So, seperti yang biasa dilakukan, post di penghujung tahun ini ditujuin buat sdikit flashback tahun 2011 dan jga harapan di taun 2012 nanti. Judul kli ini diambil dari lirik lagunya Jay Sean, which is obviously titled 2012 :p Sprti yang kita tau 2012 mnrt kprcayaan bangsa Inca, dunia bakal kiamat (disclaimer: I DON’T believe that crap one iota). So apa sih yg bakal gw lakuin di taun trakhir kehidupan manusia ini?

Utk jawab ptanyaan itu mari kita flashback dikit ke taun 2011 Klo bicara taun ini mngkn highlight kehidupan gw akan revolve around Accenture (baca: Eskencur) Di Ladang pacul yang tak kunjung gembur ini gw ngrasain banyak bgt pengalaman yang ga terlupakan.

Selain segudang ilmu dari perusahaan consulting dengan KMS dan collaboration platform terbaik di dunia (yep, it’s ACN not I*M), yg gw dapet adalah kesempatan utk networking. Working in one of the best company in the world means that you’ll be working with the best people in the world. Kesempatan ini bnr2 gw rasain manfaatnya secara langsung. Kenal dgn org2 brilian, diskusi bersama mereka, kerja bareng mereka tentu aja membuat gw bisa belajar banyak dan jg sdikit banyak ‘mendewasakan’ pola pikir gw Di lain pihak hal ini jga membuat gw terpacu utk ga kalah sama mereka dan perform lebih baik lgi

Klo soal best experience, selain berbagai deployment seru yg uda dilewatin, Core Analyst School di KL bareng temen2 analyst dari aussie, spore, malay, korea, dan jepang selama dua minggu adalah pengalaman terindah dalam hidup gw (not to undermine the kickass awesome time I had during ICUP). Yang membuat itu special, counting the everyday party aside :p, adalah friendship yang didapet. Gw ngmg panjang lebar pun di postingan ini rada percuma krna emg hrs dirasain lgsg Nevertheless I feel very very lucky to be able to participate!

Moving on ke 2012. Utgnya roadmap taun ini uda kegambar dengan jelas macul sampai mid year dan lanjut S2 ke Belanda (atau erasmus klo bruntung :p) Yang gw ga yakin adalah apakah ini kputusan yg terbaik. I mean gw uda kerja di prusahaan yg gw passionate ama kerjaanya, karier yg jelas dan off to a good start, serta tu prusahaan bnr2 appreciate kerjaan gw. Tpi entah knp gw ykin bgt klo hrs kluar buat s2 dan ninggalin smua itu.

Mngkn yg pertama adalah krna gw bnr2 takut klo gw missing out on life. Umur gw bru 22 dan gw uda mulai mikir karier utk 5-10 taun ke depan di Eskencur. At one time I really seriously think about that and it freaked me out a little in the end. Yang kdua gw uda janji ama diri gw klo stlh dua taun kerja gw akan s2 dulu. I really don’t wanna make another excuss not to fulfill it like I did on almost all of my life plans. Dan yg trkhr adalah sebuah quote yg ga sengaja gw liat dan it really sparked my adventurous side and motivate me to work hard on my master’s admission process. Nope, it’s not Steve Jobs’ “Stay Hungry Say Foolish”, but a rather unknown person’s quote that I stumbled upon on a graffiti saying

“Getting lost is way better than living your life reading a guide”

Kinda absurd I know, but admit it, it’s quie cool also

But whatever the outcome may be I really look forward to 2012. Hopefully, It won’be the end of the world but we all still live our life and having fun like it is the end of the world :p

AS ALWAYS: YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE…

Seperti yang bisa diliat judul kli ini juga sangat straightforward dan ga ada makna tersembunyi apa-apa. Judul yang diambil dari salah satu nama album Norwegian Recycling ini emang nandain bahwa episode ini bakal nyeritain pelajaran dan uda ngapain aja sih gw selama setaun jadi bagian dari ‘dunia nyata’ hehe. Well ya basically sih kayak isi album Norwegian Recycling… penuh mashed up dan campur aduk :p But of course, there are some lessons and experience during that time that I want to share . Hopefully it will be useful to whoever read this shit

Le Knowledge #1: The amount of Fuck you give to people opinion (and status update) is inversely proportionate to the amount of happiness you will get

Ini adalah pelajaran yang paling berharga yang gw dapet. Terinspirasi dari percakapan dengan gan @deluzion di tempat burger terenak di Jakarta, pelajaran ini membantu gw untuk ngga usa peduli atau terintimidasi sama pendapat orang atau kesaksesan mereka. Dulu gw selalu galau klo ngliat temen-temen gw kok kayaknya sakses banget ya… apa gw uda bener nih langkahnya? Do I deserve much better, can I do better?, etc. Dan gw sadar klo itu sangat ga sehat! Just focus on your own stuff and good thing will happen in time

