Covid 19 Life

Nothing is certain except everything you know can change.

You worship the sun but now can you fall for the rain?

London Skies, Jamie Cullum

On Februari 1st 2020, I was attending Market Outlook 2020 by Jouska in Jakarta. They were talking about Indonesia's current potential economic growth in the upcoming years. Dr Aviliani said, China had Covid 19 outbreak and it may disrupt global economics. Now, July 8th 2020, I didn't know it was gonna be this disrupted.

We are facing with the condition we never met before (at least as long as I have lived), a pandemic. A pandemic that makes people scared to gather and travel. Giant companies are having financial trouble or even have furloughed their workers. The tourism industry ranging from hotels, art attraction, airlines, rental cars are hit the hardest. Airlines park park their planes on dessert in order to escape from airport parking fee.

Pizza Hut files for bankrupcy. It's really sad to watch Pizza Hut and Pizza Hut Delivery selling pizza on the street and no one buying from them. Their pizza tastes so good yet twice expensive compare to their rival, Domino's Pizza. At the end, I will opt for Domino's because of the price. In my opinion, symphaty-buying will not last for long.

Growing up, I was told "You should work as doctor or as petroleum engineer, they make good money!". I didn't choose that path. Every now and then, we heard that medical workers strikes demanding their salary to be paid. BPJS Kesehatan is state-own medical insurance that is built to be a charity. Not built to take profit. No wonder, BPJS Kesehatan is always in deficit.

At the end of April 2020, the price oil futures went negative for the first time in history. Saudi closed its door for Mecca Pilgrimage cause Saudi to lose income. Saudi then increased oil production to make money, but Russia didn't want to decrease its production. Covid 19 decreased demand for gasoline as less and less people travel. Overflowing supply and little demand, made the price went cheaper. Even negative. Company will pay buyer to take oil from them because the limited storage they have. I knew my friends who work as doctor and petroleum engineer are the smartest, most dilligent person. I hope they are doing well.

Corruption and fall of oil price had turned Venezuela into crisis. Venezuela is heavily depend on crude oil export and commodity price decrease. They're in humanitarian crisis for some years now. Gasoline now is rare for people. In Feb 2019, the military burned the trucks of humanitarian aid. It's so crazy. I hope Maduro is no longer president of Venezuela when I read this blog post in the future.

Public transportation isn't a mass transportation anymore. The amount of passenger is cut because people have to do social distancing. The animals in zoo are in hunger because the zoo management has less money to feed them because nobody is paying for zoo ticket.

Life is uncertain. My rainy day fund is safe for a year and I don't have debt, so I can sleep well at night. Even tho my stock portofolio looks like it's on fire because I had to cut loss some. Plus, some are still having floating loss. That's okay, it's the risk I'm willing to take. I hate to say, during this financial crisis, I cut back on my education budget. I stopped taking Japanese Language class and opt for stock learning mini classes instead. Learning Japanese isn't the best thing to do because the Japanese Govt is also postponing JLPT test.

Many people had their first online Eid Fitr. Ramadhan is supposed to be the most consumptive month of the year. People used to spend money for charity, to celebrate Ramadhan with family and friend, and to travel visiting relatives in village. This year Eid Fitr was bitter. Many people are afraid to travel. Including my family. It's sadder when my aunt Partini passed away and I couldn't console and be there for the family. 

This post is my reminder of Covid 19. I hope we all can survive this. Remember, nothing is certain. It's okay to postpone or change your direction. Remember to fully build your rainy day fun. Remember your beloved aunt or anyone that loves you want you to live your life to the fullest :)

John Mayer no Konsaato

Watching John Mayer's concert is definitely in my bucket list. I grew up listening to his songs, I felt I-am-not-alone and encouraged. John has accompanied me during so many stages of my life.

