Pompeii ruins, near Naples, Italy, 12 July, 2008

Effects by Poladroid

It was one of what I call “one-hour-TV-shows” that made me searching other TV shows. Several worth mentioning are:

Of course Lost! I’m now literally sitting at the edge of my seat waiting for next season (due on January).

The ever popular Heroes. But now I think the show is going down, the large cast needs more character and a stronger plot but not plot where a turtle is involved, people time travels and change the future every other episode, where an adoptive father of an illegitimate daughter gets partnered with the biological mother and the biological father has a thing with a character that should have been dead but revived only as the third twin. I think I can say that Heroes is a super-heroic version of The Dynasty for the Petrellis.

The Office (US edition), the most recent TV shows that makes me smile and laugh lots of times, embarrassedly alone. It’s funny in a strange way, at least “That’s what she said”.

Prison Break in a nutshell: breaking out of a prison, becoming fugitives and running away to Panama, got busted and breaking out again from (this time) a Panamanian prison, and now doing outsource field work for an FBI agent to find a six-headed monster (probably a data centre). Tips from this show to get a heavier plot (probably will be useful for Heroes, see above): kill some of the sidekicks. Although for the lover of the main character, revive her from the other side, at any cost (a side plot on how she’s still alive after all this time is a bonus).

What do you get when a member of a Miami Metro Police Department, specifically a blood splatter analyst, moonlights as a serial killer hunting bad guys unseen by the law? An interesting plot (it’s from a book) and Dexter.

True Blood. Vampires are now eager to live side-by-side with human, at night anyway, due to recent Japanese invention of “True Blood”, a kind of soft drink that has all of what’s in the human blood. They say those vampires are “going mainstream”. But one is in love with a waiter that apparently can read others’ minds. In Bon Temps, Louisiana, nothing is what it seems to be. Guess what? It’s also from a book! Beware of some rather explicit sexual scenes on this show, though. Probably, this vampire theme is also fuelled by the upcoming, highly anticipated movie “Twilight” (also from a book, popular among the girls). If you haven’t managed to see the trailer of a particular Swedish vampire movie, then you should make some time to do so (again from a book!).

Fringe. Amongst all the show I’ve mentioned, this show is the one that has the most resemblance with The X-Files. “Monster of the week” gets a face lift to “weird events that can be solved by even-weirder experiments of the week”. The larger story arc “do alien exists?” is translated to “mysterious ‘Pattern’ of strange events”.

What’s your favourite TV shows today? I still have more, but I’ll save them for the next post

Money for Application

Several Erasmus Mundus programmes/courses still ask for a mail application rather than only electronically. It means that you have to send your application (completed forms, copies of transcripts, diplomas, and any other documents) to the consortium of the course directly. Some programmes also request confirmation by mail (you sign a form) when you are offered a scholarship. Finally, follow-up registration form such as accommodation application may also have to be sent via mail.

The fee for sending documents to Europe varies to what service you would like to use. Several options including (I’m not promoting anything, price listed according to my or other experiences 1 year ago):

• DHL and the like: around IDR 350,000 per mail (below 0.5 kg), contact DHL for exact fee since I can’t find fee information on their website.
• EMS from our beloved Pos Indonesia: around USD 20.
• Regular post mail: around IDR 50,000 (ever wondered what 50 IDR 1,000 stamps glued to an envelope look like?)

The service reliability for DHL and EMS are pretty good, meaning you can track your mail. It is publicly known that you can’t track regular post mail, so if you’re going to use it, pray hard that your mail reaches its intended destination.

Money for English language test

Get a real English proficiency test. By real I mean official and valid internationally. By that I mean the one that in order to take it, you have to pay quite a large amount of money. In Indonesia, IELTS test costs USD 180 (click on more information) and TOEFL test costs USD 150 (find TOEFL test locations on the available PDF document).

My suggestion is that practice your English and practice specifically for the test you’re going to take (get mock-ups or samples) and then take the test. Probably they also have mechanism to send the result directly to the course consortium directly. I’ll leave the IELTS vs TOEFL choice to you (or probably another post?).

Money for Passport and Visa application

It is implied that you’ve already have your own passport when you’re going to apply for a foreign scholarship. The cost of getting an Indonesian passport is IDR 200,000. Go to the nearest Immigration office.

Meanwhile if you are going to another country, you have to apply for a visa. Getting a scholarship offer may or may not make you entitled for a visa fee waiver. UK visa fee for student is GBP 99 and there is no visa fee waiver for non-Chevening/Fullbright scholarship holders. Some embassies or consulates will waive the visa fee if you can prove that you are awarded a scholarship.

Money for Departure

A one way flight to Europe will set you back around USD 550. As soon as you can set the date of departure go search for a cheap ticket and book. I have a good experience with Emirates and I searched the flight using STAtravel (they have a branch in Jakarta: PT Pacto Holiday Tours).

For the fiscal tax (IDR 1,000,000), there is a procedure for a foreign scholarship holder that can be done. Don’t worry, if you get the scholarship, the procedure will be informed to you. You can read the official information about fiscal tax (in Indonesian only), the information about scholarship holder may be entitled for fiscal tax waiver is on page three (letter p).

Money for Living Expenses

For the first few weeks (may be up to two months!) you will probably have to live on your own. Because the living expense in Europe varies, my best recommendation is to bring as much as you can.

My experience on my expenses (as far as I remember them):

1. I used DHL for sending the application and EMS for confirmation: IDR 550,000
2. I took IELTS, it used to cost AUD 150
3. I got my passport in Bandung: IDR 220,000
4. UK student visa: GBP 99
5. Flight ticket: USD 550
6. For emergency and living expenses for the first month in UK: around GBP 300, living the frugal life!

I need to remind you that other fees exist, not limited to:

1. Transportation from airport (in Europe) to your accommodation.
2. Accommodation fee (agency fee, deposit).
3. Transportation fee for moving around (passport application, visa application, etc)l
4. Things to bring to Europe (decent suitcase, some winter preparation won’t hurt, etc), but keep in mind to bring only essentials.

What is Erasmus Mundus?

In a nut shell, it is a mobility education scheme funded by European Commission (EC) and implemented by consortia of several European universities. Let me say that in another way: two or more European universities work together (in a consortium) establishing a master degree programme/course, the approved ones get funded by EC. If you enrol in one of these programme you will study in, at least, two universities (in different European countries), hence the word “mobility”.

More information can be found in these websites:

• Official page for Erasmus Mundus by EC (don’t forget its awesome FAQ)
• The official list of all master courses under Erasmus Mundus scheme by EC (it has links to official websites, you can also filter based on field of study)
• Website of Erasmus Mundus Student and Alumni Association (they have put up a fabulous PDF Erasmus Mundus Student’s Handbook)
• Erasmus Mundus information by Delegation of EC to Indonesia (they have a combined PDF description of each programme)

The bottom lines:

• Study in at least two universities in different European countries
• If you are awarded the scholarship, it will (theoretically, unless you are a very-big-spender) cover all the expenses: tuition fee, living cost, mobility/transportation expenses, medical insurance (the scholarship is around € 21,000 per annum, including tuition fee, and it may increase in the coming years)
• Application is submitted directly to a consortium (i.e. to the master course you are interested in), you don’t apply to any other organisation
• Recent regulation limits you to apply to a maximum of 3 master courses each year
• You can enrol as a self-funded student (more expensive tuition fee for non-European citizen) as long as your application is accepted

Who is European Commission?

According to European Union website, European Commission is the executive body of EU. It has the right to propose legislation and ensures that EU policies are properly implemented. You can learn more about European Union at a glance, or visit the official website of the European Commission. The EC has a delegation to Indonesia and Brunei, based on Jakarta (Firefox on Mac OS X has problem in viewing the site).

For me, the most important thing is that the EC pays my scholarship.

Why study in Europe?

These websites try to answer the benefits of studying in Europe:

• The aptly-named Study in Europe website
• European High Education Fair (Jakarta, 1-2 November 2008) also has a page on why study in Europe

For me, it’s the opportunity to experience a very heterogeneous continent, while getting a master degree, free! (with the scholarship of course).

What is MSc NeBCC?

NeBCC stands for Network and e-Business Centred Computing. It is an Erasmus Mundus master course held by a joint consortium among the University of Reading, UK, Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης (that’s Greek for Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) Greece, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (and that’s Spanish for Carlos III University of Madrid), Spain, and the (silent partner, probably not taking active role in this consortium?) Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Find out more at the official website of MSc Network and e-Business Centred Computing. It is an 18 months intensive course (including 3 months-or-so breaks/vacations). Students will study at all three universities (UoR, AUTh, UC3M).

As the name suggests, the course comprises of subjects/modules about network and e-business technologies. Have a look on brief descriptions of each modules at the aforementioned official page. I will tell more about MSc NeBCC in the next post.

Important dates for 2009/2010 class:

• Application process open: 15 October 2008, application is processed online
• Deadline for application for scholarships: 31 January 2009
• Deadline for submission for self funding students: 30 June 2009

Who is Erasmus? And what about Mundus?

Apparently, according to Wikipedia, Desiderius Erasmus was a Dutch humanist and theologician, while Mundus is a Latin word for “world”.

Who is IndoEM?

IndoEM is a community of Erasmus Mundus awardees from Indonesia. If you have been awarded an Erasmus Mundus scholarship, you will be invited to join IndoEM. We have tried to put up a website indoem.info, to communicate with Indonesians interested in Erasmus Mundus. Not a very successful website, it’s getting revamped soon.

Yansen, an alumni of EMCL (European Master of Computational Logic), an active member of IndoEM, have also put up another (relatively more successful) website about Erasmus Mundus, emundus.wordpress.com.

That’s it for now, and it’s not so short after all After visiting sites linked above, if you still have relevant questions, shout out at the comment section.

As I wrote in the previous entry, I’ve spent most of my summer break traveling. To travel is really not my high-point, as in I have never travelled much before, but nonetheless I enjoyed my 7 countries and 17 (I think, I’ve lost count) cities travel.

My friend, who is an avid traveller said that traveling is his passion because he needs the “constant change”. I’ve certainly changed quite a bit of my daily life (and the mystery is that did I gain or lose weight?) for these couple of months, but now it is time to yet settle again and focus on my thesis.

For a gimmick, I’ve taken this picture as a souvenir on my travel. Can you guess where it’s taken? Clue: from this angle, it’s not leaning that much.

I will go for a trip and it is very unlikely that I will have the chance to post here. I will do so if I can, but in the mean time, until next time! (unintentional rhyme)

OK, here we go:

Bazaar Indonesia @ Madrid

Luthfi and I made kolak to be sold in the bazaar. I joined the PPI-Spanyol booth and managed to sell some of the goods (mainly clothes, small purses, etc) using my broken-Spanish. Some of my classmates came to the bazaar (thank you guys!) and most importantly I had fun!

It’s Summer Time

In Madrid and Spain in general, the temperature rises to 30 degrees centigrade on average. Meaning: v e r y h o t! Also means: open that window wide while you sleep at night. At summer, the sun sets at around 10 PM and rises at around 6 PM. Must adapt.

School’s Over (but Thesis/Dissertation/Project is here to stay)

All of the taught part of my program, Erasmus Mundus MSc NeBCC, has been, er…, taught and I must say that the results are not too dissapointing :p I think I’m not one of the top students in the class, but anyway, I passed almost all of the modules (just waiting for one more result to be announced).

I will do my project at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, España, starting from October (but my supervisor insisted that I should start this summer). The project will be about BPEL and web wrappers. I hope I can post about it later.

Sport and Cultural Events in Spain

This summer, there are quite a bunch of events in Spain:

• Spain won the Eurocup 2008
• San Fermin festival starts at Pamplona (the one you can run for your life before a horde of bulls running after you)
• Rock in Rio Madrid festival, boasting famous artists like Alanis Morisette, Neil Young, Shakira, Lenny Kravitz, and Spain’s very own, El Canto del Loco
• and, the most shocking of all, Madrid Orgullo ‘08, a very-very large Gay Pride.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately for the last thing on the list), I missed them all. At Eurocup final match, I was studying for the next day’s exam. But I was able to hear from my room, the crowd cheered as the Spanish team scored the only goal and after the won the match. As for San Fermin, I didn’t manage to make it because it is not exactly close to Madrid, and did’t have enough time. Rock in Rio is far too expensive for me, I watched some of its highlights at TV though, Shakira was incredible! And as for the Pride, just browsed in the local news (do you know that Madrid is supposed to be the gay capital of Europe, what a world we live in).

That’s it! Sorry haven’t had the chance to upload pictures though.

If you are somewhere near Madrid this weekend, you are invited to Bazar Benéfico Indonesia 2008. You are free to invite more people and we’ll be delighted to have you all to discover a bit Indonesia this weekend. You can see this event in Bazar Benéfico Indonesia 2008 Facebook event page (you don’t have to have Facebook account to view the page).

If you need a map from the nearest Metro (Arturo Soria, Line 4), you can view it in Google map.

Charity Bazaar 2008

31st May - 1st June 2008
Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 - 20:00

C/ Agastia n°65, 28043 Madrid (Metro: Arturo Soria)

Free Entrance

Traditional Dances, Typical Indonesian Food, Arts Flea Market, Lottery
and much more

We’re expecting you and your friends!

Organized by Republic of Indonesia - Tél 91 413 0294

Disclaimer: I made the (non-official) poster, grabbing photos from Flickr without really paying attention to the license of the photos. Sorry if you (the photographer) read this.

I’ve seen the movie when I was still in Reading. A cool movie, not too good, but OK. I don’t usually follow this viral marketing thingy, but the idea is great. Please help me to determine what my final dæmon would be like by clicking on the animation above and participate in a simple 5 questions questionnaire.

If you are reading this from RSS reader or aggregator site and can’t see any flash animation above, go directly to my Dæmon’s page, Eumelia.

You’ll have the chance to have one of them yourself, after you do the questionnaire.

Got this from sandclow.

• Language
• Tools
• Communication (and Team Work)

Language

We use English to communicate as all of us are required to be able to use English. In a team in which not every member use English as their primary language, this can pose difficulties. To really express what you mean can be quite difficult. And also, several members, in the middle of a discussion, can suddenly speak their other language, their mother language for example, to each other and then, in some occasions, laugh or continue as if there was nothing happen. They happen usually because some people in the team come from the same country/area or just happen to speak the same non-English language. These events happen to me sometimes, and I find it quite rude actually. I bet this is how it feels when, in Indonesia, some people in a discussion, were joking using Javanese (my traditional language) when not everyone understand it.