Le Knowledge #2: Don’t pursue your passion just yet! At least not for now…

Pelajaran ini gw dapet dari speechnya Chris Anderson (pendiri TED) ke lulusan Harvard di tahun 2011. Transkrip lengkapnya bisa agan-agan liat di sini. There is a passage in the speech that really is a game changer for my point of view about passion, here it is:

Don’t pursue your passion directly. At least not yet. Instead… pursue the things that will empower you…

Knowledge, discipline, generosity. If you pursue those with all the determination you possess, one day before too long, without your even knowing it, the chance to realize your most spectacular dreams will come gently tap you on the shoulder and whisper… “Let’s go!”.  And you’ll be ready.

And that is how you’re going to help shape a better future for all of us….

Dulu gw sangat insecure tentang passion gw, karena gw blm tau apa yang sih sebenarnya passion gw itu. Dan mungkin klo ditanya sekarang gw juga masih akan ngasih jawaban yang ‘vague’ But hey, whatever it is just remember to pursue those three things and believe that when everything is ready, you will surely know. hehe.

Secara pribadi gw sangat bersyukur bisa dapet kesempatan kerja di Eskencur, it is a VERY empowering experience. Yang paling kerasa, selain banyaknya hal yang bisa dipelajari, adalah di sini gw dilatih untuk disiplin. Gw ‘dipaksa’ untuk ngilangin kebiasaan gw yang moody, males-malesan, dan manja. Ya namanya lu kerja sama orang lain tentu aja lu harus profesional dan Deliver High Performance; like it or not. Menurut gw pribadi ini adalah faktor paling berharga yang bisa didapet dikerjaan korporat. Namun sayangnya banyak orang yang salah menginterpretasi ini sebagai sesuatu yang negatif (e.g. being a ‘corporate slave’)

Le Knowledge #3: What’s there to complain about?

That very sentence has become my Mantra for every piece of shit that this generous world constantly give me, and us ) I guess the key is to sweat the small things in life. There are sooooo many little things to be grateful for that we overlook most of the time. If you feel down, just think about the small things that make you happy and you will realize that for every single thing you feel angry or sad about, there are hundreds, nay,  thousands things that can make you happy at the same time Sumber inspirasi dari pelajaran ini adalah lagu Good Life-nya One Republic dan tentu saja The Book of Awesome dan TED Talks nya Neil Pasricha :)

Le Knowledge #4: You are more than what you do!

Gw sering banget dapet pertanyaan ini, ‘Hey cul, lu seneng ga sih ama kerjaan lu?‘ Well truth be told, sebenernya lebih banyak keselnya sih daripada senengnya, banyakan susahnya daripada santainya hehe. But hey, the most important thing is I am happy with what I am Gw seneng dengan diri gw yang uda bisa mandiri dan ga ngebebanin orang tua, gw seneng dengan diri gw yang bisa jadi pacar yang baik (ya ga @nuramdha? :p), gw seneng dengan diri gw yang (kata orang) lebih dewasa, gw seneng dengan diri gw yang uda bisa melanglang buana dari hasil kerja sendiri, gw seneng dengan diri gw yang sekarang Maybe it’s true that I’m not doing something that I really really love, but like Alan Shore said:

Life is made from stuffs that we Love and Hate…. If we only doing the things that we Love, then we will lose half of life’s meaning…

Le Conclusion

So I guess that’s it. Klo diliat mungkin kebanyakan pelajaran yang gw dapet berasal dari musik, film, ato TV series yang gw liat sepanjang taun ini, tpi ya yang namanya inspirasi dan pelajaran bisa dateng dari mana aja, tul ga? haha. Eniwei mungkin gw akan menutup episode kli ini sama kyk Puja, yaitu dengan bersyukur kepada-Nya dan berdoa untuk masa-masa yang akan datang.

Amin

AS ALWAYS: YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE….

