Talent

Finally, I’ve done read it, lascar pelangi novel, and just newly finished the second eps: sang pemimpi, authored by andrea hirata.

Great novel. But, I agree with u Momo, I’ve been thinking that some parts in the novel were just too good to be true. hehe.. Andrea used many brilliant metaphor in his novel, some of them are unexpected, and left me smiling and saying silently: “it’s so damn true!!”

I just love the novel that put honesty, or at least made the reader said, “gosh, It’s soooo me!!” (ini gue banget!!), but sometimes we just doin’ it soo casually, we just used to do it, so sometimes we don’t know that may be other people has different opinion about our habit. Or if one of the novel’s character did some bad things that we also ever did, we just smiled bitterly and said, “what a mess I was!!”.

Beside some over-detailed description (in my stupid opinion), I really love the book. If u want some review, just search it on google and you’ll get many, since the novel has been published since 2005.

Surprisingly, the author frequently pointed out to some aspects that I often think. Like about talent. I often think that the LUCKIEST persons in this world are the ones who RECOGNIZE his /her talent, LOVE to do his/her talent, and have OPPORTUNITIES to develop it. May be there’s a person who has more talent than Roger Federer in tennis, but his job is as cendol seller, so he never tried how to play tennis. Or may be one of asmat race in ruler area in Papua will be more successful than Schumi if he ever try how to drive a car. Soo, be grateful if you know the talent and has opportunity to develop it. Don't ever waste the blessings..

The main character, Ikal, has some ups and downs. And I just love how he could lift his downs into ups. He showed us things that we can learn explicitly, but not in ‘gaya menggurui’.

Keep your dream as high as sky, and don’t be pessimistic. Even some people might say that pessimistic has some linear relation with realistic, but he called pessimistic is one form of ‘mendahului nasib’. And it’s awfully wrong. So, I must do THE BEST thing that I can do in every single current state that happen to me..

A must read one, really...

Book Review: 168 Jam Dalam Sandera

Karangan Meutya Hafid, salah seorang pembawa berita (anchor) saluran Metro TV. Buku ini isinya adalah berupa cerita semasa dia dan kamerawan Budianto disandera di Irak pada tahun 2005 yang lalu. Dengan membaca buku ini, gw jadi sedikit tau apa aja sih yang dikerjain oleh wartawan, risiko apa aja yang dihadapi termasuk di daerah perang.

Meutya menurut gw pandai menuturkan apa yang dia alami, sehingga buku tersebut jadi enak dibaca. Gw cukup terbawa dan bisa merasakan emosinya, walau gw tau yang dirasakan olehnya pasti jauh lebih berat. Yang buat gw seneng, dia cukup objektif dalam penyampaiannya. Padahal, bukannya tidak mungkin isi buku tersebut menjadi bermuatan politis, berhubung yang diceritakannya adalah masalah sandera.

Yang cukup menarik dari ceritanya adalah, bahwa penyandera tersebut sama sekali tidak memperlakukannya secara kasar. Malah, seorang anggota mujahidin yang bersikap tidak menyenangkan dipindahtugaskan oleh pimpinannya. Para mujahidin tsb, yang biasanya jarang makan daging krn saat sulit, selalu memberikan makanan terbaik yang mereka punya kepada Meutya dan Budi tiga kali sehari. Bahkan, untuk bolak balik di gurun menyediakan makanan dan air bagi Meutya dan Budi, resikonya adalah nyawa.

Terharu aja melihat tercipta sebuah persahabatan dalam situasi penyanderaan.. It's just uniquely amazing.. How beautiful the ukhuwah is.. Mereka sebenernya baik, tapi sperti itu memang benar2 terpaksa krn tidak ingin diperlakukan semena-mena..

Menyadur kata Quraish Shihab, cerita ini menunjukkan bahwa setelah kesulitan, atau bahkan terkadang bersama kesulitan, ada kemudahan..

Beverage Review: Bir Pletok and Kombucha

At idul adha day, we came to my pade’s house at panglima polim, south Jakarta. the aunt offered us to eat and drink. Because we just had ate at aunt designer’s house before, so we couldn’t afford to eat anymore, but to drink was okay. So, the ageless aunt gave me some beverages that I hadn’t tried before. First was Bir Pletok. Well, some of u who are betawinese must have know it. Okay, although the name contain the word ‘beer’, but it doesn’t contain alcohol or anything that can make u drunk.


Bir pletok is betawinese beverage, made from ginger extract, sugar, and other various roots extract. If we drink bir pletok, first u will get hot on ur mouth, and then your body will feel warm. More or less, it’s quite similar with jamu.

