Break the Curse

 "I am not good with words."

A sentence that has been on my mind for quite a while, like an unbreakable curse. I have been casting that spell to my self since long time ago. I could not remember what made me to do so. But I guess it was part of my pessimistic side. And now, since I am getting tired of being so pessimistic, I will break the curse. (finger crossed)

When some people asked me "How can you be so positive and optimistic most of the time?" I felt like a hypocrite myself since I am not as positive and optimistic as many people see. To be frankly honest, I pretended to do so most of the time. I tried but mostly I forced myself. It was part of my defense mechanism to not be seen as a weakling. Because I hated inferiority. 

Honestly tho, after deep contemplation lately, I believe that I am not supposed to feel lesser. No one in this world should feel it either. Everyone has always their own strengths and weaknesses. And having flaws is not something to be ashamed for. Nobody is perfect. The most important thing is how to manage the imperfections to be your power instead.

Berkeliling di Pulau Nusa Lembongan

Nusa Lembongan

Mari kita lanjutkan cerita yang masih tertunda. Kalau sebelumnya saya bercerita tentang petualangan laut di pulau Nusa Lembongan, kali ini saya akan menceritakan tentang kegiatan yang kami lakukan di darat. 

Baiklah!

Waktu bermain di laut telah usai dan kami pun dibawa menuju ke darat - Pulau Nusa Lembongan - untuk beristirahat, bersih - bersih dan makan siang. Hanya kurang dari sepuluh menit, kami akhirnya mulai menginjakkan kaki lagi di daratan. Lega rasanya. Kesan pertama saya ketika sampai di pulau itu, lengang. Kedatangan kami hanya disambut oleh hamparan pasir pantai yang cukup luas dengan beberapa bangunan yang terlihat tanpa penghuni. Kami kemudian berjalan mengikuti arahan dari abang tour guide, dan siapa sangka jika kesan pertama saya akan berubah secepat kilat. Ternyata pulau ini cukup ramai. Yang saya temui di bibir pantai hanyalah semacam 'fatamorgana'. 'Don't jump to conclusions too quickly' mungkin saran yang tepat untuk saya. 

Petualangan Laut di Nusa Lembongan

Cerita ini dimulai ketika seorang kawan menawarkan sebuah paket liburan seru, yang didalamnya terdapat aktivitas sea walking - berjalan di dasar laut dengan menggunakan helm kedap air. 

Saya amat suka pantai. Saya juga suka laut. Tetapi, saya sebenarnya tidak suka air. Takut lebih tepatnya. Ada pengalaman - pengalaman tidak menyenangkan dengan air dimasa lalu yang cukup traumatis. Iya! Saya sengaja sebut 'pengalaman - pengalaman', karena tidak cuma sekali.

Jujur! Hari itu saya cukup galau untuk memutuskan "iya" atau "tidak" untuk ikut serta dalam liburan itu. Dari lubuk hati yang paling dalam saya cukup tertarik, terutama dengan aktivitas sea walking. Karena sebelum ada tawaran ini, saya sudah sangat penasaran dengan kegiatan tersebut. Bagaimana tidak? Kita dijanjikan akan dapat mengeksplore keindahan laut tanpa dituntut untuk harus punya diving license atau paling tidak pengalaman menyelam serta skill berenang yang mumpuni.

First Hello in 2020 :) Reflection - Why do I write?

Wow! It has been a while since I posted my last writing, in which I said that I would update things that have been missed out. It was TWO YEARS AGO! yes! TWO YEARS! But, yeah, AGAIN! Due to many reasons - that I do not dare to use as excuses NOT to write anything -, I could not keep my own words. In two years, I did not (could not) write anything in this blog. I do feel guilty to myself and you (YES YOU!) of course.

Everything happens for a reason

You may be familiar to that quote (or may not? Are you living under the rock?). I am one of the believers who believes that everything does happen for a reason/reasons. That also applies in my case, such as "why is it so important for me to write?" and "why do I fail to keep my words?". For quite some time, I have been asking myself questions :

"What does 'writing' mean to you?"

"Do you like writing?"

"Why do you need to write?"

"Is it important to write?"

