Story behind Kelly Clarkson's '"Because of You"

I will not make

The same mistakes that you did

I will not let myself

Cause my heart so much misery

I will not break

The way you did, you fell so hard

I've learned the hard way

To never let it get that far

Because of you

I never stray too far from the sidewalk

Because of you

I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt

Because of you

I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me

Because of you

I am afraid

I lose my way

And it's not too long before you point it out

I cannot cry

Because I know that's weakness in your eyes

I'm forced to fake

A smile, a laugh everyday of my life

My heart can't possibly break

When it wasn't even whole to start with

Because of you

I never stray too far from the sidewalk

Because of you

I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt

Because of you

I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me

Because of you

I am afraid

I watched you die

I heard you cry every night in your sleep

I was so young

You should have known

Better than to lean on me

You never thought of anyone else

You just saw your pain

And now I cry in the middle of the night

For the same damn thing

Because of you

I never stray too far from the sidewalk

Because of you

I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt

Because of you

I try my hardest just to forget everything

Because of you

I don't know how to let anyone else in

Because of you

I'm ashamed of my life

Because it's empty

Because of you

I am afraid

Because of you

Because of you

"Because of You" is a song recorded by American pop singer Kelly Clarksonfor her second studio album, Breakaway (2004). It was written by Clarkson along with its producers David Hodges and Ben Moody. It was released on August 16, 2005 by RCA Records, as the third single from Breakaway. Clarkson originally wrote "Because of You" when she was 16 years old to cope with the emotional distress caused by her parents' divorce. She wanted the song to be included on her debut studio album, Thankful (2003), but her record label thought that it was not suitable to be included in the album. She then polished the song with Hodges and Moody before successfully convincing her label to include it on Breakaway.

To know about the song's background further, here are some comments from Kelly Clarkson about what inspired her to write "Because Of You" :

“’Because Of You’ isn’t about breakups, it’s about my family. It is about growing up in a broken home. My parents were together for 17 years or so, and then all of the sudden, something went wrong. But I’ve talked to lots of friends who have seen domestic violence in their homes; I didn’t. But if you see those things as a child, you see a family member cheating or people not trusting each other or people not communicating with each other, that effects you. You end up afraid to trust people, because you think you’re going to get screwed over. Me and a friend of mine were up late one night talking about our lives, and it led to this song. I wrote it when I was 16, my friend was having a really hard time with her family. It was a different situation than mine, but I could relate to what she was going through. My parents were together for a long time, and suddenly one thing happens, and it’s over. That could happen to me. It made me feel like, why would I want to open up and trust someone? I know that it’s a childish way to look at it; life is a risk, and anything worth having is worth taking a risk for, but I wrote it when I was 16. I have learned a lot since then. At the same time, it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still relate. I was 6 when my parents got divorced. I used to be the most closed off person. I didn’t want to get hurt. I had been messed over by friends, and I had been through a lot with my family. I didn’t pity myself, but I did put a wall up. I’m smarter now, but I have a good relationship with God, and that’s gotten better over the years. That’s why I’ve gotten smarter about situations. I’m a very trusting person now. I’m not going to let people screw me over left and right, but at the same time I’m not going to close myself off. That’s a big step for me.”

So, in conclusion, in the song, Kelly sings about trying not to make the same mistakes her parents did, and how because of the divorce, she is scared to fall in love, in fear of going through the same pain her parents did.

Hmm, such a really sad love story happened in the family that is implied in the song, isn't  it?

Sources:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070624182126AAaSP9Z
http://www.metrolyrics.com/because-of-you-lyrics-kelly-clarkson.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Because_of_You_(Kelly_Clarkson_song)
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=5176

The "Door to Hell" are Existed in This World?

"Sometimes, despite our best efforts, scientific pursuits don't always go according to plan. And sometimes, a pit to hell may open up right beneath your feet."

Every man in this world obviously knows where will we go after our death, don't they? Of course, since we were still kids our parents told us stories about the hereafter life; especially about heaven and hell. We have been taught to do good deeds in our lives so that we can go to heaven later and to avoid bad deeds so that we won't go to hell. I am 100% sure none of us want to go to hell because... well, you know how terrifying it is.

