It was a quiet Christmas day as I tend to go alone and explore how the city became pretty nice during the Christmas scene. And yes, we’re at the edge of 2016. Another year, another experience. And personally, I guess I would take 2016 as a year to learn about anything, about everything.

I learned how to communicate. There’s never in my life I would think to take public speaking in a whole new level, because I know that my capability is far from there, and I am not going to be comfortable doing that. But this year, I wanted to break my fear in public speaking. And surprisingly, it works. It was a huge barrier here inside me to be able to talk in front of numbers of peoples. At the first time, I went to the toilet couple of times. I had panic attack. But I realise that I am the only one who can control those explosions I have inside. So yeah, let the rest be a history.

I learned how to deal with peoples from past. Yup, I used to know this person around 5 years ago. But as this going to be a bit personal, let’s call this person as “Neptune”. Neptune is basically a mutual friend between me & my long time memory. Neptune came to my life in the right time at the right place.

And I realised that I have an unfinished business with my stolen past. So in short, Neptune is the key to my stolen past. Because my memory locked the door forever. So I couldn’t open the door. Even until Neptune came to my life and I know that Neptune is the key to the locked door, things are not changed. I realise that even a right key cannot open a broken door. So yeah, just let it be an unfinished business.

I learned how to set the goal as high as it could ever be. Because I started to be able to see that a goal is actually an honest pray in disguise. It’s actually a self reminder for myself as well. If you have one exact goal, aim high. There will always a way. No matter how fast or how slow. Because if you ain’t aim high enough, you may gain the same proportion as what you wish. So you better make it high, reach high. The wind is going to be hard but it’ll worth the pain, I believe.

I learned how to accept myself. At the very basic, I am back to what I wanted myself to be like. So that is why I decided to go back to my bald head. And yes, some people like, some people don’t. But I’m okay. Being comfortable with myself is the first thing that is important for me at the moment because I spent most of my life being judged at my body image, my hair, everything. I know the judgements won’t stop, but I just wanted to tell myself to stop listen at the negativities.

I learned how to not panic in a hard situation. Mom had mild stroke 2 weeks before her birthday earlier this year. Dad was on duty overseas. It was 2 AM midnight and it was me & my Mom, just two of us. She screamed loudly in an inarticulated voice and that time I realised I'm in trouble.

I asked help at social media in order to calm myself that I'm not alone, and in hoping that someone would help. And I realised it was one difficult situation, knowing that I am struggling dealing with anxiety. It was really hard.

Today, Mom gets better and she made me a bowl of spinach corn soup. She just told me that it is quite long time she hasn't do a bowl of dinner for me. I directly felt bad for myself because it's like she's the only woman who give her support in what I'm doing.

But I often forget her because I'm chasing thing that I knew that I might not going to get it. She's second to none for being the only woman I can put my trust with. There's a time she told me to follow my heart. But lesson learned, Mom. You were right.

I hope 2017 will do something good for me-- for us.

Guess what's back? The intriguing Bi-annual Jakarta Contemporary Ceramic Biennale (JCCB), and they're doing their fourth edition! I discovered this exhibition right around 2 years a go when a friend of mine, a ceramic artist Zia Fauziana had been selected to showcase her works on the past JCCB and I directly fell in love to discover and to learn fine arts in another interesting forms. Here are selections from the 4th edition of JCCB, entitled "Ways of Clay: Perspectives Toward the Future".

Ryota Shioya

Arya Pandjalu

Muhammad Rizal Salleh

Panca DZ (in collaboration with Kandura Studio)

Antonella Cimatti

--

Curated by Nurdian Ichsan & Rizki A. Zaelani, this exhibition is open for public starts this December to next year's mid-end January. As a friendly reminder from the staffs informed me earlier, flash photography & selfie sticks are prohibited here. And yes, she's being serious about that.

