1. Geobukseon (거북선) a.k.a Turtle Ship

 
~ Admiral Yi mewariskan sebuah senjata sakti, berupa kapal, berlayar dua, bermulut satu, berkepala naga ~

Alkisah, di tahun 1591, ada seorang admiral Korea bernama Yi Sun Sin (이순신) abis ngobrol-ngobrol sama bawahannya (mungkin sembari minum soju dan makan samgyeobsal juga sih), tiba-tiba tercetus pikiran bahwa Jepang dianggap bisa melancarkan buang air besar invasi ke ranah ginseng. Dari obrolan itu, (mungkin besoknya, setelah sadar dari hangover semalam) Admiral Yi mulai berpikir untuk membangkitkan kembali Geobukseon.

 
“Wah, klo diliat-liat, panggangan samgyeopsal ini mirip tempurung kura-kura ya. Btw, ngomongin masalah kura-kura, …”

Oh ya, sebelum jamannya si Admiral Yi, Geobukseon sebenernya udah pernah ada prototipenya, malahan udah ada 100 tahun sebelumnya. Lah, terus ngapa si Admiral Yi repot-repot bikin lagi? Soalnya dia jagoan, bukan pemalas, dan rajin mencatat! Doi kayanya pengen ngembangin desain Geobukseon lebih lanjut biar lebih siap menghadapi angkatan laut Jepang. Pada akhirnya, pada tanggal 12 Maret 1592, Admiral Yi mulai ngetes meriam buat dipasang di Geobukseon. Dan tanggal 27 Maret 1592, Geobukseon versi Admiral Yi beres dan diluncurkan. Koq yakin amat ampe tanggal-tanggalnya? Kan tadi gue bilang, Admiral Yi rajin mencatat. Ini diambil dari tulisannya sendiri di buku hariannya. Tentu! Admiral Yi Sun Sin pun punya buku harian, tapi seperti pria badass nan tangguh pada masa itu, isi buku hariannya adalah siasat perang. Bukan keluh kesah penuh kegalauan macam muda-mudi sekarang, apalagi berisikan “nama, ttl, makanan favorit, minuman favorit, hobi, dll” macam di SD gue dulu. *mendadak hening*

 
Contoh “diary” jaman SD tahun 90an. Dan ini bukan punya penulis. Suer!

Pernah maen Age of Empires? Apa? Ga tau Age of Empires? TERLALU!! Anyway, di Age of Empires ini klo lo maen pake Jepang, salah satu karakteristiknya adalah movespeed unitnya lebih cepat. Kenyataannya, kapal perang Jepang emang lebih gesit di era itu. Nah si Geobukseon ini make bahan yang mayan berat, jadinya kalah gesit ama Jepang. Tapi justru itu yang diincer ama Admiral Yi! Geobukseon emang kalah gesit, tapi jadi stabil dan lebih kokoh! Di saat Jepang mengandalkan musket untuk serangan jarak jauh, kekokohan Geobukseon bikin Admiral Yi bisa masang meriam. Jenis-jenis meriam yang dipasand gi Geobukseon punya jarak efektif 200-1200 meter! Tau jarak serang musket yang dipake ama Jepang? Cuma 100 meter. Etapi kan Jepang bisa pake taktik Boarding klo kapal mereka lebih gesit? (Oh, taktik ini tidak mengharuskan mereka untuk berada di ruang tunggu setidaknya 1 jam sebelum keberangkatan) Eits! Bukan Admiral Yi namanya klo ga mikirin hal sepele macem gitu. Kaya namanya, Geobukseon punya atep sebagai tempurung! Dan doi masang paku-paku di atep kapal, dan liciknya, ditutupin pake semacem tiker gitu. Jadi klo ada yang mo boarding, ketancep dengan sukseslah kaki mereka di atas atep kapal.

Hmm, tempat yang cocok untuk jadi lantai dansa. Dengan Hades.

Klo serangan jarak jauh blom cukup, Geobukseon ini lantas bakal maju dan NABRAK kapal musuh dari samping. Trus? Nembakin dari jarak super deket. Pernah ditembak cewe airsoft gun dari jarak deket? Klo blom, cobain, trus rasa sakitnya kaliin 1000 (ato lebih). Itu lah yang dialami ama kapal sial yang jadi objek nafsu brutalitas Geobukseon. Dua orang komandan Jepang curhat tertulis klo mereka diserang Geobukseon (contoh buku harian pria tangguh lagi) dan serangannya sempet sedeket 5-10 meter, dan hasilnya adalah hampir semua bagian kapal mereka hancur berantakan. Literally, kaya kapal pecah. Hmm, such a BADASS warship!

Admiral Yi: “Ini yang kalian bilang kapal pecah? Psh. Amateurs.”

Geobukseon ini pada akhirnya ikutan menggagalkan serangan invasi dari Jepang yang dipimpin Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Uniknya, salah satu panggilan Hideyoshi Toyotomi adalah “little monkey”. Kenapa unik? Karena secara kebetulan, di Filipina ada cerita anak-anak tentang “The Monkey and The Turtle”. Dan well, di cerita ini pada akhirnya si monyet keki karena dikerjain ama si kura-kura. Di air. What a coincidence!

2. Hwacha (화차)

Be afraid! Be very afraid!

Bukan, ini bukan judul lagu Super Junior. Mirip sih, tapi dibanding Super Junior, ini bakal jauh lebih meledak dan melesat (literally). Klo diartiin ke bahasa Inggris, Hwacha adalah Fire Vehicle. Beda dengan Geobukseon, ini dari namanya (dan gambar di atas) aja udah mayan ngeri. Tapi sama dengan Geobukseon, efeknya di medan perang lebih ngeri dari namanya.