However, in this real world, there is a place which can depict how hell actually looks like. That is The Door to Hell and is located in Derweze village, Ahal Province, Turkmenistan. It is in the middle of The Karakum Desert, about 260 kilometres north of Ashgabat. The gas reserve found here is one of the largest in the world. The name "Door to Hell" was given to the field by the locals, referring to the fire, boiling mud, and orange flames in the large crater, which has a diameter of 70 metres. The hot spots range over an area with a width of 60 metres and to a depth of about 20 metres.

Let's read the history about this natural phenomenon. The site was identified by Soviet engineers in 1971. It was thought to be a substantial oil field site. The engineers set up a drilling rig and camp nearby, and started drilling operations to assess the quantity of gas reserve available at the site. As the Soviets were pleased with the success of finding the gas resources, they started storing the gas. The ground beneath the drilling rig and camp collapsed into a wide crater and disappeared. No lives were lost in the incident. Fearing further release of poisonous gases from the cavern, the engineers decided to burn the gas off. They believed that it would be safer to burn it than to extract it from underground through expensive methods. At that time, expectations were that the gas would burn out within a few weeks, but has continued to burn more than four decades after it was set on fire.

The site is still burning, attracting hundreds of tourists every year, even though Turkmen President, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov issued orders for local officials to find a way to put out the fire, after his 2010 visit to the crater. The president expressed fears that the fire would draw off gas from other nearby drilling sites, damaging Turkmenistan's vital energy exports. The country exports natural gas to Europe, Russia, China, India, and Pakistan. Turkmenistan produced 1.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2010; its Ministry of Oil, Gas, and Mineral Resources published a goal of reaching 8.1 trillion cubic feet by 2030. Impressive though it looks, the Gates of Hell at Derweze seems unlikely to make much of a dent in those sorts of numbers.

So, are you interested in seeing this sort of hell existed in our world?

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door_to_Hell

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/asianenvironmentalhistory/ss/Gates-of-Hell-Derweze-Turkmenistan.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/door-of-hell_n_4311694.html

Let "SpongeCLOCK SPLASHpants" Wake You Up!

Waking up in the morning has been our daily problem before going to school. Yeah, especially for me. It is so hard to set the "biological clock". Perhaps some of us don't suffer this problem, but what about some others who do? Should they let their mothers to yell everyday to wake them up? Well, that is actually what I have every morning. Tiring, isn't it? That is why I imagined about a new cute yet (maybe) quite annoying thing for those who have a difficulty in waking up in the morning. Check it out!

I bet you are familiar with this character. Yes, it is Spongebob Squarepants, one of our favorite character during our childhood, am I right? Haha. But, I won't use its original name for my new thing. I will rename it as "Spongeclock Splashpants" ! OK, don't get confused with it. I will explain it to you.

So, "Spongeclock Splashpants" is an alarm clock, not the ordinary one, of course. Why? Because I have designed it as an alarm clock that has an ability to make the owner wet! Oh, how come?

Here is how it works. This "Spongeclock Splashpants" is made of a kind of sponge (the harder one, to be precise) that is covered by plastic and it will look like a Spongebob Squarepants doll. By its small part of sponge that appears on its surface, it is able to absorb water. The absorbed water are later collected on the inside of its sponge body. In the other hand, we can set the alarm time the same way we do for a normal alarm. Let's say it will be ringing at 5 a.m.. At that time, it will really ring like the other ordinary alarm. People must tend to turn it off since they think its ringing is annoying, so this is the time when this Mr. "Spongeclock Splashpants" works. So, after we turn the alarm off, it will immediately splash the water collected and make us wet. Though only our hand got splashed, but at least we will be shocked and automatically getting up. 

See? This unusual alarm clock is effective enough to wake sleeping beauties up. It costs Rp50,000,- to change your days. Grab this product fast and you will get 50% off! For the first 5 buyers only!

 So, what are you waiting for? Wake up, or get wet?

New Year Holiday

Hi, fellas! How are you guys doing? OK, so, now I am back with a new post about my holiday. Yeay! I bet everyone's excited with the word "holiday". Unfortunately, holiday has already ended. Oh... how sad it is. BUT, this time, I'm going to do a little flashback to how was my holiday going. So, here it is.

