Seeing as I've finally got a decent amount of spare time on my hands, I'm gonna try and fill in the many gaps I've left during this month:
- Thursday, February 05: Today was the Korn gig, and it turned out to be one of those days where things fit in nicely and I don't have to sacrifice anything on the schedule. See, I'm supposed to have class at 10:30, but that usually clashes with the pre-gig press conference where I'm supposed to pick up the press IDs that enable me to get into the gig in the first place. Luckily the press con was scheduled for 15:30, so I had plenty of time to make it after class, even it it was at Hotel Borobudur on the other end of town. Met up with Halief and Dicky there. I was going to also drive to the venue (Pekan Raya Jakarta in Kemayoran), but ended up following Dicky's example by leaving the car at the hotel and going to PRJ by taxi. We ended up waiting for several more of Dicky's friends to arrive, and after waiting a long while for a decent taxi, we (that would be six of us regular-to-large Indonesian adult males) piled into a crappy cab.
The gig was alright; knew most of the singles so I wasn't totally blanked out, but it wasn't as mind-blowing as I'd expected. Had a harder time than usual obtaining the setlist. It's usually really easy, but I guess Korn's crew were jus a bunch of prats on that end. Managed to get some unsuspecting security to retrieve it, which by that point was a crumpled piece of paper lying on the ground. Afterwards, me, Halief, Fitri and Nancy (Fitri's editor) tried looking for a cab to get back to the hotel, but it's near impossible to get a taxi at that hour, in the middle of nowhere, with God knows how many other people trying to do the same. Ended up taking a bajaj.
While waiting for Nancy to get a cab at the hotel, suddenly I noticed Fieldy the bass player wandering around the lobby. I figured I might as well have a shot as getting his autograph while there were no security goons to shove me off, and later on got a glimpse of him sitting in with the hotel cafe band on bass, playing Santana and Michelle Branch's 'The Game Of Love'. If I didn't know better, I'd say this was a payoff to our tiring efforts at getting to the hotel after the gig. Sent Fitri home after that, and for some reason my driving sensibility went flying out the window, with the climax being me going the wrong way on a one way street, and passing not one, but two police patrol cars from the other end.
Friday, February 06: Didn't sleep from the previous night, because this morning was Mita's wedding and I had to drive the family to Bintaro. I didn't sleep, because I'm real lousy at getting up. So I ended up driving with really heavy eyes that could've just dropped at any moment, and traffic didn't help matters either. Finally got to the mosque on time, and I slept through the whole thing in the car.
Saturday, February 07: Mita's wedding reception. Other than that, my memory's hazy. I think I tried recapping events of the previous two days, but you can read what happened with that on the corresponding blog entry.
Sunday, February 08-Friday February 13: I really can't remember the details. All I know is that I was having the usual struggle with meeting deadlines. Inspiration is a fickle bitch. Somewhere in there I finally bought Ryan Adams'
Love Is Hell Part 1. Thinking of getting the rest of his albums, maybe starting with
Demolition which I've seen in several shops.
Saturday, February 14: Valentine's Day. Which, for me, is usually non-existent. Not because I'm single, but because I'm not really into the whole thing. Love should be for everyday, y'know? Instead, today was this family thing to celebrate Rizqi's birth (or something). The rest of the day was spent channeling out all thoughts of Valentine's, mostly by watching TV shows free of any tie-ins with Valentine's. Very not in the mood to have my face rubbed in it.
Sunday, February 15: The Mariah Carey gig. Left at 10 something, picked up Tiara, and then on to the Jakarta Convention Centre to pick up our IDs. Went for lunch at Plaza Indonesia, and inadvertantly ended up walking around E-X, that new "entertainment centre" housed in that funky-shaped, brightly coloured building. Also got Phantom Planet's
self-titled new album, which is currently getting heavy rotation in the car. Anyway, finally made it to the gig, and as could be expected, all manner of beautiful people were to be found in the audience. Who needs Mariah? (Not that I ever did.) Speaking of Mariah, it looks like that "prohibition to dress sexy" went out the window. I don't think I've ever seen that much skin on stage before.
