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?!

Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School

“Three key points advise (J.P. Kim):
1) When we look back, the big things will look small and the little things will look big
2) Comparison is the death of happiness
3) We are all we have. No one else will rescue us.”
–Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School, Broughton–

 
 
Just like its title, this book talks about first hand experience of the author during his 2 years education at the Harvard Business School (HBS).

The book provides an insightful and entertaining, behind-the-scenes glimpse at a powerful institution that (according to the author) generally succeeding in its mission to transform students into business leaders. Albeit, there are things (like ethic, leadership, decision-making, and many more) that can’t be taught in class, but at least by providing students with tools and guidelines necessary, students can be better prepared to deal with their choices once back to the real life.

Started out as full of funny and witty remarks about the whole learning processes, the stories somehow turn sour towards the end of the book. In the end, a “factory for unhappy people” was what the author concluded the school as. Most likely due to the same mistake he and many other students did: jumping into grad school unknowing of what to expect.

On a smaller scale, I think I could definitely relate most things written on this book to our (my former classmates and I) bitter-sweet experiences going thru grad school over at MTI UI. Thus, this book would be a nice read for any grad students or wannabes out there, including those not in the business major.

Job Hunting: The Japanese way

Out of curiosity (and also scouting for possible internship opportunity), I attended a company presentation by one big multinational oil company last week. The presentation was opened by one of our former lab member who works for the R&D division of the company, explaining what kind of projects she has been working on and the multicultural nature of the company. Interesting. Next was a more detailed introduction about the company and its line of businesses by an HR personnel (ironically, despite being very famous worldwide, the company was unheard of for most of the Japanese students). It was then concluded by discussing the main subject of the event: the recruitment.

For the note, this was early December 2009, the application process will open on April 2010 and they’re targeting the MARCH 2011 GRADUATES!!!

Apparently, here in Japan, people do job hunting 1 year prior to graduation. If you failed, your life will be miserable for the next 1 year. If you end up graduating without a job, you’re screwed, no future for you and you’ll die a miserable death! (hyperbolic but true to some extent :p)

I’ve seen my lab mates investing their whole 3rd semester (for Master student, and maybe 4-5th semester for Doctorate student) solely on going to job hunting seminars, preparing resumes and attending interviews. During this period of time, interview appointment is an acceptable excuse to skip a report and lab meeting.

So, other than the far in-advance recruitment process, I found that generally:
- Japanese employer prefer young fresh graduates (so they can mold them all they want) than older experienced people who’ve worked for other company.
- Initial salary is predetermined. It is the same for every recruit based on education level alone (i.e. bachelor, master or doctorate) and the information is made public.
- In regard to your resume, there should be no gap in it. Job hopping is a big no-no here. If you only worked for a company for 1-2 years, there must be something wrong with you!

Pretty creepy, if you ask me

Here’s a related article from Japan Times, about students protesting the current job hunting process.

You know you’ve been watching crime series too much when..

..you saw a pair of high heels scattered unattended in the ladies room,
and your first reaction was freaking out! you looked at every corner of the ladies room half expecting a (dead) body hanging and swaying down from the ceiling..
..then you breathed a sigh of relief when you found none..
..tho you still felt it was necessary to look around..
well, you know.. just in case there was a bloody (dead) body sitting on the next toilet box..
^_^
 
 
 
hihi!
geez! whadda sick mind! :p

On Social Notworking Activities..

My current social networking stat:
- twitter: created an account at one point, posted once about 1.5 years ago.. and that’s it.
- friendster: long forgotten..
- facebook: deactivated the account for over a month now.
- plurk: went from a regular nonstop poster to none at all. been away for over a week already.. wonder how low my karma is at this point :p
- y!messenger: haven’t logged in for quite a while..
- google chat: idem.
- google wave: err, last time i checked it was way too quiet over there..
- skype: still log in regularly twice a week (need it to call mom & dear boys in bandung), but always sign out right after that..

Wohoo! I am impressed!
I can actually detach myself almost completely from the net (okayy, when I say “the net” I am obviously talking about the social NOTworking sites). And I am feeling good about it

whoops!

seumur2 gw gak pernah lohh yang namanya menang undian/lucky draw/lotre/etc.. jangankan yang gede2, bahkan sekedar souvenir basa-basi di acara gathering kantor sekali pun.. gak pernah dapet.. sama sekali!! jadi yaa.. gw sudah menerima dengan ikhlas bahwa apapun yang melibatkan undi-mengundi itu bukan area kompetensi gw, jadi gak pernah ngarep deh..

tapi hari ini gw belanja keperluan musim dingin di UNIQLO, yang kebetulan lagi celebrate 60th anniversary.. dan untuk pertama kalinya dalam seumur hidup: gw menang undiaaaannnn!!! horraayyy!! (banana_dance)

soo ladies & gentlemen,
atas kejadian yang aneh dan ajaib ini,
gw mau bilang terima kasih kepada Tuhan YME, orang tua gw, paman-bibi, om-tante, sodara2 gw, temen2 & mantan kolega2 di tanah air, dosen2, serta tidak lupa juga mantan boss2 gw.. atas segala dukungannya.. juga buat UNIQLO, hepi eniverseri! sering2 aja lahh yaa!! *berasa artis lokal lagi nerima award, lol*
 
 
 
uhmm,
btw, ini ¥10,000 dipigura lucu juga kayanya :p
..but it should –and will– definitely be spent on good cause tho