#787 - This Decade's Last Entry

ENGLISH

Well, this entry is the last entry posted this decade of 2000s (2000-2009). I have been blogging for almost half a decade, wow!! I think it's quite an achievement!! :-) This decade has been so colorful for me. Sure I started blogging in April 2005, so what happened around and to me before that month weren't recorded here.

I started this decade as a 6th grader and now I end this decade as a nearly graduated undergraduate student. These last 10 years, time really flies!! I think it might be because I had my secondary school education and above during this decade. I don't know why but I think sometimes I feel 3 years in Junior High School or Senior High School ran really fast. They were not like half the time I spent in Elementary School (6 years), they seemed to be shorter than that (or alternatively, the time I spent in elementary school seemed to be longer than how long it actually was, LOL). The same thing also occured during my undergraduate study. I started as a freshman seven semesters ago and now I am already in the end of it! Wow!! Anyway, a lot of things had happened during this decade, sweet thing, sour thing, good thing, bad thing, and anything else happened which enrich myself. I will always reminisce the 2000s as the decade where I learnt and enriched myself to be a grown-up.

Well, this also means that this is also the last entry in 2009. Looking back, 2009 has been another interesting (and also busy) year. My main "theme" in campus was my thesis. I started 2009 working on my thesis through Seminar Class. The class was continued by thesis class this semester. It was all concluded with my final presentation two weeks ago. I also had fun in 2009.

Looking at the coming 2010, a big challenge is approaching me. I will start 2010 as a graduate. The options of what I can do next are really wide and really serious! I need to really think about what I want to do and what is best for me. Will I start looking for a real job or will I continue my study or will I do something else? The real world is in front of me. Honestly, it looks kinda scary from the place where I am in now but sooner or later I must bring myself in to that world. That's why I need to prepare myself as best as possible. I always pray to God to help me set my direction and make my step to achieve that.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Yah, posting ini adalah posting terakhir dasawarsa tahun 2000an ini (2000-2009). Aku sudah mengeblog selama hampir setengah dasawarsa lho, wow!! Aku rasa lumayan presetasi juga tuh!! :-) Dasawarsa ini benar2 telah menjadi suatu yang berwarna buatku. Ya memang aku baru mulai mengeblog sejak April 2005, makanya apa yang terjadi di sekitarku sebelum bulan itu tidak terekam disini.

Aku memulai dasawarsa ini sebagai murid kelas 6 SD dan kini aku mengakhirinya sebagai seorang yang akan lulus kuliah S1. Sepuluh tahun ini, waktu benar2 cepat berlalu!! Aku rasa mungkin itu karena aku menjalani pendidikan menengah dan lebih tinggi pada dasawarsa ini. Aku tak tahu kenapa tetapi yang jelas kadang aku merasa 3 tahun di SMP ato SMA itu terasa cepat sekali lho. Kayanya waktunya itu nggak seperti setengah waktu yang aku habiskan semasa SD (6 tahun), terasanya jauh lebih singkat dari itu (atau bisa juga sih dipandang waktu di SD terasa lebih lama dari seharusnya, LOL). Hal yang sama juga terjadi di masa perkuliahan. Aku memulai sebagai mahasiswa baru tujuh semester yang lalu dan kini aku sudah ada di penghujungnya!! Wow!! Yah, omong2 ada banyak hal yang terjadi dasawarsa ini, hal manis, hal pahit, hal baik maupun buruk, dan hal-hal lainnya yang telah memperkaya diriku. Aku akan selalu mengingat masa 2000an ini sebagai dasawarsa dimana aku belajar dan memperkaya diriku menjadi seorang manusia yang dewasa.

Yah, ini artinya posting ini juga merupakan posting terakhir di tahun 2009. Menilik kembali, 2009 telah menjadi tahun yang menarik (dan juga sibuk). "Tema" utamaku di kampus adalah skripsi. Aku memulai 2009 dengan pengerjaan skripsi melalui kelas Seminar. Kelas itu dilanjutkan dengan kelas Skripsi semester ini. Semua itu berpuncak pada sidang akhirku dua minggu lalu. Yah, di samping itu tahun 2009 juga sudah menjadi tahun yang asik juga sih.

Menatap tahun 2010 yang akan segera datang, tantangan besar menghadapiku. Aku akan memulai 2010 sebagai seorang sarjana. Pilihan akan apa yang bisa aku lakukan kemudian sangatlah luas dan serius! Aku benar-benar harus memikirkan apa yang ingin aku lakukan dan apa yang terbaik untukku. Apakah aku akan mencari pekerjaan sebenarnya ataukah aku akan sekolah lanjut ataukah aku akan mengerjakan sesuatu yang lain? Dunia nyata kini sudah benar-benar di depan mata. Yah, jujur, dari tempat aku berada kini, itu nampak menyeramkan tetapi aku tahun bahwa cepat atau lambat aku harus membawa diriku masuk ke dalamnya. Oleh karenanya aku harus benar-benar mempersiapkan diriku sebaik mungkin. Aku selalu berdoa pada Tuhan untuk menolongku menentukan arah dan membuat langkah untuk mencapainya.

#786 - Short Trip to Bandungan

ENGLISH

These last two days, my family and I went to Bandungan, a small town located in the foothill of a mountain near Semarang. We went there with our relatives and we rented a villa at a hotel to stay.

We departed on Monday morning at 7.30 AM and we made a stop at Muntilan to have breakfast. We had "sop empal" as our breakfast. I personally didn't really like the taste even though many other people loved it, hmmm. Anyway, then we continued our trip and arrived at Bandungan at around 11.30 AM. We apparently must wait until 1 PM to check in. Therefore, we decided to go to Bandungan Market first to have dinner at a warung bakso there.

