Wondering and Wandering

2011-12-29T21:23:00.000Z

I remember when first time I bought my umbrella in a store at University Centre. It was summer and raining. At my surprise, I found quite annoying that it was frequently raining and it's summer. In the store, I grabbed my umbrella and while paying for that, I made my small conversation to the seller. He's a quite old man. I started my saying "It's summer, isn't it?" He looked at me and then

Snow is not coming to Christmas this year

2011-12-18T21:16:00.001Z

December. Time passes so soon and then in a blink it will be 2012. God, sometimes I just can't believe how times fly away. I think I keep saying this over and over. And the changes I wish for, most of them do not take place. No piercing, no gaining weight, no much progress and so on. Well, but that's not entirely true though. To be fair, the other half true is that I started to enjoy taking

random

2011-11-26T15:14:00.001Z

i need a sleeping angel house to live in for sale, anyone? night and lonely empty

2011-11-26T01:37:00.001Z

oh my days,.. how i miss you yo..

2011-11-20T22:53:00.001Z

going home. just before dusk.. late autumn

2011-11-20T22:49:00.001Z

one of the colleges punting to see cambridge from other side jello? jello? jello? lol

2011-11-20T20:04:00.001Z

So, it is about China. Back in 2005 when I was in a program named APLP and we had a 'lecture' somewhere in Washington DC as a part of the APLP program. I could not remember exactly the name of the building where the lecture was taken place but I still remember when the speaker made a prediction about China. He said that in the next 20 years, that will be in 2025, China will overtake US economy.

2011-11-19T23:44:00.001Z

the old man and his guitar protesting chinese communist party a college of cambridge (forgot the name)

visiting cambridge

2011-11-19T22:37:00.001Z

I visited Cambridge today in a one-day tour for international students arranged by EISU, a division of English Dept. After more than a year here, I finally wanted and visited the university. As usual, most of the students are Asians and the others are Europeans. When I say Asia, that means Chinese students and European here refers to students from continent Europe . Every tour has been

2011-11-06T01:38:00.000Z

Thinking of doing PhD. If the question is why I would do that, well to be honest doing this M.Phil now is quite interesting and in a way I find that doing research is quite challenging. I learn a lot. I do. It's not easy but worth it. I begin to enjoy intellectual debates, and come to realisation that maybe just maybe if I have better knowledge I might be able to bring any good impact however

mid wales

2011-11-02T22:55:00.003Z

actually, last weekend, i went to cefn lea park, newtown, mid wales. i went with a group, global community. we were all 21 persons. it was fantastic, getting close with big family of the group and supporting each other. i'd say the experience was a step for my growing spirituality. indeed from that 'weekend away' i guess there is a kind of a 'call' if you'd like for a new spirituality. been so

2011-11-02T19:46:00.003Z

on the way to university

2011-11-02T19:44:00.003Z

at selly park oak, birmingham, england

2011-11-02T19:42:00.002Z

officially 35 years, yesterday. heh, and here i am. well, i'm not a type of celebrating b'day somehow. i don't mind partying or whatever celebration for anybody else but not for me. i dunno. i feel awkward to do that for me. let me find out what in my state of mind avoiding such thing. i guess, when i was kid, we didn't use to celebrate it but perhaps doing small things such as receiving a small

2011-10-17T19:42:00.001+01:00

october. mid october precisely. and news, not in the mainstream ones, talking about revolution. and i'd like to say that occupy wall street gets important attention, yet experienced blackout from mainstream media particularly in comparison with the street movement of arab spring. anyway, the message is clear i suppose. there must be a middle way; neither capitalism in which greediness takes its

a year in england already

2011-09-04T22:51:00.000+01:00

a year in england already. yes, it is. it's very quick, that's what i feel. time just flies away. from what i've been under through, there are a lot new things i newly perceived as new lessons and yet a lot still to be learnt and done. in terms of knowledge and skills, i suppose, it helped me to construct what i experienced and see things from different point of views. say an example of '

