My Purple / Violet Story

It all started with a pair of sneakers.

So I finally redyed my red hair that began to look like a mix of half dirty blonde half orange with a shade of red. This time I went to a real professional, a Korean stylist. Once I was seated and my hair washed, the stylist - Mr. Yun - asked me: "What color do you want for your hair?" I wanted EXO's Baekyun's hair color the moment I saw it in Wolf promo, so I took out my phone, browsed the gallery and showed him 2 pictures of my purple haired baby.

He smiled and said: "So you like purple?" It's the first time that someone asked me such a simple question but it took me a few seconds to answer. "I guess?... Yeah, I think I do." And he told me: "Okay, this time we're doing Hair Manicure instead of coloring, and the color is violet." I just nodded in agreement though I didn't understand LOL

Two hours later I went out of the hair boutique with a fluffy violet hair, new hair style and lavender nails (the service came with free manicure) :) And I had to admit that I love my new look! Hahaha And here comes the story of how I got to love the color purple / violet...

My wardrobe and accessories have always been limited to basic colors such as black, grey, charcoal, navy, silver or dark brown. I'm too lazy to mix and match my outfit so those colors are considered 'safe' for me. With an exception of Blue. I think I don't mind with any shades of blue, be it baby blue, navy or sky blue or whatever blue there is. And I'm the kind who dress up in one tone, so I just have to have my stuff in those range of colors.

Until I wanted a pair of fitflop sneakers. What I wanted came in 3 colors: Dark Shadow Silver, Plum Metallica and Navy Blue. Of course my first choice was Dark Shadow Silver, but they ran out of my size. Navy Blue still had my size but my cousin said that Plum Metallica looked nicer. I thought, why not wait another day before I made up my mind? 

But of course the next day when I logged in there's no more Navy Blue with my size. That left me with no option but Plum Metallica. I'm veeeeerrrryyy picky with shoes but that's another story. To make a long story short, I reluctantly bought the Plum Metallica sneakers.

The sneakers fit me perfectly. And I just love to wear it anywhere since it's super comfortable. But of course, it would look better with matching clothes, right? Right?

So I started buying purple / violet shirts... then bracelet... then pen... then other small stuff follow to the point where I can wear purple / violet color coordinated outfit and finally I admitted at the Korean Hair Boutique, yes I like purple now. Anyone who wants to buy me anything, please remember that purple / violet is now an option ROFL

Oh, not to forget, here's my new look straight out of the Hair Boutique... How do you like it? I love it, thank you very much hahaha

photo courtesy of Ade Julianti

Make-up, make over?

I used to hate doing make-up. Usually someone else has to do it for me. So what changed? My visit to South Korea and Korean cosmetics. ROFL Everywhere I went I would see rows and rows of cosmetics shops from all the Korean brand that I've heard or not heard before. And I was surprised to see the extension of the products, from skin care to make-ups and whatever things I didn't imagine existed hahaha

I actually don't hate the make-ups, but I used to feel that applying them was complicated. I couldn't even apply eye liner until a few months ago when I found this product.

Missha M Real Lasting Pen Eyeliner

I read some nice reviews on this product and how easy to apply it. Honestly, my previous efforts in applying eyeliner were embarrassing enough. I'm glad I never took any pictures of those times when I tried it out in my bedroom! But this thing is something that I can't miss now... The pointy tip makes me more confident in drawing the line, so my hand is more steady when holding it.

And when it comes to eye shadow, I really had no idea how to combine the basic colors. But yes, I could at least apply it, thanks to some basic training from being in church choir a long time ago :) But this thing really helps, I don't need any brush, just my fingers and voila! I got the color combination that I like.

Missha The Style Triple Perfection Shadow

I even got 2 of these, Brownie Pink for day wear and Grape Purple for night wear. Other than these products, I also found that lots of make-up tutorials in youtube also helpful. And finally I got to try to apply my own make-up to a party last weekend. Bwahahaha Can I show off? It's not that visible here, but I hope you notice a little change on my eyes.

How did I look? Hahaha I'm hoping for a compliment when I'm asking :) It's a new pair of glasses that I was wearing, by the way.

And if you're asking why I'm using MISSHA instead of more famous products in Indonesia, well at first it's because my boys were endorsing it. LOL But after trying out its products I''m quite satisfied with the result, so I kept purchasing them.

MISSHA with TVXQ

Just look at the promotion ad! I mean, HOW CAN YOU LOOK AT THEIR FACES AND NOT BUYING ANYTHING? LOL

Oh well, maybe it's just my lame excuses, but they make me feel good and happy. So yeah, let's look at more tutorials and have my own make over. 

Credit: Pictures belong to Missha... except mine, unless they want me to endorse their products :p

I'll miss you...

Every Sunday morning at church, there's a grandma sitting at the very back who would give me a hug and kisses on my cheeks. Sometimes she brought me chocolates or candies, wrapped them up in small plastic bags and slipped them into my palm as she kissed me.