Tools

Well, this is probably because I use a Mac. Yes, seriously. I use different tools (ie: word processor, development tools, etc) than the others (I only saw one girl back in Reading in my class who also uses Mac, and she was not in NeBCC programme) and it somehow promote several problems in several of my group assignments.

In my first group assignment, I was quite unsatisfied with the formatting style of the final document (ie: the bullets and numbering, font size, headings and subheadings, indentation, etc) because all of us use different styles and, probably makes things worse, I use different tools that was not completely compatible with others’ tool. And of course the one who merged it can not be blamed because the problem was not caused by him/her. And no, I don’t want the final document to be flashy with beautiful fonts and flashy colours or all that, but I just want it to have consistent style, and unfortunately it’s hard to do when we use different tools.

This problem repeated when in my second group assignment, in which I had the job to merge (merely because I finished my part last), and had a little time to do that. The formatting of the document went haywire and it was frustrating to even make indentation and numbering consistent. In my third and fourth group assignment, I also became the one who merged the final document. Sometime I just had to leave several parts not exactly as I wanted them to be (I could be too picky, you know).

In development tools part, well let’s just say that because everyone in the NeBCC class but me uses Microsoft Windows (although several have multiple-boot systems, usually with Ubuntu), I had to try harder to find several tools that unfortunately difficult to find in Mac world. I’ll tell you more about this later (no promise though :p). In the up side, I don’t have to install anything to compile C code and execute the binaries or do an XML transformation using XSL with xsltproc tool.

Communication (and Team Work)

Still related to first part, but this is more than what language we use. Some people can be really angry when they were interrupted, even when they are telling the exactly wrong thing (not their fault though, their opinion should still be acknowledged and heard). Some people can be so bossy and telling everyone else to do as they wish (my guilty conscience tells me that I do this some time). Some people can be so agnostic and, especially in a big team, “choose” to do nothing. It’s also hard when the team had an agreement and suddenly the agreement was broken and the team still quarrelled when they were supposed to prepare their final presentation. Team work can also be quite difficult when the work flows are coming from only from one member because he/she had “explored everything” related to the assignment, and felt that his/her way is the best way. Similarly, it’s tough when a member did most of the job his/herself, for example because he/she managed to spare a lot more time (significantly) to do the assignment compared to other members. Yes, the last thing is quite an irony, because all of us have 24 hours in a day.

This post is not meant to provide any solution, but rather just to show what might happen in an international group. It’s true, however, that to some extent, these issues happen in non-international groups. But I would argue that the intensity in an international group is higher.

Cheer on Losties!
‘Nuff said!

I spent two weekends watching two concerts and went to a museum in Madrid. The concerts were held by Escuela Municipal de Música Pablo Casals, a municipal music school in Leganés, while the museum is one of the biggest and most important museum in Spain, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. The first concert was a percussion concert, the second was a flute concert, and in the museum, there was an exposition of Pablo Picasso which showed joint collection of Museo Reina Sofía and Museé National Picasso, Paris. I didn’t have to pay anything to enjoy the concerts and Picasso’s artworks, they are “gratis” (Ha! A Spanish and Indonesian word at the same time).

Being concerts from a local school mean that most of the spectators were also locals, families of the performing students or teachers. When I came to the concerts, the hall of the school and a public municipal hall were full of people, they were “sold-out” concerts. The performances were also great, they held the percussion concert to give honor to a percussion teacher who just recently passed away, while the flute concert was held in collaboration with another public musical school of another city.

The admission to a museum in Spain mostly is free on weekends (for Museo Reina Sofía, it’s free on Saturday afternoon and Sunday), and tourists and locals do make use of this policy. There were lots and lots of people: young and old, boys and girls, men and women, families and singles, international tourists and locals, all of them visit the museum. I almost felt overwhelmed by the number of people visited the Picasso’s exposition.

At the back of the programme sheets given to spectators in the concerts, there was a logo of Ayuntamiento de Leganés, Delegación de Cultura, while on the museum’s brochures there was a logo of Gobierno de España, Ministerio de Cultura. What does this tell us? At least for me, it shows that Spanish have access to public spaces where they can meet their fellow Spanish and, at the same time, enjoy art and culture. It also shows that Spanish government do something that ensure people in their area have access to cultural events.

Can we make this in Indonesia? As a country rich with different cultures, I think the government should do something like this as well. They should provide us with a “public room” to held cultural events, and make sure that most of us (if not all), have access to experience that.

One of the main hurdles for a “Unit Kegiatan Mahasiswa Kesenian” (Art and Cultural Students’ Activities Unit) in ITB, to do a cultural event, is the fund. They have to raise the money themselves to do a show. They have to seek for themselves a place to do rehearsals. They sell tickets for their show because they needed the money, there’s no (or very little) fund from the campus. I’m not ignoring the assistance of ITB (if any is given), but I think the campus can do more. ITB, as a public university, is changing to “privatised-public university”, a step that is hated by many but also defended by others. Hey, if you are a member of these students’ activities units, tell us your story (and probably correct me if I’m wrong) in the comment.

I went to college and worked in Bandung, a prominent Sundanese city in West Java. I lived there for almost 6 years and I have never visited the Bandung Geological Museum, one of the most important museums in the city. This is mainly because I have the impression that local museums in Indonesia are old and forgotten buildings with unmaintained collections. And generally, that is the case. Only recently, there have been some interests by locals to visit museums and it probably forced the government to renovate several of these museums.

Am I the only one who is hoping that I can also enjoy free cultural weekends in Indonesia?

*) Image for Picasso’s painting is shamelessly taken from Musée National Picasso, Paris’ site.

I arrived at Madrid, Spain, safely yesterday, and currently I’m staying at Luthfi Darmawan’s place. He was my senior in my undergrad years.

Today, I’m going to Leganés, to see my campus, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and to search for a room nearby. Hopefully I can have a room today. If not, I’ll still stay in Luthfi’s place.

Adios!

• I haven’t submitted one assignment (from Reading!) yet
• I still haven’t secured any accommodation in Madrid, Spain, yet
• Probably I will experience excess baggage for the first time, ie: I think my luggage is overweight!

But before I go to Madrid, Spain, to continue this journey, my next stop will be Rome, Italy. I will spend several days there to relax (and to finish my assignment!)

So, see you when I see you.
Yia sas!

Here, in Thessaloniki, I also experienced the effects of the strike. The garbage collectors stopped working at least for two weeks. Garbage litter-ally (pun intended) piled up everywhere, making me remember about the garbage problem Bandung had last year. Also, we had several blackouts, allegedly connected with the strike. I don’t often use bus, but my friends said that buses were scarce, even one of them had to walk to campus for the first time. The students’ cafeteria closed one day and the other day they are serving the food while they were having electricity blackout. We had an unplanned semi-buffet for that day. Usually, we were given a tray with all the food in it over a window, like a (parking) ticket booth. But then, they arranged the food in an empty space of the cafeteria and we were given an empty tray so that we can take the dishes we want.

After the parliament still decided to pass the law, it seems that the workers started to work again. Yesterday, most of the piling garbage were collected, and since Friday we haven’t had any electricity blackout. I hope that everything will return back to normal. It’s my final week in Thessaloniki and it’s also my exam week. Wish me luck!

• Environmental pollution
• Genetic manipulation
• Accumulating excessive wealth
• Inflicting poverty
• Drug trafficking and consumption
• Morally debatable experiments
• Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

The original seven deadly sins are:

• Pride
• Envy
• Gluttony
• Lust
• Anger
• Greed
• Sloth

It can be seen that the new list try to target more specifically on what human can do only recently, where technology and money drive most of the human life.

Recently, a BBC report also mentioned about “progressive” muslim women in America. The report certainly put emphasises on how Muslim women in the states try to do more active role in practising Islam in their daily lives. But it also described the practises of putting the five prayers as secondary priority (while “remembering” God everyday gets higher priority), translating Quran (Islam’s Holy Book) in an unusual way, and allowing women to lead prayers, as “progressive Islam.” I certainly don’t have any problem with Muslim women to have a bigger and more active roles in the society, but the tendency of the news that somehow called, what I think, more observant Muslims as “traditionalists” make me a little bit uncomfortable.

I’ll admit and really stress that I’m not that religious, but this journey made me feel that I have to hold on to something in order not to lose my identity. I found that one of the things to hold on to, is my religion.

I don’t want to put my religious practise at the centre stage. What I want to do is ask these questions:

• Do you think religions need to be “modernised”?
• Don’t they have some general values that always be relevant?
• Should we behave in such a way to be not considered as old-fashioned/fundamentalists/traditionalists including changing the way we practise our religions?

To end this post I’m going to tell you that in the last several weeks, my door was knocked several times by young Greek man and woman. My conversations with them, which lasted around 15 minutes, are probably the longest ones I have with any Greek. They gave me pamphlets about their believes. They are Jehovah Witness’ Christians, and we’re discussing about religions at the footstep of my door. The guy invited me to have a coffee with him tomorrow at noon.

Meet Shrek and, ehm, his girlfriend.

The carnival week has just started here in Greece. People wear masks or costumes and celebrate. On Thursday afternoon, they have what is called Tsiknopempti (Τσικνοπέμπτης, literally Burnt Thursday, it is Greek equivalent of Fat Tuesday) where people had massive barbecue to prepare for the carnival. Unfortunately, I don’t have any picture for the barbecue. The word Carnival itself has Latin origin which means saying good bye to meat (carni = meat, vale = good bye; remember carnivore?).

The origin of Greek carnival tradition can also be traced back to Ancient Greek tradition. They said that it was for honouring the God of Wine, Dionysus. That’s why the Greek Orthodox church, the majority, seemed not too happy with the celebration. Nonetheless, old and young people were celebrating on Thursday night. The carnival is also related to Easter and one of my professors said that for forty days before Easter the Greek (at least the religious ones) fast by not eating meat or drinking alcohol.

In Thessaloniki, they held a live performance stage in Aristotle Square. They put lots of light decoration. I went there with MF (India, but he stayed in New Zealand for quite a while). We met lots of people wearing costumes like it was Halloween. Finally, we met several other classmates: MDM (Argentina), JJP (Guatemala), SEK (Ethiopia, but he lived and worked in Canada), CAB (Ecuador), DP (Russia), AJGM (Honduras), LGK (Cameroon). I also met their friends: Claudia (Germany), Hazel (? Sieru’s friend), and two other guys living with C and D (I forgot their name). Having snatched a golden wig, I think I could be the Evil Good Twin of Carlos Valderrama. Don’t you think so?

I wonder what’s the food on the cafeteria will be like when the fasting period starts.

So, starting from now, we can enjoy posts from:

• Ahmad Fikri Adriansyah - Al-Fikr’s Heart Expression - Having trades with God : no loss, no bankruptcy, no tricks, no manipulation, but only the true joy…
• I Nyoman Winardi Ribeka - My Thoughts - My Daily Life and Random Thought About My Beloved Bali
• Imam Prakoso - blue moon

And, last but definitely not least, warm welcome to: Ridho “Akihiro” Akhiro - steps of an akihiro, who has just arrived at Melbourne, Australia, to start his master degree at the University of Melbourne.

TODO:

• Update Wordpress, I’m now too lazy to update to newest Wordpress 2.3.3.
• New heads for new authors. While I’m at it, use the (currently empty) head page.
• Fill in that empty bubble in the title of the site (any suggestion?). That is, decide on the title of the site to replace the generic “if01 aggregator).

Keep on posting guys (and girls)!

PS: If you are a member of if01 and would like to be part of this site, please contact raizamn[at]gmail·com

I even made my own personal record. I made a 3-paged paper in only around 8 hours! I had two weeks to finish that assignment and I did it on the last day. This semester, I have two group assignments so far and I became the bottleneck in both. Another group assignment is due in the middle of next month. My individual assignment will due in next week. I will have another class (and most likely another assignment) next week. I still have to think about what to do for dissertation (6-month-project master thesis), and where I will actually do it. Reading or Madrid are more interesting than Thessaloniki. But for Reading, it’s quite hard to find a professor to become a supervisor since most of their expertise are network (due to the name of the course) and I’m quite new in this network thingy.

And I’m now watching the new series Knight Rider. So far it’s cool enough even it’s quite bland. I can almost taste the smell of Smallville (in the season four or five, where everything feels like it is repeated over and over again). The acting is mediocre, but the familiar revamped bum-bada-bada-bum theme sound is nostalgic and refreshing at the same time. The new series predominantly feature more candy eye in terms of special effect to show-off the new KITT (rebranded as Knight Industries Three Thousand). The bullet-proof feature and the ability to switch appearance (color and model morphing plus the famous license plate switch–now morph) boasted by the car now look more realistic and the car itself does look cool and modern (it’s a new Ford Mustang).

There are subtleties that the show is more directed at a liberal-minded audience. Firstly, the main protagonist (the son of the original Michael Knight) is first depicted as losing faith in monogamous relationship (and shown to prefer threesome) although he had deep connection with the daughter of KITT’s creator. Second, the main female FBI agent is hinted to be a homosexual (or is it just me?). And lastly, the show had a premiere on the Playboy mansion. But worry not, no vulgar or explicit scenes shown on the 80 minutes pilot episode. Moreover, I believe that these sexual hints are not to be emphasised more on the next episodes. If you are going to watch this episode, watch out for a very special cameo near the end!

Now Boost me!

Today, (Wednesday, 13/02/2008), Greece is on general strike. The strike will last for the whole day, crippling the whole nation, as buses, trains, and airplanes were shut down. Schools are closed and hospitals are only dealing with emergency cases. Almost all public services, even news agencies join the strike. From the news, I know that the workers are demanding a better pension in their retirement system.

The effect of this strike for me is quite significant as the secretary of the programme who is responsible for the lecture room we use did not come to work today (I don’t know if she joins the strike or not), forcing us to move to the opposite room. This room has no projector and the lecturer has only his powerpoint slide. So we copied his slides and viewed his slides on our laptops while he explained quickly (and later more quickly since someone realised that electric socket is limited and apparently few laptops will last for more than one hour - gasp!)

Another major impact we felt was we have no free lunch(!) I told you before that Greek students have free lunch and dinner on weekdays. But after class, we found that the cafeteria was closed, most likely due to the strike. We walked for quite awhile to reach some shops where some of us bought burgers and I bought spinach pies (typical Greek pie, usually eaten for breakfast).

It turned out there are still buses operate in Thessaloniki, but only very few. Someone told us that probably only 5% of buses operate throughout the day. I don’t know yet if supermarkets are closed due to this strike (but I don’t think so), I have enough food for dinner. It’s not much, but I’ll survive.

It turned out that he is a Moroccan. When we exchanged few words, I kept using “Ne” (Ναι), which is “yes” in Greek, instead of “Oui”. (Sigh) I must practice my French again.

