wiradikusuma

Happy New Year 2012!

2012-01-01T10:52:00.000+07:00

Can't believe it's 2012 and we're still breathing, LOL! Anyway just in case some big meteor hit earth in next minute... this is my first post in 2012!

Neytap released!

2011-11-20T20:11:00.000+07:00

I've been spending my free time developing a website to facilitate room rentals. The website is an attempt to scratch my own itch. Today, nine months after I registered the domain, I'm releasing Neytap to general public.

Neytap is a classifieds for room rentals inside Facebook. It's simple, because I lack design skills. It's fast, because my internet is crappy. And it's easy, because I'm too lazy to explain how it works :)

For the curious, the word neytap originates from an Indonesian word "menetap", which means "to stay" or "to settle".

me·ne·tap v bertempat tinggal tetap (di); bermukim di: banyak orang asing ~ di kota dagang itu; ada yg pulang ke kampung halamannya, ada pula yg ~ di kota-kota; — Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia

"menetap" is a mouthful word so I trimmed it to "netap". To make the pronunciation similar for Indonesian-speaking and English-speaking tongues, I added "y" in the middle.

"If you are not embarrassed by your first release, you've launched too late" — Reid Hoffman, Founder of LinkedIn.

I'm embrarred indeed. The website is so simple, too simple in fact. There are some features that I decide to exclude from this release, including multi-language support and a mobile version, mainly because they're still crappy.

This is the first public release of Neytap, but certainly not the last. I'm going to update the website iteratively. Meanwhile, please take a look at Neytap and tell me what you think!

If it isn't for the pretty date (20-11-2011—Indonesian format), I would certainly delay the release. But then again, "waiting for the perfect time" is just an excuse and it may never come. Soli Deo gloria.

Would convertible debt burden me?

2011-10-07T16:29:00.002+07:00

As I've written before, I'm currently working on two side projects in my free time. This post is an update about their progress.

For the one I'm doing with a co-founder, it's pretty much stalled. It requires significant capital investment and some brick-and-mortar business networking thus we can't start from zero. My co-founder has pitched to some VCs all out, but apparently the conventional wisdom is true: you can't really get investors just by selling idea. At least not when you're nobody.

For the other one, a classifieds for room rentals (the idea is much bigger than that, but I must start from something small), it's been going slow. I thought of speeding it up; quit my full-time job and give the project all the love. That's why I was thinking of raising MYR 75k (USD ~23.7k or IDR ~210m) in convertible debt to fund the project for at least 6 months.

I cold emailed some people (only two, actually. A CEO in a company I worked for and an acquaintance I met in airport), asking whether they know anyone interested to angel invest in my project.

The latter forwarded my email to her business partner who then asked for a pitch. To my surprise, he showed deep interest on our first meeting, and immediately showed intent to invest after reading my financial projection (which I think quite conservative on number).

In case you're curious, here's my proposed term:

8% interest p/a
25% discount
with cap
maturity at 1 year

I think it's pretty much standard. But then the guy said that he "doesn't like the idea of giving loan" because he "doesn't want to burden me". He wanted some shares instead. This is his offer (more or less):

Start the company in Malaysia so we can get government grants and stuff, but it must be majority owned by local, so he proposed...
60% for himself (being a Malaysian). And because his business partner (my friend) introduced us, so...
She'll get 20%.
Maybe he doesn't really trust me, so the money will be dispensed monthly, and...
I must get his permission for any expenses.

To summarize, the company would get USD 23.7k spread over 6 months period, I would get 20% share and less than half my current salary, and I must report everything. I've never dealt with any investor before, but I don't feel right.

My friend jokingly said the money I need is around the price a car, might as well I borrow it from bank and keep 100% share for myself.

I emailed the investor politely rejecting his offer. Here's a snippet of the letter:

You've been very gracious with your time and I'm thankful for that. After careful consideration, however, I have decided not to take your current offer. I have asked around and did some research, convertible debt is still the term I want.

There's a great article on the benefits of convertible debt, http://venturehacks.com/articles/debt-benefits, where the two main points (for me) are Suitability (point 2) and Control (point 3). It is also investor-friendly when complemented with discount and cap.

I guess I'll keep doing this as a side project until I can stand on my own or found more sensible investment.

Validating your idea

2011-07-18T11:25:00.005+07:00

Last week a guy added me in Facebook because he said we have similar interest in startup and found my blog (the one you're reading now) quite amusing.

I usually only approve cute chicks and people I know—because in my experience random guys who added me happen to be gay and they thought I am too (I am NOT). Since he introduced himself (and his intent), I'm more than happy to approve his friend request. He happen to be a smart person, and has a female wife :)

We exchanged messages, and I thought one of my replies worth to post in blog, so I asked his permission and he agreed, so here it goes:

Hi bro, thanks for your length reply. I think you should stop reading and start jumping to action. In startup, first-hand experience is much more useful.

The simplest is to create a landing page to validate your idea. If it doesn't get satisfactory traction (i.e. low signups), either the idea sucks or the landing page needs refining.

It might hurt to know the truth (since your idea is most likely your ambition), but it will save you the time from building product nobody wants and you can move on to another idea.

A couple days ago I read Ash Maurya's Running Lean which mentioned Eric Ries' Lean Startup. I didn't finish the reading, but it made me realize that I've been taking the wrong approach.

I've been spending too long developing the product and also sidetracked by "research", but nothing towards validating my idea early. I'm afraid that when my product has complete, it doesn't get the traction I expected, and I will feel demotivated. I've been in this situation.

But there's a lie within landing page approach: Sometimes the traction doesn't translate to actual product usage. It might be because the product is "less interesting" than what you promise in the landing page, or the product launched too late (the guy who subscribed already forget who you are and what you do), or any other reasons. Just be prepared with this.

So, to answer your question on how am I doing with my journey, now I'm doing "temporary pivot". I'm focusing on building a landing page.

My co-founder is currently in Jakarta for his first baby born and also to pitch to some VC. My project with him requires significant capital and network investment, so it's essential to raise some money (and make friends).

As for my other project, Neytap, now I'm thinking on how to solve the chicken-and-egg problem. As you know it's a classifieds for room rentals, a marketplace of buyers (tenants) and sellers (landlords). I need to figure out how to grow both sides in balance. Do you have suggestion?

Anyway, regarding US as your target market, I think you're right, aim the ones you're most familiar with. But isn't US already saturated?

I'm so happy to meet like-minded people :)

How much should you pay developers?

2011-07-16T12:24:00.005+07:00

Two days ago I started a discussion in StartUpLokal group, "How much should you pay developers?" Basically I shared a link I found regarding compensation plan in StackOverflow.

Teddie followed up with an interesting question (copied as-is), "As a Founder..how much U willing to Pay Your Programmer (honestly)?" Wenas Agusetiawan replied, "rockstars deserve to be paid well," but Teddie didn't seem satisfied with the answer thus asked again, "how much?"