I knew he was gonna perform a concert in Indonesia from Instagram. The stage -ICE BSD, was 7 km away from my house, I was like, let's go! By the time they were selling tickets to public, duh, I have never been more nervous and excited in my life. The promotor announced that they're gonna start selling from 8 AM. I was in the middle of meeting. I had to sneak in refreshing my phone every 2 minutes. Haha, shitsurei kedo, shoganai da yo. Haha. At last, the meeting was over and I rushed to my room only to find myself keeping an eye on the webpage. Thank goodness! I secured one Blue Ticket for myself at 8.45 AM.  It was IDR 2 billion + 10% tax + 10 k for website fee. I looked forward to the even and it kinda gave me purpose to live.

I took a day off on April 5. I worked in Balaraja and didn't wanna be late for the concert. In the afternoon, I went to the venue and exchanging e-ticket with card and wristband. Konsaato wa 8 ji ni hajimete, soshite, 7 ji ni, ICE de itta. Yumeina hito ga takusan atta. I decided to wait while reading Finchickup by Farah Dini Novita (you guys should've read it too. It's about personal finance and the author is the infamous Jouska's co-founder).

I was wearing the same T shirt and dress I wore 9 years before. I put extra layer of jacket and legging because I knew the air temperature was gonna be cold.

I was seated on row C number 109. It was pretty good spot (way better than VIP spot -the VIP seating was suck I felt sorry for them).The light was out then John Mayer and his band showed up. He was there standing 50 meters away from me! I was so excited and the crowds as well. John was casually wearing worn-out T shirt and jeans. Good old T shirt, like the one I was wearing. I finally met the man who sang Stop This Train, who told me everything's gonna be safe and sound as I took a train to Jogja to start new chapter of college life. I finally met the man who sang On The Way Home, Friends, Lovers or Nothing, In Your Atmosphere and many other gems you name it. I was blessed to be there. Thanks for being part of my journey, John.

John Mayer performed Belief, Helpless, Love on the Weekend, Moving on and Getting Over, Queen of California, Guess I Just Feel Like, Something Like Olivia, Changing, Clarity, Edge of Desire, Waiting on the World to Change, XO, Your Body is Wonderland, Neon, In Your Atmosphere, Vultures, Rosie, Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, If I Ever Get Around to Living, Stop This Train, In the Blood, Dear Marie, You're Gonna Live Forever in Me, New Light, and Gravity.

My favorite was XO because that's his underrated song. It was his cover for Beyonce's XO but damn it was so good and romantic. XO wasn't in any of John's album -that's why I called it underrated gem. I never thought I could listen to XO in live performance! I was so lucky!

As for New Light (guys, please~ hahaha), it was never my favorite song because I thought it was unlike 'him'. He was trying to grab Gen Z's market with flashy style and dance. The music video was so Gen Z. It was brilliant but wasn't my cup of tea. Therefore, I swore myself I was gonna sing Fluxcup version of Cubit-cubit Iguana for fun. Hahaha. Kau memohon untuk digendowng...

Just keep me where the light is

The last song, Gravity, was insane. Backstory, I was singing Gravity A LOT when I studied physics in highschool and basically my entire chemical engineering class - yes, whenever I calculated an equation that had "gravity", Gravity was played in the back of my mind. Oh twice as much ain't twice as good. Back to the concert, in the middle of the song, people started to turn the flashlight on their phone, creating a perfect environment of "Where The Light Is" which is a line in Gravity. And on top of that, I was wearing T shirt that screamed Where The Light Is! I was the happiest person that night! It's wanting more, it's gonna send me to my knee. Help meeee~ :""""""""")

By the way, on Current Mood S02 E09, John Mayer Live from Hongkong (April 8,2019). It was shown that his performance Gravity in "Jakarta" left impression for him as well. He wished he could make a setlist where he only sings Gravity. Give people what they want. LOL.

I swear I heard him talking that April 5 was Friday and he was tired from having concert every other night. For Jakarta people, it was like yay the weekend starts now but for him, it was his last energy for the week and when he saw enthusiasm for Gravity he was like awww. Hm, where he said that. It wasn't in Current Mood S02 E09, but at least I remembered it :)

Tottemo ureshikattan desu. Here's a clip of my experience watching John Mayer's concert. Until next time, John~ Thank you, thank you, thank you.