A Start-of-Summer Rant.

Hi everyone!

So yesterday (4th July 2012) was officially my last day of school or to be more exciting, it's the start of my summer holiday!

(Yes, it was also America's Independence Day. Happy Independence, Americans!)

I'm actually quite stoked for my summer because this is my first real summer holiday (which has a time span of 2 months approx.) and I never ever had a holiday that long. When I still lived in Indonesia, my longest holiday was probably a month and it passes by so quickly for me. But, I think my holidays before was spent by me being not productive like the usual holidays I have when I'm not going anywhere for recreation. So, this summer I'm trying my best to make myself more productive and do more useful stuff rather than fattening myself while staring at my laptop screen 24/7.

SO, I already have my motivation, now all I need is my heart's will-power to do the things I want to do. To make myself do things, I have to create a to-do list!!! Now I give you:

GITA'S SUMMER 2012 TO-DO LIST

1. Do some DIY projects.

DIY means to do/make/build/modify/repair something by yourself without professional help.

These days, I've been visiting/searching for DIY blogs. One of my personal favourite is a blog run by the Larson sisters, Elsie and Emma. They're really great and I love their style so much. They also create easy tutorials of their DIYs. I might do some of theirs or my own. These are some inspirations from their blog and other DIY blogs.

(from: A Beautiful Mess)

(from: Sincerely Kinsey)

(from: I Spy DIY)

2. Learn how to make GIFs and experiment with Photoshop.

I'm already quite familiar with Photoshop to be honest. But, I need to refine my skills and make it better than my skills now (which is quite crappy). I tried to make GIFs before, but the size was too big, the quality is crap and there are other problems of me making GIFs. I always wanted to make one and definitely not with Photoscape because I'm up for a more challenging software.

3. Do more arts.

I know that I really really enjoy doing arts and I want my career in the future to go on that path. I will practice on drawing people and try to draw animals (and definitely not cartoon-styled). I'm actually quite good at drawing people and a bit of still life, but I'm very very very crap at drawing animals without making it like some sort of character from Looney Tunes or whatever.

Also, I enjoy doing collages of photos or magazine cut-outs. I might make quite a few of them for this summer. I enjoy doing origamis as well, but I'm not quite sure if they're also a form of art (I hope they are). A bit of photography to help refine my skills would be great. I also want to practice using watercolour and acrylic paints. I was actually surprised to find out that there are special pads for acrylic paints! I always thought it's only available for watercolour. So when I fist found it, I instantly grab it and buy it but I haven't use it. This is what it looks like:

I also do collages (sort of) online. It's with a website called Polyvore. You can see my collages here.

4. Practice guitar.

I could handle a guitar quite well, actually. But, I hardly practice anymore so my skills are not even as good as a toddler trying to sing opera. Probably even worse. I love music very very much and as much as I love listening to it, I want to try to play it. This is on my to-do list because I was inspired by my friend, Karima, who is a briliant song writer and she's moving back to her hometown (London). I'm going to miss her so much. Thank you for being a marvelous friend.

5. Read, write, review.

I need to read more books. I have a pile of books that I haven't read and also I want to write stories/poems/songs. I might also do a review in movies and such because apparently, I like reviewing/criticising other people's work. I really need to read though. I have the Hunger Games series that I haven't really touched/read (except the early chapters of the first book), Percy Jackson series, and some other books. I might get to buy some more books if I have read most of them. So, yeah call me a geek but i don't give a single f---

That's basically my to-do list I guess. There are not many, but each of them definitely takes time to do it, some can be longer than the other. Also, I'm going to Jakarta for Eid. I'm going on 12th of August. This may shorten my time to do the things that I want to do. I might get quite busy in Jakarta because I already have plans in mind. I miss everyone in Indonesia. When I'm back there, it will overwhelm me and I'll just breakdown and cry in front of everyone. Life is very different here and there and the people are definitely different. I miss the dynamics and ethnics of my fellow Indonesians.

By the way, I have news for everyone.

Most people know that I am not into pop and certainly not boybands. Most things I listen to are indie rock/alt. rock/punk rock/post-hardcore and I always think Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and stuff are highly overrated. But suddenly, the British invasion came and I can't help but feel guilty to myself because...

I.

Like.

A.

British.

Boyband.

(No, not One Direction. I think they're like multiple Justin Biebers grouped together.)

It's The Wanted, guys.

