What is life without music? Less rockin', I guess, haha. Truthfully speaking, music changes life. It eases the pain, it heals the soul and it gives hope. It cheers us up, it makes us smile and yet it also reminds us about the reality in the most subtle and sophisticated way. If you think I just made it up, rest assured that I didn't, because I spoke from my experience.
The Beatles changed my life. They were cheeky, smart and, hey, that eloquent British accent, it was just inspiring. Growing up in a country where spoken English was almost unheard of, I studied the language for the longest time with no significant improvement. Things changed when I got to know the Fab Four. I always like the way John and George spoke and I remember wanting to speak like them, too. Motivated, I picked it up real quick since then.
As for the music, when I found myself in times of trouble, I listened to Let It Be just to hear Paul singing that there would be answer and I would just have to let it be. When life was difficult, I would listen to John telling me it was easy and all I need was love. There was this confidence and optimism in his voice that I knew it was going to be alright. When I got help in the time of need, I remember Ringo telling me that we all got by with a little help from our friends. When I set my eyes on my then girlfriend, it was just like there was something in the way she moved, attracted me like no other lover. George was right, and that girl is now my wife.
The experiences above blend in seamlessly with others, such as there will be miracle when you believe or imagine all the people living life in peace or sometimes love just ain't enough. I can quote you all the brilliant lines until the cows come home, but what I'm saying is, there's no way one can really separate music from their lives. I believe music plays a crucial part in our daily lives. It brings me to where I am today.
Music is just that important, but it is also surreal at times. I mean, back in the days where you couldn't download or stream your music, when you were still holding a cassette or CD and reading the booklet that came with it, I thought that pretty much defined the relationship between the fans and the musicians. Coming from a small town, I was under the impression that this was as far as it could go, ie. there'd be me listening on this side of the speaker and there'd be them in the pantheon of rock and roll, wherever that might be.
Mr. Big - Pontianak, 25 Jan 2000 Image credit: @boriz13
What I once assumed as the unbreakable myth was eventually broken when Mr. Big came to Pontianak. Yes, you read it right! Mr. Big, the band from Los Angeles, with hits such as Wild World and To Be with You, came to my hometown to play at a university auditorium for only IDR 40K (SGD 4) per ticket. That was affordable, so there we were on 25/01/2000, my friend Ardian and I, despite the fact that I knew only two hit songs. Oh, three, including Goin' Where the Wind Blows.
To this day, I still have no idea where Mr. Big learned the name Pontianak from or why they even decided to come and play, but it was a revelation for sure: so this was how a concert was like. Gone were the differences we had, all united by the music. The rock band played all out, despite the fact that it was small town with less crowd. The audience sang to their hearts' content. The excitement was in the air. That two hours in my life was great.
And I felt like coming back for more. When I moved to Singapore, I had better chances than before, watching Air Supply just to see them performing Goodbye, All Out of Love and Making Love Out of Nothing at All or attending a Firehouse concert to enjoy the live versions of When I Look into Your Eyes and You Are My Religion.
I was also there when a legend such as Don McLean performed at the Esplanade. Stuff like Vincent and And I Love You So are gold. They've been around long before I was born and I'm sure they'll still be around after I'm gone. To be able to hear these songs sung by their writer as they were originally intended to be was quite a privilege, really. On top of that, as if that still wasn't good enough an experience, the concert was closed with, as expected, American Pie. That was like the best pie ever!
Same goes for the Eric Clapton concert. Eric wasn't much of a lively performer. During his concert, he seldom spoke. As far as I could remember, he just sat there, played his guitar and let his music speak for itself. Then came the most memorable moment when he got many to dance slowly with Wonderful Tonight and brought people up to their feet immediately with the guitar intro of Layla.
Eric Clapton - Singapore, 13 Jan 2007 Image Credit: polscoecottage.co.uk
It'll be overrated, of course, if I said all concerts I attended were good. Take Backstreet Boys for example. The songs were alright, but to see those four (yes, there were only four of them at that time) performing as Backstreet Boys and doing As Long as You Love Me when they no longer looked boyish... that just didn't feel right. Oasis had their own problems, too. Liam's antics were fun to watch, but the songs, after a while, they all sounded alike.
The biggest and the most unexpected disappointment, however, was Bon Jovi. My friends and I flew to Jakarta just to watch the show. Prior to that, we had acknowledged the fact that Richie Sambora wouldn't be there. We were okay with that, but nothing would have prepared me from being surprised when I saw Jon Bon Jovi on stage. Under the bright lights, I couldn't find him at first, until I realized that the white haired man who was panting behind the microphone was him! He was sweating profusely and seemingly out of breath. I was nervous for him because it was as though he would collapse any time soon. I also felt cheated when he shoved the mic to the audience for the high notes chorus he was once famous for. He got better when the show almost ended, performing Keep the Faith frantically. The last song, Livin' on a Prayer, was a saving grace.
Guns N' Roses - Singapore, 25 Feb 2017 Image Credit: www.bandwagon.asia
After Bon Jovi, you can imagine how worried I was when I saw how fat Axl Rose was. I know how punishing Guns n' Roses' songs could be, so I thought that was it, we'd been Bon Jovi-ed again. Much to my delight, Axl really delivered. He was a hell of a performer. When he sat on piano for November Rain, it was as if my youth was replaying on my mind. How I wish Hardy, the guitarist in my old band, was there watching it, too. He would have loved it so much as he was the one who performed that song in our band. By the way, not to be sidetracked, Slash stole the thunder from time to time. His guitar playing was fierce, reminding us again why they are one of the best rock and roll bands out there.
Now, after attending quite a few, I realize that a concert is best enjoyed when we know all the songs. This is why the Michael Learns to Rock concert is still ranked quite high on my list. Say what you like about their songs, but the band opened the concert confidently with Sleeping Child, they interacted with audience and, after pampering us with the singalong of hits after hits, they closed it with an all time favorite, That's Why (You Go Away). That was what I called fun!
Who tops the list, then? That is, without doubt, a Paul McCartney concert in 2015 at Tokyo Dome. Best concert ever. To be in the same room with an ex-Beatle, that was magical! I mean, here was a long time hero of mine, in a country where people couldn't speak or spoke broken English (trust me, I was there, trying to communicate with a nice gentleman who went the extra mile to buy me a keychain when he knew I came from afar just to watch the concert) but the moment the music began, the Japanese, including my neighbour, they all went hysterical, and, much to my surprise, they knew all the lyrics and sang them all! Japan loved Paul and the affection was not in vain. Ever an entertainer, I could see Paul savoured the moment. He loved playing and didn't hold back. He had so much fun and so were we!
Paul McCartney, Tokyo, 23 Apr 2015 Image Credit: japanconcerttickets.com
It was supposed to be Dublin instead of Paris. Originally, as I wanted to depart from Liverpool in order to get the passport stamp of John Lennon airport, I was actually thinking about Ireland as our destination then. Perhaps we could just go there, doing nothing but enjoying a pint of Guinness in the evening and, if we were lucky, may be we could meet our favorite writer, Sinéad Moriarty. However, my wife said Paris would be a better choice. She was okay to go to Liverpool with me, so it was only fair that I accompanied her to Paris, too.