Mungkin biasanya gw selalu gunain referensi dari film / serial sebagai inspirasi dari judul episode serial gw. But for once let’s improvise a bit shall we Okay, so aftertaste  or ˈaftərˌtāst ; mungkin uda pada familiar dengan istilah itu klo berhubungan dengan makanan (or wine tasting, which I’m recently starting to get hooked on ); is the taste intensity of a food and beverage that is perceived immediately after that food or beverage removed from the mouth (Wikipedia). Rasa inilah yang akan menimbulkan ‘long lasting effect‘ dari suatu hidangan, not the first bite which is a common misconception btw. Makanya banyak orang meninggalkan bagian yang paling dia suka dari suatu makanan untuk gigitan terakhir, like when you save that delicious skin of a KFC’s chicken for later bites (don’t be shy, I know some of you do too :p) hehe. Ato kalau mau lebih umum lagi adalah dessert. Yep, dari tercemahannya aja uda kebayangan kan? Pencuci Mulut. Suatu hidangan yang ditujukan buat ‘mencuci’ aftertaste dari entree atau hidangan utama dan menggantikannya dengan aftertaste yang lebih pleasant dan long lasting. Makanya pada umumnya dessert memiliki rasa yang cenderung manis

So eniwei, setelah penjelasang yang ‘aga’ panjang tadi gw ngerasa klo aftertaste itu ga cuma berlaku buat makanan doang tapi juga ingatan kita terhadap suatu event (or maybe chain of events). Idk about you guys, tapi klo gw pribadi apabila gw tiba-tiba mengingat sesuatu pasti dari ujung dulu baru traceback ke belakang, gimana prosesnya sehingga itu bisa kejadian. Karena bagian akhirlah yang paling kita inget. Betul ga? hehe. Example: Ada temen lu nanya “Hey cul, gw baru nonton The Sixth Sense nih. Lu uda ntn blm? Bagus ya.” Gw yakin kebanyakan orang bakal jawab “Uda! Bagus banget ya. When Bruce Willis was dead at the end, I jizzed in my pants!” :p Gw sangat-sangat yakin bakal jarang yg jawab “Uda! Yang awalnya dia pulang ke rumahnya trs ketemu istrinya itu kan ya?” Same applied with other movies I believe

So, dalam episode kali ini gw mau mensyukuri beberapa ‘aftertaste’ dalama hidup yang uda pernah gw alami. Apapun rasanya.

The Bittersweet Romance

Ahaha. Maybe it’s the most effing cliche aftertaste of all. So might as well put it on the top of the list :p Yah gw yakin semua orang pernah ngerasain aftertaste ini dalam hidupnya walaupun berbeda-beda sensasi dan juga durasi yang dirasakan. Mungkin ada yang first-bite nya manis lalu aftertastenya pait, or maybe the other way around. Mungkin ada juga yang ampe sekarang masih kerasa ato juga uda long forgotten. Yah bagi gw yang biasanya ngerasain bagian paitnya doang (#eeaaa), gw masih bersyukur karena rasa pahit itu membuat semua rasa manis dalam hidup gw lebih kerasa. hoho.

The Sour Grapes

I believe some of you have heard about this expression. Bagi yang belum tau, istilah sour grapes ini berawal dari sebuah fabel berjudul The Fox and The Grapes. Dalam ceritanya ada serigala nemuin suatu anggur yang ngegantung di pohon. dia berusaha buat ngambil tapi ga bisa2 dan akhirnya menyerah. at the end he said, “Nah, they were probably sour anyway” hence the phrase Sour Grapes  Intinya sih, apabila kita ga bisa ngedapatin sesuatu yang kita pengen, pastinya kita membuat suatu excuse ato pembenaran yang akan membuat kita merasa lebih baik. Well anyway, I think my most common  sour grape aftertaste is “Emang bukan jodoh kali ya” ahaha :p Satu hal yang bikin gw sangat grateful terhadap aftertaste ini adalah kemampuannya untuk membuat lupa semua usaha gw yang percuma untuk manjat pohon untuk dapetin buah anggur keparat tersebut

The Sweet Victory

IMO, nothing… I mean nothing! beats the sweet, succulent, and addictive taste of victories. Sebesar atau sekecil apapun kemenangan yang kita dapet pasti nimbulin aftertaste yang membuat kita pengen lagi dan lagi. hehe. Either it’s winning a competition, doing well on your job, getting one over your ex, or perhaps just a simple thank you from an old lady whom you help cross the street. Alhamdulillah, gw uda ngerasain rasa manis itu berkali-kali. And I’m really really grateful for each aftertaste. hehe. Mulai dari setiap kali gw bikin orang tua gw bangga, bikin temen gw tersenyum, ato dari aftertaste termanis yang pernah gw rasain, yaitu menang Imagine Cup dan ke Poland bareng2 teman seperjuangan Ganesh (well, it’s a bummer that the last one is kinda ruined. But hey, it’s okay )

So, mungkin itu beberapa aftertaste yang pernah gw rasain. Call me naive, but I intend to keep those aftertastes preserved for the rest of my life. Because each taste have their own meaning and history. And I intend to keep it that way. But I learnt that actually most people will try to wipe the bitter aftertaste (or maybe for some people the aftertaste is just not sweet enough) with more sweet and savory dessert over at the new place they encountered.

