hours of sleep, I found that he is not invading my mind anymore and I went to indulge myself by singing and watch some movies.

       For dinner, I went to meet with my Asian friends, non-local for sure, and we had dinner while discussing about all of the activities that the school planned for us. In general, we are excited, but it sounds to be a hassle because starting tomorrow we will have an intensive week of math sessions. As an Asian, I am so embarrassed to admit that I am not so well versed in the language of mathematics. I might be a math freak and genius up to Junior High School, but I found some other things that I am more interested in and decided to pursue it.

         After the small but fulfilling dinner, I went to my room to get started on reading on some books that I bought while I was in Hong Kong. I was on my first chapter of reading Paolo Cuelho’s “Eleven minutes” when the thought of him came into my mind. So, I grabbed my phone and went to peruse my phone contact list to get his number. In my brain, I know that I should not do it as soon as possible, just to wait for a while and do not be so hasty. After all, the year has just begun and I will have plenty of times to find men to be used and boys to be played.

        It was a few days after the language course that I finally met with him again. It was in a night session of the language course and the weather was not friendly, its rainy and I had to put my jacket in a supermodel mode, like a cape. He was there among the first people who came to the class, sitting next to his colleagues from the school where he taught. Until now, I still remembered the way he looked and later on I realized that he would always use the same style throughout the months I know him. I did not speak so much to him, but I am fighting the urge to go there and asked him out for dinner. But, somehow I managed to restrain myself from doing so and survived the whole class without giving him another times of my life.

       Everything changed when the night times come; I decided to send him an introductory email. It was a simple email saying my name and telling him my number, do you want to go out for dinner and basically putting myself out there. He did not reply me straight away, but an hour later he sent a reply saying, “Okay, meet me down in the café around 9 pm”. To say that I am excited is a major understatement of the century; I was hysterical about his reply. So, I found myself getting ready to meet him. Exactly at 9 pm, I came into the café and he was already there waiting for me in the furthest sofa in the café. I ordered some banana milk shake and he ordered a chocolate one. Our conversations were awkward at first, but once he said that he is gay, then everything became so much better in my opinion, or at least in my head.

       We ended our hour-long conversations and I offered if he wants to go back to my place. He said okay and we walked to my room talking about how small and annoying the dorm room is. As we arrived in my room, I offered him something to drink that he politely refused. Maybe it is because of my loneliness that had surrounded me for years, I decided to make some moves to him. First, I moved my sitting position to be closer to him and started to ask him some suggestive questions. However, it does not end the way I wanted to, he just deflected all of my moves and diplomatically answered my questions, then told me that he would like to go back to his place. At that point, I felt like my confidence just got shot down, but he did told me that he would like to still meet me for dinner and to go travel together. At first, I just brushed his offered as just him being nice to me; little did I know that later on he would turn my life upside down and inside out. Mr. Campbell, you don’t know what you did to me and I don’t know how to resist you…

The Audition

-       The Audition -

      You know, a lot of people notice how comfortable I am in my own skin and I am living a fabulous life, but actually people don’t know that I always lived with insecurities and over analyzing every thing. Case in point, the few months leading to the audition, I struck up a friendship with Jonathan and we grew closer as friends as he is getting more and more popular in our year. He also become a good friend of Devon and spent a lot of times rehearsing, since he is also auditioning for the musical. Due to our friendships, we spent lots of times together outside of the classrooms. It had been our regular schedules to speak on the phones at night and we always had lunch in the same big table with my friends.  Without I realize it, I might feel something for him, something that is outside the boundary of friendship. I think I am in love and judging from his behaviors, I might say he is too.

      At the rehearsals, I was one of the people who called first and I breezed my acting part and sang a song from “Bombshell: The Musical” called “Don’t forget me”.  As always, they clapped for my auditions and smiles for my performances. Then, its time for his audition and I would not say he is a good actor, but his voice was so mesmerizing. He sang a song from that pop band that I heard on the radio a few weeks ago and told him that I like it. I may not have all the technical part of singing down to the T, but I do know when someone is pouring his heart into a song.  It was just fantastic to hear him sing. The next day, the news came back and of course, I had the role that I want and also is Jonathan.

      Everything went so fast, where rehearsals for our roles were so intense and we were caught with studying lines, blockings, and do costumes fitting for our show. It was exhausting, but I was happy because we were getting closer and closer. It all changed on one Saturday morning where we were rehearsing, I was having an especially hard day in the office with new choreographies and new songs. It was the worst day of rehearsals for me and I just got kicked out of the stage to have a break before I am having a major melt down. There I was, sitting in the right wing of the stage among the properties, when he came sit next to me. At first, he just smiled at me and offered me a water to drink, but I could not take it anymore and just burst into tears because of stress. I was sobbing non-stop and had my hand covers my face, suddenly I feel two hands enveloping me and bring me to a hard chest. I could not stop crying and he was just there held me until my tears are dry. At that moment, I told myself that maybe he is in love with me and I kissed him.

