English Day

This is actually a surprising moment for me because I’m back on my computer and writing, something I don’t do much apparently. Because as you can see from my blog record I only post once a year.. hehe. It’s because I see bunch of Highschooler in the street on the other day with their uniform spray painted. So I thought “why are those kids in the street this late with their uniform spray painted?” you know it was late for highschoolers running around with spray painted shirt even though it wasn’t really late at night, well you got the point. And so I realized The National Examination was just over. (Ahh yes, when you’re in college you wouldn’t think about that much anymore, because you are in this new different level, sorry kids).

Just for your information, it’s apparently a tradition in my country where students would spray paint their uniform after the last day of National Examination. For what reason? I don’t know, maybe because it’s fun to paint spray someone’s shirt or maybe it’s like symbolic thing to finally be able to do what they want and finally not gonna wear the same white shirt everyday.

As I stumble across those kids, it kinda brought me back to my high school days. As bitter as it was, I won’t lie that I had some unforgettable moments. For an example, joining an English Club in my school. So here goes the story.

On the day of my school’s orientation they say that every new student needed to join at least one big extracurricular that they had exhibited. There was Theatre, The Red Cross, English Club, Karate.. and so much more. Those were not really my thing, but I tried to give it a chance. So I joined The English Club. I liked the club because it felt like something else other than only studying in classes and also I got to see my friends from different classes, something refreshing.

What I had in mind about English club was a group of fun, interesting and creative people, looking for foreigners to interview (basically what my elementary school did for their English Club.. that I didn’t attend to) and that was total different in high school. My high school English club was divided into three division, they were debate, speech and art division. I wanted to join arts because I thought that it was uh little tame you know, like playing scrabble, story-telling, being newscaster and so much fun things to do. But I decided not to join them, instead I chose debate division. What made me change my mind was a prep talk from one former student, she shared some of her experiences to the new bloods and I kind of saw her point, so I went for debaters.

In debate class, everything seemed a little serious, everyone was so intimidating and apparently I was a little intimidated. For an example, when I went to my –probably third lesson, a group of kids were already in their position; debating and I tell you it was pretty hectic and loud and serious, and in that moment I thought “how am I gonna survive this?” because I wasn’t that kid who has courage to say whatever they have in mind and deliver, so it was a challenge for me. Each division had their own mentor and mine was scary (at least in my head) I didn’t feel comfortable enough so I missed a lot of classes hehe.

Although I missed a lot of classes, I got the point of debating. I could write it down you know, the structure of debating,  but it’s a little complex and boring so I’m just gonna break it down for ya. So debate has three important parts, they are:

• Definition
• Argument
• Conclusion

As much as I know debating, it has two parliaments, Asian and British parliamentary. My personal favorite was British parliamentary. Each parliament consists different number of team, Asian has two teams (Government and Opposition side) while British has also two sides but they’re split into four teams, the opening and closing team. Different parliament has different teams and roles but they still hold the same three important parts in debating. Enough of the boring thing, let’s jump into the good stuff, yeah?

In my junior year (yes I continued the journey of debating) I applied myself, actually my team, for a debate competition. I was ganged up with one of my junior to win the trophy. Yes the purpose of extracurricular was for winning the trophy and hand it over to the school, contribution. It was actually my second year applying for the competition. I didn’t want to sign up at first because of what happened last year but she got no partner and she was all about it so I signed up.. (yeah it was British parliament, a team consists of two). Everything seemed all good until I got sick on the competition day (really dramatic, you see haha, but that was the truth). It was hard to get it together let alone debating when you’re sick. I was about to cancel it but seeing my partner all excited about it, I decided to go.

We arrived at the site, waiting, prepared and ready for the first prelim (I don’t know why they called it prelim tho). Somehow I got a little better for the first round, I had prepared everything from the definition and arguments, I let my partner did the conclusion. I tried really hard to get it together and I was so happy to know that we won the prelim, not the top scorer but enough to win it I guess. I was happy because our opponents were just so good in debating, they had this real cool method of speech where they didn’t read their arguments from their notes instead it seemed like it flows from their brains, some had a piece of paper and elaborate their arguments, I mean where did they get all these facts and information? It was crazy. On the second round I couldn’t help it, my head hurt so bad and the fever went up again, I couldn’t focus, my arguments were okay but I couldn’t deliver, it was like nausea. What a disappointment, I know. So we lost the game. Remember the How To Get Yourself Together blog? Yes I had mentioned that you gotta believe in yourself and be confident, I kind of like trembling on both, so I wasn’t selling anything, tsk.