Well, that’s life for most people I guess… A constant journey from one sweet dessert parlor to another, trying to get the best aftertaste Mine? I’m just a guy who think that the aftertaste of a juicy goat satay with my bros is simply good enough. hehe. What’s yours?

AS ALWAYS: YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE…

Okay, I believe you guys already know the drill :p IMHO, there are only few 1-hour-series that can provide a really good laugh. Sure House has it’s dark comedy routine and there’s Chuck, that losing it’s grip on my funny bone. But, there is one particular series (currently in-between season) that come with a 100% ROFL guarantee, it’s Psych The story is about Shawn Spencer, a juvenile yet hyper observant guy, and his best-bud Gus. Together with Shawn’s ability (and his corky way of doing things) they form a ‘psychic detective’ agency and the adventure begins. hehe. Judul postingan kli ini adalah soundtrack dari film seri Psych ini. Lagu yg catchy ini dinyanyiin sama The Friendly Indians, band iseng2 bikinan produser ni film seri. Cool, right? Eniwei selain beatnya yg catchy, sepotong liriknya slalu nempel di otak gw:

In between the lines there’s a lot of obscurity…
I’m not inclined to resign to maturity…
If it’s alright, then you’re all wrong...
But why bounce around to the same damn song?

Yep, that piece of lyric pretty much what I believe on the vague subject of maturity :p

So, maturity atau kedewasaan… Never been a big fan and it’s definitely overrated. Gw jujur dulu selalu tersinggung klo ada org bilang gw kyk anak kecil Di beberapa episode sebelumnya dan di setiap ulang tahun gw slalu berharap biar gw tambah dewasa (or at least, people will see me that way). Tpi dari waktu ke waktu, harapan hanyalah harapan. But I keep trying nonetheless.

Sampai suatu hari pas gw wawancara di suatuperusahaanyangdeliverperformatinggi. Malem sblmnya gw uda ngerencanain smua strategi wawancara nanti. I’ve got all the basic question covered and I’ve rehearsed the answers. So the plan was that I’m gonna play it cool. Act like a true professional (secara katanya ini salah satu perusahaan terbaik di dunia). Tpi skali lagi, harapan hanyalah harapan. hehe. Jujur gw excited bgt pas lagi wawancara and all the scenarios went out the window. In the end I ended up being me. Si bocah pongah who constantly brags about his skills and accomplishments :D Gw inget di salah satu poin interview, gw sedikit banyak mengubah sesi tanya jawab jadi curcol:

Interviewer: I see that you have been very successful with competitions and your study. Have you ever had any failures, and how do you handle and bounce back from it?

Me: Well, not many if you referring to those areas. But in my love life there are plenty. haha. Usually I cope with playing some James Morrison songs.

<both laughing>

I swear to God that it actually happened ) Ya tentu aja abis itu gw kasih jawaban yang serius hehe. Tpi entah darimana gw spontan bisa jawab kyk gitu. Mngkin dari kebanyakan nyampot bersama temen2 IF ato or the child inside me that took over to answer the question.Well the rest, as you all probably know, they trusted me with the job and it turned out to be awesome

Eniwei what I’ve been trying to say in the last 530 words is this. I’m doing alright being me. Being the childish spoiled boy that I am. And why would I change things that are doing just fine? :p But don’t take it the wrong way, being childish and responsible is completely two different things. hehe. Balik ke contoh suatuperusahaanyangdeliverperformatinggi tadi. Mereka percaya dan ngasih gw tanggung jawab yang gede. Dan jujur itu bikin gw tersanjung dan tentu aja tertantang untuk ngebayar kepercayaan itu. And if you’re my close friends then I believe that you all know that I will never ever break a trust that has been given to me. Because I value it that much.

So, in the end, like the lyrics in the beginning of this episode says, being inclined to resign to maturity seems to be alright for me. Maybe you are all wrong about me needing to act like a boring adult :p And perhaps you should give me the trust that I deservedly need #ganyambung #eeeaaaa )

AS ALWAYS: YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE…

Walopun berganti season, tentunya tradisi harus tetep dijaga. Paragraf dua slalu gw alokasiin buat nerangin judul episode, that I can promise! hehe. Sbenernya Nueva Vida (or New Life in English) ga punya makna khusus tertentu. Gw cuma pengen punya judul dalam bahasa Spanyol aja. hehe. Why Spanish? Well, akhir-akhir ini gw punya serial favoit baru, Community. It’s an awesome and wickedly funny sitcom! In short, cast utamanya itu awalnya adalah sebuah ‘study group’ buat kelas Spanish 101 mereka, and everytime they’re in that bibiloteca you can expect to get a great laugh watching them

So what’s new in your life, cul? Hmmm where do I start….