2011-08-15T23:07:00.000+01:00

a lot things happened these days. riots in england, a bit travel to brighton and all. riots. there were many explanations about it. some said it has something to do with poverty, recent financial crisis and others regarded the riots as purely crimes. well, there are a lot analysis about it. one for sure, i guess, economy downturn has its contribution and the government huge spending cuts easily

2011-07-27T23:36:00.003+01:00

couple days ago on my way home from uni, i was thinking a lot why people live. i'm not saying that i'm sort of disoriented or kind of. but sometimes, thinking about life is something that could make confused. what in life what are we really looking for? wealthy? fame? or what? what's the purpose of life? what sort of life we actually want to live on? or aren't we just people drifting in the

2011-07-26T23:24:00.003+01:00

last flower i'd offer you and your choice won't hurt anyone but this is my last flower i'd offer you and let the destiny lead the way and no regret after all but this is my last flower and your words are final as this is my only last flower i offer you for the last time

2011-07-26T23:12:00.006+01:00

2011-07-26T22:58:00.001+01:00

i've just had a chat with indar and nelti. If indar is true, two thumbs up for her as she's been taking 13 to 14 modules for this year. still, she's quite productive to write. it must not be easy to manage things. by the way, indar is my ford fellow cohort studying at wageningen, the netherlands. and suddenly i was thinking of planning my next year's schedule. i mean to plan it better.

2011-07-25T01:53:00.004+01:00

i finished it today. reading the alchemist. in the backyard of this house i live in. under the sun. oh, how really i wanted to read in the garden, under the sun, relaxed with comfort. and i did it today. finally. and it was great. i mean, the book is great. not few of books really fascinate me really. the explanation perhaps is either too few books i read or I'm too picky to read. only few. i

2011-07-24T13:06:00.000+01:00

sunny day :) lovely day. it's been two days since yesterday again. Last week was just horrible. gloomy. Well, i know that in some part of the world, people complain how hot it is there. But that's it. People here desperately want sunny day and warm weather but at the other place, the sun makes them uncomfortable. Once, a friend of mine told me that the weather will be always like that; either

2011-07-24T01:23:00.001+01:00

Life in many cases is not as what we precisely expected to be. I think this is true. But this is only half right as well because the other half truth is that in many cases life becomes as it is because we in some ways, being aware or not, make it as it is. In most relationships, I think, this is also true. A relationship might not as what we expected to be. I come across to a thought that each

getting research into public policy

2011-07-15T20:36:00.001+01:00

I got my Coelho's The Alchemist. :) My second book in a year :) The first book is Moyo's Dead Aid. But don't get me wrong, I have got an explanation why I only have two books in a year :). And the matter is not about it anyway. The matter is I got my Coelho's The Alchemist using a gift card as a price for winning a group presentation in a summer school GRiPPS (Getting Research in Publich Policy

2011-06-03T00:54:00.001+01:00

that's the way it is. i've been keeping myself busy with an assignment about research methodology. what a daunting process however to learn all about statistics. it's not that i hesitate to learn about it, i find it interesting even. somehow, to understand basic things about the statistics and its SPSS application takes a lot efforts. it's really new for me. i like the math and the logic behind

2011-05-18T20:42:00.000+01:00

conversations from BBC TWO film "Education" Jenny: "A Burne-Jones" Ms. Stubbs: "Do you like him?" Jenny: "I do. Still" Ms. Stubbs : "Still? You sound very old and wise" Jenny: "I feel old. But not very wise." People might make mistakes (people do, for sure) but realizing that we made mistakes takes another 'event' to realize that we did it. That's the moment when we feel old but not very wise...

