2 June 2012

2 June 2012

This day was very fun. I start the day before my alarm clock rang. It was around 6.30am.

Around 8 am, I was at school already, ready for the technical meeting. The first one I met was Andi JS. He was phoning the others. I overheard that they were at XI IA-03. So, I went straight to XI IA-03, meeting Leonard. There was no information at all about where and when is the technical meeting. I wait and wait, walk around the school, sunbathing :P.

Around 8.30, there was information that the technical meeting was at 4th and 5th floor. Me and my friends went there. Confused where is our room, we searched it round and round: 4th floor and then 5th, back to 4th, 5th again. Around 9, the rooms are more well organized now. There was no more confusion now, but the room for “Graphic Design” or “Programming” was not there yet. When we went to the 5th floor again, I went into a vacant room, and said to them that I have a feeling that this will be the room. Not long, Marco & Peter came and stick the “Graphic Design & Programming” label to the door. :) The technical meeting for Graphic Design start first because Peter joins the technical meeting for Chess too. Around 9.30 the technical meeting for Programming starts. 10, I leave the technical meeting to meet Leonard at the “Cepat Tepat” technical meeting first and then rendezvous with Golfin, and Lenny in XI IA-03. Leonard then left us first.

As planned, we went to Leonard’s boarding house first. But, we met Leonard chatting with Robert’s mom (and cannot leave because she keep chatting with him). We “saved” him from her so he can go back to his boarding house to change clothes first. We waited in front of his house. His mom came back, and asked us to come in. We came in and he went down. Then we walked to my house first. It was around 10.30 when we arrived at my home.

Around 11, Lenny left my house to go to her cousin’s house to change clothes. I & Golfin also change clothes. At 11.30, my father came back, fetched us, then went to Lenny’s cousin house to fetch her then drop us at Sun Plaza.

At Sun Plaza, we met JL first. Then we went down to the atrium to see the Sony exhibition. When I came back from the toilet, they were already with Vicky.

We had our lunch at Bakoel Ubud, a restaurant which have a TV showing Tom & Jerry. I ate “Nasi goreng ala kampung“, usual fried rice with usual chicken and an fried egg, and drank “Huru Hara“, a drink which flavoured like passion fruit, lemon, and tea. We also took photos there.

We walked around the plaza. We went to Paperclip, Leonard bought something. We went to Gramedia, I found out that CHIP magazine for this month were not there yet. We went to Breeks to have snacks, and also took photos there. We went to Amazone to have photo at the photobox. It’s 4 and my father fetched us (I, Leonard, Lenny, and Golfin) back at 4.30. My father dropped Leonard at his boarding house, and Lenny at Thamrin Plaza; I & Golfin at my house.

2 June 2012 Read More »

Vesak

Today is Vesak Day, which encompasses the birth, the enlightenment , and the passing of Gautama Buddha. I & my family paid a visit to Setiabudi Temple.

I prayed that may all the beings live happily (Sabbe Satta Bhavantu Sukhitahtta). But how? The night before this day, I have suggested some path to make the world better.

Environment

I think the most important issue today is the environmental issues.  People tend to live in a calmer way when the environment is clean, and when the weather is cool (not too hot). This way, there will be less conflict around the world, and thus, people live more happily. So, I think we must support Greenpeace, WWF, and Oxfam to make the environment better.

Education

The next issue is education. When people are educated, they tend to live in a peaceful life although they still competing in a good way: they don’t fight physically. When people are at peace, people live more happily. So, I think we must support Wikipedia and its sister project that provide free educational material.

Politics

Politics vary across the globe, but they share a same feature: politics control people. When a group of people, who were elected by most people, control all people, it is called democracy. When some group of people make the people at the same status (and control all their life), it is called communism. Democracy tend to make large people larger and small people smaller. Communism tend to make small people large and large people small. Well, I’m a neutral person since I lost my faith in democracy. But the politics done in Wikipedia community seems good enough to be implemented to real life, because in the community, the rules are all neutral. So, it is not good to be too deep in a side. As Buddha suggested, the Middle Way, or in this context, the “neutral” party, is the best. Let’s hope there will be a real neutral party competing in the politics. :)

That’s all for this year on how to improve the world. May all the beings live happily. Thank you.