New Home….

Yep, stelah lebih dari 15 taun gw tinggal di hutan raya tumaritis tercinta akhirnya gw pindah juga. Sbenernya keputusan buat pindahnya aga mendadak juga dan gw sendiri aga kaget :p Well, I won’t be discussing details here but one thing for sure I’m gonna miss that ol’ jungle of mine hehe Rumah baru gw ga jauh dari Tumaritis, masih di daerah Fatmawati. Mengenai gw lebih suka ato ngga, well I think that’s a little too early to tell. Ooh, You’re welcome to visit anytime hehe.

New Job….

This one is actually harder for me than moving into a new house. Satu hal yang paling gw sesali adalah cara gw pindah ke kerjaan baru gw. I’m not being completely honest to my old boss and I think that I gave him no choice but to let me go. Selain itu juga gw harus ninggalin team gw dan juga si Agus yang baru aja gabung di kantor gw itu. For that I’m realy really sorry guys. But I’ve been waiting for this opportunity and I won’t let it slip. hehe. I hope that you guys understand So how’s your new job? It’s been great! Real great! Walopun demanding banget dan slalu bikin tepar tpi entah knapa gw bisa dengan yakin bilang klo gw seneng sama kerjaan baru gw. hehe. I love the challenge, the opportunity to learn and learn, and also the environment. The people here are just fantastic, friendly, outgoing, and humble

My New 'Pacul'-mates

New Team….

This one is actually not about me, but it does however have something to do with one of the thing that have a special place in my heart, Liverpool FC! Transfer window tengah musim ini emang hectic banget buat Liverpool. Not to mention all the drama that was happening around it. Sedihnya, kita harus kehilangan pemain terbaik kita, Fernando ‘El-Nino’ Torres ke timlondonberbajubiru. But hey, seperti kata dosen tercinta IF, Bu Inge, nasi sudah menjadi bubur…. mari kita jadikan bubur itu bubur terenak yang bisa dibuat Dengan hengkangnya si Judas, datanglah dua orang pemain baru yang gw yakin bisa ngegantiin Torres dan membuat Pool lebih baik lagi. Welcome Suarez and Carroll!!! YNWA!!!

Two are better than one :p

New Me…

No, bukan gw tiba2 berubah jadi some kind of mutant who can turn ordinary clothing into a tailor-made suit or something like that (although I have to admit that would be pretty awesome) tapi cuma skedar gw berubah umur hehe. Yep as you probably know (or in case you forget) 30 Januari lalu gw ngerayain ultah gw yg ke-sekian :p And I must say that I was a blast! Diawali dengan nonton midnight Green Hornet di Bandung, pas filmnya selesai ternyata temen2 gw uda nyiapin surprise dan cake nya. Hehe. Thank you guys for the surprise! Setelah puas di Bandung, gw pagi2 balik ke Jakarta buat menuhin janji jalan2 sama anak2 Xelockan. And boy, it was an experience of a lifetime! Dari yang tadinya cuma skedar mau makan bareng turned out to be a lot more. hehe.

Dimulai dari ke-impulsifan Tya (as usual) yang tiba2 mention klo ada foto gw terpampang di Labsky. Turned out that they made a student wall of fame or something and featured me as one of the student. And wickedly, they got my photo from way back then:

Totalitas Belajar Mendekatkan Kita Kepada CIta-Cita Yang Kita Impikan (Siregar, Kaisar 2001)

FYI, there’s no way that the quote is coming from me =)) I think whoever put my picture there made it up to ‘inspire’ the young ones. LOL. Setelah puas ketawa dan ngata2in footo gw yang masih lugu dan imut itu, gw, Diaz, Tya, Rendi, Ariana, dan Chale nglanjutin perjalanan ke GI buat makan di Benihana. Sedikit curhat, gw pertama kali tau Benihana dari salah satu episode The Office yang judulnya A Benihana Christmas. Di episode itu, timbullah hasrat yang teramat dalam untuk makan di restoran itu. Benihana is your typical Teppanyaki restaurant, but the Chefs there are absoulutely amazing and will give you a cooking performance like never before!

So sesampainya di sana gw disambut sama Chef Tom (he introduced himself as Jerry. LOL. ) yang asli orang Hawaii. Aksinya keren2 dan juga dia orangnya kocak banget. Sepanjang makan dia masak dan terus entertain kita sambil ngelawak. hehe. Satu hal yang bikin gw ga bisa nahan senyum adalah ketika dia bikin Volcano dari daun bawang. Persis (bahkan lebih keren) dari yang ada di The Office. It’s like a dream come true!!! ahaha (still waiting for the Volcano video from Diaz :p) Tom really is a great guy and he even let me try to handle the grill

Watch out Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver!!!

