Confessions of An Orphaned Young Adult

“You attend the funeral, you bid the dead farewell. You grieve. Then you continue with your life. And at times the fact of her absence will hit you like a blow to the chest, and you will weep. But this will happen less and less as time goes on. She is dead. You are alive. So live.”― Neil Gaiman

INACRAFT: A Craft Exhibition in Jakarta

If you are not familiar yet with INACRAFT, this is an annual event hosted to accommodate Indonesian as well as international crafter for the biggest and the most complete exhibition of gift and housewares. INACRAFT tagline also explain itself as Jakarta International Handicraft Trade Fair. This is the 17th year of its running and for the theme this year is Through Enchanting Bali Towards Global Market.

For this year's event, Yelny got the chance to become the visual merchandiser, so she got to tour the place before the exhibition even began. I could not join here on that day because I had to work. But then, Yelny also could not take any pictures because she was pretty busy there. So, I ended up going there with a friend of mine on the last day. 

The event itself took place in Jakarta Convention Center (JCC). JCC is a very common place for people to hold a big exhibition like this. Considering that I went there on the last day of the event, it was still very crowded even though the place is very big.

The thing about INACRAFT is that most of the products showcased there were more into the traditional side. If you love batik, you would definitely find a lot of creation here. 

Do not worry if you were not really keen of traditional thing, you can also find modern and fancy things if you browse each aisle diligently.

What I loved about this kind of event is how the things there inspired me to become more diligent to create handmade things. There are always something special about making and using your own stuffs. Even better if you can sell it like the people here in INACRAFT.

Even though it was a bit crowded during my visit, it was indeed a pleasant visit for both my friends and I. I love how this event supported local crafter to become more known to national and even international audience. Maybe one day I can also join not only as the guests but also the participant hehe. I hope that INACRAFT could run for a long time and become the pioneer of local crafting community.

Cheers,

filicia

#LLHappyNest : Say It with Chocolate

Back on June 2015, Living Loving -one of my favorite local digital media-, hosted a series of workshop called Happy Nest. This was not the first time Living Loving made a workshop, but this was indeed the first time they made a series of workshop for two weekends back to back. Whoop! I was super attracted with the workshops of course, but then I decided to just try my luck by joining the giveaway.

Here's what I wrote on my entry:

Living Loving, just like what its name suggest is a lovely media that I have been following closely since I found out about them. I love how @livinglovingnet is always creative and innovative in terms of engaging more with the readers.

I have to say honestly that I was so curious when they first released the teaser of Happy Nest ((and can I add how perfect this name of workshop is?)) Finding out about what it was indeed made me happy, especially this class.

Simply put, this class is like coming to a wedding of my two loves. One being food and another being design ❤ ❤ ❤ oh my, when these two get married, I can't imagine how amazing will their marriage be. And I hope I can be involved in this sweet occasion as well ❤  #LLHappyNestquiz 

And guess what? I WON!!! Woohoo! Thank you so much Living Loving for somehow picking my name from the raffle. So, let's move on to the report of the D-day!

The workshop took place in Pipiltin Cocoa, Barito. I was a bit late since the venue is a bit far from my home. When I arrived, I met the other participants. There are around 8 or 9 people in total if I'm not mistaken. The workshop started by an introduction from Miranti, one of the co-founder of Living Loving and also our mentor of the day. It began with a little introduction about Living Loving before moving on to the subject which was brush lettering. Mamir shared with us her favorite tools as well as the artists that have inspired her works.

After that, we started practicing. Each participant was given a lettering kit. Inside the kit were lots of paper for practicing, brush, palette, ink, and pencil. They also provided poster color to be shared among participants. We started with basic practice by drawing lines, curls, swirls and shapes before moving on to alphabets. While we were practicing, Mamir suggested us to start thinking the design for the chocolate wrapping. 

When we have felt confident with our choice of phrase, we started painting the wrapping paper. Since we would make two bars of chocolate, we also designed two papers for wrapping. The first one that I made is inspired by this blog, so I just simply wrote 'Candy After Dinner'. For the second one, I used my favorite color, red! After that I wrote a motivational phrase as a reminder and a doodle of cough myself cough.

While we were waiting for our creation to dry, we went to the small chocolate factory right inside Pipiltin Cocoa itself. This is my first time going to a chocolate factory so I was really excited. Though this one was not as big and quirky as the one in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but this one is more than enough to satisfy my curiosity. The founder of Pipiltin Cocoa itself explained the process of making the chocolate from scratch. Seeing how all the chocolate is made from high quality product and detailed process, I came to appreciate it more than before. 

The good news is, we also got to make our own creation of the chocolate bar! After the chocolate is processed, we could use it based on our creation. For this workshop, we could make two chocolate bars. But to make it prettier, we can use colored white chocolate and splashed it into the base of the mold.