       Well, sad to say that my love story with Jonathan ended up badly. After that kiss, he went mad and started to create a distance from me. Not long after the end of the shows, I started to hear rumors about my sexuality and the boys at school started to mock me for who I am, even my own brother made disgusting remarks about me. That year, I made a promise to myself to not fall in love or think about useless men. That year, I turned my heart into one big block of ice and earned the nickname “Ice Queen”.

Jonathan

-       A guy named Jonathan -

      Sometimes, I always wonder to myself if there is a fine line between normal friendships, mad crush and love in my vocabulary list. Being a hot blood guy, I always had the confusion every time a guy acted overtly nice to me. I could not help it to think in that little network inside my head about the possibility that maybe this guy is really into me, when he is actually just offered me his friendship. Take Jonathan Emmerich, for an example. He was a transfer student who joined my private school in the 10^th grade.

      It was the first day of coming back from the summer break and we were assembled in our chapel to welcome the new academic year. I was so excited because, finally, I got the chance to wear a high school uniform, which is a formal blue pant, white long sleeves shirt, and a red tie. Of course, I was also excited for the arrival of the new students. Also, I could not wait to say “Hello, b*tches!” to all of my friends who are waiting for me on the schools ladders. There they are, 5 of the most important people in my school life, Sophie, Owen, Margaret or Maggie, Devon, and Astrid. Its just like yesterday when I first met them on my first day in the new school and 3 years later, we are still the same people with more changes in our looks.

      Sophie had that glow on her skin from her summer holiday in Turks & Caicos, Maggie decided to dye her hair to signal the end of summer and has streaks of maroon in her hairs, while Owen just added more and more items to support his credential as our year’s most stylish guy. Meanwhile, Devon remained the same, which is already adorable in my opinion, and she started to tell me all about the latest gossips in the school after giving me a customary welcome back hugs. As for Astrid, she does not change much of her physical appearance, but she told me over the phone last night that she would come back from the school after a month in China for a language course. After exchanging news about my recent trip to Madrid, we went to the chapel for the customary welcome speech from the Dean of our school.

      “Excuse me, do you like a glass of warm fresh milk?” said a voice from behind me and I turn around; there he was with our school uniforms offering me a glass of milk from his thermos. My first reaction was giving him the oh-so famous death stare with a raised eyebrow to him and turned my head around without saying anything to him. After a lengthy speech from the head master about how excited the new academic year will, he announced that there will be an audition held soon for an up coming musical about the life of a Hollywood icon, called “Smash”. My ears perked up and I felt a surge of adrenaline in my blood stream, because he is just announced the three things that I love the most in the world, musical, drama, and stage! Then he dismissed us to go into our respected homerooms for the next one year.

       “You should go the audition, babe!” said Devon as we were queuing to go down the stairs. “I don’t know, D, you know I love acting and music runs deep in my blood, but I am not sure if I am ready to do it in front of the public” I replied, but she just stared at me because she knows how bad that I want to be involved in a musical. “We will see, once the audition starts, I will find you in the theater rehearsing for the musical” and we just laughed out loud because I know that it’s the truth. We spent the trip to room 110, our homeroom, laughing and catching up on all the latest gossips from her trips and the school. Devon, she is always the one who is in the IT circle and is always the first person who knows every thing that is happening in our school. Although Primrose High is the best private school in our city and those who went to the school are the crème of the top of the society, but the gossips that they have are as juicy as the Hollywood stories that I followed religiously. For instance, the story of Jessica Turnip’s, where I heard that her older sister caught Jessica Turnip’s dad with his “mistress” in his room, and the juiciest is that the Mistress is not even a Miss. Also about Richard Doyle who spent the summer romancing the most popular item in the society, Molly.

      As I entered the classroom, there he was sitting nicely in the corner of the room trying to struck up some conversations with his fellow new students. Quietly, I sashayed across the classroom to sit a few chairs next to him and continue talking with Devon. As Mrs. Cox made her introduction, I could not resist taking some glances to see him. Brownish hair, high cheekbones, full lips, and a tall physique are my first impressions of him. Then, as a way to break the ice, Mrs. Cox asked us to make introductions of ourselves and of course, I was the first one to do so, since my name started with “A”. Bravely, with a sprinkler of shy charisma, I told the whole class about whom I am and what I like to do. Honestly, I always follow the same pattern, what my name is, what are my hobbies, and my hope for this year. Usually, I found it to be boring, but somehow today is a bit more interesting because of the new students. “Jonathan Emmerich, I am new here and I like to sing, I hope that we can be friends, thanks.” His deep baritone voice pierced through my consciousness and I could not help to think how amazing it is. Then, he gave me a smile when he passed my chair and it gave me butterflies.