Once confirmed that we were going to Paris, we needed to apply for Schengen visa. This is the visa required for us to enter Schengen area, which is the subset of EU. Don't take my words for it, though. You better read the fine print to ensure that you can actually enter the country that you'd like to go, haha. Anyway, since we were going to Paris, the application had to be submitted at the French embassy. After filling up the UK visa application form, this felt just like a piece of cake.
Oh, talk about UK, we planned to go to Paris by Eurostar train from London. This meant we had to obtain UK visa first before proceeding with Schengen visa. Apparently we had to purchase the train tickets and hotel voucher beforehand as part of the required documents. I didn't have them during the submission, so the documents were attached to email and sent later on the same day, right after I booked them.
Eurostar departs from Saint Pancras railway station in London. Both UK and EU checkpoints are located there, so by the time we got into the waiting room, technically we already left UK and entered the Euro zone. There was no further checking when we reached Gare du Nord in Paris. It was roughly a two-hour ride and we didn't get to see anything when it traveled under the sea. I thought it would be quite a view and probably we could catch a glimpse of a whale swimming above the train, but no, all I could see was the ceiling and and the wall of the tunnel.
Paris was certainly different. It wasn't very welcoming, if you asked what my first impression was. Could be due to the language barrier, I guess. The fact that there were gun-toting soldiers patrolling around only amplified the sense of insecurity that I already had (prior to the visit, I had lunch with Christophe, a French man in Singapore, and he had cautioned me to always look around and be careful). On a hindsight, though, it wasn't that bad. Paris has its fair share of problems, but not without its charm.
From Gare du Nord, we went to Rome station by taking the rapid transit system called Paris Métro. We stayed at Hotel Cervantes, a tiny but decent hotel between Europe and Rome. A very strategic location! On the first day we were there, we walked from the hotel to Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. We explored the city purely by intuition, without any help from Google Map, and after some time, suddenly we were in the midst of Asian looking crowd. It was quite a surprise to me as I certainly didn't expect this unusual sight in Europe. I found the answer when I looked across street. So the story of the Chinese invading the branded stuff was real after all.
At the junction.
The first destination on the following day was Champs-Élysées (only God knows how to read the word, so I resorted to my own pronunciation in Bahasa Indonesia: cam-di-u-li-si). It was grand, really, a straight and long stretching avenue, with Arc de Triomphe at one end and Obelisk of Luxor at the other. We had a detour to Eiffel Tower from there. We covered quite a distance, but the weather was fine and the scenery was beautiful, so it was worth it.
I had this strange encounter nearby the tunnel where Princess Diana had a deadly car accident, though. There was this young girl who forced me to sign something on a paper. I remember reading this sort of scam before (yeah, I do read the Stay Safe section after the Bangkok incident), so I told her no and walked away. Around noon time, we alighted at Bourse station to meet my Parisian friends. In a city with a language so alien to me, it was good to see some familiar faces and speak English again. We collected our Paris Pass and began our Big Bus city tour afterwards.
Stopped for wefie as we approached Eiffel tower.
Let's talk a bit about Paris Pass. It has the Big Bus city tour that was good for a day (remember Quasimodo? The bus would bring you to Notre-Dame) and on top of that, you got a boat ride cruising River Seine (this, in our case, was a bit redundant as we already walked along the riverside earlier that day). The pass also allowed us to access many museums, but it's important to note that I was oblivious to how big a museum in Europe could be. The Louvre was so huge that after Mona Lisa and some other paintings that I ever heard of, I got sick of it and looked for the exit door instead. In the end, it was the train ticket that was the most useful among all. Free rides for two days was not a shabby deal for frequent commuters.
At the pyramid.
We also visited the Versailles. It was a small town, but I remember being impressed by its peaceful atmosphere as we walked from the train station to the Palace. Now, I'm not a royal family and the only exposures I had about castles and palaces were the Grand Palace in Bangkok and Kraton of Yogyakarta, but Château de Versailles was nothing like what I ever saw before. It was a beautiful, gigantic palace with a garden that was bigger than the Palace itself, so big that I couldn't see where it ended. As I stepped into the Palace and saw how the rooms were kept intact as they used to be, I couldn't help thinking about those who had lived there in the past, the people that I only read in history books before, including the infamous Marie Antoinette. It was breathtaking, a fine legacy from a bygone era that shows how brilliant their civilisation was.
It was also at Versailles that I noticed how different the western omelette was. I immediately regretted ordering spaghetti when I saw it being served at the next table. It looked good and came with a generous portion! Being a big fan of fried rice, I thought the food in Europe would be challenging, but I was surprised by how well I could adjust. The French menu didn't really have anything with rice, alright, but their food was good. Their salad was good, their AAAAA sausage was good (I was thinking that sausage with a lot of 'A's couldn't go wrong) and their omelette, which I finally ordered at a cafe nearby Moulin Rouge, was delicious.
The garden inside Château de Versailles.
Moulin Rouge was the last tourist spot we visited, although we didn't enter it as we preferred to have our dinner instead. As we walked back to our hotel, I remember what Christophe told me and he was right. Paris was not much difference than Singapore in the sense that we could walk around from one spot to another. If we were only a few stations away from our destination, walking was the better option because not only we'd see how beautiful (or dirty, depending on which direction we turned to) Paris was, but it would also mean cost-saving (once again, let's not forget that everything here is charged in Euro).
The next morning, as the price was reasonable, we engaged the service of Hotel Cervantes to arrange for an airport pick up for us. We traveled to airport at dawn, when Paris was still glimmering. That was the last time I saw Paris, the city of lights. We eventually flew from Charles de Gaulle airport to Liverpool...
The Parisians!
Perjalanan Ke Eropa: Paris
Awalnya saya ingin ke Dublin, bukan Paris. Rencana saya adalah berangkat dari Liverpool ke negara lain, supaya saya bisa mendapat cap paspor di bandara John Lennon. Saat itu saya berpikir bahwa tujuan berikutnya adalah Irlandia. Mungkin kami bisa ke sana, bersantai menikmati segelas bir hitam Guinness dan jika beruntung, siapa tahu kami bisa bertemu dengan penulis favorit kami, Sinéad Moriarty. Akan tetapi istri saya merasa bahwa Paris merupakan pilihan yang lebih cocok. Karena dia bersedia untuk menemani saya ke Liverpool, jadi saya pun menuruti permintaannya untuk ke Paris.
Setelah kami menetapkan Paris sebagai tempat tujuan, kami pun mengajukan aplikasi visa Schengen. Ini adalah visa yang diperlukan untuk mengunjungi daerah Schengen, bagian dari Uni Eropa. Untuk jelasnya, mungkin anda perlu cek sendiri visa yang anda butuhkan bila ke Eropa. Karena tujuan kami adalah Paris, aplikasinya dilakukan di Kedutaan Besar Perancis. Setelah apa yang dilalui untuk visa Inggris, visa ke Paris ini tergolong gampang.
Oh, bicara tentang Inggris, kami pergi ke Paris menggunakan kereta Eurostar dari London. Ini artinya kami harus memperoleh visa Inggris sebelum memohon visa Schengen. Prasyarat yang dibutuhkan ternyata mencakup tiket kereta dan bukti pemesanan kamar hotel. Saya belum memilikinya saat mengajukan aplikasi, namun dokumennya bisa menyusul lewat email.
Di St. Pancras, London, saat menanti keberangkatan ke Paris.