Jaman sebelum eranya Admiral Yi, ada lagi seorang tangguh bernama Choi Museon (최무선). Tapi Bung Choi ini tangguh pada bidang ilmu, doski adalah seorang “scholar”. Pas masih kecil, Bung Choi ini sempet ngliat kembang api yang dibuat orang Cina. Kayanya gara-gara takjub, terpana, terkesima, tapi ga sampe tertukar kaya seorang putri di suatu cerita tanah air, doski kemudian cari-cari cara ngbuat mesiu pas udah gede. Ga gampang buat Bung Choi bikin mesiu, soalnya jaman itu mesiu dijaga ketat resepnya ama Cina. Emang dasar sedikit licik, Bung Choi kemudian dapet resep mesiu dari pedagang Cina yang kelewat doyan ama duit. Akhirnya pun Choi Museon,S.T. (scholar diterjemahinnya sarjana soalnya ama Google Translate) dengan resep mesiu yang didapet bisa bikin berbagai jenis senjata. Oh, btw, dia akhirnya dikasih lab sendiri ama pemerintah buat riset, dan usia dia pas dikasih lab sekitar 50 tahun. Jadi lebih tepat manggil Prof. Choi kayanya ya. Dan Hwacha, adalah salah satu penurunan dari temuannya. Sayangnya, begitu Hwacha pertama berhasil dibuat tahun 1409, doi udah keburu meninggal.

Hwacha ini diakui dunia sebagai the world’s first multiple rocket launcer. Jaman maen Resident Evil ato Tomb Raider dah seneng banget kan tuh klo dapet Rocket Launcher, nah ini MULTIPLE rocket launcher. Bentukannya beneran ga beda jauh ama multiple rocket launcher jaman sekarang. Emang sih Hwacha amunisinya masih panah, tapi bukan sembarang panah sodara-sodara! Salah satu varian panah yang dipake di Hwacha ini namanya Singijeon (신기전), yang sebenernya udah mirip banget ama roket karena ujung panahnya bisa meledak.

Kiri: Hwacha. Kanan: Multiple rocket launcher masa kini. Beda tipis!!

Salah satu momen yang paling badass dari Hwacha ini mungkin adalah di Battle of Haengju. Pasukan Korea yang dipimpin oleh Jenderal Kwon Yul (bukan, ini bukan member SNSD yang jogetnya seksi itu) berhasil mempertahankan benteng yang diserang oleh 30.000 pasukan Jepang! Mau tau jumlah pasukannya Jenderal Kwon? Cuma 2.300 orang. Plus 40 Hwacha. Sedemikian tangguhnya pertahanan Jenderal Kwon, sampe pas beres tempur pasukan Jepang kehilangan lebih dari 10.000 orang. Dan Jenderal Kwon pun bilang klo pertempuran saat itu bisa dimenangkan berkat Hwacha. Kenapa? Soalnya jumlah pasukan Jepang yang 100 kali pasukan Sparta di film itu ternyata justru kelemahan yang besar buat benteng dengan senjata se-badass Hwacha!

Jenderal Kwon Yul: “Run you sake-drinking, katana-wielding, bastards!! Run for your life!!”

Untungnya buat kita, Mythbusters sempet ngcover Hwacha di salah satu episode. Mereka emang ngebuktiin klo Hwacha ini efektif buat nglawan musuh dalam jumlah yang besar! Dan ternyata untuk multiple rocket launcher generasi pertama, akurasinya bisa dibilang mantap! Simak sendiri potongan klip episode Mythbusters di bawah ini.

Oh, apa di Korea sini ga ada lab yang kerjaannya seru begitu ya? Prof. Choi Museon, kenapa saya tidak ditakdirkan menjadi asisten labmu pada saat itu? Bahan peledak selalu lebih asik daripada, katakanlah, Pressure Transient Testing in Coalbed Methane Reservoir. *tertunduk* *lanjut baca paper*

Kita mulai dari bahasa Inggris. Doi bener, di sini susah pisan nyari orang yang bisa bahasa Inggris! Oke, definisi bisa bahasa Inggris gue ga tinggi koq, ga perlu presentasiin paper berjudul Pressure Transient Testing in Coalbed Methane Reservoir dengan lancar koq untuk gue bilang “bisa”. Asal bisa ngobrol sehari-hari dengan lancar aja, perkenalan, nanya arah, nanya nomer telpon, nanya udah punya pacar apa belom. Eh. Sori terbawa suasana. Tapi ya emang bener, di sini gue cuma bisa ngobrol bahasa Inggris lancar ama sesama foreigner dan segelintir orang Korea. Gue sih maklum, jangankan ngomong, tulisan aja udah beda. Mereka kudu belajar tulisan berbentuk huruf normal yang diterima dunia global, sedangkan dari kecil mereka belajar bahwa menulis adalah kombinasi antara gambar kotak, lingkaran, dan beberapa garis.

Demi trisula Poseidon! Ini gimana cara bacanya?!

Ya emang sih huruf latin juga kombinasi garis, tapi ya ngertilah ya maksud gue. Jadi ya cukup wajar kata gue sih klo mereka agak kesulitan belajar bahasa Inggris. Klo orang Indonesia mah asik lah mo belajar bahasa mana juga. *nyisir*

Lalu masalah kemenarikan orang Korea. Doi mbahas operasi plastik ama drama di sini. Gue ga mendepak kenyataan bahwa di sini operasi plastik itu marak. ARA Consulting Seoul bahkan bilang, “an estimated 30 percent of Korean women aged 20 to 50 had surgical or non-surgical cosmetic procedures”. Sianjis! 30 persen! Itung punya itung, itu sama dengan 2,4 juta wanita Korea!

Ya seengganya kan ga jadi kaya begini lah.

Tapi liat lagi kalimat si ARA Consulting itu, ada frase “surgical OR non-surgical” di situ, nyang artinya sebagian dari 2,4 juta wanita tersebut bisa jadi kaga operasi, tapi misal cuma pasang behel, tapi bisa jadi juga suntik botox. Btw, botox itu botulinum toxin lho ya, bukan pengkerenan nama makanan Jawa berbahan dasar kelapa.

