Life Experience

Do you recognize from what movie the picture above? Yup, it's 21. A movie about a genius young man who gained one hell of life experience from a famous card game called blackjack. His brilliant mind was discovered by one of his lecturer and offered him to join in a blackjack community in the campus. His decision to step into the world of blackjack changed his life: earning lots of money from casinos, getting beaten into pulp by some kind of security guard, losing lots of money twice, almost losing friends, almost failing school, and almost losing Harvard Medical School. But because of that, he gained a "life experience" which is something he really needed to dazzle the interviewer for the scholarship. Very good movie, highly recommended.

From this movie, I learned something, that I don't have life experience that can dazzle someone or separate me from others, that make me jump out of the page (just like in the movie). It's always a difficult thing for me when somebody asks me what makes me different from the others, like for example in interview or something. "How the hell should I know?", that's what I'm thinking. How can we compare our self with someone else that we don't even know? It seems like a stupid question.
Thinking it deeper, I found it ironic. At school, we are obliged to study to get high score, high grades. If we don't enter the "realm" of average score, the institution will mark you as "FAILED". In other words, we try so hard to be on the same level as everyone else. But in the end, we will be asked to be different.
Anyway, aside from interview screening, selection, exam, etc, having a good and proud able life experience would be nice. Life experience can be good or bad, though having a bad life experience can make you laugh in the future when you think about it again, I'd rather have a good life experience.So, i've been thinking what kind of life experience I can get and how to get it. I've always been wanting to make difference, or make something that can make difference. But even after searching deep inside, I still can not find something inside me that I'm really good at, something that I can proud of and compete with others. How can I change something if I don't even have the tool to do it.Anybody can give me a clue on how to find something to be best at?...

in time of darkness
will you find the light?
can you find the light?

Use emoticon in your blogger post

I got this very cool feature from Mr. Fathah's blog. It's written in Indonesian, so I'll translate it here so you all can understand of course with his consent
Ok, here what u need to do:

1. Use firefox. Not using firefox? Then use it. Don't want to use it? Use it now!
2. Install Greasemonkey add-on.
3. Click this link to get yahoo messenger emoticon. Then click install.
4. Click this link to get onion emoticon. Then click install.
5. Click this link to get naruto emoticon. Then click install.
6. Click this link to get pika emoticon. Then click install.
7. Click this link to get pucca emoticon. Then click install.
8. Go to your dashboard -> Layout -> Edit HTML
9. Find this code
   

   ]]><⁄b:skin>

10. Copy the following code, then paste it above that code (9).

    img.emoticon {
    padding: 0;
    margin: 0;
    border: 0;
    }

11. Save Template
12. Done. Now the emoticons will appear when you create new post. More emoticons here.
    

Thanks to Mr. Fathah

screenshot

What would you do with Heroes power?: Hiro Nakamura

Hiro Nakamura

Picture from http://www.nbc.com

Heroes, one of the best tv series in my opinion, really caught up so many people attentions all around the world. I guess people like this kind of movie, fantasy, super power, and fictional. But what most important is the series manifest the deepest desire of man. Power of flying without machine, teleportation, invisibility, etc. Deep inside our heart, we long for it, we desperately want those kind of powers.
So let's talk about those powers one by one. Let's start with teleportation power of Hiro Nakamura (let's discuss about his time bending power next time). A chubby Japanese character who in my opinion has awsome power but he's just too childish and immature. Teleportation is a great power, I really want it! Have you seen a movie called Jumper? OMG, that's just the way I want, being able to move from one place to another in one blink of eyes regardless the distance.
What can we do with this power? For me, it will really help my financial condition. Nope, not in the way David Rice did in Jumper-- robbing banks, not a chance! If I had that power, I can use it to go to my lab back and forth, which means, less energy consumed, and less cost. Not only that, since everything's so expensive here in Japan, I can have my breakfast, lunch, dinner in my home country which everything's cheaper compare to this country -> less cost of money. I can even just live in my country and study here in Japan. Other than that, I can also get a part time job(s) some where else, for example in America to earn some dollars, then exchange it with my country's money -> I'll be rich in no time :)) And of course, this time just like David in Jumper, I can go to many places around the world which is my ultimate dream!
Aside from those mentioned above, of course there are some bad deeds you can do with the power. One simple example, just watch Jumper :p That's the true power of a "power". It could consume you, devoure all the true you and change you to some one else, someone who is not "you", most of the time, you'll become the "bad version". That happens in real life, you know, even without the fictional powers of Heroes. We can see some people change when they obtain wealth and glory, and start treating people the way they used to hate. So, how to prevent the change? I have no idea. Maybe, love..? :p

Belum saatnya menilai, menasihati, dan mengomentari orang lain

Menurut pendapat saya, selama kita masih:

1. Men-download mp3/film/buku dari internet, jangan menghujat atau mencaci para koruptor, karena kita sama busuknya dengan mereka.
2. Mencuri bandwidth internet perusahaan/universitas untuk kepentingan selain pekerjaan dan pendidikan, seperti membuka friendster, facebook, dll, tidak perlu berteriak2 menuntut hukuman mati bagi para koruptor, karena kita tidak ada bedanya dengan mereka.