At 1 PM we went back to our hotel and checked in. Next, my brother and I played tennis at the tennis court (that's obvious since we wouldn't have played at a swimming pool, rite? :D), tho we didn't bring any equipments, we rented it and played barefoot, damn, LOL. Anyway, after that we took a rest. We then had dinner in the evening at a chinese food restaurant. Well, there were not so many activities that we did as we just enjoyed the atmosphere of the small town.

We got up early on Tuesday as my relatives had another trip to Purwokerto coming that day. After having breakfast and checking out, we went to Bandungan Market again. After that, we went back to Yogyakarta and my relatives headed Purwokerto. On the way back home, we made two stops. The first stop was at the Kerep Cave. The last time I visited Kerep Cave was this time, not so long ago. The second stop was at a warung near Yogyakarta as we had lunch there. It was the "Lombok Ijo Sego Abang" warung (roughly translated as "green chili red rice"). It served traditional Gunung Kidul cuisine, and I think the menus were unique :-)

::: Sop Empal

::: A scenery at Bandungan. Rawa Pening Reservoir and the town of Ambarawa is within visible range.

::: Bakso Brengos at Bandungan Market.

::: Bandungan Traditional Market.

::: One morning scenery at Bandungan.

::: A diorama at Kerep Cave.

::: Menus at "Lombok Ijo Sego Abang" warung.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Dua hari terakhir ini, aku dan keluarga pergi ke Bandungan, sebuah kota kecil yang terletak di kaki gunung di dekat Semarang. Kami pergi kesana bersama kerabat dan kami menyewa villa di sebuah hotel untuk tinggal.

Kami berangkat Senin pagi, sekitar jam 7.30 pagi dan berhenti di Muntilan untuk sarapan. Kami makan "sop empal" sebagai sarapan. Aku sih ga gitu suka sama rasanya ya walau banyak orang yang bilang enak banget sih, hmmm. Ya, pokoknya kemudian kami melajutkan perjalanan dan tiba di Bandungan sekitar jam 11.30 pagi. Kami ternyata harus menunggu sampai jam 1 untuk check in. Makanya, kami memutuskan untuk jalan ke Pasar Bandungan aja dan makan siang di sebuah warung bakso disana.

Jam 1 siang kami kembali ke hotel dan check in. Kemudian, aku dan adikku main tenis di lapangan tenis (iyalah, masa di kolam renang? :D), walau kami ga bawa peralatan apa-apa sih, makanya kami menyewanya dan bermain dengan telanjang kaki, sial, LOL. Yah, kemudian kami beristirahat. Malamnya kami makan malam di sebuah restoran chinese food. Yah, memang sih nggak banyak aktivitas yang dilakukan karena kalau disana ya memang sebatas menikmati suasana kota kecil itu saja.

Selasa pagi, kami bangun lumayan pagi karena kerabat harus melanjutkan perjalanan ke Purwokerto. Setelah makan pagi dan check out, kami pergi ke Pasar Bandungan lagi. Kemudian, kami kembali ke Yogyakarta dan kerabat pergi menuju Purwokerto. Di perjalanan pulang, kami mampir di dua tempat. Tempat pertama adalah Goa Kerep. Terakhir kali aku ke Goa Kerep adalah waktu ini, belum terlalu lama deh. Perhentian yang kedua adalah di sebuah warung deket Yogyakarta karena kami makan siang disana. Warung itu adalah "Lombok Ijo Sego Abang" (terjemahan kasarnya kira2 "cabai hijau nasi merah"). Menunya adalah menu tradisional khas Gunung Kidul, dan aku rasa unik juga tuh :-)

#785 - Holiday Updates

ENGLISH

As written before, it has been more than one week since I was back in Yogyakarta for my year end holiday. This last one week has kinda been fun. The only not fun thing lately is the severe traffic jam caused by the visit of a lot of tourists to Yogyakarta. Yeah, it's an international holiday time and no wonder people from all places come to Yogyakarta, hahaha... . Talking about the crowded city, lucky the damn traffic jam only happen in well-known main streets. Since I lived here for long, to get to one place, I might be able to find an alternative route, it might be longer than the convenience route but it's traffic-jam-free, ain't that nice? haha...

Well, this one week in Yogyakarta, I apparently have eaten some many favorite foods of mine here, which is a good thing :) Yeah, I love this holiday. Next Monday I am going to Bandungan, a small town in the foothill of a mountain near Semarang. I will be back on Tuesday, hehe :)

::: One spot at Tasikmalaya Station (during my trip back to Jogja)

::: Inside Argo Wilis Express

::: our menu as I had meal with my friend at Tio Ciu.

::: inside Kotabaru Church

::: Soto Kridosono

::: Homemade steak

::: Cok Diam Fried Rice

::: Megelangan

::: Mie Godhog

::: Soto Kadipiro

(note: I decided to put a title in my picture with new design, should I also always write the description of the photos tho??)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Seperti yang tertulis sebelumnya, sudah seminggu lebih nih sejak aku balik ke Yogyakarta untuk liburan akhir tahun. Seminggu terakhir ini menyenangkan loh. Yang tidak menyenangkan adalah kemacetan yang diakibatkan oleh Yogyakarta dikunjungi banyak banget turis. Ya tentu saja sih ya sekarang kan masa libur sedunia makanya ga heran juga banyak orang berkunjung ke Yogyakarta, hahaha... . Ngomong2 tentang kemacetan, ya untung aja kemacetan itu terjadi terutama di jalan-jalan utama yang terkenal. Karena tinggal disini sudah lama, untuk pergi ke satu tempat, aku mungkin masih bisa mencari rute alternatif, yang mungkin saja sebenarnya agak lebih jauh dari rute biasa, tapi paling nggak kan bebas macet, enak kan? haha...

