Saya (TIDAK) Benci Pak Ino!

On December 4th, one of my Industry and Organisation lecturer, the most respected one, passed away. This is a blog post I made to honor him. Post is written in Bahasa.

The Story of Hipster Jesus, Colostomy and Positive Psychology

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its.
-Matthew 6:34

The verse above matched with a ‘Gestalt principle of now’ in which the only real thing is what happen right here, right now. Tomorrow as future, is something which not exist yet, so you don't have to worry about it. Don’t you think He’s awesome? Hipster Jesus talks about Gestalt before it was cool!

But I’m not gonna talk about Gestalt right now. I’m going to share something that could be explained by the verse.

Last year on June, my dad had a big operation around his abdomen to fix his intestine. Because of the operation, he had a hole in his stomach as rectal replacement called colostomy. This week he had to be operated once more to normalize his excretion system so he could poop normally.

This is what happened to your intestine and excretion system when you get a colostomy

I remember how wrecked I was during my dad’s hospitalization day. I couldn’t think straight, hardly focused on everything I was doing because my thoughts keep coming back to my sick dad. He was in a great pain and need a lot of adjustment after the operation. I mean, there’s a hole in his stomach. That condition must be so inconvenient.

I was stuck in a gloomy mood for the rest of hospitalization weeks. I faked my mood and wore the-so-called persona so I looked happy at the surface just because I don’t want others noticed how ruined I was.

And when his time to be hospitalized came, my mind involuntarily rewinded the black days of my dad’s pain and suffering and how it affected my life. It only takes a short time for me to be gloom again even before the operation and the post-operation experience started. I couldn’t help myself imagine being gloomy again for the rest of this week and maybe the following weeks ahead.  I was filled with thoughts that the operation would ruin my activity all over again while I’m in my busiest point; loads of assignment, choir rehearsal for a concert in September, quizzes and presentation. I think, I’m gonna blow.

But then a best friend of mine, Grace, told me that I have to stay positive. Grace and I happened to be positive psychology believer. But the thoughts of the tiresome post-operation experience in the past blocked my positive view. 

She reminds me about the self-fulfilling prophecy; that everything happened in our mind could be true if we keep thinking about it over and over again. The operation hasn’t even started yet but I already have a list of bad experience ahead. Well, I don’t want that suffering weeks repeated all over again, obviously. 

So I guess I will try to let it flow, not thinking too much about tomorrow that’s not exist yet… and keep praying to gain the power so I could face the coming weeks, taking care of my dad joyfully and keep focus on my activities.

Now = experience = awareness = reality. The past is no more and the future not yet.
-Perls on Gestalt Therapy Now

Please pray for my father’s operation. And pray for me too so I could be stronger than before.

Have a nice day!

Assignment: PMDO

Here’s an intermezzo—my so called paper for my Pengelolaan Manusia Dalam Organisasi (Human Resource Management) class. We were told to write about knowledge management on PLN or Perusahaan Listrik Negara, a state-owned electricity company and upload the finished work on our social media. 

So, here you go my lovely lecturers, my paper about knowledge management., special English edition! This one is the lighter version of my paper. Please forgive the non-formalities I use here.

nb. Note sure if my lecturer really gonna read this. Haha!

May the Flower be With You

Because it's May and May 4th is the Annual Star Wars Day. 

So, why not?

[edited from source]

Friday Top Five: Favorite Fall Out Boy Songs

[edited from source]

 

The first Fall Out Boy song I have ever heard was “Dance Dance”. I fell in love to the music and the beat—it always successfully brings my mood up again every time I listen to the song. Since then I tracked every Fall Out Boy songs and albums. And they really fit my music style. Their songs are full of youth spirit; loud yet dynamic music. Maybe they've got weird lyrics (and much too long song title) but it contained deep meanings.

Too bad they decided to decompress—referring to what Pete Went’z said instead of hiatus. I’ve been missing the band for a long time and could only satisfy my yearnings by listening to their songs on my player. So, here’s my Fall Out Boy five favorite song from each of their album. It’s a hard choice anyway, for I really like their songs and every song is my favorite—no exaggeration.

Paska Viesta!

A bit late to share about Easter, eh? But my Easter holiday was fun. I spent the Holy Week serving  Maundy Thursday, Easter Vigili and Easter Sunday Mass.

