Fire Burning On The Dance Floor!

This post is still connected to the last due to the intensity of everything. I promise I'm gonna write a different thing in my next post.

Here's a video of me, Lloyd Popp and my dancers (Public Groove) performing my song, Last Woman Standing, and opening for Sean Kingston:

I can't stop laughing.

One thing for sure, I should take a dancing lesson. Watch out, Justin Bieber.

Kidding.

Somebody Call 911!

Sean Kingston came to Jakarta last week to do a concert promoted by my team, D'Makaveli. So not only organizing events and promoting parties, we're expanding our business to a higher level by making concerts too. Sean Kingston was our first project with our partner, Sentralive. They've been around longer as a promoter, they've brought artists like New Kids On The Block back in the days as well as threw huge show like High School Musical.

It went SUPERB.

And I got to OPEN for him. This was, hands down, the biggest gig I have ever performed in my life.

I wanted to write about it for MONTHS. God knows I can never keep my mouth shut and I had been giving a few small details in twitter from time to time but it just doesn't feel right for me to write about it until the event really happened. I felt nervous for weeks. Unlike other performers, my schedule is crazier than crazy with work that consumes so much of my time, so it's not like I could practice everyday. I planned to perform not only with a DJ and a back-up rapper who's also a talented talkbox player, but with 4 dancers as well.

I've said this before: I don't do choreographed moves all that well. The choreographer had serious patience by putting up with me in such tight deadline, I would have smacked me if I were her. We only practiced TWICE before the gig. We didn't even get to have a proper sound check due to so many performers and Sean Kingston's band took almost 5 hours of sound check for themselves. Leaving the rest of us around 1 hour and a half to check our minus ones and instruments. The CHAOS. People started to get annoyed at each other and had mini melt downs. I know I did.

So imagine how relieved I felt when everything turned out alright. People seemed to like it. They didn't seem to notice a couple of mistakes I made on stage like forgetting a few lyrics (so I freestyled!) and forgetting a few moves (so I posed / interacted with audience). My choreographer told me beforehand to just look confident to cover any possibility of making mistakes. Hehe.


And Sean Kingston? Obviously he performed awesomely with his full band, DJ, and several backing vocals. I screamed like a teenager especially when he sang Dutty Love and Rude Girl. I watched right in front of the stage and touch the guy easily. I didn't though, creepy, but I got the chance to talk to him at his private lounge with the band. I was standing around talking to several people in front of it when Angga motioned me to get in. He was sitting and eating with his DJ and after he found out I rap, he told me to rap for him and well, it's hard to say no to Sean Kingston so I did it while trying to keep my legs from shaking too much.

He said, "That's nice", after I was done. Then called his DJ so he could hear me rap.

It would be hard to top that night, that's for sure.

beach and sun makes me happy

Last weekend, I went to Bali for a couple of days with my family.

It was a much needed trip. I forgot whether I have told you before or not, but my office doesn't give their "baby associates" a leave for a year because we're kinda like in probation period or something. All my fellow newbies had a break before they started to work but not me, I wasn't given days off from internship to this because there is a demanding project that can't be left at all. These stuff can pretty much make a person very, very cranky at times.

So this is definitely a short but very appreciated break to reboot myself. When I told my parents my office would have a longer holiday, they quickly booked this trip. Bali was packed this time of year. If it was a normal situation, I wouldn't go at all. I hate going in a vacation during peak season because it would be hard to go anywhere with so many people around but I don't wanna take any chances of not being able to go at all for a year. So yeah, a full overly crowded island? Small risk to take but for you guys abroad I wont recommend visiting Bali during school holiday (can be from late June to August here), Eid holiday, Christmas, and new year unless you wanna suffocate yourself.

I had a great time though, hell I was excited to leave Jakarta in the first place.

We stayed in this fabulous resort in a three bedroom villa with its own pool and hot tub not too far from the touristy areas in Bali and a few steps away from the beach and I spent most of the days just laying around in the beach, jumping into the water whenever I want. I did it for hours and hours. No wonder I got so tanned right now, my co-workers teased me and called me "a village chick" because of it. Such haters, haha.

I also did a bunch of other things: had a traditional Balinese massage, visited secluded beaches (one of my all-time favorites is in Nammos Beach Club where you had to go down a cliff with an inclinator, it's practically empty with its warm white sands, huge waves and a seaside restaurant with yummy drinks), watched sunset, shopped for weird stuff in street markets (like penis-shaped bottle openers), ate seafood dinner by the beach and other good food that can make you literally expanded.

Too bad I didn't really go out at night to clubs here, it's one experience I'm missing since pretty much everyone I know go never misses partying here. A lot of them are crazy with their 1 dollar tequila shot and a 3 dollars cocktail jug (getting really effed up takes a whole new meaning,no?). Jakarta is officially robbing my drinking money. Oh well, maybe next time.

Here are some pictures (most of them are of me and my brother being a camera slut) :

Oh look we got one with our mom too:

I wanna go back again!!!

I have a pretty friend...

One of my good friends, Sandra, is a contestant for Miss Indonesia (known as Putri Indonesia over here).

First time she told me, I kinda LMAO. You know, because I've never been into beauty pageants. Watching it on TV, in the other hand, is fun. Especially when some of the girls completely make a fool of themselves by:

• Responding to seriously easy questions with long but not to-the-point answers

• Looking way too goddess-y and happy in front of the camera with big doe eyes and wide smile. It's like, if you punch them in the stomach, they will still smile like that.

• Not being able to speak English properly, especially if the beauty pageant is in global level, such as Miss Universe or Miss World or something.

The last one irritates me the most. How can you represent your country in international contest when you don't speak the international language and you need to have some interpreter beside you all the time? I noticed some of the winners were like this and I was like "what-the-fudge" and felt like smashing my TV to pieces. Can their countries send another contestant? These pageants boast to not only look for beauty in their winners but meh, I see the same thing every year: Some long legged chicks either from Latin America, or sometimes India, with an interpreter by their sides and still unable to give a decent answer to seriously easy questions turn out to be the winners. So in the end I just give a complete whatever about it.

That until my friend is going to be one of the contestants in the search of Miss Indonesia. She's representing Gorontalo, a province in Sulawesi Island in Indonesia. I admit, I can't help feeling a bit proud too. Last year Miss Indonesia is not only disappointing, she succeeded in making fool of herself in Miss Universe. She should not be chosen. Her English is awful, her answers were ridiculous, but she kept babbling and now her videos are in youtube for everyone to laugh at.

But Sandra is not like that at all. And no I'm not biased because she's a friend, not really. I know her for 7 years. She's pretty, smart, fun and definitely does not speak English like someone has electrocuted her.

We're all proud of her!

I hope she wins and make it to Miss Universe.

Oh, and when the whole thing starts over here, can I ask for your help to vote? Pretty pleaseeeeee.