Aside from emerging local talents like Agugn Prabowo and Arya Pandjalu, there are numerous talents from Eastern Asia like Takashi Hinoda and Ryota Shioya, shining with their interesting shapes & colors.

As the exhibition is still running on and if you're seeking for place to go, feel light to drop a visit to Galeri Nasional Indonesia. It's pretty refreshing for your eyes & brain from your weekday routines, eh?

As I know, I lost count in how many beautiful beaches in Bali. I actually had no idea where to go at first, but I take a look at Instagram and scrolling around. Then I kinda found this beach named Bingin and it’s quite captivating from the photo. I ended up looking for my Google Maps and yeah, only around 45 minutes from Gunung Sanghyang, area where I stayed at.

I always rely myself on Google Maps when it comes to destinations that I think it’s quite difficult to find out. And surprisingly, Bingin is the one that is pretty difficult to find. Because of why, the cellphone signal is getting bad because in order to go here, you have to pass some kind like an endless road. And yes, signal went off when me & my friend entered Universitas Udayana area. But luckily, my friend had his internet modem so we could catch up.

In order to reach the beach line, we have to go to a very narrow line that is fits for 1 person. And still, you have to climb down hundreds of stairs before you can touch the clear sands and sea waters. But things are getting good when we arrived at the bottom of the stairs. All clear shores, clear skies, and not to mention that me & my friend were the only locals there. Yes, there were all natives looking for sunshine.

The beach itself fits pretty well for those who strives for good sun, good wind and good coconuts. Local cafés are hanging at the edge of the cliffs, and you’re able to order that right away. A little hint if you are looking for something calming; once you touch down the beach area, make your way far away to the right. There are no peoples, only cliffs and wet sands. Feels pretty good if you’re in the mood to meditate under the day light.

As I always tried to stay consistent to keep my blog with numerous contents, I think it’s going to be interesting if I am talking stuff about what I’m into recently.

So basically, I just found my long lost watercolour set. And yes I felt the excitement because I would like to spare some “me time” to practice my drawing skill, and to have some alternatives beside my day job as well.

I kinda do have some weird fetish in floral watercolour, and there are lots of references on Pinterest. Because for me personally, botanical drawing is something that is timeless, explorable and pretty versatile. So yeah, I spent my weekend to re-practice my floral watercolour skill.

It was pretty difficult at first because watercolour drawing treatment is pretty much different than the other coloring media because you have to put the lightest colour first before you put another colour into it. But I always do enjoy the process, and it makes me happy as well!

First of all, I never thought that I’d put a reality TV related blog post into my page. But for this time, I think I have to. I have been watching The Amazing Race since I was only 10 years old. Yes, I am The Amazing Race aficionado. I grew up watching the show. And in short, I think I kinda understand the race elements.

The idea of this blog post comes from the infamous Leg 9 episode of The Amazing Race Asia taken at Banyuwangi, Indonesia. And yes, an episode where they kick out people’s favourite team to be, best friends Treasuri & Louisa from Indonesia. It was such an intense episode, and there are lots of reactions coming on the social media; as I’ve seen (and involved) pretty much on the Facebook fan page, and also in each racers’ personal social media account.

It’s all started when the episode featured both Yield and U-Turn in one leg, which means for me personally, it feels pretty peculiar to watch if there’s a team who got both Yielded & U-Turned, it’s an obvious statement that they’ll leave. But there are lots of things are missing. It’s like this episode is designed to kick both Treasuri & Louisa out from the competition (quoting season 4 3rd placer Hussein Sutadisastra on Facebook), as we already know that they are the front runner by winning 4 legs and being consistent in Top 5 placement since the first leg in Bogor.

Now how I, and numbers of fans out there are questioning the episode is, how the earth they featured a U-Turn before they even done any detour? It’s not like that. From The Amazing Race Wikia, it’s clearly written that “The U-Turn is located immediately AFTER a detour”. Now take a look on the episode, the U-Turn comes even before the team open their clue. Somebody please explain us, ah?