The last/3^rd prelim was impromptu, it means we did not know what the motion was and they gave us about 30 minutes to an hour preparation, I can’t remember. It was something about fictional character, Doraemon, because the “Stand By Me” movie was just released and was super popular back then I guess. If I’m not mistaken, the motion was “THBT Doraemon should go back to his real home” or something, the point was what is the best decision: Doraemon stay or leave Nobita. Seeing my partner sad really got the best of me, I really gave my all for the last prelim, didn’t care if we’re gonna win or lose. Miraculously I got better and I could focus on the game again. Although it’s about Doraemon, and everyone loves Doraemon, I refused to really get into it you know at the end of the day it’s only fictional character. Everyone really got into the moment, talking about what Doraemon should have done or not, giving their best arguments but one thing that they forgot that it’s debate, logic is number one priority. And not to mention that they forgot Nobita’s fate. Guess didn’t watch the movie really brought something, yeah?

I was really glad that the competition was over, so I could get some rest. On the next Sunday morning, I got a call at 9 AM telling me that our team could continue the competition and they needed me to be there at 10AM. I hung up and I thought “what team?” and then I was like “Shitt!! I forget that they have this semifinal and grand finale thing on the next day” because I didn’t expect to be at that point at that time. So I hurried to the venue. We’re doing the impromptu again, but I couldn’t really focus because of the rush and the fever, so we lost. It felt like “we fell so hard, we’re comin’ in hot”, no? okay.

The point is I got a lot from debating from the structure of debating to the regular conversation, gaining confident, friends and experiences. It really helped my confident and self-esteem because being a debater is all about it you know. It’s something that doesn’t happen just like that, you gotta earn it. I am so happy that I chose Debate back then; maybe it would have been total different story if I chose Arts. Either way I didn’t regret the choices that I made.

That’s it for today’s blog, I hope you enjoy the story. If you want me to make a blog about Structure of Debating, you can DM me on my social media or simply write down a comment down below, I’d be happy to do so. Until then, cheers up!

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BEST FRIEND

Hey! How’s it going?
 

            I realize that it’s been a year since I posted my writing, it seems like I’m pretty consistent to keep posting once a year. Just kidding, I suck at blogs. But really the thought on writing crossed my mind a little you know, throughout the year but I just can’t—to sit, in front of my laptop and writing. You see, I’ve been a little bit occupied with school stuff and socializing and I have this thing going on, nothing to complain about, I mean FINALLY socializing! I like it really. So yeah, everybody the time of the year has arrived!! Holiday season!! Here I come, I mean you know, writing this.. Okay just let’s get into it, shall we?

According to Wikipedia the definition of best friend is:

Best friend, someone with whom one shares the strongest possible kind of friendship.

And also from Urban Dictionary:

Best Friends are very special people in your life. They are the first people you think about when you make plans. They are the first people you go to when you need someone to talk to. You will phone them up just to talk about nothing, or the most important things in your life. When you’re sad they will try their hardest to cheer you up. They give the best hugs in the world! They are the shoulder to cry on, because you know that they truly care about you. In most cases, they would take a bullet for you, because it would be too painful to watch you get hurt.

And I’m sure you have your own definition of best friend, so do I.

Anyway, I realized that I had no such a person like those criteria. I was not sure who should I call when I was down, I didn’t think I had someone in mind to go tell my bad days or even a good day. Let alone to share the strongest possible kind of friendship.

 As you can tell, my very own definition of best friend was a person who sticks with you through the ups and downs and been there with you for a very long time, that you spend most of the time with them, you grow up with them. It was uh, a little complex, but that sums up the point. As you can tell, I moved around when I was younger, my family wasn’t really settled for a reason, we moved to a city from another city, the culture confused me a bit—my friend would say “Culture Shock”—but I’m OK. And so you see, it doesn’t really fit with my definition of best friend, I was kind of struggling I mean it’s a little difficult to grow up when you’re moving around. I mean I got to see different places and stuff, understand people a bit due to varied culture but yeah guess everything has its own flaw.