The second beverage is Kombucha. Kombucha is the Western name for sweetened tea that has been fermented by a macroscopic microorganisms called a "kombucha colony,". The taste is sour. Yeah, just like others fermented drink such as yoghurt: they are all sour. So, I just don’t really like it.

Some said that kombucha is good for health. So, if u wanna try. Just try it. U can buy the bacteria at some proper shop. Hehe..

no one but me

hihihi.. sebenernya tidak ada yang lucu, tapi tertawa miris melihat kenyataan di dunia ini. Ssaya abis membaca buku LasPeng, dan di situ ada cerita dimana masyarakat Melayu yang mau menang sendiri dan egois dalam mengambil hadiah yang dibagi2kan pada saat suatu upacara. Berbeda dengan orang Sawang yang mengatur strategi untuk mendapatkan hadiah-hadiah yang terbaik.

Yah, geli aja. Akibatnya, orang2 Melayu hanya mendapatkan radio, tapi antena nya saja, atau pemutar volume nya saja. Walau ada orang lain yang lebih dulu ngambil, tapi mereka suka ga rela dan lalu merusak punya orang lain tersebut. "kalo saya ga dapet, yang lain juga tak ada yang dapet".

Frankly speaking, gw juga kadang2 begitu. Ngerasa seneng kalo ada orang yang nemenin susah, hehe.. Kayak misalnya gw lagi dapet nilai yang jelek, terus kalo ada orang lain yang dapet nilai jelek, gw cenderung seneng (walau bukan berarti seneng karena dia dapet jelek, tapi lebih cenderung karena kita punya temen yang senasib sepenanggungan). Dipikir2, hal tersebut rada2 jelek juga ya.. Kalo orang lain dapet bagus, khan mestinya kita seneng juga.. Gw juga seneng sih, tapi khan ga enak aja kalo sendirian yang menderita.. huwah, ternyata saya rada egois juga yah, hehe.. duh, penyakit jelek nih..

Movie Review: National Treasure Book of Secrets

Starring: Nicholas Cage

Tadinya Bola ngajakin nonton ini pas acara WW 2b, tapi jadinya nonton Bee Movie. Terus, temennya si adek bilang kalo film ini seru banget, dan menjadi panas lah gw. Apalagi adek bilang kalo yang sequel sebelumnya dari Nat Treasure juga keren. Jadilah hari ini gw dan si adek nonton film ini di Citos.

Ceritanya adalah tentang pencarian harta karun berupa kota emas yang hilang, serta dilatari dengan motif ingin membersihkan nama baik keluarga. Sebenernya, gw masih rada bingung juga sih apa hubungan antara ngebersihin nama baik dan nemuin kota emas, hehe..

Mengambil setting di Inggris, Perancis, dan mostly di Amerika. tipe2 filmnya mirip2 Tomb Raider, atau film2 sejenis yang bertema pencarian harta karun lah.. Memecahkan teka-teki, then cari clue selanjutnya, sampai tiba di tempat harta karun itu berada.

Ohya, book of secrets adalah sebuah mitos bahwa terdapat buku yang dilungsurkan turun temurun dari presiden amerika serikat yang satu kepada penerusnya. isinya adalah the toppest secrets of the country..

Dari segi cerita, beberapa hal menurutku kurang masuk akal, seperti presiden amerika yang rada2 "gila"... terus dari segi visual effect pun menurutku tak ada yang istimewa.. tak ada adegan yang menyentuh. bagian yang tegangnya pun rasanya ga buat tegang2 amat. yah, tanggung lah menurutku..

berhubung ni film semuanya nanggung dan kurang menghibur, soo kalo ada film lain yang dirasa lebih bagus, nonton film lain aja deh mendingan, hehe... ditambah lagi tadi pas nonton di citos, AC nya ga begitu dingin.. ugh.

Bermalam di depan ICU

my uncle was on emergency situation, he had gastric bleeding that made him unconscious for days. Actually, he and his wife were doctors, senior doctors, so there’re always some of their juniors or students who ready by themselves to accompany my aunt at night, waiting near the ICU. But still, there’s always be a better feeling if the one who accompany her is her family member, or may be her assistance, driver, or others that already has close relationship.