Overall it was a great great dinning experience. The best I’ve had in my life. Plus the fact that I enjoyed it with my bros made it more special. hehe. Makasih buat anak2 Xelockan yang uda mau nemenin mewujudkan impian gw :p

Hang Loose!!!

Well, turning 2* doesn’t mean that it’s all fun and games hehe. Secara umur gw nambah gw juga berharap bisa jadi lebih baik lagi. Mungkin dimulai dengan lebih bertanggung jawab dan lebih dewasa hoho. Thank you guys for all of your wishes and hopefully I can fulfill every single one of it

Hopefully this will be the start of a great season in my series hehe….

AS ALWAYS: YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE….

Before we get down and dirty, for those who expecting part 2 of my last post, you will be disappointed. College is over dude, let’s move on :p So on with the usual title explanation part. After reading a couple of great blog posts from my bros, @deluzion and @poedja_p (you can find it here and here respectively) it intrigues me a little to write something in this god-forsaken blawg. As for the title, if you’re thinking that I ripped it off from ‘The Passion of The Christ‘ you’re dead wrong ) I’ve never seen that movie to be honest. The only ‘The Passion’ that I’ve seen is ‘The Passion of The Jew‘ which is an episode of the best cartoon series ever: South Park (no offense, Mr. Homer Simpson :p). S08E04 to be exact

As you all probably know, currently I’m working at the companywiththelargestnumberofsubscribersintheaxiatagroup. But before I get to where I am now, I came across 15 job interviews. Some of them were fun, some were gruesome yet challenging, and some made me want to punch the interviewer right in the face. But the one thing that they always asked is about my plans for the future. Maybe at the form of  ‘What do you see yourself in ten years?’ or perhaps ‘What is your passion and how does it will relate to your future plans?’ And everytime they asked me this I always answered with the same formula:

“To be honest, I perceive life as a very dynamic thing. We never know, perhaps one day a life-changing opportunity arrive and reroute our current goal in life. So I’ve never plan to far ahead for the future” + “But if I have to answer now, I have to say my plan is ” + [Insert your friend's future plan here]

I’ve used @ndrewh‘s plan to get a master scholarship in IT, or perhaps @deluzion plan to be an entrepreneur, or even @poedja_p plan to save up money and form a good and long-lasting marriage. Those are the three answers that I used most of the time, depending on my sigmund-freudy-judgment on the interviewer personality :p Off the record, perhaps my true honest answer will be something like this:

“Well I don’t really have a long term plan actually. Never think about it. Up to this time I’ve always do things together with my friends. So I think that what they’re planning will eventually become my plan also. So far it works, and I tend to keep it that way.”

Which is a very fucked up answer for any job interview.…

But that is really the truth. Like @deluzion said in his blog post, passion is basically what triggers you to do something and also what keeps you to continue doing it happily, so in my case I think my passion is being successful together with my friends. I mean why not? Most of my success, especially during my college years, are always done in group. Projects, competitions, events, everything. Me and my friends achieved so much together and were having a good time while we’re at it, so why can’t we keep doing that?

We can of course, if we’re living in a perfect world orchestrated in my brain :p But like one of my ex said, “Grow up, we’re not living in your perfect world. Sometimes you just gotta deal with it” Maybe if I didn’t think that she was being a bitch when she said it, I might have learned the lesson sooner :p So anyway, just recently when almost all of my friends were being reluctant to join this companythatwonthe2009IndonesiaGoldenRingAwards I learned that I must deal with the notbeingabletobetogetherwithyourfriend reality. That everyone have their own passion to pursue. And with that, the only passion that I know went down the drain (for now at least). Pissed? Of course.

Well maybe it’s not the time for me yet to discover what my true passion is. Don’t get me wrong, I know what I like and enjoy doing but I don’t think that it’s passion-worthy :p Lucky that my friends already have the connection to someone (or something) that give them the muse to discover their passion. Maybe someday I will too

So for now I think I’m wandering aimlessly in my blurry life. Moving back and forth, left and right. Hopefully bumping into some new friends along the way. Or perhaps even better, ended up walking on the same path as my old friends

AS ALWAYS: ADVANCING ASIA =))

So, Memento… Ada dua alesan knapa gw milih judul sedemikian rupa.