Basically, we agreed that living in Greece is very difficult mainly because of the language. I told him that I am an Indonesian student and just arrived one month ago. He told me that he came to the cafeteria because the food is free (they don’t even check who you are, I can see a lot of people who I think most definitely not student). We talked for just a brief moment.

What amazes me is that, minutes before I finished my dinner and spoke to the Moroccan in French (and mistakenly used a Greek word), I listened to a learning Spanish podcast (from CoffeeBreakSpanish) taught in English with a heavy Scottish accent. So how’s that for an international environment?

(And I can still remember my IELTS teacher told me that I am too old to learn a new language)

So, looking forward to having your comments

The first group assignment I had was back at Reading and the assignment was about to design a Virtual Organisation which offers network security services, for Network Computing module. I have to tell you that in Reading, our NeBCC class was combined with University of Reading’s own master class (not related to Erasmus Mundus scheme) called MSc Network Centred Computing (NCC). This master programme is also an international class like NeBCC. Moreover, I don’t recall that there were English student at all. I know some Pakistanis and Indians, one Chinese (but have already stayed and studied in England for around 4 years), one Sri Lankan, two French guys, one Spanish, and two Germans. The French and the Spanish (it’s Isart, one of my unit-mate) are on Erasmus scheme (different from Erasmus Mundus). Anyways, our group comprised of five people from these countries:

• Pakistan
• Guatemala
• India (1 guy and 1 girl)
• Indonesia (this is me)

There are three persons from South Asia (India and Pakistan share borders), one from Central America and another one from South East Asia. If we measure the area covered by our countries, then it would be a quite vast area.

The second group assignment was formed here in Thessaloniki, the assignment was to do a little bit research on OWL and Protégé in Ontology Development, for Data Bases and Data Mining module. Our group members were from these countries:

• Vietnam
• Taiwan
• Indonesia

Now, the area of a triangle made by our countries would be a relatively-small one since our countries are all in the region of East/South-East Asia.

The next assignment was still for Data Bases and Data Mining module. This time, we will use Weka or RapidMiner to finish ACM KDD Cup 1999: …learn[ing] a predictive model (i.e. a classifier) capable of distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate connections in a computer network. The result may be use to build a Network Intrusion Detection system. You can have a look at the description of the task. Our previous group decided to stay as one group and later “recruited” another member, resulting in this list of countries of the members:

• Vietnam
• Taiwan
• Indonesia
• Bangladesh

With an addition of a Bangladeshi, the area covered by our countries expands significantly, but still, it is not that wide. Now, we are still struggling to finish the assignment as the deadline is on the 22nd of February. So far, no significant problem, and I hope it will stay that way.

Here is the visualisation of the areas of country origin of assignment groups I am/was in: (The first group is the blue area, the second is the red area, beneath the third, which is the green area. Jakarta, Indonesia is pointed with a purple pin.)

View Larger Map

Up to now, my conclusion is that, most of us still “flock” towards our own “kind,” which promotes smaller area of the “triangle.”

Indo-EM-ers, have you ever measured the area of this kind of triangles? (or quadruples, or quintuple, or any other polygons for that matter) What do you think of it?

If you read this non-exhaustive list of blog posts, you may find that Indonesian bloggers have mixed views about the former president. Some say that he did good at the time of his ruling so now he must be at least respected (e.g: he is not a dictator), or more, pardoned. While others, hope that he would be tried for many still unsolved cases. The posts on this list are mainly in Indonesian, and are in no particular order:

• Adinoto: Pak Harto Dan Kualitas Mental Pemimpin Negeri Ini
• Masim Vavai Sugianto: Polemik Seputar Pak Harto
• Indra Pramana: Pak Harto Tidak Mendapatkan Penghargaan Yang Layak Dia Dapatkan
• Fitrasani: Jadilah Pahlawan
• Arif Widianto: Menunggu Kematian Lord Voldemort
• Boy Avianto: Amnesiac
• Yusril Ihza Mahendra: Ajakan Pak Amien Memaafkan dan Status Hukum Mantan Presiden Soeharto

I personally like Seno’s article, considering the time it was written, it feels that it’s very current and I think it summed up the negative sentiment on Soeharto recently. I also like the opinion of Adinoto, in which he opposed to use the word dictator for Soeharto (suggesting the word to be used to describe George W. Bush, Jr.), and said (mixed with Indonesian) Tanpa jasa seorang Pak Harto we’re nothing than a deep shit… Meanwhile, Boy Avianto reminded Indonesian to forgive, but definitely not to forget.

Soeharto is declared dead earlier today at 1.10 PM Jakarta local time (GMT+7) after being treated for several weeks in Pertamina Hospital, Jakarta. Here is the list news articles (written in obituary style) so far, released by distinguished news centres:

• Antara, Indonesia’s National News Agency: Obituary : Former president Soeharto passes away
• The New York Times: Suharto, Former Indonesian Dictator, Dies at 86
• Yahoo News (from Associated Press): Former Indonesian dictator Suharto dies
• Reuters: Indonesia’s former president Suharto dead

As for me, I don’t really know him, I only see him as the smiling picture on the wall of my primary school classrooms. Farewell Pak Harto. For the rest of us, let this be a reminder that we all will die. (Sounds so gloomy, eh?)

I just want to tell that I’m missing home very much. Back when I was still in Bandung, studying and after that, working, I had the chance to go home at least once in a year, and I often take that opportunities for granted. But now, I’ve only been abroad for just less than four months, I’m missing my home very much.

I’ve mentioned that to keep my sanity, I became a member of Reading Film Theatre (RFT). RFT is a community whose (I think) sole activity is to held movie screenings in The University of Reading about twice or thrice a week, at term time. The Mastercard commercial I showed you, was played several times at the beginning of a movie, along a bunch of other commercials. I went to watch the movies alone since no one I know was interested enough in “wasting” £3.50 for a movie.

I am not ashamed when I say I cried silently when I first saw the ad. I cried silently when I saw the ad the second times. I cried silently everytime I watched that commercial, played in a dark theatre, with no one sitting next to me. I felt that I’m not home.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not celebrating Christmas, I’m a Muslim. But the people’s smile, hugs, laughters, joy, showed in the commercial when they finally meet and greet the ones they were waiting for at the airport, the happiness of the people who finally come home, they really hit me. Not to mention the song, Come Home by Findlay Brown (live) (the full video of the song), it’s perfect for the atmosphere.

I think that the home I’m missing is not the actual building, it’s the atmosphere of being with people closest to me, people that I know and love, my family.

So, here is to you, Ibu (Batu, Jawa Timur), Mas (Jakarta), dan Bapak (Cinagara, Jawa Barat): I really really miss you all. Despite that I know that you all are always here with me, I’m still missing you.

Okay, it’s a lame try to attract more visitors. Does it work? Please comment after you have read the whole post The mutilation involved a slaughtered chicken (it’s halal, thank you, imported from France, or is it Denmark?) and I was the mutilator. Or you could say that I tried to be a butcher.

Last Saturday I had a walkabout in the city. Just going to the seaside and enjoying the sun and the not-so-cold breeze while savoring my “brilliant” accomplishment in a certain assignment. Remembering the fact that I was told that there is a butcher near Aristotle Square that sells halal chicken, I went to look for it. After a few misturn here and there, I finally went into a butcher shop knowing that nobody inside talks English. So, I just ask for a “Dani kotopulo” (dani for Danish? and kotopulo is chicken in Greek and written as κοτοπουλο). The butcher showed me a packed-frozen-whole chicken. Frantically, I searched a halal label, because the butcher insisted me (using Greek language of course) to buy that chicken, he was ready to pack it. I found the halal label and paid €3.25 for the whole chicken. I went home happy since I feel that I was going to eat chicken after a week with veggies and canned fishes.

And then it strucked me. I don’t know ANYthing on cutting a whole chicken. NOTHING. So, I just left the chicken in the freezer for the night.

Today, I had the guts to do some butchery. It’s also because I don’t have anything else to eat. So, I took the chicken out of the freezer and open the plastic package. To defrost it, I just put it in a pan full of water and leave it for an hour or so. After it’s thawed, I took the only knife I have, a small knife (a steak knife), and started to work my way through.

I only look for the identifiable, edible parts of the chicken, namely: the wings, the tighs (lower and upper), and the breasts. I was reluctant to find anything more inside the chicken, fearing that I am going to find something nasty. With such small knife, I really had a hard time, first to identify those edible parts, and then to separate them with the main body. But after an hour or so, I finally did it, I brutally mutilated the chicken and collected those edible parts. Can you name the parts of the chicken in the picture?

One last thing, I am still keeping the chicken’s body, if anyone could suggest anything to do with it. Hey, I paid for it and the main body still weighs more than the other parts combined. Please, suggest something through the comment form below.

The assignment was to build a network-connect four game with Java. What? That’s not so hard isn’t it? It is not supposed to be too hard. But try to do it with such pressure in just a few days. In a new, unfamiliar, environment. Without previous experience of network programming (OK, had one back then in my second or third year of university, that’s four or five years ago, after that: nothing, zip, nada). Of course, my work is far from perfect, but I am at least relieved, because yesterday I still haven’t done the networking part (with all of the sockets and threads). I swear by the downloadable Java tutorial and Java documentations in Windows Help format (Java API in CHM file) and Parallels Desktop (why there’s still no CHM reader for Mac OS X that can open 50MB-or-so-file easily?)

Hi, my name is Raiza.
And I am a deadliner, still.
And definitely a novice programmer, darn it.

(Check out the picture, the deadline was at 10 PM GMT [since the assignment was given in Reading], which is an assumption because the teacher only told us that the deadline is at 10 PM, and I submitted my work at around 11 PM local Greek time)

Thank you for everyone who have given me support, you know who you are. I still remember my brother’s words, “Don’t give up.” And according to Bayu, when the deadline is approaching, everything becomes “much clearer.”

I am writing this from a lavish Internet cafe (very comfortable chair!) down at Egnatia street since I can’t get access to the Internet from my studio. After spending two nights here, first few impressions of this city are: vandalism, big (wild?) dogs, and small studio. More details and other first impressions after the jump.

Vandalism. You can find walls with spray paint all over it everywhere. Even church’s and university’s walls are not safe from naughty hands with spray paint. Please don’t imagine beautiful graffiti with unique images, not even creative type font like “Boedoet”. Here, what you can find are similar to “Pribumi” letters in front of houses and stores back when Indonesia was in chaos. I heard that last year, for the whole term (that’s a semester to you Indonesian students), university is closed because the students’ union had a strike protesting something (I couldn’t remember what). Probably these paints are related to that? I went pass through the university building and I found a building which the main wall (facing the main street) has spray paint all over it.

Tattoos, lingeries and DVD. There are a lot of shops that offer tattoos and small stores that offer lingeries, all of which are within walking distance from where I live. I am not a pervert that stares at mannequins wearing transparent undergarment. But after a walk to the town centre and went past through at least five of them, I became just a little bit distracted. DVD rentals also seem to be everywhere. I think that young adult Thessalonikians (I just made up that word) love to have tattoos on their body, interested in sexy lingeries, and often watch Star Wars marathon?

Big (wild?) dogs. There are dogs with no tags wandering around the pedestrian walk. They are big dogs, whose height is almost half of my own height. I have to admit that they are a bit scary.

Small studio. A studio is a room in which a bathroom (toilet and shower facilities) and a kitchen are practically in the same room as the bedroom. My studio has a 90cm x 200cm bathroom, in which to reach the shower part you have to literally jump over the toilet seat. The kitchen is in a cupboard. That’s right, imagine a cupboard where you can open the door and inside you find an electric stove and a wash basin. My studio is on the 4th floor (Greek as English count the ground floor as 0th floor), and I have a balcony that faces the back of the building. Birds’ excrements are all over a corner of my balcony With my laptop, I can detect there are secured wireless Internet signals, so I hope it’s possible to get Internet access from my room. I should discuss this with the University personnel (it’s actually a private accommodation, but arranged by the University). But overall it’s an OK studio.

Not so friendly weather. I imagine that when I’m going to southern Europe (check the map below), I can get a friendlier weather than that of England. But it turns out that here, it’s a bit colder and it sprinkles most of the time. Well, it’s winter, hopefully it will get better with time.

Okay, that’s about it. I still have to struggle with my Java assignment as I am still way behind. The deadline is at the end of next week! Wish me luck.

One more thing, this Arch of Galerius is actually close to where I live. This great picture is not mine, and is courtesy of robwallace. Also check out the mark on the map below.

View Larger Map

Moving is usually something that I am reluctant to do, but for this programme I should move often and quickly. I will certainly miss Q Unit people (the ones that are not in my class, and they include you too, Katiuscia), KampoengReading, and Reading itself. Hopefully I will return.

On a sidenote, I broke my glasses while sleeping in Gatwick Airport. I brought spare glasses but I think I should find the replacement in Greece, soon.

That’s it for now, I am signing off, see you in GMT+2 time zone.

Update: Some of pictures are now available, if you want more, please comment

• Bus ticket to Reading Station from Whiteknights bus stop: £1.50
• 5 days return ticket Reading-London-Reading (with Young Person Railcard): £13.80
• 2 1-day travelcards (off peak, with Young Person Railcard): £9.60
• 1 night for 4 bed en-suite room (2 bunk beds) at Piccadilly Backpacker Hostel: £28
• London souvenirs (I shouldn’t tell this, but…): £5.98 in total
• Admission ticket for London Walks: Jack The Ripper Haunts (student price): £5
• Bus ticket to Sports Park, The University of Reading from Reading Station: £1.50

• Had a walkabout without any particular destination in London, but here are the places I went to: Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, China Town(? the road signs even have chinese writings on them), London Tower, Tower Bridge (I overheard a lot of French people, and the zebra cross signs have french version). I walked for about 14 hours. I still can feel my sore feet. And like Green Day, I Walked Alone
• Took a lot of pictures (about 400 500 300 of them).
• Took narcissistic pictures at Tower Bridge.
• Learned all the history of Jack The Ripper: the places, the story, the prostitutes who became the victims, the suspects and the theories (someone from the Royal family? an American doctor? a painter? a butcher?), and lastly the pub (no, I didn’t go in there). I learned all this while walking in the city of London. Most memorable place: a dark narrow alley (only half meter wide), smelly (urine smell), with light rain and noises made by drunks or new year party goers, the walk guide telling the story about Jack The Ripper like there’s no tomorrow, and all of us listened intently.
• Joined thousands and thousands of people (tall people, that is) trying to see the fireworks display at London Eye, the so-called the best fireworks on the planet.
• Was hazed by drunks (my cap was nicked off of my head) while on the way to see the fireworks.
• Could only see a glimpse of the fireworks display, due to light rain causing heavy smoke during the show.
• Watched a lot and I mean a lot of people, couples, friends, families, kissing each other. Yup, lips kissing for the couples. And no, I was not involved in any of that.
• Was offered a glass of champagne after midnight by a couple, “because you are alone”, they said. But of course, I refused politely.
• Had my picture taken by two lovely ladies, shaky picture with London eye as the background, and I was screaming “Happy New Year!”.
• Being literally dragged and squeezed along the “stream of thousands of people” going the wrong way, while I was trying to go back to the hostel.
• Spending the night in the hostel room with a Macedonian who snores loudly while he was sleeping.
• During this trip, all I eat was: two apples, four self made toasts (two with microwaved cheese and chicken burgers, the other two with Cadbury’s chocolate spread), and a handful of choco-chips. I also brought two bottles of water with me.

