Sidenotes of Life

Why I Write is a poem by Lang Leav posted on her Instagram.  I read it because my friends repost it on her instastory, the words strike me. And why I write is the same question that motivates me to write more on my blog recently.  But first, I want to say something.  Have I told you that searching a scholarship is a tiring journey? I don't know about you, but honestly for me, constantly being checked about my past, my present and my future aspirations make me feels like I was on a brain scan procedure. I was under an assessment, whether I am the candidate they search, or not.  I don't know about you. But I don't think in a normal circumstance people will question that much about their life. The evaluation usually comes at the end of the year, trying to digest what you achieved and whatnot, to start planning for your next year's goals. But when applying to the scholarship, you might have come with some basic idea about y

This past few months has been a pleasurable reading time for me. I borrowed import books from Bookabuku, I read in the library and I slide through many eBooks in between. I read many interesting topic, mostly around personal development, career advice, personal finance and public health (or development). But, this book called "Goodbye Things" is my number one reading. It is so profound, it change the way I look upon everything around me.  I already see this book many times in Periplus or Kinokuniya (and later Gramed because the translated version already published), yet I was not interested to read this because it feels like "Ok, well, another book by another Japanese trying to spread the joy of tidying to the rest of the world." I think of it as another Marie Kondo wave. Don't get me wrong, I like Marie's idea of Spark Joy. I read her book, I watch her Netflix. But for me, it is just a method of tidying. And, as a quite messy person, I took jus

Hai! Kemarin, 4 Oktober 2019, gw akhirnya tes GRE di IIEF. Lokasinya ada di Lantai 28 Menara Imperium, Kuningan, Jakarta. Kayaknya tes GRE emang se-Indonesia cuman bisa disini aja. Tes dijadwalkan jam 08.00 tapi sejam sebelumnya gw udah nyampe dan pintunya masih di kunci, wkwk :'') tapi gapapalah daripada telat. Sekitar jam setengah 8, ruangannya akhirnya dibuka.                             Pertama, gw diminta isi kode institusi yang mau dikirimin nilai GREnya di form. Ohiya, kita dapet jatah gratis ngirim ke 4 kampus saat hari tes. Kalau dikirimnya sesudah tes, ETS akan ngecharge kita  US$27 atau sekitar 380 ribu per kampusnya. Yha jadi kumaksimalkan saja tujuan 4 kampus itu meskipun gak tau bakalan jadi daftar semuanya apa enggak hahaha.  Sesudah itu, panitia tes akan meminta kita menyerahkan kartu identitas (KTP/SIM/Paspor) untuk diverifikasi dan satu-satu akan dipanggil untuk security check. Pagi itu hanya ada sekitar 4 orang yang ikut tes. Gw dipanggil uru

Hai! Kemarin gw baru saja mengikuti tes GRE. Jujur gak nyangka bakalan ngambil tes ini sebelumnya. GRE atau Graduate Record Examination itu semacam tes kemampuan dasar (numeric, verbal & analytical writing) yang jadi syarat  banyak jurusan S2 di Amerika. Mirip-mirip TPA lah kalau di Indo.  Dulu, kalau ditanya mau kuliah S2 dimana, pasti gw mencoret Amerika dari list. Alasannya? ribet, mesti pake GRE segala. Sementara dulu mikirin tes IELTS aja udah pusing. Belom minta surat rekomendasi dan segala per-esai-an. Fix GRE mah urutan terakhir. Tapi, pandangan itu berubah ketika gw akhirnya ikut kelas persiapan GRE di @america. Setiap tahunnya, sekitar bulan Juni, @america memang mengadakan kelas persiapan gratis GRE dan TOEFL IBT. Tujuannya, buat mempersiapkan anak-anak yang pengen nyoba S2 ke US. Kelas GRE @america terdiri dari 8 sesi. Gw mencatat ada 4 sesi kuantitatif dan 4 sesi verbal. Kelasnya tiap hari Sabtu jam 10.30-13.00 di @america, Pacific Place. Nah dari awal