I spent the easter eve by having a late dinner with the altar boys—some boys (plus a girl) night out, eh?
...and going to the cinema with fellow altar servers on Sunday, watching The Raid for the second time. Yay!!! nb. Thanks for Sandy for treating all of us.


The Holy Week was so hectic that costs my health. I got a quite severe flu since Sunday evening. But I ain't even regret it because I had an extraordinary week.

The Awesomeness of Being an Sixth Semester Undergraduate Student

Might wonder why I disappear from the blogworld? It’s because I’m not really good at managing my time. Some people would easily spare their time for blogging. But I find it hard to share anything while my mind works busily around my academic live.

It’s the fifth week of my sixth semester. It has been awesome. I take some Industry-Organizational Psych class which subjects are very interesting. In every meeting, we discuss about organizational behavior, career, competence at work and people in organization. I also take Counseling class, where I learn the basic of being a counselor (although I don’t consider being a counselor in the future). 

The most important class I take is the Research Methodology class. Here, I prepare myself to write the so-called thesis. Dear Lord, my scholarly life is at stake in this class. Because the final project for this subject is a thesis proposal. I really hope I could finish a fix thesis proposal at the end of this semester and started doing my thesis next semester. Wish me luck!

Because I want to be really serious on doing my Research Methodology assignments, a lot of my time wasted   being used for journal hunting and literature searching. I still surf the web every day—I even spend more online time than usual for this purpose. (Even though I spend 1/8 of the browsing time scrolling down the 9gag hot page).  Two times a week, every Research Methodology class member has to upload their research progress at our campus web called the Psyche. This is why I'm getting very busy; because I have to do loads of research.

Psyche is awesome. I think your college or university must be having this kind of site too. Some of my friends assumed that our campus is the only institution which have this kind of interactive site. Well, they could be wrong. I believe that out there, sites like Psyche are plenty.

Tagged with “Psychology Classroom Hybrid Education”, Psyche offers a lot of useful feature like study material download, class online forum where you can discuss academic-related-talks in the site and project (assignment) submission. We even do our quiz online here in Psyche. It also provides academic information and announcements like scholarship or student exchange offers. Of course, it can only be accessed by Unair’s Psychology students. But here’s some sneak peak;

the Psyche dashboard

Recently my campus Information System Department developed Psyche into some kind of local social-network. We could send message to the lecturers or fellow students. We even can chat the like the Facebook-way chat. It also have a profile page, a dashboard and wall. 

the lesson page

Here's my Organizational Behavior lesson page. The lecturers of this subject likes to uploads a lot of learning supplement like articles, journals or text books.

The Psyche web is only faculty or so-called-local-level site. For the university or the bigger scoop level, there's UACC or Universitas Airlangga Cyber Campus. UACC controls every academic activity like your academic schedule, academic calendar, attendance record, grade book, study plan for particular semester (I don't know what it is called in English, but here we called it "Kartu Rencana Studi"), achievement record (like when you win something) and many more...

Oh, the other awesome thing about Psyche is the text notification service. As I said before, we submitted our assignment through the web. Every time the project deadline gets closer, Psyche will intensively text you about the approaching deadline. Not only texting about deadlines, every time a lecture (or anyone) posts in the forum, Psyche will generously tell you through text. Once, I received about 50 texts notification in a day from Psyche because a class forum gets so active. (un)Fortunately, this service cannot be disabled.

My college friends even joking about Psyche who sends message to someone a lot more than boyfriends (or girlfriends... or someone who have a crush on another) do.

What about your academic life? Is it as awesome as mine? Or do you have a similar campus site like I do?

Working Is...

As an Industry-Organization Psych student, I learn many things about human in organization—specifically in the work setting. I learn about forces that push you to do your best effort while working, skills required to do a job superbly, managing yourself and others, how to be a leader and a manager—and the differences between them, developing yourself and others around you, managing your career,  and many thing else.

It gives me a lot to think on. I never really work before—though I have done some freelance job—but in class, I learn about the ‘theories of doing things right while working’. All those theories and realities of work tell me that the working-life could be… harsh. I find out the most important thing for you to survive at work is your skill. What I learn in school this whole time can be easily set aside. Well yeah, knowledge is important but without knowing how to realize it, your knowledge means nothing. Values you hold and the right attitude are vital; it helps you to behave properly in various conditions.