"What do you want to achieve from writing?" and so on.

(I know it is quite random, but please bear with me! or not) :)

Membuka Lembaran Baru

It has been ages since my last time updating my blogs. I do not have many excuses really, but it was just because my poor time management. Despite some leisure time I have in between my busy life working as an office worker, I was wasting my time doing things that were not critical. Hence, this small page was kind of abandoned. Poor it!

Anyway! I have decided to catch up updating things that I was going to post. I would not promise to cover everything but I am going to write as often as possible. So please anticipate it.

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Udah lama banget sejak terakhir kali aku update blog. Sebenarnya nggak ada banyak alasan sih cuma gara - gara nggak pinter bagi waktu. Walaupun ada banyak waktu luang di sela - sela kesibukan jadi pegawai kantoran, aku malah banyak melakukan sesuatu yang nggak begitu penting. Alhasil, blog ini jadi terbengkalai.

Anyway! Aku akan mencoba posting hal - hal yang dulu harusnya udah aku posting tapi nggak jadi. Tapi aku nggak janji sih kalau bakalan bisa posting semuanya. So please anticipate it.

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Aneh nggak sih ya posting bilingual begini? Sebenarnya kemarin - kemarin aku posting pakai bahasa Inggris karena aku ingin belajar bahasa Inggris. Kan kata pepatah "practice makes perfect". Jadi dengan sering menulis dengan bahasa Inggris harapannya aku akan terbiasa menggunakan bahasa tersebut. Jadinya, kemampuan bahasa Inggris aku akan meningkat yang mana saat ini aku sudah gunakan sebagai bahasa sehari - hari sejak aku tinggal di Australia.

FYI, sudah setahun lebih aku tinggal di Australia, tepatnya di kota Melbourne. Setelah perjuangan panjang, akhirnya mimpi untuk melanjutkan sekolah pun tercapai. Yes, I am now a student! A full time student lebih tepatnya karena aku sudah tidak bekerja lagi sebagai BASARHUT di KPHL Rinjani Timur. Cerita perjuangan ini mungkin nanti akan aku tulis di postingan - postingan berikutnya.

Sampai jumpa!


Cheers,
Uma

Pinqueenz Reunites (Part II)

our recent appearance (2013)

Well, I took too much time to laugh I guess hahaha. In the previous story I took a break at the time when I was going to tell you about our group name, right? And now I’m going to continue the story. 

Yeah that’s right I was going to make our name group as Shephal ++ (If it was really happened, it was such a true disaster hahaha). Why did I want give name to our group as Shephal ++? Let’s turn back the time when Bun and I still using that pet name, BUNTUT. In the first grade of high school, we studied biology and at that time it turned about insect segment. In some various insect species there is a tagma which comprising the head and thorax fused together, as a distinct from abdomen behind called chepalothorax (derived from greek words for head (κεφαλή, kephalé) and thorax (θώραξ, thórax) (Wikipedia, 2015). When we called each other as BUN, most of the people mislead it as BUNDA not BUNTUT. That’s why we decided to change our pet name as SHEPAL (we shorten it as SEP) refers to kephalé on chepalothorax which mean as head. At that time we already realized that we didn’t follow each other as a tail but we inspiring each other as head contain many ideas. I was Sepha and She was Sephi. (Oh GOD I do have no idea why were we so too much (read: Alay) back then -_- *ROTFL then tepokjidat*) 

Pinqueenz Reunites (Part I)

A word which always popping out when I think about Pinqueenz = Friendship. Why did I say so? Pinqueenz is a name of our friendship group. Suddenly I feel embarrassed when I mention that name #LOL (sorry). As the time goes by, that name sounds so … (how to say it? It just makes you rolling and crawling while laughing on the floor :p) am I too much? Hehe . But when I think about the history of that name it was such a long story. 

Well, this story is begun when we were at senior high school. 

when we were high-schooler

Actually we already attended the same school since junior high school but never had a chance to be together. Even we didn’t know each other at first. We always got different class till one of my best friends became classmate in 3rd grade.

