What If

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Day 11: Something I always think "what if..." about

This one is easy.

I always think what if I had a financial freedom? What if money was never a problem? What if I didn't have to work anymore?

Yeah that's the most beautiful 'what if' scenario.

I could visit any place I wanted, not just alone, but with my family and friends! I mean, I wouldn't make it like a tour. I could travel all the time. One month I traveled alone, the other month I traveled with my family, the next month I traveled with one group of friends, the next month I traveled with other group of friends, and so on.

I would be able to visit my relatives all around the world. The ones in Switzerland, the ones in The Netherlands, the ones in Belgium, the ones in Australia, and of course I could easily visit my family in Jogja, Semarang, and Bali anytime I wanted. Damn I miss them all.

I would be able to go to any school and learn anything I wanted. I would learn philosophy in a year, then learn astronomy the next year. I would learn about any kinda history I wanted. I might as well figure out the missing link!

I would definitely learn any language I wanted. I'd learn at least two languages a year, and not with aps, not with courses, but with the native speakers in their own countries. I'd learn languages while traveling.

I would be a linguist! I would learn about the history of languages. I would figure out historical facts from the evolution of languages!

I would make a forest! I would plant as many trees as the rest of the world cut every year. I would have the most unique, playful, eco-friendly house. I'd have my own recycling machine. I'd only use the most eco-friendly products, I'd even make ones if I had to. I'd use solar panel and any other eco-friendly technology for my house.

I would make the best animal shelter in the world. I would save any animals I found! Yeah there would be so much double standards there, because I would still hate some animals like cockroaches and cicak (Cosymbotus platyurus), the most disgusting creature in the world. I don't even hate reptile. I only hate cicak!

Anyway, yeah it sounds hypocritical that I wanted to only save selected animals. But I'd do whatever I wanted. That's the point.

I would write, I would paint, I would design, I would create things. I would learn to play any music instrument I wanted. Drum would definitely be the first. I would have a jam session with my brother, cousins, friends.

I would collect classic cars and motorcycles. I already have my list. I would collect bicycles and skateboards too.

I would play futsal, football (soccer), American football, basketball, hockey, ice hockey, baseball, maybe even cricket! I would play any game I wanted anytime I wanted!

I would have my own boxing ring, wall climbing tracks, and theme park.

I would learn any martial arts I wanted. I think, if I had financial freedom, I'd turn myself into Batman. Not like Batwoman or Batgirl. But female and cheerful version of Bruce Wayne, because he's rich, smart, multilingual, and master multiple martial arts. Yeah that's why he's my favourite superhero ever.

I might be a superhero, like Batman, but with values like Marvel's the Punisher. Rich version of the Punisher, but more brutal.

Oh seriously this article is not gonna end. But I have to end it because these are all just a 'what if'. Now I need to do some things to make them real. Adios amigos!

Something I Feel Strongly About

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Day 10: Write about something for which you feel strongly

Okay, to be honest, I'm not really sure what this question means. English is not my first language.

I just googled it and found out that it means 'to have a strong or definite opinion about something.

So, I have too many strong opinions about everything. I'm not the most open-minded person even though I try so hard to.

It's so hard for me to even choose what to talk about. I have too many things in my head.

This one is kinda sensitive but... Okay, I really think religions (maybe not all) make people lose their common sense.

Don't kill people, don't hurt people, don't harm people, don't rape, don't steal, do help people, give what you can give, control your emotions, and so on. They should be a common sense.

You don't wanna harm people because it's not nice to be harmed. Don't do to others what you don't want others do to you. That's as simple as that.
When people are in need, and we're able to help, we help. Because why not?

But in some religions I know, with the concept of heaven and hell, punishment and rewards, people seem to lose their common sense and their humanity.

Oh in this very holy month, if we give charity, we will have more rewards in heaven. If we help this kinda people, we'll have bigger rewards. If we kill, rape, rob people, steal from people, lie to people, we'll be punished in hell. If we believe in certain religion, we're more likely to go to heaven. If we don't believe in certain religion, we won't be able to go to heaven, no matter how good we are. If we kill certain people, we'll be rewarded with virgins.