After that, we just poured the chocolate into the mold and put the extra beans or cocoa nibs on top of it. In order to make it last longer, we should shove the beans and cocoa into the inside of the chocolate. Next, we could put it into the freezer for about 5-15 minutes then our chocolate is ready!

While waiting for the chocolate to set, we got to taste this chocolate shot which is incredibly good!!! I have never had authentic chocolate drink before so I did not have much expectation. But it turned out to be so good. It is the right amount of sweet and bitterness. The creaminess texture is also fine because it did not feel too thick. Oh, we also got to enjoy the short movie about chocolate making process.

The chocolate was finally ready. So, it's time to wrap!

By the time we finished wrapping, it was also the end of the workshop Say It with Chocolate with Living Loving. I really did not realize how the hours have passed while I was having fun crafting and creating things. All in all, it was a lovely and enjoyable workshop. I would like to thank Mamir and Nike once again for hosting this wonderful workshop and having that giveaway so I could join. It was a really valuable experience that inspires me to do more, make more and practice more. Also, thank you to Pipiltin Cocoa for sharing your knowledge with us and having us in your factory to create our own chocolate.

 ((the other entry about this event can be found here and here))

Cheers,

filicia

A Writing About A Writing

If you read this post, I told you at some point that if I am diligent enough, I will write about the exhibition later. Actually, I have wrote a piece for ADGI Jakarta as the part of my voluntary work. But the article was written in Bahasa.

Spot where am I on this picture? Ha! Anyway, I did not realize that the article is actually published in Desain Grafis Indonesia's website! ((Thanks Yelny for spotting it)). What makes me even more thrilled is my name is credited as the author under ADGI Jakarta. That, for me, is such an honor. 

The exhibition is eye-opening and the story behind those visual presentation can be very good, emotional, fun, sarcastic and most importantly a friendly reminder for all the visitors. For the whole story, you can read it directly here. 

cheers,

filicia

// all images via desain grafis indonesia ((dgi))

SHINee World III in Jakarta

Since I was a kid, I have always had list of things that I want to accomplish but seems difficult or would take lots of time. Later on, I learn the vocabulary for that statement, a bucket list. Though  I do not always write it down, I remember that list by heart. The list is growing, and ever since I fell in love with K-pop, watching a live concert is automatically on the list.

This day five months ago, June 22nd 2014 to be exact, I can proudly say, I tick one of my bucket list ((insert-happy-tears-emoticon)). I have been a huge SHINee World (SHINee's fan name) ever since their debut back in 2008. I did watch their performance live when Arirang and TVRI brought them for the Korean-Indonesian Friendship Festival in 2010. But they performed only 2 or 3 songs and I was obviously not satisfied, though I was very lucky to win the ticket for free from the raffle.

On the span of four years, SHINee had actually come to Indonesia once more for a special music show and another one for a joint concert with SM Entertainment artists. But I did not go to either one of those concert. I can go and say that I am very patient to wait for their solo concert but on the other hand, I did not have the money to buy the ticket! I was only a high school student (and later a university student), and my pocket money is super duper limited.

But when it is announced that SHINee is having the solo concert in Jakarta, I just, I HAVE TO GO. Moreover, they have just released two albums and one mini album around that year. Insane. But the ticket price is even more insane.

I do not have the money to buy the ticket. So, I went to join all the quizzes with the ticket as the prize. Be it on twitter, instagram, tabloid, whatever. I did not win. And I did not have the money. But I had the will.

Several days before the concert, it is informed that Onew, SHINee's leader has undergone a surgery and had to rest. Therefore, he can not join the concert :( just like many Shawols, my heart was broken. But my strong desire beats everything. So with my dear Kpop fan slash friend, we made a plan, or more likely, I kind of force her ^^

June 22nd 2014 is the birthday of my beloved city Jakarta. As a gift to the citizens, everyone can ride Transjakarta for free. Well, my friend, can you imagine how crowded would it be to get into the bus? And I can not get a taxi because I am saving every penny to watch SHINee. Anyway, I still get into the bus and went to meet my friend in Kota Tua because there was an event and we would like to spend our afternoon there ((post coming soon))

The clock strikes 5.30 when we finished strolling. The concert started around 6.30 PM. But we were not at rush at all. Instead, we patiently waited for taxi that never showed up and we started looking for alternatives, so we asked the people around and finally hopped into an angkot (a minibus public transportation) because it was getting dark. So like after 20 minutes, we were already in front of Ancol and we bought the entrance ticket. After that we got into a shuttle bus and got to down to change into another bus before we could finally reach the concert venue. The venue was Mata Elang International Stadium (MEIS) inside Ancol Beach Mall. Trivia: SWC III is the last concert held in MEIS because after that there was some problems between MEIS and don't-know-who.