Yah, seminggu di Yogyakarta, aku ternyata sudah makan beberapa banyak makanan favoritku nih disini, dan bagus kan itu :) Ya, aku suka liburan kali ini. Senin besok ini aku akan pergi ke Bandungan, sebuah kota kecil di kaki gunung di dekat Semarang. Aku akan balik hari Selasa, hehe :)

#784 - Blog Change

ENGLISH

As of now, it has been one week since I went back to Yogyakarta in this year end holiday. So far, it has been a fun holiday :-) I hanged out with my friends, some relatives came to town, etc. For now, I want to write about my blog's recent (big) change.

Last week I received a notification that Haloscan's free service is about to end in 15 days (next week) unless I upgraded my account to ECHO, in which I must pay. I decided to revert my commenting system back to Blogger's default. Luckily, Haloscan is professional as they helped me reverting all the blog coding back to Blogger's original commenting system. However, one problem is still tingling in my mind, as apparently I had 9,000+ (nearly 10,000) comments posted in Haloscan (I was "loyal" with Haloscan for almost 4 years I think :-) ), is it possible to export those Haloscan comments to Blogger?

Well, by the way, as I tried to edit my blog myself last week, I decided to change my blog's layout. I actually wanted to change my blog's background to something brighter with dark texts as I thought it might be more comfortable to read. However, during the first 4.5 years of me blogging (about 750+ entries), I colored all the texts in each entry myself, making the color was NOT defaulted. Therefore, if I change the background to something bright, let's say white, my older entries will still remain in the same color. Then, because I used dark background, the colors I picked were suitable to dark background, making the texts unreadable (or hard to read, at least) in bright background. Therefore I had no other option than to still change the layout to another dark background :-) I still have other option tho if I want to use bright background: changing all older entries' texts' color(s) to something dark. However, I think this is not feasible as of now because I have 750+ entries to work on if I choose this option :) Anyway, I also decided to throw the plane's picture away, as I think it made people harder to read the entry... :D

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sampai saat ini, sudah seminggu nih sejak aku balik ke Yogyakarta dalam rangka liburan akhir taun. Sejauh ini sih sudah menyenangkan loh :-) Aku jalan2 sama teman2, beberapa saudara datang, dll. Untuk sekarang, aku akan menulis tentang perubahan (besar) di blogku akhir2 ini deh.

Minggu lalu aku menerima pemberitahuan bahwa fasilitas gratisan Haloscan akan berakhir dalam 15 hari (minggu depan) kecuali aku meng-upgrade akunku ke ECHO, dimana aku harus membayar. Nah, aku memutuskan untuk mengembalikkan sistem komen ke sistem milik Blogger. Untungnya, Haloscan profesional juga lho karena mereka membantuku mengembalikan kode program blogku ke kode asli dengan sistem komen Blogger. Namun, masih ada masalah yang terngiang di kepala nih, karena ternyata aku memiliki 9.000+ (hampir 10.000 malah) komen yang dipos di Haloscan (ya, aku "setia" sama Haloscan selama nyaris 4 tahun rasanya :-) ), mungkinkah mengekspor komen dari Haloscan itu ke Blogger?

Yah, omong2, ketika aku mencoba mengedit blogku sendiri minggu lalu, aku memutuskan sekalian untuk mengganti layout-nya. Sebenarnya aku ingin mengganti latar belakang blogku dengan sesuatu yang cerah dengan tulisan gelap karena rasanya kombinasi itu adalah kombinasi yang paling nyaman untuk membaca. Namun, selama 4,5 tahun pertama aku ngeblog (sekitar 750+ posting), aku memberi warna secara manual ke setiap postingku. Akibatnya, warnanya TIDAK otomatis / default. Makanya, kalau aku mengganti latar belakang ke sesuatu yang cerah, misalnya putih, posting lamaku akan tetap memiliki warna yang sama. Karena aku dulu menggunakan latar belakang gelap, makanya warna tulisannya cocok dengan latar belakang gelap, akibatnya tulisannya tidak bisa dibaca (atau setidaknya sulit dibaca) di latar belakang cerah. Makanya nggak ada pilihan lain deh selain tetap menggantinya ke layout lain dengan latar belakang gelap :-) Masih ada pilihan lain sih sebenarnya jika ingin tetap menggunakan latar belakang cerah: mengganti semua warna tulisan di posting lama ke sesuatu yang gelap. Namun, aku rasa pilihan ini tidak mungkin dipilih karena aku jadi ada 750+ posting yang harus diedit apabila ini dilakukan :) Oya, aku juga sekalian deh memutuskan untuk membuang gambar pesawatnya, soalnya kayanya gambar itu malah membuat orang sulit membaca postingnya... :D

#783 - Merry Christmas 2009!!!

Hi all

I just wanna say:

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009

to all of you


who celebrate it

May His Mercy and Greatness bless us all with all the best things

#782 - Holiday...

ENGLISH

Well, today is my last day in Bandung this year. Tomorrow I am going back to my hometown, Yogyakarta for my year-end holiday. It's really exciting to go home with a relieved feeling. Well, not all of what I have to do post-thesis have been done yet, but at least the most important thing (my final presentation) and several things have been done. It is such a reliever!! haha... . Nothing much happened lately, it's just that I spent the last two days preparing anything I can for my graduation next February. By January, I must have subscribed myself to the graduation and by that I have to submit several requirements.

It is so exciting tho, now a set of holiday agendas are waiting for me. Next January I am going to BALI with my college friends for one week, haha. The trip will be before next semester starts, so it's still in this year-end holiday "set", LOL. Finally the time has come!! Time flies!! We have planned for this trip for years and now it's less than a month ahead!!