Eurostar berangkat dari stasiun St. Pancras di London. Loket imigrasi Inggris dan Perancis berada di sana, jadi setelah kita melewati keduanya dan masuk ke ruang tunggu, kita sudah terhitung meninggalkan Inggris dan masuk ke zona Eropa. Tidak ada pemeriksaan lebih lanjut lagi ketika kita tiba di stasiun Gare du Nord di Paris. Lamanya perjalanan kira-kira dua jam, namun tidak ada yang bisa dilihat saat kereta menyeberangi Selat Inggris. Saya mengira kita bisa melihat paus berenang di atas kereta, tapi terowongan bawah laut itu bukan terbuat dari kaca.
Paris terasa beda suasananya. Entah kenapa ada kesan kurang ramah. Mungkin karena kendala bahasa, saya kira. Fakta bahwa kita sering menjumpai beberapa prajurit yang membawa senapan mesin dan patroli di jalan juga menambah kesan was-was (sebelum berangkat, saya sempat makan siang dengan Christophe, orang Perancis yang saya kenal, dan dia sudah mewanti-wanti bahwa saya harus senantiasa berhati-hati selama di Paris). Setelah saya lihat kembali sekarang, Paris memang kurang aman, tapi tidak berarti sama sekali tidak menyenangkan.
Dari Gare du Nord, kita ke stasiun Rome dengan menaiki sistem transportasi kereta Paris Métro. Kita tinggal di Hotel Cervantes, sebuah hotel kecil yang terletak antara stasiun Europe and Rome. Lokasinya sangat strategis! Di hari pertama, kita berjalan dari hotel ke Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. Kita berjalan berdasarkan insting dan tanpa bantuan Google Map. Setelah beberapa saat lamanya, tiba-tiba saja kita berada di tengah-tengah orang Asia. Saya terkejut karena kita sedang berada di Eropa. Setelah saya lihat ke seberang, barulah saya temukan jawabannya. Jadi cerita bahwa orang-orang Cina yang memborong barang bermerek di Paris bukanlah dongeng belaka.
Pagi hari di Champs-Élysées.
Keesokan harinya, kami menuju ke Champs-Élysées (hanya Tuhan yang tahu bagaimana membaca nama jalan ini, jadi saya menggunakan lafal Indonesia: cam-di-u-li-si). Jalan ini bukan saja megah, tapi juga benar-benar lurus, dengan Arc de Triomphe di satu sisi dan Obelisk Luxor di ujung lain. Dari Arc de Triomphe, kami memutar sedikit ke menara Eiffel Tower. Perjalanannya cukup jauh, tapi cuacanya bagus dan pemandangannya pun indah, jadi tidak masalah.
Ada satu kejadian aneh saat saya berada di dekat terowongan dimana Putri Diana mengalami kecelakaan tragis. Ada seorang gadis muda yang memaksa saya menandatangani surat. Saya ingat bahwa saya pernah membaca penipuan seperti ini sebelumnya (oh ya, saya pastikan membaca bagian Stay Safe di wikitravel.org setelah insiden di Bangkok), jadi saya katakan tidak padanya dan pergi meninggalkannya. Menjelang siang, kita turun di stasiun Bourse untuk bertemu dua kenalan Perancis yang bekerja di Paris. Di kota dimana bahasanya terdengar aneh di telinga saya, senang rasanya bisa bertemu dengan wajah-wajah yang saya kenal dan berbahasa Inggris lagi. Setelah makan siang, kami pergi mengambil Paris Pass dan mulai keliling kota dengan Big Bus.
Saat mengunjungi gereja Notre-Dame.
Mari berbicara sedikit tentang Paris Pass. Kartu ini mencakup tur keliling kota dengan Big Bus yang berlaku untuk satu hari (ingat Quasimodo? Bis ini akan membawa kita singgah ke Notre-Dame) dan selain itu, kita juga bisa naik kapal untuk menikmati Sungai Seine (walaupun hal ini terasa seperti déjà vu karena saya dan istri baru saja berjalan menyusui tepi sungai di pagi hari). Kartu ini juga menyertakan akses gratis ke berbagai museum, tapi perlu diingat bahwa museum di Eropa itu besar dan ekstensif koleksinya. Louvre sangat luas dan setelah melihat Mona Lisa dan beberapa lukisan lain yang pernah saya dengar, saya menyerah dan mencari pintu keluar. Pada akhirnya, yang paling berguna itu justru karcis Métro. Bagi yang sering menaiki kereta, karcis gratis selama dua hari lumayan bermanfaat.
Kami juga berkunjung ke Versailles. Ternyata ini nama sebuah kota kecil dimana istana terkenal itu berada. Suasananya terasa damai. Sebelum saya sampai ke istana, pengalaman saya sejauh ini hanyalah istana di Bangkok dan Keraton di Yogya, tapi Château de Versailles melebihi apa yang pernah saya lihat sebelumnya. Istana ini besar dan tamannya bahkan lebih luas lagi, bagaikan tak berujung. Ketika saya berada di dalam, saya bisa melihat bagaimana setiap ruangan masih tertata rapi, membuat saya berpikir tentang orang-orang yang dulunya tinggal di sana, termasuk Marie Antoinette. Sungguh menakjubkan, sebuah warisan dari era yang telah lampau, yang menunjukkan seperti apa kehidupan bangsawan itu sebenarnya.
Di kota Versailles.
Saat berada Versailles, saya juga mengamati betapa telur omelet mereka terlihat lezat dan berbeda. Begitu saya melihat omelet yang dipesan oleh orang di meja sebelah, saya langsung menyesal karena telah memesan spaghetti. Pesanannya terlihat menggiurkan dan besar porsinya!
Sebagai penggemar nasi goreng, saya sempat mengira bahwa makanan Eropa akan susah diterima, tetapi saya terkejut sendiri saat menyadari bahwa saya ternyata bisa menyesuaikan diri. Menu Perancis mungkin tidak disertai nasi, tapi makanan mereka terasa sedap. Salad mereka enak, dosis AAAAA mereka juga enak (dari sejak awal saya berpikir bahwa menu dengan banyak huruf A harusnya terjamin kualitasnya), telur omelet mereka, yang akhirnya saya coba di kafe di dekat Moulin Rouge, pun enak!
Moulin Rouge adalah tempat turis terakhir yang kami kunjungi, namun kami berbalik arah dan menuju ke kafe untuk makan malam. Setelah itu, dalam perjalanan kembali ke hotel, saya jadi ingat apa yang Christophe ceritakan pada saya. Paris tidak berbeda jauh dengan Singapura dalam konteks pejalan kaki. Destinasi dari satu titik ke titik lain bisa ditempuh dengan berjalan kaki, bukan saja karena dekat jaraknya, tetapi juga karena kita bisa menikmati pemandangan sekitar dan juga berhemat (jangan lupa bahwa semua pengeluaran di sini dibayar dalam mata uang Euro).
Keesokan paginya, karena harganya yang terjangkau dan masuk akal, kita menggunakan transportasi hotel untuk ke bandara. Saat itu hari masih gelap dan Paris masih bermandikan cahaya lampu, persis seperti juluka yang disandangnya. Setelah itu kita akhirnya terbang dari bandara Charles de Gaulle airport ke Liverpool...
Di bandara Charles de Gaulle, sesaat sebelum berangkat ke Liverpool.
I was reminded by Facebook that it's been a year since I last visited London. It was a nice experience, though the preparation was quite a nightmare, especially for Indonesian passport holders who chose the free and easy option (funny that they come up with such term because nothing is free and easy here). Coming from that angle, I think it'll be an interesting topic for me to write.