My answer is: "It depends." Let me elaborate.

I'm a programmer myself. If I were to outsource/delegate programming tasks for any of my startups, it must be because (1) I'm not good enough to do it myself, or (2) The tasks so boring I'd rather do something else, like sleeping.

So, how much?

If I were to pay the programmer for the first reason then I must award him well. He's smarter than me, he deserves at least same salary I'd get if I were to do it myself. If for the second reason, I'll base on industry standard, or, "How much I'm willing to be paid if I don't have better option." (Which is logical—if you're the programmer, would you take the boring/repetitive job if you have better option?)

Of course, being a startup founder, you must squeeze expenses as much as you can. So for the first case, I'll negotiate with him but focus on retainment (I don't want to lose him). For the second case, I'll focus on minimizing expenses (I don't want to lose too much money).

Note: Change "him" to "her" for your convenience.

Birds of the same feather flock together

2011-07-12T23:38:00.004+07:00

You are who you surround yourself with. You tend to be more productive when you hang out with like-minded people.

I usually work solo on my personal projects, and it's damn tiring (on the plus side, I can do whatever I want, haha). I do have a partner in one of my startups, but since my internet is crappy and my co-founder lives in a different continent, communication is hard.

So it was a very refreshing experience when last month I attended Google Hackathon App Engine. It was a very productive weekend indeed.

From Wikipedia: A hackathon is an event when programmers meet to do collaborative computer programming. These events are typically between several days and a week in length. A hackathon refers not simply to one time hacks, but to a specific time when many people come together to hack on what they want to, how they want to - with little to no restrictions on direction or goal of the programming. Translation: party for geeks.

I didn't manage to launch anything there, but I made significant progress; made some friends too. Looking forward for another similar events. So guys, if you have the chance to attend such event, don't miss it :)

On using new technology and setting up infrastructure

2011-07-10T13:27:00.002+07:00

It's very hard to build a startup; it's even harder to build two at the same time, especially since I have a full time job. For the past few months, most of my free time were spent on coding. Let me share some progress.

My first project is Neytap, a classifieds for room rentals—which in Bahasa Indonesia is called kos (correct term is indekos, although sometimes people write it as kost or kos-kosan). I'm aware that there are some similar websites already, but competition is always good :) It has just reached version Private Alpha and right now is under development for Private Beta.

My second project is a location-based service. I can't tell you much about it since it needs to be in stealth until certain stage of development. I can only say that, for this project, I have a co-founder.

On using new technology

Both projects use JVM-based languages: Java, Groovy and Scala. I'm currently learning Scala, so I try to use it as much as possible. Groovy is used for scripting (like one-time off code) and Java when I'm stuck with Scala :D

There's an important lesson that I want to share with technical founders who, like me, like to tinker with new technology: Building startups with technology you're not familiar with is a bad idea.

I'm not talking about quality (since you're not familiar, you might develop sub par solution), but it's all about time allocation. The point is, every time you want to use some fancy stuff in your project, ask yourself, "How much the distraction from achieving my target (delivering project)? Will it add significant value (i.e. "worth the time")?"

I spent a significant time learning new stuff instead of working on actual product for these two projects. Knowledge-wise, it's not a waste. Goal-wise, it is. I decided to fallback to technologies I'm familiar with, and adding just a bit new stuff that I'm sure will improve my productivity.

Infrastructure setup

You can code immediately without any documentation (URS, Diagrams, etc), which is exactly what I did. But at some point you will realize that you need some order. You need at least an issue tracker.

Important lesson: Use what you're familiar with and don't spend too much time setting it up. I'm familiar with Trac, Redmine and JIRA, but all of them are not trivial to setup for me (YMMV). I end up using YouTrack. It's free for 10 users, no installation. Just download the JAR file and run from command line: java -jar youtrack-3.0.jar 9999. This assume you have Java runtime installed,

The next thing in mind is a version control system (VCS). You must use VCS. Use the one you're most familiar with (if you're familiar with none, then stop coding and learn one, Git is good).

Important lesson: If you don't like to wait, make sure your infrastructure is fast. Get a good computer with enough CPU and RAM. If you work alone, setup issue tracker and VCS in your workstation (localhost). If working with team, use the fastest server-based solution. I use Unfuddle for Git and installed YouTrack in an EC2 located in Singapore. If submitting an issue or comitting code take too long, you'll be tempted to open Hacker News and not working :D

In conclusion, remember not to spend too much in either "research" or setting up infrastructure. In the end, it's your code that matters.

Give it a name

2011-05-30T00:22:00.002+07:00

The first thing you need in building a startup is an idea. Some people think that idea is worthless, but for me it is equally important as the execution that follows it and the team behind it. It sets your target so that you know where to focus. But don't fall in love with your idea, it can evolve and even change radically. You just need it to get started.

After having an idea, the next thing to come up with is a name. Having a name upfront is not required (you can use random name, e.g. "myproject", and change it later), but it simplifies a lot of things.

Name is important for:

Presence: domain name, Twitter handle, etc. We'll get into this in a moment.
Development artifacts: project directory, namespace (e.g., in Java, "com.myproject"), Redmine project, Basecamp account, etc.

Online presence that you need to secure

Domain name

Buy a domain from Google Apps, it's easier. You will get GMail-backed @myproject.com without setting up anything.

Handle in your target deployment

For example, if you use Google App Engine, you might want to secure myproject.appspot.com. This is optional, as it will usually be masked by your domain name (e.g. myproject.com will be forwarded to myproject.appspot.com), but it's always nice to have some consistency.

Facebook Page

Facebook requires that you have at least 25 fans before eligible for a username (that is, a facebook.com/myproject). Ask your friends to Like your page to secure it.

Twitter handle

This is obvious.

Blog (e.g. myproject.blogspot.com)

Not necessary if you want to use your domain, e.g. blog.myproject.com.

Remember that choosing name is not urgent, but the sooner the better.

The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet

2011-05-29T00:25:00.001+07:00

As promised, I'm going to start blogging again. Here we go.

It's almost a year since my last post and I told you that lots of things have happened. Ironically, I don't know what to write. Maybe I'll start with how I feel these days.

I don't feel happy.

I'm working in a big multi-national company, which recently been acquired by a much bigger multi-national company. That's good. But on the other end, I just feel like a drop of water in the sea. I miss being my own architect, developing things I like, using any tool or framework I want.

That's one.

The other thing, I always want to have my own business. Not the grand thing like the next Microsoft or Google (although that would be nice). I just want to have a simple small business, like a restaurant or massage parlor (with hot chicks under my employment, yay!).

That's two.

The last thing, right now the world is having "startup fever". This trend is also happening in Indonesia. Now everyone with their uncle want build a startup, get investment, get acquired and exit with a load of money. Everything with "getting more money" is always good for me, and I hate just sitting here watching other people partying.

That's three.

Because I miss architecting and hacking stuff, and I want to have my own business, and I want to join the startup wave, today I'm announcing that I'm opening a restaurant.