Delightful Beginning of New Year 2015 : River Tubing

The Big Family of Rinjani Timur Forest Management Unit

As I promised before I would like to tell you about my very first vacation ever along with big family of Rinjani Timur Forest Management Unit. We started our New Year 2015 in Suranadi Natural Park and Lesehan Taufik II. Well, ...

29 December 2014

This story started by long-short conversation such as below :D

“Eh mau pada kemana liburan tahun baru besok?” 

“Belum tahu, masih belum ada agenda.”

“Kita liburan bareng yuk ke Suranadi nanti main River Tubing juga.”

“Boleh – boleh”

“Kumpul jam 9 di rumah saya ya.”, said head of administration division of Rinjani Timur FMU.

Great Welcome 2015

The Big Family of Rinjani Timur Forest Management Unit

Let me welcome and celebrate this New Year even though it’s already late. Well, I don’t know why recently I feel like have no idea to write whereas there are so many things to write. Hahaha *just my reason for this very late update*but it is still better than have no update at all. 

2015. What’s special about New Year 2015? I don’t know. I feel like there’s no special thing occurred in this New Year. The turn of the year (31 Desember 2014 – 01 Januari 2015) with the same place, same situation, same day, same night, everything’s just same with the ordinary one  so I didn’t think exceedingly about this new year. The thing I really expect about this new year (at that time) was HOLIDAY. At that time I was hardly to get holiday. In the end of the year I was too hectic with pursuing my dream become a researcher. Went back and forth from Lombok Island to Jakarta about 3 times I couldn’t say it was holiday because although at that periods I had chance to go back to my hometown but all of my thought focused on my dream.

2nd Time Try Joining Indonesian Institute of Science

Indonesian Institute of Science Center Building 

Talking about what kinds of efforts we have done to achieve something in this world must become endless story. I believe that every person has their own way to make their dreams come true, so do I. And now I would like to tell you my story when I was joining competition to become a part of Indonesian Institute of Science family. Why do I join this competition while I’m still working as staff of BASARHUT (Bakti Sarjana Kehutanan) in Rinjani Timur Forest Management Unit? Then one of my answers is “dream”. Yes! Dream. That’s my dream to become a researcher and scientist. And one of the ways I can make my dream comes true is becoming part of Indonesia Institute of Science. Indonesia Institute of Science is one of Indonesia governmental institution non ministry which runs in science and technology development sector. So in Indonesia Institute of Science comprises with so many sectors and they do many research to develop science and technology based on their sector for better Indonesia. One of Indonesian Institute of Science vision is become one of best research institution in the world.

2nd Mission : Gili Petagan Expedition

Masih pada inget ceritaku tentang “My First Journey in Lombok Island”? Di cerita itu aku menceritakan tentang tugas pertamaku sebagai seorang BASARHUT. Dan sekarang aku akan melanjutkan ceritaku tentang misi keduaku sebagai seorang BASARHUT di Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan Lindung (KPHL) Rinjani Timur. Sekitar satu minggu setelah misi pertama, kami mendapatkan misi kedua untuk melakukan monitoring dan evaluasi hasil rehabilitasi hutan pantai di salah satu area kerja KPHL Rinjani Timur yaitu di Gili Petagan.

Do you still remember my story about My First Journey in Lombok Island? In that story, I wrote about my first job as BASARHUT. And now I will continue my story about my 2nd mission as a BASARHUT in Rinjani Timur Forest Management Unit. About a week after our first job as BASARHUT, we got our second mission which was doing monitoring and evaluation of beach reforestation plants in one of our forest management unit area in Gili Petagan. 

a part of Gili Petagan

23 Maret 2014

Menyisir Pantai Barat Lombok

31 Maret 2014

Setelah kami puas menikmati suasana Bali di Pulau 1000 Masjid seperti di cerita sebelumnya (di sini), keesokan harinya kami memutuskan untuk melanjutkan petualangan kami untuk menyisir pantai – pantai di bagian Barat Pulau Lombok. Meski badan rasanya seperti remuk redam karena sepertinya sudah cukup lama kami tidak berolahraga sehingga mungkin badan kami kaget ketika diajak berjalan berkilo – kilo (padahal kami ini rimbawan yang konon sering keluar masuk hutan) tidak mengurungkan niat kami untuk menikmati keindahan alam pulau ini di pagi – pagi buta. Akan tetapi sayangnya kami salah strategi. Sebenarnya kami berencana untuk menyusuri pantai – pantai di bagian barat pulau Lombok pada sore hari setelah menonton ogoh – ogoh, tapi apa daya tubuh kami saat itu tidak mau diajak kompromi. Akhirnya kami memutuskan untuk berjalan – jalan keesokan harinya di pagi – pagi buta niatnya supaya tidak terpanggang di bawah terik matahari.