No, I'm not talking about your religion. Why so sensitive?

I mean, religious people can do or not do anything just because of the rewards and punishments.

You know, here in Indonesia, people are so concerned and judgemental about things like LGBT, adultery, and alcoholism. I'm not talking whether it is right or wrong. But, seriously? Do you wanna know why they are so concerned about those things? No, not because they're bad things, or because they're worried about those people. No! They're very concerned about those things, because they're so afraid of being punished by God, if they let those things happen.

So, instead of making people better, I think religions make people think much more about themselves than about anyone else. Well, I actually believe that technically, everyone is doing everything for themselves.

But here's the way I see it. Let's say, there were these three little children, and there's this box of chocolates.
Their mother told the older brothers to make sure that their little brother didn't eat too much chocolates, because it's not good for his teeth or health, or because it can make him hyperactive.

When the mother left, both the older brothers tried so hard to keep the chocolate away from their little brother. One of the older brothers did it because he didn't want his little brother to be sick, or to be hyperactive, because their mother would be worried or stressed. He really worried about his little brother and his mother, because he cares.

The other brother only did it because he didn't wanna get in trouble. He didn't want his little brother to eat the chocolates because he didn't want his mother to punish him.

Why did the mother put that box of chocolates there in the first place, right? Well, there's another controversial question. The Mom just knows better. We don't question him... I mean her.

Anyway, both older brothers did try to stop their little brother to eat the chocolates for themselves. The first brother didn't want to see his little brother sick, because he loves him, and he would be sad if his brother got sick, so basically he just didn't want himself to be sad. Yes, I'm aware of this.

But at least he really cares about his little brother, you know what I mean?

Here's the difference it can make:
If some bad guy came and said, "Hey, you know what, your mom just told me that your little brother can have all the chocolates he wants. He may get sick, but your mom wouldn't punish you for that."

Why would the mom let the bad guy in and talk on behalf of her in the first place? Another controversial question you shouldn't ask.

Anyway, the brother who really cares would still stop the little brother from eating all the chocolates. But the one who was just afraid of being punished would just let the little brother eat the chocolates, because who cares if the little brother got sick? He's not being punished. It's all that matters.

These people, these religious people, they don't even think about how what they do can affect others. The hell with others. The hell with common sense. I'm going to heaven. It's all that matters. So yes, they can judge people all they want, they can do whatever they want to people, because they really need to save themselves from the punishment!

That's why, here in Indonesia, people can drag a couple out of the hotel room and punish them all they want, but no one is dragging corruptors from their fancy houses, because when people steal, God wouldn't punish people around them, unlike adultery.

I'm not saying all the religious people are heartless morons and all the atheist are saints. There are also some religious people that still have common sense and not reward-oriented. But seriously, all these rewards and punishments things seem to weaken humanity.

I'm religious myself. I'm rewards and punishments oriented (or more just punishments oriented actually), even though I don't wanna be like that. I'm actually talking about myself too. So please, no offense. I'm also offended by my opinion, so we're on the same side here.

Anyway, I really admire people who don't really care about all those shits, and just do good in their lives, just because. I know plenty of people like that. Most of them are atheist. But some of them are religious too.

Now I'm gonna quote something I twitted years ago:

"I know some people who forgive themselves for bad things they've done or they're still doing, just because they believe that God will forgive them anyway. I also know some people who don't believe in God but they happen to be the nicest, purest people around me. I do believe in God. I just don't believe that believing in God has any correlations at all with being a good person. When you're good, you're good. When you're bad, you're bad."

Speaking Words of Wisdom, Let it Be

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

30 Days Writing Challenge Day 9:
Post Some Words of Wisdom that Speak to You

I have some. They're anonymous but really speak to me.

"Today is the beginning of everything you want."

"In a society that profits from your self doubt, liking yourself is a rebellious act."

"Money isn't everything, but everything needs money."

"Loneliness is dangerous. It's addicting. Once you see how peaceful it is, you don't want to deal with people."

Make money, self improvement, me time, loved ones

Monday, January 15, 2018

30 Days Writing Challenge, Day 8: Share something you struggle with

Whoa! That's heavy!