Oh, wait. You know I can't be serious. I barely know how to cook.

Actually, I'm in a very early stage of building a startup. Well, two, actually. What? Why? Shouldn't I suppose to focus on one first until it's launched?

It goes like this. I was starting on an idea, a website which suppose to help me scratch my own itch (that is, solving my own problem, and hopefully others'). But then a couple of weeks later a friend of mine asked me to become his co-founder. I told him that I'm currently working on something else, but he didn't mind at all, so there comes my 2nd startup. Both are not related to each other.

Will I quit my job now, lock myself for months and start hacking? Not quite. The stuff I'll be doing are totally not related with my company's line of business (so no conflict of interest), and I don't set deadline for the projects, so it'll just to "kill time" and won't affect my day job. Of course this might change.

From now on, I'm going to blog primarily about my experience in building that two startups (one where I'm solo and another where I have a co-founder). I hope by doing this, I can keep motivating myself (and, oh, make myself happy!) and help others who want to build their own startup.

Note: Some of you might be curious about this blog title, "Isn't that supposedly "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"? According to http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/24004.html, the more correct translation from the original Chinese would be the one I put in the title. Rather than emphasizing the first step, Lau Tzu regarded action as something that arises naturally from stillness. Another potential phrasing would be "Even the longest journey must begin where you stand." In other words, you must get your ass off your comfort zone.

I'm still alive

2011-05-22T22:29:00.001+07:00

Hi guys, just to let you know that I'm still alive. Lots of things have changed since my last post. I promise I'm going to blog more often. Stay tuned :)

Being better, necessary?

2010-10-09T22:29:00.002+07:00

Nobody is perfect. Everyone have their own weaknesses: pasts, habits, limitations. It's not to say that you don't need to do anything about that—that would be a lame excuse. Everyone have to make themselves better.

But sometimes you cant change some of your weaknesses. No matter how hard you try.

In relationship, this is the Stop/Go factor. If your partner's OK with you and all of your "remaining" weaknesses, then it's a Go. This is what being "compatible" is.

Otherwise, it's a Stop and Bye. And there's nothing wrong with that. If everyone always accept their partner's weaknesses, there would be no break-up in this world, and first boy/girlfriend will always be your only boy/girlfriend (and consecutively, your forever husband/wife).

So, knowing that shit happens, should you make yourself better? Of course. It's for your own good.

How some men treat women

2010-09-29T13:21:00.002+07:00

Contrary to popular belief, men do think using their logic when it comes to relationship. Some men, including me, divide women they want to be "in relationship with" (I use this term loosely) into essentially two groups: for-fun and serious (sometimes even wife material). "Serious" doesn't mean there're no fun in it. It just means he's willing to go further.

Some men take positive-negative approach (have hope with the relationship, but will fallback to for-fun if it doesn't work, or simply dump her) or negative-positive approach (never intend to be serious, but might change over time). The important thing is: they can change their mind. I'll get back to this later.

The fun/serious division is sometimes not obvious. After all, a man can do anything to get what he wants, including pretending to be committed. You can not see his seriousness from his acceptance ("I'm OK if you're fat/divorced/minority"). Those who serious will accept you as you are. Those who just want you for sex simply don't care.

Instead, observe his devotion to you. A man who wants to be serious with you will invest in you, because he knows you're worth it. The more valuable his devotion, the more serious he's likely to be. The most valuable thing is not his money, he can get that more. It's his dedication: his thought, energy and time.

BTW, this hint does not apply to guys whose thought/energy/time redirection yield no difference (i.e. using his time to work or sleep or dedicating it to you makes no difference, probably because his time is worthless). If the man's time is so precious for him yet he spend it for you, then it must be something.

Let me give you an example. Assume I'm in relationship with a woman. She gives me everything I want and she's physically hot, but she's addicted to drug. And just assume that I have issue with her addiction, probably because I know drug is not good for her health and I don't want her to waste her life. If I put her as for-fun, I wouldn't need to worry about that. As a matter of fact, it is stupid for me if I force her to quit: she'll be upset and hate me, I'll loose the fun she gave me (e.g. sex). Simply no benefit for me.

But if I'm serious with her, I will that that risk. I will ask her to quit, with the risk of her hurting me in the process. I know I might loose the short-term fun she give, but I know it's worth it because I still want to see her alive and healthy in next 20 years.

If I'm even more serious with her, instead of telling her to quit and leave her fight the trouble alone. I will help her with research (on how to effectively remove the addiction), accompany her to care center, support her and be with her.

But no matter how hard I try, I can never change her mind. If she's so stubborn, there are only two options left: leave her or accept her the way she has become. For me? I will leave her. What's the point of loving somebody who doesn't love her own body?

The case for Indonesia

2010-07-28T10:25:00.001+07:00

My mom always wants me to go back and work in Jakarta. I can understand her situation. After my dad passed away, she's now alone. I'm working in Malaysia, my sister's studying in China, and while my other sister's staying with mom, she's working in shift as a nurse.

Going back is easy, but finding job that's "good fit" for me is not. I'm up in the level where it's too expensive for companies in Indonesia to employ me in my current position (Software Engineer a.k.a Techie Guy). It's not that they can't offer me high salary, but it's reserved for managerial positions. Since I'm already specialized, I might not be a good manager (and the horror of administrative tasks, oh no!).

There is another reason why I don't want to go back: the "everything else" is not getting any better—it's even worse. When I traveled from my place to a friend's, the traffic sucked. Even sucked more when it's raining. The once-adored Busway now looks slummy. Once-respected BlueBird taxis screwed me twice!

When I read the paper, it's always about corruption and disasters. When I turned on the television, the only things playing were Take Me Out (and its variations) and infotainment shows. Everything broadcasted on paper and on air were all hyped and negative. To be fair, news in Malaysia could be worse, but I don't follow them.

I love my country. My family live there. Most of my friends are there (or "stuck" there, as some of them told me). The natural attractions are beautiful and the ladies are friendlier :) I even plan to spend this year to travel around Indonesia even though my friends told me, "Why travel there if you can go somewhere else?" But the condition is hostile for my career and my sanity.

I may go back and spend a couple of months when my contract ends. But that's because of the important things I mentioned above (family and stuff). I don't plan to pursue my career there—except maybe when I start my own business (a restaurant?).

Another interesting week

2010-07-23T13:30:00.000+07:00

I'm getting lame at making blog titles. Anyway, here's a quick round up of this week. I'll obliviously think I'm a celebrity to justify the importance of this post. Readers be warned.

I was assigned the role of Toastmaster of the Evening (TME) for last Wednesday's Toastmasters meeting. It's like being Master of Ceremony (MC). I had attended meetings for dozen of times, but I'm so ignorant that I couldn't remember how the previous TMEs did their job. So I contacted Penny Chin, a fellow member, to help me prepare. She's so great at explaining it, but I was so shallow (and yes, ignorant) that during D-day I performed awfully. At least everybody laughed.

