2015: Year in Review

2015 went in a blast. This is my year in review.

1. January: spent my celebrating the new year at my hotel room in a hotel at Jerusalem while wondering about the political safety between the tension of Palestine and Israel. Was pretty inspired by Jordan and thankful for its weather. Finished my Omra trip and thankful for the opportunity to see the holy places and for getting a good dose of traveling experience.
2. February: finally going to Yogyakarta for the first time with my parents and my dad’s siblings. Started my fourth semester and at the same time is focusing on my blog: journaldelajournee.blogspot.com and caught up with my high school friends. Legit does not understand anything about the lectures I’ve taken.
3. March: the least productive month. I cannot recall anything much from this month except for being so frazzled in the midst of bad organizational structure of a particular committee.
4. April: got hospitalized for appendicitis and had to miss the first mid-term test of the semester and feeling grateful for it. Was involved in an event which I’m not very proud about, but it is a good lesson for saying ‘no’.
5. May: my brother turned seventeen, which is a big deal. Began taking care of my physical fitness (but not really). Finally catching up for a lot more time with my campus friends.
6. June: finals coming in and was pretty frantic, was posting the least amount of post within that month. Began the month of Ramadhan, however, was inflicted as I don’t feel very spiritual about it this year. Began taking up new responsibility on an event.
7. July: learned so much about legal studies with my seniors, and was pretty upset for the fact that I don’t have enough comprehension as my peer on the major I’m pursuing. On another note, finally earned my first commission from blogging. Celebrated one of the (what I felt) the most festive Ied al-Fitr with my family and were very thankful of the long break from school. Regretted not taking an internship, but I know that I was not ready.
8. August: getting back on the groove of being an MC and is an amazing confidence booster. Getting a lot more serious with my classes as semester 5 began. An awesome month with good food, good company, good spirit. Met a lot of new people and learned so much. Begun sending out postcard as a new hobby.
9. September: went to my first concert in YEARS and enjoyed my heart out. Finally going out to more event, whether alone or with others and appreciated more Jakarta scenery.
10. October: had one of the worst birthday ever. The month pass by so slowly and left no good impression. The first published version of this post even forgot to include the month October on the list as it was so unremarkable. This also becomes a reminder that I’m now a grown adult in my 20s, but being older, I weirdly embrace my more child-like interests and became more expressive after an emotional breakdown. My friends said it’s a good thing for the timid me, but I don’t know.
11. November: Finally got a knack of Go-Jek’s Go-Food as I had so many take outs. Finally feling good about being in a law school. Hosted one of the funnest event. Spent too much money but I got all its worth on books, foods and experiences. Begun writing stories again and felt super inspired.
12. December: done with fifth semester and were very chill about finals (I don’t know whether it is a good or a bad sign) and pretty busy preparing for a winter program in South Korea due to uncooperative campus administrative system. Pretty excited for the new year which I know I’ll be spending at home because I don’t like staying out late. Ha!

What I wish I would do more in the following year:

• To watch a lot more movies. I missed out so many blockbusters and local film in 2015.
• To practice taking more pictures.
• To write and write more.
• To take independent classes outside campus.
• To learn more language.
• To earn my own money.
• To gain professional experiences.
• To edit more films.
• To study effectively.
• To be more and more inspired!
• To be more committed to exercising (and… diet)
• To have more fun.
• To stay ever grateful.
• To nurture my spirituality.

Now I’m pretty excited to welcome 2016! How about you, what is your 2015 in review? :-)

A Little Rant from An Old Friend

It was November 21st where I got a bunch of notifications from multiple people asking me the same question: “Have you watched Digimon Tri? What do you think about it?” Being an avid Digimon fan since the year 2000, had finished the whole animes for multiple times and despite never being into the games except some few, my friends would share their excitement with me when it comes to Digimon. I cried when I heard Toei Animation announced they’re making Digimon Adventure Tri — a new installment which follows the continuation of Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure Zero Two, set in 2005 where the kids had become teenagers.