1. Memento |məˈmenˌtō| noun ( pl. -tos or -toes) an object kept as a reminder or souvenir of a person or event. Well dilihat dari artinya sendiri boleh dibilang postingan ini bakal jadi salah satu object yang bakal ngingetin gw tentang masa-masa kuliah gw di kampus gajah duduk tercinta

2. Memento is a 2000 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Wikipedia). Yup, salah satu film favorit gw sepanjang masa Salah satu yang unik banget dari film ini adalah alur ceritanya. ga kayak tipikal film biasa ato flash back, ada dua alur di memento yg dicritain silih berganti, yg pertama alur dari akhir timeline dan mundur; yg kedua alur dari awal timeline dan maju. Endingnya adalah di tengah2 dari timeline film itu. lho kok bisa? well just watch it. it’s effin awesome So I’m gonna tell my story that way too… Just to confuse you people… lulz…

“Setelah sidang tertutup yang dilakukan, maka mahasiswa bernama Kaisar dengan NIM 13506072 dinyatakan lulus dengan syarat mengumpulkan dokumen hasil revisi sidang…. Selamat!” Hari itu Selasa 21 September 2010, hari di yang ga mungkin gw lupain. Akhirnya setelah 4 tahun lebih gw kuliah di ITB, masa studi gw boleh dikatakan selesai. Dengan iPhone 3GS tempat bersemayamnya tugas akhir gw, iSense, di tangan kiri, gw menyalami dosen penguji dan pembimbing gw… Well sesaat setelah itu gw sedikit senyum mengingat masa 51 bulan gw di kampus tercinta…

“16506171… What did I got myself into…” Yup itu dia yang pertama kali ada di pikiran bocah kota Jakarta yang boleh dibilang cukup sombong ini. Klo mau jujur gw bingung kenapa masuk ITB. bukannya ga pengen tapi ga ada drive khusus aja buat kuliah di tempat yang kata orang Institut Terbaik Bangsa ato Institut Terkenal Banget. Bahkan kesan pertama yang gw liat adalah ini cuma sebatas Institut Tai Burung mengingat banyaknya eek koak yang ada Sbagai mahasiswa yang harus dua kli USM baru diterima di kampus ini gw aga pesimis ttg masa depan gw slama di sini. Apalagi yg gw masuk adalah STEI, fakultas baru gabungan Elektro dan Informatika yang notabene isinya pasti nerd smua… I thought it’s just one of those phase that you just gotta have to do it… Kuliah yang bener, ga usah macem2, masuk jurusan, 3 taun kemudian kerjain tugas akhir, sidang, lulus…

So, this is it… The final battle… Neo vs Agent Smith, Vader vs Luke, ato dalam kasus gw Mahasiswa vs Dosen Penguji… Berbekal dengan persiapan presentasi selama seminggu yang mantap, server yang udah di deploy di IIS berkat bantuan bang Puja, client yang uda terinstall manis di iPhone 3GS gw tercinta, app keynote reymote, dan colokan mini-dv buat Macbook White gw, i’m ready to face the most important 90 minutes in my life so far… Boleh dibilang sidang gw cukup brutal… Mengingat topik TA gw yang boleh dibilang uda dicap ‘Topik ekspres’ pertanyaan2 ganasnanmencabikcabiksukma pun dilancarkan oleh Bu Cya dan Pak Saiful… Tapi seperti karang batu di tengah laut gw bertahan… dan diem bengong ga bisa menjawab… lol… setelah tanya jawab beres gw disuruh kluar dan nunggu keputusan sidang… untungnya selama masa2 menunggu yang mencengangkan itu ada temen2 baik gw yang ngasih dukungan baik itu sahabat2 IF ato temen2 yang uda nemenin gw dari masa TPB…

Hari pertama kuliah…. FYI pas jaman TPB a.k.a taun pertama kelasnya dibagi berdasarkan kelas kalkulus. So untuk pertama kalinya gw menginjakan kaki ke sebuah kelas di GKU Timur sebagai bagian dari kelas Kalkulus 8. Gw merasa beruntung banget bisa jadi bagian keluarga ini, mulai dari Totz sang ketua kelas yang super, shendi sbgai org ptama yg ngajak gw knalan, opaq yang imba maen bolanya, jasper, marcel, mba sus, dan tito isromi yang jdi temen geng duduk belakang, dan tentu aja mami, titz, fahmi, dan agus yang jadi sahabat gw selama di IF nantinya. To be honest I’m not good at making new friends, but K8 always make me feel welcome

My first family in ITB

Sulky couch potato… kyknya ga ada frase yang lebih tepat buat ngedeskripsiin diri gw pas masa2 pasca pulang dari pulau Tidung… Selain geje krna emg ga bisa ngapa2in slain nunggu pengumuman jadwal sidang, hidup gw juga lagi kurang bergairah ahaha :p well as my Burger gank like to said it, my boat is sinking ) Hari2 gw lalui cuma diem di kasur sambil ntn film dan serial. bener2 masa paling ga jelas selama gw kuliah 4 taun ahaha… namun untungnya ada Diaz, Tya, dan Rendi yang senantiasa memberi senyuman kepada penulis :p well di tengah penyesalan mendalam dan bertubi2 selama periode itu, gw mikir sempet mikir… maybe it’s a frickin curse or karma…

What happened in Tidung??? What’s with this karma??? How did I spend the rest of my TPB and my last year??? Stay tuned for the next episode….