Then, at sunday nite, me, my mom, n my bro accompany her in front of ICU. We sleep on the hallway. Yes, it’s just a hallway. We just placed carpets above the floor, set up the pillows, and voila, it’s ready as a place for our sleep. Because uncle was still on ICU, so he got no personal room. Okay, so it’s first time for me to sleep on hospital hallway, with abundant of things that my aunt brought (she’s expert on bringing things, hehe). We were incredibly looked like refugees.

Slept near the ICU was really touched my heart. Somehow it made me feel that many people also felt the same, because their relation was in emergency state too. It taught me about tolerance, patient, and sympathy.

Uggh, honestly I want to write so much more. But writing in English just kill my creativity to arrange words. Darn…

Update:
Now, my uncle has been get better. Alhamdulillah. Now, he is conscious and soon will be placed in usual room. hope he can get better and better, so he can do his usual activity really soon..

akhirnya libur

uwenakee bisa liburan..

Walaupun ada yang mesti diselesaikan, tapi krn kerjaan itu ga bisa dikerjain pas liburan, praktis gw menjadi rada2 idle beberapa hari terakhir. And I just feel awkward about it. Saat hari2 biasa, trkadang pengen dalam 1 hari itu ditambah bbrp jam supaya item2 di 'to-do-list' bisa mark as complete semua.

Akibatnya, beberapa hari ini bisa ngelakuin hal2 yang tertunda, such as: baca2 to-read-list, nonton2 mini_series and movies, benah2in isi harddisk di kompi, arrange kegiatan2 yang akan dilakukan beberapa bulan ke depan, ngeblog :p, upload2in foto (penting banget ya?), belajar, jalan2, de.el.el.es.be..

ngomong2 tentang tivi series, sepertinya dalam sebulan belakangan ini ga ada episode baru (trutama tivi series dari usa). do u know why? hal itu krn ada pemogokan dari serikat penulis di amrik sana.. so, series spt heroes, amazing race, CSI, dan talkshow spt ellen's, leno's, dan lain-lain berenti utk sementara. akibatnya, channel tv biasanya menayangkan rerun dari serial2 tersebut..

efeknya buat saya? hmm, ga ada sih.. cuma biasanya ada yg ditunggu utk didonlod tiap minggunya, skarang ga ada lagi.. jadinya cari serial lain utk ditonton, hehe..

Food Review: Zoe

continued from Food Review: Mang Engking

After we’d ate at mang engking, me and JiLid went to Zoe (Margonda Street, Depok).. it was after the rain, so some of its seats was still wet (even then it's raining again and I just got the tempias.. hiks hiks). One of the waiter is sooo friendly and sweet, heheh.. bcoz we just had ate before, so we didn’t order any weighty food, and I even didn’t wanna ordered hot chocolate or sth like that coz it’s surfeiting. I just ordered hot lemon tea. But, alida ‘smartly’ said to the waitress that I just had a diet so I must maintain what I eat and drink.. Unfortunately, the waitress just ‘menelan bulat-bulat’, believe it, and said, “oooh, berat juga ya sepertinya?”.. gabruks… tserah lah.. we ordered smoked beef/chicken fajitas as the snack.

The place was quite nice; the lights were good, quite cozy. One thing that I didn’t really like was the music, they played ‘dewa’ over and over again. Bosen… And if it’s raining, you must be cleverly choose the seat, if u don’t, u’ll get the touches of rain.. hehe..
The smoked beef/chicken fajitas was bad. So so salty.. really really don’t recommend it. The drinks were so so. The place was nice. The price was affordably pricey. Oya, there’s a musholla on it.

Two days later, I came to the place again, now with Rora.. the friendly waitress still there, and she remembered me!! Unfortunately she asked, “udah ga diet lagi ya? Ini makan berat..”.. deeng, awas lo Lid..

We ordered ayam bakar betutu, and mango squash apple squash.. the beverages were good. And the food, I must admit that it’s delicious!!!! They’re right for makin it as ‘chef recommend’.. really really love it. May be because the hunger effect, but still, I thought it wouldn’t change my opinion even when I’m full. A must try!!

Food Review: Mang Engking

At first, I and JiLid just wanted to come to Zoe to learn DSS subject for the exam on two days later. But, after considered my mom and her mom were came to the campus to meet ms KMJ and mr ANH, so we tried to provoked them to mentraktir us for lunch. Fortunately, her mom was wanted to take a survey for her arisan. But, my mom was fasting that day, so she couldn’t join.

Then, we (me, JiLid, ms Yuli, and mr ANH) went to Mang Engking (in Area of Universitas Indonesia, Depok) at about 12. Lid ordered fried gurame fish, udang bakar madu biasa, udang bakar madu super (the waiter recommended it as restos’ fave), and kangkung cah.