Okay, I'm struggling with a lot of things. We are all struggling with a lot of things.

I wanna share my daily struggle of managing my time to spend. I struggle to set my priorities.

Every single day I need to make money, I need to reach my own goals, I need me time, and I also really need to spend time with my family.

Of course making money should be the first priority, since I'm not Bill Gates or his family member. Then I wanna reach my other goals, such as learning languages, writing books, or practicing my drawing skills. But I also need me time, or I'll lose my mind. I need some relaxing time to play games, read books, or just exploring social media.

I also want to spend time with family. I want to have all the time to spend with my sister and her fiancé, my brother and his wife, my mom, and especially my dad. I want to listen carefully to whatever he's got to say, I want to talk about football, about his beautiful childhood, about my childhood, about his dreams, even about politics.

I want to spend time with my cousins, my aunts, my uncles, and especially my nieces and nephews. I want to see them grow. I want to play with them in the theme parks or football fields. I want to talk with my cousins, uncles, and aunts about everything happens in our lives.

So the struggle is real.

If I don't make money, I'll have no money. If I had no money, I wouldn't be able to buy food, clothes, new books, birthday presents for my loved ones, I wouldn't be able to pay for the transportation I need to go anywhere.

If I didn't reach my personal goals, I wouldn't be happy, even if I was surrounded by the loved ones, something would be missing. I can't really explain my urge to reach all those goals, but they are very, very important to me.

I want to write books, because I have so many ideas in my head, and I really need to share them. I need to learn as many languages as possible, because everytime I met a non-english-speaking foreigner, or travel to non-english-speaking countries, I really have to speak their languages. When we were in Greece, my dad left his hat in the bus station, and the taxi driver who took us from the station to our hotel didn't speak English. I just needed to deliver a simple message: "My dad left his hat in the bus. Can we go back to the bus station?" But back then I didn't speak Greek!

And me time, if I don't have any time to myself, I'll go crazy! I need a break. Everyone needs a break.

And I'm a very introverted person. I'm so happy to be surrounded with my family, but I got tired too. At some point, I just wanna be quiet and let them all do the talk. People make me tired, even the loved ones.

And people! People are so hard to maintain.

I love too many people in my life. I love my family, I love my best friends, and I have plenty of them! I don't wanna lose my moment with any of them. I don't wanna miss any important moment in their life. But I have very limited time, money, and energy!

But you know what? I know some people out there who can juggle all of those needs pretty well. They even have wife, husband, and even children!

I really think the key is to eliminate the 'making money' part. Of all those things, making money is the only thing I don't enjoy at all, but at the same time the one I really have to do.

So, what I really need to do is building passive income as soon and as much as possible. I really need to find the fastest and most effective way to make money without having to work ever again.

When I have unlimited money, I'll have unlimited time and energy. So I'd have everything. I'd be able to learn any language I want, travel wherever I want, do whatever I want, spend all the time with my dad, my brother and sister and their wife and fiancé, and even my mom, and my aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces, friends, and I'd still have a lot of me time!

10 Songs I'm Loving Most Recently

Sunday, January 14, 2018

30 Days Challenge: Day 7

So, for today's challenge, I gotta list 10 songs that I'm loving right now.

This is not my all time top 10 favourite, but here are the songs I really, really, really love to listen and sing recently:

10 'Never Enough' - Loren Allred, from the motion picture 'The Greatest Showman'
Yep! It's not a big surprise that this list will be full of the original scores from the movie 'The Greatest Showman', because I just watched it two weeks ago, and I am still madly, deeply in love with that movie! I love everything about it, but especially the songs! I just can't stop listening to those beautiful songs! Once I stopped, I'd start singing them out loud.
And this song, 'Never Enough' by Loren Allred, is just so beautiful! I love the feel it gave me the first time I heard it, it really touched me! And I personally love Loren's voice. It is soft and feminine, but very strong at the same time. She's such an amazing talent! And her voice really matched Rebecca Ferguson's look and Jenny Lind's character.

