Sempai Power!

Me, while pondering over my PC that’s been acting weird: “Grrrhh! I really don’t know what’s wrong with this thing.. “
Mark (a senior): “You know, the lab will get some new quad-core PCs. You can use your SEMPAI POWER to get one of those.”

 
 
Huh? WTH is sempai (= senior) power anyway?
 
Well, it’s pretty much well known that seniority plays a great role in Japanese culture.
 
Although in terms of population, our lab is quite balanced between the number of international and Japanese students, the interaction and daily activities are still hugely affected by this culture.
We have a list of lab members, started from the highest (Prof and Assoc. Profs), followed by visiting Professors, then Doctor students (3rd, 2nd and 1st year), and then Master students (2nd and 1st year) and at the bottom of the list are the research students. This list symbolizes the hierarchical order of the lab, and most things inside of the lab will be decided based on this list.
 
As a Sempai, you get first priority for almost everything. You get to choose the best seat in the lab, the newest PCs and/or equipments, and you’re also excused from doing chores (ie. setting up laptop & in-focus for seminars, taking notes on lab meetings, etc).
 
But as a Sempai,
you’re expected to take care of your kouhai (junior). This includes helping them out with research, study, preparation for exam & presentation, and getting by with school in general. It is very common to see senior students (in this case 2nd or 3rd year Doctoral students) staying up late in the lab during the exam period for Master students. They basically take it as their responsibility to make sure their juniors pass successfully.
 
 
So, yea.. as those wise men say,
“With great power comes great responsibility.”

On mistake

“Made a mistake? Don’t “should” all over urself.
There’s nothing wrong. You screwed it up perfectly!”
–Jason Mraz–

“Aib” itu berjudul “PhD”

Baru pulang malam mingguan bareng temen2 kampus. Setelah lama gak ketemu karena kesibukan masing2 (biasalah, siklus hidup mahasiswa: internship, thesis/disertasi, persiapan sidang, progress report, deadline paper, dll), seneng bgt akhirnya bisa ketemu dan ngobrol2 lagi (yang tentunya gak lengkap tanpa ada sesi belanja & makan2! :p).

Topik hangat kali ini adalah tentang salah satu diantara kami, seorang senior yang 2 tahun di atas gw. Ceritanya bener2 komplit deh.. layak jadi skenario sinetron. Truely living in a roller coaster! Bayangkan saja, baru melewati sulitnya perjuangan menghadapi PhD defense di awal tahun ini, calon suami tiba2 membatalkan komitmen dengan alasan karena merasa kurang pantas.. HEY! What kind of a reason is that? Seriously??
Tapi untunglah, cerita temen gw berakhir happy. Allah mengirimkan pengganti yang lebih baik buat dia.. dan bulan depan –Insya Allah– akan menikah & diwisuda. Waaahhh.. senangnyaaa!! Very happy for you, Mbak!!!

Although l, too, already had my fair share of disappointments, but having this kind of thing happened to someone else (a close friend, nonetheless) is still quite disturbing.
Tapi seperti yang sudah2, tiap kali dihadapkan pada situasi ini gw akan selalu kembali ke 2 hal:
(1) Adalah sesuatu yang absurd utk menunda seluruh rencana hidup kita cuma karena takut pada penilaian orang lain.
(2) Kalau sekedar prospek* penambahan beberapa huruf di belakang nama gw dianggap sebagai suatu “aib” yang gak bisa diterima orang lain, maka mungkin memang sebaiknya kita gak perlu membuang waktu lebih banyak lagi. Karena begitu elo lebih mengenal gw, maka lo akan menemukan jauh lebih banyak kekurangan daripada sekedar gelar itu saja.
 
Oh, tapi tentunya dengan tidak melupakan hal yang paling mendasar: bahwa rezeki, usia dan jodoh itu sudah ada yang mengatur!
 
 
‘Nuff said!
—
 
(*) gw bilang “prospek”, karena buat gw perjalanan utk mencapai gelar itu juga masih sangat sangat jauh & penuh perjuangan *smangaaaattt!! :p*

2010: Ain’t no resolution

Jan:
- Finish up the simulation (for God’s sake! you can’t afford for any more procrastination, girl!)
Feb:
- First draft for J1.
- 1st phase for IDA platform (and see how it goes from there)
Mar:
- Registration for JLPT 3 (don’t miss it.. agaiiinn!! pleaaaseee! :p)
- Go home (spring break) –> I mean: h-o-m-e! not Jakarta, or Bandung, or Surabaya. Just home.
Apr:
- Come up with idea(s) for a conference paper
- Apply for summer internship
May:
- Draft on panel members
Jun:
- Prepare for material/draft for C1
- Prepare & take JLPT 3
Jul & Aug:
- Internship (summer break)
Sep:
- Getting ready for 1st defense
- (maybe?) Get a part time job
Oct:
Nov:
- 1st defense (?) –>> confirm the rough timeline dan make sure to have (at least) J1’s result by then
Dec:
- Go home (winter break)
 
 
Generally:
by the end of Dec 2010, the goal is to secure J1 & C1. Amien.

