Relieve

I've been suffering for cold since like two days ago. For the last two days, i practically done nothing except eat and sleep. Cough, sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion and sneezing. I have it all. I've been attending no class since Monday.

Last night, after dinner, i logged on into my facebook to just seeing around. by coincidence, i saw one of my ex-girlfriend was still online. i chatted with her, asking why she still up at like around 3.30 a.m (her local time). we chatted about several things, especially about the future life. i told her that lately, i've been interested in a girl that seems just too sophisticated for me. This young lady is coming from a very decent family background, nice person, well-behaved and i assume that she's a good muslimah, as well. Me as a person who always been optimistic, prudent and visionary, sometimes and somehow feel like being nobody by this circumstances. Somehow during these times, i feel like being delusional about this young lady.

Then she said to me, "Nobody knows how the future will be.. Good luck then with that young lady". I told her that's the different between men and women by citing my favorite quote from a German writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He said :

"Girls we love for what they are; Young men for what they promise to be."

It took like two seconds before she replied with, "you are a promising young man kok.. hehehe.. lol". i replied with even bigger laughter. but to be honest, the second i read it, it was totally relieving. i even felt like being injected with a tremendous spirit booster. it was awaking. it was just feels so good to read that phrase. somehow, it was calming, as well.

And she was right. Nobody knows how's the future gonna be like. Whom you gonna end up for the rest of your life with. That's what i believed as The Almighty's destiny. Just live it up with your best efforts. I gonna always remember that phrase. The phrase that not only relive my cold, but also relieve me from my scattered few weeks. Thank you. Your words relieve me.

It was calming me last night to go to bed. And it boosting my mood and new spirit by the time i woke up this morning. It was magical. I don't know why and how. Just a magical single phrase by another young lady. I said to my self, let me fight and finish this cold and get back to my classes and school works. Let me get myself back. Myself who always been optimistic, prudent and visionary. The Arif Nindito with the restless fighting spirit, the real me. Let me first conquer my world, and after that, i'm going home. Let me go home.

Between Amsterdam - Den Haag.

This one is extracted from a conversation between two friend on their blackberry messenger.

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The Boy: You got it
The Boy: Stanford..
The Girl ♣: Skrg rajin2 kuliyahnya
The Girl ♣: Kyk gw2 gini
The Boy: Biar cepet nikah..
The Boy: Hahahah
The Girl ♣: Hahahhaa
The Girl ♣: Hahhahaa
The Girl ♣: Jd pace nya sama deh
The Boy: Hahahah
The Boy: Nice..
The Girl ♣: I'm eating rite nwow
The Girl ♣: So nice
The Girl ♣: Its still raining outside
The Boy: What do u have for dinner ?
The Girl ♣: So happy
The Girl ♣: Porridge phiphiiiiii
The Girl ♣: Oh and strawberry juice
The Boy: Sounds delicious..
The Boy: Its pouring here as well
The Boy: I'm waiting for my train to den haag
The Girl ♣: What do u want to do in den haag
The Boy: Gue udah bilang sama lo belom sih kalo gue jadi perwakilan Presidium PPI Amsterdam
The Girl ♣: Waaah belum

The Boy: Ada debat sama perwakilan bem seluruh indo gitu
The Boy: Mereka lagi studi banding ke belanda
The Girl ♣: Trs
The Girl ♣: Ooooo
The Girl ♣: Waw

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The Boy: Jadi nanti kalo lo mau masternya di stanford, ya gue nanti bilang sama kantor gue buat ditugasin di kantor cabang san fransisco aja..
The Boy: Hahahahahaha.. =))
The Girl ♣: Asik
Arif Nindito: Haha.. Emang enak ya dreaming..
Arif Nindito: Mumpung masih muda ini gapapa banyak2 mimpi deh gue.. *nerd*
The Girl ♣: Iya
The Girl ♣: Its okay to dream
The Girl ♣: Tp klo wan kenobi
The Girl ♣: "Be careful anakin,dream,they betray you"
The Boy: Hahhaha
The Girl ♣: Hahha cakepbh ya
The Boy: But my dream guide me..
The Boy: That's my dream that made me sitting here on this train right now
The Boy: That made me stay on this bad weather country..
The Boy: Hahaha..
The Girl ♣: Oooh that's sweet hahhaha
The Boy: ;)

--

So, keep your dream alive.

Years of Gentleman

Sky is still so grey this morning, and I am still a teenager by the time i write this. Yes, i am still 19. I just wanna share some thought in my head about last few months of my life. I wanna share my thoughts about my current issues and also maybe few about the future.

The consequences of being a type-7 person for me is that you can't stop thinking about your life, your dream and your future. Some people might say it is silly, but for me, i found it as the thing that make me alive. Thinking, dreaming, making a plan, then stick to it, is already in my nerves since i was a junior-high-schooler.

I consider my self as a person who having a very high level of self-serving bias. That according to my psychology class' professor, is healthy for me.

The last few months was quite rough, let say. After i received my acceptance letter, I have to totally struggle to past the Cost Accounting class in the short semester as my last attempt to make my transfer. I also have to undergone some financial process issues in my family regarding the funding of my future study. And yes of course, i undergone those few last feel-quite-blue days before i depart here.

Well, finally i am here right now. I finally, and again, living what i've been planned. And this very moment of life has been a quantum leap in my life history.