About the place..
I think I just love it, really cozy.. and when I come there, it was raining a bit so the weather was really fresh, the gentle breeze was perfect. Perfect for studying, hahaha.. the fishes were bubbling at the artificial pond around the huts. Ikannya buanyak banget dan gede-gede. Dikasih makan pada rebutan ga keruan, rakus2 amat..

I really love the place, the plants, the pond, fishes, huts, the yellow flowers, and so on. Refreshing!!


About the food..
The restos fave, udang bakar madu was good, sayang banget mr ANH benci dengan yang namanya udang.. hahaha.. so he couldn’t taste the deliciousness of the shrimps.. oia, we just made a mistake for ordering two kinds of udang (biasa n super). If u wanna go there, just order one kind and it’s enough. The difference just on the size, but actually the aggregates of it’s filling was just the same (isinya sama aja, yg gede sebenernya isinya ga jauh beda)

About the price, I think it’s quite pricey. Although it’s may be because we over-ordered the food. And, unfortunately they don’t sell snack :(, jadi susah deh untuk menjadikannya tempat bwt blajar.. mahal sii..

continued on: Food Review: Zoe

Travelers' Tale

Hehe.. akhirnya saya baca juga deh novel ini, setelah sekian lama tertunda2 mlulu (sambil ngelirik setumpuk bacaan lain yang juga ga sempet dibaca).. Yang ngarang adalah Adhitya M dan istri serta teman2Nya. Adhitya ini yang ngarang novel Jomblo, yang sudah pernah dibuat versi layar lebar maupun layar kecilnya (maksudnya tipi)..

Berhubung novel lama dan pastinya udah banyak yang ngeripyuw, jadi saya ga ikutan ngeripyuw ah.. Cuma pengen ngomentarin ajah.. hoho..

Dari segi cerita, menurut gw lumayan seru.. Apalagi dengan 4 orang yang nulis, jadi kerasa aja beda tulisan antara satu sama lain. Walau keliatan banget gaya tulisannya si Adhit beda dan heboh ndiri (dengan tokoh si Ucup), emang lebih seru kalo ada 4 orang dgn gaya penulisan berbeda.. at least ga monoton lah..

Tapi honestly, walau buku itu mengambil setting di banyak tempat (mulai dari vietnam, kenya, jordania, amerika, dan mostly negara2 eropa), tapi gw merasa deskripsi dan narasi akan detil setting nya kurang. Atau mungkin karena dapet jatah space nulisnya dikit, jadi disingkat2 gitu. atau emang supaya disesuaikan dengan jalan cerita kali ya? Seperti "museum ini adalah simbol kota X, belum ke kota X jika tidak mengunjungi museum ini." terus tiba2 ganti setting.. ga tau ya, tapi gw pribadi merasa terlalu singkat aja..

Hal yang paling bisa diambil dari novel ini tentunya tips2 traveling yang bertebaran di sepanjang buku. Well done.... :)..

Overall, bagus untuk dibaca ko.. ^^

Setelah gw pikir2 tentang alasan kenapa perjalanan di travelers' tale menurut gw kurang greget, mungkin karena kisah2 yang pernah diceritakan seorang bude gw, yang sering gw namakan bude apoteker atau bahkan bude pendongeng jauh lebih greget.. hehe..


Aunt Traveler

Now, the story about her begin..

Bude ini berinisial SS (gw ga mau nyebutin nama orang di blog ah..), beliau merupakan lulusan farmasi ITB tahun... hmm, tahun brp yah? pokoknya udah lama (ya iya lah...), seangkatan sama dosen2 senior di kampus brarti..

Banyaak banget yang bisa diceritakan dari bude yang satu ini, tentang how extraordinary she is.. Tapi kali ini gw cuma mo ceritain tentang kepiawaiannya berkisah.. such a great storyteller.. kehandalannya bercerita ditunjang dengan pengalamannya yang sudah banyak berkelana ke negeri orang.. mostly in europe and america..

dari kecil, gw udah sering diceritain oleh beliau, mulai dari dongeng2 aneh dari tatar sunda (yes, she's a half sundanese) sampe kisah2 beliau di eropa dan amerika.. jadi di satu saat dia akan mengajari gw lagu cingcangkeling dan jaleuleuja, di hari lain gw diajarin lagu baa baa black sheep.. hoho.. now i just realized that it's pretty cool.