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The rest of April

At 16-19 April, 12.00-1.30 pm, we rehearse the drama.

On 20 April, we decided to do a costume rehearsal again on the Saturday (21st April); but wait, I just remembered that I’ve forgot to bring home my costume! Then, I went to find it on Lab 8; hopefully it is still there, untouched. :)  On 21 April, the costume rehearsal went short because many of them wanted to go home on 1 pm.

On Friday, 27 April, we watched  the first group played. In my opinion, the worst actor/actress was Jennifer; she like to add something that probably is not in the scenario, like the moment when she spoke like a Bataknese, I don’t like that part very much. The story was pointless. The made a story about the continuation of “Spartans vs 3 idiots”; which the Spartans and Persians are at war; the Persians kidnapped the princess of the Spartans (Jennifer) and in response, the king the Spartans (Andy) send a warrior (Juliana) and 3 idiots (Alvin, Marco, AJS) to free the princess. The 3 idiots eventually joins the Persians and attacked the Spartans. I don’t know how it ends but the story is complicated and confusing.

We do the last rehearsal on Saturday, 28 April. On 30 April, we performed! Wilson Tianusa recorded it in his camera; the file was 1GB large and the duration is just 14 minutes. It will be a hard time to upload it.

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The Dream

25 March 2012

I have a nice dream when I’m sleeping. I just can recall the last part of my dream. In that dream, I’m doing biology homework: answer the questions in the biology book. (in real life, the teacher will never give us that homework) While doing it in a place which resembles Johnson bimbel room 3C with tables from room 4A, I’m listening to songs. I can recall that they were Coldplay – Princess of China and Don’t Let It Break Your Heart. After those songs, I can listen to a song which style is somewhat similar to songs from Noah and the Whale’s album “The First Days of Spring”.

Suddenly, I become watching music video about that song through TV in my home’s family room. The music video’s plot is in a Chinese temple (could also be Korean or Japanese). The temple’s door are all opened. The camera is approaching a man standing outside the temple’s room. And then the camera shifted to the altar which doors are opening. After they opened, the video shifted to another time; supposedly the man’s past time (because the video now is using sepia filter). That moment, the song is in the refrain part which I recall:

I don’t mind
Looking at the other
And I don’t mind
Looking at me

This time the video played in a slower motion. The video now is a school. The man is playing cards with his friends in a stair outside the school’s entrance door. A girl, I assumed his little sister, is coming up to him. Now, the camera shifted to the girl’s point of view. The girl looked the man and his friends as if there were something wrong had happened. The camera shifted back to the man’s point of view. She is informing about the other “man”.

I concluded that the man that the girl talking about and the man that played cards are twin brothers; also the girl that time is informing that the other “man” has died. Now, in my dream, I almost cried. But, suddenly my alarm rand and then I wake up from this dream. Ah, such a nice sad song. Really, the song’s style is almost similar to the songs from Noah and the Whale’s album “The First Days of Spring”; also the singer’s voice is also similar to Charlie Fink, the vocalist of Noah and the Whale.

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March 2012

The first half of March is spent on school examination.

  • 9 March: Physics: good, got 2 question answered wrongly only in MCQs
  • 10 March: Indonesian language: not bad, got 4 wrongs in MCQs, I’m worried about the essay test
  • 12 March: Chemistry: one of my favorite subject, unsure in MCQs, got 1 question answered wrongly in essay test (but my score is not deducted too much).
  • 13 March: Civics and English: not bad too, but I’m worried in this 2 subjects.
  • 15 March: Mathematics: good, I solved all the questions in time! I also have enough time to recheck half my work.
  • 17 March: Biology: worth an effort, after spending 2 days focusing on Biology, I just got 2 question answered wrongly in MCQs.