By that very date, my trackpad actually broke that I panicked for not being able to watch the first movie of the six-part OVA (or the four episode specials, for us international viewer) as soon as possible. Then it comes to the time when I finally begun to watch in anticipation. Wada Kouji’s new rendition of Butterfly began and I also began to cry. This is it: they’ve grown up. All of us grew up and this is the little present from them to me, to allow me to see them and caught up to them. I wrote this post as I am listening to the Digimon Adventure soundtrack playing on my iTunes. This feels so dear to my heart, but the thing is after the first movie, Digimon Tri does not make me feel nostalgic. There I said it.

Taichi (or Tai, whatever you want to call him) grew up to someone that I do not longer recognize. Sure he still plays soccer, sure he still has a crazy hair, sure he had his goggles tact to his neck. But the moment we all see him so indecisive about his future, the scene in which we see he reluctantly began to put an offense to defend his own friends and city, the moment he hid his emotion a bit too well that he became a recluse. He became so out of character that this development can almost be considered offensive. I can totally see Daisuke (Davis) having such dilemma as it is just his character, but Taichi? Really? This is our future diplomat and knowing Taichi, he should’ve had the ambition to become a prime minister already. The only moment we saw him that vulnerable is only before Agumon evolves to Skullgreymon and that the circumstances made sense. If Taichi kept on acting that way, I won’t be surprised if Skullgreymon appears a few more times.

The character development department of Yamato (Matt) is also a bit lacking — it is as if he is the same Yamato we knew on Digimon Adventure and that Zero Two is just a dream. Compare Zero Two’s Yamato to the Tri. It is as if he hasn’t matured enough; and that he has no chill and incapable of laughing. Some of his acts were also would be more suitable for Taichi, as Yamato is supposed to be the cool one. The relationship between the characters had become so loose and it is sad to see that Yamato has to remind Taichi of their adventure in the DigiWorld as if it is nothing. His brother, Takeru (T.K.) had grown up and gotten boring. Is it just simply the consequence of growing up, to become boring?

The only characters that I think still true to the first two installments are Mimi and Koushiro (Izzy). Mimi being her sassy self is always a refreshment. Koushiro always been a nerd and it’s funny that still no one listen to him blabbing about the distortion in the Digiworld. Their hinted romance is so cute that it became one of the few things that might save this whole series. It is sad that Mimi-Koushiro is a thing and Takeru-Hikari ship are not hinted to sail. It’s like everyone’s OTP ever since the start.

Joe is a dick, as usual. It’s so sad to see him not coming to join his friends to save the world alongside with Gomamon, especially knowing that he had once missed a test to save Iori with his crest of honesty/responsibility that I think is just a meaningless title as for now. Sora, our future fashion designer who is now stuck in a love triangle dresses very poorly and still have a bad case of helmet hair. God save her. Maybe its the character design that I don’t like as a whole, but this is just sad.

The new character, Meiko is cute and so far likable. Her partner Digimon is the right balance of cute and coolness which I really look forward to. The secret organization stuff is just weird and would only make sense if the world does not freak out. I mean, remember who saved y’all from Devimon? You watched the whole trippy fights from the human world and now you’re acting surprised? As if. Go ask your local DigiDestined for consultation as they’re spread all around the world. Or are we just going to forget Zero Two at all? Even the main DigiDestined of Digimon Adventure Zero Two were only seen in a short, mysterious and dark clips that don’t give us anything.

I really hope that Digimon Adventure Tri get better by the long shot. The Digimon overall looked as cool as ever although Agumon gotten so skinny that we wonder, had he been playing in too many episodes. I hope these characters come to their senses, as the series is really about the Digimon and the DigiDestined. I am this protective as they had been such a friend since I was little and they deserve some dignity.

Should I really start writing my own fan fiction to fix this mess?