I am finally took a full control of my life, now.

Although in some sort it is not always be that nice, but most of the times, yes it is nice to have a full control of you life with you. This circumstance is always followed by one word; RESPONSIBILITY.

Once you gain a full control of our life, you have to always bear in mind that you have to be responsible with it. You should carry a huge amount of responsibility that you can pay to your stakeholders. You should be able to be responsible for every decision you make, regardless on what condition you made that decision, at the end, you have to be responsible for your call, anyway.

As i said, you should be able to be responsible to your stakeholders. In case of me, i have to be responsible for my decision to studying abroad that cost my parents lot of money. I have to be responsible to my study, to my parents, to my life, and more importantly, i have to be responsible to God. God already gave me a although not perfect, a wonderful life. God also give Priceless worth of health. And last but not least, God also already gave me, although not that brilliant, a working mindset.

There is no reason to not be really grateful. And there is also no reason to run away from the responsibilities i have to carry on. I already made my call, then i will be fully responsible for it. This is what i called as The Years of Gentleman.

D-1

I opened my eyes this morning at around 7.30AM, then i recognized that i only had about five hours of sleep. Last night, i went out with few best friends from high school to a movie to watch Pelham 123 then continued with some late night conversations.

I will depart by tomorrow. And by the time i woke up this morning, i realized how much i love my current life. For sure, my life isn't perfect. Though, i can say that i really enjoy every single pieces of my life recently. Then i realized how lovely it feels to have a loving-although-not-perfect family. A superb mother, really hard working father, unique siblings, great-and-supportive friends, challenging-and-dynamic study environment of FEUI, relatively cheap living expense in Depok, and not necessarily say the decent facilities given. I think it is save for me to say that i feel content with my life and i think it's enough for now. It is my comfort zone.

Then the question raised is that, "why bother to move, brother ?". Sometimes i also rose this basic question to my self. Why bother to leave if you already contented with your current life condition ? sometimes, i had no answer. but most of the time i answered it with "to be better".

Therefore, the definition on "be better" may vary from person to person. We could be better in any aspects of our life. Then, let's scrutinize it to the phrase of "a better future". How do you define "a better future" ? does it means being wealthier, smarter, happier or what ?

With no intentions of being cocky (although it still sounds cocky), Faculty of Economics - University of Indonesia already promised me more than just a decent future of life. And i thought it already offered me more than what does it takes to succeed in the jungle of Indonesian economic and business community. It's like a passport to excel for some reason.

It's a mini Harvard of Indonesia.

Not necessarily saying the magical-and-somehow-collusive connections of the yellow jackets thingy. But yes, it really works, fellas. To be more cocky, let me share you some potential highlights of FEUI. We have both international and national superb caliber of networks. You'll never know who the hell would standing in the front of your class as the lecturer.

He/she could be a minister, businessman, entrepreneur, economist, statistician, mathematician, or even a financial market bastard.

the same thing applies for your fellow friends. You'll never know who they would be in the next five years. So basically, FEUI is a perfect networking field for me.

Then most of you including me will ask, "hey fella, with those good damn things in ur life, aren't you should think that's enough ?". It maybe yes, maybe no. I don't want to stay in my comfort zone for too long. Since i believed that people who never leave their comfort zone would never succeed. So, it's all about leaving your comfort zone. Well, it is also a part of a bigger system malfunction that effect my life. Why ? maybe i can say that if Universitas Indonesia (UI) that almost every indonesian citizens be proud of is ranked among world's top 50 universities, then i don't have to bother to take off my ass abroad. As i cockily elaborated, FEUI already gives me more than what does it takes to succeed. at least, locally.

But most of the times, people are never satisfied. We were born with needs, wants, obsessions. And especially for me, i was born with dreams.

Yes dude, it's dreams that take me to where i've been right now. As Anis Baswedan PhD, said as his life philosophy, "I have a dream, and I share my dream". It perfectly suits me. Men are measures by what he dreams of. For me, dreaming is self-actualizing. There is no boundaries to dream.

To wrap up, i'm moving because of four reasons. First, i have to leave my comfort zone. Second, i am about to chase my dream. Third, i am actualizing my self. And fourth, yes, i am not enough, yet. Being competent locally is not enough for the prudent-and-cocky Arif Nindito. I want to compete globally. And the only way to do so is by going global.

Studying abroad will never promised you a happier life. Although maybe, just maybe, a more rewarding income. Being happy is not necessarily the same as being wealthy. It depends on what values you hold. So many people are damn rich but they are not happy.

Studying abroad, ideally, would gives you more holistic perspectives. It will shape the way you see things that finally leads to more knowledges. And believe it or not, knowledge leads to power. But once again it depends on the person. Only people who willing to learn will learn, otherwise, they will never actually learn although they seem like so.

In the end, as Uncle Ben in the spiderman said,

"With great power must come great responsibility"

Since knowledge leads to power, then come the responsibility. Knowledge demands for application. Having much knowledges without apply it to the society is useless. According to prophet Muhammad SAW, the greatest men ever is the men who could be useful for others. Then it's our call, with knowledge we can be useful for the society or be useless for them. We think, we act.

It's already more than lengthy as a blog post, but i just burst it off from my vigorous mind. I have to finish some immigration matters and more importantly finish to pack my luggage. That's it for this woke up blog post.

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For the people i care and love for the most,

Arif Nindito.