Well, all of them, for me: priceless.

Happy New Year 2008! (pictures will be available soon)

• I went for a trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury’s Cathedral.
• I also joined another trip to London: I visited National Gallery, passed Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, The Parliament Building, River Thames, London Eye, and lastly visited Natural History Museum.
• Those trips are arranged by International Focus.
• I watched a half-hour fireworks display to commemorate Guy Fawkes night. (remember the film V for Vendetta?) To reach the place, I had to walk for about an hour and made more than several wrong turns.
• To keep my sanity, I registered as a member of Reading Film Theatre. They show award-winning films on Palmer Building’s Theatre Room (one of buildings in which I had my classes.) With these membership, I got a reduced ticket price and I watched:
  1. Half Nelson (Young Hercules no more! for Ryan Gosling)
  2. The Night of The Sunflowers (very good Spanish movie!)
  3. Conversations with Other Women (split screen like you’ve never seen before)
  4. La Vie en Rose
  5. Water
• I got my Greek visa (yay!). In the process, I visited Indonesian Embassy and had a little walk around London.
• I had a very high fever, a sore throat, I am still coughing every now and then.
• I cook! (and I took some pictures of the food I cooked) Also, I cooked Soto Ayam for a not so fancy dinner for most of my unit-mates (who live in the same unit/corridor as me, we share the kitchen and the bathroom).
• My unit-mates (long live Q Unit Childs Hall Autumn 2007!) are:
  • PH (England)
  • EW(England)
  • SC (England)
  • ICG (Spain)
  • FS (Italy)
  • PS (Czech Republic)
  • MDM (Argentina)
  • AJMG (Honduras)
  • ARB (Pakistan)
  • Lastly, there are D and D (both from England), but I didn’t know them that well.
  • Quite an international unit eh?
• I miss my family like crazy. Luckily, my mother learned to use Yahoo! Messenger and also Skype! My brother even bought her a web camera so that I can take a look at the new arrangement of my house.
• Thanks to Pak Lexy and his wife, Mbak Lea, I visited Cambridge and Windsor Castle, and also met other Indonesians living in Reading and surrounding area. Whenever you visit Reading please keep in mind that there’s an Indonesian community called KampoengReading.
• I miss her everyday.
• Oh yea, I also studied and had (well, actually still have) a lot of assignments.

What a recap eh? Probably this recap is incomplete, but I hope it gives you the picture of what I have done in UK in these three months. Do post comment and request which event you would like me to tell you in more detail.

Now? I feel lonely, most of my unit-mates have left for their Christmas (and New Year) holiday. There are only Fabio and I left. Moreover, the internet access from my room is broken, and I have to walk to the Child’s Hall Computer room to access internet. I still have to work on my assignments (yap! that’s plural) in which I have no idea where I’m going with a particular assignment (deadline in 2 weeks).

Finally, I will move to Greece in a week. I will take a London Gatwick-Thessaloniki flight on the 4th of January. Before that, I plan to go to London for New Year’s Eve (and hopefully to catch the mega-fireworks-display near London Eye).

I know it’s a little bit late. But I guess it’s better late than never.

On Thursday night, after iftar on The University of Reading’s Muslim Centre, I was told that there was a possibility to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr on Friday. Because not all of us agreed about what day we should celebrate the Eid, I decided to have my sahur the next morning and come to the centre (look, I’m using British spelling here!) to see if there’s an Eid prayer there. And guess what, there was an Eid prayer.

So I break my fast with some dates that I intentionally bring with me, and join the prayer. The centre is not big, just like a small-house, so that probably only 80 people or so can fit inside. A lot of people come to the mosque, mostly Arabs and South Asian people. I think (sorry, I didn’t really remember it) the khutbah/speech was delivered in Arabic rather than English. After the prayer and the khutbah were delivered, we just greeted each other and shook hands and hugs. I met some people I’ve met before at the iftars and of course greeted them. But after that, I hurried myself to my class because I got a presentation to be done. After all, it was still Friday, and it’s not exactly a holiday here.

The presentation I must do is a free-topic one, unmarked, and had three minutes(!) non-restrictive time limit. By non-restrictive I mean that the time limit itself is not exactly a maximum limit, but it’s imposed to remind people that we have about forty people in the class and everyone should have the same chance. Anyone will not be stopped if he/she took more than three minutes. For my presentation, I chose to answer the two questions I think I have been asked many times since I came to Reading. The questions were:

• about earthquake. I chose to highlight a report about how well Indonesia is doing in rebuilding Aceh after the 2004 tsunami
• about Indonesian language, Bahasa Indonesia. I showed and demonstrated some common phrases like: “Selamat datang,” “Apa Kabar?” and “Sampai jumpa.”

The presentation pictures are courtesy of Dina Petri (Russia), go and see the whole album on her Facebook. Update: sandy eggi, in his comment below, noticed that I was wearing “baju koko”, a special embroidered shirt commonly worn by muslim in Indonesia, on holidays like Eid (or even everyday if they wish).

The story continued on the next day (hope it will be the next post). Eid Mubarak!

Yesterday I had a video chat with sandclow and all I have to say it’s nice to catch up with a friend, moreover, with a friend who’s half way around the world. He is studying in Japan right now, while I am at Reading, UK.

I have tried skype but never with broadband like yesterday. We chat for about an hour before sandy decided it’s time for bed (it was already midnight at Japan). After that, I made myself a late lunch: nasi goreng.

• Enjoying night life (involving bollywood dancing and alcohol)
• Met a Minister
• Had an injection
• Lost in the town centre, lost in the town suburb
• Fire

Enjoying night life

Yes, I went to a nightclub and the next day to a pub. And no, I didn’t drink anything alcoholic. I did order a bottled water and the guy at the bar just gave me a strange look.

The university student’s union actually have a nightclub and that is the place where the international welcome nights were held. There were Quiz Night (I missed that, too tired after a long flight) and Bollywood Night (I came to this one and had some serious bollywood dancing). The other night, when people started coming to the university, we walked to the town centre, to look for a pub.

One thing I still don’t get about everybody here, is the idea of having fun by consuming alcohol. I just don’t get it.

Met a Minister

I met the Minister of Agriculture of Indonesia at the university. He was giving a lecture on palm oil, and I just showed up to him and said that I’m a new student from Indonesia. Actually, my father and the minister went to university (IPB) and shared house with my father. So, it is a small world.

Had an injection

I had a meningitis immunization when I registered to the Medical Practice. My mother said that in Indonesia, a meningitis immunization is expensive so it’s not mandatory unlike polio vaccination. My hand still feels stiff because of the injection. But it’s for health, and it’s for free, so I just enjoyed it.

Lost where ever I go

I’m not good with directions, so I got lost easily. Fortunately with the help of a not-so-detailed map, I managed to go back to the hall. At Reading, most of the shop close at 5 or 6 PM. And generally, that time is also the time for the last bus. It’s too early!

Fire

Yes kind reader, yours truly survived a fire last night. A fire alarm actually. A false one.

Having attended a fire safety talk for new students, I know that the university take fire safety seriously. The talk was given by a really funny-but-nonetheless-serious fireman from the Fire Service. At the end of the talk, I remember he guaranteed us something like this: at least two students will die or seriously injured at the end of the year because of fire-related incidents, and the fire alarm will sound for whatever reason: cooking accident, smoke, vandalizing, etc, at the end of the month.

Lo and behold, at that same night, the alarm rang and forced us all to evacuate from the hall to the nearest open field. In just minutes, the firemen came and inspected the building, especially the area where the alarm was triggered. I fell asleep before it happened, and forced to wake up and evacuate with just a t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and slippers. The temperature outside is about 10 degrees Celcius last night.

But all is well now. I’ve found a shop nearby that sells halal food. I’ve memorized the bus route and some of it’s schedule to go to a supermarket. And today I (and the rest of the class) will meet the Coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Network and e-Business Centred Computing.

In this program, I will study in three universities, namely:

• University of Reading, United Kingdom
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
• Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain

A journey recorded in the Internet of a previous student of this program can be found in http://europeadventure.ca. He is a Canadian he seems to be a great programmer and student (managed to be at the top of his class). I am an Indonesian and forgetting how to code. But I’ll take my chances.

Now, I’m packed and ready to go (OK, not perfectly, but just a little bit more preparation). So, kind readers, see you from the other side of the globe (actually, other third of the globe, but that’s if you really have to know).

My first ever motor vehicle. I used this motor cycle for only a year or so. For a year, traveling 3733.8 km is not far, but I enjoyed it. And yet it’s time to let it go. Thanks for accompanying me. My favorite moments including: a late ride (at around midnight) through Pasupati by myself, sometime closing my eyes (for a brief moment, it’s scary).

I have a home in Bandung, at Jl Cisitu Indah IV/20. For a little more than six years I live there, but now, it’s time to say:

Goodbye, and see you all again

Yesterday I received my iPod Classic 160GB. And just now, I opened the box and since I keep my old clickwheel’s box I take some pictures of them together. Aaah, a new member have joined the family

The iPod boxes are nearly identical in terms of height. The clickwheel’s box is a cube, while the classic’s is a much slimmer rectangular form.

Opening the box, a silver elegant-looking high-capacity iPod (no wonder they call it “Classic”) showed up. Looking the new iPod in its box made me remember of opening my Clickwheel’s box. The two iPods look similar in their respective boxes. I think they are of the same size.

Three years have passed since I bought the iPod Clickwheel, having nearly the same thickness, iPod Classic boasts an 8 fold increase in capacity!

It turns out that iPod Clickwheel 20GB has roughly the same dimension with it’s youngest but most spacious relative, iPod Classic 160GB.

I think I will enjoy playing with them. Have you got yours?

At last, the time has come for me to say goodbye to some people and places and things with which I spend my time quite a lot. For the first one in this series, I pick PT LAPI Divusi, IT Satisfaction Provider, a place where I (used to) work.

My first direct contact with Divusi (short name of PT LAPI Divusi) was when I have to do an internship as a part of Informatics Engineering program at ITB. The students must do an internship in informatics-related companies to feel what work would be like. I and Ridho, as a group, applied to Divusi back in 2004 (our third year). With the fact that Ridho was already joining the company as a part time programmer, the application process was speedy and easy. Fast forward to more than 2 years later, my years in Divusi has become important part in shaping myself to what I am, now.

As a new company (the company was established formally at 2004, to build a formal structure for professional services which have been offered for more than 10 years earlier), Divusi strive to be the best in the game. I, myself, witnessed and participated in, how Divusi came rescuing some abandoned projects and maneuvering to succeed in some new ones. Thanks to Divusi I got to see what is happening here in Indonesia.

Beside my work as a software programmer/analyst, I connected to Divusians in some other activities. Activities that I did not think I can actually participate in. I did mention that I went out on a several fun karaoke sessions, what’s more is that I relive my high school experience (d’uh! what experience? I was only a backup back then) as a goal keeper in futsal games. I would like to post some pictures of them to make you kind readers know what those two different times like.

This is a typical karaoke session where Divusians try to relax by singing. Most of us would be singing while seating, but some, would stand and give some more vibe. We all would sing and do a little dance along Indonesian songs, western songs, oldies songs, popular songs, rock songs, dangdut songs, any song that was being sung. The sessions were a lot of fun. Other co-workers in any companies should try karaoke.

Sport was never my strongest interest, and I was always lousy at game or team sport. But with Divusians, I somehow managed to give it a shot by joining some futsal practice sessions. On more than several occasions I was the goal keeper, not a really good one I must say. I did my job by throwing myself to snatch the ball or just to tackle the opponent’s strikers The point is I got to have fun (that is the miracle of game or team sport) while shaking some fat off of my belly.

The time has come for me to part ways with Divusi and the Divusians. Thanks guys for everything (not only for karaoke and sport), and hopefully we will see each other again.

This picture was taken circa 2005 in Ambon. A burnt mosque in a nearby shore showed how Ambon and Ambonese saw through tremendous struggle that time.

Here is one picture I took and I considered it to be the best among other pictures. I took this picture around 07.45 PM (GMT+07.00), so it’s quite way past the “peak” of the eclipse, which was predicted at around 05.37 PM. The shadow of the earth was already on the verge of passing the moon’s surface. Do mind the lack of my photography skills.

I think it was beautiful. Don’t you think so?

#2 I Look Older than my older brother

I never thought my face look old. I do think myself look a little bit older than I really am, but not that extreme. Yes, I grow beard and heavy sideburns, and mustache. And yes, I shave seldomly. Is that the things that make my face look older? While my brother said that he shave everyday. And looking much more trendy than I am, I mean come on, he is a designer. Looking soooo much more trendy than I am. Here is a recent photograph with him at his graduation ceremony (I plan to make a whole post about that event).

Aside from the family related cases I mentioned before, there is another case in which I was taken as older than I was. I have been thought as student from class 1996 or 1997 while actually I was in class 2001. This came from a friend living at the same house for a while with me. He was a student from class 1999, and called me “Mas” (a familiar salutation for not-too-old people but seem older than yourself, in Indonesia, particularly in Java) when he first saw me.

To state the fact, I was born in 1984. That made me 23 years old this year. I was one of the youngest students in my class.

Do you also think that I look older than I really am? Why? Any other comment or suggestion?

As for my brother and my family who are potentially reading this post (yes, you too, Mother), do give me some suggestion to look not younger, but fresher. Yes, I would like that, to be fresher. Ha!

After being tagged by Isman (author of Bertanya atau Mati!) several weeks ago, and recently by Sandy Eggi, I finally have the guts and the time to identify weird things that describe me.

For those who are not familiar with this “Six Weird Things” meme, then you must be living under a rock. And no, I won’t post the rule here and I won’t tag other people. Sue me.

