Adele - 21

Single "Set Fire to the Rain" sudah cukup untuk membuat saya mendengarkan keseluruhan album dari penyanyi berbakat asal Inggris ini. Ya, di sebuah review yang saya baca dikatakan bahwa musikalitas Adele semakin dewasa, I agree on that.

Musiknya lebih playful, unik serta liriknya lebih mendalam. Di album kali ini Adele menekankan banyak dentingan piano dan dentuman kecil drum yang membuat musiknya jadi kedengeran easy listening sekaligus classy. Dan tiap kali saya dengerin album ini pasti bawaannya calm, happy and mellow at once.

Buat yang nggak biasa, mungkin musik Adele cenderung aneh dan agak lucu. Tapi bagi yang udah familier sama British Pop pasti udah nggak heran lagi sama gaya bermusik solois wanita bertubuh tambun ini.

Alright, my fave tracks in this album are Turning Tables, He Won't Go, I'll be waiting dan pastinya Set Fire to the Rain.


Oh, ada juga cover version lagu Lovesong yang dulunya dinyanyiin sama The Cure. Versi Adele lebih soul, unik deh pokoknya :D

A Very Yuppy Wedding

Author: Ika Natassa 
Published by Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Andrea Siregar, seorang wanita karir yang dihadapkan pada dua pilihan yang sama pentingnya, antara jenjang pekerjaannya dan belahan hatinya.

Di satu sisi, Adjie, sang kekasih juga berada di posisi yang sama persis. Mengingat peraturan di bank, bahwa sesama karyawan tidak diijinkan untuk menjalin hubungan asmara, maka segalanya menjadi semakin rumit.

Keadaan semakin runyam ketika kepercayaan menjadi issue yang pelik di antara mereka berdua, padahal Andrea dan Adjie bekerja di kantor yang sama. Keadaan ini terus meruncing hingga pada akhirnya pecah tepat sehari sebelum akad nikah keduanya.

Apakah Andrea akan tetap memutuskan untuk menghabiskan hidup bersama Adjie, pria yang sudah kehilangan kepercayaan padanya? Apakah cinta bisa meluruhkan semua ego dan amarah keduanya?




Saya nggak nyangka kalau novel yang awalnya saya pikir biasa-biasa aja ini memuat kisah yang benar-benar dewasa. Ceritanya menarik banget, detail, kompleks tapi sekaligus juga sederhana. Ika Natassa menjadikan suasana bank sebagai latar belakang ceritanya, baik pada setting lokasi maupun background karakternya. Saya yang nggak tau sama sekali mengenai dunia perbankan jadi sedikit acknowledged setelah baca novel ini.

Poin intinya mungkin hanya kisah Andrea dan Adjie yang berjuang mempertahankan kepercayaan satu sama lain, tapi kemudian seolah keadaan tidak berpihak pada mereka berdua, kondisi kantor (termasuk atasan dan rekan kerja) sampai keluarga besar menjadi batu-batu sandungan yang menguji kesetiaan pasangan itu.

Menarik, saya pikir. Apalagi Ika Natassa juga memuat unsur budaya Jawa di dalamnya, saya yang berdarah Jawa tulen aja nggak ngerti-ngerti amat. Again, saya jadi enlightened setelah baca buku semi ensiklopedia yang berkedok novel romance ini ;]

Anyway, the story in this book reminds me of my self, and him. There're some parts, alright maybe most of them, of Andrea that looks like mine. The ego, the vision, the habit, the way of thinking, say, almost everything. I'm not gonna explain it here, but so just you know, that this book is very recommended. It's not cheesy (as I thought before, blame me for it) and very classy. And you may then realized something like I do, that missing someone you care the most is really painful.


Enjoy reading :]

Mike Tompkins

I was actually looking for Takoyaki recipe on Youtube until this video came out at the sidebar.

It looks like a cool video first I saw it, it was the Teenage Dream-Just the way you are video of Mike Tompkins. Oh anyway, he's a beatbox man who plays Top 40 songs (even Miley Cyrus song!), which I think that's the cool thing about him. Beatbox men always play hiphop or rap songs as far as I know, so I guess this guy is different and he's pretty cool.




Moreover, you can see how funny his face is when he makes all that sounds (the cymbal part is the funniest, I tell you). Yes, you can watch how he makes the sound. All of them. And plus, he put them all in one good layout so it looks awesome. The other funny video of him is Party in the USA, yes, the one and only singer of this song: Ms. Miley Cyrus. His expression when he sang "So I put my hands up...", he literally put his hands up in a nerdy way which is very hilarious :D

I think he's basically a funny guy, he made all of his video in a fun fashion and I think that's entertaining. He's not only beatbox-ing, he entertains the viewer of his video. With the layouts, the songs and his expression (I know he did it unpurpose though).