Yeaaay, a new episode…. Okay, kayaknya sebelum mulai gw akan menjawab pertanyaan penting mengenai blog ini: “cul, knpa sih blog lu jarang di-updet?” Well, simpel… gw prefer kualitas daripada kuantitas (effyeah cliche :p), but seriously, gw nulis dikit aja kualitas ni blog ga jauh beda ama stensilan yg dijual di pinggir jalan. Apalah jadinya klo gw sering nulis perihal hidup gw yang sehari-harinya cukup hambar ahaha. So after that mystery has been revealed, let’s kick off this episode Btw if you guys expecting some stories about my awesome trip to Poland or my heartbreak story, this is NOT IT people… Sorry to disappoint :p

Okay by reading the title, I know you people out there think that this long episode will be about how I look at things, right? The big and long awaited mystery whether I’m a happy-go-lucky optimist or a gothic pessimist. Well, you’re absolutely right. hoho. I’m sure you all know the classic ‘glass on the table’ question right? Imagine that there’s a half-empty glass on the table. And now…..

……

…………..

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Oh shit, I just spoiled the whole story….

Okay you got me I’m a pessimist. ahaha… Hmmm okay since I’ve butchered this episode’s main plot let’s try a different approach. Now, let’s say that the half-empty glass (or half-filled glass for you optimists out there) is still on the table. In order to make it full and not half-empty (or half-filled, obviously…) what’cha gonna do? Do you try to fill the glass with more water so it becomes full? Or do you replace the glass with a smaller one?  Choose one!

Perhaps you simpletons will think that this is just another optimist-pessimist question, but when you pinch out your iPad and zoom it to the question you’ll see that this is a completely different question. In this case it’s completely circumstantial. For example, if you were a glass collector stranded in the middle of the frickin’ Sahara it would be completely retarded to choose the first option “So what are you trying to imply, cul?” Well….

The first option is what I called, Perseverance. Sometimes in life, you will face a situation when your water is not enough to fill the glass or in other words, you’re simply not good enough. Maybe in a football team, in a class full of students, or perhaps something as simple as siblings rivalry. But as the old saying said, Practices make perfect. A simple three words statements but nothing truer than those. The decision whether you quit or keep trying harder is the crossroad between Loser-ville and Winner Town

Well as for me, being the pessimist that I am, I think I’ve often find myself enjoying the quite and humble Loser-ville :p Well I guess in order to have perseverance, first you have to have a drive. Something (or someone :p) that motivates you and gets you back up again when you’re down. Guess I haven’t got one yet. hehe. For now, I’m a walking Homer Simpson with his famous quote: “Trying is the first step to failure….“

Of course, there are some circumstances when perseverance alone wont get you a trip to Winner Town. For examples, when you try to defy the two greatest forces in the world. The first is obviously God. No matter how hard a man tried, he just can’t have PMS. Only a woman can have those period when you can always ‘blame it on the PMS’ :p (purely a joke and not trying to be sexist ‘kay, hehe ) The second, thanks to a few romantic comedies that I watched recently and finally poisoned my mind, is Love. In love, trying harder than you’re supposed to only make you look foolish. Eventually what you need to do in love is being yourself. hehe. Of course first there’s a process where you have to be something you’re not until your partner like you enough so you can be your true self. It’s called dating :p

In situation when perseverance won’t do, you gotta go with the second option, and it’s called Lowering Your Expectations. People often think that lowering one’s expectation is a bad thing but lowering expectations means increasing the chance of success You just gotta know your glass size and be realistic. Mind you, lowering expectation doesn’t necessarily lead to lowering your effort. It’s just a state of mind that you don’t get your hope up too high so it wont hurt much when, God forbid, you fall. Ideally that’s what you want, but there is a special case when you just cant keep your expectation down. It’s when you love something (or someone, haha) so much. When that happen, the only thing you can do is don’t fall. Because it will hurt like hell.

So that’s it, the two key ingredients of success that I completely lack. I guess I’m still a long way to make my glass full since I don’t know how much water do I have and what shape my glass is. hehe. Hopefully soon I will find my drive, get up from the fall-that-hurt-like-hell which I recently had, and find out what am I going to do in my life….

AS ALWAYS: YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE…