"Orang berilmu dan beradab tidak akan diam di kampung halaman
Tinggalkan negerimu dan merantaulah ke negeri orang
Merantaulah, kau akan dapatkan pengganti dari kerabat dan kawan
Berlelah-lelahlah, manisnya hidup terasa setelah lelah berjuang.

Aku melihat air menjadi rusak karena diam tertahan
Jika mengalir menjadi jernih, jika tidak, kan keruh menggenang

Singa jika tak tinggalkan sarang tak akan dapat mangsa
Anak panah jika tidak tinggalkan busur tak akan kena sasaran

Jika matahari di orbitnya tidak bergerak dan terus diam
Tentu manusia bosan padanya dan enggan memandang

Bijih emas bagaikan tanah biasa sebelum digali dari tambang
Kayu gaharu tak ubahnya seperti kayu biasa jika di dalam hutan."

- Imam Syafi'i

The Struggle of The Smudgy Lungs

This is an article used to complete my interview session with my new employer.

Rahmat Chaniago Alasa | Wednesday, October 10, 2012 | 11:10 AM

At least once in a couple of decades ago, the majority of the world had simultaneously stood under one voice that Indonesia was considered to be the lungs of the Mother Earth.

The well-known image as the biggest archipelago country in the planet and the abundant natural resources have placed this nation to be on top of the role-model figure when it comes to environmental issues.

With the famous tropical climate as well as the warm, relaxing constant weather, Indonesia really strived itself to fulfill the needs of international tourists over the past few years as the proof of an excellent hospitality within its tourism sector.

However, we can’t get away from the fact that the current viral phenomenon about global warming has affected the entire organs of the earth, especially its respiratory one.

According to the recent World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) research, approximately 1.2 million hectares of forests in Indonesia disappears every year due to the climate change, illegal logging, and irresponsible forest fires.

Over the past 50 years, Indonesia had lost 40% of the total 120 million hectares forests which were contained with thousands of endangered species and diverse wildlife. We all need to be aware that we are really in a serious jeopardy.

Even though the occurrence happened mostly in the midst of Sumatra and Kalimantan jungles, we can still notice the impact of the constant hot weather and dense humidity throughout the day even in Jakarta.

The very sad thing about this problem is how the majority of Indonesian people could even care less to do something about it. We often seem to be too busy to survive in this struggling country rather than to preserve the environment.

Moreover, aside from the foreign aid supports given from the governments of other nations or the charity funds for donations collected by some organizations, the leaders as well as the citizens of this country need to take real actions regarding this issue.

Indeed it’s not easy to erase this stain on our face as the ‘Emerald of the Equator’ only by going out there and declare ourselves to ‘go green’ in just one day. But we can start the revolution by giving our contributions for the betterment of our nature on a daily basis.

Immediately back up the movement alongside with an International Organizations that are concerned about environment such as WWF or Walhi. Be an active donor to support the reforestation, conservation of the rare species, protection of the illegal logging, or even join them to give the outreach and education for the local people about sustainable forest management.

Nonetheless, we can always do small things by reminding ourselves and others to do the 3R’s, to plant some seeds on our backyards, or even simply to not litter. The main idea to help is to basically accept that this is our fault for ignoring the nature and we are willing to have a fresh beginning to rebuild our home, our shelter, our ‘lungs’.

My Relationship With Carrie

Semua dimulai sesaat setelah gue mengambil mata kuliah terakhir di jurusan Hubungan Internasional UNPAR yaitu Skripsi. Hati yang berdebar-debar, jari yang memijit tombol-tombol di page formulir rencana studi, semua suasananya membuat gue sangat overwhelmed karena mengetahui bahwa tahun-tahun panjang menjadi seorang mahasiswa akan segera berakhir. Skripsi. Ya, Skripsi. Banyak juga yang menyebutnya TA (Tugas Akhir). Sepotong kata kecil yang bermakna besar dan berat, seberat potongan bokong Nicki Minaj. Saat itu gue pikir, "Hell! This is not that scary. I've been through a whole lot excruciating scenarios before. I got this in the bag" Ternyata gue salah. Salah besar.

Singkatnya gue berjuang KERAS buat merampungkan skripsi ini, mulai dari periode gue semangat yang meletup-letup sebentar doang sampe masa dimana gue jijik sama diri gue sebagai anak kuliahan. Gue sampe sempet mikir, "Why the fuck did I decide to go to college and waste 4 years of my precious life in the first place anyway? I can even ask my family to let me build my own business to begin with." Naik turunnya gue nikmatin banget waktu itu (haha 'waktu itu', padahal masih minggu lalu). Semua orang yang lalu-lalang di kehidupan gue udah kaya ga gue anggep pendapatnya karena gue juga lagi sibuk sama pendapat-pendapat gue sendiri.

