Further Journey

After several midnight of self insecurity (read: galau) of my future, I finally decided to apply for graduate school.

"YEEAAAY", probably I am as happy as this lady, not.

Now, does it solve my current problem of being super indecisive on my future? No, but suppose going to graduate school is God's will, then why not? I know this argument seems total foolish to atheists point of view but hey, I believe in God so your opinion does not matter.

Most likely it won't be physics. I actually enjoy studying physics, but undergraduate level is probably the most that I can stand. My utilitarian side is saying that the effort that I will be putting will not worth the impact that I could make. So I will just salute all the physicist who is still doing their best passionately from afar. It is funny that if you look at my older posts, you could see that I was an enthusiastic pretentious physics lover. You can even still see the trace from this blog's format and title.

So how is your day? Your week? Your month? Your year? Or even your life so far? I hope you can find what you really want to do as soon as possible since it will help you save plenty of time to be productive. Especially after reading this ultra motivated lady below:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384298/Student-15-way-Harvard-accepted-13-universities.html

May your good deeds be accepted by God. Amen.

Achievement(s)

What is your greatest achievement? I think this is could be a very common interview question yet many of us find difficulties in answering this question. That could be because you have way too many achievements to the point that you have no idea which one should you choose as your greatest. It could also be the other way around, you think that you are a mediocre person to the point that you feel that you have no achievement at all. Or you might share the same confusion with me, you can't really classify which one is achievement and which one is not.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take some leap of faith to run for the president of Indonesian community in NTU (PINTU) and (not) very surprisingly I was elected as there was no other candidate. Everyone started to congratulate me but in an instant I felt that I didn't deserve all the applause. Why? Because I have not really achieved anything. The moment I started to work as the president, I realized that I have so many responsibilities, and hey, I shouldn't be "that" happy. But I am also glad, I finally became who I wanted to be. So is this achievement? Probably not yet. Unless I have finished my term with most of my member feeling grateful and learning something from PINTU. Just hope that it will turn well :)

I genuinely believe that this is an achievement.

Human After All

Unlike Chinese or Indian or even Filipinos that has fewer population, you don't really see Indonesian overseas. Therefore, majority of the world's population has not developed visual sensors to differentiate Indonesian from the others. Being said that, Indonesian looks very different from one another. Some looked somewhat "African" (they are Pacific Islander though, but not very distinctive to some people), some ethnic group resembles Chinese, the others look somewhat Arabs, and the majority looks just Malay (another term that I refuse to say, but let's say "Malay" to generalize the looks of people in the archipelago). Another thing is that, Malay don't have some obvious physical features. Again, unlike Chinese or Indian.

So being an overseas Indonesian, I have encountered different response about my look.

When I was in Japan, I asked a stranger girl in Todai with my crappy Japanese to take my picture (the momiji in Todai during autumn was very beautiful by the way) she then replied me with some unknown language. After she threw several sentences and responded by my confused look, she then told me "I thought you were Thai".

Another day in Singapore - arguably my second home (not so happy with it though) and where Malays are abundant, I was eating Tandoori chicken set. The store staff who is a middle aged Chinese lady suddenly asked me "How do you find the food here?". "Oh, it is really good", I replied. "By the way, are you Melayu or Filipino?", she asked again. "Oh, I am actually Indonesian", answered me. "Sama, saya juga", she added. That was unexpected.

Next is when I was in a mosque in China, waiting to break my fast. I was the only person there who did not understand Chinese but not the only non Chinese. And then someone asked me with arguably good English, "Where are you from? Are you Malaysian". At least his guest was not that wrong. In fact I might have been more surprised if he got it right in just one guess. Because again, there are virtually no Indonesian "Malay" overseas.

Do you notice the connection of those stories? They all guessed that I am a human being. Okay, we can narrow them down to human being from Southeast Asia. But what if I travel to somewhere further where the local's sensor is even worse? Such as in *insert any random country where the majority of its citizen is Caucasian who does not have that many interaction with Asian*. I feel very relieved that no one asked me some questions such as:

"Are you a hippopotamus?"

"Are you a cockroach or a shoe box?"

Phew, thank God. I am a human after all. And a human is not that different to other human to certain extent. So shall I experience world peace starting after I published this post? Nah, not in anytime soon.

No, I don't look like this.

Courtesy: Internet (YOU DON'T SAY)

La Final

Tomorrow I'll be back to Singapore (yeaay, actually not sure if yeaay) to start my very last academic year as an undergraduate in NTU, only if God permits but let's assume so. I can clearly remember my earlier post during highschool about how I really want to study at NTU.

And here I am,

I have been studying in NTU for three years.

But does my journey end here? (this sentence actually sounds cheesy and I will feel grossed with it two years from now)

I am no longer that chatty for my personal goal, because I don't have any very fixed plan in my head. It is very different than during my school days.

When I was in primary school, it was clear that I wanted to study at Labschool Junior High.

When I was in junior high, it was clear that I wanted to study at 8 Jakarta Senior High.

When I was in senior high, it was clear that I wanted to study at NTU.

Now what?