NEW YEAR'S EVE CELEBRATION
The holiday had started since December 24th, 2014. My first week of holiday went quite boring. I didn't go anywhere; you know, just hung out with family on weekend and spending most of the time at home accompanied by my phone, computer, books (even though I didn't really read books during the holiday), and TV. I also ate so much foods and slept a lot (OK, I bet my friends also did the same). However, it's getting quite more exciting on the new year's eve since my neighbors invited me to come to a kind of barbecue party in order to welcome the new year. So, at the last night of 2014, me and my neighbors gathered on a gazebo in our neighborhood. We grilled satay and ate it while accompanied by tasty mashed potatoes that the girls had made in the afternoon. It was fun but unfortunately I couldn't wait until 00:00 and had to go home earlier since my mom didn't allow me to. But, that's okay anyway. At least, I was having fun with the kids!


SOLO
My second part of holiday was started right a day after the new year. Yes, it was on January 2nd, 2015. Everything was begun with my words. In the morning of the second day of 2015, I woke up after a late sleep because of the noise of people welcoming the new year. I went downstairs to have my breakfast while watching TV with my family. After that, I went upstairs again to go back to my room. I seriously had nothing to do so I looked downstairs from the void. I was suddenly thinking of how boring my holiday was and I wished I could visit some places with my family. Then, all of a sudden, 3 words came out from my mouth, "Ke Solo, yuk!". Really, I didn't think my parents would give any responses to this since they kept in silence after I said that. But, surprisingly, my dad answered, "Hayu,". I was freaking happy because of his answer but once again I didn't think he would seriously granted my wish. So, I left them and started to find something to do.

Few hours later, I went downstairs again and heard my parents were talking about train tickets. I immediately had a feeling that we would really go to Solo. However, I still had to reassure it, so I asked them whether we would actually go or not, and they said... yes!!! Oh My God, it was the real happiness during the holiday. My parents then said that we would go that night by train. So, we prepared and we went to the train station at around 7 p.m. The train went at 8.30 p.m, and we would be arrived in Solo after around 8 hours which meant we spent a night on the train which was fun.

At 6 a.m, we arrived in Stasiun Solo Balapan. There was my dad's colleague who picked us up. Then, he drove us to have our breakfast first at "Soto Seger Mbok Giyem". After that, he dropped us at the hotel. When we entered the rooms (my parents and the children had different rooms), I immediately laid down onto the bed since I was sooo tired.

In the afternoon, we decided to travel around the city by becak. We used two becak; one for carrying me and my mom, while the other one for carrying my dad and brother. It was very exciting; we visited some places that were nearby our hotel. When the Jum'at prayer time came, me and my mom went to Solo Paragon mall to buy some needs for us during our visit to Solo while waiting for my dad and brother. Then, we went back to the hotel.

Late in the afternoon, we had a trip to a place near Madiun, where my dad's father (my grandfather for short) lives. It took around 3 hours to reach his home. We finally arrived before the sunset, and went back to Solo few hours after that.

The next day, we visited some places; a famous water springs where we could swam there and Keraton Solo and its museum. At night, we had a dinner with my dad's friend's family at Angkring Solo, then we also went to "Opor Ceker" stall which was opened at 10 p.m., if I'm not mistaken. We really had fun that day.

Finally, it's our last day of our trip to Solo. My dad's friend, who was having a dinner together with us, drove us to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye to Solo, honestly. We were having a great time there. See you later, Solo :)



Well, that was how my last holiday spent. Pretty fun, wasn't it? I am waiting for the next holiday sooo badly. Hm, what am I going to have next?

The Ugly Duckling

One fine summer’s day Mother Duck found a lovely spot under a willow tree by the pond to lay her eggs.  She nestled down and waited for them to hatch.

After what seemed to her a long time they began to crack which was very exciting. 

First one little fluffy head appeared and she called him Oscar.

Then a second little fluffy head appeared and she called her Maya.

Then a third little fluffy head appeared and she called him Henry.

Then a fourth little fluffy head appeared and she called her Katie.

“Oh what sweet babies I have” she said “what a lucky mother I am.  But what has happened to the fifth egg I sat on?”

This egg was bigger than all the rest and showed no sign of cracking.  So, telling the ducklings to be patient and play where she could see them, Mother Duck settled down on the fifth egg.

Days later, much to her relief, a tiny crack appeared in the egg.  Slowly it grew bigger and bigger until POP, out came the ugliest ducking she had ever seen.