In the meeting there were some guests, all new faces, mostly cute chicks including a French girl who works as translator and has traveled all over Asia <-- if this information is not accurate then I definitely not paying attention to her talk. But the guest that interested me most was a guy named Khairul. No, I'm not gay.

Shameless plug: The club I'm a member of is quite international. We have members from Indonesia (me), Russia, Myanmar, Taiwan and Pakistan (and of course, Malaysia). If you're in Kuala Lumpur and want to sharpen your communication/leadership skill the fun way, feel free to come. Guests are most welcome, and it's free.

Back to Khairul. He's a quiet guy most of the time during the meeting. But just now I checked his website (he gave his name card), and wow I'm amazed. I never thought there is any Web 2.0 guy in Malaysia. Skimming at his blog, I can see he's passionate with Web technology. Cool. And he's the one who brought the French girl to our meeting. Even cooler.

The thing is, I'm a really Web 2.0 geek, developer type. That's why I'm enthusiastic when encountering geeks-alike. I don't just use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare, and numerous others, but I also longing to develop something like those. I'm currently developing a super-awesome-caffeine-induced social thingy in my secret underground lair. I'll keep you updated on that.

Apparently one French a day was not enough. After the meeting, Penny said she wanted to pick up this French guy who supposed to stay at her house. She joined a website where people can host foreigners. I thought the idea was dangerous and crazy. We followed Penny to a nice Mamak nearby KLCC and met the guy. He's nice and polite. Maybe the idea wasn't that crazy.

The day after I went to watch movie in KLCC with Penny and the gang, including the French guy whom I can't remember his name (it's French). I had some interesting conversations with him. He said he was from Australia where he worked there for some months using Working Holiday Visa.

He also shared his experience when he first arrived in Bali. He told me that some guys were "very friendly" to pickup his bags for him, but then they escorted him to money changer to claim their fee. He also thought the taxi driver took him around to increase the meter. Classic.

That's the problem in Bali (but I guess in many tourism places as well), some people are just like to take advantage of clueless tourists. I told him that I experienced the same even though I'm *Indonesian*. Either they're preposterous or I was really stupid (I think both). Next time when you plan to travel, better do your homework before you get there. Ask Google.

Interesting two weeks

2010-07-15T14:43:00.001+07:00

Here's a story: A Singaporean girl asked an Indonesian guy for a place to stay in KL. The guy recommended his property agent, a Malaysian, to help her find a room. She moved to the designated house where two guys were currently staying.

One of the guy, an Iranian, had interest in her but apparently didn't know how to make a proper move. Feeling intimidated and harassed, the girl told her Dutch boyfriend about it. The unhappy boyfriend came with his British friend and gave the Iranian a lesson—with a baseball stick. The other guy who lived in the house, a Burmese, came to tell me the story. Now that's what I call "international incident".

The past two weeks have been interesting. Apart from that movie-like incident, lots of stuff have kept me busy. I had to prepare my 2nd assignment speech in Toastmasters, and came out with a nice topic: How to get girls. I was awarded Best Assignment Speaker (got edible souvenir, nice), but the girls in the club now look at me meticulously as if I a playboy. Annoying, but worth the souvenir.

I also bought a Sennheiser, model HD 280 Pro. For RM580, the headphone performs well, but not over my expectation. It's a bit weak on the bass (e.g. not "punchy"), but superior on percussions.

And then I went to Butterworth with my colleague, assisting him installing software in client site. It was a four-day trip, and we went to Penang in Sunday. Took some pictures which you can see in my Facebook. If you can't see it, just go to deviantArt for a higher resolution version. Here's a sample:

A day after returning to KL, I went to DBKL with some fellow Toastmasters to watch Yamato Drum Concert. The concert was a wow, you can watch some of their performances in YouTube. After the show they took me to SkyBar in Traders Hotel. Finally! I was longing to go there since before New Year 2010 because my friend told me they have a good view of the Twin Tower KLCC. Indeed they have:

And tonight I'll fly to Jakarta.

Accident in front of my eyes

2010-07-09T00:37:00.000+07:00

I always believe I'm here in this world to serve a greater purpose. I try very hard to absorb knowledge as much as I can, especially in the field of (information) technology and human interest, because I believe I can make a difference to this world with technology. I believe I must be a better man to better help others. But maybe I think too far.

Last weekend I was in Jakarta doing my regular social visit. While crossing a busy street at the heart of the city, I saw—in front of my eyes—an accident happening. A car nudged a motorbike, causing the biker to loose control and fell.

Like a computer, my brain thought fast crunching possibilities. What should I do? Should I help the biker first or stop the car? (In Jakarta, people tend to run away when they cause a traffic accident) How should I help the biker? Is it safe to raise him to the side of the road? With all those thoughts popping up, you expect that I came up with something brilliant right? But in fact, I just stood there staring blank until some guys showed up and started giving hands. I didn't know what to do!

We moved the biker aside, secured his bike, but the car escaped (I told you). Had I acted fast, the car would still be there for us to demand his responsibility. All of a sudden I shivered: What if this thing happened to someone I care so much, and no one else nearby but me, yet I know nothing about first aid!

The guy had a small injury, hopefully no broken bone. But after I left the scene, I felt regretful for not knowing what to do. I have a high IQ and high dreams, but I acted stupid and did nothing. I feel ashamed for that.

Toastmasters dan 7 Habits

2010-06-17T13:32:00.002+07:00

Pernah dengar Toastmasters? Toastmasters adalah social club untuk pengembangan kemampuan komunikasi dan kepemimpinan. Udah beberapa bulan ini gw bergabung disitu.

Awalnya gw sempat skeptis waktu diajak, "Ujung-ujungnya disuruh jualan nih." Apalagi yang mengajak cewek yang gw kenal di Internet, dan dia kerja di MLM :D

Waktu kuliah gw pernah dibohongi teman (if it's you who're reading this, yes you sucked) untuk ikut "seminar mengenai jaringan" saat mata kuliah Jaringan Komputer. Kecurigaan gw muncul begitu melihat nenek-nenek di dalam ruangan, "Lho dia tertarik TCP/UDP juga?" Ternyata seminar MLM.

Kembali ke Toastmasters. Disitu gw belajar banyak soal communication and presentation skills, gw juga mengenal banyak teman baru. Biasanya setiap pertemuan selalu ada tamu (non-member), dan kemarin teman gw mengundang seseorang dari Covey Leadership Center.