Di tengah pergolakan batin tersebut gue sempet menamakan skripsi gue dengan nama Samantha. I know.. I know.. that's kinda weird tapi ya bodo amat, kalo kata Vennu Mallesh 'jagoan' baru gue (lol), "It's My Life What Ever I Wanna Do" Hahaha btw nonton video si Vennu itu deh. Gokil banget itu orang. Such a rule breaker! lol. Yak, lanjut! Jadi gue namain Samantha karena  skripsi gue itu cuma mau deket sama gue kalo udah malem dan biasanya sering terganggu sama godaan bokep. lol. Apa hubungannya? Gatau, yang ada di pikiran gue langsung Samantha Jones di Sex and The City hahaha.

Lambat laun, gue memutuskan untuk mengubah namanya menjadi Carrie, as in Carrie Bradshaw obviously. Soalnya skripsi gue mulai mau menjalin ikatan komitmen gue ga cuma pada 'malam hari'. Jadi gue pikir Carrie udah siap untuk melanjutkan hubungan ini ke jenjang yang lebih tinggi. Sejak saat itu, hubungan gue dengan Carrie mulai harmonis dan benar-benar penuh hasrat. Setiap hari gue bergumul dengannya, bercumbu mesra, diiringi alunan musik dari playlist bertajuk "slowww~" di iTunes gue.

Semua berjalan lancar sampai ketika, ga tau apa sebabnya, gue dan Carrie agak menjauh. Gue sibuk sama kegiatan-kegiatan lain dan dia sibuk dengan.. aplikasi komputer lain. (?) Sampai akhirnya dosen pembimbing gue, Bang Atom tercinta, mengumumkan deadline pengumpulan draft skripsi harus dikumpul sebelum tanggal 10 September. Saat itu adalah tanggal 6 September pagi. Menyadari bahwa tanggal 8-9 adalah hari libur kampus, gue seketika jatuh ke jurang api neraka di dalam otak gue. (?) Kaget, campur panik, campur pusing, diaduk dengan sendok penyesalan kenapa ga gue beresin urusan gue sama Carrie dari jauh-jauh hari. Hasilnya adalah.. A nonstop fucking session all day, all night long wih my beloved, Carrie.

Demi Tuhan gue menyelesaikan separuh bab 3, seluruh bab 4, dan bab 5 dalam 1 hari. Mau mampus rasanya genap 26 jam gue ga tidur sama sekali, dentuman jantung sekenceng Michael Phelps in a good day karena bergelas-gelas kopi yang gue tenggak semalaman. Carrie gue pake abis-abisan tanpa ampun. Dia nangis, gue nangis, keyboard laptop nangis, kabel internet nangus, semua nangis. Semalaman itu intens banget. Gue kaya orang gila ngebutnya soalnya gue sadar kalo gue ga kelarin besoknya, gue harus nunggu lulus bulan Februari tahun 2013!!! FUCK NO, I WILL GET THIS SHIT DONE! NOW!

Keajaiban terjadi dan akhirnya Carrie mengandung janin yang masih berbentuk MS Word. Puas banget rasanya. Rasa ngantuk dan cape seketika hilang dan gue berlari ke kampus jam 8 pagi buat nemuin Bang Atom demi sebuah tanda tangan. Di penghujung hari gue dapet ACC dari Bang Atom dan Mas Nyoman sang ketua jurusan. "MAMPUSSS!!! BERES JUGA URUSAN GUE SAMA CARRIE!!! YUK LULUS YUKKK MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!", dalam hati gue di balik senyum palsu tiap ketemu orang pagi itu dengan rambut, muka, dan baju lusuh layaknya zombie baru lepas kandang.

Tanggal 10 nya, setelah 4 jam persalinan di tempat jilid skripsi bernama Express, akhirnya bayi-bayi lucu hasil hubungan gue sama Carrie lahir dengan selamat dan berwarna hijau..

via insanity & vanity

Footage

Hi, so recently I've been all over my hard disks looking for some important files about my college until I realized that there are BIG PILES of video footages everywhere. Literally, I found many chunks of my trips, birthday parties, vlogs, concerts, etc in almost every folders. Then I thought I might as well just turn them into some proper videos, upload them on YouTube, and tag everyone who's happened to be in the scenes. Re-live the moments :")

Well, probably I'm not a good editor with some high-end video editing skills, softwares, and applications. But I can still manage to frame all of my creativity with my old pal, Windows Movie Maker, and effortlessly combine everything together to make a story. No burden to make it as good as possible since I already knew that the quality is not gonna be that good anyway. LOL. But yeah, here is the first video about my last memory in college, called "My Final Speech". Enjoy and expect more to come! :)

Have a good day everyone! x

22 years young and still counting! Yeah!