First of all, let's get the right idea that London is very far from Asia. It's very important to acknowledge that, because 14 hours flight is definitely not a joke for those who dislike flying, me included. How I did it was, I intentionally chose the flights that stopped in Dubai. The flight duration was ideal, so I got a chance to walk on a solid ground after seven hours of flying, then boarded the plane and endured another seven hours in the air (as a comparison, seven hours is roughly the time needed for one to fly from Singapore to Tokyo). Emirates was a great choice. If I only got one word to describe it, then this is it: impressive.
Now, back to the Indonesian passport, we need tourist visas to enter almost all foreign countries and UK is not an exception. The UK visa application form was the most complicated and tedious one. It was so challenging with a lot of details to be filled up that, if not for the thought that I'd be visiting the world famous zebra crossing, I would have abandoned the whole plan. Once the forms were done, I did the online payment (this doesn't guarantee that you'll get the approval) and the next thing I knew, I was at the visa application center with a stack of documents comprised of payslips, marriage certificate, employment letter and many more. Once verified, the documents were collected together with our passports. Then we went to a room to get our photos taken.
As we walked away from Harrods...
After all the steps above are done, we're pretty much at the mercy of the immigration officers. To this day, I'm still not sure if this is some sort of dry British humour or not, but the confirmation email that was sent to me few days later didn't confirm anything at all! In my case, I just had to wait until I received my passport and opened it to figure out whether I obtained the visa or not. When I did that, I saw a visa that was issued by the British embassy in Manilla.
Unlike the single entry visa to China, UK visa is good for multiple entries and valid for six months, so this gives you the flexibility to plan your trip, ie. go to London, then explore Europe and travel back to UK again. Once visa was confirmed, I browsed expedia.com and agoda.com for flights and accommodation. Both websites are good and never give me any problem so far, so I'd say they are recommended.
My first impression of London was Heathrow airport. It had a long queue, cold and nowhere near to Singapore's efficiency, but the immigration officer did smile and was quite friendly. This being UK, he spoke with the eloquent British accent. It was good to hear that.
The gloomy London weather greeted us when we left Heathrow by the Tube. We changed to another train at South Kensington and, as we headed to Bayswater, the sun rose slowly. I couldn't help thinking about Here Comes the Sun and this, together with the pleasant encounter with old folks that talked to us, were just brilliant. Once we reached to our destination, the view there was quite similar with the scenes from Notting Hill. I fell in love with London immediately.
A different angle of Abbey Road...
Bayswater is a bustling place with convenience stores, post office, hotels, telco shops and a lot of good food. Now this may sound ridiculous, but of all the food worth trying there, the most famous one happens to be the Peking roast duck! Yes, a Chinese food, and we ordered ours at Gold Mine. We actually had to queue for it and, by sheer of luck, we had the last portion available for that night. A good place, Bayswater is. Right at the corner of the street, there's also another station called Queensway, so the area is very strategic.
Harrods is also only a few stations away, so we went there on our first evening in London. It looks like an old-fashioned Takashimaya, I think, and the price tags are not exactly friendly, haha. From there, we went to Hard Rock Cafe. It might be spring, but it was still very cold and my Uniqlo hoodie didn't offer much protection against the weather, so I picked up my first leather jacket ever in London. It did wonders and I wore it throughout the holiday.
By the way, the train system there is known as the London Underground, nicknamed the Tube. If you are used to Singapore's MRT, well... this one is nothing like it. The Tube, together with some of the stations, look rather ancient. It also has no fence between the platform and the railway, so if you ever fall down, God bless you, then. You may also want to watch out for the strikes, because there won't be any train operating for that particular line if that happens. I was lucky that I checked it out the night before our departure to Gatwick Airport. Oh, while in London, it makes sense to buy the Oyster card, too. It can be used not only for the trains, but also for the buses and ferry rides.
The musicals: Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables.
If you look at the Tube map, you'll notice that it has some sort of numbering. Most of the tourist spots are inside zone 1, but Abbey Road (nearest train station is St. John's Wood) is within zone 2, so I guess we paid a higher fee to get there. It was worth the money, of course. I remember getting nervous as we approached the legendary studio where the Beatles recorded their music. It was like every step was bringing my dream nearer to reality. Finally, 47 years after the Beatles took the iconic picture at the zebra crossing in 1969 and inspired many fans around the world, I had my turn. It was a mixed feeling, really. As I crossed, I recall the day I was in my room, looking at the album cover 20 years ago. Little did I know then I would make it here one day.
From Abbey Road, we took a bus to Oxford Circus and had a stroll to Tottenham Court Road just to have a glimpse of Primark, the big store with cheap apparels, then we rushed to Buckingham Palace to see the guards changing shift. Months later my wife had our picture in front of the palace framed and hung proudly on our dining room, but as I had my dinner, I was wondering why it had a caption saying Birmingham Palace. It was funny, alright, but my wife would have none of it. The photo was eventually relegated to one corner, haha.
Anyway, I won't bore you with the story of the historical sites any further. You go yourself one day and decide if you like them or not. One last thing that I'd like to share is this wonderful place called West End at Piccadilly Circus. It has many theatres nearby and we went there to watch Phantom of the Opera, right where it belongs. I thought it was great, but we went again at the end of our trip, this time for Les Misérables. I was astounded. That was the best musical ever, even better than Phantom, and I was totally in awe. Songs such as Look Down, I Dreamed a Dream and Do You Hear the People Sing? are awesome!
In the event that you don't really get what was saying or just in case you are from a small town in Asia just like me, I can understand that musicals may sound alien. It's not like something that we ever did before as it wasn't exactly part of our culture. However if you are into performing arts, I'd suggest you to go try it out. The atmosphere, the fact that this people are singing and acting live on stage with a little to no room for mistakes, it's definitely worth every penny.
Apart from London, we actually had an excursion to nearby places as well such as Stonehenge and Bath, but my wife had written about it, so I'm not going to invalidate her writing with mine, haha. If you are interested, you can click here. Next stop: Paris!
PS: What's my favourite food in London? Pret a Manger!
Good morning, London!
Perjalanan Ke Eropa: London
Saya diingatkan kembali oleh Facebook tentang perjalanan saya ke London setahun yang lalu. Liburan tersebut adalah sebuah pengalaman yang menyenangkan, meski persiapannya bagaikan mimpi buruk, terutama bagi pemegang paspor Indonesia yang berniat mengurus tiket, visa dan akomodasi sendiri. Mari kita lihat seperti apa prosesnya.
Pertama-tama, perlu dipahami bahwa London sangat jauh dari Asia. Anda harus mengerti bahwa 14 jam di pesawat itu bukan perkara enteng, terutama bagi yang tidak menyukai perjalanan udara seperti saya. Untuk mengatasi hal ini, saya memilih penerbangan yang transit di Dubai. Dengan demikian durasinya menjadi tujuh jam kali dua dan saya bisa berjalan kaki sejenak di bandara Dubai (sebagai perbandingan, tujuh jam itu jarak tempuh dari Singapura ke Tokyo). Emirates adalah pilihan yang bagus. Benar-benar mengesankan.
Bagi pemegang paspor Indonesia, kita memerlukan visa Inggris. Aplikasi visa ini luar biasa kompleks. Banyak detil yang mesti diisi dan dokumen yang musti disediakan. Jika bukan karena ingin melihat tempat penyeberangan pejalan kaki yang paling terkenal di dunia, saya sudah ingin membatalkan kunjungan ke sana. Begitu formulir selesai diisi, saya harus melakukan pembayaran lewat internet (dan ini tidak menjamin bahwa permohonan visa saya pasti diterima). Setelah itu saya harus membawa setumpuk dokumen, mulai dari slip gaji, sertifikat pernikahan, surat keterangan kerja, dan masih banyak lagi. Setelah diverifikasi, dokumen-dokumen ini dikumpulkan bersama paspor. Kemudian kita masuk ke sebuah ruangan untuk difoto.
Di Piccadilly Circus.
Setelah menjalani prosedur di atas, kita hanya bisa menanti keputusan dari kantor imigrasi. Sampai hari ini, saya tidak sepenuhnya paham apakah ini adalah gaya humor Inggris atau apa, tapi email konfirmasi yang saya terima sama sekali tidak memberikan konfirmasi apakah aplikasi saya sukses atau ditolak! Pada akhirnya saya hanya bisa pasrah dan menunggu sampai paspor saya dikembalikan. Setelah saya buka paspor saya, saya melihat visa Inggris yang dikeluarkan kedutaan Inggris di Manila.
Tidak seperti visa Cina yang biasanya hanya berlaku untuk sekali pakai, visa Inggris bisa dipakai berkali-kali dalam masa enam bulan. Ini memberikan kesempatan bagi kita dalam merencanakan liburan, misalnya pergi ke London, lalu lanjut ke Eropa dan kembali lagi ke Inggris. Begitu saya mendapatkan visa, saya lekas membuka expedia.com dan agoda.com untuk pesawat dan hotel. Dua situs ini bagus dan sampai sejauh ini tidak memberikan saya masalah, jadi saya suka menggunakannya.
Kesan pertama saya tentang London adalah bandara Heathrow. Antriannya panjang, ruangannya dingin dan tidak seefisien Changi di Singapura, tapi petugas imigrasinya tersenyum dan sangat bersahabat serta berbicara dalam akses Inggris yang enak didengar.
Cuaca London yang murung langsung terasa begitu kita keluar dari bandara. Dengan menggunakan Tube, sebutan kereta bawah tanah di sana, kita bertolak ke South Kensington dan berganti kereta ke Bayswater. Matahari terbit dengan perlahan selagi kita menempuh perjalanan, mengingatkan saya pada lagu Here Comes the Sun. Cuaca yang membaik dan ditambah lagi percakapan ringan bersama orang London di kereta sungguh saya nikmati. Ketika kita hampir sampai di tujuan, terlihat pula pemandangan yang mirip dengan film Notting Hill. Saya segera jatuh cinta dengan London.
Bebek panggang Beijing di Bayswater.
Bayswater adalah tempat yang sibuk. Ada toko 24 jam, kantor pos, hotel, kedai telkom dan tempat makan di sana. Yang lebih unik dan lucu lagi, dari sekian banyak makanan di sana, yang terkenal justru bebek panggang Beijing! Ya, makanan Cina, dan kita sempat mencobanya di restoran Gold Mine. Khusus untuk bebek panggang, kita harus antri dan kebetulan kita mendapat porsi terakhir untuk malam itu. Saya suka kawasan Bayswater. Di ujung jalan, masih ada lagi stasiun lain yang bernama Queensway, jadi ini memang daerah strategis.
Harrods terletak tidak jauh dari Bayswater, jadi kita ke sana di malam pertama kita di London. Ternyata Harrods mirip seperti Takashimaya, namun kelihatan lebih tua gedungnya. Harga barangnya pun kurang bersahabat, haha. Dari sana kita beranjak ke Hard Rock Cafe. Meski sudah memasuki musim semi, cuaca masih terasa sangat dingin di London dan jaket Uniqlo saya gagal menunaikan tugasnya, jadi saya membeli jaket kulit pertama saya di Hard Rock Cafe. Ini sungguh investasi yang bermanfaat dan saya memakainya sepanjang liburan.
Oh ya, sistem transportasi kereta di sana bernama London Underground, namun lebih dikenal sebagai Tube. Jika anda sudah terbiasa dengan MRT di Singapura, maka... yang satu ini tidak terlalu mirip. Tube dan beberapa stasiunnya terlihat kuno. Tidak ada pembatas antara tempat menunggu dan rel kereta, jadi senantiasa ada resiko terjatuh. Anda juga harus memperhatikan kemungkinan terjadinya mogok kerja, karena tidak akan ada kereta pada jalur tersebut. Saya beruntung karena sempat mengecek kereta di malam sebelum kita berangkat ke bandara Gatwick. Saat berada di London, lebih masuk akal jika anda membeli kartu Oyster. Kartu ini bisa digunakan untuk kereta, bis dan juga feri.
Di London Underground.
Jika anda melihat peta jalur kereta, anda akan melihat zona yang ditandai dengan nomor. Kawasan turis kebanyakan berada di zona 1, tapi Abbey Road (dan stasiun yang terdekat adalah St. John's Wood) berada di zona 2, jadi ongkosnya pun lebih mahal.
Dari Abbey Road, kita naik bis ke Oxford Circus dan berjalan santai ke arah Tottenham Court Road untuk melihat-lihat sejenak di Primark, pusat perbelanjaan yang menawarkan tas dan pakaian murah. Dari sana, kita bergegas ke Buckingham Palace untuk melihat pergantian penjaga istana. Beberapa bulan kemudian, istri saya membawa pulang bingkai foto kita yang berpose di depan istana. Ada tulisan Birmingham Palace di bawah, sehingga saya pun heran dan bertanya. Ternyata salah tulis! Saya rasa lucu juga, tapi tidak demikian halnya menurut istri saya. Bingkai foto tersebut pun akhirnya disimpan di pojokan.
Di depan Buckingham Palace.
Saya tidak akan bercerita panjang lebar dan membuat anda bosan dengan bangunan bersejarah di London. Jika anda ke sana, anda putuskan sendiri apakah anda menyukainya atau tidak. Yang mau saya ceritakan lebih lanjut adalah West End, tempat istimewa yang terletak di Piccadilly Circus. West End memiliki banyak gedung teater dan kita ke sana untuk menonton Phantom of the Opera. Di penghujung liburan, kita kembali lagi ke sana, kali ini kita beli langsung tiket di loket dan menyaksikan Les Misérables. Saya benar-benar terpana. Les Mis adalah musikal terbaik yang pernah saya tonton, bahkan lebih bagus dari Phantom. Lagu-lagu seperti Look Down, I Dreamed a Dream and Do You Hear the People Sing? sangat menggugah!
Selain London, kita juga sempat mampir ke Stonehenge dan Bath, tapi istri saya sudah menulis ceritanya. Jika anda berminat, bisa baca di sini dalam versi bahasa Inggris. Tempat tujuan berikutnya: Paris!
PS: Makanan favorit saya selama di London? Pret a Manger!
As I was about to celebrate the release of Pheng iu (Volume 1) five years ago earlier this month, I dusted off the unreleased story of Pheng iu for this special occasion. I smiled and chuckled when I did the proofreading, simply because I found it hard to believe at times that this piece of nonsense was actually written by me. It felt like a lifetime ago since I last did such stuff. It was kind of nostalgic that it got me reminiscing and digging further into the treasure trove.
Looking back, I realized that since I was a kid, I always had a knack for telling stories that evolved around me at that time. I used to play with my action figures just to act out the stories, from Tiger Wong (the old Lóng Hǔ Mén) to Final Fight (the side-scrolling, beat-'em-all video game, my all time favorite), usually with my loyal brother as the only audience. The routine stopped as it became increasingly embarrassing to do so, thanks to my grandfather's constant teasing. That's when I switched to another medium that allowed me to continue my passion.
As briefly mentioned in the Artworks, I thought I was into comics in 1995. I was wrong. Thanks to the well documented information in Sentimental Journey, I just rediscovered that I started a year earlier in 1994. After reading the timeline that I wrote back in 2001, I recall now that the comics craze was started with Sonic the Hedgehog pencil sketches. The drawing was awful, but it was fun and I craved for more since that moment onwards. I also vaguely remember that I did Dick Tracy as well during that period, although I totally have no recollection of how it turned out to be. Perhaps it was just a one page thing. I have no idea, really.
The main piece of work I was doing then was Mega Man. I came up with my own story and drew it myself. It was heavily inspired by Tiger Wong, hence the muscular characters and the fighting style that was mixed with occasional use of Mega Man's own Mega Buster, producing a result that was somewhat similar with Dragon Ball Z. It was exciting for a while, but because I wasn't any good in drawing, I always struggled and had a hard time catching up with the flowing ideas. Frustrated, I eventually abandoned the whole thing.
It didn't stop there and then, apparently. Upon learning that the drawing part hindered my progress, I did the storytelling only in the form of writing but, alas, of all the stories I could have started with, I wrote a love story. I mean, as a teenager, love story was not cool! It was just my luck that I was so inspired by the Chinese drama I was watching and what was the supposed to be the last thing done by a teenage boy became the first short story I ever penned down, literally, on a piece of paper. It was called Simfoni Kehidupan, retitled as the Chinese Love Story during its inclusion in Sentimental Journey.
Sentimental Journey, the Beatlestories (hand-drawn by yours truly) and the New Legend of Superheroes.
I thought it was corny. I was neither proud nor confident about it, but still I got the one and only original handwritten copy circulated around. Friends like Eday and Lisna encouraged me to carry on, which was very nice of them. Not long after that, I churned out another one, this time a comedy. That one felt more natural to me. I was at ease, having the time of my life and I began adopting the moniker Anthony Ventura. No, not from Ace Ventura, but from the name that I always saw on vinyls owned by my father.
I wrote a number of short stories during that period. Some were the finest then (Pompeii included, even though it was a, uh, love story), others were downright horrible. That was also the time when I first noticed that I couldn't really write based on requests from others. Imagine an artist that draws other people's face upon request. I did that, too, but the results weren't satisfying, at least to me. It somehow felt like very restrictive and the creativity just didn't develop well due to it, therefore the quality suffered. It worked best for me when it was my own stuff, a lesson that I learnt after many attempts of writing for others.
Another thing worth mentioning is, while I am capable of crafting stories from the scratch, I have this tendency of picking up what is funny around me, touch it up and repackage it into something that is entirely me. I often think that it's due to my keen sense of humor, which enables me to see ordinary stuff in a different light and laugh about it. Just my way of appreciating the irony in life, I suppose?
JKK, a parody of Justice League à la Kalbe, the silliest and the most useless incarnation ever. Image credit: Kent August
Anyway, after brushing up my skills for a couple of years, I progressed from short stories to books (and wrote them on a computer as opposed to handwriting). The results were as random as they could be: two compilations of the previous short stories (Sentimental Journey, part 1 and 2), a bunch of new short stories with the same theme cobbled together (the Beatlestories, for example), two collections of poems, the fake monthly newspapers, a movie script (this was Andy William's project that was canned in the end), a play (it was performed in an event organized by Kalbe, the company I worked at), an interactive piece of nonsense where you could select your favorite characters and complete their adventures by choosing the multiple options that would bring you jumping all over the pages (JKK: Edisi Petualangan), two motivational books based on the lyrics of famous songs and, finally, normal books with one single storyline divided in multiple chapters such as the Battle of Destiny. Oh, there was even a trilogy called the Secret of Sephiroth, but only two out of three books were ever completed, haha.
Monster-Mania, one of the many Godzilla fan fictions I ever wrote.
1998-2006 was an insanely productive era! Apart from what was described above, I also wrote a couple of songs with my friend Ardian. You see, I had a band or two and at least one guitarist that I highly admired, but Ardian was a down-to-earth guy with under-utilized talents that he was approachable for me to work with. As a songwriting team, we split the tasks naturally, ie. he handled the music and I took care of the lyrics. We used tape recorder at first, then digitally re-recorded the same stuff using computer a few years later. The last time we got together to write a song was, perhaps, around year 2007. We wrote Friends Forever, which was supposed to be the soundtrack of Pheng iu #3. As a duo, we did perform our stuff to public at least once during the Christmas event (and we wrote Christmas song so that we were qualified to register, haha).
Friends Forever, in what was meant to be Pheng iu #3.
Still within the period was the book publication that happened twice in 2005. Now this was rather interesting. When I started writing, I didn't write with a commercial mindset that it would eventually get published. Most of the time, it was done because I felt like doing it and I enjoyed the process. Only after the work was finished that I'd read it as a common reader and, more often than not, the outcome tended to be for personal consumption or limited audience. Yet there were some materials that were pure comedy, the ones that could be enjoyed as easy reading by many.
Crazy Campus, originally titled as Happy Campus, was one of those. It was about the four main characters, together with their classmates, wrecking havoc during their stay at the university in the fictitious Newtown City (yeah, I created the whole city long before this and most of my stories took place here). The series was inspired by my experience as computer lab assistant when I was in college and I did around 40 standalone chapters. When I moved to Jakarta, I picked up the best ones and submitted them as a book. Much to my delight, I got the deal. That was the first time I ever signed a contract with a publisher, albeit the indie one. 3000 copies were printed for the first round and another 3000 were printed subsequently.
Half a year later, the second book, Hong Kong Heroes, was published. This one got me worried about copyright infringement due to the similarity between the characters and the real life people. As I mentioned earlier, when I wrote books, I did it mostly just for fun. In this case, Hong Kong Heroes was supposed to be some sort of fan fiction only. It featured Stephen Chow, Andy Lau, Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chow Yun Fat reprising their roles from their movies, defending Hong Kong from the clutch of mafia led by Al Pacino, therefore I was understandably reluctant in publishing the book, but I was convinced that there wouldn't be any issue.
The original Hong Kong Heroes: 2001 and 2003. Image credit: Jun Fui (Hong Kong Heroes 2003)
Were Crazy Campus and Hong Kong Heroes bestsellers? I'm afraid not. Judging from how they were written, I tend to think that you either like them or hate them. In term of success, Hong Kong Heroes didn't get any reprint, so only less than 3000 copies were sold. Due to the poor reception, the sequel (yes, there were actually two, Hong Kong Heroes 2001 and 2003) wasn't released. Talk about royalties, they were quite substantial then, came handy at the right time to cover my expenses when I first migrated to Singapore later on that year.