I CAN'T HELP IT. They stole my heart shortly after Glad You Came kept playing everywhere I go. I just can't. They're all very talented and also very sweet. Their fans (TWfanmily) are also very nice to each other. Haters gonna hate. I've fallen in love and I can't get up. Not only with the band, but also their fans.

After the whole 'breaking my own rule' problem, I realized that setting limits for yourself helds back your creativity. Like what you like and enjoy the thrill it gives you.

(The Wanted is still considered as my guilty pleasure though, because they're pop. I don't really enjoy pop.)

So that concludes my blogpost. I hope this is worth the read and worth your time. And I'm gonna leave you with favourite song from The Wanted so far, Gold Forever.

Me vs. The World

Well, guess I watch Scott Pilgrim too much. But who cares anyway?

It's me, I'm back. I know, I rarely post anymore blogs these days. It doesn't mean I don't bother, I just need a time off for all the messed up things in my world. I need a day off, reality sucks.

First of all, school sucks. I mean I can't open up to anyone even though I tried and I have friends alright. I'm a little bit of an introvert I suppose. I think I'm like John Watson from the BBC Sherlock, I have trust issues. Even though my quite-new friend in my quite-new school said, "don't trust anyone at this point, start trusting when you already stay long enough to open up to people." Yep. It's almost 2 terms and I still can't really trust anyone. But my grades are great, so I'm not disappointing my parents.

Second of all, THE AVENGERS WAS F-ING AMAZING OKAY. I watched it on 3rd May when I went to Bahrain (it takes less than an hour from my city in Saudi Arabia). I was so proud because most of my friends haven't watched it yet and I was being very supportive so I promoted this movie to everyone like, "GUYS THE AVENGERS WAS SO AMAZING!!!!!1!!111!!111!!! YOU GUYS SHOULD WATCH IT!!!!!1!!!!11111!!!!!!" So basically, this is one of my favorite movies by far. The cast is just so perfect. I mean most of the time, I went like "oh why don't they use *insert actor/actress name here* for this character instead of *insert actor/actress name here*?" But this cast is A+ and I love Joss Whedon for directing this movie. And I love Tom Hiddleston.

If I have the time, I think I'm gonna write a movie review about this one. I don't think anyone really cares about my opinion because I'm quite bias about this movie, so yeah.

Last of all, I've been doing a lot of arts these days.  I can't post it right now, but I can post it in my deviantart or tumblr or just this blog probably. I'm writing this blog in my free ICT lesson and my scanner and my artworks are at home so yeah.

I hope this is long enough to post. I haven't posted in a while, I know. Thank you for reading anyway to people who cares enough to read this. I love you all!!!

Reviews: 17 Days - a debut album by George Barnett

Hello! I know this is quite rare for me to do reviews becuase mostly I acted like a 12-year-old fangirl (I'm almost 15, mind you) but I'd love to do this. The reason I wanted to do this is because I definitely need to post more blogs and I want to help my new favorite Indie artist, George Barnett.

If you search into Google for George Barnett, there are a lot of different George Barnett(s). There is a George Barnett who is a model and a drummer for These New Puritans and the other George Barnett who was a commandant. Actually, the George Barnett I'm talking about is the George Barnett in this website.

This Geroge Barnett I'm talking about is a 18 years old British guy. He's a multi-musician and a singr-songwriter. He produces and records his own songs/albums. When he's live, he plays with his band called George Branett and The Ninth Wave. Before he had 17 Days, he recorded an EP called Sierra Planes. That's him.

So on 12th March 2012, I went to Piratebay to get torrents. Look, don't be disgusted with me. I respect copyrights too you know, but if you don't have money, torrent is gonna be like, heaven on earth. Trust me.

Anyway.

When I was in the homepage, there's a picture of George Barnett and the cover of his debut album. What I thought first was "woah he's cute" and all that stuff, but what caught my eyes was the cover art of the album itself. Curious, I went to his website and listened to his single Lone Rose. Here's the video:

After I listened to the song, I was blown away. It is awesome! I think it can be considered as Indie Pop because the beat and melody of the song is catchy and it will appeal to many people. The best part of the song, is that he varied the dynamics of the song. I just wanna say, it's a great great single. I love it a lot.

And 2 or 3 days later, he was still the face in the Piratebay homepage. But, instead the picture of his album, it was a messege from him to the Piratebay users. He gave free torrents so people can listen to his album. I thought that was quite smart to attract people to listen to his album first so they can reccommend it to other people. Not gonna pass the chance to listen to his album, I downloaded the torrent. I was excited and when I listen to the whole album, dear lord it's amazing from the first second to the last second of the album.

