[insert] generic "I'm Back!" title

It's been almost a year, and honestly I thought this blog is going to be another entry on my "dead blogs" list — as well as I thought podcast is going to be another entry on my "used to be hobby" list. 

But maybe it won't? I sure do hope it won't.

Things have been not very good a couple of months. The usual adulthood came kicking in, and some not so usual, like deaths and depressions. 

It became too much, it even made me entirely stopped listening to podcast for months.
(Sorry, podcasters.)

But apparently, podcasts, and mostly audio drama, still have that healing function for me. Won't solve all my problems, of course, but still become a rock for me. 

Thank you people.

And even better! lately there has been so. friggin. a lot. of new great audio dramas. The themes and ideas are getting more diverse, and audio designs are getting better, even the newbies. 

I'm getting excited for the first time in months!

I'm so back! 

A Love Story Too Short: Wolf 359

This podcast has been going around since more than 3 years ago. Been shouted and mentioned numerous times in any social media, but I can’t got myself interested to it. And I blame it all to the title..

See, my first encounter with podcast wasn’t really a meet-cute. It’s boring, it’s awfully recorded, it’s either filled with people yelling and screaming and believing that they’re the funniest shit in the world — or some geeks reviewing while trying to uncover whatever hidden conspiracy on some television series. Yes, I thought the Wolf 359 was another Trekkie shits.
(why? this)

But then suddenly my main podcasts subs got into hiatus at the same time. My ears were left cold and lonely. So, boredom and necessity made me swiped right for Wolf 359.

and it’s a mind-blowing affair..

It started intense and I easily got hooked into. The laughter, the silliness and campiness of all the pop culture references, I really don’t expect it to be a comedy journey. But then, a quick turn happened. We went into drama.

Not that I despise it, after all, I knew I have to deal with it sooner or later. But I didn’t prepare for such a deep and dark side of the characters. The laughter was still there, but not that much. Even though through an emotional turmoil and loss, I was beginning to understand them all, even the most slippery one.

Next: changes. The Hephaestus’ small life was so warm, every inches of me refused when changes started to happen and comfort zones were crossed by many new characters.

More drama and more struggles, but I stayed with Wolf 359, because they were already became part of my life. I already crossed the red line..

Yet then, suddenly, everything must come to an end, with any possible means.

It’s the cruelest news they ever gave to me. I kept wishing that another 90s pathetic reference would came from Eiffel’s mouth, or for Plant Monster to came back and somehow became a new part of the crew in a cheery new vacation, and things would just stop. getting. worse.

But no. Everything and everyone have changed, and just for the sake of all that have lost, they needed to finish it.

So I’ll say, it ended with tears, with laughter,
with awesomeness, with a bang and pang in my heart.

I never cried like that for someone like them. For a while, I still refused to believe that all is over. I’m maybe not with them as long as the others were, but don’t you dare say my love for them is less.

But the curtain has fell. Though it’s really sad to say goodbye, I still really glad the crews went not with an end, but with a hope.

Wolf 359, you are, and will always be, my most beautiful podcast affair.

Thank you for existing.

For Sanity's Sake

looking at the wrong side?

It's been two years since I suffered from Reader's Block. And even though it usually is just something that people merely mentioned to their friend, apparently it brought me to another issues I (finally) have to face as an adult.

I've tried so hard to fight the wall, it's tiring, and useless, and just pushed me away farther. 

So, as long as reader’s block is still haunting me, I decided to move to two things that seemed to have the same capability to kill boredom: films and podcast.

Why podcast? well, for me, it has the same element of brain nutrition and entertainment, and better yet, it’s free.

Like most people, I got into podcast by jumping into the Serial trend in 2014. After it’s over, thinking probably podcasts are more than Trekkie geeks constantly giggling and screaming, I looked into another. Seeking some recommendation from known sites like The Guardian or Wired, or by randomly browsing in my podcatcher.

I got into some usual classics like TED Talks, 99% Invisible, No Such Thing As A Fish, Myths & Legends, etc. ..and then I plunged into the audio drama, and my whole world is never be the same again. I’m officially hooked and drown into it, starting from less than 5 podcasts, now my subscription list got more than 50 podcasts in it, and will definitely increased.

Like a fruit salad, podcast is light but highly nutritious. Only with less than an hour of time, I could listen the tragic history of Marilyn Monroe, complete discussion about Atlantis, or even a debate between a wizard and a talking badger. And while listening, I could still doing numerous other stuffs, whether it’s cleaning my dumpy room, doing exercise, or waiting the incoming bus. Short is, I could get busy without all the hassle.

And that is basically means the world to me...

Suffering from reader’s block not just making me unable to read, but also removing the only known escape door from life. My mind couldn’t wander around and get lost and making alternative scenarios, I have to face life. And sadly, apparently, I’m still not prepared to do that. And the space between imagination escapade and life are filled with depression, social anxiety, panic attacks…name your monster.

So, unable to hide yet unable to not face life, but not wanting to go into self-pity and depression, where do I go? Podcast.

I could build another scenarios in my head while still doing things needed to be done. Probably that’s why audio drama and documentary works better for me, rather than conversational podcasts like No Such Thing As A Fish, Tested, or The Nerdist.

It’s a therapy. I could still function well as a human being, but rather than facing the monsters alone, my path are accompanied with the world of podcast. And any good psychiatrist would tell you, the ability to normally functioned in small daily routine is one of the dot that separates depression and 'just bad mood'.

Cheeky as it is, but podcast really saves my sanity. I don’t have to go down into that dark, depressing rabbit hole, but I could choose whatever hole I’m gladly jump into.