Bukan apa-apa, miris aja gue gitu, segitu judgmentalnya kah orang-orang kita sama tampang orang Korea. Masa gara-gara keliatan cakep ato gara-gara ga bisa bedain tampang lantas dibilang operasi? Lah beberapa temen bule gw juga ngaku ama gw klo dia kaga bisa bedain orang Indonesia ama Filipina, ya masa iya kita mau dibilang langganan di dokter bedah kosmetik yang sama? Ya ogah dong cyiinnn. Intinya klo kata gue mah, klo masalah tampang, klo emang cakep ya cakep aja. Biarin aja sih. Nikmatin gitu. Lagian ga semua cewe Thailand yang cantik itu dulunya punya penis kan?

Natt: “Jahaaattt ihh~ Aku kan beneran cewe~”

Masalah drama, yang lucu adalah si penulis blog di atas bilang klo drama Korea itu “bertolak belakang sama kehidupan sehari-hari”. Ebuset. Err, seinget gue sih klo sama kaya kehidupan sehari-hari jatohnya reality show bukan drama. Sedangkan reality show aja masih ada skenarionya. Hahaha. Ide cerita nyontek dari Jepang? Siapa sih yang ga nyontek drama bagus dari Jepang? Ada sih, di Indonesia tuh “drama” seri super-panjangnya original tuh! Di KFC kita kudu milih mo ayam yang original ato crispy, lah sinetron drama seri Indonesia itu langsung dihidangkan originally crispy! Keren ga tuh?! Sekarang tinggal tunggu judul baru, Suster yang Tertendang.

Ini trailernya. Sengaja dibikin semi-dokumenter gitu biar makin gres.

Klo masalah model pakean sih gue ngangguk-ngangguk. Apa yang dibilang ama dia emang ampir semuanya bener. Berhubung eike bukan Ivan Gunawan, jadinya tampak sulit untuk berkomentar lebih masalah fasyong. Begitu juga dengan masalah sotoy, pada umumnya orang Korea yang gue temui di sini sangat bangga dengan negara mereka, yang wajar tentunya. Cuma kadang jatohnya jadi sotoy. Ini emang ngeselin. Misalnya aja, beberapa orang Korea sini bangga banget mereka punya 4 musim. Yaelah, di Indonesia mah musim ada belasan kali. Mau apa? Dari musim hujan, musim kemarau, musim rambutan, ampe musim layangan aja ada! Untungnya sih gue ga dikelilingi orang-orang macem begini. Dan semoga saja ngga akan.

Musim Mas Group pun ada di Indonesia! Punya ga lo? Hah? *nyolot*

Yang terakhir masalah budaya dan heritage Korea. Ini yang menurut gue salah banget nih. Korea itu sebenernya kaya akan kebudayaan dan sejarah! Tau Three Kingdoms? Itu lho, yang di Cina, yang Kerajaan Wei, Shu, ama Wu. Yang dibikin game bacok-bacokan anti-stres dan beberapa film. Nah! Three Kingdoms itu juga ternyata ada di Korea! Baru tau? Wajar, wong jarang banget diekspos. Bahkan salah satu kerajaan Three Kingdoms-nya Korea pernah jadi sekutunya Wei, untuk kemudian jadi musuhnya juga.

Lah ini malah ada semacem gamenya! Baru tau juga gue!

Intinya pada exposure kata gue, klo exposurenya lama, jadinya lebih lama juga kesempatan cahaya untuk masuk ke kamera. Eh. Maap, lagi pengen punya DSLR soalnya. Kita ga pernah ato jarang denger sejarah epik Korea karena emang jarang dibahas. Entar kapan-kapan gue bahas seru-serunya deh masalah sejarah kerajaan Korea. Klo niat. Hahaha.

In the middle of the supportive spirit of this day, I found out a sad, very unfair news emerging from my Twitter timeline. To make things even worse, the news is from my beloved country, Indonesia.

So here’s the thing. The child of a man, who is HIV positive, got accepted into Don Bosco elementary school at Kelapa Gading. But then, today, this man, Fajar Jasmin, got a text message from a representative of that school. Below is the screencap of that message, which he also tweeted before.

The text message basically told Mr. Jasmin and his wife, Leonnie Flora Merinsca, that “with a heavy heart, we have cancelled our decision on accepting Imi (the child’s name) as a student of Don Bosco elementary school“. The school’s representative stated that the cause of this incident is that “some of the parents of other students object the presence of Imi“.

If this is not a discrimination, I don’t know what it is. Oh wait, may be it is a very naked discrimination. The most important thing is that Imi got accepted at first! Then, just because the father’s HIV positive, Imi got denied the deserved enrollment. I think that Mr. Jasmin would feel less agitated if the discrimination was against him, but this is against his child! C’mon, what parents would stand idle if their children got discriminated? And the child is not even at fault here!

What I found most disgracing about the school (and maybe also the school foundation) is that they hide and cower behind the back of “other student’ parents“. That’s just plain low. For Jesus Christ’s sake, they just denied themselves the right to give proper education, leave alone as school. IMHO, as school they should have fight the prejudice and discrimination, not promoting it like this.

One of my friend said that “one of the solution is to meet with other parents and explain about AIDS, etc and convince them that the child won’t be a harm to the community”. It may be one of the solution, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s only escalating the level of discrimination. For me the best solution is THE SCHOOL. The school should have the courage to break this wall of false paradigm and assumptions about AIDS! Break the wall of discrimination! At least for me, that what’s being a school means! If they don’t have enough courage to do it, don’t even bother teaching the students about moral conducts, they’ve failed at giving example, thus would make them hypocrites.

Mr. Jasmin seemed to plan to take legal actions for this incident and by God, I’m with him. I can’t do much, I know. I can only help spreading the words. And if any of you want to help Mr. Jasmin for this case, you can contact him (@fajarjasmin) or his wife (@LeonnieFM) at Twitter. May the discrimination falters and the glory of embracing others reigns!

ps: Dear Sir, that’s one cool name your child got. Props to you and your wife.

So my message for Indonesian ELF is start saving up your money and start praying for a persevering promoter, since I know that SuperShow is quite complicated on the preparation. Oh, and please don’t be jealous with Agnes Monica, she deserves all the attention given by Choi Siwon. I mean, at least she got more followers than him on Twitter.