dulunya, beliau bekerja di berbagai multinational company eropa yang bergerak di bidang farmasi, spt merck, sandoz, dsb. nah, berhubung kantor pusat dari perusahaan2 tersebut ada di eropa, beliau cukup sering pergi ke sana. Dan krn beliau hobi traveling, kalo lagi libur biasanya jalan2 ke negara2 sekitar..

nah, beliau pinter banget nyeritain kisah2 dia selama di luar negeri.. selain cerita objek wisata dan special event, juga cerita tentang orang2 yg beliau temui.. uniknya, ada aja hal2 istimewa yang beliau alami. Dan yang gw suka, ceritanya itu ga seheboh ceritanya adhitya m (yg menurut gw, dia menceritakan kejadian aneh yang menimpa tokoh yang emang aneh. terlalu heboh untuk ukuran orang normal :p). Bagaimana beliau tiba2 dapat kamar ekstra di hotel di UK, terus nyasar ke suatu acara sekolah di Jerman tp disambut hangat, atau hampir kena badai salju di US. Dan misalnya di Indonesia, beliau terjebak di daerah terpencil di Rancabuaya di Jawa Barat krn terjebak sungai periodik yang tiba2 ada krn abis turun hujan. sampe2 keluarga besar kalang kabut, dan kontak2 polres, SAR, n wanadri.. untung cepet ditemukan.. Dan banyak cerita2 lain yg menurut gw seru banget.

Extraordinary stories from extraordinary person. Duh, sayangnya gw ga pinter cerita. Ada juga kalo gw menulis cerita yang dikisahkan beliau di blog ini, nanti pada muntah2 lagi.. hehe..

Walau punya banyak pengalaman, but she's really really humble.. kalo ketemu di angkot, pasti bakalan ga nyangka akan pengalaman beliau. gw aja kadang2 suka ga percaya :p, dan baru percaya kalo beliau udah mulai berbicara, heheh.. trus kalo ngomong2, akses sundanya masih cukup kental.. misalnya aja, "waktu bude di swiss, orang2 di sana mah meunih baik2 pisan".. heheh..

Masih banyak sih yang bisa diceritain dari bude ini, spt bgmn perjuangannya melawan kanker tingkat lanjut, bagaimana perjuangannya mendidik anak satu2nya yg tuna rungu sampai anaknya bs mandiri and punya banyak kemampuan... tapi, gw udah cape nulis ni..

met liburan yah!!!

these two days

First, I thought yesterday was such a drama.. Now I realized that today is waaaay more dramatic..

~one liners..

google on everything

sebenernya sih ga mau posting.. tp barusan ngeliata bahwa ada visitor yang dateng ke blog ini dengan menggunakan keyword aneh:

"soal quiz 3 SDA Fasilkom", at 15:36

hihi.. ketauan deh, pasti itu anak 2006 yang tadi ada quiz SDA.. hehe.. gw akui kalo gw juga suka meng-google info2. cuma kayaknya ga seekstrim itu deh, sampe2 nyari soal quiz segala di google.. emangnya bakal ada ya? hahaha..

tapi emang ya? banyak yg nyari info apapun lewat google, misalnya aja teman kita si frhe itu. karena ga tau NPM gw, dia lalu mencoba untuk mencarinya via google.. dan, trnyata ga ada.. hehe.. lagian aneh2 aja sih, nyari NPM ko di google..

dan, sekarang saya pusing.. padahal mestinya bljar utk uas, atau ngerjain protex.. whew.. berita baiknya, I've some plan for post-iduladha holiday.... :)..

Oya, baru selesai nonton Amazing Race Asia.. daaaan... Kinar dan Brett tereliminasi lho... hahaha.. dugaan gw sejak awal ternyata benar.. they wouldn't go far.. tapi sayangnya dugaan gw benar.. yaa sudahlah.. hehe..

rehat

lagi rehat dulu ah..
males nulis blog..
sepertinya tak ada yang menarik untuk diceritakan..
too much assignments..
kecuali mo nulis tentang assignments itu.. hoho..
but that's a big no no for me (and 4 u too I guess)
lagipula bentar lagi udah UAS.. uas terakhir utk beberapa temen gw yang bentar lagi lulus (amiiin..)..
pengen cepet2 libur...

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And i've been revising my internship report til I bored to death..
Why we can't just stick to ONE lecturer as the advisor?? Cause different lecturer has different style of report. Hence, I should reshape it from beginning til the end???

And why the advise was not from 1 or 2 months ago, immediately after we'd gave the draft? And now, when the intern report is soooo yesterday, we must revise it again? T____T...