The Secret of Sephiroth was written at the end of an era. It was a fantasy story influenced by both Harry Potter and the Lords of the Rings. I was also reading Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs at that time and, as much as I was fascinated by Tarzan, I disliked the one line description about the fight. I thought, as a reader, I would like to know the details, hence the battle scenes in my story were long and illustrative. If I recall it correctly, I met a guy who edited the Bahasa Indonesia edition of Winnetou and he requested several changes (this explained why the first part of the saga has the original and alternate version), but no deal was materialized. The trilogy, with the total of around 800 pages' worth of story so far, was left unfinished.
The map from the Secret of Sephiroth. Image credit: Kent August
Then the life changing decision happened. I moved to Singapore and started anew. While I was looking for a job, I dreamt of doing a short film. That's when Pheng iu, which means "friend" and originated from the phrase often used by Sudarpo, was born. With a little help from my friends, I wrote the screenplay, I directed and shot the scenes and I post-produced the whole thing. The first flick was pretty much a test, but not without its memorable moments (I especially cherish the dancing scene, the first outdoor shooting we ever did). The second one was more of a decent short film. The third one, which was supposed to be the best and directed by the far more capable Andy William, stopped half way due to camera faulty and died a quiet death. Nevertheless, Pheng iu as a bunch of characters found a new life soon after that, this time in the written form. I happened to discover the self-publishing website and, after a decision to retire the pseudonym, Pheng iu (Volume 1) by Anthony Robinson appeared on Amazon.com.
That was the last hurrah before the five year hiatus. When my daughter was born, I thought it was time to call it quit and move on. It was fun while it lasted and all good things must come to end, no? The writer in me was long buried until 2017, when I curiously installed the Blogger application on my trusted BlackBerry Priv.
It feels good to be back! It's been a long way since I first started. I had survived the handwriting era, I had done it for the longest time on computers and now, relying heavily on the addictive BlackBerry keyboards (KEYone, here I come!), I'm a writer on the go! This man has stories to tell and he's here to stay!
The Big Three: Crazy Campus, Hong Kong Heroes and Pheng iu (Volume 1).
Asal-Usul Roadblog101
Sewaktu saya hendak merayakan terbitnya novel komedi Pheng iu (Volume 1) lima tahun yang lalu, saya mengeluarkan cerita Pheng iu yang belum pernah ditulis sebelumnya. Saya tersenyum dan tertawa kecil saat membacanya kembali, sebab sulit rasanya untuk percaya bahwa karangan sekonyol ini ditulis oleh saya. Rasanya seperti sudah begitu lama sejak saya menulis dengan imajinasi seliar itu. Saya jadi terbawa suasana untuk bernostalgia.
Kalau saya lihat kembali, saya sudah gemar bercerita dari sejak kecil. Saya sering menggunakan mainan figur aksi yang saya miliki, misalnya kura-kura ninja, untuk memerankan tokoh dari beraneka cerita, mulai dari Tiger Wong sampai Final Fight (video game di Orbit Wonderland). Penonton setia saya di kala itu adalah adik saya. Hobi ini akhirnya saya hentikan karena kian terasa memalukan seiring dengan bertambahnya umur saya. Oleh karena itu saya pun pindah ke medium lain yang lebih cocok untuk bercerita.
Seperti yang disinggung secara singkat the Artworks, saya mengira kiprah saya di dunia komik dimulai tahun 1995. Namun setelah saya cek lagi informasi yang ada di Sentimental Journey, saya baru menyadari bahwa saya mulai setahun lebih awal di tahun 1994. Semuanya bermula dari sketsa pensil Sonic the Hedgehog. Gambarnya luar biasa buruk, tapi perasaan saat berkarya itu terasa menyenangkan dan membuat saya berkecimpung di dunia komik. Samar-samar saya juga ingat bahwa saya pernah mengerjakan Dick Tracy pada saat itu, tapi entah bagaimana hasilnya. Mungkin hanya satu halaman, hehe.
Karya utama pada era komik adalah Mega Man. Saya membuat cerita sendiri dan menggambarnya. Terinspirasi oleh Tiger Wong, jagoannya berotot dan bertarung secara fisik sambil diselingi tembakan Mega Buster. Hasilnya mirip seperti Dragon Ball Z. Pada awalnya terasa seru, tapi karena saya tidak pandai menggambar, karya ini berjalan lambat dan tidak sepadan dengan cepatnya ide yang mengalir. Karena frustrasi, saya lantas berhenti dari dunia komik.
Saat menyadari bahwa kemampuan menggambar saya tidak cukup, saya kemudian berfokus pada cerita saja, kali ini dalam bentuk tulisan. Meski akhirnya saya lebih banyak menghasilkan cerita komedi, cerita pendek pertama yang saya tulis justru bertemakan cinta. Ketika masih remaja SMA, rasanya cerita cinta itu menggelikan untuk ditulis oleh seorang cowok! Akan tetapi saat itu saya sedang menonton serial drama Mandarin yang berjudul Sanggar Kenangan dan saya tergerak untuk menulis cerita serupa. Cerita ini berjudul Simfoni Kehidupan dan kemudian diubah menjadi Chinese Love Story saat dirangkum dalam Sentimental Journey.
Sentimental Journey, the Beatlestories (yang saya gambar sendiri) dan the New Legend of Superheroes.
Saya tidak bangga atau bahkan percaya diri dengan hasil karya perdana ini, tapi saya tetap mengedarkan cerpen tulisan tangan ini untuk dibaca oleh teman-teman. Eday dan Lisna memberi saya dorongan untuk lanjut, sebuah dukungan yang berarti buat saya. Tidak lama setelah itu, saya menulis karya kedua yang bernuansa komedi. Prosesnya terasa lebih alami, mungkin karena saya memang senang bercanda. Di saat yang sama, saya juga menggunakan nama Anthony Ventura sebagai penulis. Nama ini tidak berasal dari Ace Ventura seperti yang sering diduga banyak orang, melainkan dari nama seorang pemimpin konser yang sering saya lihat di piringan hitam ayah saya.
Saya menulis banyak cerpen pada periode ini. Beberapa di antaranya tergolong bagus (termasuk Pompeii, walaupun ini sebenarnya cerita romantis), namun tidak sedikit juga yang jelek. Ini pertama kalinya saya menyadari bahwa saya tidak bisa menulis hanya karena diminta oleh orang lain. Entah kenapa ada perasaan yang membatasi kreativitas sehingga hasilnya tidak memuaskan. Setelah beberapa kali menulis berdasarkan pesanan, saya menyadari bahwa hasilnya akan lebih baik jika saya tulis berdasarkan keinginan sendiri.
Hal lain yang juga saya amati adalah, walau saya bisa mengarang cerita dari awal, saya memiliki kebiasaan mengambil sesuatu yang lucu dari sekeliling saya, kemudian saya kemas dalam gaya saya dan masukkan dalam cerita. Saya sering berpikir bahwa ini mungkin karena rasa humor saya sehingga saya bisa melihat sesuatu yang lucu dari hal-hal yang mungkin terlihat lumrah bagi orang lain.