2011-03-03T22:26:00.000Z

3rd day and that's it.. i make it.. i quit... :) this is my second and perhaps the last time of quit smoking.. i started smoking i guess in 2002 and it's quite a while, say 8 years or so... if i'm not mistaken, i once stopped for 6 months or so in 2009 after presidential election. i made a bet to a friend of mine. if obama win the presidential election, i'll quit smoking.. indeed, after couple

2011-03-02T20:39:00.002Z

2nd day and i'm quite optimistic :)

2011-03-01T19:38:00.000Z

1st day of no nicotine, no caffeine, no alcohol...

2011-02-27T20:55:00.001Z

2011-02-27T20:54:00.000Z

keep the faith. that's how i would like to describe it. a reminder for myself to keep the faith. i have a promise to fulfill.. and i'll carry the sign wherever i go to keep reminding me about the promise i make... hey, reading your messages, i feel subtle meanings there. lightening me up.. but i also keep not being so expressive as i wish. i just want to walk on this pathway. if heaven decides

2011-02-26T19:33:00.000Z

I was walking to Uni, university, we quite often saying "going to uni" instead of "going to campus" when there was a kind of holding me to take these pictures. Yes, I noticed couple days ago, that there was quite unusual seeing the flowers, whatever their names are, poor me, start to growing up.. And they grow under the big trees. It could be a coincidental but that what I notice. Anyways,

spring to come

2011-02-26T19:20:00.000Z

..

2011-02-25T20:44:00.000Z

I think this time is the lowest curve of being here, studying here. Well, there are literally hundreds or even thousands reasons to come up justifying that. But as usual, I hesitate to explore all those reasons. It's been my belief that 'pointing that, pointing this', in many ways, is not helpful. Pointing those all reasons, unfortunately, I regard as complaints. Perhaps, some psychological

into the wild

2011-02-06T00:08:00.000Z

Alexander Supertramp :) 'I paraphrase Thoreau here', "rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness,give me truth" seems like my dreams are coming to me again. something stayed there for a while until lately appear again; wandering into 'human being' whatever it means.. but i know what i mean...

..

2011-01-29T03:07:00.003Z

On last April or May 2010 I guess, I visited Sri Lanka for a meeting, and I took this picture.. I think it's good.. well,,. i don't know...

2011-01-29T03:05:00.002Z

...

2011-01-29T02:58:00.000Z

By the way, I don't know why I don't find that staying here is so impressing as once living in Hawai'i or staying in Japan. Is it because of the weather or because of the poeple? Or is it because that staying here is not that kind of 'free' in the sense that I have to study hard which is a kind of burden.. Is it? Well, I'm doubt on that reason actually because I like studying. I do... Or is it

2011-01-29T02:31:00.002Z

Well.. it's been long time.. And now is 2011.. Well, it seems that my days here are a kind of non-stop working. Or perhaps, is it because I can't manage my brain? I mean, very possible what happens actually is that I'm not able to have my mind and thinking in peace. That's it, but not because of the 'things' themselves. Anyways, I have just spent my time reading Tempo news online to find out

First Paper

2010-11-19T16:20:00.001Z

Little bit relief. I handed my first paper yesterday, finally. It's late for 2 days though. But, that what I could afford so far. I was struggling to put the ideas in order, kept rethinking about it until I said to myself to just finish it and revise it later again when I get my feedback from my convenor (my lecturer), a person who is in charge with this module.Been already one month and half

autumn in birmingham

2010-11-08T21:30:00.003Z

another disaster

2010-10-27T20:07:00.000+01:00

another earthquake and tsunami hit mentawai, islands below nias island my home town. 300 died.. that's in sumatra. in other part of indonesia, in middle, java, there was volcano eruption. just weeks ago, flood in papua (west indonesia) and the politicians and indonesians' leaders are just idiot as usual... oh ya, not to mention about flood every year in the capital city, jakarta and no any

Here I am

2010-09-22T14:28:00.000+01:00

Well, here it is. This the big deal is. I am here in University of Birmingham now. To make the story short, things start when I applied Ford Foundation Scholarship and seemed things just run smoothly. I got it. :) Then I applied four universities and was accepted at University of Birmingham and I took the offer and here I am... I am on my seventh week here now. I completed my pre-sessional