She sat at the back because she used a cane and had trouble walking. If we looked at each other from afar she would wave her hands at me and gave me her sweetest smile. Oma Hartati was one of my highlight on Sunday service but God loved her more. She passed away last Saturday day night after celebrating her 86th birthday on September 3rd. And I didn't realize just how much I would miss seeing her until she's gone.

And this brought back so many memories of those who had left us lately. I was so taken aback by the fact that death always left us astounded no matter how close or how far we are from it. Even the death of  people we don't know personally would still leave us overwhelmed, in disbelief.

Last year I got to watch Tohoshinki's TONE Tour at Osaka-jo Hall. I had a hard time in obtaining the tickets but I had help from a Japanese girl that went by with the name t-hikari (or hikari-chan by her online friends) who posted a complete info on how tickets were sold in Japan. I sent her a few messages and she kindly replied with info and a kind wish. In the end someone else got me the tickets but I still got to read her LJ every now and then and she kept replying to my comments.

Imagine the shock when I read messages & twits on June 11th that that she had passed away the day before after battling breast cancer for a couple of years, and just before she started a new series of chemo. To be honest, I really enjoyed reading her amusing LJ posts about our beloved duo. And right after the announcement of her passing by her sister, she also deleted all of her posts because it hurt her too much read all the happy words that she had written, reflecting her real self as a devoted fan. I can totally understand that though I wished I had saved some of her writings just to have a laughter or two.

Every encounter has its own memories. And I'm glad that I have shared a happy memory with both Oma Hartati and hikari-chan. It's not whether you know someone in the flesh or how well you know someone to feel the loss through death. It still hurts.

No matter how much we hurt, life goes on for the living. I'll miss them both, but I'll be smiling when I remembered how happy they had been and they had made me no matter how short the time we knew each other.

I'll miss your hugs and kisses Oma Hartati, till we meet again in heaven!

And thank you for the sweet memory and the chance to get to know you, hikari-chan! You'll always be remembered when I look at our boys :)

WHAT WE HAVE DONE FOR OURSELVES ALONE DIES WITH US; WHAT WE HAVE DONE FOR OTHERS AND THE WORLD REMAINS AND IS IMMORTAL.

- Albert Pike -

I'm not addicted to hair dyeing!

Unlike some people's opinion that I'm addicted to dyeing my hair, no, I AM NOT!! I re-dyed my hair because the first one didn't live up to my expectations. I was surprised when I looked at it, true, but the longer I stared at my hair the more I longed for the actual color I imagined especially since the old hair dye washed out quickly leaving my hair looked half blonde half orange :( And finally I re-dyed it again last week with the help of a real professional LOL Credits to Pram from L'oreal Jakarta who asked me dubiously when I pointed to the color: "It's usually used as highlight cause it's very bright, are you sure you're confident enough to have it on the whole head?". To which I replied (and made him grin from ear to ear): "You have no idea how confident I can be!"

Here's the result, shiny isn't it? *grin*

Left: with room lighting, Right: with natural lighting. 

And don't I just love my boss? I sent him a message a few days before I dyed my hair:

"Can I leave the office at 3pm on Monday? I want to re-dye my hair cause I finally found a place that has the right shade of red. Since it's the fasting month and offices are closed earlier, the guy can only do it at 4pm."

Reply: "Sure. Why red again and not blue?"

"I wanted to dye it blue but I guess **** and **** won't agree :( The elders already raised eyebrows to my current hair can't imagine what they'll say next week. Anyway, dyeing my hair blue is already on the list of my things to do before I die."

Reply: "Hahaha Go for it."

My friend who knew I left early to do that thought I was crazy for telling my boss the truth, that I left "just to dye my hair". To be honest, I don't see the need to lie cause I've been dedicated enough with my work. Why lie and get yourself into trouble later when you can be honest and dye your hair in peace without being afraid of the office ringing you? LOL

So, do you like the new red as much as I do? :)

OPUS JAY 2013 WORLD TOUR

 

Another dream came true... 

A 10 year old dream to be exact... and it's a past due review but I still want to post this anyway LOL

In the middle of F4 rage in early 2000 I got to know this singer named Jay Chou and had been in love with his music ever since. I bought all of his albums, MV dvds, movies, concert dvds, basically everything that he released. I even had giant posters of his from his 2002: The Once Concert Live and 2006 Album: Still Fantasy hanging on my bedroom wall now.

He held some concerts in Singapore, the last one was in 2010 for The Era World Tour. I missed that one because I traveled to Japan for the first time, thus I spent all my money in that holiday, nothing to spare to watch him. So for the past 2 years I've been waiting to hear if he's going to hold another concert in Singapore.

Then in early February I heard the announcement and got an email from Sistic. He'd finally returned for his World Tour of his last album, Opus 12 on June 8-9! Somehow the first 2 days of the ticket sales was intended only for OCBC card & M1 number holder. Sold out in 1 hour! Then they added another day on June 6, and sold out again even before the public sales began. I asked my Singaporean friends who had own the card & number, they said they couldn't get one, it's crazy. So I thought that maybe I wasn't meant to watch it. I was disappointed but I believed that when it's my time then it will be my time.

