S01 E09 · The One in Puncak

It's been two years since we planned to do our annual barbecue gathering outside of Saras' and Bisma's comfy abode, and we finally did it! Deshinta got us some pretty cool villa from Airbnb with a very reasonable price during the high season, and with that booked, we prepared for the rest.

When we got to the villa, we played some games but eventually jumped into the ice-cold pool with some not-too-ice-cold drinks. When night came, we grilled 5 medium sized beef and a huge one from Saras' dad, where we marinated it with some classic garlic powder, rosemary, thyme, and black pepper. I made some tasty mashed potatoes and had the rest of the potatoes cut to be deep fried as our after-hours snack, and Difa cooked us some weird-brand-but-is-actually-good chicken wings. After filling ourselves with meat, potatoes, peas and carbonated water, we played some good old Charades! I'm always excited when I get to play Charades, because it is such a universal game to play. This time, we were divided into 4 teams, and had 2 themes to play, cartoon characters and song titles. Seeing everybody acting out awkwardly and a little bit clumsy was really fun. Oji, our desserts master, made us some thickkk dark chocolate tart and bite-sized churros with caramel sauce, which went well during our time asking questions about each other (oh how we spend the time getting to know each other better). Julian kept the camera running and documenting (almost) everything we did. Bisma and Ivander spiced up our activities and conversations, as usual. After some long talks and laughs, and munching down plenty of deep fried food, we went to bed at 2.30 (but some of us slept at 5).

We woke up at 8.30 with the sun shining through the windows in our bedroom. I did some simple yoga by the pool due to the weird-anty feeling my body felt as I woke up, Saras went to the bathroom and took a nice long shower, Deshinta grabbed a glass of warm water, and Difa started cooking us some nasi goreng jamur-basis-telor. Breakfast was served nice and well, with some pumped up songs playing in the background. Afterwards we did our own stuff (showering, pooping, charging) and had a small talk on sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming, dreaming in general, paranormal experiences, and ended with fireworks stories. We checked out at 12, went back straight to Cibubur, had duck for late lunch while watching two episodes of Haunting of Hill House (but also constantly sleeping in between because of how tired we are).

I think I've said this a million of times but I really am very grateful of this circle of people I get to befriend with. Every time I meet them after being apart for long, I am reminded of the quote "Sometimes your circle decreases in size, but increases in value". I have other circle of friends that are as valuable as these barbecue squad are to me, and I'm glad that these circles really are the people I am comfortable with. I have no other ways to tell you how happy I am a few days ago but through pictures of our laughs.

Pictures shot by everyone, mostly by my brother Julian.

Edited on Afterlight, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop by yours truly.

☆