So like everybody else in the elementary school, I had a best friend or.. so I thought. We lived in the same neighborhood, went to the same school, went home from school together almost everyday, spent the evening together and she was nice and stuff but it had to come to an end. In the 5^th grade I had to move and I tell you little kid, there was no such thing as social media, so we couldn’t really communicate also we were children, we didn’t really use phone back then #90s. And yeah, I know couple years later Facebook was found. I tried to reach up to her, but it seems like she had already forgotten me, so I was just like go play games on Facebook. Guess distance really has something to it.

Meanwhile, in my new school, really. Different. Circumstances. It felt like I scare people away you know I had different accent and stuff but I made some good friends over the year but no best friend I guess. In junior high school, in my 9^th grade I met four awesome kids, 3 girls and a boy. Everybody in the class already had their own squad, and there was him, jumped from one to another, wasn’t sure where he was standing and so we let him to hang with us a little. I was kidding, we welcome you anytime. And we still keep in touch every once in a while. I enjoyed the company; it felt like I had annoying brother and sisters. If you read this, I love you guys!

Senior high school, I would say this is really a difficult time. Though, I made some good friends. I spent my high school days in a different city. Everything was a little complicated I’m not sure how to put it into words. The good thing is I learned to pick myself up and do stuff by myself I would say learning to love myself a little. That’s a good thing, right?

I remember the time when I didn’t really have anyone to talk to, learned to be stronger, I learned that I didn’t really need a best friend—at least not in a very specific moment. I mean of course I envied those who had a best friend, but I learned not to rush it. A best friend will come when you least expect it. But in the meantime I think you should just learn to love yourself a little you know. It’s perfectly normal to have no best friend, they will come around. You see, I figured it out that what you share into the universe is what you gonna get from it. If you want happiness, share happiness. Sometimes it’s just that simple. Once—if I wasn’t mistaken, a friend of mine said this “sometimes it’s not that others don’t want to be friends with you, it’s just you, that don’t want to open up” good advice I see.

So from over the years, the idea of best friend kinda changes a little for me. I’m still not sure though the real definition of best friend, even though there’s tons of best friend quotes on the internet and books but still. It could be anything as long as you’re comfortable with it. Once I thought best friend didn’t even exist, but something little inside me tells me the contrary.

So I guess that’s it for today’s blog. I really enjoy writing it. Hope it helps you on seeing from other’s perspective. Cheers up!

Ps: I know it’s a little short, really short even, I just had the idea and rushed to my laptop and wrote it. I just want to keep it simple and easy to understand.

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HOW TO GET YOURSELF TOGETHER

Hey, how’s it going?

I know that it’s been a while since I posted my last/first post but it’s not because I was running out of ideas, but because I was experiencing some weird event in my life so.. Anyway, let’s get into it, shall we?

Now that I have a lot of spare time (YAY HOLIDAY!) and apparently I don’t do much lately which is sucks so there it is, me and my thoughts, spinning around the room. It got me thinking of who I have become so far and I thought, yes I made some good progress over the year and let me tell you that the point of this blog is to share my thoughts, my positive thoughts and help others, so I have some good tips, why not share it?

Remember back then when you were in elementary school when you were so little being silly and goofy and so clumsy and got easily frightened so you did everything carefully and perfectly and when you made a mistake you were afraid if those nasty kids would laugh at you or your parents would be mad at you and all of the things above made you somehow got panicked too? (yeah bad memories) And when you grew up it’s still there and as you get older your problem gets bigger too, it’s hard to control it because you’ve never been able to shake it off.

Now that some people might say, “No, I don’t have those symptoms.” You are free to go. But I was just kidding, you may want to help your friend or your sister or anyone, I mean why are you here in the first place? But if you shared the same thing you might want to stay. And I want you to know that I don’t have any degree on psychology but things work so far for me, so.

I’ve got a list,

1.      You care too much

Let’s start from the root. People tend to be scared when it gets to something that they love they will lose it. What can I say, loving means vulnerable. I’m not saying that you need to stop loving, I mean love itself makes you, You. But CHILL.

2.      Learn how to control it

Learn how to control it before you let yourself love. You have to know why you love it in the first place, what you fight for and when you finally get it, just hold on to it so when there is someone stands against you, you have just the right reason to prove them that is worth the damn thing and you can save yourself a shame. And if you don’t know how, just try to sort things out from the very beginning if the thing worth the damn thing or not. And you may want to do it by yourself I mean you make a decision you are the one who takes the responsibility, so don’t let others ruin your thought, kid.