Anyway, these last two days, Bandung has kinda been a bit more crowded than usual. There were more severe traffic jam at some streets, dang. So lucky tomorrow I will leave this city and "miss" the damn traffic which always occurs in Bandung every time holiday comes, hehe :-)

::: an "iseng" picture I took when I was stuck in the traffic at Cipaganti St.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Yah, hari ini adalah hari terakhirku di Bandung tahun ini. Besok aku akan balik ke kota asalku, Yogyakarta, untuk liburan akhir tahun. Bener2 asik nih bisa pulang ke rumah dengan perasaan yang lega. Ya, bukannya semua dari apa yang harus aku lakukan pasca-sidang sudah terlaksana sih, hanya saja setidaknya yang penting banget (sidangku) dan beberapa hal sudah selesai dilakukan. Bener2 membuat tenang!! haha... . Nggak banyak sih yang terjadi akhir2 ini, hanya saja aku menghabiskan dua hari belakangan ini ya dengan mempersiapkan segalanya untuk wisudaku Februari nanti. Di bulan Januari, aku harus sudah mendaftarkan diri untuk wisuda nih dan untuk itu aku harus memasukkan beberapa persyaratan.

O iya, baru sadar nih kalo sekarang ini asik banget soalnya serangkaian agenda liburan sudah menantiku lho. Januari nanti aku akan pergi ke BALI bersama temen2 kampusku selama seminggu, haha. Perjalanannya akan dilaksanain sebelum semester depan mulai, makanya masih termasuk dalam rangkaian liburan akhir tahun, LOL. Akhirnya waktunya tiba juga!! Bener2 cepet deh!! Kami sudah merencanakannya lama lho bertahun2 dan akhirnya sekarang tinggal kurang dari sebulan sebelum terlaksana!!

Ngomong2, dua hari belakangan ini, Bandung jadi lebih ramai dari biasanya deh. Di beberapa jalan terjadi kemacetan yang lebih parah dari biasanya, sial. Untungnya besok aku akan meninggalkan kota ini dan melewatkan kemacetan gila yang terjadi di Bandung tiap kali liburan, hehe :-)

#781 - It's Done!!!

ENGLISH

YES, it's DONE!!! I am so relieved right now. Well, what is "it" anyway? Well, "it" refers to my final project and final presentation. This morning at 11 AM I my final presentation took place.

Well, let's start on how my few days have been because of preparing for my final presentation. I think the world was testing me, especially my patient and cold thinking.

During the weekend, after I had my last examination, I worked on one program for my final project. Well, there was a problem. Apparently, for some cases, my computers (yeah, it's plural, I used mine and my brother's computer to speed things up) worked a lot longer than I expected. Well, my decision to use two computers turned to be a smart one because it helped me to finish on time. One case took 6 hours to complete, the other took 14 hours to complete, and the other took 30 hours+ to complete. Imagine that!! Had I not used two computers, I wouldn't have finished on time!!

One day before the final presentation, there were also several problems related to my computer and therefore prohibited me from working on my final project smoothly, damn it.

Today, well, I think I was kinda nervous a bit and at some points, my nerve overshadowed the best of me a bit. I knew I could have done better on the presentation and answering the questions. Some questions were really basic, and because I wasn't prepared to answer those questions (which I honestly didn't expect to come up), I couldn't nail all of them, damn, haha. However, in the end, it all went relatively smoothly actually, and I thanked God for that :-) I got an A :-D

::: Me @ My Final Presentation

BAHASA INDONESIA

YEAH, akhirnya BERES!! Aku bisa berlega hati nih sekarang. Hmm, berlega karena apa? Yah, jelas saja karena skripsi dan sidang skripsiku. Pagi tadi, sidang skripsiku berlangsung pada jam 11 pagi.

Yah, mari kita mulai dengan topik tentang bagaimana aku melewatkan beberapa hari terakhir untuk mempersiapkan presentasi itu. Rasanya dunia ini kaya sedang mengetes aku, terutama kesabaran dan pikiran dinginku.

Selama wiken, setelah aku mengikuti ujian tertulis terakhirku, aku bekerja pada program untuk tugas akhir. Yah, ternyata ada masalah. Ternyata, untuk beberapa kasus, komputer-komputerku (iya, jamak lho, aku memakai komputerku dan komputer adikku, ini dengan pertimbangan untuk mempercepat proses saja) bekerja jauh lebih lama dari perkiraan. Yah, ternyata keputusanku untuk memakai dua komputer itu sangat tepat karena itu membantuku selesai tepat waktu. Satu kasus memakan waktu 6 jam untuk selesai, 1 kasus lain sampai 14 jam, bahkan 1 kasus lain sampe 30 jam lebih lho. Andai aja nih aku tidak memakai dua komputer, nggak akan selesai tepat waktu dah!!

Sehari sebelum sidang, ada beberapa masalah juga yang berhubungan sama komputer dan makanya itu menghambatku dari mengerjakan skripsi dengan mulus, sial.