#1 My Cell phone is always on silent/vibrate mode

Up until now, I have had several cell phones, most lost if not for my clumsiness or pick pocket. The list of my cell phones is:

1. Unidentified Nokia (5110?). Lost to pick pocket at Salman Mosque(!) when I was in my first semester at ITB.
2. Ericsson T39? (the one with which you can choose different screen backlight! –green, orange, blue). I replaced this with the next cell phone below.
3. Siemens M50 (the white one). Lost somewhere Jl Sumur Bandung or at Divusi’s old office, this is really due to my clumsiness.
4. Siemens A65. I unconsciously dropped it while I was driving my motor.
5. Motorola C38. Not lost, just got side tracked since I now use my next one.
6. Motorola MotoRAZR Maxx V6. My last and current cell phone.

All of them mostly stand by in the silent or vibrate mode. This is almost always the default setting. Although my last and current phone MotoRAIZR (raizamn + MotoRAZR = MotoRAIZR, got it?) Maxx V6 have supported MP3 ringtones, and with the provided Windows-only Motorola Phone Tools I am able to make ringtones quite easily, I still choose the vibrate mode.

The reason for this silent/vibrate mode only is mainly for politeness, and I can’t really pick a beautiful, melodious, not-too-stand-out, but nonetheless unique ringtone. See, I don’t want to be confused with what ringtone I should use, a verse of an up to date pop song or just a recording of somebody’s voice. In the mean time, to be politically correct in public places like mosque(!), restaurant, or cinema, we must have our cell phone in silent mode. Moreover, in important meetings that will have a tremendous impact in our professional career, a sudden “My Hump by Fergie” blasting from our cell phone will undoubtedly make our day but definitely not our future.

To make things simple, I just switched to silent/vibrate mode. As an additional bonus, my cell phone still looks good when it is receiving phone call and vibrating silently.

The event was held on August 2^nd, 2007 at Le Meridien Hotel, Jakarta. Some of the pictures can be seen via raizamn’s album on ipernity: Erasmus Mundus 2007 Pre-Departure Reception.

Hope you like it and do forgive my lack of photographer skills

And for those who have an eye for one or more picture, just post a comment here stating which one(s) you like, and I’ll email it (them) to you.

One last thing, for other Erasmus Mundus Awardees, do publish your own pictures and let the rest of us know.

With this result, Korea Republic will join Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to advance to the next round after the Arabs knocked out Bahrain with 4 goals to nil.

Update#2: Robbers wear no masks but no CCTV installed in the vicinity, the license plate number of victim’s stolen car (via Detiknews (4), (5) )

Update#3 : Pictures of crime scene as of 2007-07-04 17:36

When I went to office this morning, I passed by Circle K Dago. I was quite surprised too see that there was police line installed in the vicinity of the store. Police and their cars were also seen. I passed by (riding my motor bike) too fast to catch any details. After I got to the office, I googled if there were news about this but I couldn’t find any. Instead I found that there was a crime committed at Circle K Dago and Cihampelas last year by school students in a motor bike gang. In that event of crime, the perpetrators threw stones at the store and the glass wall in front of the stores were broken. I didn’t see any broken glass wall this morning.

Does anyone really know what happened at Circle K Dago, Bandung? ITB students maybe? You guys are near the place. Please put your comments below.

Update#1 (2007-04-07 13:42)

The news broke in detiknews in a series of reports. Six unidentified persons robbed the place at about 6:30 AM (2007-04-07). Two Circle K staffs were found tied after forced to hand 12 million IDR from the cash register and the store’s vault. One of the customer who went to the store when the robbery was taking place, also tied up and forced to hand his car as well. Police are still currently investigating the crime scene.

Update#2 (2007-04-07 18:07)

Detiknews continued the series of news about the robbery. We now know that the six robbers arrived at the scene with a silver Toyota Kijang with all of them armed, all wearing no masks, and unfortunately the convenience store has no CCTV or any other security surveillance installed. The customer who were forced to hand over his red Honda Jazz (license plate B 2101 TI) is actually an ITB student-to-be. He was on his way to ITB to re-register as a new student.

Update#3 (2007-04-07 18:59)

(To be completed with pictures and updates…)

Just a little bit disclaimer here: I am not a good singer, but I enjoy singing. Singing for me is the easiest musical thing I can do, since I do not play any musical instrument. Yes, I know how to sound a C-chord with a guitar, and I did my Art lesson back in (junior) high school where I was taught how to play guitar and flute (soprano flute?). But again, singing is my “best” musical thing. And believe me, no, I am not good at it.

But nevertheless, at the karaoke session, I sang like a crazy. Every song that I knew (or at least partially knew, such as just the chorus or just the intro), I sang it out loud. We were only given two microphones, but I sang out loud in every chance I can get.

Several songs chosen (mind you, I forgot most of the titles and perhaps I got the title wrong) in the session were:

• NaFF songs
• a Samsons song
• Dan by Sheila on 7
• Soldier of Fortune (featuring a video of a woman, so unrelated with the song, typical karaoke videos)
• Surti Tejo, Pelangi di Matamu, and another Jamrud song
• Metal vs Dugem (new song?) by Project Pop
• Mars Pembantu and Jablai from the movie Mendadak Dangdut
• Kelakuan si Kucing Garong (I know that this song is so “ndeso” (is the english word “hill-billies” a correct translation for “ndeso”?), but we chose it for the fun aspect)
• I’m Sorry Goodbye by Krisdayanti
• and many others…

For me, the happiness factor of a karaoke comes from the “togetherness”. I was among other eight persons and the atmosphere was relaxing. Everybody laughed and excited knowing what’s next on the list. Everybody didn’t really care if anybody was off key, and if somebody forgot how the song was, everybody were cheering for the person. Everybody sang along familiar songs. For the less familiar ones, if the songs were slow, everybody would raise their hands and wave them left and right just like in a live concert; if the songs were fast, everybody would shake their head and body as if they were enjoying a rock concert. Everybody cheered. After all, it was Friday night!

After the session ended, I felt like I was just having a little jog. Sweat here and there, my heart rate escalated, my breath was intense. So when I managed to got in front of the computer and connected to the Internet, I googled the relationship between singing and health. Quite surprisingly, the results were, at least, interesting.

Singing can reduce stress and pain

An article published in May 2005 edition of Natural Health stated that singing is related to, among other things, decreased stress and pain. The article cited a board-certified music therapist who stated that singing “seems to block a lot of neural pathways that pain travels through”. In my personal experience, singing or humming along songs and moving my body along does relieve my stress. I can forget my weariness for a moment and just enjoying the song.

Singing enhances immunity

Chorus America reported that a research conducted at the University of Frankfurt, Germany, found that singing enhances immunity. The research was done by measuring the level of immunoglobulin A from members of a choir after they sang Mozart’s Requiem. The noticable increase of immunoglobulin A indicated enhanced immunity. The research also compared this finding with other blood samples from the same choir after they only hear the same song. After only hearing the song, the blood samples did not indicate an increase in their immunity system.

Singing “unlocks” the brain

While for seniors, singing also got a new meaning. Yet another finding and research showed that singing will do good for our something-genarian citizens. BBC reported that an English Alzheimer patient was able to recommunicate with his wife after joining a local singing group (which aimed espescially for people with dementia) with his wife. The wife said that after singing, his brain somehow “unlocked”, he started again to communicate with others, and had a “personality change”.

Choirs are, I think, the best form of singing in health-related aspects. The aforementioned findings and researches are found and conducted with choirs or singing groups. I don’t think that singing solo is not that good for health (all that sweats and straightened muscles in a live concert at least gave out that the solo singer is physically active when singing), but choirs do have some advantages. By singing together, with several or more partners, people will be more motivated. Singing in group will also result in some amount harmony, which in turn can make the voice somewhat better and the singing somewhat more enjoyable. Also in choirs, the members are taught to sing not from the mouth or esophagus, but from the chest or even belly. Dr Ben Kim said that making voices from deep inside chest or belly uses diaphragm is good for our lymphatic system, which in turn will promote a healthy immune system.

So sing at every chance you can get even if no one should hear it. You’ve got nothing to lose and quite many to gain: take along your friends and book a karaoke session regularly, or just hum aloud everytime you take a shower or in the bathroom!

Other related articles:

• How Singing Improves Your Health (Even if Other People Shouldn’t Hear You Singing) at SixWise.com
• Singing for fun, health and wellbeing at ABC Melbourne

(Now imagine Ryan Seacrest saying…)

This,
is a week after,
American Idol

• After knowing that he is not the American Idol, Blake Lewis is pursuing a career in television show. Some prominent people such as the producers of a 1978 sitcom greeted Blake with open arms. They see that Blake has the potential to really shine in entertainment TV and made him an offer he can’t refuse participate in reliving a sitcom about a humanoid alien living with american woman. Expected plot: the alien come from planet Boomboks where people there speak Beetboks, and the supposedly funny dialogs will involve the girl’s difficulties to comprehend what the alien was saying. After making his final promotional picture of American Idol (also note that this picture will be used as the cover of the 2007 American Idol finalists album), he made comment on his deal on the upcoming TV gig. “I was so-s-s-so thril-th-th-thrilled to be involved in this upcoming TV show. I get to wear this coo-co-c-cool r-r-red suit that ex-ex-expo-po-exposes my wi-wil-wi-wild side.” Indeed, after doing fitting for the alien apparel, Blake auctioned all of his vests and coats then went shopping for red overalls and mickey mouse gloves.
• Jordin Sparks felt that she should also pursue a career in television show, after becoming an American Idol. Unlike Blake’s remake, she will continue the title role in an ongoing award-winning drama inspired by a very familiar telenovela. The producers replaced the original actress for Jordin because they want “a fresher, younger, more popular actress, so that more advertisements come.” For the role, Jordin will have to go through extensive makeover to become a nerdy young woman (see the before and after picture).
• A long anticipated 1922 movie remake has finally found an actor that will play the lead role. The actor is none other than Phil Stacey, which the producers claim “[he] was made for the role”. The producers also happily noted that Phil need no extra makeup, unlike Jordin, to make his feature blend into the role. Also stating that this movie will have fantasy, thriller-drama, science-fiction genres, they said “the huge saving on the makeup department will go directly to special effects department”. Still retaining the original plot about vampire, this remake will take a modernized approach for making the movie “reach a wider audience”. As seen in the recently published promotional sneak peek picture, this movie, titled “Nosphilatu”, will take place in a modern day Hollywood.
• After the show was over, Chris Richardson was approached by acclaimed R&B artist/producer Timbaland to make a collaboration album. Chris R was so excited as Timbaland was. Chris R asked one condition to Timbaland: this upcoming album will talk about global warming. Apparently, Chris R. is one of the biggest fan of a politician who recently won an Oscar because of his documentary on global warming. Chris R. has already decided on the first single of his upcoming album. The title will be “(Stop illegal logging) use Timber-Fake”. When asked that was it supposed to be “use fake timber”, Chris R replied “Timber-Fake is a form of hip-language as nasal is a form of singing, in case you didn’t know.” Well said.
• I could almost swear that, when Melinda Doolittle was voted off the Top 3, I saw her turned green with envy. After some time researching that episode, I found this picture that confirmed my memory. Melinda was smiling of course, but you can see the envious eyes. Ryan Seacrest could only do so little to calm the Doolittle (pun intended). But be afraid not, she can now smile widely and honestly after signing a multimillion dollar deal to participate in an upcoming anticipated movie. The movie, which due next year, will be another sequel of a successful CGI animated picture franchise. Her role will not only involve voicing the new character, but also becoming the model of that particular character. This new character is rumored to be the mistress of the leading male character. “I want to take my lovely pet Don-kee along, but it seems they already got one,” said Melinda.

I just want to write a disclaimer that I enjoyed this season. It was for the first time I watched almost all of the final episodes. My favorite one of course was the Bon Jovi episode, with upbeat songs that made me sing along through all the songs. The winning song, “This is My Now”, seemed to be perfectly made for the winner, Jordin Sparks, who I hope in her upcoming album will not end the song crying (because she already did that two times in a row). On a last note, I also hope Carrie Underwood will consider including her version of “I’ll Stand by You” into her next album.

CREDITS: All pictures here were taken from various sources without permissions. The news about Melinda, Phil, and Chris R. were researched from a site that observes American Idol and its contestants very closely and ask voters to vote based on contestants’ quality. Eventhough I myself already researched the news about Jordin, many apparently did the same. I did my own research on Blake.

I will give you a set of three pictures, taken at Pasar Seni ITB in September 2006. The pictures show some part of Plaza Widya and Labtek VII ITB (School of Pharmacy). Plaza Widya was heavily decorated for the Pasar Seni, and Labtek VII stood with all its glorious roof (for those who are not familiar with ITB, the roof of some of its building look just like this one, and become a sort of unique identity). Just by looking at the thumbnails, you can see that these pictures are similar, if not the same. But trust me, they are in a way different. Here we go.

The first picture is 640 x 480 in size. The sky looked beautiful, and the plastic tubes decoration seemed … well, interesting. Nothing seemed strange, only interesting. If you ask me what is the focus of the picture, go ahead and pick any object, I am not a professional photographer and this is one of the pictures I took, the rest of the world should live with that. Moving on to the second one.

The second picture looked like the first one but with a smaller resolution. This one is a 512 x 384 picture, quite small if you have a 1280 x 768 or larger screen resolution. Nothing too fancy either, just smaller size. Moving on to the last picture of the set.

But when you look at this one, you will see that the first two pictures are not what they look like. This original picture of the previous two has two cables or ropes for the plastic tubes decoration dangling around, making distractions in the picture.

Introducing PhotoWipe. This little freeware (about 1.45 MB in total) helps us remove objects that create distraction in our picture. It offers a simple way to do that, just by painting those objects black. The software then process the blackened areas and try to wipe them clean. But do not put that hope too high, since even the most sophisticated software can not really predict what was behind those objects you want to remove just based on that particular picture. If you look close and long enough at the first picture, you can tell that at the top left, there was something “suspiscious”.

There are two quality levels of pictures processed by PhotoWipe. The two quality levels were achieved by selecting either Quick Preview or High Quality options. The Quick Preview by the name gives a quicker result but with a smaller resolution.

From the set above, the second in the set is a result of Quick Preview, while the first is a result of High Quality. Unfortunately, PhotoWipe will resize the pictures it processed no matter which option selected. The original picture was 2048 x 1536 in resolution, but after wiped with Quick Preview selected, it was scaled down to 512 x 384. With High Quality selected, the process will take longer (but not that long) and the picture will be resized to 800 x 600. Two of the pictures in the first set were resized down to 640 x 480 (NOTE: this also goes for all pictures in this post which are greater than 640 x 480), for your viewing pleasure.