Alternate Ending of Chuuka Ichiban

Urasawa Naoki in his latest works, Billy Bat, said that happy ending exists because the author decided to end the story there. So what if the story is extrapolated into further future? No one knows. Merely because it does not exists.

After a couple of week living in Beijing, I suddenly get an idea on how Chuuka Ichiban (The Real Master Cooking Boy) should have ended.

Liu Mao Hsing became an imperial cook.

He cook for Empress Dowager Cixi.

Empress Dowager Cixi passed away and Qing dynasty became much more unstable.

Cultural revolution happened during 1911, Qing dynasty crumbled.

Liu Mao Hsing became jobless.

Fin.

You don't know until you open the box isn't it?

A young man was very energetic.
A young man was very curious.
He wanted to see the world.
A young man walked out of the door.
A young man traveled to the north.
He saw the world.
A young man encountered difficulties.
A young man got damaged.
He is tired.

Announcement

Did I say that I wanted to be mangaka? Now I am seriously considering being one, even though I am (definitely) not sure about that. So I think I will start making my own web comic just for the sake of making web comic (in Islamic point of view it should be just for the sake of Allah though). In a different site of course, this will still be my personal website only for ranting. So if you happen to bump in to my comics online, please have a comment :D

Nostalgia

Ramadan is coming but I didn't expect that my status about syrup advertisements get quite some likes. Probably the scene of Ramadan is nostalgic, even to the non Muslims in Indonesian and neighboring country. Ramadan is deeper than that. It is a month where every Muslim thrives to be their best. Unfortunately the festivity is not so evident in a non Muslim majority country, such as China (here I go Beijing!!!). Regardless of what you will do this Ramadan, happy Ramadan to all of you!

By the way, it is good to write again.

Syrup advertisement that always looks better than its actual taste.

Another Religious Talk

Kali ini dalam Bahasa Indonesia, karena saya merasa kurang nyambung menulis beberapa istilah dengan Bahasa Arab dengan Bahasa Inggris tertulis saya yang kurang gemerlap. Walaupun sekarang saya tidak begitu yakin juga dengan tulisan Bahasa Indonesia saya.

Mungkin pembaca yang tidak beragama Islam agak kurang paham, tapi akan saya coba untuk menulis segeneral mungkin. Nah, buat saya ada sebuah konsep penting dalam Islam yang didasari oleh surat Luqman ayat 17. Yang kira-kira terjemahannya:

Hai anakku, dirikanlah salat dan suruhlah manusia mengerjakan yang baik dan cegahlah mereka dari perbuatan yang mungkar dan bersabarlah terhadap apa yang menimpa kamu. Sesungguhnya yang demikian itu termasuk hal-hal yang diwajibkan (oleh Allah).” (Luqman 17) Bisa dicek di: http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amar_ma'ruf_nahi_munkar

Bahasa ngetopnya ya itu, amar ma'ruf nahi munkar. Atau mengerjakan yang baik dan mencegah yang buruk. Saya dengar mencegah yang buruk itu lebih utama daripada berbuat kebaikan. Mungkin dengan alasan semacam "Kalau tidak bisa membuat keadaan bertambah baik, jangan ditambah buruk".

Menurut pengalaman saya pribadi, ada suasana yang berbeda yang saya alami di Indonesia dan di luar negeri. Bagi saya di Indonesia terasa lebih mudah untuk nahi munkar. Tidak perlu melihat secara teliti kehalalan makanan, tidur terlalu malam juga ada yang membangunkan shubuh. Kurang "surga" apa lagi? Lain ceritanya ketika saya tinggal di luar negeri. Tidur kemalaman lalu telat shubuh, ya mau gimana lagi? Soal makanan juga kayaknya ada makanana tidak halal yang pernah kemakan. Tapi lain ceritanya dengan amar ma'ruf. Di Indonesia entah kenapa saya tidak begitu banyak berambisi untuk melakukan hal-hal ambisius selayaknya yang saya lakukan di luar negeri. Apa mungkin kasur saya terlalu hangat (mungkin karena saya jarang pakai AC)? Tapi begitulah yang biasanya saya rasakan. Atau memang keluar dari comfort zone (kata yang overused tapi apa boleh buat) itu suatu kewajiban?

Teman saya yang namanya Amar dulu dapat medali emas di kompetisi ini lho!

Birth

So yes, suppose there is someone who was just pregnant when I wrote my previous post in this blog. What is the surprise then? She is now about to give birth to her soon-to-born! I can guarantee you that reading my blog won't make anyone pregnant, but really, who knows?

I have started my summer vacation since a month ago, and as usual, not so much accomplishment. But the best part is I (if God permits) will go to Beijing for a summer exchange. Interesting? Hope so. Enough for today, I don't have the stamina to write a lengthy post after a long hiatus. I have been running this blog since I was 15, and my old posts seems quite :OH GOD WHY:

Just in case you don't know what :OH GOD WHY: is.

So again, I wish I could regularly write in this blog again. Probably arranging some new designs and stuffs, after all I am not "that" young anymore. Wassalam.