I was working  in the office when an email came from Sistic. Due to high demand for the concert, they're adding some seats including those with restricted view. I didn't waste my time and logged into Sistic right away. I didn't get it in the first try but once I refreshed there's a Cat 2 single seat available and I grabbed it right away. Tadda!! I got my ticket for June 8 show!!

On the day of the concert, I got to the venue around 7.45pm - ticket said show would start at 8pm. I wanted to buy a couple of merchandise but the queue was so long! I decided to just wait inside the venue. Show didn't start on time cause people were still queuing for merchandise outside. But I was happy when I saw that in every seat they provided free lightstick and baloons. 

Me and my free balloons :)

I was sitting in the middle of 2 boys in their teens on the left and a guy in his late 40s on the right. They all cheered very loudly and sang along in every song too. And at 8.20pm the lights were out and the concert started. At first an opening video was played on stage and on screens. And before you complained for the lack of quality of the pictures that I'm posting, I didn't bring my camera in purpose because I wanted to really enjoy the show and not being busy behind the lens. So I only used my phone camera, besides I was seated on the right side of the stage so I didn't get a very good view. I didn't complain though cause I could still see him clearly from my seat.

His concert was divided in a few segments. And he opened the concert with a rock song from his Opus 12 Album, but he followed right away with (surprisingly) The Final Battle / 最後的戰役 / Zuì Hòu De Zhàn Yì from his 2002 Album, The 8th Dimension. And after a few more songs from his old albums including the famous song that was used into a Pepsi advert Nunchucks / 雙截棍 / Shuāng Jié Gùn he disappeared for a moment from the stage when suddenly a white piano appeared in the middle of the stage. And the piano acoustic ballad segment began. I practically melted on my seats especially when started playing Silence / 安靜 / Ān Jìng I couldn't help myself but screaming along with the whole stadium at the song's ending: It is because I love you too much / shi yin wei wo tai ni... I knew the boys were staring at me cause I kept bugging them to translate whatever Jay was saying yet I could sing my heart out with every song he played LOL

In the middle of this segment I just couldn't hold my bladder anymore and ran to the bathroom in the middle of my less fave song, but while I was p**ing (I'm sorry that you just have to read this :p) I suddenly heard the intro of one of my fave song Can't Express Myself / 開不了口 / Kāi Bù Liǎo Kǒu and I kind of, errrr... sped up the process, zipped up my fly, express hand washing and ran back to my seat with panting breath, all the while singing along with him! Just how crazy I was, eh? LOL

Jay was about to release another self-produced movie, The Rooftop, so another segment was dedicated to the new movie, where he acted out with a girl and some gang. It was interesting but I wasn't familiar with the songs so I didn't sing along at all in this segment. Still, I enjoyed to see him dancing and acting, if I was a cartoon character there would be stars and love coming out of my sparkly eyes! Hahaha As the concert was nearing the end, suddenly the whole stadium went dark and there was some kanji on the screen and the stadium went silent, the boys translated to me that it said: "Please turn off your light stick for the best effect of the next song." So I did, just like everyone. And a few second later the screen and also the stage lit up with stars and planets as if we're in the milky way... A white piano and Jay in white suits turned up and my most fave song from Opus 12 Album, Sign Language / 手語 / Shǒu Yǔ, started!! I was gaping at the screen to see the dreamy like video when suddenly he was being lifted up onto the middle of the stage and blended with the 3D mapped video!! O.M.G.

Jay singing  "Sign Language / 手語 / Shǒu Yǔ"

I had to admit that the effect of the video and live show combined was very beautiful in the dark. Everything was white and sparkly and even some fake snowflakes were falling from the ceiling onto the audience!! So romantic... *sigh* He really went all out with the show, lots of pyrotechnics,  fake snowflakes, confetti, drama, and everything else that ever came up in all his MVs. Oh, and some giant beach balls at the ending of the concert for his song, Ukulele / 烏克麗麗 / Wū Kè Lì Lì.

Giant beach balls in the middle of the audience :)

All in all, it was a great 2.5 hours show and I was so enchanted from the beginning until the end. It was a sold out 3 day shows actually and I wasn't that surprised to see the variety of people in the audience. From children to grandparents, everyone was singing along to his hit songs and moved their bodies with the music, smiling from ear to ear and laughed as he made jokes in Mandarin (which I didn't get cause I didn't want to bother the boys next to me anymore with translating the jokes lol). Another funny thing was, Jay was knows to forgetting lyrics in live shows. So in the small screen at the top of the stadium, facing the stage, where it usually wrote things like: "Clap your hands" "Sing along!" etc... all his lyrics was played word by word with the sequences such as: "Repeat" "Encore" "Change clothes", I laughed like crazy when I found out about it! Oh Jay...

The concert was so memorable and I'm so looking forward to another concert of his in the future. Some more pics of my handsome boy.... :)

 Theatrical Jay

Guitar playing Jay