The interface of PhotoWipe is quite simple and straight forward. After we are asked to open a picture file, we can then choose which object to be removed. We can draw straight line and free line, rectangular area, polygon, and free-formed area to define the area to be wiped or object to be removed from any picture.

To make lines and rectangular areas we have to click and drag the pointer from one point to the other. To make polygons, click at several points and end it with a double click. To make free-formed areas, use the polygon tool and instead of clicking for several points, click and drag to form the area. If we make mistake, just click the eraser tool bar, and erase the mistake with a chosen tool (line, rectangular area, or polygon), then continue. After this, we are asked to preview the result with Quick Preview or High Quality, and lastly after the software process the picture, either to save the result to a file or copy it to the clipboard for further use.

Here is again another set of pictures again taken at Pasar Seni ITB 2006 viewing Plaza Widya and Labtek VIII. The first two of the set are the original picture and the objects (cables or ropes) to be removed.

The last two are the results, the Quick Preview and the High Quality ones. TIP: for removing line objects like cables or straightened rope, zoom in and pick the thinnest line possible to paint the object black. Based on my experiments, the trail of the removal will also be thin if not barely seen.

High Quality option does not always remove objects better, as shown in this set of pictures. The object to be removed is an electrical cable distracting the blue sky. The result of High Quality option displays a visible smudge at the cable’s location, unlike the one of Quick Preview.

There are not many examples, that I have, for non linear objects, but I will show you that yours truly did use PhotoWipe for the site’s header. The picture of this sunset was taken at Supadio Airport, Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, from inside an airplane. The original picture was large, and so I cropped it to make emphasis on the sunset. But unfortunately, the wing of the airplane got through the cropped version. I turned to PhotoWipe and removed the wing with the rectangular tool (the polygon gave me poor result), selected Quick Preview, and then resized the result back to the desired size (which must suit the K2 theme I use). Voila, the picture lost its distraction, leaving the warm sunset with all its majesty.

This post is merely an introduction, and with a lot of experiments, your milestones with this software may vary from mine. Go ahead and get your own copy of PhotoWipe at Hanovsolutions and then give it a spin. (via LifeHacker’s short entry on PhotoWipe as one of their Featured Windows Download).

I always get a little edgy about trip to Jakarta by car because I get car sick easily on a long way trip. Yes, I know that Jakarta via Toll Way Cipularang is not that far away, but still I am not keen on long travel by car. First off, I didn’t have much sleep the day before, since I was doing the demo application, and in the morning, I also didn’t have a good meal for breakfast. It got worse when at the start of the journey, I still try to work with my laptop, of course in a moving car headed toward Jakarta. When I read during a travel by car, I feel dizzy instantly, and guess what, I feel dizzy instantly when I try to code in a moving car (d’oh).

I bring myself a small bottle of You-C1000, a Vitamin C supplement which boasts 1000 mg of vitamin C, and drink it while on the road. I like its flavor and I thought it will make myself a little better for not having enough sleep and eat. After the presentation, (this post is not about my job, mind you, so no story about it) we went to several other places, and on the way home, I just wanted to have another bottle of You-C1000. After having half of my second dose of the Vitamin C supplement (making about 1500++ mg in total of my vitamin C intake that day), I felt nauseaous, and my stomach felt bloated. I thought it was another attack of my car sick and I tried to sleep over it. But after a while, I think it was not the car sick, since when I get car sick I think I never feel my stomach bloated. And I became suspiscious about the vitamin supplement.

After I got to Bandung, and had my laptop connected to the Internet, I googled what amount of vitamin C should a person take daily. I am being referenced to the wikipedia entry about Vitamin C, and when I got to the section Daily Requirement, I was surprised to see that the United States’ National Academy of Sciences in their US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) recommends only as little as 90 mg of vitamin C for a male adult and 75 mg for a female adult. Other agencies like United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency and the World Health Organization recommend even lower amount, about 40-45 mg per day. The US RDA also stated that the Tolerable Upper Intake Level of vitamin C is 2000 mg per day. The Tolerable Upper Intake Level of a substance is the maximum amount of that substance which is unlikely to pose negative effects when consumed (via food, drink, and supplement).

The entry suggested that a large amount of vitamin C will not produce a dangerous effect because of its low toxicity. But it also stated that the common side-effects of a relatively large dose are indigestion and diarrhea, especially when taken on an empty stomach; and for an excessive continuous intake: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, flushing of the face, headache, fatigue, disturbed sleep, and skin rashes.

My little research showed that I might had too much vitamin C, but it was not really conclusive. For a safe bet, I think I will take only 1000 mg of vitamin C supplement maximum per day, especially when I have an empty stomach and not enough sleep.

I wonder if our own Indonesian Health Department have a site like UK’s EatWell and Food that use easy to understand language and a user friendly layout to promote health. I also wonder if they also produce such standards or recommendations about what Indonesian dietary intake should be like.

Update 2007-05-22:
The You C-1000 ads with the miss universe (Amelia Vega, Natalie Glebova, Zuleyka Rivera) were made exclusively for Indonesian market, since You C-1000 is an Indonesian brand for (then) Takeda Food’s (now House-wf) C-1000. I also found some interesting articles or sites about this product:

1. Taufiek tells us that You C-1000 made a whole market segment and now it is being directly competed by a new rival
2. Swa let us know about the story behind the inception (and the production) of You C-1000 in Indonesia
3. Pintu.net reviews show that You C-1000 is indeed very popular among Indonesians.

Okay, on to the main points: while I can’t really pinpoint what genre the movie “Man of The Year” was in, I thought it was a little bit conspiracy-thriller than the usual satirical-political-comedy (Wikipedia’s entry also agrees) (main point please, I hear you shout, sorry, can’t help it), the movie quite succinctly showed the political condition of the United States and to my surprise, it can also be about Indonesia. Robin Williams played Tom Dobbs, an American comedian whose show was typical with the Jay Leno show or the Conan O’Brien show. He was consistently mocking the political condition of his own country, making it laughable for his viewers while spontaneously gave insights to what the politicians should be doing. In one act he jokingly while literally attacking a US senator for his inconsistent speech about energy efficiency while the senator was campaigning for presidency backed up by major oil companies.

Dobbs was also pictured criticizing that the politicians were not prioritizing correctly; they funded NASA tens of millions of dollars to build something in outer space while neglecting to build schools for children in their own soil. While the critic about NASA only fit for the US but here in Indonesia, we can feel the same condition. Not so long ago, Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR-RI) planned to make budget for providing its members with a state-of-the-art laptop. With a budget of almost IDR 12 billion (for 550 laptops, each will costs about IDR 21.8 million), not forgetting that many believes that most of the member of the DPR-RI can not actually use a computer, the plan was criticized by many. The Indonesian blogosphere reacted heavily against the plan (you can read entries of Yulian Firdaus Hendriyana, Brahmasta Adipradana, and others). Even though the plan had been canceled, it still hurts that the House of Representatives who were elected by the people, seemed to literally miss the point of representing the people.

I can name several things that are I think really important and the DPR-RI (or anybody in the government) supposed to work on:

• Education facilities: many schools that have been demolished by natural disasters have not been rebuilt,
• Environmental issues: we can still remember what happened in Bandung last year when thousands of cubic of domestic garbage piled everywhere at the corners of the city, and also of course, the great flooding of the capital city, Jakarta, and
• Health issues: the case of avian influenza still haunts Indonesia, too many victims have passed away.

The list can still go on, and in great length too, but I think you got the point.

Tom Dobbs stated that we, the people, desperately want a change. He was right for America (hey what do you think about Barack Obama?) and for Indonesia. We desperately need leaders who are different, who think about what matter most for the people and make actions for them. With the 2009 election coming up, do you think that there is a wind of change coming our way? Let us welcome the second reshuffle of the Presidential Cabinet (sigh).

Last weekend, I and several of my friends of class 2001 [Andi, Endah, Inoi] were invited to be a facilitator in LKO [literally Training on Leadership and Organization] HMIF 2005. We participated in the outbound session [I have to make sure that the term is correct; it is either outbound or outbond; or there are no right English term for that matter]. Our task is relatively simple. On day one, we were paired and handled a group of trainees in conducting a simulation on Teamwork and Team Building. On day two, we were asked to be in a certain point in the outbound track, and again giving simulation to every group of trainees which were hiking on the-quite-of-a-stroll-cross-country-track.

Between those two days, we were sleeping in a quarter which up to 16 people can sleep in their own bed. Before bedtime, one of the other facilitator, Hamdan of class 2002, asked a question: “What is your 10 wishes for now?”. The question is quite simple, and he also added that the answers were need not in order of importance or priority. They would have to be simply wishes. He then gave example of his own wishes: He wants to have an income of more than Rp. 50, 000, 000,- a month [about a little more than US$ 5,000,-] because of what he wishes next: He wants to pay the national debt of our country, Indonesia.

I answered his questions:

1. I want to graduate from my undergraduate education this year: year 2005.
2. I want to go on a road trip with my friends in the dorm. It is possible when we visit Anto’s [the landlady’s son] wedding day in Jakarta.
3. I want to make my work environment physically enjoyable by particularly buying a headphone [done] and a USB multi port.
4. I want to write again, I want to experience again writing with all my heart since I wrote the review of the book Einstein’s Dream of Alan Moore for my Bahasa Indonesia assignment in high school.
5. I want to talk, to have an intense chat with my brother.

We actually didn’t get to the number 10, we were too sleepy. But I have stated my wishes here, and on my birthday, I declare that I want to try to make them happen.

And just a little bit of reminder, I also declared another statement that night:

I want my time gives meaning to me and people around me.

Happy birthday me…

Well, all is done, my term ended with quite a success. Now it’s time for the replacement, the time for better HMIF, like we all say.

To conclude few things, I felt so much honored and thankful working with the rest of Board of Executives. I know I am not a perfect man, so I also did a lot of mistakes in working with them and my sincere apologies to them.

And for the rest of HMIF-ers: again, my sincere apologies for mistakes that we made, and a bunch of thank-yous for every support given.

Would you like some “post power syndrome”?
What the heck, I’ve survived my term, I think I’ll survive this.

I’ve read a book entitled Einstein’s Dream by Alan Lightman. In that book, Einstein’s Relativity Theory was explained as a series of imaginative world where time was literally, relative. Time was the key in each of the world. In one world, time stood still, still relevant with its absence. People enjoyed the stillness, everyone was cheering, taking their endless time. In other world, time swifted by so quickly that everyone felt being chased by it. Everybody always looked over their shoulders to see if their time was catching up with their pace. Everybody felt their time was running out. And thus, this time, at the turn of the year 2004 to the year 2005, time stood still in the north coast of Sumatera Island, Indonesia.

At December 26th 2004, Aceh and North Sumatera, along with several countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, and few countries in east Africa, were strucked by an earthquake, followed by tsunami ramping and tearing out everything up until several kilometers from the shore line. Even the shore line was gone. Tens of thousands, and not impossible up to one hundred thousands lives were gone in a matter of hours. Houses were destoyed. Lives lost. Laughes and smiles gone.

Bodies soon were piling up, scattered, and unidentifiable because they were starting to decay. They said the collective smell of the dead bodies even spread out until 2 km radius. Too frightening to see, too scary to even imagine. Help from all over the country, and from outside this country, up until now is still reaching out to victims. Volunteers departed to the ground zero to give their own help directly. Even one from where I live in just departed today, they say. Muhamad Adha Ilhami, or Aad, felt like he was called to go there, and as soon as he got permission from his parents, he went there.

To be continued…, got finals to go through.

The computer is gone now, and it took me a while to digest that. Moreover, no sign of breaking and entering are found. Insider work? Shit! Outsider work? Man! One thing seems obvious for now, change all the locks and keys to the HMIF chamber.

As for the local police: I highly recommend them to follow a lesson on how to type efficiently [in order NOT to type ‘A’ with left point finger and ‘W’ with right point finger], as well as listening for the hearing impaired [many typos and mistakes by not giving attention to the witnesses], and word processing [come on, deleting two lines of a paragraph by constantly pressing “Delete” button on the keyboard?].

Anto wanted to get pictures of them: all lit up in the night, while I wasn’t on anything at all, just for the trip out of my room. It was fun; we ride on two motorbikes and head up for the billboards spread around Bandung from half past ten at night. Of course we didn’t shoot all of the billboards in Bandung, but we wandered quite long to find the billboards worth shooting. And the result, if I may say, is cool. Not too surprisingly but quite regretfully those pictures of cigarette’s ad mostly on well lit billboards are quite fun too look at. In the middle of the night, all four of us, hunger for a decent billboard to shoot at. As I said, it was fun.

In the morning, I watched “Cheaper by the Dozen”, a family movie, starred by Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Piper Perabo, Tom Welling, Hillary Duff, and other kids actor about a family with twelve kids. It’s like having the not so perfect but happy, big, strong family. I think it is important to have such family [okay perhaps the “big” word may be omitted], where love is spread all around and on each member of the family. I kinda miss mine, and wondering what my “own” future family will be. [Face blushing red…]

Happy birthday Indonesia!

Welcome the first semester of my last year on college. [Got to think a topic for my Final Project, fyuhh…]

In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places-some that have existed, and others that can’t, couldn’t or shouldn’t exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow.

The story was about a bunch of superheroes [Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Robin, The Flash, Hawkman to name a few, and still a bunch of unfamiliar names], grouped together in a not so distant future where they have aged a little bit [Superman have stylish gray hair, and Batman, well, was rather bald], and the world experienced the booming population of metahuman [or as Marvel put it, mutants]. The world had so many [or perhaps too many] young supermen and superwomen. Unlike their predecessors, these new heroes were no heroes at all. Consumed by arrogance, they played around with their powers, using them to make gangs and battle against each other. The normal people, us, was represented by Reverend Norman McCay, who had almost lost his faith since he was quite sure that Lord himself ignore mankind by letting them to suffer in a world where those with the ability of superheroes were scums. Superman was retiring, after the death of Lois Lane and the explosion of a nuclear bomb in Texas, until Wonder Woman showed him that the world was desperate for a real hero.

Have you ever dream or at least think for a moment, wanting to be a superhero who has the ability of anything you can think of: flying, run faster than sound, ultra-hearing ability, or bulging muscles so that the outfit of your choice can fit perfectly like a second skin [with no fat to be ashamed of]? You can then just hear somebody cried out for help, and flew to the spot, kicked some bad asses, and became the hero of the day, everyday. Well, I think it won’t be as easy as that to be a hero. And I am right, at least that what Spider-Man 2 was all about.