New Hobby; Sketching

2010-08-02T19:02:00.005+01:00

Well, actually I have been waiting and waiting for something. And it seems I couldn't get out of thinking of it until it's clear. In the middle of it, I was just jotting things down on papers. Things. I mean whatever; words, line, curve, or whatever comes. In a moment when I visited University of Birmingham website, I noticed something different in its logo. In the logo, I noticed that one of

2010-06-17T13:40:00.000+01:00

All the photos below taken fromhttp://www.facebook.com/barackobamaPhotographer: Pete Souza

2010-06-17T13:31:00.001+01:00

BP OIL SPILL; Too far from anti-british

2010-06-17T13:20:00.002+01:00

I am following the news about the BP oil spill. I noticed this issue for the first time from tweeter and facebook. Then I found according to Guardian if I'm not mistaken, this causes low popularity of Obama especially in UK and US as well. Then, I've been following the criticism toward the inadequate of federal government solving this problem.Surprisingly, as a freedom of speech nature is, many

dambisa moyo on poverty

2010-06-14T13:04:00.006+01:00

Listening to Dambisa Moyo after all is giving more confidence of my belief that aid should be re-considering again. There should be a review on that.Couple things I agree with her is that her perspective that aid, especially aid of G2G (Government to Government), failed to decrease poverty in Africa. It is true in most of under developed countries as well. Another point I like is the way she

social democracy

2010-06-12T18:28:00.004+01:00

Couple months ago, I attended this workshop re-inventing "truth Indonesian democracy". The big deal is to promote social democracy which was actually the original political ideology of Indonesian founding fathers. And spirit of Indonesian constitution is very much about it. However, the fall of Sukarno, Indonesian first president, all left ideology was banned. Suharto forcefully led Indonesia to

2010-06-12T18:18:00.000+01:00

2010-06-12T10:38:00.002+01:00

It's been two months no posting. It's not that I did not write anything but its just not in this blog. I've been much occupied for another two blogs; one is in Bahasa Indonesia about scholarship, its process, Q&A and another one is photo blog.I created this blog, www.suara2yangtakbisadiam.wordpress.com as I did not find any satisfactory source of information about IFP scholarship and its process.

development studies

2010-03-26T12:44:00.003Z

all right. couple things are clear but few things are still blur. i want to take development studies. yes. i'm interested in studying the philosophical elements behind the development and the layers in it. it's inter-displinary studies. That's one also the reason i want to take it. on top of that is the questions on my head about poverty and so on.. i think couple days ago i kind of got some

2010-03-24T17:49:00.002Z

Obama supposed to come to Indonesia this month but cancelled until July. But for sure, I am just so glad he signed the health-care bill after long and fierce debates. He is the man... :) :) :) This world needs more leaders who really care for the people..

2010-03-24T17:30:00.002Z

For how long can I resist?For how long will my mind wander?For how long am I able to refuse these absurdity?For how long will I be able to connect the dots and survived?This might be another question in life...Another second or third or fourth or fifth or so on..Another questions on my headAnother turbulenceAnother fierce walls to climb on..As for now I am deep down on drawing the

2010-02-19T17:40:00.002Z

I wish I can post something in near future. It's been so exhausted these days... things cool after all though. :)

President and KPK; Gecko vs Crocodile

2009-11-24T17:35:00.007Z

Cicak (gecko) is symbolized by KPK and Buaya (crocodile) is symbolized by police institution The dissatisfaction to hatred to president's decision over the criminalization issue by police against KPK (commission against corruption) is getting higher. It's been waiting for his speech and his last night's speech was just plain. As usual, he doesn't have any strict opinion over

...