*sigh* Could I really endure my future work life? Do I have proper skill, competencies and capabilities needed to do my work? Can I earn proper wages with my abilities I have now?

Have you ever wondered about those things too? After a long contemplation in classes I attended, working for me now, seems to be more than earn money for life. Working is more likely studying in some organization (or company) and you get paid for doing it. By setting this mindset (of get paid for studying) while doing your job, hopefully you wouldn’t be burdened with the tasks.

Happened to me once, when I did my job as a tester whose job is to administrate some psychological tests and score it. It was exhausting. That time, I had to handle a class of 20 naughty Senior High schoolers outside town—2 hours from Surabaya. The deadline for the test scoring was so short that I did it in a rush. Yeah, you guessed right, I wasn’t paid quite properly.

But then I think again. I learn a lot that time. I learn how to conduct myself and control my emotion in front of those badly behaved students. I learn to work under pressure. The paid means nothing compared with what I learned through working.

What about you guys? Have you anything to share about working?

  

Looking Through My Eyes: THE RAID

[source]

I started April by watching Indonesia's Box Office Action Movie; The Raid.

There are lots of brutal fighting scenes, gun shots, some explosions and blood; lots of blood. Lots of dead bodies  victim of the battle. Oh yes, this movie is full of violence (even a girl like me not even feeling sorry for watching so much blood spilled over many times in this movie).

The Raid offers something different like I've never feel before while watching other action movies. Watching The Raid is like riding a roller coaster for approximately 100 minutes.It started smoothly (sweet and sentimental—kind of romantic, if I may say) until then you have to hold your breath. Next thing, you will find yourself gasping in awe, clinching your fists and feels the adrenaline rushing from the first 10 minutes until the end.

The fighting choreography is superb; they use pencak silat (Indonesian martial art) almost in every fist-to-fist scene. Its special effects are awesome—the wounds and the bloods look pretty real (Indonesian usually sucks at faking blood). The dark ambiance of the scenes blended with the score really helps to build the tension.

Actually, the plot of this movie is quite simple; the police versus the bad guys, although it also have a background story of brothers rivalry. It also simply sets in a soppy apartment building. And if you like conversational-based movie, you won't find too many dialogues here. But once they say their lines—beside cursing, it's something strong and meaningful. Despite the simplicity, they packed every detail perfectly you don’t have to think too much about the story; you just watch and enjoy it flows. But still, I noted some moral value from this movie about friendship, loyalty and brotherhood.

Oh, by the way, the lead actor, Iko Uwais, is cute. And Doni Alamsyah, one of the supporting actors, is cool as always.

Iko Uwais

So, if you want to see some real action with some real blood spilling moments, The Raid should sit on the top of your “Must See” list.

I Wish I Could Sing This To You

Been trapped in this feeling—you know what I mean, for a long time. Recently I found this song way too late, because you could consider this song to be out of date (huh?).

If I had a chance, I will sing this song to you.
Or maybe, instead of looking for a chance, I have to make the chance myself and sing this song to him...

Sorry for the melodrama moment.

Story of a Pottermore Beta Tester

So... I've been ranting about Pottermore, now that I've got my welcome e-mail I have already live my life as a Hogwarts' First Year Student.

If you asked me what Pottermore is, my answer would be: "A site where you can really experience what it feels like to be a witch/wizard who went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardly". You can experience reading the Harry Potter book in a whole new way.

If you are interested, you can continue reading about my experience as Pottermore Beta User.

note: 

This post is image heavy and contains spoiler for Pottermore which will be opened to all in October.

Images are belong to Sonny Pottermore and JK. Rowling. I own nothing.

Welcome March

Ah, finally March arrived. Do you know that March is one of my favorite month? 

New semester has begun and so far it seems like it's gonna be a lot of fun. Tiring, hectic, full of quizzes and assignments semester but fun. I will have a lot of organizational researches and visits to some companies. Meeting a lot of new people in the company sounds so challenging and thrilling to me! 

I hope I could stay living in the way of positive mind and seeing everything as an exciting challenge so I could fight hard for my goals this semester.

Wishing you all a good day!

