Meanwhile

On Disruptive Wonder

Danu Widatama — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:18:02 GMT

The world is full of order that doesn’t necessarily deserve our respect. Sometimes there is meaning, justice, and logic present in the way things are—but sometimes there just isn’t. And I think the moment that we realize this is the moment we become creative people. Because it prompts us to mess things up and do something better with the basic pieces of experience.

Kelli Anderson on Disruptive Wonder for a Change. Via Brain Pickings

On Doing Nothing

Danu Widatama — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:15:38 GMT

Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.

Winnie–the–Pooh by Alan Alexander Milne

Notes on Rain

Danu Widatama — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:15:18 GMT

On the first rains after a long dry period, rocks and soil emit a certain oily essence. This oily essence came from vegetation during dry periods. They are adsorbed by the surface of rocks and soil particles and released into the air on first raindrops. When released They disperse a certain pleasant smell into the air. This certain smell is considered as one of the greatest scent on earth. It is called petrichor, the essence of rocks.
My desk at work is in front of a big window on the 13^th floor. When it rains, I can always see the raindrops hitting the glass, sliding, racing to the bottom. It looks as if those million raindrops are bestowing life upon the plain boring glass.
On rainy nights almost every surface turn into some big fuzzy mirror. These surfaces reflect lights from everywhere. Red from vehicles, green traffic lights and orange street lights. It is already kinda fun seeing those lights on busy streets. How they move, how they goes on and off, how they pass through windows, how they are reflected. With rain, the fun is doubled.
Playing around under the rain is always fun. Running around, dancing, splashing puddle to puddle or simply standing, feeling every raindrops to the skin. I remember doing this often a long time ago, but now almost never. Doing it alone now would feel weird, and with friends, definitely out of the question. Maybe I’ll go do it with my kids sometime in the future.
At the end of the rain there could be rainbow or twilight or the sky that clears up (bonus points for night sky with full moon and stars). They don’t always show up. But they serve to remind everyone that no matter how violent rains could be they never last forever, and from them, something magnificent could always emerge.

On Whatever You Might Do

Danu Widatama — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:01:17 GMT

Smile—Like you’ve got nothing to prove—No matter what you might do—There’s always someone out there cooler than you…

There’s always someone cooler than you by Ben Folds

Yogyakarta, January 2012

Danu Widatama — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:00:30 GMT

Pictures from a trip to Jogja.

On Dreamers and Realists

Danu Widatama — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:17:20 GMT

There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You’d think the dreamers would find the dreamers and the realists would find the realists, but more often than not, the opposite is true.

You see, the dreamers need the realists to keep them from soaring too close to the sun. And the realists… Well, without the dreamers, they might not ever get off
the ground.

Modern Family (a very awesome serial), season 3 episode 9

UI Central Library, January 2012

Danu Widatama — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:34:27 GMT

Pictures from University of Indonesia Central Library with fourteen millimeters of fun.

On Creative Work

Danu Widatama — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:53:44 GMT

What nobody tells people who are beginners—and I really wish someone had told this to me… is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish
one story.

It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

Ira Glass on Storytelling

On The Best Worship

Danu Widatama — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:10:51 GMT

There are people who worship Allah out of desire (for reward), and this is the worship of traders, and there are people who worship Allah out of fear (of punishment), and this is the worship of slaves. Whereas certain people worship Allah out of gratitude, and this is the worship of the free,
and this is the best of worship.

Imam Hussein ibn Ali

Smaller Things

Danu Widatama — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:12:53 GMT

Earlier this day I was having lunch together with my friends. I was the first one to arrive at the place, a mall to be exact, but the restaurant was not open yet so I had to wait for everyone somewhere. Now this is the trouble with this kind of places, they lack public spaces. Spaces where people could just sit and gather around without having to use any kinds of services or buy anything, without having to feel inconvenient about other people going around them. Usually I would just go to a bookstore and just lounge around but unfortunately there were none. I noticed there were many tables and seats with umbrellas outdoor too but it was raining and all was wet. So as a last resort I decided to get inside a mini market hoping that doing a little shopping would kill some time.

I ended up just buying some snack and bubble gums and since the front cashier was empty I had to get to the inner cashier. It turned out that the cashier was inside a dining hall. It was a nice dining hall, the kitchen behind the cashier, the tables on the front and the atmosphere was quite inviting. The choice food was not much but enough for a bite and the price was not too high as well. I brought a book with me so I ordered some french fries, took a seat beside the window and then I read my book while enjoying the french fries.

As I sat there reading (and occasionally observing the world outside), I could not help but notice that the setting was perfect (an addition of hot beverage would be good too but I brought my own drink and for the sake of brevity I shall not discuss this here). Warm french fries on the plate and the cold rain outside. A good book in front of me and a window to the world beside me. It all felt like I was inside a movie and it was actually an enjoyable way to spend my time waiting for the others plus the french fries was not so bad either. My friends came a little bit later and I am skipping the lunch part here, again for the sake of brevity.

On my way home I thought it would be nice if there are many more places like that, not just inside of malls but everywhere around the city (yes I know that convenience store chain which is very similar to this and is currently popular among teens, but that doesn’t count, sorry). Rather than building big grand things like lavish malls, luxurious restaurants, overpriced coffee shops and the likes, smaller places would be better, some nice simple place where people can gather or just stay for a while. It doesn’t have to be a public space nor does it have to be very very cheap. What’s important is that it is affordable for most everyone. I am not saying that those big things are unnecessary but I think people don’t always go for big things. Sometimes they need smaller things in between to occupy themselves, to prepare, to wait for bigger things or just to sit around and enjoy the simplest pleasures that life could offer.