Dunia ini penuh kemunafikan. Sering kali seseorang berkata manis di depan, berteriak sesuatu yg ideal, padahal secara sadar atau tidak, dia sendiri belum bener. Tau apa istilahnya orang yg seperti itu? MUNAFIK! HYPOCRITE! Saat kemunafikannya terungkap, dia akan naik ke kemunafikan level 2 yang ditandai dengan satu action: JUSTIFIKASI. "Kalo make internet kantor/universitas mah beda, ga ada yg dirugikan". GOBLOK! Emangnya tuh bandwidth lu kira gratis? Udah bayar listrik, bayar provider juga!
Anyway, sebelum kamu menasihati orang lain, mengungkapkan keburukan orang lain, ngaca dulu deh, klo kamu dah bersih dari semua keburukan yg bakal kamu omongin, baru teriak kenceng2!

Email to your Professor

In Japan, professor is like a God. Once you choose a professor, most likely you'll stuck with him/her for the rest of your life :p He/she will be the one who decides you'll graduate or not, you'll pass exam or not, etc. I even heard there was this student that had some kind of problem with his/her professor, and ended up failing entrance exam for graduate school for three times! If you have a good relationship with your professor, or he/she is pleased with you, then don't worry, you'll do great! Because of that, what happens in the comic strip above sometimes (or most of the time) happens. It took sometime for me to arrange the sentences so that it would show that for example I did a lot of thing, or I was still working on something, or the little progress I did would look big :D, etc :p And most likely again, the professor would do something like that comic showed, just one line of sentence. How about you?

Why do you pray?

For those who practice religion, you do pray to God once in a while, right?or maybe you do it frequently just like the Moslems, five times a day, everyday. In my opinion, based on the activity, there are two types of pray:

1. Pray by heart. This one you don't do any poses or rituals, just say it in your heart.
   
2. Pray by movements. This one you do some kind of poses or rituals, for example bowing, singing, etc. Although still you need to put your heart and mind to God while doing the movements.
   

But based on reasons, there are a lot of types of pray:

1. Pray because of fear. You're afraid of God's punishment if you don't pray, you do this one.
   
2. Pray because of fun. You find it fun and enjoyable to pray to God for only God and you know the reason, you do this one.
   
3. Pray because of needs. You know everything you receive is from God, so you pray to God because you still need something in this life. Or maybe you're in trouble, so you need help and pray to God.
   
4. Pray because of habit. You've been doing the prayer since you're a kid, you even memorize everything out of your head, and you feel not right if you don't pray.
   
5. Pray because of merit. If you pray, you'll get merit and reward from God, either in this life or after life. So you pray.
   
6. Pray because of force. Your parents tell you to pray, or your girlfriend, or your wive or husband. You do this one.
   
7. Pray because of majority. Your family or your friends, or people around you pray, so you tag along.
   
8. Pray because of good impression. You want to impress your future mother-in-law, or your superior, your girlfriend, boyfriend, your family, or even people you don't know by praying. You conduct this one.
   
9. Pray because of love to God. You love your God. Simply as that, you pray to God.

So, which one are you?

What Japan should learn from Indonesia

If we talk about what Indonesia should learn from Japan, it might take more than one post to discuss about it, hehe, just kidding. Anyway, I found it more interesting to discuss of what a modern, sophisticated country like Japan should learn from a developing country like Indonesia instead.
So what are those things?It took me a while to think and answer that question, but I finally came up with some answers.

1. Indonesia can be proud of its cinema(theater) industry. People in Indonesia can enjoy the new movies in theater quickly. While here in Japan, the movies are out dated, and most of the time it takes quite some time until a movie is played in theaters in Japan. Not only that, the theater, the place where we can watch movies, in Indonesia is better than that in Japan. Well, actually I don't know if all Japan's theaters like that, but the one I found in Nanba Osaka was so not Japan. In Indonesia, when we buy the tickets, we can choose the seat through a monitor which displays seats available and not. But in Toho Cinemas in Namba, they only provide you with a sheet of paper displaying the seat inside the theater. Then we choose which seats we want to take, then they will check if it's available or not. That's why I tell you, it's so not Japan, 不便です。
2. Most supermarkets here in Japan will not put stuffs you buy into a plastic bag. They will just give you the plastic and let you do it yourself. Since in Indonesia, the supermarket always put your stuffs into the plastic bag, It makes me feel Japan's supermarket doesn't give much service to the customers.
3. The ATM machines here in Japan don't operate 24/7! This one's quite shocking for me, since it means if you're out of money in the middle of the night, you're doomed!
4. I don't know if this is true, but I heard that Japanese people only take a bath once a day, they only take a bath at night. Judging from their messy hairs in the morning, maybe this is true. Maybe they should learn to take a bath also in the morning just like Indonesian. Or are Indonesian people also like that? :p
5. They really should use the standard 24-hours-day.