Friday Top Five: Favorite Love Songs

Here you go, this week's Friday Top Five. Today I'm sharing my favorite love songs. I guess I'm still caught in Valentine mode.

1.      Looking Through the Eyes of Love

“Please don’t let this feeling end, it might not come again, and I want to remember”

The first time I heard this song is on my choir rehearsal for a friend’s wedding long time ago. I was appointed to sing the female solo part at the rehearsal—replacing a friend who usually sings the solo parts.

I think this song would make a great wedding song (pointing out to the lyrics I put up there); marriage as one moment everyone always want to remember. Sweet, isn’t it?

2.      I Finally Found Someone

“I finally found someone

Someone to share my life

I finally found the one, to be with every night

‘Cause whatever I do

It’s just got to be you

My life has just begun

I finally found someone”

Same with the first song on my list; every time my choir had a wedding service, this song would be sung in duet. This would be sung after the groom opens the bride’s veil. I think, on my wedding, I would want this song played J

3.      Best in Me

“Cause you bring out the best in me, like no one else can do. That’s why I’m by your side, that’s why I love you”

Blue used to be my favorite boyband. This song, since the first time I heard this, really catches my ear. It is simple and just to the point.

4.      Because You Live

“Because you live and breathe

Because you make me believe in myself when nobody else can help

Because you live, girl

My world has twice as many stars in the sky”

Imagine a boy sings this song for you. And I would want a boy sing this for me, for I really think that it sounds very romantic.

5.      Never be the Same

“I'll never be the same

I'm caught inside the memories, the promises

are yesterdays and I belong to you.

I just can't walk away

'cause after loving you

I can never be the same”

Just listen to the whole song and the lyric. For me, there’s a story lies behind the song—obviously about how your love ones can change you, how different life would be without them.

Delirious

I was the one who presents the subject of delirious in my Abnormal Psychology Class. It’s kinda funny how I finally experience being delirious.

The last two day—yes, this very weekend, I spent my long hours in my bed for I had this high fever. Apparently, the fever had disrupted my mind. I had this serial dreams. I called it so because the dream starts at the exact point when I woke up. And sometimes I found it hard to discriminate dreams among reality.

Imagine Michael Fassbender's face
in Benedict Cumberbacth's body

I was in some journey of villain-chasing in the Victorian Era. I saw horses and hansom everywhere. Everyone speaks in lovely British accent. Everywhere I go someone would bow and address, “Ma’am” to me. In my pocket I would find a revolver I could use to defend myself from my enemy. Some dream, eh? Maybe, the adventurous dream was the side-effect of my recent habit; reading “The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes” plus watching a lot of James Bond movies in the national television channel every night before I sleep.

The weirdest part of all was the appearance of Sherlock Holmes in my dream. This Sherlock had the look of Benedict Cumberbatch, with his curls and dark hair and slender figure. Not weird? Here’s what makes it weird; this Sherlock has the face of Michael Fassbender.

Every once in a while I was awake and felt like surrounded by a lot of people although I was alone in my room. Everything seemed cloudy yet so bright. Meh, I hardly can describe my state of delirious.

When I finally woke up in the morning with a better condition, I felt really tired. And I haven’t got any weirder dream since then.

 Have you got any weirder delirious experience?

Friday Top Five: Favorite Old School Cartoon Show

Because I think Friday is suitable for some Friday Top Five. I will start from five, for I like small number. So here come your this week's Friday Five.

1.      The Wild Thornberries

I remember my jealousy to Eliza Thornberry. That time I thought she was so lucky; having ability to talk to animals, doesn’t go to school and always travelling around the world with her family in their van.

I didn’t think much of the moral value back then. But now I see that it is a great cartoon. It tells us that family is the most important thing in the world—even the most annoying sibling. For my little brother used to be so annoying.

2.      Hey Arnold!

To be honest, the only thing that attract me to keep watching Hey Arnold! was  Helga’s unhealthy obsession to this ball-headed guy, Arnold. Curiosity never escaped me every time I watch each episode, asking myself  “what would Helga make today?”. For Helga can be highly creative on expressing her secret love to Arnold.

But the friendship between the children in the neighborhood  and the conflicts that happened between them also interesting. In my opinion, the characters in the series can be a good example for a personality study. Arnold's assertiveness, Gerard's street smart, Helga's bossiness... Well, you name it.