3.      It’s okay not to care so much

Since you care too much about (maybe) everything, would it be hurt if I say that a lot of people don’t care much about you or anything else besides themselves? I know, I was a bit shook when I learned this too. I can’t just say that everybody doesn’t care, in fact there are a lot of people out there who care actually, but most of them don’t because it’s, well human nature, to “put myself first before anyone else.”

So pick some weird instrument to play or a weird hobby or anything else that you want and make the best out of it without caring too much on what other people might think of you. If they in fact do judge you, saying that you suck, you might want to be proud about yourself a little (just a little) because you have come so far you got their attention. Because in order to be good at something, you have to be suck at something first. But if you listen to them and stop, you will be just nothing. So, YOU DO YOU.

4.      It’s okay to make mistake

Take it from me, I made a lot of mistake but this one is not really my story lol. When I was in my sophomore year there was this girl in my class that everyone had been talking about that she was pretty good with math and it happened in my junior year I sat next to her, believe me I didn’t plan to. While she was so good with math and all the calculating thing, I sucked at math and all the calculating thing.

Because I sat next to her of course I noticed one and two things and in that moment, believe me I was shook. When she was solving math problems it took her not only one try, not two but couple tries, it bored me to death when she erased her answers again and again, well it depended on how difficult the problem was though. And I said innocently to her, “wow! in my whole life I thought genius math like you only need one try to solve a problem.” And she answered lightly, “Haha that’s impossible we need to try and try until we get the right answer.” She answered pretty much like that I kinda forgot (sorry gun :D).

And so I realized why I was so afraid with math, it was because I was so afraid on making mistakes I didn’t even want to try at the first place. I was so afraid of the concept of failure it turned out I was doing just fine when I started to solve one problem and got it wrong. She helped me to get it right at the end. So the point is it’s okay to make mistake, everyone makes mistake, it’s clearly normal to make one, just don’t stop until you get it right. And above all there is always a second chance and make sure to make the best out of it.

5.      Believe in yourself

This is like the most important thing. You have to believe in yourself because if you don’t believe in yourself, who will? How people will buy it if you don't believe on what you sell. Try to appreciate yourself, have a little faith in you. It’s kinda hard to elaborate this point because its your task to figure you, your mind, and your heart out, no kidding I’m serious. I didn’t believe it until I proved it myself when I was in senior year and it works good until now on.

6.      Be confident

Now that you got everything in your hand, you just have to push yourself a little, it’s time to get outta your comfort zone! I mean get out of the comfort zone is scary as fuck for everyone but you know how to deal with fear by now, right? And believe me once you come out of it and get something you wanted, you will feel awesome about it. But don't be too much or you will look like a jerk. Everyone loves a confident person, not a jerk. Be confident and be humble, you can do it at the same time.

7.      Secret weapon

I pretty much have said about everything that I know on how to deal with shit, but at the end of the day it’s you, your problem and you are the one who knows how to solve it best, that’s when I come with the secret weapon, that fits with your every problems. I would tell mine, but it would be unuseful to you because it works best with my mind not anyone’s mind. Invent one and you will be just fine.

So that is all, I suppose. Don’t forget that life has its own surprise that you wouldn’t see it coming. If I forgot something and you want to add something to it, feel free to do so. And don’t forget to leave a comment or a question, it would make my day and I’d be happy to answer it. Have a nice day!

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Let's Talk About Paper Towns

Hi! I want to share my point of view on Paper Towns both the book and the movie. (so spoiler alert!)

And I want to warn you before you read my writing on it that I am no literature student and I don’t necessarily read fiction story/novel its nothing but it seems like I always take longer time to finish a novel than the other kid. But I do like watching movies (I mean who doesn’t) like a lot. So I want you to enjoy this from a beginner’s side, i suppose(yes because I'm considering to start read novel for a hobby now). Welcome!

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So why this one is special? Why Paper Towns is special? Because its the first time I spent my own money on a book! And I love it! Just kidding though (but really), I bought the book because I read on the internet that Margo is actually Jewish, like I missed a lot of things! That I wanted to know the detail things, so I bought it. I started off watching the movie first because I saw its promotion on Twitter and Instagram and I thought why not plus I like high school movies so much and of course its starring Cara Delevingne I mean I like her walk and i was excited to see her act and it happens she didn't fail me. Well, lets talk about it later cause I’m going to talk about the content first.The plot twist is refreshing. The book is so great when you read it you’ll lose in Margo’s adventure. The way Quentin describes her is amazing it is so detail, it is so sparkling, and it is so fake. Don’t get me wrong though I like it. I like the way he describes her even though it seems like he is worshiping her like every teenager does. It is not wrong yet not quite wise too. The first chapters are great, filled by young Margo and Q’s adventures, Margo’s adventure, and my favorite part is when Margo and Q do their last adventure, mischievous revenge, well actually Margo’s revenge, but still I wish that would happen in my life though. But the sad part is that there is no Sea World scene in the movie, which in my opinion it would be great if that scene came out to life, it’s like what Margo wanted as a little girl actually came true, that she and Q sneaking into Sea World. Though I don’t want to get too detail because I’m not spilling the whole book.