Monday, February 16: Still trying to get work done, unsuccessfully.
Tuesday, February 17: See previous entry, but add that when I was trying to upload my work to the office's network, the diskette I'd brought from home suddenly decided to go dead, and I lost just about everything I'd written there. Tried to make the best of the situation by working on the Golf Digest stuff instead, but the computer I was using suddenly went dead and I couldn't get it working again. Screw technology.
Wednesday, February 18: Went with Dad and Hanief in the morning to get the paperwork to our land sorted out. Had to deal with the traffic in Ciputat market, which is something I'm definitely not keen on doing again anytime soon. I don't think anyone would mind if they just bulldozed the whole frigging place and sent all the buses to the scrap heap. From Ciputat, headed on down to the notary office in Ciledug, another place I wouldn't be caught dead in if I could help it. Hanief did most of the driving here, and it suddenly dawned on me that he's just as lousy a driver as me. Maybe even worse, as his foot seemed to be permanently stuck on the gas and his hand on the horn. Getting back into Jakarta traffic after a long time away drives one insane, I guess. After getting back and getting lots of sleep, I finally got all the work done. Woo-hoo!
Thursday, February 19: The Brian McKnight gig. Another instance of everything fitting in, schedule-wise. After class, Dhitri talked me into getting a Big Mac meal, which was 50% off. Thought traffic in the entire city was going to be a bummer after we attempted to get to the McDonald's in Kemang, but luckily that wasn't the case, so we went to Sarinah Thamrin instead. Got to Lunar Entertainment's offices to pick the IDs...which turned out to be just one ID. Turns out there were allocation problems, and they had to cut the media list by half. Luckily
djakarta! was still on there, so I had to just sign in and get out. It was past four when I made my way to the venue (Tennis Indoor Senayan), so I had to figure out how to get from Kebon Sirih (where Lunar and
djakarta!'s offices are) while avoiding the 3-in-1 zone. After checking it out on the map, I managed to get halfway through the supposed route (past Tanah Abang), until I reached a one way road. From there on, it was all improvised, as I ended up going through God knows where. Finally got to the venue, met up with Halief who was still trying to look for a ticket. The press had to wait to be called before being allowed inside the venue, so I was stuck on the outside for about two hours. Caught a glimpse of someone I hadn't seen in a long time, and she was looking more beautiful than ever. Unfortunately, this sent me into deep depression, especially given the usual love and heartbreak songs Brian sings about. I was probably on the verge of slitting my wrists. But regardless of that, it was a great gig. One of the best I've ever seen. Just wish the circumstances surrounding it were more pleasant...
Friday, February 20: Went to campus for no reason whatsoever, the first time I've done so in a long while. Ended up getting Dipo and Posma on Friendster. Went to Aquarius Pondok Indah, met up with Halief, and we had dinner at Deha. Almost crashed into a little kid who suddenly opened a taxi door on the wrong side as I tried to overtake. Luckily I hit the brakes and only chipped a bit of the taxi door's paint. If I'd been driving like Hanief, who knows what would've happened...
Saturday, February 21: A wedding reception, all the way in Bogor. This was the first time I'd been to Bogor in a long time, and the first time I'd ever driven there. If I thought Jakarta traffic was hideous, well I stand corrected. And the weather! God, it was roasting. "City of Rain", my ass.
Sunday, February 22: Saw off Hanief and family at the airport. Went with Halief to Al-Azhar, and suddenly had the idea to take the BusWay to Sarinah and E-X. First time I'd been on it, and I gotta say it was pretty good: Al-Azhar to Thamrin in about 10-15 minutes. I'm starting to warm up to the whole thing...
Purchases of note on this day: Red Hot Chili Peppers'
Live At Slane Castle DVD and
Casualties Of Rock, the first book I've bought in ages. In the former's case, even though I've seen most of the show on repeat re-runs on MTV, it just feels different to actually own the thing. As for the latter, it ties in to my morbid fascination with the seedy side of rock, trying to figure out what drives people to O.D. themselves to death and the like. Rock star deaths galore.