Anyhoo, when I listened to the Misery video, it reminds me of Glee. You know, there's this episode where Blaine sang Misery by Maroon 5 with The Wabblers. They sang it accapella, I know it difference with beatbox-ing (or maybe not?). But it just hit me, somehow I found the similarity, maybe they didn't make the whole sounds instantly? Yeah, I guess so.

Well, it's too bad Mike didn't make many videos of him beatbox-ing another popular songs. Because I think he's really good doing that and I'd like to see him more doing his beatbox-ing.

You can check his videos on Youtube, simply type Mike Tompkins on the search bar and you'll find him. I mean, his videos :]

Karaoke and the tummy

Yesterday was a blast. I think I'd consider it as one of my fave day :D

Siang itu, usai rapat bareng kelompok MSDM (Manajemen Sumber Daya Manusia), saya pergi bareng sama anak-anak BLM. AKHIRNYA! Setelah sekian lama, dengan formasi nyaris lengkap kurang 2 orang doang (Phebe lagi sakit mata dan Putu lagi di Bali-Nyepi's holiday). Jarang-jarang kita bisa ngumpul semua dengan jumlah yang banyak begitu, biasanya paling mentok cuma 5 orang doang itu udah bagus banget. So, it was a total cool for us to get around together like that :]

Agenda hari itu kita mau karaoke, kali ini di NAV Manyar Kertoarjo. Seru banget acaranya karena kita udah lama nggak gila-gilaan bareng, seneng-seneng bareng kayak kemarin itu jadi mengingatkan kalau dulu kita sering jalan bareng kayak gini. Duh kok jadi mellow :'[

Ok, playlist yang dimainin bervariasi banget. Mulai Keong Racun, Tersanjung sampai OST Meteor Garden, OST Glee dan Lady Gaga. Dari Barat ke Timur semua dimainin. Karaoke kali ini saya jadi bisa berpartisipasi, secara biasanya yang dinyanyiin lagu Indonesia semua yang obviously I have no idea what the song is -_____-"


Well, I was having fun with the girls and we'd like to do it again sometime in the future. Right, sistas? :D





-- -- -- -- --

Actually I'm not a kinda person who remember and celebrate the anniversary thing. But, my boyfie did so what else can I do?

Malamnya, ya setelah karaoke itu pacar ngajakin date. Well, I guess this time we're gonna make it an official date. Secara biasanya kita date suka jalan nggak jelas dan tiba-tiba nyangkut di Gramedia hahaa.

Date kali ini kita ke Bentoya. Sebenarnya saya ngidam Okonomiyaki gara-gara liat videonya di Youtube, pas nanya anak-anak katanya ada di Bentoya. Saya bilang ke pacar dan dia ngajakin ke Bentoya yang di PTC, waktu saya protes tempatnya kejauhan dia bilang, "Ya nggak apa-apa, kan kita belum pernah ke sana berdua." Oh man.

Akhirnya, terbanglah kita ke Bentoya buat berburu Okonomiyaki sekalian ngerayain 10 bulan kita jadian. Selain pesen makanan idaman saya, kita juga pesen menu Don yang ternyata porsinya lumayan gede.

Saya pesan Oyako Don dan si pacar pesan Chicken Katsu Don. waktu saya nyobain punya pacar, rasanya nggak jauh beda sama punya saya. Kata si pacar, rasanya kayak nasi dikasih kecap pake telur -_____-" Kalau di lidah saya sih, kayak kuah semur cuma agak gurih dikit. And I got my self a Maccha-ice and my boyfie a tea float for the drink. Rasanya Maccha-ice enak, saya suka banget teh hijau dan rasanya hampir menyerupai itu cuma lebih manis sedikit. Overall, it was all good! :D

Chicken Katsu Don

Oyako Don dan Maccha-ice (the green drink back there)

Pesan Okonomiyaki yang size Medium, tulisannya di buku menu sih buat 2 orang. Menurut saya sih bisa buat 4 orang saking banyaknya. Okonomiyaki ala Bentoya yang saya pesan yang pake daging seafood di dalamnya. Tapi jangan seneng dulu, seafood yang saya rasain sampai makanan habis cuma cumi-cumi doang, kirain bakal ada tuna atau udang kek dikit-dikit. Mana bawang bombay-nya banyak banget pula, jadi rasanya agak berlebihan crunchy-nya gara-gara si bawang. Trus waktu pertama kali datang, si Okonomiyaki ini berbau mirip Takoyaki. Ternyata penyebabnya adalah taburan di bagian atasnya yang juga didapati di Takoyaki.