Begitu tau dia dari Covey, gw langsung bersemangat. Gw langsung nyerocos bilang kalau buku 7 Habits sungguh mengubah hidup gw. Gw cerita bahwa gw dulu suka malas-malasan, main game terus dan hidup gw ga jelas. Setelah membaca 7 Habits, gw mulai berubah menjadi seperti sekarang—tetap suka malas-malasan dan main game, tapi lebih baik :D

Anyway, kalau kalian ada waktu, coba deh lihat-lihat website Toastmasters, datang ke pertemuan mereka (tamu gratis kok). Mereka punya cabang di 106 negara termasuk Indonesia. Cek juga buku 7 Habits kalau kalian belum pernah baca, itu buku lama tapi worth to read. Cheers! :)

Gantungkanlah cita-citamu setinggi dinding

2010-05-30T00:06:00.001+07:00

Ada yang bilang, "Gantungkanlah cita-citamu setinggi langit." Masalahnya adalah, selain secara praktek agak mustahil, menaruhnya terlalu tinggi akan membuat gw sulit melihatnya.

Sebagai suatu objective statement, kita harus menaruh cita-cita di depan mata agar senantiasa terlihat. So you know where you're supposedly heading. Itu sebabnya gw menulis keinginan-kenginan gw di kertas lalu menempelkannya di dinding, tepat di depan mata.

Gw memasang foto di atas bukan untuk pamer, bukan juga untuk bercanda. Beberapa sangat masuk akal ("Buy drybox"), beberapa ga berhubungan dengan profesi gw ("Learn Salsa"). Beberapa bahkan terlihat menggelikan, tapi ga ada salahnya menginginkan Jaguar kan?

Ga semua cita-cita gw tercantum disitu. Bukan karena ga penting, tapi karena capek menulisnya :D Nanti, seiring berjalannya waktu, gw akan menambah/mengurangi kertas disitu. Dari semua yang tertulis, yang paling mudah dipenuhi adalah semua yang berawalan "Buy..." karena fulfillment factor-nya hanya satu: uang. Yang tersulit adalah objektif yang berkelanjutan, misalnya makan sayur.

Apakah gw ingin semuanya terwujud? Tentu. Apakah gw akan kecewa kalau ada yang ga terwujud? Tentu. Apakah gw akan berhenti melakukan hal ini kalau sebagian besar ga terwujud? Tentu tidak.

Ga selalu semua tujuan kita harus tercapai, tapi menjalani hidup tanpa tujuan sama dengan menembak tanpa target. Bagaimana bisa tau kita semakin baik/buruk kalau ga ada tolak ukurnya?

Catatan: Fotonya bisa diklik untuk menampilkan ukuran sebenarnya. Sebagian kata-kata di foto sengaja gw buat kabur karena private and confidential :)

Update About Me (ga penting)

2010-03-23T23:14:00.000+07:00

I’m still at my office. This is just a quick note while I’m waiting for my GWT-based web app to finish compile.

Belakangan ini gw sering ke macrumors.com, soalnya gw ingin beli MacBook Pro. MacBook gw yang sekarang udah ga kuat lagi menemani gw menjalani hidup yang keras ini (hayah). MacRumors menyediakan Buyer’s Guide untuk membantu kita kapan sebaiknya membeli produk Apple. Gw ingat waktu beli iPod Nano untuk adek gw, sebulan kemudian muncul yang baru :( Coba dulu gw tau MacRumors.

Seminggu yang lalu gw demam dan ga masuk kerja. Seharian terkapar di kamar. Paginya (di hari gw ga masuk) gw ke klinik dekat rumah untuk periksa ke dokter dan dapetin surat ijin. Baru kerasa sedihnya tinggal sendiri. Untung tukang masak di kantin apartemen gw orang Indonesia dan berbaik hati nganterin gw ke klinik.

Weekend kemarin gw pulang ke Bekasi. Gw puas-puasin menghabiskan waktu bareng Mama dan adek gw. Tadinya ingin ke Dusit Mangga Dua untuk beli LCD untuk Mama dan Gemini untuk adek gw, tapi waktunya ga memungkinkan. Akhirnya kita ke Cyber Park. Harga Gemini cenderung sama dengan di kota, tapi LCD beda setengah juta, akhirnya gw hanya beli Gemini.

Gw juga kayaknya butuh LCD 24” untuk disini. Cinema Display is a bit out of my range, jadi gw ingin beli yang lain. Cinema Display mahal karena pakai teknologi IPS, gw keliatannya akan cari Dell U2410 yang juga pakai IPS. Daftar lengkapnya ada disini.

Makanan di Malaysia, terutama Kuala Lumpur

2010-03-11T09:51:00.000+07:00

Ini kedengarannya konyol, tapi setelah gw berkeluh-kesah di blog soal kepergian Papa, gw sekarang lebih plong. Anyway, back to my life.

Kalian mungkin tau, gw sekarang jadi kuli di negeri jiran. Sebelum kesini, gw sempat googling tentang Malaysia dan Kuala Lumpur, khususnya soal biaya hidup dan standar gaji (penasaran apakah penawaran mereka under atau good enough, hoho). Sekarang gantian gw yang sharing, tapi dari sisi lain.

Disclaimer: Gw disini baru tiga bulan. Karena ga ada teman hangout, gw lebih sering menghabiskan waktu senggang di rumah. Oh, kecuali disebutkan lain, gw hanya berbicara seputar Kuala Lumpur.

Ada tiga ras utama di Malaysia: Melayu, Cina dan India. Ada juga ras lain seperti Iban, tapi mereka minoritas. Malaysia merupakan negara favorit untuk menimba ilmu bagi orang-orang timur tengah, terutama Iran. Orang Eropa juga banyak terlihat terutama di pusat kota (bayangkan jalan Legian di Bali atau Kemang di Jakarta).

Soal makanan.