Hari ini, hmm, aku agak gugup deh sedikit pada beberapa bagian. Kegugupanku itu menghalangiku untuk tampil yang terbaik. Aku tahu aku bisa tampil dengan lebih baik dalam presentasi maupun sesi tanya jawab. Beberapa pertanyaan malah sebenarnya sangat dasar, dan mungkin memang karena aku tidak siap menjawabnya (karena jujur aku ga nyangka pertanyaan itu yang akan muncul, saking dasarnya), jadi tidak bisa jawab dengan baik dan sempurna neh, sial, haha. Yah, tapi paling nggak pada akhirnya bisa dikatakan berjalan dengan lancar lah, dan aku sangat berterimakasih pada Tuhan karenanya :-) Aku dapat A :-D

#780 - Last UAS

ENGLISH

Well, last Thursday, I officially had my last written UAS (final examination) on my undergraduate study. Anyway I just realized one trivia of my undergraduate study. Apparently, the subject of my first written examination (midterm/UTS) in October 2006 and the last subject of my written examination (UAS) which was held this week, were all taught by the same lecturer! hahaha... :-)

Anyway, now I only have one more final examination before my graduation: my final presentation next Tuesday. Currently I am preparing anything I might need for it, haha, wish me luck. The program I made is now running and apparently the case I put in was pretty "hard" as it has now been 22 hours 35 minutes since I inputed the info in and it is still processing right now, wew. I hope the outcome is worth waited.

Arrggghhh, I can't wait next week where I will be home for year end holiday, hahaha... :-)

Anyway, let me not write only about my thesis, haha, let's back to one of my favorite topic: gastronomy. Last Thursday finally I had dinner at Avenue-A pizza. Well, it has been really a long time since the last time I had meal there. If I am not mistaken, the last time I had Avenue-A pizza as my meal was at 2006 or 2007, during my freshmen year at Unpar. Anyway, I ordered my favorite appetizer, a fried mozzarella. Hmm, writing about fried mozzarella, can anyone tell me how to make it? I assume it might not be that complicated to make one? Hmmm.... .

::: Fried Mozzarella

::: Don Michelle Pizza (Medium Size)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Hmm, Kamis kemarin, secara resmi aku menghadapi UAS (ujian akhir) tertulis-ku yang terakhir di masa pendidikan sarjanaku. Ngomong2, aku baru menyadari satu trivia nih tentang pendidikan sarjanaku. Jadi ternyata tuh ya, mata kuliah yang diujian-tertuliskan pertama kali (UTS) pada bulan Oktober 2006 dan mata kuliah yang diujikan terakhir minggu ini, diajar oleh dosen yang sama loh! hahaha... :-)

Ngomong2, sekarang masih ada satu ujian terakhir sih sebelum kelulusan, yaitu presentasi terakhirku hari Selasa besok. Sekarang aku sih sedang mempersiapkan semua yang kira2 akan aku butuhkan untuk itu. Program yang aku buat sekarang sedang bekerja nih dan ternyata kasus yang aku masukkan lumayan "berat" soalnya sudah 22 jam 35 menit nih sejak aku masukkan datanya dan sekarang masih sedang diproses, wew. Mudah2an hasilnya layak ditunggu.

Arrggghhh, aku bener2 pengen segera minggu depan dimana aku akan pulang untuk liburan, hahaha... :-)

Ngomong2, biarkanlah aku menulis sesuatu selain skripsi deh ya, haha, mari kembali ke salah satu topik favoritku: gastronomi. Jadi, Kamis kemarin, akhirnya aku makan lagi di Avenue-A pizza. Hmm, sudah lumayan lama juga sejak terakhir aku makan disana. Kalau nggak salah, terakhir aku makan disana sih tahun 2006 ato 2007 gitu, yang jelas di tahun pertama kuliahku di Unpar. Ngomong2, aku waktu kemarin itu memesan mozzarella goreng, salah satu makanan pembuka favoritku. Btw, ada yang tahu nggak sih cara membuatnya? Soalnya sepertinya nggak terlalu rumit ya untuk membuatnya? Hmmm... .

#779 - The Amazing Race 15

note : this entry will only be written in English :-)

Last week, the fifteenth season of The Amazing Race was concluded. In the end, after twelve legs, Meghan & Cheyne won the race. Well, this is not really surprising because they had been domination this season with four streak victories in the last four legs along with two other victories.

Apparently, some guesses I made this time were correct. I was correct in predicting Meghan & Cheyne to be the strongest team this season. I was also correct predicting Mika & Canaan would last long till the end. Well, they survived pretty long tho. Plus, three of the teams I liked at that time made it to the top three!! Wow!! That one factor makes this season to be one of the best :-)

::: Meghan & Cheyne

Overall, I think season 15 was one of the strongest seasons of all. The competition was pretty furious and the castings were really strong. The diversity of the contestants was really interesting. However, it doesn't mean this season is perfect. In fact, I feel there were several downsides made by the producer.

The first downside was the two new twists. I don't think both twists were interesting to watch nor effective. "Early Elimination" was a "stupid" twist in my opinion. It only brought early tension in the first 15 minutes but after that there was barely any effect left. It would not bring any spice further on the rest of the race. By doing that, in fact, they just rose their production cost by having to pay for all the accommodations (and cost) for that one "extra" team, while they only filmed exactly the same amount of episodes (and legs) as other previous seasons. The extra cost is okay if it brings more "profit" to the show itself, but I don't think there is any good side of it aside from the tense 15 first minutes of the race. After that, people would not even care about this early elimination or the eliminated team. The twist was also "bad" for the eliminated team, in this case Eric & Lisa. They finally beat all other thousands applicants to be on TAR, one of the greatest TV shows ever, but they didn't even leave the US and only survived the first 15 minutes of the leg. How suck is that? The second twist was the "Switchback". It was actually ONLY a roadblock but it had been done before in one previous season (season 6). Hello?? Okay, it was a tough roadblock, but so what??

The second downside, which makes the first one look even worse, is the elimination of YIELD/U-TURN. I personally think Yield and U-Turn are the best twists in TAR(A). It is so interesting to see how team decides to or not to yield/u-turn other team and how the yielded/u-turned team copes with that. It reflects their strategy and personality. This twist also stimulates (or triggers) further conflict(s) between teams, and conflict is money for a show, right? It makes the show much more interesting to watch. This mistake even makes the first one worse because it seems that the producer traded yield/u-turned for early elimination/switchback, which IMO are not great twists.

