It's Been A Year

Ever since I discovered a-ha last December, I can say my life hasn't been the same. It has changed for the better. 

This year has been the nastiest I've had since 2015 and one of the good things to get through it has been A-ha. The names Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen, and Pal (pronounced as "Paul") Waaktaar Savoy mean a big deal for me now.

Before I write further, I'll just introduce myself real quick. I'm Sasha, 26 years old and living in Jakarta, Indonesia, a Virgo (like Morten and Pal, hehe), and here's a dorky picture of me and my most prized a-ha possession.                                        

Short story about the shirt, it's a secondhand tee that I found at a local marketplace website. Funny thing is that I bought this without any worry nor the thought of having future regret (which is very unlike me, most of the time). I somehow knew that that was a right thing to do. I'm happy of myself for making that decision. Anyway, it seems like it's the legit one they ACTUALLY sold during their 86-87 world tour (which is my fave period of a-ha). And how GOOD do they look in it?! 

Okay, continuing.. I'm writing this post now during a lazy day and listening to The Sun Always Shines On T.V, which I think was the second song from a-ha that I listened when I was discovering more of them (first being Train Of Thought). It is a great song, and what stunned me is that it feels familiar when I first listened to it a year ago. It feels like that I've been listening to it forever and I never had such feeling before. I mean it could be cause I've heard it before but I forgot, or it just simply meant to be. I prefer the latter. Come on, who wouldn't?

When I was discovering them, I was at my office at that time, BORED to death, so I was exploring YouTube. I remember I was doing a walkthrough of 80s hits, of course one of them being Take On Me. I was watching the music video and thinking, wow I remember being starstruck with the keyboardist (which later on I discovered that his name is Magne) when I was a kid. As I was watching, I was focusing on both him and Morten, but somehow my attention was focused on Morten. Then my Google search session on Morten began....

I discovered he was born on September 14th (how awesome!) and looked drop dead gorgeous during the 80s. I was immediately attracted with his face and smile. The picture below is one of the first pictures I discovered. I love how his face lights up when he smiles.

Source: Pinterest.com

After that initial discovery of two a-ha songs and Morten, my interests towards them grow and that was all in December 2017. Let me break down the things I experienced in 2018 per month.

January

During this month, I was more and more in their grasps (forever wishing it was literally). Watched their 80s T.V. performances on YouTube, followed a-ha fan accounts on Instagram, and posting a LOT of Instagram stories of Morten (sorry Mags and Pal). I was going crazy! I felt like I finally found a music group whose songs fit so well with my taste, and they're all gorgeous! It's that feeling when you know you've found 'the one'. I even printed their picture and hung it up on my bedroom wall. This is the one I chose.

Source: Google, can't remember what website specifically

To be honest, I chose it cause Morten looks so good and I was helplessly addicted to everything about him at that point. Now that I see it again, it's a silly picture with each of them portraying their personality perfectly. Morten being gorgeous with his poignant vibe, Magne being a goofball, and Pal with his awkward-but-cute self as he's always been in the 80s. So cute!

I bought the a-ha tee on the end of January. I also found out that they're still active and going on tour for MTV Unplugged and Electric Summer. I was shocked and soon realizing that I won't be able to see any of the concert. I remember one night I was watching their MTV Unplugged performance of Stay On These Roads and I cried... January was bittersweet.

February
I listened to more of their songs and still on YouTube most of the time to watch their interviews and T.V. performances.

March

I started making friends on Instagram, fellow a-ha fan of course. Can't remember all of them, but one of them were definitely @whisperin.heart. We remain friends till now. In this month, I went to an acoustic show for a-ha tribute by a local band. They were performing songs and the experience was sublime and it was only from a tribute show. Amazing night.

April and May

I was going through a huge change in my career life. End of April til early May, I was in Bali for this new career, but I went through difficult time to adapt. I was listening to a lot of Rolling Thunder. Also in April I bought their East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon cassette album for only IDR 20,000 in this Record Store Day event. 

I think my interest towards Magne started in this month as well, I can't remember for sure haha. He is just so gorgeous and his masculine, rugged vibe is irrresistible. And who could resist that sense of humor?! Ugh!

June

Safe to say that June was the BEST month. I started my first ever fan account on Instagram for a-ha, with the same name as this blog, @love.for.aha. what makes it different is that I don't just post their pics. I edit them with doodles and handlettering, and it's been fun editing them. I receive so many likes and comments from fellow fans all over the world. 

Also this was when I received my A-HA GIFT from my friend, fellow a-ha fan, living in Germany! Her name is Bhairavi and she is just the kindest. She knows I'm a fan and she decided to buy me gifts from another a-ha fan that is releasing her personal collection. I WAS BEYOND HAPPY, literally lost for words, and was even a bit trembling when opening it. It arrived on June 29th and it was just the best feeling I haven't felt in a long time.

All this and more posters from Bhairavi. I'm one blessed kid.

July, August, September

Not much happened in these months other than me starting to love Pal and his band Savoy in July, discovering more and more songs of them throughout the months, and the birthdays of Morten and Pal in September. I kind of stopped posting to the a-ha account due to work, then started again on mid-September. 

October and November

On October, not much happened. But on November, it was Magne's birthday on the 1st, and a-ha announcing that they will have a 2019 tour. Let's see if I can't attend one of the concerts, I'm eyeing on Leipzig, Mannheim, or Leeds. Fingers crossed.

December

Ah.. to celebrate the one year of being their fan, I made a video, and it's kind of amazing how much I've known and how big my feelings for them are. Started this blog (which was initially going to be a notebook, but let's see. Nothing is ever certain for me haha).

This one year has been more bearable and so wonderful cause of them, and I look forward for more years to come. I have a feeling I will love them indefinitely.

Yours truly,

Sasha.