Days later, much to her relief, a tiny crack appeared in the egg.  Slowly it grew bigger and bigger until POP, out came the ugliest ducking she had ever seen.

“Oh dear, oh dear” she said “what can have happened?  He doesn’t look at all like his brothers and sisters; he’s much bigger and he’s all grey and straggly”.

The other ducklings looked at him “Yuck” they said “what’s that?”

“Now, now” said Mother Duck “don’t be nasty, he can’t help what he looks like.  He’s your brother and I’m going to name him Jonathan”.

 Mother Duck led them onto the pond for their first swimming lesson. As they floated onto the water all they could hear were comments and whispers:

“What a funny looking duck!”

“Where did he come from?”

“I haven’t seen one like that before”.

“Is it smelly as well as ugly?”

Poor Jonathan, he couldn’t bear it and felt very lonely. His brothers and sisters wouldn’t let him play with them. However much Mother Duck tried to encourage him, and tell him that she loved him, he just wanted to hide away. 

So one day he decided that the only thing to do was to run away.  That night, when all the others were fast asleep, he crept down to the pond, swam across to the other side, and set off to find a pond of his own.

For many days he wandered, but every time he thought he’d found somewhere to stay he heard more whispers:

“What an ugly chap”

“Have you ever seen a beak like that?”

“That’s such a long neck you could tie it in a knot”

Poor Jonathan.  He was very sad. 

Early one evening, as he was moping along, he heard a strange magical noise that seemed to come from the sky.  Looking up he saw the most glorious sight he had ever seen.

“I wish I could fly up there with those beautiful birds” he thought.  What he had seen was a flock of swans flying overhead.

On and on he went until he came to a river.  To his surprise, the strange birds he had seen in the sky were there floating majestically on the glistening water.  He hid behind some reeds ashamed of his ugly body.  Jonathan couldn’t take his eyes off these graceful white swans.

Suddenly, one of the swans caught sight of him peering out from the reeds and swam across to him

“Good evening young sir” he said bowing his neck “may I ask your name?”  Because swans are very polite.

Jonathan was too overcome to speak, his beak dropped open but no sound came. No-one had been that nice to him before. 

He took a deep breath and tried again “Ppppppplease sir, mmmmy nnname is Jjjjjjjonathan”.

“Well Jonathan” said the swan, “why don’t you come and join us, it’s a beautiful day for a swim”.

“Bbbbut you ddddon’t want to be seen with me; I’m so ugly” said Jonathan.

“What nonsense” said the swan “whatever makes you think that?  Just look at yourself in the sparkling water”.

Jo

nathan bent his neck and looked down.  To his astonishment he saw, not an ugly grey duckling reflected in the river, but the most beautiful, graceful white swan.

“Is that really me?” he asked, forgetting to be nervous. 

“Of course” answered the swan, “who did you think it was?”

Jonathan explained how everyone had been so nasty to him and the swan listened sympathetically.

“Well, you’re not ugly now” he said “you’re one of us”.

“Oh, how lucky I am” said Jonathan happily.

From that day on Jonathan lived with his new friends on the river.  Never again did people say horrid words about him. Each evening as the swans flew over the pond  his brothers and sisters would look up at the sky little knowing that one of them was the brother they had made so unhappy.

The End

The Famous Merlion

Hello, there! This is my second post tonight because yeah once again I do both of these assignments (the other one is the previous post) late, so... please forgive me, Mrs. Wiwin, I really beg you :(((

OK, in this occasion, I'd like to tell you about one of uncountable amazing structures here in this world. Do you know what is it? Yep, it's Merlion Statue! Oh, I'm pretty sure that none of you doesn't know anything about Merlion Statue. Well, at least you have heard about it, haven't you?

source:
http://travelsandtours.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/
travelling-to-merlion-statue.jpg

As you know, Merlion is the mascot or icon and national personification of Singapore. Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion".  The Merlion was designed in 1964 for the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB) and functioned as its corporate logo from 1966 to 1997. There are five authorized Merlion statues in Singapore, the most well-known, which is the original one, is an 8 metres high and weighs 70 tonnes statue designed by Kwan Sai Kheong and sculpted by Lim Nang Seng. First unveiled on 15 September 1972, this statue is now located at Merlion Park, adjacent to One Fullerton at the Marina Bay waterfront. As a symbol representing Singapore, the Merlion features prominently in tourist souvenirs sold locally.

source:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4086/4833442826_1a0e64ce4b_z.jpg

The lion head represents the lion spotted by Prince Sang Nila Utama when he rediscovered Singapore in 11 AD, as recorded in the "Malay Annals", and the fish tail of the Merlion symbolizes the ancient city of Temasek (meaning "sea" in Javanese) by which Singapore was known before the Prince named it "Singapura" (meaning "lion city" in Sanskrit).