And Agnes, just persuade Siwon so that you two can come out of the closet about your relationship. *evil grin*

Well, it’s from official website of CNBLUE and is basically written in Hangeul. But I know some of the words, and as soon as I read the “취소” in the first sentence I know it’s not a good news. That “취소” means cancel, and using the help of reliably unreliable Google Translate, I soon found out what the notice is about.

So basically the main points of that announcement are:
1st sentence – “The 26 November 2011 CNBLUE Asia Tour concert in Indonesia is cancelled.”
2nd paragraph – “The Indonesian promoter violates the contract and FNC MUSIC can’t be ready for the show due to lack of trust. The requirements for the performance has not been met by the promoter.” (I’m not sure of my understanding of the second sentence)
3rd paragraph – “I know that this decision will disappoint the local fans of CNBLUE who has been waiting for this. I am terribly sorry for causing this disappointment.“
4th paragraph – “To all the Indonesian fans who has been waiting for the show, I would like to say my apologies. If the problem with the local promoter has been resolved, we will promise to do a concert in Indonesia.”
5th paragraph – “Due to the cancellation of the show, once again I apologize.”

Well. That’s that. Now we just have to wait for the official statement from the promoter. Credits to Dito for the heads-up.

=== UPDATE ===

The local promoter, Starlight, has released official statement regarding the cancellation of CNBLUE 2011 Asia Tour Concert in Jakarta, Indonesia. According to them, “During the preparation period of this event, we have tried to fulfill requirements and requests of the artist’s management (FNC MUSIC )  which often change at the last minutes. “, they continued, “We have done our best so that this concert could proceed as planned, by trying to fulfill all conditions and options which have given until D-3 of the concert. But in the end, the artist’s management still decided to stop all preparation and cancel this concert.”

The Indonesian promoter then ended their official statement with remarks of apology, “We, as promoter, apologize deeply for this incident. Especially to those who have been disadvantaged morally and materially, such as the fans, media, and sponsors. We are fully responsible for those who have bought the ticket for the concert. Refund mechanism of the ticket money will be announced as soon as possible.”

My opinion? First, FNC MUSIC should tell the Indonesian fans about the “requirements” that can’t be fulfilled by Starlight. After that’s exposed, I’ll say my words. Until then, it’s no one’s fault. Sometimes shit just happens.

Sometimes, a gent is confident enough to approach such lady, unknowingly being the first to come close. I, milady, am not one of those gents. Yet.

You, milady, have the riches, the position, and much higher view of society. While I, well, am simply ordinary man contemplating about you.

If our life was tales of children’s bedtime, I would gladly offer my companionship. Alas, this is the real world we’re living on, is it not?

“Flowers need water, girls need love and compliments, men need to feel strong. –simple”, you quoted. Ah, sweet words milady, sweet words. Simple as they are. But of course, simple is obviously a subjective adjective. And I beg to differ.

Men need to feel strong. That I concur. But your presence never fails to wane mine. As the wise says, men wilt before women.

Milady, we are strangers to each other; with me knowing so little of you from the words and pictures scattered in this realm of infinite bounds, and having a perfect anonymity with you. Alongside my song for your absolution, I admit of my fondness to you; yet what is my confession but a congregation of words.

For now, I still do not have the heart, nor the riches, to construct the bridge. But if God gave consent, we will find “us”, together. I would sincerely hope, well, I don’t think I have anything yet to be hoped for, haven’t I? Thus, ends my complacent sentiment of our non-existent acquaintance. Thank you.

Sunny replied allusively, “Of course anyone will be different (before and after make-up). But they are truly goddesses (of make-up)”, bringing laughter to the set as SNSD is quite known for their pretty no-makeup face, like Tiffany or Sooyoung. However, Boom suddenly added, “For me, Hyoyeon is pretty“, leading to a curious atmosphere.

Netizen, who watched Boom sudden compliment to Hyoyeon’s good looks, gave comments like “another selfishness in tv shows by Boom“, “Hyoyeon is (indeed) pretty, right?“, “will Boom and Hyoyeon form a loveline together in Invincible Youth 2?“, etc.

Boom and Hyoyeon are scheduled together to film Invincible Youth 2. This variety show will be aired on KBS2 TV starting from November 12.

Source + Photo: newsen.com
Translation: myself

So well, the date was August 14, 2011. A VERY MEANINGFUL DATE to me from now on. At that time the moslems have already entered the holy month of Ramadhan, meaning that they have to fast from sunrise until sunset (CMIIW on this). Thus, some Twibies and Twiboys (nicknames for the fans of Chibi, which is the nickname for Cherrybelle), worked together and presented an fast breaking event in Jakarta to bond Twibies with each other, also together with the Chibi themselves. Please do note that by fast breaking, I mean to eat after fasting, not doing a long range quick pass in basketball.

Nope, definitely not this.

Basically something like this. Or at least kinda look like this.

So I arrived at OBeKitchen, Rawamangun (which was the venue) alone. So I promptly called my friend Mawan who bought the pass for me, to meet me in front of the venue. After I registered in the booth outside, Mawan guided me to his seat. Very fortunately, his seat was the front most seat in the venue! Why was this so fortunate? Dude, I’d be sitting beside him. What that means? You do the math. Hahaha.

Anyway, while waiting for Cherrybelle to come, we were copying some SNSD ISO files. Yep, we just couldn’t leave those other 9 from Korea. Hahaha. As the time went by, OBeKitchen started to be full of Twibies and Twiboys. Apparently, the fans weren’t only from Jakarta. Some even came from other islands, such as Sulawesi and Sumatra. Kudos to them. The good thing was Twibi Bandung also came which just added people that I know, so that I could chat some more while waiting for Chibi to arrive at the venue.

Left-right: Big Boss Lola, Turkish Camel Bima, and myself.