After the exam, I focused on doing my computer project which is an animation of “Angry Birds” game. In this animation, a bird is launched using a slingshot to hit a “king” pig and then the bird sees that there are another 4 “king” pig. The bird shoots out laser and kills the pigs. The bird go up a hill and sees that there are a lot of smaller-sized pigs. The bird shoots out a beam. But the pigs send out a mirror and then the beam got reflected by the mirror. Finally the beam hits the bird and then the animation ends. You can view my computer project here. (p.s. The animation is masked in a box styled like YouTube :) )

On 19 March, we got a “holiday” because the third grade is still having exam, but the first round of JOINTS (Jogja Information Technology Session) PCS (Programming Contest Session) is held on that day. In this contest, our team consists of me, Golfin, and Peter. This round is a “virtual round contest”, a contest which you can start at any time for a time limit and within a certain time (i.e. you can start this round at any time on that day; the round lasts only for 2 hours).

20 March is Leonard’s birthday. After long discussion, there is no decision on which thing to be gifted. So in 20 March, there is absolutely nothing special! In the school, the drama group decided to hold it in Sun Plaza on 23 March because it is much simpler than all the ideas before it.

On 22 March, this is the last time in this semester for Michael Lie, an “assistant” of Johnson, to teach us. He will go back to Japan for his studies there. After school, I started to upgrade my laptop to Windows 7. It finished on the night. Hopefully the upgrade was successful. My first impression is it is much simpler, more responsive, and faster than Windows Vista. But then I realize that Windows Vista is more beautiful than Windows 7. But, who needs a beautiful-but-slow OS? OK, now the new OS need much update. I also need to update something in order to fix my DVD drive which didn’t work after the upgrade.

23 March is a very long day. In the morning, I continue the update. At 10 something, Golfin come to my house and watch me updating my new OS. At 11, near 12, we go to fetch Leonard and go to Sun Plaza. Then we meet with the rest from the drama group (the drama group consists of me, Leonard, Edward, Golfin, Jessica, Vicky, Jensen, Roselyn + Eko) + Robert.  Then we go to eat at Sushitei. At 1, the plan that Vicky forget to bring the birthday cake but actually have hidden it somewhere is successfully carried out. We have some photos together (which is currently not yet uploaded to social media sites). After eating, we actually intend to watch film, but there is no tickets left. Went to Paperclip. Went to Amazon, play many games including air hockey, mini-basketball, dancing video game, and FPS video game. Went to Hypermart to buy drinks. Went to Gramedia to read books (not buying anything). Went to KFC to have some snacks. After that, we went home.

March 2012 Read More »

2nd TWoS and Chinese New Year

The 21st January TWoS were attended by more students than the previous one; but less teachers. Our stand (computer) have its gift out-of-stock as there were too many people who can solve the game. This time, our stand (including the others in the room) was closed at 3 pm. Don’t worry, you can play the game any time at http://tinyurl.com/twosX .

It’s Chinese New Year on 23rd January, and I have holiday until 29 January. This Chinese New Year somehow didn’t feel like Chinese New Year; our conditions were not well. My brother got sick, I got flu, etc. The best thing in this Chinese New Year that I continue to develop my website which is an online judge (see http://pc.t15.org/).

In this holiday, I also rewatched some Conan movies; my cousins and me watched an Indonesian film titled “Xia Aimei” at theater. It is a movie about a girl named Xia Ai-mei which came from China and was a human trafficking victim and she was forced to work at nightclub in Indonesia. She ran away, and met some guys which help her return to China; but before she returns, the people at that nightclub found her and sank her to the sea. The police arrested the people from that nightclub and that guy jumped in to the sea to find her. He found her, but she already died. And then “The End”. Ahh, it’s just like that; the introduction was very long, but the climax and anti-climax was too short. The media partner is Yahoo!, but in the film, the uses Google Translate to help the guy and Xia communicate; the guy also uses GMail to check his email. That is what I can say about this film.