FYI pantai – pantai itu terletak di sebelah Barat pulau Lombok. Kalian tahu kan kalau Matahari itu terbit dari timur dan tenggelam di sebelah barat, jadi kami tidak mendapat pemandangan sunrise yang sempurna pagi itu.

BASARHUT (Bakti Sarjana Kehutanan) 2014

Sebenarnya ni postingan udah lamaaaaaaaa banget mau diposting, tapi emang ya godaan setan itu lebih kuat ketimbang bisikan malaikat. Udah niat mau istiqomah ngupdate blog tiap hari tapi ya emang dasarnya si satu itu penyakit M (baca : Malas) jadi batu penghalang. yah gitu deh banyaaak banget alesannya mulai nggak ada internet lah, laptop mati lah, apa lah macem - macem. Dari jaman dahulu kala sampe beberapa saat sebelum ini postingan ini masih tersimpan rapi di draft. Setelah nggak tahan lagi liat tulisan "draft" yang ada di daftar postingan aku terusin lagi dah tulisan yang membahas tentang BASARHUT.

Kalau ada yang baca postingan - postinganku sebelumnya pasti aku banyak menyebutkan kalau aku ini sedang bertugas sebagai tenaga BASARHUT. Pasti banyak yang bertanya - tanya apa sih sebenarnya BASARHUT itu. Nah kali ini akan aku paparkan secara singkat tentang BASARHUT. Oke langsung aja ...

BASARHUT Angkatan I bersama Pak Menteri Kehutanan Zulkifli Hasan (aku yang mana hayo?)

What is Basarhut? Makanan dari apa sih itu? #salahfokus -_-

Nuansa 'Bali' di Pulau Seribu Masjid

Inspired by Cury yang kemaren baru aja berpetualang ke Lombok dan sudah menelurkan beberapa  tulisan tentang pengalamannya di Lombok, sedangkan aku yang udah stay di Lombok hampir 8 bulan baru menuliskan 2 dari banyak ide dan pengalaman yang aku dapat selama di Lombok! (Berasa ditabok pake sandal swallow!), so that I wrote this story hahaha.

 

Salah satu Pura di Mataram, Lombok

Ceritanya ...

1 hari menjelang hari raya Nyepi, di kota Mataram terdapat suatu tradisi yang dilakukan oleh masyarakat pemeluk agama hindu di pulau Lombok ini untuk mengadakan pawai ogoh – ogoh. Ogoh – ogoh merupakan suatu karya seni semacam patung tapi terbuat dari kertas atau kardus atau apalah itu yang menggambarkan kepribadian seorang “bhuta kala” yang kata om Wikipedia dalam ajaran hindu sosok ini menggambarkan kekuatan alam semesta yang tak terbantahkan. Sosok ini biasanya digambarkan sebagai sosok yang besar dan menakutkan semacam raksasa.

Menyapa Senja di Pantai ‘Tetangga’

22 05 2014

“Eh ke pantai yuk! Lagi galau ni.”, ucap salah satu teman.

Tanpa basa basi kami langsung mengiyakan. Sore itu kami pun memutuskan untuk mengunjungi pantai tetangga yang ternyata jaraknya cukup dekat dengan tempat kami tinggal sekarang di Pulau Lombok. Di pulau Lombok ini kami yang berstatus sebagai sarjana kehutanan sedang tergabung dalam program dari kementerian kehutanan yang disebut BASARHUT (Bakti Sarjana Kehutanan) untuk melakukan pengabdian kami sebagai seorang rimbawan selama 2 tahun. Kami ditempatkan di pulau Lombok bagian Timur tepatnya di Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan (KPH) Rinjani Timur. Dalam kesehariannya kami tinggal di kota Selong yang merupakan ibukota dari Kabupaten Lombok Timur tetapi wilayah kerja kami cukup luas meliputi hutan – hutan yang ada di Lombok bagian Timur ini termasuk juga hutan di Lombok bagian selatan.