The Merlion is representative of Singapore's humble begginings as a fishing village, and is a national icon that people must visit on their trip. Anyway, I have been to Singapore. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take a photo in front of the original Merlion, so I just took a photo in front of the other Merlion which is located in Sentosa Island. Oh! However, I also got a chance to take a photo with the small Merlion Statue at Marina Bay waterfront! I have attached the photos below, hehe. Well, see you on the next post! Bye! :)

Me and The Small Merlion at Marina Bay Waterfront

Me and my brother in front of
The Giant Merlion at Sentosa Island

SOURCE:

• http://www.yoursingapore.com/content/traveller/en/browse/see-and-do/culture-and-heritage/a-touch-of-history/landmarks-and-memorials/merlion.html
• http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_938_2004-12-27.html

Matswapati

Me and my friends' selfie at Matswapati (1)

Hiiiiiiiii everyone! I am back! But first, I'd like to say sorry to my beloved Mrs. Wiwin because I do this assignment late. Please forgive me TT Okay! So, right now I'm gonna tell you about Matswapati.

Is there anybody here know about Matswapati? No one? Okay then. Well, Matswapati was one of my school, SMAN 3 Bandung's events. It's an culture festival that presented Indonesian culture especially West Java's. It was held on September 27th, 2014 at Lapangan Bali.

Me and my classmates after the parade

The gate was opened at around 9 o'clock. Before that, all of the 10th graders of our school did a parade for promoting Matswapati. Then, after we arrived back at Lapangan Bali, we waited for quite long time to get in to the culture festival. And after the gate opened, we happily queued and got in to Matswapati.

There was our mayor with his wife came to Matswapati to give a speech and legalize the event. He also made some short and simple games for the audience. It was really fun to interact directly because he's really humble!

Ridwan Kamil gave speech at Matswapati

Honestly..... to me, the event wasn't going so fun and interesting until there were some performances from some extracurriculars such as Musik Klasik 3, KV 3, and T'sT! Their performance were extremely cool!!! No doubt those extraculliculars are popular.

At around 3 o'clock, my best friend who goes to different school with me came to Matswapati. I was sooo excited because we hadn't met for about a month, or even more. So, since she got in to the venue, both of us were always stick together while sharing some untold stories, hahaha! We also went to the Food Corner to buy foods and beverages while having a chat X)

GLENN FREDLY!!!

The venue became more crowded since around 4 o'clock because the committees said that the gate would be closed after 4 o'clock, but it turned out to be postponed until 6 o'clock. There was a performance from Barsena. It was very nice! And finally... the long-awaited guest star came out! Guess who was he??? YES, IT'S GLENN FREDLY! Oh, come on, who's metropolitan guys in this country doesn't know him? He has a freaking nice and amazing voice, good songs, and unique style since he always wears his cap whenever he goes on stage! He started his performance at 6pm and ended it at 8pm. He sang almost 10 songs ((if I'm not mistaken)), some of them were Terserah, Kasih Putih, Malaikat Juga Tahu, Terpesona, etc. All of the audience sang along to the songs together! It was sooooooo entertaining, for real!!!!!!!! I just can't forget that exciting experience :"D

Anyway, the most amazing and cool thing of this event was that the ticket price was sooo cheap than the other Pentas Seni events that's held by other school. Guess how much it was! Oh, it was just IDR 25.000,- ! Can you guys believe it??? I mean- with so many performers and guest stars plus the costs for the decoration and other properties of this event, they managed it to be 25K only! It's unbelievable!!! Well, it proved that the committees were freaking swag, haha! but seriously XD they really did a great job!

Well. ok. I think that's enough from me about Matswapati. I really wish that this culture festival will be held again next year!

Me and my friends' selfie at Matswapati (2)