2009-11-21T18:13:00.001Z

hey,i keep asking what i want to do in life. Or perhaps, the question should be 'What's really I want to do in life?' What?well, if you ask me, i've got things to say. but when i ask to myself then the question is on and on. after these years, i just wonder if i was on the right track. On the way i've been through, i liked what i did as it connected my heart and my mind but at the same time i

here some

2009-11-17T15:54:00.000Z

a friend of mine sharing same garden.:)struggling for lifestruggling for lifethe other side of lifethe other side of lifetired and space available plus free..nightnot so much though but i need to re-organize things. im just easily disrupted with all things. but life is good :), for sure..

2009-09-01T16:29:00.000+01:00

in the middle of this hectic days, i just can't stand to write about my nephew. In him, there were just thousands memories appeared in my mind. he was born couple months ago. what a shame, i couldn't afford to come to see him. but only last sunday, i could come to see him. his father (my brother) gave him name benedict. he might be inspired by Pope Benedict XVI :). Or perhaps because my mom was

monitoring and evaluation

2009-08-29T14:48:00.001+01:00

i've just submitted the term of reference of the monitoring and evaluation of ongoing project of FORNIHA. I've just interviewed them as well in order to compile our monitoring and evaluation first report. i hope i could complete this next week as other jobs; term of reference of reviewing LPAM strategic planning and reports, are awaited. I know, it's little hustle but i have to do that. Otherwise

2009-08-26T15:48:00.000+01:00

be back from Poncan Gadang two days ago. The phone network was bad as heavy rain lasted for the last 2 days. So now, it’s clear where FORNIHA is heading for the next 5 years. The strategic issues varied though from advocacy local government budget to the food security issue by utilizing the local foods. Frans of Satunama facilitated the whole meeting pretty good. I learned a lot the way we

poncan n strategic planning

2009-08-20T15:52:00.000+01:00

we are in poncan gadang island right now talking about strategic plan of forniha. it's been already two days and things are seems just okay. but this place is just cool..

Poncan Island

2009-08-20T14:17:00.001+01:00

Indonesia Independence

2009-08-17T14:18:00.000+01:00

Rebecca said through fb, "Happy Hari Merdeka Indonesia!" hehe.., for me that sounds unique.. So, 64 years already since Indonesia independent from the colonialization. And there are a lot things to complaint. I read a lot comments abt that. It could be true. But it doesn't finishe there. This nation should have a clear vision where to go. Otherwise, we keep moving on the vicious cycle.

2009-08-15T16:34:00.000+01:00

thanks to August

2009-08-14T09:05:00.000+01:00

4 years ago, August 2005, there was a huge thing happened in my life. I joined APLP (Asia Pacific Leadership Program) of EWC (East West Center). My study at EWC was so wonderful. Unforgetable million thanks to Pak Terry Bigalke. And this August again, huge things happen in my life. I am just so enthusiastic and found my spirit again. First of all, I’m just so excited to facilitate trainings

thank you

2009-08-12T12:26:00.000+01:00

i might not thank god very often. i might not be as good as i could,i might not be on the right track often,i might hurt many people which i didn't intend to do so,i might not be as a good student, as a good follower as i'm often stubborn on my way,but let me express my gratitute to god this time.he/she heard me..thanks ford

road

2009-08-08T13:23:00.000+01:00

road,empty road,lead me to goas for you i depend onfor you i'll follow throughroad,lead me to my destinationto where to go from here to my blur destinationto destination that i thinking of every time i havefor the destination not sure but only could figure out.

protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism

2009-08-08T13:02:00.000+01:00

we've just discussed slightly the protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism. its more like the surface of the topics. exploring the idea of max weber in hours of course not enough. but i see something. the spirit of discussion. and also the discussion of the ethics itself. we found that it's the right time to work together for the fighting of the injustice, to work for the transformation of

project planning

2009-08-07T14:09:00.000+01:00

It's little bit busy these days. I facilitated a meeting for management project topic. the participants were staffs of local ngos. i prefer to say that the meeting was a sharing meeting rather than positioning speaker-participants meeting. i rather to say that we are equal for the sharing. project management topic is broad and we chose to discuss focusing on the topic of project planning. Despite

absurdity

2009-07-17T10:24:00.000+01:00

This morning bomb again in Jakarta is a sign of absurdity of small amount of people here. Condolence for the victims and family. It's time again for Indonesian intelligentce to use its function detecting the signs of the terror before it happen rather than using the intellegence for pressing human right activist.

congrats for yudhoyono.