3.      Chuck Jones’ Tom and Jerry

It has to be Chuck Jones’ version! Not that the other version sucks, but I like it best because for me this version got the best picture. Tom and Jerry are somewhat cuter here. And the music, man, this is what I called psychedelic. It has got jazz, boogie-woogie, ballad, opera (remember when Tom singing Figaro?), waltz and many more in it. The synchronization between the music and the film is perfect even though they used a real orchestra for the score. And the sound effects are just perfectly sync with every moment. This version is just epic.

4.      Chibi Maruko-Chan

This is a anime, very old one, adapted from a manga with the same title. Telling stories of Momoko Sakura (the very own writer of this comic) in her childhood back in year 1974. I found this manga amusing. Momoko—was called Maruko-chan while she was just a kid—did so many stupidities, which are so funny. But in the end she always learns something from her mistake. It’s a warm hearted cartoon, and sometimes very touching.

5.      Digimon

I used to be so obsessed with this anime that I create my own version of Digimon—some kind of Fanfiction I manually wrote while I was bored in class. It was called Magic Land. Oh dear Lord how can I still remember about this?

I know some of you would prefer Pokèmon rather than Digimon. But the friendship value and the absence of Team Rocket from Digimon wins my heart. 

How about you? What's your favorite old school cartoon show?

New Blog Title: A bit about b.i.t.s.

I've decided to do something more about this blog, like putting more effort to keep its existence through the net. I might do regular post on particular day (something like Movie Monday or so). I will post something which represent me, my thoughts and my feelings. That way, I think, renaming my blog with more representable title is a good start.

Readers, please welcome, "b.i.t.s." aka "because I think so"! Formerly known as "Story of My Li(f)e".

b.i.t.s. is on third page if you search for it :p

As an acronym for "because I think so", b.i.t.s. will tell you about anything I ever think of, anything that crossed my mind. I can tell you about things I like, books I have read, music I find interesting, review of some movies and my daily life.

And I will tell you the reason why I think so. That's the way I share my thoughts; through my point of view.

Hopefully you will enjoy :)

Story of a Student with a Bad Luck

What occurred to your mind when you hear the word disappointed? For me, it is simply a mismatch between what I expect and the reality.

Maybe you ever noticed my ‘5th semester affirmation’, in the sidebar (though it is now deleted).  This is where the disappointment came from, because my 5^th semester GPA is far below my expectation. 

The disappointing report card

The thing is, I put a lot of effort for this semester’s assignment. I had travel to other city only to gather data for my research, hardly sleep enough; causing me some metabolite problem—made me gain almost 10 kg in 3 month... 

I did try confirming the grade to my lectures—for I think that the score I got wasn't fair at all, compared to my hard working. But seemingly they had wrapped the grade, left me disappointed. 

And my dear readers, I am sorry for complaining a lot.

I grieved for days because of this. I used to be quite bright. Getting low grade this semester kind of blew me. It ruined my plan. I couldn’t apply for scholarship—because it requires at least 3 on the GPA. I had to retake the failed subject, such a waste of time. It means I wouldn’t be able to graduate on schedule.

The worst is not that I disappointed myself, but also my parents. I’m ashamed. I know that they put a lot of hope on me, but what did I give to them? A low grade? Meh!

Then I brace myself to tell my dad about my grade.

But, he wasn’t angry. At all. Like my failure wasn’t a big thing. He told me that it was okay I didn’t get ‘income’ from this semester’s grants; I still could write short stories, get it published and received honorarium from that (oh yeah, I got my story published on a magazine last November) or earning some bucks from my freelance job as psycho-tester. He even mocked the lectures with me, LOL.

Here’s what he said about my grade

"Leave the bad grades behind and live more optimistically next semester."

Isn’t he the coolest dad ever?

My Mom too, is supporting enough. She knows how hard I work for last semester's assignment. For her, my low grade was just some bad luck. Well, true enough.

Yeah, grieving over the wrapped score won’t change anything. Keeping angry to my lecturers won’t do me any good. I will retake my failed classes, trying to get a better score and stop complaining about my disappointment.

Wishing you all a good—non-disappointing day!

This is Love, February!

Welcome February! 