The next part is Q’s searching. I like how the movie wrap it so good, it is refreshing. Unlike the book, it describes it so detail, for example when Q was looking for Margo in every pseudovision, I feel like it was hopeless and for me, it was boring. But once again I’m disappointed that the movie do not tell us about the side character as much as the book does, like what’s happening between Ben and Lacey is cute! I mean we know The Bloody Ben story and that he finally found his girl, it’s just sad that Ben’s character is so weak.

Let’s get into the final chapter, shall we? If I had to choose between the movie’s ending or the book’s, I would’ve chosen the book. Why? Because for me the movie’s ending was kinda disappointing. Once I asked my friends how was the movie after they watched it, the respond was not quite good, they didn’t get the ending even I have to watch it couple times though. For me when I first watched it the ending was nothing special, it’s dull, I mean the first and the middle of the movie was so good but then the ending kinda ruined it, like I was hoping for something more. I was secretly hoping it’d be happy ending though I did not mind it ended that way, I mean I’m ok with sad ending. I thought there was something wrong about the ending.

I was so happy when I finished the book, the ending, in fact, was quite good you know? I like the part that their searching did not come to waste, they found her! Even though they were upset, especially Ben and Lacey, but I couldn’t ask for something better. From this point everything was so clear, her reason to get away was bold, Margo spilled out her secrets, Margo’s character was strong just like I hoped it would be, and Q surprised me that he changed to be someone wise that he could break “the strings” metaphor, i think that is quite achievement Q! The way Margo and Q buried their childhood was amazing for me that they want to leave it behind and move on, it was symbolic. On the other hand the movie, the characters seems like wanting to leave behind everything and forget about it but the book’s ending has hope, I mean Q and Margo plan to E-mail each other!

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There you have it. I have finished talk about the content, now I want to talk about what I got from Paper Towns. Paper towns taught me not to expect someone more than themselves, because that’s bloody dangerous! We should accept people for themselves not what we want them to be. That’s why I said it in the earlier that, it is not wrong yet not quite wise too. We don’t realize small things that we do sometimes have big impact on someone’s life, so that is why we should always becareful. And it taught me that even though we are in love with someone we should not forget  those who has always there by our side. Maybe if Margo and Q hung out more often she wouldn’t have ended up that way or maybe not, I don’t know, it’s the author’s story to tell. And it also taught me that hard work never fails you, the way Q fought for Margo, the way Ben- well he got the girl. Period. And so many other things that you might discovered that I did not.

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The Characters

·         Nat Wolff did a good job on bringing Q to life, I mean the nerdy side, the way Q feels insecure, nervous, and uncomfortable, he did good, good. But I’m afraid that Q’s character is being flat, or is it just me? I mean he is too calm.

·         Cara Delevingne was amazing! Let’s talk about her accent first, I think she nailed it! English is not my mother tongue but I’m aware that she did quite a good job on doing American accent. I have watched The Perks Of Being A Wallflower and I must say Delevingne –as the leading actress- still did a better job on doing her American accent. And as I said it earlier that for me her act did not fail me, I mean she did a good job on bringing mischievous Margo to life. I just hoped the character to be a little bit strong, you know?

·         Justice Smith, I’m not gonna lie that I laughed for maybe 5 minutes because of his screaming inside the old store, he is one of my favorite characters though. He did good too on bringing Radar to life.

·         Austin Abrams, Ben’s obsession on honey bunny and finding a girl was presented nicely by Abrams and don't forget that we enjoy Ben’s funny character on the screen.

So i guess that’s it for now. I hope I did ok though I don't know how to do the outro for a blog. I suppose I should say something about Paper Towns, right? Well, happy reading and happy watching, which ever you like the most doesn't matter as long as you enjoy it. Cheers!

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