The event started with Chibi’s producers, Mr. Dino & Mr. Teguh, explaining to us about the history of Cherrybelle. But somehow the topic abruptly changed in the middle of discussion. Too bad, I actually wanted to know about the order the members got into Cherrybelle. Well, not so long after that Cherrybelle arrived and took the seat in front of the venue.  Did I mention that I got one of the front-most seat? Well, to give you an idea, my distance to Chibi was not greater than 10 meters. The closest member even only like 3 or 4 meters away from me. I could really see them UP CLOSE. And my gawd, they’re so gorgeous!! *falls in love with each member*

This close! And, no I wasn’t zooming. I actually have to lean backward at extreme angle so that all members of Cherrybelle could fit in this picture.

Well the event started with a door prize lucky draw. My draw number was 74 and another Twibi’s was 76. And two of the numbers drawed by Chibi were 75 and 77. Imagine how frustated we were! I even unconsciously said the “F” word, quite loud I guess, since I think one of Chibi retorted back with “Eh!!”. *sowwie* One of the lucky guys was none other than my friend, Mawan. But he only participated a little in the games! Why, Mawan, why?!?! The winner was a little girl, who danced to Chibi‘s “Beautiful” with quite exact moves, tho kinda expressionless. Hahaha.

Cherrybelle with the winner girl! And she’s still expressionless in here. xD
I have to take 2 pics since I couldn’t fit them all in 1 shot. Told you I was CLOSE.

After the games, if I’m not mistaken, Chibi gave some talks. And then they performed one of their song, “Beautiful“. By this time, I already remembered the lyrics since their songs were continuously played on loop when we were waiting for them to come. And since I was in front, and was singing along with great spirit, one of their members, Christy, spotted me and said to the mic, “Nih kayanya ada yang udah afal banget nih!” (rough trans: “I think we got someone who already memorized the lyrics”). And as I hoped that she meant me, she really walked towards me, looked at me, and when the chorus came, she gave me the mic!! And the scene went like this:

Me: (singing) You are beautiful~
Christy: Makasih! (trans: Thank you)
Me: (singing) Beautiful~
Christy: Makasih! (trans: Thank you)
Me: (still singing) Beautiful~ Kamu cantik, cantik, dari hatimu~
Christy: Waa, makasih banget yaa! (trans: Woo, thanks a lot!)

And she said all those lines with her oh-so-soothing voice, while staring looking at me with her oh-so-lovely eyes. When she took the mic away to sing again, I was breathless already. She took all my oxygen away. Well, okay, not all, I’d be dead if she did. Hahaha.

After they performed, it was time for the Moslem’s to break their fast. And so Anisa and Christy led the prayers to break the fast. It’s actually quite amusing how well versed Christy was saying those prayers. *charmed* Then one by one Twibies & Twiboys queued up to take the meals. At this time, Cherrybelle suddenly rushed forward and greeted the fans personally! Being in front, I was one of the first fans to be greeted, and I still remember that the first Chibi who greeted me was Cherly and then Wenda. To surprise me even more, when we got up to take our meals, all of Cherrybelle members actually came by and took a random seat, and basically ate together with the fans.

It’s not enough for them to sit so close to us, and they got even CLOSER!! Still remember how lucky Mawan was? Well, he got even more lucky. His seat was taken by Wenda! Sure he couldn’t sit, but he got all the reason to be close to her at that time! Mawan, you lucky bastard! Even some Chibi already recognized him, tho most mispronounced his name to Marwan. Hahaha. I was actually accompanying him standing, since another fan took my seat. Since I’m a cool person, I let him to seat and enjoy himself. After a few minutes standing, I got a seat. And when I sat and started to eat, I realized that I had the best seat of the house. Why? Because Wenda was sitting on my left and Devi was on my right! Devi even asked, “Eh, baru makan sekarang?” (rough trans: Eh? You only eat now?). How sweet of her. *starting to melt*

Two pics of Wenda. My gawd she’s so beautiful.

Me with Chibi‘s dancing machine, Gigi. She’s my favorite member!!
Devi‘s at the far back. xD

After we stuffed ourselves with the meals (it’s quite delicious actually, the “sambel kecap” rocked!), we were asked to sit in our own seats by the MC. Then came the moment of truth. The interview session. I already made up my mind that I have to make some memories here, so I just raised my hand when the opportunity came. Thankfully, tho the MCs were kinda looking somewhere else, some Chibi noticed me and said to the MC to give the first opportunity to me. I could only say “FUCK FUN YEAH!” in my heart that time! Hahaha.

Cherrybelle with the producers in the interview session.

So I went forward, and I asked a simple question to Gigi. I asked, “Which do you like more? Jabbawockeez or Quest Crew? And what’s the reason?”. I knew already that her favorite crew of ABDC is IaMmE Crew, so I asked her to choose between two of my favorites. She answered Quest Crew because of the tutting, while she answered a Chibi asked her to demonstrate the moves. Thus she came forward and explained various dance moves by doing it. After that my turn was basically over, but as she walked back to the seat, I encouraged myself to say, “Klo gitu kapan-kapan kita battle ya.” (rough trans: Then next time we should battle.). Unexpectedly, Chibi‘s reacting so quick and told me to battle with Gigi at that very moment! My thought at that time? God must be giving me too much luck today. *woot woot* My answer? Hell yeah! So me and Gigi stood up and faced each other, waiting for the music to be played.

Curious about how the battle proceeded? Well, see for yourself. xD

I AM SO THRILLED WITH THAT!!! Even now, I’m always giggling like a five year old seeing that clip. Gigi called me to start first, so I started with simple moves and ended it with a mini-flip. She retorted with some krumping, popping, and finished it with one handed freeze. I then flipped out my waves. She fought back also with popping. Wanting to do something more, I tried to do a freeze, which was a fail actually. Hahaha. After that, SOMEHOW, Cherly came out! She danced, while WALKING towards me. I could only rode the wave and danced with her, club-like. Then she unexpectedly launched a high kick and SPLIT! Damn, she knows that it’s virtually IMPOSSIBLE for me to do split. Hahaha. As I was thinking on how to retort back, Chibi and the crowd were cheering for Angel to come out. She really came out and did the sexy dance not more than 1 meter in front of me! Knowing that the song’s gonna end soon, I went out on my last set, doing a little six-step and topped it off with a clockwise.