If I know where to buy the CD for the album, I would go buy it ASAP. It's that good, I'm serious.

My personal favorite of the album is actually the song called Apocolade. It's the first song of the album. It's a great song for the intro of the album because it has a dramatic vibe (that's what I said).

As a whole, I would rate this album 4 out of 5. It's brilliantly produced, written and arranged. You can purchase his album on iTunes, Bandcamp, or Amazon. I checked his website and there's no Piratebay link anymore but I guess it was only for promo and limited time span.

Hope you enjoy this review and he maybe your next new favorite artist. Thank you for reading!

Guinevere & Lancelot

Maybe it wasn't seen by the others

Or maybe it wasn't visible enough

At the end, they will only fall for each other

Over and over again

Not many could believe they will happen

But the fate was not what most people knew

The night was spent together

And they hide over the eyes of the others

There were more than what they seem

There were more than anyone wanted them to be

Trouble was; everything kept holding them back

And when they try, they will just ruin it all

Their name doesn't rhyme, but their eyes couldn't lie

If you watched them close enough, everything was very clear

But they can't be and wasn't meant to be

The lady with a lover and he who was the finest

Maybe they can love in their life time

But afterlife may not agree

They had sinned by hiding, but afterlife can't be cheated

***

N.B: This poem was inspired by the book The Song Of Arthur by Robert Leeson. I hope you all like it! This is not my first poem, but this is the first one I ever publish online. Reviews and comment or even critics are highly appreciated. Thank you for reading! :]

Shit happens at 14; goodbyes and new starts.

Hi.

I suppose it's already a VERY long time since I posted something meaningful. I'm really sorry. I wanna make it up to all of you. Thank you for checking and waiting for my blogposts (if there's even any of you who did, I love you). Means the world.

Anyway.

On 19th September 2011, I finally turned 14. It was great I guess. I was actually excited because it's 2 more years before I turn 16. Yeah, I feel kinda old, but it's a blessing.

But, like the title said, shit happens at 14. I don't know, it's just that I feel things were going against me. When I was 13, before I had my birthday and went to grade 9, I was informed by my dad that he got a job and we will move to Saudi Arabia. I was seriously heartbroken. I mean, when I left Surabaya, after 8 years knowing all my freinds in elementary school, I left and went back to my hometown, Jakarta, because of my dad's work. It was hard enough to adapt to a new school eventhough everyone in my grade was new, and then I have to leave again and this time, it was in the middle of the term. How can I adapt to things after almost 3 years with people I have been friends with and known them personally? They were my only friends in Jakarta and then I had to leave to a very foreign and closed off country where I didn't know anyone who I can trust enough except my own family.

Goodbyes are painful, you know. It has always been and will never change. I know and believe that the only think constant in this world is change, that's why goodbyes are (kinda) normal for everyone. I guess I experience it too much and when I had to, I was already very drawn to my surroundings and never felt like I will want to leave that place ever again. I was wrong, we had to leave and move on.

So now, I had been 14 years old for approximately 5 months, had been living in Saudi Arabia for approximately 3 months and yes, I survived. I miss all my friends in Jakarta and Surabaya, I mean, I felt like I had known them for my whole life (it's true for my friends in Surabaya though) and I left them for a foreign country. But, I guess there's always a reason for things to happen. And I wish what happened to me had a good-enough reason that can make me let go things that had been on the palm of my hands for a very long time and survive something that was made from a new start.

It was great though, my new school. I had been there for a month and a half, I guess. It was quite hard to fit in and catch up since I'm a new student in the 2nd term of the academic year which made me hard to adapt to things. The school is British International School of Al Khobar (known as BISAK too). I made new friends, meet new teachers and was introduced to new subjects that I never had in my older schools. It is great and I hope I can survive throughout the years and I can reach my dreams. Living in a foreign country was one of my dreams and now, I experienced it. I hope this is a step that can lead me to my other dreams, recieving a scholarship in art/literary/movie business/music, New York, London, Paris and many more from my personal list. And I guess, leaving my comfort zone and just reach out will help me to success in the future.

Well, I guess this is the end of the post. I'm actually proud to finish and publish this post. I just realized that I shouldn't mope around for what I can't change from the past, I should move forward. I hope everyone who reads this post will feel the same, because you know what? There's always something good out there for you if you believe everything happens for a reason.