January 2012
4 posts
Ether
Something is there, you know you’re not supposed to think about it, but you can’t ignore it.
And you don’t even know what it is.
Or perhaps, it’s not something, but rather, the absence of it.
Friends will be there for you
to catch you when you fall
and lift you back up,...
On random Korean encounters
Suatu pagi di CC Barat, tiga orang Korea tulen datang menghampiri.
Random Korean dude: We are from Korea. Do you like Korea?
Gichie: Well, I like K-Pop.
K-Dude: Aaah! K-Pop! What K-Pop you like?
Gichie: Since I'm a guy, of course, Girls' Generation.
K-Dude: Aaah Girls' Generation! Which one you like?
Gichie: Uh, Jessica, Yoona?
K-Dude: Ah. What about you? (looks at Bayu)
Bayu: Taeyeon. *dengan yakin*
(K-Dude and Bayu berjabat tangan)
Microphones
Because listening does not require talking.
December 2011
5 posts
On skype
Dian: Ih suara kamu putus-putus.
Dhika: Kayak kita dong, udah putus.
Dian: ...
G: Sorry for failing to impress you again.
N: It's getting old, you know.
First it’s the spelling,
then the grammar.
– Breaking Dawn (merayakan kelegaan setelah UAS Strukdis dengan menonton film bokep sampah)
On the origins of the universe, by @samboraonit
Onit: Gich, what happened before the Big Bang?
Gichie: Nothing?
Onit: The Big Foreplay.
November 2011
4 posts
Iyo: Why is the concept of luck so unfair?
Rara: It is fair, because it's not luck, actually. It's karma.
Don’t follow the path. Make your own trail.
So, how does it feel to be in love with someone 10,000 miles away for the past three months?
It feels… stupid.
As stupid as love itself.
#azek
October 2011
6 posts
Sunday night nostalgia
So I was looking through my facebook photos. My old ones, from the beginning.
I saw a lot of pictures. Of me. With a lot of different people. In a lot of different places.
There were pictures of me back when ThursdayPeople was but a dream shared by Rara, Iyo and I. My hair was, er, ghostly, I was wearing an apparently undersized ngatung t-shirt and I had someone’s fake glasses hung on my...
Mathematicians, dreams, orangutans
As a reporter intern for www.itb.ac.id, today I had the opportunity to interview Cédric Vilani, the 2010 Fields medalist.
The Fields medal is sort of like the Nobel prize for mathematics. Apparently there isn’t a Nobel prize for mathematics – I just realized that myself, haha. So the Fields medal is an award that’s pretty close to that, and Professor Cédric Vilani apparently won it...
Wolverine
Some wounds heal in a day. Some in a week, some in months, and some even leave scars that stay visible for years or maybe forever.
But no wound heals instantly. Have you ever thought why?
If wounds were to heal so quickly, there wouldn’t be anyone visiting their loved ones when they get sick and go to the hospital, or anyone helping you get up when you fall down. Band-Aids would have...
Life is being funky these days.
Or maybe I should try sleeping before midnight.
61
One day, I met an AFS candidate who was going to volunteer and help out with registration, which I was coordinating at this year’s Bandung chapter selections.
Her name was Ruben. The first word that came up in my mind when I saw her was ‘quirky’. The next word was ‘responsible’ — I quickly decided that she and Vitara, another candidate, were to handle the files...
September 2011
13 posts
2 tags
Ut tensio, sic vis
Life is like a spring.
When we push ourselves to reach new heights, how far we go (extension) is proportionate to how much effort (force) we put in to it — Hooke’s Law.
But like an elastic spring, life will return to its original shape once the stress is removed.
That’s where friends come in. They help hold the spring for you, so you can pause for a while and take a deep...
2 tags
Taken from Toy Story
Buzz Lightyear: “Whatever happens, at least we’ll be together.”
Woody: “For infinity and beyond.”
On blame and responsibility
I used to believe that responsibility was taking the blame for when things go wrong.
But then I realized, that’s like being a piñata that never breaks. You’re hanging from the tree, unable to move, then people beat you up but the candy never comes out.
Responsibility really isn’t just about when things go wrong and taking the blame for it when it does; it’s also about...