Treasuri & Louisa did the Kebo Keboan Detour first, head to head with Malaysian beauty queen Yvonne & Chloe and they finished before the beauty queens. But another thing happened as Treasuri & Louisa had to wait around 30 minutes until the Philippines team did their Detour (quoting Louisa’s statement on her Instagram page). System error, man. In early seasons of The Amazing Race US, teams are free to choose which detour they wish to perform. And yes, there’s a possibility of an unperformed Detour option, like that one episode of classic The Amazing Race US season 2 in Thailand, if I’m not mistaken. All teams are doing the exact same detour back at the time.

And yes, shouldn’t the team has the RIGHTS to choose the detour they want, eh? Nowadays, they put the first come first serve mode in Detour. So basically, if there’s a team who wants to perform Detour A, and there’s no place left, that team HAS to perform Detour B even if they don’t wish to perform that. Which again, numerous fans are disagree about the modified system. Why don’t you just put at least 4 stand by horses as there are 4 teams left there? It’s a clear disadvantage if Treasuri & Louisa had to wait for 30 minutes waiting for the Philippines team. And if there are more horses, I’m beyond sure they can catch up.

But here’s the thing. I am not promoting hate to the fellow Philippines teams, Eric & Rona and Parul & Maggie, because at the end yes it’s a game. And as a fan, I do appreciate Eric & Rona’s behaviour because they apologized in what they did towards Treasuri & Louisa; both at the telé and at the social media.

Yes, I personally want Indonesia to win The Amazing Race Asia. But frankly speaking, what we-- fans saw is that; this Banyuwangi leg seems designed to kick the strongest team out. I really wanted to know what is the reason behind those multiple Yield and U-Turn back to back in one single freakin' leg, and how the earth there’s a U-Turn before they done any Detour? How is it even possible? Once again, I am not spreading hate about the Philippines team. But I really do wish the Production Team would speak up about how awful the race design is.

Indonesia kalah terhormat, everybody. It took both Yield & U-Turn to really stop them.

Screenshot credits here.

I am that kind of guy who prefer to travel solo, and who prefer to travel with no plan. I left my soul in Central Bali during my birthday trip back in 2014. And yes from that solo trip, it makes me keep coming back to the island until now. So how was the beginning?

Reading time: 5 to 6 minutes

For this post, I’d like to let you know how I make my way to Ubud on my very first and I travel solo. And yes that was pretty memorable for me. I tend to believe myself that I’m pretty good at remembering direction, as I previously did during my trip in Tebing Keraton and Belitung. But one thing I have no idea is, it took me around almost 2 hours riding by my scooter bike from Kerobokan to Gianyar area and it’s almost 21 kms.

There’s a little doubt in me at first. But I keep my mind positive as driving for 2 hours it’s like my daily lunch in Jakarta because sometimes, you are only able to travel around 20 kms in 2 hours in Jakarta. So yeah, I Googled all informations. Where should I start, which way should I follow, and stuffs. Not to forget that I have my Google Maps to direct me. A quick direction is: Sunset Road - Bypass Sanur - Tohpati - some areas before Ubud - Ubud. Alright, I think I’m good.  Voila! I’m good to go.

I took myself from Sunset Road to Bypass in order to make my way to Ubud, though. I really thought it was pretty easy for me because Bali has less traffic than Jakarta. Until the woman in Google Maps talked to me.. “GPS signal lost.”. And I was like….. No. This is not happening. I stopped my bike and luckily there’s a gas station on Bypass and I asked the crew there for a simple direction, and I keep looking at my GPS. Well, basically I just have to go far away straight and after that at one intersection, I drive myself right and I will arrived at Tohpati. Easy, right?