Any other ideas?

Nokia Developer Contest: Calling All Innovators

September 18, 2008

Nokia Launches Developer Contest
Competition to create mobile apps that will better society

Forum Nokia has announced Calling All Innovators, a contest for
developers to create mobile applications that will help to better
society. The contest challenges developers to think big about the
opportunity to impact the quality of human life with mobile
applications. Nokia will award up to $150,000US in cash and prizes, in
addition to helping the winning developers distribute their mobile
applications.

Calling All Innovators challenges mobile application developers
worldwide to create applications that will enhance the use of mobile
devices in real world scenarios, in one of the three following categories:

* ECO-Challenge. Submit an application that works to minimize
mobility’s global environmental impact and develop ways to offer
mobile solutions that help consumers make sustainable choices such as
reducing their energy consumption or carbon footprint.
* Emerging Markets. This category opens up new opportunities for
developers to imagine the possibilities of pioneering applications and
services impacting the daily lives in developing nations, which could
include solutions for education, health data access, infotainment,
rural agriculture, or any other application that improves lives in
emerging markets.
* Technology Showcase. This is an opportunity to create and
showcase compelling, experience driven applications, using any
technology that runs on Series 40 or S60 devices, such as Flash Lite,
Java, Python, or open source.

“Calling All Innovators is not just about making mobile applications
that could help society; it’s about developing mobile applications
that will help society,” says Forum Nokia’s Tom Libretto. “Imagine if
an application could help relief workers reallocate resources in real
time for disaster-torn areas — how much could that help both those in
need as well as the relief workers in the area?”

First place winners in each category will receive $25,000US, a trip to
Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona, and distribution of their
application for free through a variety of Nokia channels. Second place
winners in each category will receive $10,000US and third place
winners will receive $5,000US.

The contest opens on September 16, 2008 and all entries are due by
December 15, 2008. Finalists will be selected and notified in January
2009.

--copy-pasted from www.nicnocquee.com/blog

So Ignorant of Me

Who would've thought, while browsing here and there, searching through the marvelous Mr. Google with these keywords: "quran quote", I stumbled upon this post in this blog: Top 10 Quran quotes every woman MUST SEE. I thought the article would be something nice, but it's not. Reading the post, and then the comments, I realized something: I'm so ignorant of what's happening in this world.

For me, that article, especially the comments, are so awful. So full of hatred. So full of insults, misunderstanding, accusations, justifications, and generalizations. What happen to this world?Is it really what happens in this world now?

I am a kind of guy who always thinks that everything that happened, or is happening in this world is just what it's meant to be, some people called it destiny. War, disaster, plague, destruction, peace, happy family, victory, nice weather, and many other things that happen in this world are just because they are meant to be.

While many people fight with each other over something, war with each other, kill each other, quarrel with each other, I can find neighbors in my hometown who have different beliefs, laugh each other, smile for each other, help each other. While people stab others from the back, insult and curse each other, we can always see a mother smiles happily looking at her newly born child, we can always see kids playing with each others, laughing freely.

Conflicts indeed make this life colorful, but can we just decrease the intensity of hurting others?I'm not a saint, holy guy, or even prophet, but I hope each and every one of you who reads this post can understand how I feel, able to understand that there are still so many beautiful things in this world rather than just hatred. Spread the PEACE! Spread the SMILE!

Little things people tend to take for granted

Many of you might not realize them, but there are so many little things in this life which are so great and beautiful. For example,

1. Breathing. Have you ever tried to realize your breathe? Breathing is so great! If you're not breathing than you're dead. Most of the time because we're so busy in this life, we completely forget that we're breathing. Try this, every time you come home from work, or school, or anywhere, in some point on your way home, STOP! Just stop, close your eyes, and take a deep breath. Feel the air coming to your nose and lunge. You'll feel great!
2. Sneezing. You think I'm kidding? No, I'm f**king serious. Sneeze is one of God's greatest miracle. Have you ever felt like you're going to sneeze but you CAN NOT!??It's painful! And it feels so damn great when you are able to sneeze and let go of everything inside! Just so you know, we really need to be grateful for this so called "sneezing" ability. It means you're healthy, your body is responding because maybe there's some unidentified and dangerous object entering your body through your nose by sneezing so that that object can be blown away. That's why muslim people always say "Alhamdulillah" every time they sneeze which means "All praise belong to God". Good for them.
3. Taking a pee. Oh My God, when you can not pee, you can not move, you feel pain in your stomach area. But when you can release it, wooooooooooooooooooooow, a greatest feeling. Be grateful of it.
4. And many more.

Even if you are the richest human in the world, if you can not breath, sneeze, or take a pee, you'll suffer a lot. So be grateful of little things in life. Any idea what else?

First post

First try on blogger. Let's see what this blog can do.
Picture from www.nicnocquee.com. Visit the blog: www.nicnocquee.com/blog