1 tag
On fate and effort
I used to believe that everyone’s fate was written in stone.
But then I realized that that was my excuse for just lying around, doing nothing at all.
I believe that fate will only tell its true tale if we’ve tried our hardest and put all our best efforts into it.
It’s pretty simple. Once we know all the options we have, weigh them out, make a plan and then execute it, all...
On best friends
N: Are you killing yourself?
G: Yeah,
G: Softly,
G: With this song...
2 tags
On long-distance relationships
Andhika Nugraha: jaga kesehatan ya dian :)
Dian Arumningtyas: jaga kebersihan ya dhik :)
Andhika Nugraha: ...
Indonesia Needs Designers, Not Copiers
benlaksana:
The Jakarta Globe, September 3, 2011
By Ben K. C. Laksana
Recently I attended a lecture by Anies Baswedan, a scholar behind the Indonesia Mengajar foundation that sends young prominent Indonesians to the very ends of the country to become volunteer teachers. During Anies’s presentation on the importance of education for the future of Indonesia, there was one point that struck me...
Uli: Kok jadi diem sih?
Gichie: Lagi mikirin Ruben.
Ijah: Lagi mikirin Odi.
Uli: ...
#abaikanseabaiabainya
– Twitter for Mac’s hashtag suggestions
For us the job isn’t response, the job is prevention.
– Edward Luck on the Responsibility to Protect doctrine
Don’t sigh.
All success comes from daring to begin.
– Ruben’s English 11 Honors Class
August 2011
17 posts
Ramadhan, for many people, is a month of spirituality. A moment of getting yourself closer to God. A moment of prayer, of itikaf, of solemnity.
But I’m one of those people that prefers to find God among the people around me. The space in between, love, you know, those concepts. It’s not that I didn’t pray at all for the past month or anything like that, but it’s just that...
3 tags
Bohong itu kalau bilang, orang Indonesia yang di luar negeri are lost people...
– B.J. Habibie (via duduktatapketik)
1 tag
Gancang balik.
Some people are born special – their very presence resounds in the hearts and minds of everyone they know.
When you sit next to them, you can’t help but have your mood raised up a notch.
When they smile, you can’t help but laugh.
Often you’ve never spoke much with them nor had any long conversations, but you feel close anyway.
I know one of those people. His name is Rizky...
3 tags
Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become...
– Unknown (via prahesty)
4 tags
There is reward for kindness to every living thing.
– Prophet Muhammad SAW (Bukhari and Muslim)
If there’s a hundred reasons to quit, I am sure there’s also a...
– An anonymous comment on Ruben’s blog.
On geek appeal
Ijah: Aing ga peduli soal cowok ganteng, yang penting menurut gue itu otak. Cowok pinter itu bikin gue horny!
Onit: Iya jah, sama, aing juga horny sama Odi!
The more you think about it, the more you wanna go naked and run.
– Irfan Prawiradinata
Style is key.
– Irfan Prawiradinata, my awesome WSDC teammate. Good luck for this year’s Team Indonesia at Dundee!
My life is full of awesome people.
(Yet another analogy of) life
Life is a like a running track like the one you see at Saraga. Everybody gets their own lane. Some are ahead of you, some are behind you. Unlike a real running track, sometimes people help each other out, and some other times people push others until they fall. Some of them run, some skip, some walk, some body-drag (ngesot, HA!).
But the question is, how fast are you running?
Ikat pinggang di tengah jalan.
Makan tuh ikat pinggang.
– Jokes by Indosat
What sympathy is not
A: Tas gue disilet, iPod touch gue ilang...
B: Wah, ada bekas siletnya?
We are AFSers,
mighty AFSers
Everywhere we go,
people want to know
who we...
– (still immersed in euphoria)
Orientasi
Have you ever wondered how you can make your life worthwhile? How you can make use of your life to do good to others?
I’ve been going through one of those moments for the past ten days or so, volunteering as part of the committee of this year’s Bina Antarbudaya INAYPscNH National Orientation. Kak Taufiq Ismail, the man in the picture above, is the founder of Bina Antarbudaya.
So...
July 2011
3 posts