Karena multi-nasional, makanan disini sangat bervariasi.
Makanan disini cenderung “kurang rasa”, terutama jika dibandingkan dengan makanan Sumatera.
Mereka ga biasa menyediakan tissue dan botolan (sambal, kecap) di atas meja.
Kalau minta tissue kadang bayar (WTF???).
Mereka ga begitu suka pedas.
Sejauh ini, yang paling banyak variasinya adalah chinese food. Mereka menuliskan menunya ga pakai huruf latin, dan banyak pedagang yang bahasa Inggrisnya pas-pasan.
“Warung Padang” disini adalah rumah makan India (“nasi kandar”). “Warteg” disini adalah rumah makan “Mamak” (sebenarnya lebih mirip kafe sederhana ketimbang warteg).
Untuk warung Padang beneran biasanya di daerah yang banyak orang Indonesianya, misalnya Kampung Baru.
Pizza Hut disini ga enak. Pelayanannya payah, jauh dibandingkan di Indonesia.
McDonald disini juga ga enak, tapi sedikit lebih baik dari Pizza Hut. Mereka ga menjual nasi.
KFC disini hampir sama dengan di Indonesia (baik harga maupun rasa). Ga jual nasi juga.
Secara umum, sambal/cabe disini ga pedas, termasuk yang di fast food.
Di Indonesia, rumah makan yang ramai biasanya ada di dalam mall. Disini, orang-orang lebih memilih makan di restoran yang “kondisinya seadanya” (tanpa AC, bangkunya butut) tapi makannya enak. Di Indonesia kita melihat “nyaman”, disini melihat “enak” (meski makan keringetan).
Untuk sarapan, gw biasanya makan nasi lemak (anggaplah nasi uduk). Harganya rata-rata 2 RM (~Rp. 5.500). Kadang gw beli sandwich (2 RM juga), tapi nasi lemak lebih bikin kenyang.
Kalau pesan “teh”, akan dikasih teh+susu.
Kalau pesan “kopi”, akan dikasih kopi+susu.
Untungnya kalau pesan air putih, ga dicampur susu.
“Air putih” disebutnya “air kosong”.
Kalau mau pesan teh/kopi “doang”, bilangnya teh “O” atau kopi “O”.
Untuk sekali makan siang “orang kantoran” rata-rata 6 RM (~Rp. 16.500) dan kalau di mall rata-rata 12 RM (~Rp. 33.000).
Gw pernah sekali makan habis 25 RM, dan itu rasanya seperti mengeluarkan 25 ribu Rupiah (which of course, not true! 25 RM sekitar 69 ribu Rupiah). Biar ga boros, selalu ingat untuk “harga dikali tiga ribu”.
Malaysia adalah negara Islam, jadi makanan di mall, termasuk chinese food adalah halal, kecuali jelas-jelas tertulis “Non-Halal”.
Chinese food di luar mall kebanyakan ga halal. Hmm.. mungkin itu sebabnya teman-teman gw lebih prefer makan di luar mall.
“Mi” disini mungkin ada ratusan rasa.
Gw ga nemu Indomie disini, tapi kata teman Indonesia gw, seharusnya ada tapi rasanya beda (ga enak). Indomie asli dijual ilegal di beberapa tempat yang banyak orang Indonesianya.
Yang sering gw liat adalah mi Sedaap. Rasanya beda juga (ga enak).
Teh Botol Sosro sejauh ini hanya gw temui di rumah makan Tar di samping stasiun Chowkit. Udah beberapa minggu ini mereka ga ada stok.
Disini ga ada Hoka-Hoka Bento. Restoran Jepang disini rasanya “Jepang beneran” (ga tau juga sih, belum pernah ke Jepang, hehe). Pokoknya beda dengan Hokben yang rasanya “pop” banget (tapi gw suka, I’m so ordinary Indonesian).
Ikan asin keliatannya disini lebih dihargai, terutama di chinese food.
Nai goreng disini seperti nasi *digoreng sebentar banget* trus dikasih kecap *sedikit banget*. Dan mungkin ada ikan asinnya.
Di daerah kampus (bayangkan Depok), sekali makan bisa hanya bayar 3.2 RM (~Rp. 9.000). Nasi + daging + sayur.
Susu kedelai lumayan populer.
Minuman beralkohol paling populer adalah Carlsberg. Bisa dibilang itu “Bir Bintang”-nya Malaysia, soalnya banyak dijual di rumah makan pinggir jalan.

Secara umum, makanan disini sangat bervariasi tapi rasanya “nanggung” (kurang berani), dan harganya 1.5 - 2 kali lebih mahal dibanding di Jakarta. But of course, standar gaji disini 2-3 kali di Indonesia, so it’s not a big deal :)

Hello World (from MacJournal)

2010-03-10T10:24:00.000+07:00

If you can read this, it means I managed to publish blog from MacJournal. Hello World!
This is a new line.

This is written in italics. And this one is bold.

You should see my picture below:

Bye :)

Update: I used Picasa to upload the picture. I hope it works.

We don't live for ourselves

2010-03-07T23:02:00.003+07:00

Kalau kamu ada di Facebook gw atau di milis Java User Group Indonesia, kamu mungkin mengetahui sekarang papa gw udah kembali ke Surga. Dengan sangat jujur gw bilang, gw sungguh menyesal dengan kepergian Papa. Baru sekarang gw ada waktu dan kekuatan untuk menulis ini.

Postingan ini berisi uneg-uneg gw. Akan banyak kata-kata kasar disini. Stop here if you don't want to read it.

Gw tau semua orang pada akhirnya akan meninggal. Gw juga tau "waktu"-nya ga bisa ditentukan. YANG GW GA MAU TAU ADALAH KENAPA GW GA BISA BERBUAT APA-APA UNTUK MENUNDA PROSES ITU.

Papa gw ga kena kanker, ga kena penyakit yang belum ada obatnya, ga kena kecelakaan. Papa meninggal karena penyakit yang SEHARUSNYA BISA DIOBATI KALAU TERDETEKSI SEJAK AWAL. Dari penuturan murid Papa dan beberapa teman sepaguyubannya, Papa udah tau dia sakit, tapi ga mau ambil pusing. Besar kemungkinan Papa ga mau merepotkan keluarga.

Awalnya hati gw menyalahkan Papa, tapi gw pikir lagi, ITU GA AKAN TERJADI SEANDAINYA GW BECUS MENCARI UANG DAN BUKANNYA BERSANTAI RIA. Seandainya gw udah sukses dan punya banyak uang, Papa pasti ga sungkan untuk merepotkan gw.

Tapi alih-alih bekerja keras, GW TERLENA DENGAN KEMAMPUAN GW DAN SIBUK DENGAN DUNIA GW, berusaha mengejar idealisme entrepreneurship yang sampai sekarang pun ga keliatan hasilnya. Alih-alih mengejar karir di suatu perusahaan besar, gw hanya membual janji bullshit kepada keluarga gw tanpa sadar they need my money now, not few years later after I sell my hypothetical Web 2.0 Startup to Google.

I HATE MYSELF, MY ARROGANCE, MY F*CK*NG DREAM OF BEING SUCCESFUL LATER AT THE COST OF "bersusah-susah dahulu". I hate myself for not realizing that I don't work for my own welfare. Kalau aja di otak gw ada pikiran, "Hey tolol, lo jangan cepat puas, segini belum ada apa-apanya untuk keluarga lo," tentu gw ga akan kecolongan seperti ini.

OK, mungkin semua udah ditakdirkan. Papa udah tau soal bencana Haiti dan Chile, jauh sebelum mereka terjadi. Papa juga tau bencana-bencana lain yang akan datang. Papa mungkin juga tau soal kepergian dirinya, sehingga secara "kebetulan" meninggalkan kami tepat setelah semua anaknya lulus kuliah dan udah bekerja, dan tepat saat Imlek saat kami sekeluarga berada di Indonesia (salah satu adek gw kuliah di Cina sedangkan gw bekerja di Malaysia). Well, I don't give a sh*t about those supernatural things. Yang gw tau adalah gw bersalah karena gw udah lengah dan ceroboh. Gw sungguh menyesal.

Papa, maafin koko ya karena koko bukan anak yang baik. Papa ga usah kuatir soal Mama, biar anak-anak yang mengurus. Koko udah pesan tiket untuk tiap bulan pulang ke rumah. Koko akan jaga Mama dan adik-adik. Koko ga akan marah-marah ke Mama lagi. Koko akan perbaiki rumah seperti keinginan Papa. Koko janji akan sukses dan membuat Papa bangga.