Phew! That was very, very tiring. I mean, look at me (the guy in black tee, if you still haven’t recognized me yet), I am BIG! Even if Felly and Ryn are weighed together, I’ll still be heavier. That’s why I always prefer to do upper moves like waves. Hahaha. But trust me, that dance battle was one of the best 4 minutes of my life!!

After the interview, there’s a photo session with the members, but the Twibies and Twiboys were so excited that I didn’t have any room to take pictures with the members. I honestly wanted to say that this could be my last time seeing them, but I didn’t want to ruin someone else’s joy so I just stayed still and chatted with my friends instead. Other than that, I was busy finding a way to buy their mini-album, because there’d be a signing session later. With the help of Mr. Teguh and some friendly staffs, I managed to buy 3 mini-albums (other 2 are for my friends in Korea) and stacked ‘em on the soon-to-be signed mini-albums.

Left-right: Gigi, Angel, Cherly. The ones who defeated my heart me  in the battle.

Left-right: Anisa, Ryn, Felly. Gotta love Ryn’s face in this pic. xD

Left-right: Devi, Christy, Wenda. Them smiles melted your heart right away, didn’t they.

Finally it’s time to end the event as Cherrybelle has to go to shoot their FTV. The final session was a group photo session. It was divided to Chibi with Twibies and Chibi with Twiboys. When it was Twiboys turn, as I moved close, Cherly noticed me and said, “Men, elo, asik!” (rough trans: “Dude, you, are, cool!”). Stunned by her words, I could only reply, “Elo, juga, asik!” (rough trans: “You, are, cool, also!”).

And with the end of the group photo session, it was a wrap for the event. It was a great event! I made some new friends, and befriend with the rumoured Chibi‘s 10th member, Cheuw. Hahaha. She really got her way with Chibi. A very skillful master of cunningness.

In my point of view, this event was a VERY MEANINGFUL event to me. Not only because I managed to live my dream of dance battling with Gigi and seeing Cherrybelle in person. But also because that this event might be my LAST event with Cherrybelle. Well, at least for the next two years. Why? Because I got a Master’s degree scholarship and will study in South Korea, from September 2011 to March 2013. And I’m not planning to go back to Indonesia during my study. Thus rendering me impossible to see Cherrybelle in person after this event. T_T

But I will keep on supporting Cherrybelle with my all I could! I will become the first(?) K-Twiboys and I will gladly spearhead the advancement of Cherrybelle in South Korea. For now, I think Cherrybelle has already got 3 K-Twiboys including me, but with that kind of potential, I’m positive that many will fall in love with your charms, uniquely to each one of you. And with that in mind, I’ll be praying for all of you. If it’s not too much too ask, please also pray for me for my study and life in here.

CHIBI, CHIBI, CHIBI!!! HAK! HAK! HAK! HAAAK!!!

notes:
LQ photos are credited to me. xD
HQ Photos with cheuwlicious watermark are credited to Cheuw.
YouTube clip is fully credited to Cheuw. Except for the moves.

So it was on July 25, the very next day of the concert. But this time, Yoshizawa Hitomi and Ishikawa Rika would greet us not as Hangry&Angry, but as members of Dream Morning Musume. Once again, I went to the venue with Yuda. The venue is at Nasi Goreng Kemang. The scheduled time of the fanmeet was on 12 PM. Since we’re afraid (and hoping at the same time) that there’s no seating class, we went quite early and arrived at the venue around 11.30 AM.  By the time we arrived, the venue was still closed and we’re told to wait at nearby McDonalds. The Japanese fans were already inside and apparently they didn’t feel right and came out to say sorry, but since they’re the guest in our country, we said that we’re okay with that and told them to wait inside the venue.

A few french fries (and a beef burger) later, we’re told to go to the venue by Mr. Ki of Nagaraja. And so we queued up nicely, giving example that Indonesian COULD actually queue. And after a little wait, the door was opened and we entered and registered one by one.

Entering the venue. The man in blue shirt is Yuda. =P

The VIP and VVIP ticket holders were to enter first and choose their own seat. And of course, they chose the front-most seats.

The VVIPs and VIPs taking their seats.

Then 1st Class and K1 ticket holders were told to enter, but as I remembered, there’s none of them in the queue. K2 ticket holders were next, and luckily I got a seat right in the middle, so nothing’s obstructing my view to the stage.

I am the one in the brown batik shirt.

After all of the attendees were seated, the MC greeted us and after some chit-chats, she told us that the drinks were free and we could help ourselves to it. “Free” has a very good ring to it and since it’s Jakarta, it’s super hot. So all of us got up from our seats and rushed to the drinks dispenser.

View of the venue from the back. The girl at the very front is (obviously) the MC.

Refreshed by the drinks (tho the orange juice was too concentrated, making me even more thirsty), we sat again, and then the MC greeted us once again. This time, she also announced that Up-Front Agency was quite surprised with our vigorous welcome spirit to Yoshizawa Hitomi and Ishikawa Rika. Thus, they also made a surprise for the fans who have gathered. This was the surprise: They played the Dream Morning Musume Concert DVD for us! And they told us that Indonesian fans (along with Japanese fans who attended) were the FIRST group of fans EVER to watch it! A GREAT HONOR FOR US!!! THANK YOU UFA!!!

Knowing that we just couldn’t take it anymore. As the songs from the concert keep playing, we joined forces with the Japanese fans and did what Hello!Project fans would do: WOTAGEI!!!

Hats off to the elder fans! Age didn’t stop them to do what they really want to do.

After a few songs and powerful wotagei moves, the MC told us to sit because Ishikawa Rika and Yoshizawa Hitomi would soon come to the stage. And those words were true, to the core. Not long after we were back at our seats and busy catching our breath, the side door opened, and from it came two gorgeous ladies who are the 4th generation members of Morning Musume.