9 'The Greatest Show' - Hugh Jackman, from the motion picture 'The Greatest Showman'
Another great song from this great movie! I always love to see Hugh Jackman sing, like in the musical movie 'Les Miserables'. I'm not a big fan of Wolverine. He's kinda cool and badass, but big, strong, badass guy is kinda boring for me. I love to see him sing and dance, and perform something theatrical, exactly like in this song, in this movie. He looked so charming, so adorable, and of course very entertaining! Love Hugh Jackman so much!

8 'This is Me' - Keala Settle, from the motion picture 'The Greatest Showman'
Right now, I am so obsessed with Keala Settle! Like.... I stalk her Instagram almost every day! So in love with her voice! She's so talented! And I love this song, I love the scene when this song came out, and until now I keep listening and singing this song.

7 'Un Poco Loco' - Anthony Gonzalez and Gael Garcia Bernal, from the animated movie 'Coco'
Okay, finally a song that is not from 'The Greatest Showman'. It's from another movie I'm also obsessed about. 'Coco' is the best animation movie I've ever seen. I love the story, I love the visual, I love the imagination, I love the characters, I love the jokes, the drama, the plot twist, and of course... the songs! So many beautiful songs from that movie! If I haven't watched 'The Greatest Showman', this list would've probably been full of original soundtracks from 'Coco'. And this song, 'Un Poco Loco', is one of my favourite songs from that movie. I love the funny lyrics and the fun music, I love Anthony Gonzalez and Gael Garcia Bernal's voice, I love the musical instruments, I love how entertaining Miguel and Hector were, I just love everything about this song!

6 'Tightrope' - Michelle Williams, from the motion picture 'The Greatest Showman'
Yep! Another TGS songs! I put it a little higher on the list because I'm so in love with Michelle Williams voice! Her voice is so dreamy and fits her character, Charity very well. Listening to this song, I always think of how beautiful Michelle Williams was in that movie. The character, the hairdo, the make up, the outfit are perfectly beautiful and suit her very well. Michelle Williams has never been more beautiful! Oh I love this song! I always shiver listening to this song, to its feels, to its contents, to Michelle's voice... How can a voice be that beautiful??

5 'Misty Mountain Hop' - Led Zeppelin, that untitled 4th album
My list of top 10 favourite songs always contains at least 3 LZ song. But actually, this song never made it to top 10. But lately I'm really into this song because it's actually very good, but I hardly listen to this. Each LZ song is very special for me. They really made various kinda songs, and everything is so beautiful. This untitled 4th album is very special, not just because it is untitled, but because I can say it's LZ most popular album. There are 'Stairway to Heaven', 'Rock and Roll', 'Black Dog', and my favourite LZ song ever, 'The Battle of Evermore'! And now, 'Misty Mountain Hop' is my new favourite. I mean one of my favourite songs. It is still not in my top 10 LZ songs. But I really love the mood, the feels, the music, that electric piano played by the most underrated multi-instrumentalist genius John Paul Jones! This song is so fun to listen, hum, and dance to. Oh they are really the gods of music!

4 'Remember Me' - Gael Garcia Bernal, from the animated movie 'Coco'
Another song from 'Coco'. I love this version, the one sung by Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal). The scene when he sang this song to Coco, his gentle voice, the acoustic guitar, Coco sings at the end of this song... Who doesn't cry watching this movie? Seriously! Oh I love this song so much! I can sing it a hundred times in a day.

3 'Barcelona' - Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé, the audio version
This song. Oh my... Still the best song a human being could ever create! I personally think that Freddie Mercury is the best musician ever! He's such a legend! Of course Mike Moran also deserves the credit.
This song is a perfection! The very dramatic orchestral opening, Freddie Mercury's strong voice, Caballé's beautiful voice, the mixture of all the beauties! It's classic, but it's also rock, or pop. I don't know. Aarrhh I wish I had a word to describe how beautiful this song is! I really need to explore a lot of music vocabulary! Just google this song, watch it on YouTube, and you'll see... This is the greatest song! Even tho', on this list I gotta put it on number 3, but in my list of best songs, it will always be on top!