JKK, parodi Justice League à la Kalbe, dengan jagoan yang konyol dan tidak berguna. Image credit: Kent August
Setelah mengasah kemampuan saya selama beberapa tahun, saya pun mulai meninggalkan cerpen dan beralih ke buku (dan saya juga beralih dari tulisan tangan ke komputer, mulai dari aplikasi WordStar). Hasilnya ada berbagai macam, mulai dari kompilasi dari berbagai cerpen yang pernah saya tulis, yakni Sentimental Journey, part 1 dan 2, kumpulan cerpen yang bertema sama, misalnya the Beatlestories, koleksi puisi, koran bulanan, naskah film (ini adalah proyek Andy William, namun akhirnya batal), drama (dan ini ditampilkan di sebuah acara yang diorganisir oleh Kalbe, tempat saya bekerja dulu), sebuah cerita interaktif yang memungkinkan anda untuk memiliki jagoan dan bertualangan dengan cara menentukan pilihan yang membawa anda ke halaman tertentu (JKK: Edisi Petualangan), dua buah buku motivasi yang berdasarkan lirik lagu serta buku-buku novel dan bahkan trilogi yang berjudul the Secret of Sephiroth (namun hanya dua dari tiga buku yang terselesaikan, haha).
Monster-Mania, satu dari banyak cerita fiksi penggemar yang saya tulis.
1998-2006 adalah periode yang benar-benar produktif! Selain apa yang saya jabarkan di atas, saya juga menulis beberapa lagu bersama teman saya Ardian. Dari sejak SMA, saya bergabung dengan beberapa grup musik dan setidaknya ada satu gitaris yang sangat saya kagumi, namun Ardian adalah pria rendah hati dengan talenta yang jarang digunakan. Saya pun mengajaknya untuk berkolaborasi.
Friends Forever dalam cuplikan film yang seharusnya menjadi Pheng iu #3.
Pada masa itu, saya juga sempat menerbitkan buku. Di kala menulis biasanya saya tidak berpikir secara komersial. Saya menulis karena saya menikmati prosesnya. Setelah selesai dan saya baca ulang dalam sudut pandang seorang pembaca, barulah saya sadari bahwa hasil tulisan saya seringkali hanya cocok untuk kalangan terbatas. Meskipun demikian, ada juga yang bernuansa komedi dan bisa dinikmati khalayak ramai.
Crazy Campus yang awalnya berjudul Happy Campus termasuk dalam kategori tersebut. Cerita ini mengetengahkan sepak-terjang empat tokoh utama dan juga teman-teman mereka saat kuliah. Serial ini diinspirasi oleh pengalaman saya selama menjadi asisten laboratorium komputer di kampus. Saya menyelesaikan sekitar 40 cerpen dan, setelah saya pindah ke Jakarta, saya mengirimkan kumpulan cerpen terbaik sebagai sebuah buku ke penerbit. Saya mendapat tanggapan positif dan akhirnya menandatangani kontrak dengan pihak penerbit. Cetakan pertama berjumlah 3000 eksemplar dan demikian juga halnya dengan cetakan kedua.
Setengah tahun kemudian, buku kedua, Hong Kong Heroes, pun diterbitkan. Buku yang satu ini sempat membuat saya khawatir dengan masalah hak cipta karena kemiripan tokoh yang saya pakai dengan orang-orang terkenal di Hong Kong. Seperti yang saya paparkan sebelumnya, saya biasa menulis karena saya suka. Hong Kong Heroes harusnya hanya merupakan sebuah fiksi penggemar. Cerita ini menampilkan Stephen Chow, Andy Lau, Jackie Chan, Jet Li dan Chow Yun Fat yang memerankan karakter dalam film masing-masing. Oleh karena itu bisa dimengerti kenapa saya sungkan untuk merilis cerita ini, namun pihak penerbit meyakinkan saya bahwa tidak akan ada masalah.
Hong Kong Heroes: 2001 and 2003. Image credit: Jun Fui (Hong Kong Heroes 2003)
Apakah Crazy Campus dan Hong Kong Heroes terjual laris? Harus saya akui bahwa hasilnya tidak seperti yang saya harapkan. Dari cara cerita ini ditulis, saya tahu bahwa hanya akan dua tipe pembaca, yang benar-benar suka dan yang tidak menyukainya. Bicara soal sukses, Hong Kong Heroes bahkan tidak dicetak ulang dan hanya terjual kurang dari 3000 eksemplar. Karena kurangnya minat pembeli, buku berikutnya (ya, bagi yang belum tahu, sesungguhnya ada dua episode, Hong Kong Heroes 2001 dan 2003) tidak diterbitkan. Bicara soal royalti, jumlahnya cukup lumayan dan berguna untuk biaya hidup saya saat saya pindah dan memulai dari awal di Singapura.
The Secret of Sephiroth ditulis di penghujung periode ini. Trilogi ini adalah kisah fantasi yang dipengaruhi oleh cerita Harry Potter dan the Lords of the Rings. Pada saat itu, saya juga membaca novel Tarzan yang ditulis oleh Edgar Rice Burroughs. Saya suka cerita Tarzan, tapi saya tidak suka deskripsi pertarungannya yang singkat. Saya merasa bahwa detil pertempuran sangat penting, jadi setiap adegan pertarungan dalam Sephiroth sangat panjang dan ilustratif. Saya akhirnya bertemu dengan editor yang mengerjakan alih bahasa Winnetou. Dia meminta berbagai perubahan dalam cerita (ini alasannya kenapa buku pertama akhirnya ada dua versi), namun kerja sama ini tidak membuahkan hasil. Saya hanya sempat menyelesaikan dua buku yang totalnya berjumlah 800an halaman.
Peta the Secret of Sephiroth. Image credit: Kent August
Sesudah itu, saya pindah ke Singapura. Selagi saya mencari kerja, saya bermimpi bahwa saya membuat sebuah film. Dari sinilah Pheng iu (yang berarti teman, sebuah frase yang sering digunakan teman saya Sudarpo) bermula. Dengan bantuan teman-teman serumah sebagai bintangnya, saya menulis naskah, menjadi sutradara, menjadi juru kamera dan menyatukan hasilnya menjadi sebuah film. Episode pertama sebenarnya lebih menyerupai eksperimen (saya menyukai adegan tarian yang merupakan adegan luar ruangan yang pertama bagi kita). Film kedua lebih bagus hasilnya. Yang ketiga, yang seharusnya paling bagus karena disutradari oleh Andy William, teman saya yang bergerak di bidang perfilman, putus di tengah jalan karena video kameranya rusak. Walaupun demikian, Pheng iu sebagai tokoh cerita berlanjut dalam bentuk tulisan. Di saat bersamaan, saya kebetulan menemukan situs yang memungkinkan saya untuk menerbitkan buku sendiri. Saya memutuskan untuk mulai menggunakan nama asli saya dan Pheng iu (Volume 1) karyaAnthony Robinson pun muncul di Amazon.com.
Itu adalah karya terakhir saya sebelum saya berhenti menulis selama lima tahun. Ketika putri saya lahir, saya pikir bahwa saya sudah menulis lebih dari 10 tahun lamanya, jadi mungkin sudah saatnya saya berhenti. Saya tidak pernah menulis apa pun sejak itu, sampai awal tahun 2017, ketika saya iseng mengunduh aplikasi Blogger di BlackBerry Priv.
Senang rasanya bisa kembali! Saya telah melewati masa-masa tulisan tangan, era komputer dan sekarang saya mengandalkan keyboard BlackBerry yang terpercaya sehingga bisa menulis di mana pun! Oh ya, saya punya cerita dan saya senantiasa akan bercerita!
Crazy Campus, Hong Kong Heroes and Pheng iu (Volume 1).