By the time we reached MEIS, it is already 7 PM and the concert has started. We did not worry at all though. In fact, we waited until it is a bit later after the concert. Why? Because there were lots of calo (I don't know how you call this in English) who gave you discount after the concert started or else they will loss. Many of those calo sold the tickets to every single passerby, we almost bought the tribune ticket when my friend gently reminded me how far would it be to stand in the tribune.

So, at around 7.30 PM, a calo finally gave in and sold two festival tickets with considerably low price. We rushed into the venue. But we were hold because we both brought camera. I swore that I had no intention at all to take any picture inside the venue with my camera. We brought those cameras with us because we were hunting some pictures in the Kota Tua events. So we went to deposit our camera to a security post in the parking lot and went back and got in and....

my bias ^^

I can not believe I was that close with SHINee!!! They were singing "Queen of New York" on the front stage by the time we reached the venue. We promised earlier that we were going to enjoy the concert with ease, just a little picture and video for the sake of memories and the rest, we will just enjoy it. And that's what we really did. The rest of the concert is very, very surreal or even magical in some ways.

The setlist for the concert is listed below:

1. Spoiler, 2. Evil, 3. Nightmare, 4. Juliette, 5. Lucifer, 6. Like A Fire, 7. Dream Girl, 8. Hitchhiking, 9. Queen of New York, 10. Aside, 11. Sleepless Night, 12. Orgel, 13. Beautiful, 14. 3 2 1, 15. Destination, 16. Dynamite, 17. Ring Ding Dong, 18. Amigo (the song that made me fell into them), 19. Everybody, 20. Selene 6.23 encore one: 21. Sherlock, 22. Why So Serius?, 23. Colorful encore two: Onew's VCR, 24. Stand By Me, 25. Green Rain.

Well, because I wasn't there from the beginning I am not very sure about the first songs. I am still kinda sad because those 3 opening songs are my favorite from their recent albums. But then again, I am beyond grateful that I am able to watch them that close.

Just like I said before, I sincerely wanted to enjoy the concert so I barely take any pictures and even i or my friend did, it was only from our phone camera and the quality is bad, also since they moved a lot, many of the pictures turn out blur. But the vivid memory that I have in my had will forever stay in my mind and heart :')

Seeing them in real life, it truly felt like there are less boundaries between idol and fans. They were glowing and the charismatic aura was overflowing. Also, I stood in Festival A4 that was less crowded compared to other section. The audiences are considerably under control. And without realizing it, we are happily moved from the sixth row to the second from the front >.<

I loved how SHINee interacted with the fans. They danced and sang very sincerely. And yes people, they live singing is soooo breathtaking. They are really good, even Minho. They were so interactive as they ran around the stage many times and they even got down to quickly high-fiving the audience!!!

No zoom! We were that close with Minho. It was the best shot that we got on that day ((thank you kei  for this picture)). I was in awe. I cherish every single moment I had there. Also, I might have breathe in the air that they breathed out. Well, okay I think I should stop rambling by now.

When the VCR of Onew showed up, I teared up. Indonesia is the last stop for their SHINee World III Concert but he couldn't join, so it was a bid saddening. When they sang "Stand By Me", I smiled again. Widely. When they announced the actual last song, "Green Rain", I did not expect it since it was only a soundtrack. When they bid their good-bye, I got emotional and cried again. I cried because I was very happy to meet them, I cried because I was sad they were leaving back to Korea, I cried because my dream finally came true, I cried for so many reasons on that night :')

can no filter hep this picture ^^ I will just leave it like this

And that was the end of the concert. We took some more pictures. I took a bottle of drink they have used for pouring one another ((cough)). We took our camera. We bought some drinks. Then we walked quite far to the nearest exit gate and patiently waited for a taxi that took forever to show up. By that time, it was around 11 PM (the concert ended around 10 PM). It was super exhausting but totally worth it.

Well, there is one thing that I want to tell you guys, I am NOT proud at all that I did not buy the ticket officially. If it is not for SHINee, I think I'd rather not go then buying ticket from calo like this. I felt sorry for the promoter who has done so much to bring the artist to hold a concert in Jakarta and that must be lots of hard work. If you had enough money, please respect the promoter and buy the ticket officially. This time, I apologize I didn't do it the right way but I really just did this because it is SHINee World Concert :( but I am really thankful that you brought SHINee here. Thank you, thank you so much.

Last but not least, sorry this post has subconsciously become my rant. I didn't realize it will turn out this long! Images here are from SMTOWN via facebook. The other pictures are taken either with my phone or my friend's, thus explaining the quality. Please do not use it or claim it as yours :)

Cheers, filicia!