WE FINALLY GOT TO SEE THEM IN PERSON!!!

Those two gorgeous ladies I’m talking about.

Yossy with her casual pale green t-shirt and blue jeans. Rika with a casual dress which gave out spring feeling. When they came out, I promptly pulled out a photobook (Kago-Nono Grad Concert PB) that I brought with me, flipped the pages for Rika, and when I got it I showed it. She obviously saw it as she suddenly giggled in (a very cute) embarrassed manner. I also showed Yossy‘s but she was so composed and only gave me a smirk.

The MC asked about how they feel in Jakarta, and Yossy said that Jakarta was very hot! But our cheers were able to overcome the heat thus making her more spirited. A funny thing happened when Rika was asked a question and we cheered loudly at her answer. She then asked in a confused manner if we really understood what she said. Her expression at that time was just too cute. After a few questions, they were leaving the stage to prepare for a performance later on.

A really strange thing happened when I waved at them as they went backstage. My throat got dried up, my chest felt like it’s closing in, and my eyes were hot. A split second later, I cried. I literally cried. I really didn’t know why, I just cried. Apparently I cried quite much since my friends told me that my face was so red when I told them I was crying.

But the Concert DVD was playing one more time so I went to the back with some tears still lingering in the corner of my eyes. And we did our fair share of Wotagei once more.

The banners we brought. Credits to members of MMI who created it.

After a few songs, the MC then called Rika-Yossy back on stage once more. They did another interview, and one of the question was “Since some members of DoriMusu are already married, what is your ideal type of guy?”. If I’m not mistaken, Rika‘s answer was a kind guy. While Yossy‘s answer was a guy with strength. At her answer, I rolled up my sleeve and flexed my bicep, tho my bicep muscle is pretty much covered with fat. xD

But to my amusement, Yossy looked at me, flexed her bicep, and pointed at me. At that time, I was so sure that she’s a wizard. Just by pointing at me, she made me weak and all fluttery. But it’s either she’s a wizard, or I was just too carried away with her reaction.

A few chats later, they told us that they’d be performing a song from UFA. And they sung UFA’s post-quake song “Ai wa Katsu“. Being struck by this song after the quake, we quickly sang together with them. And once again, Indonesian fans took them by surprise. Yossy and Rika were obviously surprised and excited that we could follow them singing “Ai wa Katsu“. Along the song, they both sometimes look at each other with what I called wow-they-know-this-song-too expression. And at the end of the song, we shouted “Ganbarou! Nippon!”, and as expected they were also taken aback by that.

Yossy and Rika in the 2nd Interview session.
The girl in the wheelchair is Rika’s Japanese fan. Salutations.

The funny thing was that near the end of the song, I couldn’t help myself but to feel extremely happy by the fact that all these years I’ve been dreaming to see them in real life and now there they were, standing on a stage no farther than 5 meters away from me. All that happiness suddenly rushed into me, so much that I couldn’t contain it. It overflowed out of me, taking form of tears. And the magical thing happened: I wept. I wept so much, almost like a 5 years old. The more I tried to stop, the more tears flowed. When the song ended, my eyes were already filled with tears that my vision got blurred. As I lowered my head to wipe my tears, suddenly I heard Rika’s voice. “Nakanaide”. I instantly raised my head, and yes, she’s looking at me. She actually asked me not to cry. Ishikawa Rika, a member of Dream Morning Musume, personally told me not to cry.

Tell me:
HOW COULD I NOT CRY OF HAPPINESS AFTER THAT!!!!

But after a while my emotion was stabilized. I could control myself and think clearly. And by that time, the fanmeet session has come to an end. And UFA surprised us once again by holding a hand-shake session while each of us went out of the venue. So I went, still half sniffing, and I really shook hands with both Yossy and Rika! Yossy‘s hands were so delicate, as delicate as her fair skin. While Rika was rather on the strong side, matching her more tanned complexion.

Yossy and Rika during the hand-shake session.

As I went out, my friend Vicky was waiting for me, knowing that -at that time- I was emotionally unstable. And she guessed it right, right after I saw her, I hugged her, and once again, tears came out. Surprisingly, for me, after I regained control of myself, I saw quite some people were also in tears.

It’s funny how you could create a domino effect of emotion. But I am so sure, that all the tears we’ve teared that day, they were surely Tears of Happiness.

And that day, July 25, 2011, will always be etched in my memories. As the day when universe helped me to live a long lost dream. The day to remind me that a dream, no matter how impossible it seems, can be achieved if we have faith in it.

notes:
Thumbnailed and smaller pictures can be clicked to see the bigger version of the pictures.
All pictures are not mine. All pictures are credited as tagged by the watermark. No copyright infringement intended. For more HQ pictures, please visit CLAS:H Official Website.

I went to Balai Kartini at 2 PM with my friend Yuda. Since we’re riding on a motorcycle and I’ve noted down the fastest route, we got into the venue at around 3 PM. When we entered the venue, the 1st Floor was already full with cosplayers. I won’t rant about the cosplayers in this post, but some cosplayers were really good. My favorites are Ezio Auditore of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Trafalgar Law and Bepo of One Piece, Xing Cai and Yue Ying of Dynasty Warriors, Master Chief of Halo, and short-haired Stocking of Panty&Stocking w/ Garterbelt.

After a quick look on the 1st Floor, we went up to the 2nd Floor where Morning Musume Indonesia got a booth, beside I No Arashi‘s. We waited for some more as the 2nd Floor got more crowded with people and cosplayers who wanted to attend the Cosplay Competition. Around this time crews of Nagaraja came and opened up a booth selling Hangry & Angry goodies. The goodies sold were t-shirts, albums, tote bags, photocards, bromides (I guess), fans, posters, and guitar-pick necklaces. The prices were considerably inexpensive, but I could only buy one poster despite my urge to buy the album (TWO albums for IDR 250.000!!!). The poster, with only IDR 50.000 price tag, turned us into hungry wolves which was given juicy meat! It quickly drew a long line of queue and was sold out in less then 10 minutes.