Part VII. Indonesia I'm Coming :D !!! -ending-

Our way to Domodedovo International Airport

Finally our plane took off!!! From Domodedovo International Airport to Dubai International Airport and we stayed at Dubai for some hour then we flew again from Dubai International Airport to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Arrived in Indonesia our journey still continued. Because Indonesia is so wide and Soekarno – Hatta International Airport located in our capital city, Jakarta, while we live in Yogyakarta which has about 600 km we must fly again from Soekarno – Hatta International Airport to Adi Sucipto International Airport. (Complicated right?)

Selca in our way to Domodedovo International Airport 

Part VI. If I Could Stay Longer (Last minutes in Russia)

My Japanese friends airplane

 Our 3rd day was our last official day. I mean in this day all of the main schedule we had for IJFC (International Junior Forest Contest) had been over. The rest day was our free time till our flight schedule calling. Some of my friends had been ready to go home due to their flight schedule. As the proverb said “There’s a meeting there’s a separation”, although it was sad we must say good bye each other. But it doesn’t mean we can’t meet each other, we all say goodbye to meet again in better situation and better condition. Someday! It must! Haha

Farewell with My Chinese friend :)

Part V. Finally (Walk Around Moscow City)

Matrioska - traditional doll from Russia

In our 3rd day we had a chance to walk around Moscow city. At first we had a free time from the morning till noon. At that time my PIC, lecturer, I, and some friends decided to go to market. We want to buy some gift for families and friends in our own country, indeed. We walked from the hotel to the market. Fortunately the market was near with the hotel it only took about 10 minutes. Before it we went to money changer to change our dollars to rubel because most of the shop in the market didn't accept payment using dollars.

one of the pictures that taken before we went to market (where was I?)

After that without any platitude we went to the market. Arrived in the market we went separately because we had different object to buy. Even though we went separately but we made such agreement to meet up at the market gate after we finished our shopping.

Part IV. Happy but Dag Dig Dug (Full of Surprises) [Arrived in Russia] 2

Well let me continue my story in Russia

As I said before in my previous story I got such cool experience in my very first journey abroad such as got medal and appreciation certificates in my first day in Russia, met so many people from many countries, got to know unique costumes and tradition from many countries, etc. It was awesome!!!

medals and appreciation certificate that given to us :)

In the day 2, it was our (my PIC and I) turn to do the presentation. (Ehm I’ll tell you my lil’ secret) Actually I have such terrible stage-frightened. I do hate speaking/orating/talking in front of many people. That’s my weakness :'( but no matter what I must do that presentation. Indeed. That’s our main reason why we fly so far away crossing the hundreds kilometers sea and land from Indonesia to Russia.

In some hours before the presentation I was going back and forth to the toilet for many times due to my nervousness. I had a cold-sweat too. It was so terrible. Even when I have to do presentation in front of the class when I was school I always do the same, in this case I have to do presentation in foreign-language in front of many international people. Can you imagine how nervous I am??? It felt I was going to give in. I might cry. But the time keeps passing and our turn had come! 

Part IV. Happy but Dag Dig Dug (Full of Surprises) [Arrived in Russia]

Fine! Before I forget what I want to tell you guys I’ll continue my story about my very first time going abroad “Russia”. It’s been 3 years ago actually. Because a couple days ago I heard such bad news about Malaysia Airlines which got shot by Russian guided missile then made me remember I had ever gone to Russia. Anyway I’m truly sorry to hear the news, especially for Indonesian who also became victim. I said my condolences. :(

8th International Junior Forest Contest

If I’m not mistaken in 13th September 2014 I arrived in Domodedovo International Airport. We were welcomed by the light rain. The interesting part when we (my lecture, my friend, and I) got there we almost fell into the trouble because of the suitcases.