“Spider-Man 2” told us that becoming a hero is not easy. In “Spider-Man”, Sam Raimi directed a great story about a skinny geek boy who found himself bitten by a mutated spider and ended up with great muscles and the ability of a superhero. In the sequel, the director continued the story with the hero being stress that he was beginning to lose his power. The hero was stress because in order to safe everyone, he must sacrifice his needs, his time, his job, his college, and his love. Until at one point, the cover of The Daily Bugle read “Spider-Man No More”, as the hero literally quit, and Peter Parker was living his own life back. But not for long, of course, since Mary Jane was captured by the evil Doc Ock, Peter Parker knew once again, that with a great power comes a great responsibility, and Spidey was swinging his way again through the New York’s buildings and regained some kick-ass action, some cuts and bruises, some love, and some confidence. Expected story of “Spider-Man 3”: the marriage of Peter Parker and MJ, the rise of Green Goblin II, and perhaps another evil character [the Lizard? since Professor Connor was already mentioned and appeared a bit].

As for the rest of us, the audience of the movie like it or not, the only way to enter a better-alternative-reality, is by making that reality in this one we all live in.

Here I am trying to write down several points in giving speech, of course this may only applicable to myself, though someone else may use them:

1. First, say something to attract the audience. Especially if the atmosphere is less formal and the audience are people I know, or younger, or subordinate to me.
2. Second, always start with the name of the event. ALWAYS. Think for a while and spit all the ideas in an order manner. Say something personal about the event. Say something about I am not going to the event or alike. Say something about the organizer, give them some acknowledgements.
3. Third, keep it short and simple. I don’t want to get the nickname the ear-torturer or the yawn-generator. Say it, again, in a simple, ordered manner.
4. Fourth, close it. Say my wishes or expectations concerning the event. Say thank you for the audience for listening. Close it in a fashionable way according to the formality atmosphere.

I think that’s about it. Simple, and I could have given a not-so-bad speech from now on. I certainly hope so.

Yes, it is quite a long time since I last watched a movie in the cinema, but tonight I just did watch Van Helsing instead of Vaness Wu. There IS a movie starring Vaness Wu side by side with Van Helsing starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. I can’t tell what kind of movie Vaness Wu [the Taiwanese actor/singer/model who was famous by starring in the TV serial, Meteor Garden, along with other F4 members] starring in, but Van Helsing was just pure loaded with actions and special effects. Unsurprisingly of course, along with the shallow acting by Kate Beckinsale, Hugh Jackman as Gabriel van Helsing, and those ugly monsters, not forgetting the shallow plot. Mind my words, but I am trying to express my opinion here. Fun movie, NOT to be taken seriously. I wonder if they will make the sequel.

We [me, Tetty, Kardy, along with Kiki and Nonick] made fun of Vaness Wu, using his name as a mockery.

Also catched up with some friends, laughed quite a lot, chat quite a bunch, ate [that snacks] and drank [those black coffee] quite a load.

But now, I think it is time to [again] sleep.

You know who you are; me, here, just wishing you all the best…

God, please, please, pretty please, enlighten us all.

Happy birthday me!

May I prevail them.

Time to sleep :p

Whenever I get gloomy with the stage of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport.
General opinion started to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed. But I don’t see that, it seems to me that love is everywhere.

Often that it is not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there: fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.

When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge; they were all messages of love.

If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that
love actually
is
all around…

[Hugh Grant narrating as British’ Prime Minister in “Love Actually”]

The mangas I read these days are One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. It has a really great story, an intense one if I may say. The story about a boy whose dreams is to be the greatest pirate in the world by finding the One Piece Treasure. A boy whose thoughts are very simple yet he struggled very hard to defend his dreams and his friends’. Loaded with characters that are fun yet miraculous, One Piece is crowned as the best manga since Dragon Ball. Another one I just found exciting is Shaman King by Hiroyuki Takei. The story a boy whose dream is to be the Shaman King. A ruler of shaman [psychic if I may say, a person who connects the real world with the spirit world] world who can bring anything to the world with the help of the Great Spirit. A hilarious and quite a deep story, with abundant amount of awesome characters and spells too. This boy too have a simple mind, he wants to be Shaman King so he can practice a carefree life, life where everyone get to be happy. And the last one is Beck by Harold Sakuishi. A story about a boy [again] who experiences music life definitely not easy yet colorful through an indie band called Beck.

Those stories have something in common. The leading role is a boy, not an adult man. And they have dream and struggle for it. They struggle no matter what and that’s the main story that keeps the mangas exciting and wondrous at the same time. And also in those stories, friends are having important role in achieving the dream. Hey, call me melancholic but I did touched by those stories.

The honorary award goes to Harukana Machi-E by Jiro Taniguchi. It tells about an adult who accidentally take the train to his home town and mysteriously experiences [again] his early life as a boy he used to be. Can he change his past to fix his present life? It’s a wonderful and touching story that will remind you what you have right now is precious.

This entry I dedicated to sawamura15 who took me through this side of comics as a wonderful world to escape, yet this world gently bring me back to this harsh real world [kyahaha, reality does bite].

This event made me have to go to Jakarta. Meanwhile in Bandung, at that particular Tuesday, I got a programming assignment and it had to be submitted at the first thing on Thursday. At this assignment I was grouped with Citrady. Of course I felt my head exploded realizing I can’t work on this assignment until at least Wednesday night. So I talked and kinda let go this assignment to Citrady, hoping that he would do it on his own. Not to mention another assignment on doing the exercises on the given textbook on which I haven’t done a single problem yet.

Arriving in Jakarta at Tuesday night, I’ve already felt tired. I also felt rather strange since this will be my kinda first death-experience. I did remember when one of my neighbors passed away because of sickness several years ago, but this time I am involved closely. Although almost a year ago, my grandmother [from my father side] also passed away, but in the time a got there, the ceremony at the cemetery was over. I didn’t get the chance to see the face, or at least the body. I can see the body of my grandfather lied on a bed in the living room when I greeted my grandmother at my arrival.

I kinda felt scared of looking to my dead [perhaps this word is rather impolite, but I use it to state the fact] grandfather’s face. But when the time to see his face for the last time before he is buried, we all [the closest families] kissed him for the last time. What strucked me at that time was the skin was very cold. I can’t imagine a person whose in life is active and alive become that cold as stone when he died. I felt tears on my eyes that morning.

The programming assignment turned out to be done and submitted by Citrady before midnight and the demo was quite alright although some mistakes were made. The exercises assignment also turned out to be done by me with going through several friends work. My first chief of students’ association meeting was quite awful, having my presence was not acknowledged and the issue discussed was not also in the interest of mine and the interest of the most of the rest of HMIFers. The presentation of my group [my gcave group] on the finals of itbfair competition also done quite satisfyingly. The installment of me as the new chief of the students association was not done since the quorum was not reached. The expo of HMIF and gcave at the itbfair is still going on, and it really took my time this weekend. I hope it is worth it.

In the other hand, my relationship with her reached another level since she was there for me. Although I felt that I am still unable to define what I feel, I thanked her for what she’s done. Yes, I still can’t figure out what I feel right now. In the other-other hand, a new friend came up and I felt that she was trying to get close to me. Gee … it’s a whole new problem.

Friends and families, a bond that I have. A connection that gives color to my life. And a strain of new color is yet painted on my life these last days…

Doing my internship in Bandung, having my only 24 hours a day spent for this responsibility, cutting my sleep hours [I think this is a must], getting to know more people with different characteristics, getting my hands dirty with what I may not think I will be playing with, etc etc. Not to mention getting thrown into a pond at campus for the first time throughout this 2.5 years of college.

Elected. A single vote counts. And the future of mine will collide with this organization: HMIF. I hope I will do good [or even great], and I do hope more that everybody will do greater.

Planning: is a word of mine these days. What will I do next? A bit confused I am, come on, first things first.

And perhaps I am getting a little bit older.

Afraid of getting another burden: another stigma of mine. I need reassurance, I need support that is expressed.

These days are really making me nervous. But I also feel a “let go” feeling, what ever may be, will be, right?

From where? Umm… I think I can start with the ceremony of the new member of HMIF. Definitely _not_ the ceremony of the year, despite the outmost effort of its committee, the event that is controversial in my own mind and some several others at last come to an end. I can’t say anything else since I can’t express this event in English words.

Second, is the birthday of three friends in a row: Galih, Ridho, and Anggi. I know that I didn’t make the time to show that they are really good friends, but all I can say is: “Reach your stars, guys”. Whose birthday is next?

Third, is the hearing of the candidate of the president of HMIF [Informatics Students Association]. I am being the first candidate, is not actually the leading person among other candidates. I know that I am the most unprepared candidate, and perhaps not the mature one also. Yes, I am experiencing unconfident feeling then until now in this election. Not to mention the debate, aaarrgggh…, definitely _not_ my best performance. But again SUPPORT has given me the power to get through it. The support from my team: Chepy, Nopi, Peb, Ronsky, and Tzna [I am lucky and honored to have them]. My other team: Rizki [for endless assurance], Yoga [his ideas], Ian [his works], Kardy [definitely the man of thoughts and ideas], Anggi [through those conversations], Endah [who are still madly in love with Aa], Febi [her support and works], Denny [well, he did support me]. I am very nervous in this election. Afraid of being elected…

That’s about the entire wrap up.
Quite a wrap up, if I may say.

One was very annoyed with what he thought as a repeated diversions and an unending avoidance that he walked out of the meeting. One was at least high tensed hearing what he has done to that point was considered as merely a game. And one was planning to build another battle in another battlefield where I will be at the opposite side. I am almost speechless about of what happened that day.

Although I can see this coming, the plan to attack the executives of HMIF at the end of its term, but I am still astonished.

To see there is something wrong and to correct that particular mistake in this place might be as well as creating a war itself. But not that seriously of course, I can see that they meant good.

Happy Birthday to a friend, who I hope will be graduating shortly.

The third installment of “The Lord of The Rings”, “The Return of The King”, ended this epic. Though may some people think that this movie was not perfect, but I think it was perfect as a closure of this story. I must state that it is one of very few movie [I can’t even recall other movie] that get a quite sincere applause from its viewer. Not to mention the awe and scream from all the girls watching the action and particularly the charm of Legolas Greenleaf, played well by Orlando Bloom. From now on, Gandalf the White will always be Sir Ian McKellen; Gimli son of Gloin will have the face of John Rhys-Davies; Arwen Evenstar will always be as pretty as ehm who’s that girl? ah yes, Liv Tyler; Aragorn will always as though as Viggo Mortensen; Samwise Gamgee will be pictured in our mind as Sean Astin; and Elijah Wood will be nicknamed Frodo Baggins. All other characters will have their own faces.

Alas, this mythical world, like all other world in the movies, will gladly deliver us to the return to real world. The world where we actually live, where all of us have our own scenarios, minus the elves and the dwarves and the hobbits and the wizards, mind you. The Real World. Our World.

Yup, the world where my room is a wrecked ship, a lot of work to be done. The world where facts happen each day, where fictions only have their place on books and movies and stories.

Nonetheless, it was quite a movie, quite a journey. And I enjoyed it.

I slept like a baby that night. I didn’t suppose to sleep at all that night.

One heck of a new year.

“Two Weeks Notice” showed how Hugh Grant felt loss after Sandra Bullock decided to quite from her job [and Sandra felt it too]. “About Schmidt” pictured Jack Nicholson felt lonely after his wife that he usually took for granted passed away so suddenly.

It is shame that I too have taken things I have for granted. I seldom acknowledge simple things that are gifts to me. Some times I do envy how others appreciate their belongings [and it's not just physical things, emotions too] and enjoy what they can do with it. I do have a final test tomorrow, and I still watch two movies in a row tonight.

Respecting others is a matter of attitude, respecting yourselves is a matter of self confidence.

And yes, visiting a friend personally is a delightful enlightening experience. Must do this more frequently.

It is yet the end of another year. How do I do in this passing year? How will I face the New Year?
For heaven’s sake, do first things first!!! Aaargh!!!

I never thought my life would end in quite this way
Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what I should say
I tried alone to mend this broken heart
I need you, that thing you do

When we’re apart I find it very hard to smile
You know that other girls have never been my style
Oh there’s a feeling that I get when I’m near you
I need you, that thing you do

I could search around the world only to find
The only thing I need is you right by my side

There’s a feeling that I get when I’m with you
Oh oh oh, that thing you do

I could search around the world only to find
The only thing I need is you right by my side

I never thought my life would end in quite this way
Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what I should say
I tried alone to mend this broken heart
I need you, that thing you do

Need you, that thing you do

That Thing You Do

You, doin’ that thing you do
Breakin’ my heart into a million pieces
Like you always do

And you, don’t mean to be cruel
Never even know about the heartache
I’ve been goin’ through

Well I try and try to forget you girl
But it’s just so hard to do
Every time you do that thing you do

I, know all the games you play
I’m gonna find a way
To let you know that you’ll be mine someday

Coz we, could be happy can’t you see?
If you’d only let me be the one to hold you
And keep you here with me

Yes I try and try to forget you girl
But it’s just so hard to do
Every time you do that thing you do

I don’t ask a lot girl, but I know one thing’s for sure
All the love that I haven’t got girl, and I just can’t take it anymore

Coz we, could be happy can’t you see?
If you’d only let me be the one to hold you
And keep you here with me

Coz it hurts me so, just to see you go around with someone new
And if I know you you’re doin’ that thing
Every day just doin’ that thing
I can’t take you doin’ that thing you do

It is nice to have friends. Especially the ones with whom you can stand together with when the going gets tough.

Thank you, friend. Thanks for just being here, thanks for giving me a hand, thanks for reassuring myself. Hope that I can pay as much.

Mental Pressure: I know I have it with me right now. And now I get to know it even more. It can get you ignore the responsibilities you have, it can get you stop doing practically anything, and for sure it can get you feel like jumping a two storey building [with the hope of minimum injuries of course].

I do feel like I am having it right now but it’s quite gone. I hope. I need it to be gone. I need it BADLY to be gone.

Finals, unlike always, won’t be really the climax of the finale. The finale will be those projects from hell. Those big bad assignments from underground.

I am living unconfident life right now [hey I wrote this before, didn’t I?].

I applied in the election of the chief of the students association. I don’t know what I was doing, but for now I have to make it through, to make it the best I can do, to give the proper fight though I feel my chances are slim [Thank God for my chances being slim].

Work? Do it? Don’t do it? Must do it!

A story about a group of four friends struggling for one thing called love [BEEEP: sorry, nope that’s not that, NOT love but GIRLS]. Yup girls, women, pain in the ass, or whatever you named THEM. They are of course the most beautiful creatures in this world, but aside from that, they have made boys, or men, or that organism with no brain, or whatever you like to call people who are not female, crazy and I mean that. Literally crazy. Of course, here, I am not acknowledging those homosexuals since that would be inappropriate [not sticking to the book].