After that some of us, including me, went outside to find something to eat. Yes, we were hungry. We found a small place to eat, but it took quite some time walking there. So when we headed back to Balai Kartini, me and my friend, Arin, decided to buy donuts. Just in case.

A few hours gone by and the Cosplay Competition was over. As the cosplayers came out of the room, we (MMI and InA) were busy closing down our booths. And since no event would be complete without taking pictures, we decided to gather around to take a picture of both fandom. Surprisingly, as we took pictures of us, a man with a camcorder, who was suspected to be a UFA crew, keep on recording us. Then Mr. Ki of Nagaraja told us to shout “Hangry! Angry!”, so we did. And we did it too excitedly that we almost forgot that we had to save our energy for the performance. Hahaha.

Morning Musume Indonesia with I no Arashi @ CLAS:H
Photo by murasaki @ MMI

Since we already suspected that a UFA crew was recording what we’re doing, I thought that we might as well do the chant that Hello! Project artists used to do when they’re going to perform. So I asked all of the members to form a circle, and being fans, we already knew that we’re gonna do the “Dancing! Singing! Exciting!” chant. It was great! The circle was quite big and I knew that we shouted “Dancing! Singing! Exciting!” from our lungs! Hopefully it was recorded and UFA can see how excited we are to have UFA artists in here.

Me, being appointed to lead the chant.
Photo by lancer_evolution @ MMI

Then came the moment that we’ve been waiting for. The doors for the performance of Hangry & Angry was opened. Having only tribune ticket, some of us opted to stay outside of queue and waited until all but us were in. When we finally entered the room, we were told to go to the farthest seat back, which we deserved. And so we went to the back and tried to pick a seat in the middle of the row. But near the start of the performance, the officials decided to push the audience forward to fill in the empty seats in VIP/1st Class section. And so we rushed forward to be nearer to the stage. Thanks to that, I felt 1st Class with only IDR 100.000. YAY!!

Choky Sitohang greeted us as the MC and I have to say that he was quite an MC. I bet he didn’t know shit about Hangry & Angry, or if he knew, it gotta be very limited. But he handled the starving crowd very well. He introduced the opening act for Hangry & Angry that night, Honey Beats. Quite a good choice, since they cooled down the venue with their music, which were mostly loungy. One of my friend, Bamz, got touched so deep with their music that he fell asleep. Hahaha.

After them, came the moment of truth. The FIRST, EVER, performance of Hangry & Angry in Indonesia. They came on stage with their Reconquista outfit.

Hangry & Angry on stage
Photo by MakoPYON. More photos at his blog.

And here’s the performance list (thanks to gwbiasaaja @ MMI):
1. Reconquista. As expected with their outfit. They really used handcuffs and megaphones for this performance.
2. Top Secret. We shouted “TOP SECRET!” as loud as we could here.

MC Segment 1.
Yossy seemed to be quite surprised that most of us could sing along to both Reconquista and Top Secret. If I’m not mistaken, she even asked us (in Japanese), “The song is new. How did you know that song?”, she continued, “Do you know it from internet?”. Most of us being stupefied by their presence could only cheer as a response. And Yossy replied, “Sugoi desu ne”. Then Rika came and announced the title for the next song.

3. Angelia. Things were heating up. We began chanting “L-O-V-E. LOVELY YOSSY/RIKA”. And I started to jump and clap.
4. Lady Madonna. They used fans in this perf. My gawd, Rika really knew how to dance seductively! Everytime she went down, the crowd went crazy! And they threw their fans to the fans (pun intended) near the end! Lucky are those who got the fans!
5. Sadistic Dance. THE FIRST SONG I KNEW FROM THE SONGLIST! I went as crazy as I could be: jumping, shouting, you name it. No rest at all for this song.

MC Segment 2
Yossy shouted, “JAKARTA SAIKOU!” and of course we responded with loud shouts! Then, if I’m not mistaken, she said that Jakarta is hot, but she is impressed with the high-spirited crowd who came to watch them. Then Rika, Charmy as she is, suddenly shouted, “SAYA SUKA NASI GORENG!”, to which we loudly cheered on. She continued on with “SAYA SUKA MI GORENG!” and I guess Yossy, being curious, asked Rika about her shouts and Rika seemingly told her to just try it. Thus, Yossy shouted, “SAYA SUKA NASI GORENG!”. Hahahaha. Then they got together and shouted, “SAYA SUKA JAKARTA!”, which of course drew another hot response from us. Lastly, they held out and read a letter, which suprisingly in Indonesian:

Yossy: “Halo Jakarta.” (YAAYY!!!) ” Terima kasi tera memanggiru Hangry & Angry ke Jakaruta” (YAAYY!!!)
Rika: “Murai sekarangu, kami mau konsaato di banyak tempat di depan karian” (YAAAYYY!!!)

6. Mr. Monkey. They addressed the crowd! They pointed their fingers continuously at us! Everyone started to tell that either Yossy or Rika were pointing at them. Hahaha.
7. Romantic ni Violence. I was catching my breath at this time.
8. The Peace. A song which every Momusu fan should know! I got pumped right back on! Shouting “Peace, Peace!” and other chants for the song!

The Peace was their last song. But knowing Hello! Project, we all shouted “Encore! Encore! Encore!”. And as expected, they came back on stage, and did:

9. Kiss Me, Kill Me. YAAAAYYY!!! A superb finish! I went all out! Expending all energy I got left in me. Hahahaha.

Well, after their performance, the VVIP ticket holders were given chance to take pictures together and do hand-shake with them. I just waited outside with fellow tribune ticket holders. Hahaha. After our VVIP ticket holders friends got out of the hand-shake room, we got together with the Japanese fans who also came and attended Hangry & Angry performance to take picture together. Kudos for the Japanese fans and us!! I hope the bond between Indonesian and Japanese fans of Hello! Project will get stronger and stronger by the days!

And after I got back in my house, I couldn’t help myself but to get excited for the fan-meet on Monday.

Btw, for Indonesian fans, here’s an article about them in HaloJepang.com.