The third downside was the lame final task. The season finale was so cool and great up to the poker chips task. However, after that they had to meet Mr. Vegas, and after that, finish line. Well, for me, one great task TAR had on their several previous final legs was the "review" task, where team had to complete task which involved all the journey they had travelled. Eliminating this task, for me, was a bad decision :-(

The other downside, not a major one and it was out of the producer's hand to control, was the domination of Meghan & Cheyne. Well, don't get me wrong, they are my most favorite team this season, I like this team so much. However, watching a team dominates a season so much is kinda boring :-) This is like what happened at TARA 2 and TAR 13 where Mark & Rovilson and Nick & Starr dominated the seasons, respectively.

::: Meghan & Cheyne won season 15 of TAR.

Anyway, aside from those weaknesses I thinkl, I think season 15 had been a great season. This season was helped by the great castings of teams, that's really important to make people enjoy the show no matter what weaknesses appear. I personally still think this season was one of the best season ever even though had those weaknesses not appeared, it would have been even more perfect :-)

::: A great casting of season 15 which helped this season to overcome the weaknesses.

Finally, kudos to the producer!! Hopefully they will make an even better season 16 (I heard they have started filming season 16)!! Long live TAR!! :-) And yeah, congratulations to Meghan & Cheyne, the most competitive team this season and my most fave team!! Note : I also love the other two teams in the top three :-)

ps : all photos taken from the official website, link above

#778 - A New Week

ENGLISH

Another week has started, and now it's about seven days before my final presentation next week. This week I must face two final exams on Wednesday and Thursday, wew, but my mind now focuses on my final presentation next week because I still have several things to do to prepare for it. I have finished the program my supervisor gave me last week but I still need to check it. Well, I feel like I am such in a big amount of stress this week and I really hope I could deal with all this week's pressures and execute all things I need to!! hahaha :)

There's nothing much happened lately since, well, clearly I devoted most of my time to my final work (thesis) lately, hahaha. Well, there were also several assignments due last week and some problems kinda pissed me off, but I learn something from that :)

One thing which kinda frustrates me lately was my super BAD internet connection, it barely connects to the internet. Most of the time, when I try to connect, it fails. Just like right now, it's connected to the internet but because it's so damn slow, I can't access anything but google, wew, that's kinda useless right? Damn. Note: now I use my brother's laptop to surf the net :)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Minggu yang baru sudah dimulai, dan sekarang sudah tinggal tujuh hari lagi sebelum sidangku minggu depan nih. Minggu ini aku harus menghadapi dua ujian akhir, di hari Rabu dan Kamis, wew, tapi koq pikiranku terfokus banget ke sidang yah karena ada beberapa hal yang harus aku persiapkan untuk itu. Aku sudah menyelesaikan program yang minggu lalu dikasi pembimbingku itu sih dan aku masih harus mengeceknya. Hmm, kayanya aku akan berada dalam stress yang besar nih minggu ini, mudah2an aku bisa melaluinya dengan baik dan bisa mengerjakan semua yang harus aku selesaikan minggu ini dengan baik!! hahaha :)

Nggak banyak yang terjadi akhir-akhir ini karena, hmm, ya karena memang akhir-akhir ini kebanyakan waktu aku curahkan pada skripsi, hahaha. Yah, memang ada beberapa tugas lain yang harus selesai minggu lalu dan beberapa masalah membuat aku agak sebal, cuma aku belajar banyak darinya :)

Satu hal yang membuat aku jengkel banget adalah koneksi internetku yang JELEK banget, hampir nggak connect lho. Kebanyakan waktu, ketika aku mencoba connect, eh nggak nyambung. Kaya sekarang ini nih, nyambung sih ke internet cuma karena saking lambatnya, nggak bisa akses apa-apa kecuali google aja, wew, nggak berguna kan? Sial. Catatan: sekarang aku pake laptop adikku untuk internetan :)

#777 - It's December!!

ENGLISH

Wow, how time flies!! Now we are already in the last month of 2009, December. Well, the month that we are in now is December really excites me. It means that within two weeks, most of my "burdens" will be all relieved. I have got confirmation to have my final presentation of my thesis on December 15th, 2009, in less than two weeks from now!! :) Sure after that I still need to work on my thesis, probably revising the paper, but the pressure will be off and I still can enjoy my holiday.

Well, I was kinda in a stress mode last Monday. I got an "extra" task to work on my thesis. Well, actually the task is really interesting and I am more than happy to do that because I like the material: making a program. However, the problem was that at that time I still had two assignments from other classes to be completed by the end of this week. Beside that, I still need to create my final presentation slide, right? Those assignments aren't all the things I have to execute in these two weeks. So, at that time I felt that I had so many things to do and finish within two weeks, and none of them was easy.

Then, after taking a bit break and clear my mind, I knew how to solve the problem. I just need to organize my schedule to execute all the tasks. I have done one big assignment from a class yesterday and I will execute the other task next Saturday. Now I can focus on the "extra" task of my thesis and I still have next week to create my final presentation slide. I will also need to check and mark two assignments from one class I teach this weekend because next week the final score must have been done to meet the deadline. Plus, next week will also be the first of final examination week, and I will have two exams next week. Therefore, actually the scheduling is still a little bit tight. However, I know that if I follow my planning properly I will surely be able to execute all my assignments well. :)

Haha, wish me luck!! :-)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Wow, waktu cepat amat yah!! Tiba2 nih kita sudah berada di bulan terakhir di tahun 2009, Desember. Ini berarti bahwa dua minggu lagi, semua "beban"-ku akan terselesaikan. Aku sudah dapat konfirmasi untuk sidang skripsi tanggal 15 Desember 2009, kurang dari dua minggu dari sekarang!! :) Tentu saja setelah itu akan masih ada kerjaan sih yang berhubungan sama skripsi, misalnya merevisi tulisan skripsinya, tapi setidaknya bebannya kan akan bebas dan aku bisa menikmati liburan kan.

