First OFC Event with JKT48 3rd Generation

It has been more than a year since I attended a JKT48 OFC (Official Fan Club) event. Last Saturday (20 September 2014), the latest OFC event was held in Crematology Coffee Roasters, Jl. Suryo, South Jakarta. This was the first OFC event that featured the third generation of JKT48. All members (except Triarona who was performing as Team KIII replacement in Seishun Girls show) can be seen. This time, members and fans played Uno Stacko together. The event was divided into 2 sessions, and I attended both sessions.

Fans were divided into 15 groups, with each group consisting of 3–4 people. I was in table 8, along with 2 other fans. One of them was fellow Stuff contributor, RedRanger48. The session started with all third generation members giving short introductions about themselves on the stage.

A card was distributed at each table. It contains 3–4 clues about a third generation member, and we have to guess the answer. If we answered correctly, then we can choose any of the members to play the game with us at the table. Also, each of us in the group earned bonus game life point. We answered correctly, thus we choose Shani to play the game with us. After all tables received their chosen member, the rest of the members were distributed randomly. We had Aurel as an additional member in the group.

Putri, one of the staff members, gave a short tutorial of the game. One who managed to make the stacks crumble will lose a life point. The winner of the group is the one with the most life points remaining and earns the right to have a two-shot photo with a member.

During the game, Shani was patient enough to teach us the game. Did I mention that Shani is the most beautiful creature in the world? At first, I thought that she was too ja-im (cautious) about her own image, until I see her laughing. She was actually not ja-im at all. She laughed openly when she found something funny. She was really fun (and also beautiful… Did I say it again?)

I said to Shani that fans would sometimes joke about her on Twitter, saying that she tweeted like an adzan (call to prayer) reminder. In her tweets, she usually says, “Don’t forget to pray, don’t forget to have lunch,” etc. Shani confessed that she sometimes have trouble in finding topics to tweet on. It’s not really her style to tell others what she was doing at the moment on Twitter. However nowadays it seems that Shani has improved her tweets. Hopefully, that she can maintain that and improve on her tweeting style.

Shani also wishes that she can attend more OFC events. She heard that there was an OFC bowling event previously. If there was a bowling event again, she would very much like to participate. Shani also created a Google+ post about this event.

The other member at our table was Aurel. The Balinese girl is usually known for outlandish twintail designs in her performances. During the event I just found out that she was a latah person. When she was surprised, she would copy what anyone spoke previously. She said that, among third generation members, she and Cia were the most latah.

The first session finished with all fans on table 8 received the same remaining life points, so we had to play gambreng (turning the palm of the hand either downward or upward) to determine the winner. Unfortunately, I didn’t win the two-shot opportunity.

The first session event ended, and all third generation members saying thanks while distributing their name cards to the fans they meet. It was really fun to get to know more about Shani and Aurel.

I attended the second session again, and this time I sat by two other fans that I never knew before. The rule is still the same. After answering the clues correctly, we can choose who among the third generation members we want to play the game with. The other fans chose Grace, so I just nodded. For me, it basically could be anyone, as long as it’s not Shani and Aurel (since I’ve met them both on the previous session). And the random third generation member that also accompanied us on the table was Kei.

Grace and Kei were also fun. They could make the conversation happen easily. Did you remember that Grace was taken to hospital after the first Pajama Drive theater performance? There was gossip that Grace has asthma. She said that during the first show, she was having too many thoughts, with remembering all the positions and dances. It triggered her stomach acid reflux to react since she had heartburn. That was the cause of her sickness. Nowadays, since she had already mastered her positions and dances, she rarely has to think much during the show. That’s why she’s now never absent again on her performance.

Grace and Kei also said that their current training is actually not as hard as the ones they received during their audition days. The physical proportion was lighter than their early days.

I had many talks with Kei since she sat next to me during the game. She said that she was the youngest among third generation members, still 13 years old, although she’s already in ninth grade now. Even though she’s still 13, she talked like she was older than her age. A mature tone of voice can be felt when you talk with her.

Kei is known on Twitter for her ridiculous selfie expressions. Most of her selfie shots never show her cute looks. She mostly shows her face’s sillier side. Check her Twitter’s image history if you don’t believe me. She said to me that she did that on purpose. She wanted to show how her expressions differ than the rest of third generation members. Kei actually remembered me as the guy who accompanied a foreigner during last month’s direct selling event. Back then, she was doing the direct selling with Gracia and Nina.

While playing the game, we had many discussions at the table, about the school or workplace of the fans on our team. The discussion even continued to the 1998 Reformasi movement, the year that even both Grace and Kei were not born yet. Kei was surprised after hearing the university that I graduated from, since she wanted to go there sometimes. She’s hoping that after she finishes high school (which is still 3 years away), she could attend one of these faculties: architecture at Bandung Institute of Technology (which is what I graduated from), school of business and management at Bandung Institute of Technology, or psychology at University of Indonesia.

The game finished with same stance as before. I and the other two fans had the same remaining life points, so we had to play gambreng again. And again, I lost that game.

The event closed with all members saying goodbye and taking a photo together. Some members later walked around the room distributing their name cards. One of the girls, Nina, unexpectedly, walk towards me and said, “This last card is for you, Kak Pitra.” I just stood there quietly before answering, “Thank you… How do you know my name?” She just smiled and said, “I just know…” I just smiled back. She probably remembered me during the previous direct selling event. I also wrote her a Google+ post afterwards. Anyway, did you know that Nina has the nicest smile among third generation members? (Okay, this subjectively debatable. :D)

This OFC event just made my day. I’m glad I attended both sessions. Since I could not take any photos during the event, do check out the photo collection taken by the staff of detikcom who also attended the event.