Oh, and by the way,
this ain’t no resolution.. this is the plan. Something I should’ve put on an M$ Project file instead of a blog post actually
 
 
今年も頑張りましょう。。

Contemplating 2009

“I haven’t failed yet.
I’ve just stagnated.
I’ll be a failure when I’m dead and still haven’t finished anything.”
–a muppet–

 
 
Last eve of 2009. 10:45 PM Tokyo time, an hour and 15 minutes away from the new year, and an hour and 15 minutes away to contemplate and do last minute check on your list for what has been achieved on the previous 364 days 22 hours and 45.. err wait, make that 364 days 22 hours and 46 minutes of 2009.

Me?
Dang! Didn’t make a lot of resolution this year. And even worse, didn’t even make any real effort into fulfilling them.

Nevertheless,
I learnt a lot. About how to be a better student researcher, also about how to better approach a problem and come up with optimal solutions. So, the least I can do was to start afresh, and work harder aiming for good results in the next year
 
 
Minna-san, otsukaresamadeshita..
akemashita o-medetou-gozaimasu,
kotoshi mo yoroshiku o-negai-shimasu.
(Guys, good works..
Happy New Year!
Hoping for your support again in the coming year.)

Mamaku seorang petani..

Ini cerita tentang si Mama, yang setelah ditinggal si No. 6-nya (si bungsu) utk menuntut ilmu ke tanah Jawa, mulai mencari kesibukan lain. Sebagian diantaranya adalah menemani Bapak di tempat tugasnya yang baru: jadi ibu2 Dharmawanita! Sesuatu yang selama ini hampir gak pernah dilakukan si Mama yang sebelumnya memilih utk menetap & menemani anak2nya di Lombok. Tapi, sesibuk2nya seorang ibu2 Dharmawanita dengan segala jadwal arisan, rapat ibu2, gathering bareng istri2 kolega Bapak, kondangan, dll.. sepertinya gak se-challenging mengurus 5 anak laki-laki dan 1 anak perempuan yang semuanya susah diatur.. So my mom got bored in no time

Lalu entah mendapat inspirasi dari mana, si Mama mengumpulkan  beberapa orang di kampungnya: Fedjo (sepupu Mama, sarjana pertanian), Om Fahri & kakaknya (sepupu Mama juga, petani full time) dan Om Anshari (sepupu Mama yang lain, sarjana ekonomi & petani + pemilik penggilingan padi). Rencananya adalah utk memanfaatkan lahan warisan almarhum Kakek yang selama ini teronggok begitu aja. Yep, bertani!

Siapa sangka tanah Bima yang kering kerontang itu ternyata dalam setahun bisa ditanami sebanyak 4 kali. 2 cycle padi, lalu disela kedelai dan bawang merah di antaranya. Sementara dari satu sesi panen bawang merah yang sukses aja, bisa mengantarkan orang2 kampung utk bedol desa berangkat ke tanah suci (Hihi, it’s probably a good thing that life is much simpler back in the village.. people don’t need to worry about expensive university tuition for their kids, or any other fancy earthly matters :p).
 
 
Anyway,
jadi utk cycle pertama, lahan2 yang selama ini kering dan bersemak harus dibersihkan dan disulap menjadi sawah. Utk itu, Fedjo bertugas sebagai penyuluh pertanian; Om Fahri & kakaknya (whuaa! kok gw lupa namanya si Om satu ini.. ampuuunn Om! :p) merekrut & memantau para pekerja yang jumlahnya mencapai 80 orang; Om Anshari yang melakukan planning & budgeting; sementara si Mama.. she does all the talks! (LOL)
 
 
Ahh,, forget about big businesses with huge capital and sophisticated business plans, my mom just showed that you can actually provide jobs for 80+ people in a village just by being a little farmer. And it requires neither rocket science nor truck loads of money!
But of course, they still have to wait for the next 1.5 months (for the first crops), to see whether this project is profitable (tho when asked, mom said she doesn’t expect for any profit), and maybe a little longer to prove its sustainability in the long run.
 

So, good luck, mommy!
Semoga sawahnya gak kebanjiran atau kekeringan yaa ^_^

sedih :)

sedih itu ternyata rasanya begini bgt ya.. gak enak!

bingung gw,
kalau tentang kuliah, kerjaan atau hal-hal lain, sepertinya banyak bgt yang bisa gw ganggu dan paksa untuk dengerin cerita gw.. tapi yang satu ini, i really don’t know where or who to go to..

pernah sih sekali, setelah suatu sesi ketemuan yang gak happy ending, gw cerita ke salah satu temen: “sedih nih gw..”, dan responsnya apa coba? dia malah ketawa ngakak.. kata dia gw tuh tahan banting dan patah hati itu bukan gw bgt! hiyaahh! gw yang waktu itu lagi kabur ke bandung, duduk sendirian sambil mengasihani diri dengan mata berkaca-kaca.. cuma bisa ikutan ketawa dengernya.. hey! tahan banting kan bukan juga berarti gak akan lecet-lecet kalau dibanting-banting?!