Koko senang Papa sekarang udah di Surga. Papa ga usah kuatir soal rumah dan yang lain, sekarang koko yang akan mengurus semua. Koko janji.

Dinding mendengarmu, tapi...

2010-01-07T23:45:00.001+07:00

Kita bukan orang suci. Well, gw bukan orang suci. Sebagai makhluk ciptaan-Nya yang paling sempurna, manusia—dengan asumsi pikirannya sehat dan lingkungannya mendukung— secara alami selalu berusaha menjadi lebih baik lagi, lebih suci lagi. Tapi dalam proses menuju kesitu, we can and will make mistakes.

OK, anggaplah gw mengajak seseorang untuk nyolong rambutan. Awalnya dia ga mau, takut dosa dan sebagainya. Gw juga takut, tapi penasaran gw mengalahkan takut gw, dan gw mengajak dia karena membutuhkan partner. Akhirnya kita nyolong bareng, berdua dalam keadaan sadar. Namun setelah nyolong berkali-kali dan makan sampai kenyang, dia menyesal dan menuntut gw bertanggung jawab atas penyesalannya. Dia ingin gw mengembalikan rambutan-rambutan yang gw dan dia makan dan membuat dia "kembali ke yang dulu." Wow, tunggu dulu.

Such concept does not compute in my mind. Steven Covey dalam bukunya 7 Habits of Highly Effective People mengatakan bahwa kita bertanggung jawab atas hidup kita sendiri. Orang lain akan berusaha mempengaruhi kita, namun kendali terakhir ada pada diri kita sendiri.

Mengutip bukunya (gw agak lupa, kata-kata akan berbeda): Seorang mahasiswa berkata dia tidak bisa ikut kuliah saya karena terpaksa ikut latihan olahraga. Saya berkata, "Apakah kamu sedemikian tak berdayanya sehingga harus ikut latihan itu, atau kamu memutuskan karena berbagai pertimbangan?" Akhirnya dia berkata itu berdasarkan pertimbangannya, karena kalau tidak latihan posisinya sebagai anggota tim akan terancam. Dia berusaha melemparkan tanggung jawab kepada keadaan agar tidak saya salahkan.

Kembali ke nyolong rambutan, beberapa hari lalu gw diteror seseorang yang menuntut pertanggungjawaban gw untuk hal serupa. Begitu niatnya orang itu sampai mengikuti gw di Twitter, Facebook dan mungkin blog ini (hey, are you reading this?). Di Facebook dia sampai punya beberapa akun yang jadi teman gw (dalam istilah Kaskus, ini namanya "klonengan") khusus memantau status updates gw. Ga hanya meneror gw, dia bahkan meneror orang yang dekat dengan gw.

Bagaimana bersikap dengan orang seperti ini? Sikap pertama tentu bereaksi, dalam hal ini menunjukkan penyesalan dan pernyataan sikap untuk berusaha menjadi orang yang lebih baik lagi. Sikap kedua memberikan pengertian mengenai konsep "hey, kamu yang bertanggung jawab atas hidupmu sendiri".

Tapi beberapa orang sungguh bebal otaknya. Apa yang harus dilakukan? Nothing. Seperti kata Steven Covey juga, "Saya tidak bisa membuka kepala Anda dan mengubah susunan kabel disitu agar Anda bertindak sesuai yang saya kehendaki." Ini harus dari dalam keluar.

Will I stop posting status updates in Facebook? Sekarang memang gw belum update apa-apa, tapi itu karena gw sibuk. Dinding memang punya telinga, tapi bukan berarti kita perlu "jaim" di lingkaran personal kita.

Thomas, so far

2009-12-27T23:11:00.000+07:00

There are two schools of thought on how you should lead your life. Yang satu bilang, "Let it flow" alias ikut aja kemana nasib membawamu. Yang lainnya bilang, "You design your own life" yang intinya kita menentukan hidup kita sendiri. Gw adalah pendukung pemikiran kedua. Tapi belakangan ini gw mulai ragu-ragu.

I'm an architect by profession. Gw merancang sistem komputer agar berfungsi seperti yang gw kehendaki dan memenuhi persyaratan-persyaratan tertentu. Oleh karena itu, secara natural gw merasa berkepentingan merancang hidup gw sendiri agar mencapai apa yang gw inginkan. Tapi lama-lama gw sadar: gw, dan by extension, hidup gw, terlalu kompleks untuk diurus seluruhnya oleh seorang manusia (gw).

Kadang—oke, kebanyakan waktu—hidup ga berjalan seperti yang kita kehendaki. But you know what? Maybe it's for greater good. Sewaktu kuliah, gw alergi dengan yang namanya "asuransi" karena Papa bilang asuransi itu penipu. Dan begitu gw lulus kuliah, pekerjaan pertama gw adalah programmer di perusahaan asuransi nasional. Disitu gw tau pandangan Papa ga seluruhnya benar.

Gw juga berpikir MLM (Multi Level Marketing) itu penipuan. Tapi pekerjaan gw selanjutnya adalah menjadi konsultan yang membangun sistem MLM. Gw juga berpikir buruk tentang SMS premium (itu lho, seperti "Ketik REG kirim ke 1234"), tapi pekerjaan gw setelah itu adalah arsitek yang membangun sistem gateway perusahaan SMS premium. Yang terakhir, teman gw bilang bermain saham itu seburuk bermain judi, dan sekarang gw bekerja di salah satu perusahaan besar di Malaysia yang membangun sistem saham!

Apakah pandangan gw mengenai asuransi, MLM, SMS premium dan saham berubah? Tidak 180 derajat, tapi kini gw bisa melihat dari sisi yang lain. I did not design this, I did not anticipate this, yet it happened and I benefited from it!

Gw juga sangat ambisius. Begitu sistematiknya gw sehingga gw punya rencana untuk diri gw sampai lima tahun ke depan! Tapi kini gw ga ngotot untuk mencapai itu semua. Gw lebih menjadikan itu sebagai hint, lebih kepada, "Where am I right now? Am I getting better?"

Better. Itu kuncinya. Kita harus mencapai hidup yang lebih baik. Tapi apakah "lebih baik" itu? Lebih banyak uang? Lebih sehat? Lebih banyak teman? Setiap orang punya kriteria masing-masing, tapi patokan gw sederhana: If you're not getting happier (with what you've done so far), maybe you're heading the wrong direction.

Dan saat ini, kebahagiaan gw adalah setiap menerima SMS dari Mama, "Duitnya sudah kami terima, sekarang Mama bisa beli (suatu barang). Papa juga semakin sehat." I love my family so much I would sacrifice myself to make them happy. Tapi gw juga manusia yang butuh "dibuat senang". Itu sebabnya teman-teman menjadi hal berharga untuk gw, terlebih di saat seperti ini. Dan juga teman spesial. Pacar? Apapun namanya.