Hmm, Senin kemarin aku berada dalam mode stress nih. Aku mendapat tugas "ekstra" pada skripsiku. Yah, sebenernya tugasnya menarik banget tuh dan aku sangat senang untuk mengerjakannya soalnya aku suka materinya: bikin program. Cuma masalahnya, waktu itu aku masih ada dua tugas besar dari kuliah lain yang harus sudah jadi minggu ini. Di samping itu, aku juga harus segera membuat slide presentasi untuk sidangku kan? Tugas-tugas itu bukan semua hal yang harus aku kerjakan dua minggu ini lho. Makanya waktu itu aku merasa koq ada buanyak sekali yang harus aku kerjakan dalam tempo dua minggu ya, dan tidak ada yang mudah.

Trus, habis istirahat sebentar dan menenangkan pikiran, aku tahu bagaimana memecahkan masalah itu. Solusinya sederhana, aku hanya perlu mengatur jadwalku untuk menyelesaikan semua tugas. Satu tugas besar dari satu kelas sudah beres kemarin dan tugas lain akan dikerjakan hari Sabtu nanti. Sekarang aku bisa fokus pada tugas "ekstra" skripsiku dan aku masih punya minggu depan untuk menyelesaikan slide presentasi sidangku. Aku juga harus mengoreksi dan ngasi nilai dua tugas dari satu kelas yang aku ajar semester ini nih wiken ini soalnya nilai akhirnya mesti sudah jadi minggu depan untuk memenuhi deadline-nya. Plus, minggu depan itu adalah minggu pertama dari minggu ujian akhir, dan aku akan ada dua ujian akhir minggu depan. Makannya walau begitu, jadwalnya masih cukup padat juga. Namun, aku percaya sih kalau aku mengikuti pengaturan jadwalku dengan baik, pasti semua bisa diselesaikan dengan baik. :)

Haha, doakan aku ya!! :-)

#776 - Updates

ENGLISH

Oh God, it has been another while since my last entry in this blog!! Well, I just realized one other reason why I haven't been really active in this blog, beside the fact that the urge to blog regularly hasn't been that big anymore. Lately I focused on my final assignment a lot. I spent so much time working on that and some other assignments, plus some other agendas. Those activities left me with really little time to blog.

Lately, my internet connection is troubled. It is really not stable, probably because of the rainy season. It's raining almost everyday in Bandung these days. Well, the bad connection is also one reason why I haven't been that active anymore.

Hopefully, I will be a lot more active in short time :)

Anyway, as mentioned earlier, my activities lately revolved around my campus, most of the time, mainly because I have to focus on my final assignment. I have got approval to have my final presentation before Christmas (which is a good thing) but that also means I need to speed things up. However, I still also managed to have time to hang out a bit, to release all the stress. About two weeks ago my friends and I played bowling, in which I played pretty good, scoring 119 and 116, haha :).

O yea, today I bought my train ticket back to Yogyakarta. Since my final presentation has been approved to be held before 18 December, so I bought the 18 December ticket back home, catching Argo Wilis.

Well, to save more money, last week I tried to make my first fried rice. Sure I used instant seasoning powder, which is not really healthy, but at least now I know how to make fried rice, LOL. Next time I go back home, I will bring homemade fried rice seasoning when I return, hahaha. O yea, this reminds me that last Sunday there was a "putu" cake seller near my boarding house. It has been YEARS since I ate putu the last time and that's why I bought ten of them last Sunday :)

::: my first fried rice

::: "putu" cake, a local delicacies

::: hainan rice I had this evening

BAHASA INDONESIA

Ya Tuhan, udah lama juga ya sejak posting terakhirku di blog ini!! Wah, aku baru menyadari nih faktor-faktor lain yang menyebabkan aku nggak terlalu aktif akhir2 ini, selain fakta bahwa entah kenapa dorongan untuk ngeblog secara reguler berkurang. Akhir2 ini aku fokus banget sama skripsiku nih Aku menghabiskan banyak waktu bekerja pada tugas itu dan juga beberapa tugas lain, plus juga beberapa agenda. Aktivitas2 itulah yang menghabiskan kebanyakan waktuku.

Akhir2 ini, koneksi internetku bermasalah nih. Bener2 nggak stabil, mungkin karena musim hujan yah. Soalnya sekarang ini hampir setiap hari hujan loh di Bandung. Hmm, koneksi yang lemot ini deh juga satu alasan mengapa aku ga terlalu aktif.

Ya mudah2an aja, aku akan menjadi lebih aktif lagi dalam waktu dekat :)

Ngomong2, seperti yang telah disebutkan di awal, aktivitasku akhir2 ini berkisar di sekitaran kampus, kebanyakan ya karena aku mesti fokus di skripsi itu. Aku sudah mendapat persetujuan untuk sidang sebelum Natal (yang merupakan hal yang bagus) tetapi di sisi lain itu juga berarti aku harus ngebut kan. Namun, aku masih sempet jalan2 juga sih untuk refreshing sekalian menghilangkan stress. Sekitar dua minggu yang lalu aku dan temen2 main bowling dimana aku main lumayan tuh, dapat skor 119 dan 116, haha :).

O iya, hari ini aku beli tiket balik ke Yogyakarta. Karena sidangku sudah disetujui untuk diadakan sebelum 18 Desember, ya udah aku beli tiket balik tanggal 18 Desember, naik Argo Wilis.