As we know, this is the month when we celebrate Valentine's Day. I'm quite in the mood for love. So here you go, one of my favorite love songs: This is Love by The Script. You might want to pay attention to the lyrics cause it has a very deep meaning :) 

It's the Melody that Catches My Ears

I used to have this argument about songs; which one is the most important, music or lyric? Back then I argued that lyric is the most important part of the song. For me, then, even if the music was so cool but the lyric contained nothing; the song was not worth listening.

Until I found this EP called You Are Here / Vous Êtes Ici. It was released by Simple Plan’s guitarist Sébastien Lefebvre. This album somehow totally changes my opinion towards music-lyric things. The music, which is dominated by acoustic guitar plays, is far different from Simple Plan’s punk-rock style. Listening to this album somewhat brings me a heartwarming moment. One song I really like from the EP is called "Comatose" (video attached). But this time, I only listen to the music—without meaning to say that the lyric is crappy. It’s just that this time, it is the melody that really catches my ears. For one time I don’t care at all about the lyrics (for I have no idea about what the songs are saying even though I have played it over and over again).

I guess the reason a song has both music and lyric is to complete each other. I will never argue about the importance of lyric anymore.

Greetings, 2012! A Great Start for a (Hopefully) Great Year.

Hello world, I'm back. How's everybody doing while I'm awhile? 

So far, 2012 have been a nice companion though the New Year gift I received—the two week in a row exam, wasn't really sweet. Beside, spending New Year's eve by working on the your parent's restaurant surely was not the greatest way to spent the turn of the year.

But, an excellent start in the beginning of this year surely could be a good sign for a great year—well; I hope so, for I started 2012 with a big smile and excitement of an unexpected fortune.

Let me tell you that I have never dream of coming to a concert in which my favorite band performs. For I live far from the capital city—and the concerts usually takes place in the capital. The price I have to pay to see the concert (including the charge for general admission and the accommodation) might cost my whole year grant. So, I dare not to think of coming and see my favorite bands like Panic at the Disco and Simple Plan (both was held in 2008) performing in Jakarta.

Yet we never know where fate might lead us.

Last Wednesday (18/01/2012), fate was kind enough to let me see Simple Plan Get Your Heart On! Indonesia Tour 2012 from the Festival A class—it was in right in front of the stage!  Never occurred to my mind that Simple Plan with Pierre on vocal, Seb on guitar and backing vocal, David on bass and backing vocal, Jeff on lead guitar and Chuck on drum, the band I adore since I was a Junior High dork—will ever come and held a concert in the city where I live; Surabaya. 

Although the effort that grant me the ticket was full of drama, every pain was paid by their great performance. I remember spent almost two sleepless weeks last October working on my side-job, travelling from one corner of my city to the other, putting on my headphone to do the job till I got some ear infection from over-working while that time I still had a lot of assignments only to fight for the ticket concert.

This was my first concert I ever attended and it was amazing. It’s hard to describe the feeling that surrounds me during the concert. Seemed like I was in a state of trance; I forget the stressful exam week, the problems I had—those sourness and bitterness in my life vapors as I held my hand out to reach the bands, screamed the songs at the top of my lungs and jumped with the beat.

The concert's ambiance was great. It was full of energy and risen up audience's spirit. Supported by great sound and lighting, Simple Plan performed perfectly.  Pierre and David really was communicative. Pierre even threw some Indonesian/Surabayan puns like "Wani piro?" (I might freely translated it as you dare me?) and "Piye kabare Suroboyo (how are you Surabaya)?"

the girls I went to the concert with
(me, Dece, Grace & Beta)

The funny thing is I develop this Post Concert Syndrome after the concert is done. It’s some kind of over-excitement even depression that stays with me for the next three days. I caught myself smiling or giggling uncontrollably remembering how awesome the show was— even the worse, I could scream in frustration thinking why the concert had to be over. For days I spent my day texting the girls I went to the concert with, only discussing how great the performance, Pierre and Seb's handsomeness, the pervert act David made during the show, how mature and cool Jeff is and how out of reach was Chuck because he was seated in the very edge of the stage.

Shortly, the concert was one best thing ever happened in my life. And I can’t wait to have other extraordinary experience for 2012 has just begun.

So, 2012, let's be friend! I'll be waiting for the surprises you have prepared for me XD