Gw dulu percaya gw harus berdiri dengan kaki gw sendiri. Gw percaya gw bisa sukses dengan kemampuan gw sendiri, karena gw ga suka berhutang budi yang akibatnya ga enakan. Well, guess what... it's a stupid thought.

Kita bisa dan harus sukses dengan kemampuan kita sendiri, tapi kita tetap butuh orang lain. The idea is not how you can be successful on your own, but how you can leverage help from others, and in return, help them reach success by leveraging you. Actually, that's how society works. You benefit from others while others benefit from you, mutually.

Ini adalah tulisan refleksi gw untuk tahun ini. Semoga tahun depan gw bisa lebih baik lagi. I believe, if I can be better, I can help other people better, and I can help them help others better.

A week or so in KL, and counting

2009-11-29T19:24:00.002+07:00

Setiap ada yang bertanya, "Merantau kemana Thom?" Gw selalu menjawab, "Jadi TKW di Malaysia." Lho, kok TKW? Kenapa bukan expatriate atau paling ga TKI (Tenaga Kerja Indonesia)? Ya, TKW kan Tenaga Kerja Wiradikusuma. Hehe.. OK, jayus.

To be honest, Malaysia bukanlah target "impian kerja di luar negri" gw. Bukan juga Singapur, bukan juga Australia. Mereka terlalu dekat untuk jadi tujuan merantau. Arif Rachim, teman gw yang menawarkan kerja disini juga pasti ingat awalnya gw setengah-setengah menanggapi tawarannya.

Namun kemudian gw berubah pikiran. Gw tiba-tiba sadar umur (I'm getting 27 next January!), dan kesempatan mungkin ga datang dua kali. Gw menjadi antusias dengan tawaran teman gw, took the interview with his boss via YM. Dan... ga ada kabar selama beberapa bulan.

Suddenly I felt very useless. Gw hampir ga pernah ditolak karena kemampuan gw, biasanya gw gagal karena "harganya ga cocok". Gw bahkan sampai menulis blog tentang topik yang diragukan oleh calon bos gw, sekedar menunjukkan, "Hey, I can do that." (namun mungkin dia ga baca). Out of despair, tiba-tiba di suatu siang bolong dia mengirim YM, "Hey, still interested working here?" Of course!

OK, sang pangeran berangkat ke negeri antah berantah dengan kereta kuda dari emas, bekerja dengan gaji besar, bertemu putri impiannya lalu menikah. Cerita selesai. Not really. Life is not a fairy tale :)

Sebelumnya adik bungsu gw lulus S1 Keperawatan. Gw keluar duit. Ga lama kemudian adik gw yang paling tua dapat beasiswa S2 ke RRC, tapi tiket pesawat dan biaya hidup bulan pertama ditanggung sendiri. Keluar duit lagi. Pada awalnya gw berharap satu-dua invoice gw bisa cair menjelang gw berangkat, ternyata sampai sekarang belum cair. Di saat bersamaan, papa gw sakit dan butuh biaya berobat. Belum lagi kebutuhan sehari-hari keluarga gw. Waduh!

Kondisi finansial gw saat itu benar-benar ga mendukung. Sampai gw bilang ke teman gw, "Jika memang harus berkorban, biarlah gw ga jadi pergi. Maybe this is not my time." Untungnya seorang sahabat lama gw, Octavianus Hadi, bekerja di Malaysia dan dengan senang hati menampung gw. Lumayan hemat tempat tinggal :)

Oh ya, saat memesan tiket via Internet, teman gw sempat menyarankan untuk memilih kursi di samping kaca agar bisa memotret. Berhubung gw pelit mengeluarkan tambahan 15 ribu, gw pilih kursi acak. Akhirnya gw duduk di samping kaca juga :)

Tapi gw tetap ga bisa memotret, orang sebelah gw ngajak ngobrol dari berangkat sampai mendarat. Agak lucu juga, ternyata beliau juga orang Padang dan satu SMA dengan Mama tapi lebih muda 10 tahun. Dan konyolnya di bangku depan gw ada ibu-ibu (Padang juga!) yang jualan minyak penumbuh rambut :P Belum sampai KL udah dapat beberapa kenalan, lumayan. Oh ya, cucunya manis lho, gw sempat foto.

Sesampainya di bandara, BlackBerry gw ga berfungsi, gw lupa mengaktifkan international roaming! Untung gw tadi kenalan, jadi gw dipinjami ponsel lalu menghubungi Hadi. Gw dijemput lalu diajak ketemu teman-temannya, kebanyakan orang India Malaysia. Mereka lucu-lucu :)

Hadi tinggal di sekitar Shah Alam

Berhubung gw sampainya Sabtu dan kerjanya Senin, malamnya gw diajak jalan-jalan keliling KL sambil survei lokasi kantor. Ternyata di malam hari daerah kantor gw sangat happening, banyak banget tempat clubbing-nya (dan cewek-cewek cantik berkeliaran di jalan)! Tapi kita ga masuk karena paginya harus kesitu lagi naik kereta (supaya gw tau rutenya).

Hari Minggu kita kesana lagi. Jalan kaki dari apartemen, naik KTM (mirip kereta ekonomi Depok-Jakarta tapi ber-AC), jalan kaki, naik monorail, jalan kaki, sampai kantor. "Jalan kaki"-nya sengaja gw tulis karena LAMA. Setelah masuk gedung dan liat-liat sebentar, kita jalan-jalan ke.. duh gw lupa namanya, pokoknya ke beberapa tempat deh :D

Lagi difoto cowoknya, gw 'nebeng'

Candid camera

Oh ya, dari gw tiba sampai Senin, gw mencoba berbagai macam makanan (kebanyakan gw ga ingat namanya). Bagaimana dengan Senin sampai hari ini? Well, berhubung gw pergi sendiri (kan ke kantor), menunya itu-itu aja. Sarapan burger McD McMuffin di KL Sentral, makan siang chinese food bareng teman-teman kantor, makan malam nasi Kandar di samping stasiun monorail. Kalo libur? Pesan McD karena ga ada yang jualan di dekat sini. Haiyah, membosankan!!!

Kantor gw lumayan besar, perusahaan go public, tapi keliatannya hanya gw orang Indonesia disitu. Agak bete juga ga ada teman ngobrol. Orang lokalnya berbahasa Inggris kurang fluent dan saat santai mereka ngobrol dengan bahasa Kanton(?), dan gw praktis bengong.

Minggu depan gw harus cari tempat tinggal yang lebih dekat kantor, ga enak kelamaan disini soalnya ngerepotin, hahaha. Lagipula jarak kantor-apartemen juga jauh, gw harus bangun jam 5:30 pagi dan sampai rumah di atas jam 8 malam. Ini seperti kerja di Jakarta tapi rumahnya di Cikarang :D