Yah, untuk menghemat uang, minggu lalu aku iseng mencoba membuat nasi goreng pertamaku. Tentu saja aku pake bumbu bubuk yang instan itu, yang tentu ga terlalu sehat lah ya, cuma setidaknya sekarang aku tahu lah cara bikin nasi goreng, LOL. Lain kali kalo pulang, nanti baliknya bawa bumbu dari rumah deh, hahaha. O iya, ini mengingatkanku bahwa Minggu kemarin tumben ada penjual kue "putu" tuh lewat di dekat kos. Sudah BERTAHUN-TAHUN sejak terakhir aku makan putu, makanya waktu Minggu kemarin itu aku beli sepuluh buah :)

#775 - Exciting!!

ENGLISH

Well, this week has kinda been exciting for me.

First of all, I planned a holiday for next June this week. Well, this plan was actually really spontaneous. My friends and I didn't expect to plan this holiday. However, learning that AirAsia is selling one million free seats for flights after 1 May 2010 somehow made us plan the trip!! haha :)

At first we bought tickets to the most reachable destination, Singapore. We were kinda confused about whether to depart from Yogyakarta or Bandung. However, because at the date we want the tickets from Yogyakarta are economy promo while tickets from Bandung are not, we chose to depart from Yogyakarta. Beside, departing from Yogyakarta is going to be "friendlier" for me, in term of my schedule :) Well, because we gave seven days between the departing and returning tickets, we must find another destination to go because spending an entire one week in Singapore is way too long. There were several options in my mind, Krabi (Thailand), Siem Reap (Cambodia), or Hanoi (Vietnam). After discussing with my friends, the most interesting one for us is Krabi. Well, I myself have always wanted to go to Krabi, so it's a perfect timing. So, Krabi it is.

At first, my focus was to find direct flight from Singapore to Krabi, which as for now is only served by one airline, Tiger Airways. However, the ticket to get there for the date I will be in Singapore is still not a promo one. Then, I had an idea. If AirAsia is still selling promo tickets and AirAsia flies to Krabi from Kuala Lumpur, I might find a cheaper AirAsia ticket from Singapore to Krabi, via Kuala Lumpur. I did my research and I was lucky to get the tickets, hehe :) Because we will fly to Kuala Lumpur, so we decided to spend one night there, during our trip back to Singapore.

So there it is, I have planned my holiday next June!! hehehe :) My trip will be: Jogja - Singapore (2 nights) - (via Kuala Lumpur) - Krabi (2 nights) - Kuala Lumpur (1 night) - Singapore (2 nights) - Jogja.

The second exciting thing is that I am getting closer to the conclusion of my thesis, yeah!! I have got the approval to have my final test (sidang) next month, before the Christmas Holiday, yeah!! :)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Minggu ini lumayan mengasyikkan deh.

Yang paling mengasyikkan adalah, aku membuat rencana liburan Juni nanti lho. Yah, sebenarnya rencana ini nih spontan banget. Temen2ku dan aku tidak berencana untuk membuat rencana liburan ini. Namun, karena tahu AirAsia menjual satu juta kursi gratis untuk penerbangan setelah 1 Mei 2010, jadi deh rencana ini dibuat!! haha :)

Pertama tentu kami membeli tiket ke tujuan paling terjangkau, yaitu Singapore. Pertamanya kami agak bingung tentang mau berangkat dari Yogyakarta atau Bandung. Namun, karena pada tanggal yang dimaksud yang dari Jogja lagi promo banget dan dari Bandung nggak, ya sudah kami milih yang dari Yogyakarta saja. Selain itu, berangkat dari Yogyakarta akan lebih "bersahabat" untuk aku dalam hal jadwal :) Kemudian, karena kami menyediakan waktu tujuh hari di antara tanggal berangkat dan tanggal pulang, kami harus menemukan tujuan lain kan soalnya seminggu di Singapore jelas kelamaan lah. Ada beberapa opsi di pikiranku, yaitu Krabi (Thailand), Siem Reap (Kamboja), atau Hanoi (Vietnam). Setelah berdiskusi, kami memutuskan Krabi yang paling menarik. Yah, aku sendiri memang sudah pingin banget pergi ke Krabi sih, makanya waktunya sempurna. Jadi, Krabi-lah tujuan itu.

Pertamanya, aku fokus untuk menemukan penerbangan langsung dari Singapore ke Krabi, yang ternyata sekarang ini hanya dilayani satu maskapai saya, Tiger Airways. Sayangnya, tiket untuk tanggal itu sedang tidak promo. Kemudian, aku mendapat ide bagus. Kalau AirAsia masih menjual tiket promo dan AirAsia terbang ke Krabi dari Kuala Lumpur, mungkin aku bisa mendapat tiket murah AirAsia dari Singapore ke Krabi, via Kuala Lumpur. Aku melakukan survey sedikit dan untung lho aku bisa dapat tiketnya, hehe :) Karena kami akan terbang ke Kuala Lumpur, ya udah sekalian lah kami akan nginap semalam disana, dalam perjalanan balik ke Singapore.

Ya, jadi itulah rencana liburanku Juni nanti!! hehehe :) Perjalanannya akan menjadi: Jogja - Singapore (2 malam) - (via Kuala Lumpur) - Krabi (2 malam) - Kuala Lumpur (1 malam) - Singapore (2 malam) - Jogja.

Hal kedua yang menarik adalah aku semakin mendekati kesimpulan dari skripsiku nih, yeah!! Aku sudah dapat persetujuan untuk sidang bulan depan, sebelum libur Natal loh, yeah!! :)