Okonomiyaki Seafood

Kesimpulannya, Okonomiyaki yang saya cobain kemarin itu nggak jauh beda kayak omelet yang kebanyakan bawang bombay. Padahal di Youtube ada yang pake saus siram segala, oh kenyataan... Oh FYI, sebenarnya ada filling khusus ebi/udang buat Okonomiyaki, tapi kalau memang niat mau ngasi menu seafood mestinya isinya ya beragam menu dari laut dong. Emang laut isinya cumi doang?! Kalau kenyataannya seperti yang saya makan kemarin, mestinya judulnya ya Okonomiyaki dengan filling cumi-cumi. Saya merasa tertipu.

Gileee hari itu bener-bener hari terkenyang sedunia, perut si pacar aja udah kayak ibu-ibu hamil 5 bulan saking gedenya :D

Dan di akhir hari, I got him a surprise. Something that he really wants to have. Waktu saya ngasih kadonya, ternyata dia ada rencana mau ngasi kado yang sama ke saya tapi ternyata udah keduluan saya (thank God!). The best part is he cried when seeing the surprise. Yes, I make a boy cry! Yayyy!!! Ok, stop it.








Anyway, hari itu adalah hari yang menyenangkan buat saya, dan mungkin juga buat anak-anak BLM dan si pacar. We were having fun and that's it, there's nothing compare to that moment :]

Mourning

It's all started with a text reply from my Mom, told me that Mao has gone.

When first I heard the news, I was kinda hard to believe it. There's no way my cat has gone. No freaking way!

But then, when I hit my house and find there's no little creature cheering at me anymore. I realized that he's really gone.

I tried to let it go, I don't wanna be too mellow about it but it seems so hard to do it. Mao means so much for me, he's the one who stays when everyone's leaving. He is my baby.

I don't know what is actually happen. It's just hit me, my lovely cat has gone and I feel like losing. In a deep way. We raised him since he was 3 months old, taught him how to act and everything and now he's gone? Just like that? It's sort of unbelievable. Well, at least for me.

Okay, maybe he's not gone for not having a chance for coming back, he's still alive... Alright, I'll break it down here, he's stolen. Somebody stole him from me when nobody's around. Well, he seems like a free cat when he's outside my house but he'll be back home when he thinks it's time to go home. He has a home, my home IS his home.

I've asked my mom about witnessing the kidnapper or stuff like that, and she told me that her friend, who got a gift to see lost things, said that Mao was stolen by a person who like him. More than I do? I doubt it.

Some people said to me that stolen cat has a chance to comeback to us once they got an opportunity to runaway. And it's been 2 weeks, and my brother said a reasonable assumption, "Maybe he's been pet in a cage.". Yes, that's why it took him a hard time to runaway. He CAN'T runaway, he can't outta steel bars. No animal can do that. And it assures me that the person doesn't know anything about pet a cat. Cats love walking around, they love doing everything everywhere around their territory. Cat is a free animal. If they're in a cage, it kills them.

Oh for once, I really wanna yelling at the person who stole him, "THAT IS MY CAT! MY FUCKING CAT, GET IT BACK TO ME!" But then, I just can sit alone, thinking about what Mao might be doing right now, and hope he's fine. I miss him. A lot. And thinking about our moments together, sometimes it's hard for me to handle the feelings. I just can't let him go, you know. I just can't.

And thinking about replacing him is just... sort of heartbreaking in a way. There's a little mourn feeling when we talk about Mao, it's like we're just losing our family member. Yeah, even though my mom and dad didn't play around with him as much as I and my lil bro did but they love him. They care about him.

I love my cat a lot, I love Mao and nobody can love him more than I do. Nobody can stand with him meow-ing all the time to every people he meets. Nobody can handle him gently as I do. NOBODY but me.

I just can't let him go, I won't. The only way he can go is taken by God. That's the only one way he's possible to leave me and I'd be fine about it.

So, yeah, I'm mourning right now and I pray to God to give me an answer for this lost. What will I get from this? What will I learn? If with this mourning and freaking sad feeling will get Mao back to me, I'll do what it takes. I'll do whatever it is.