I continue my journey with still lots of positivity within me, even with no GPS. Until there’s a fork on the road, and I can read from the signage there’s a huge Ubud sign if I swipe right at the fork. I was like okay, I learned some lessons from The Amazing Race: it’s good if you follow the signage. So I followed the signage. At that time, my GPS signal is totally off, it was EDGE signal. And in order to use my GPS, the signal at least has to be in 3G. And if you are asking me what kind of phone operator I’m using? It’s the one with yellow color that I’m not gonna mention the brand, running in my iPhone 5. You name it.

Alright. Turned out I didn’t find my way to Ubud, and I find a way to Jalan Ida Bagus Mantra. Which drives me to Bali Safari and Marine Park. And the condition was, there were all big vehicles, trucks, buses, and high speed motorbike. I had nobody to ask with. I had no hope with my GPS. But yet, I Googled high resolution of Bali map with my EDGE signal, and it helped me. And I started to think that, I turned right before my GPS asked me to turn right. And it is now a never-ending road at Ida Bagus Mantra when I turn right. Logically, I just need to turn myself to the north area, that means I have to turn left in order to make my way to Tohpati and those names of areas before Ubud, right?

No GPS, no peoples, I find a quite big road that drives me to the north. I will fully trust my instinct this time. But sometimes, being lost is a good thing. I passed into a traditional village with lots of Balinese Penjor and it was all rice paddy along the way. I find it beautiful as I don’t see this kind of view on my daily basis. So I tried to enjoy all the moments I had. I drove around 30 minutes, until I ended up in a bigger way and thank God there’s clear signage in where to go to Ubud!

It was around 10 minutes until I see another signage that’ll drive me to the Monkey Forest; Mandala Wisata Wenara Wana. it was one relieving feeling when I knew I’m down to the little village. It was a rough journey. No GPS, bad signal. But at the end, I feel pretty good in how I didn’t went panic with the situation. And I’m safely arrived.

So as I do graphic design for nearly 4 years since I graduated from university, I do have chances meeting various clients and brands to work at. Ranging from pro-bono to the good one. As the time flies, I indirectly learned their behaviours & characteristics. And at this post, I’d like to share you guys what I feel and what I keep deep inside about being a so-called graphic designer.

There’s a time I had to do an editorial design project. It was multiple pages and I had to set my layout set up for the design. But a client keep giving me the revised version of the copywriting. Yes, it look simple for you because you are the one who edit the copy. But me, who is working for the layout, even a single word can change the face of my layout. So it’d be good for both of us if I have the final version of the contents, so I can concentrate more in how I develop my layout design.

Revision is designer’s best friend, as we know. One time, there’s a client who asked me to do custom manual illustration for their materials. Then as usual, I gave them alternatives to pick at. They choose one. It was almost all good. The day after tomorrow, I had an email, and the client asked if can I edit some of the lines on the drawing because the tend to don’t really like that in the way. I was cringing a little. Editing a manual illustration is an equivalent version of re-do the illustration from a blank white paper, just so you know.

Also, please give us time to develop our product. This is a personal preference, though. But if a client keep seeing my laptop screen while I’m doing my design, it’s like they are blocking my ideas. Please give me space to develop first. And please just take a moment to wait. This one usually happens when your clients are rushing at the deadlines and there are things to fix. I’m like, alright I know you’re in a rush but please go sit down, give me a time limit and I’ll finish 15 minutes before the time limit you give me. That’d be better for both of us.

As I met lots of great clients, there are clients who are… less great to work with. But yes, I need the bucks so I’d rather to listen to meditation music on my Spotify playlist while doing their projects. So here I go, I do respect you as a client, not as my art director. I finished my Bachelor’s Degree studying Visual Communication. So more or less, I know what I’m doing with what colors I choose, with what style I apply, and stuff. And for me personally, I am not doing this to make your not-so-good idea becomes a better one- but a bitter one. And also, we tend to design to what your brand’s target market needs, not to design what you want. I am not going to put snowflakes to your A-class like hand bag brand. Or in short, please listen to us.