2009-07-11T16:37:00.000+01:00

as predicted, yudhoyono re-elected to be indonesian president for the term of 2009-2014. this last election run smoothly although there were disputes over the list of voters. indonesian election system is one people one vote. i mean every vote is counted. it's very much different from the us system where the winner candidate is based on the electoral base instead of popular vote. so, again,

2009-06-16T17:48:00.000+01:00

.

2009-06-16T16:45:00.000+01:00

well i was sitting, waiting, wishingyou believed in superstitionsthen maybe you'd seen the signs....jack johnson

.

2009-06-16T16:38:00.000+01:00

thank you for the re-vote..

2009-06-13T14:39:00.000+01:00

constitutional court has ordered to re-voting in south nias. it's a hot issue in this island. all the south nias legislators who already expected to sit on the local legislative is now asked to compete again. this verdict is an answer of the call of the massive violation over the election. kpu propinsi (provincial committe) has done re-calculating of all the votes. I do understand that's the

ford fellowship n visits

2009-05-30T15:28:00.000+01:00

the interview as the last test for the ford fellowship was done. i think i passed the interview well, satisfying. i think the panelists were satisfying with my answers as well... and i'm waiting for the result. it would be announced in this coming august. i wish very much to be granted this fellowship. i do hope very much for that..volker and nicky visited nias. they visited us in office,

arigato

2009-05-03T16:33:00.000+01:00

that's the selected photos of visiting. mishop visited indonesia; nias and bukit lawang, of 2009. there are a lot stories to tell but i prefer to say that with pictures. thanks for the visit; hitomi, hiro, yuya, shoko, akane and yoji. thanks for nishida and all mishop members as well...

2009-05-03T14:58:00.000+01:00

2009-05-01T17:11:00.000+01:00

2009-05-01T16:19:00.000+01:00

2009-05-01T14:59:00.000+01:00

2009-04-29T16:18:00.000+01:00

2009-04-29T15:36:00.000+01:00

2009-04-28T16:48:00.000+01:00

2009-04-28T16:34:00.000+01:00

2009-04-28T16:17:00.000+01:00

2009-04-28T16:09:00.000+01:00

we did tracking over one night in the jungle.. and suddenly and orang utan caught yuya and spectacular...! i was between amazing, surprising, worrying in case something happen by that and kept taking the photo. combination of the senses..we were lucky to meet many orang utan and we did not meet mina (orang utan named mina). a day before, a korean girl showed me her pic when mina took all her

2009-04-28T15:58:00.000+01:00

2009-04-28T15:20:00.000+01:00

2009-04-26T18:15:00.000+01:00

.

2009-04-26T17:52:00.000+01:00

.

2009-04-26T17:40:00.000+01:00

.

2009-04-26T17:25:00.000+01:00

bukit lawang

2009-04-17T15:19:00.000+01:00

i love this place; the forest and things...

an email

2009-04-17T15:18:00.000+01:00

I feel wonderful today. I visited afia, an agricultural project site, and talked to them (participants of the agriculture training). i talked to the head of village as well. he was there. there were few things to discuss but already settle down. :) and again, they expressed their expectation, again. and that made me think harder on the way to office.when i arrived in office and checked my email,

,

2009-04-17T15:09:00.000+01:00

.

2009-04-17T14:54:00.001+01:00

.

2009-04-17T12:37:00.000+01:00