For Juliet, Romeo killed himself [yes, I am neglecting the essence of the WHOLE story]. For Shizuka [did I write the name correctly?] Nobita had through series of unlucky event [other than he is being lazy and not too bright]. For Lois Lane, Superman encircled the earth so fast that it traveled back through time. For those beautiful ladies, too many good-guys-in-a-movie escaped from explosions and other near-death experience.

And for not being too pity about myself, me too, are driven crazy by girls. Yes, correct: plural form. OK, here I am not knowing how I REALLY feel about a girl [newsflash: she’s out of my league] and then come another girl [this girl is also definitely out of my league] and the first girl keep ringing the bells in my head. I am living an unconfident life if it’s concerning about girls.

I saw a Tee with “STILL ALONE” written on its chest. I am tempted.

Being single and happy? How about NOT being single AND happy? AARGH!

It is in this book, at the last chapter [or is it on the second last, however in the last chapters it is], he found himself with great responsibility lied upon his shoulders. He too took the very misfortune of having seen the death of a person he cared the most. He will be responsible in the future to battle against a great horror of the magical world. He is of course felt ungraceful having such great weight got burdened upon his shoulders, but as with any other tale, I [and the rest of Harry’s fan] will have to wait for another [or make it two others] book to be told only by JK Rowling herself.

Carrying weight upon your shoulders is intimidating, threatening, and frightening all at once. I have burdens myself and I am afraid to be NOT doing those burdens responsibly. But then again, I’ll have my shots. Or will I?

This particular movie was about a teenager discovers his true potential self among his inspiring characters of his first writing, his family, his friends, and his love. And he doesn’t need to go to some other place away from his hometown Orange County to seek his true self. OK, the movie maybe not that deep. It’s light and fun actually. But that was the message, other than being a drug addict is very dangerous and will get you to do what a sane man would never do.

And so, the place you come from is worth fighting for. At this time of year, the people fought for going to a place they call home. Some got the chance, some did not. It is a tradition or not, home, will always be home, and will be a place perfect with all of its imperfections, complete with all of its incompleteness, waiting somewhere, anywhere, for us to go home.

Today, I visited my other friend who is sick quite bad though he denied it. I and sandy took care of him today, and though he was anxious [in the first place] to receive our help he was grateful that we were there. It made me feel that I am still trying to be sensitive. Cause without my friends, I ceased [partly, hopefully not wholly] to exist. I am trying not to repeat my mistake for being insensitive.

Be sensitive among your friends. They need you, and you need them. Help while you can, good things can be done without any particular reason.

And the first respond is from sandclow about me having to create this story of my life. It’s nice to have your creation or your work appreciated.

HMIF is having its 21^st birthday today. Other than few congrats notes on the “Bukom HMIF”, there’s no special occasion to commemorate this event. Sad though…

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out of places Worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere Going nowhere

Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression No expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow No tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people running in circles
It’s a very very
Mad World Mad World

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday Happy birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen Sit and listen

Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me No one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what’s my lesson?
Look right through me Look right through me

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people running in circles
It’s a very very
Mad World Mad World
Enlarged in your world
Mad World

Look at the red, red changes in the sky
Look at the separation in the borderline
But don’t look at everything here inside
and be afraid, afraid to speak your mind

It took a moment before I lost myself in here
It took a moment and I could not be found
again and again and again and again I see your face in everything
It took a moment the moment it could not be found

What’s with the fascination with the echelon?
What’s with the constant questions that you have this time?
What’s with this circumstantial consequence?
Find oversight before this night will ever rise again

It’s all you’ve got inside your head
You better get up and leave instead

It took a moment before I lost myself in here
It took a moment and I could not be found
again and again and again and again I see your face in everything
It took a moment the moment it could not be found

To find ourselves lost here within
We need good reasons why
So we take this bridge
With the others that will thrive in the great divide

Look at the red, red changes in the sky

Watched “Mulholland Drive” last night and it was a weird movie. At the first minutes, I expected the movie to be “smart” like Pulp Fiction, or Snatch, or Ocean Eleven. But it turned out to be a mumbo-jumbo movie involving some weirdo with a rotten face. Still it’s a good movie, but I don’t get it, yet.

Finished Scan Line, next: Free Line.
Skipping class…

I’ve heard insider’s view of the fact. As I have guessed, the fact is perfectly understandably simple, cold, and hard. And I’m gonna be OK with that. It’s true, I am OK. Though relieve is not the perfect word, but inside I feel it too. I am not the one. Feeling sob? Well yes, but again, I’m OK.

But I do have hope though; I still have plenty of hope inside, for myself, for the people around me. I do hope that I am no longer afraid of expressing what I feel, and I do hope that people will accept me as I am.

I do have feeling right now for someone else, but is that feeling true? Is this feeling absolutely come out from me? I have talked this with someone, I do have a certain feeling for her [it’s another her, if you get what I mean] but now, is this just an act of getaway? I can’t figure out the answer right now.

Will I? I can’t tell, but I know I kinda have to.

And for the just yet passed mid test, I do regret my awful performance, I gain by my laziness.

Remembering, acknowledging what I have done, or what have happened to me, what people said to me, remembering how I reacted on what people said to me, somehow it made me feel more emoted [does English really have that word—emote?], realizing that I needed those people.

But then again, feeling that if I am too often being among the people I will eventually too depend on that and will lose my self-identity.

Hey, it’s mid test time and I still going through this? Writing this stuff? Well it’s been a while, and I needed to commemorate this, and so I wrote it.

Does she think I am non-existent? I can’t tell.
Or [this is too over-confident] is she angry with me not being aggressive? What’s this supposed to mean?
What am I thinking? Who am I to think that? I want her, don’t I? Or not? Aaaaarrrrgh…
Is she happy right now? I really do hope so.

Bitterness or relieving? Questions arise, and will they be unanswered?

Together we sought refuge
Running through the rain
Even if it meant losing something
We have to protect this only one
The meaning of why we’re born in this world
I want to discover it with you
Even carrying pain in my arms
I want to go out and meet new landscapes

Unwithered Flower

A tiny flower is blooming inside my heart
The unwithered flower you gave to me
I don’t fear the things I believe in anymore
Because I’ve become strong
I was happy meeting you
And proud of our holding hands
Even though we look up at different skies now
See, I can walk alone

I finally made a step! Don’t know if imagination_bay [ehm correction: not imagination_bay, but I know who I meant] does have an affair with her. Somebody did watch me when I did it. And that drawing, it was good.

Do I have the courage?
To face the truth?
I don’t want to push her, yet I must take a goddamn step forward.
And I will, again, I must.

“Sweet Home Alabama” is a movie about a choice, about the discovery of finding your true self. And when you have found your true self, you will be able to make the choice, and be hell prepared to face any consequences. And as I have said, being among true friends and family will do you a lot of help in finding yourself.

The story is told by the main character, well played by John Cusack, directly to the audience, in a nice honest way too. The story is about a man who never really knows what lies ahead of his life and afraid of taking steps forward too. In the end he eventually tired of his current existence in a non real life problem and eager to face real unforetold life with his girlfriend by asking her to marry him.

It quite touched me, how the movie explains how self discomfort showed up when you lose support of your friend, in this case your girlfriend. You lost that person who did small things that made you comfortable with your self. You lost that smell of person whom laughter made you at least smile. You lost that smile that made you awe and smile back truthfully.

And the most interesting thing is the main character described almost anything by listing it as a Top Five of something.

When you are ready and succeeded to list your Top Five of What I Really Want to Become or Top Five of What My Best Friend Likes The Most or Top Five of Life’s Fun or Top Five of anything at all, I think you have taken an advanced step in discovering yourself, and others too.

Am I afraid?

Today I visited to STT Telkom [quite a long way to go there], tried to finish the wall magazine, supported my class sports team in the IF Home Tournament, and ate together with all cave’s member. Just feeling we will be a little bit closer if we are told what other feel about their selves.

In the other hand, I am feeling tired. Can’t be. Come on world, make me feel joy again.

I don’t know what to do with myself.

I write this journal to get to know a little bit of myself, and look here now, I complain about how strange myself to myself.

I have duties. Duties which deadlines are drawing near again. And it is because I can’t figure out how to organize them.

I have feelings. For the world and the people in it. And I am awful in expressing it.

I feel like shouting all my life out.

A Mexican [I assume but am quite sure] movie that introduced Gael Garcia Bernal [its leading actor] to the world, including to Uncle Oscar himself [Garcia became one of Academy Awards announcer]. In the movie, a man who wanted to run away with his sister-in-law who caught in a dogfight-gone-bad, a beautiful model who had an affair with a married man, and a father turned into guerilla turned into ghetto/assassin who wanted to see his daughter who didn’t know that his father was still alive, met on an unlikely event. Three different people with three different perspectives of the world. And the result, I see the movie as a wonderful-honest-though-bitter movie.

In the real life, meanwhile, the different perspectives of that-process-to-become a member of a students association aka “kaderisasi” still roars through the people involved. I don’t want to talk about that too much since there are too many things to tell, but I think that with compromising on some things will harmonize those different perspectives.

And about last weekend, I went right through it. I don’t have that last weekend. Welcome weekdays.
And one thing, it’s quite good and [to be honest] thrilling to have your [and your friend's] work is respected and acknowledged. I give you Cokelat’s Segitiga, sold everywhere starting this September, 17. [Gotta have one of 'em]

A coward in disguise, or a man starting to lose his feelings?

I am a lecturer’s assistant [for now], and I won’t be a system administrator [for now].

The decision not becoming sysadmin [not applying to become one actually], is taken rather hesitantly. In one hand, quoting someone: “I feel stupid becoming a 3^rd year Informatics Engineering student, I can’t build a [not-so-sophisticated but useful-in-real-world] computer program”. There was a time in which I wanted to learn as much as I could, but now I feel lost inside my own head. On the other hand, I feel lost inside this hectic world of mine. I felt I don’t enjoy my life too much right now. Don’t know if this is laziness attack, but sometimes I just feel that I don’t have the slightest free time in the world [and here I am typing these down].

But what the heck, even though I can’t fill my resume with a “system administrator” entry/experience, I feel thankful that I won’t have to divide my spare time anymore, if any that is.

Mentioning about resume, I will have at least some trouble if I am told to make mine. I had almost zero experience in IT [if none is too explicit]; my organizational experience is minimum, and my other abilities…what other ability?
How unoptimistic and not self-confident I am right now.

Sleepy, having tons of not-yet-finished works, and not knowing what my true feelings are.

Becoming a lecturer’s assistant is quite an exciting experience. According to Mr. Rinaldi, Discrete Math lecturer, a student wants to become a lecturer’s assistant mainly caused by two things: access [it's more proper for lab assistant], and status improvement.
It’s quite true for me. Though I have not currently decided which lab I am going to focus on, becoming an assistant is quite important to me.

But unfortunately, it is not my time.
The truth revealed that I am not the person.
And to tell you the truth, the truth seemed too true it was rather bitter, truthfully.
But I haven’t made my mind on how I will face this truth.
For a fact, I did my [first] job as a [pseudo] assistant.

Is it for me to decide?
I am waiting for myself and others to answer it.

Placing bets is something that I won’t—or at least very unlikely for me to—do. But this night, I called the shots to this dynamic duo. The bets are: if a current single person—that’s me and the single of the dynamic duo—get a “partner” or shall we say a girlfriend before the end of February next year, he will got a free meal from the rest of us three; but when there are none of the current single person gets a partner, the non-single of the dynamic duo will get the free meal; and if all of the current single person get each of their selves a partner, they will get a free meal from the non single of the dynamic duo.

It’s a long shot for me, I know it.

Throwing up, letting all the snacks, the meals, and the dinner flow out of your mouth.
It’s disgusting, it’s painful.
Yet it is relieving.

“The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” is not a great movie. It is a standard action-packed movie loaded with superhuman novelic characters. All of them are depicted from a novel and conjoined in this movie. I watched this at a midnight show with quite a bunch of friends.

It’s been a while since the last time I went out on a Saturday night.
It’s quite fun.

This week, the Red Planet has become the topic of the [end of the] month. The Bosscha Observatory has become a picnic site for the eager eyes willing to see a glimpse of the outer-space. And it is not some few eyes.

About 50 million miles away from Mars, my job as the chief of Media has gone quite way too far. I skipped class to do the job. But by that I begun to know myself a little bit further, I am NOT going to be underestimated. And I am what I have done. And I want some respect. And for that, I do the best I could. And for that, I skipped class. ‘Cause I want to be seen. But it IS a milestone, a step closer to the finish line I don’t know I want to break through. I am damn proud of the Media.

And my other job? What job? Uh…thatwebaboutevents? Wups, missed that. Gosh, where is my commitment? I am what I have done. And in this case I did nothing! Man, if only I had more hours in a day, and a lot more of energy in my body. Got to find myself an effective and efficient time management.

The course assignment? Which one? I’ve got tons of them. For graphics, I don’t know if I am in advantage of having the man of the programming aboard, or exactly the opposite: I gained absolutely nothing. But it is done already, and the will to learn does exist in my deepest soul, and the time will only tell. Other assignments? Tests? What test?

“The Usual Suspects” is yet another smart movie. Interesting plot and one hell bunch of great actors. Again, I’ve already familiar with the “twist” –not to mention the unveiling of the secret. And yet the movie has accompanied me through my sleep this week. Great features, and a quite a handful too.

Is there enough time to just look at you, admiring you, and just being with you?
Is there enough time to just get to know more about you and letting you get to know me?
Is there enough time to just sit here and enjoying myself?
Is there enough time to just think of what I have done in the past 24 hour time?
Is there enough time to get to know myself?

And now I’m back at the start line. NOT in the same race as before, but in other, tougher race. They say “never look back”, but I am what I am, and the past formed me into myself, but ahead is where I should go.

Dreams, what are humans without dreams.

Yes, dreams are always high above the sky; they seem as gorgeous yet untouchable as the stars. But as the stars, they will always there to guide us, to show us that dreams do exist though sometimes black clouds got in the way. And like the stars, dreams are waiting, and it is really up to us if we ever try to catch them and walked out this life as a winner.

The road may [always] seem impossible, but one step at a time, if you really do it, you will eventually come a little closer and who knows: you might can just reach out your hand and grab your very own star.

Pick a star, and go for it.

“October Sky”, based on true story, taught me what I just wrote. We are made of our dreams, we can take them for granted or we can start climbing.

I can’t say what I’m feeling, but deep inside…
I still can’t say,
Please don’t run away my star…