Please help Coldplay in the BRIT Awards 2012 by casting vote on http://cldp.ly/votebrits. Thank you

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Binus Center, BNPCHS, Wikimedia, and Paradise

November may be the busiest month in the year. As, Wikimedia Foundation Fundraiser 2011 starts on November 7th, final round of “Binus Center ICT School Competition” was held by Binus Center Gajah Mada on November 5th which I attend and along with Charlie, we represent our school and got the first rank. Qualification round of “Bina Nusantara Programming Contest for High School Students” was held on Sunday, November 13th; which me, Charlie, Peter, and Golfin are qualified to the final round on November 20th in Jakarta.

We went to Jakarta with other finalists from Medan and Pematang Siantar. We have a night on Binus Square (place for Binus university students to live) guest room. We compete in Binus University Anggrek Campus.

November 19th

The morning is unusual. After I woke up, I feel very nervous and afraid until I finished taking bath. The school was normal until the 5th lesson. Someone called us (Peter, me, and Golfin; and of course Charlie but separately called) to get home to catch our airplane which are scheduled on 3p.m. (we are told to gather on Binus Center Gajah Mada on 1p.m.)

From the 4 of us, I was the first to come, then Charlie, then Peter. The last was Golfin as his father didn’t know where Binus Center Gajah Mada located. There we met friends from other schools, such as Felix (W.R. Supratman); Andi and M. Faisal Nasution (Sutomo 2); Tendy and David (Kalam Kudus Pematang Siantar)

It was a tiring flight as we sat on the back-most row.

We arrive at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport around 6p.m. and waited for taxi for around half hour. After that we continue the tiring journey in the traffic jammed road of Jakarta to Kebon Jeruk, a district where Binus Square and Binus University Anggrek Campus located.

At Binus Square, we were given 3 rooms: 1 suite and 2 superior. The suite is given to me, Peter, Charlie, Golfin and Felix. One of the superior is for Tendy and David; the rest is for Faisal and Andi.

We ate our dinner at Food 101, a canteen at Binus Square. All of us ate ”soto Betawi”, which is not delicious compared to ”soto Medan”.

We spend our night discussing about the competition, watching TV (but no one watched), and playing games.

We get to bed at around 11:30pm.

November 20th

I recall morning alarm rang at around 5.30 am. I was the first from this room to get up and take bath. The bath has hot-water tap, so it wouldn’t be too cold to have a bath, but after I dried myself, the wind from the holes under the door made me shivering. One by one is getting up and takes bath.

Peter is the only one who is bad at getting up. He only can get up after hearing sounds from Spongebob Squarepants at GlobalTV.

We have breakfast at 7-Eleven, after we searched to many places but they haven’t opened yet.

At 8, we checked out from Binus Square and met a delegation from Binus Head Office who sends us to Binus University Anggrek Campus for the competition.

I’m in the same room with Jessica Handojo, a contestant at IOI 2011. The competition starts well in the first 2 hours. I solved 2 problems. The rest I only watches the scoreboard which Jessica constantly solves the problems. Before the competition, I’ve knew that in this condition, I can only solves 2 problems.

After the competition, the results are: Peter at #12, Charlie at #20, me at #24, Golfin #25, Tendy #34, Felix #37, Andi and Faisal #38.

We met alumni from my school who studies at Binus University: Tiffany Tanoto, who ever joined OSN; and Teddy Budiono Hermawan, who ever joined OSN and BNPCHS. That day, Teddy is one of the judges who judged our submission. Lunch is free of charge and given to every contestants after the competition. Before we leave, we took photos there.

We rushed to the airport and have dinner at A&W. It was a very nice yet tiring experience. We arrived at Medan around 00.00 a.m.

 

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