2 'Come Alive' - Hugh Jackman, from the motion picture 'The Greatest Showman'
Okay now we're back to another song from TGS. Why is it on number 2? Because I really love to see the dance! Especially Hugh Jackman's part. Omg he's so damn sexy! When he played with the hat, when he clapped his hands and then opened them wide. When listening to this song, I can always imagine Hugh Jackman dancing. Also, this song is damn entertaining!

1 'A Million Dreams' - Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, from the motion picture 'The Greatest Showman'
And finally, the song I'm recently loving the most. The sixth TGS song in this list!
I love all the singers voices, I love the music, I especially love the refrain, but most of all, I love the lyrics so much! It's about a young boy with big dreams, despite the poor condition he was in. P. T. Barnum was a man of vision. I don't personally like him. I actually hate circus with animals. But in general, I adore people with visions. I'm a big dreamer myself. This song really shows how, even in the lowest condition, young Barnum still believed in his big dreams, he was still optimistic, ambitious, and full of confidence! I can relate somehow. I might be delusional, but up until now, I still believe that I'll reach my dreams one day. And listening to this song, it seems impossible to be realistic.

Okay those are the 10 songs I'm really loving recently. If you happen to be around me lately, you must have heard these songs, either played or sung by me, to the point you don't wanna hear these songs ever again in your life, yet you're humming them unconsciously in your spare time.

Five Ways to Win My Heart

Saturday, January 13, 2018

30 Days Writing Challenge: Day 6

Five Ways to Win My Heart!

Oh gosh... I feel like exposing my self!
Why should I write about this?

Actually, my heart is wide open. It's just hard to get deeper, but easy to win.

Anyway, here's five ways I think people can win my heart..

5 Praise me, appreciate me
I'm lack of appreciation and recognition, mostly because I've done nothing to deserve it anyway. Lol!
But seriously, I love to be appreciated and praised. My moon is in Leo, which means I am actually a Leo. My pride is higher than the tax in developed countries.
It's nice when guys tell me that I'm pretty, but I really love it when people tell me that I'm smart, or funny, or unique, or talented. It's nice when people appreciate my artworks or saying they're amused by my articles, they love my articles, something like that.
Have you watched 'Mother'? Well, I'm kinda like Javier Bardem's character.

4 Puppy
What kinda woman wouldn't melt if someone bring her a puppy, or even just show a puppy picture? Oh! Puppies are the best!
But actually, it's not just puppy. Even though I am not an animal lover myself (not hate, just you know...), animal lovers always win my heart. I have things for the ones who really take a good care of animals, especially dogs. I mean... it needs a huuuge patience and a lot of love. And animals are honest. You can pretend to love kids or elderly, but you can't pretend to love animals because animals can tell if you're pretending.

3 Food
Bring me my favourite food, cook for me, buy me some snacks and junk food... Yep, if you win my mouth and stomach, you win my heart. That's the easiest way I guess.

2 Get closed and connected with my family
My sister, brother, dad, and mom mean everything to me. They're the four people I really care about. So if they like you and enjoy your companion, I instantly like you. You win my heart. That's why I love my brother's wife and my sister's fiancé. They make my siblings happy, they become my own siblings.

1 Intellectual conversation
Not that I'm intelligent myself. You do realize that you don't have to be extremely smart to be a sapiosexual, right? I'm not a smart or knowledgeable person, so people who are smart and full of knowledge always win my heart. I love talking to such people because I can always learn a lot of new, interesting things! They also inspire me, give me beautiful ideas, and trigger my intelligence and creativity. I love talking about many things, especially life and human nature. And I feel so lucky that I've met some highly intelligent people that have amused me with all our interesting conversations. Talking to them is never boring and the conversations are usually endless. Well, I just hope that they enjoy the conversations as well.


So, there, five ways to win my heart.

Five Places I Want to Visit

Friday, January 12, 2018

Day 5:

The challenge of the day is... List five places I wanna visit!

How specific should I be about the places? Because if I had to be very specific, all the top 5 would all be in Italy, and if I had to be even more specific, 3 of 5 would be in Toscana.

Anyway, here's the list (will edit later because it's late):

5 South America

4 Mongolia

3 France

2 Greece: Meteora, Crete

1 Italy: Each province of it