A good teacher

I've just found out the right words to say it.

A good teacher is not someone who is (always) better than you in every single area.
A good teacher is someone who can drive you to be better in your areas and may be more areas you've been bad at or haven't known before.

This is a mostly forgotten truth, especially by my beloved creative talents and colleagues.
If you're looking for an idol, then it's a different story.
Can a teacher be an idol at the same time? Sure can.
But back to you, are you really looking for a teacher or anything else?

My 3rd day with Z10

I think, in its current state, by technology, it is far left behind Android.
By using Android, I feel like I've been shown to the future. It opens a lot of new possibilities.

As for BB OS 10, it strictest me much more than iOS do. To the limit I feel like going crazy.
But when I start to give up expecting it to be able to do what I can do with jelly bean 4.2 and accepting it as it is, it starts to make sense to me.
It assures me that it's fine to live in the now. Don't break things that are not broken.

The customization is hard to be done, to the point that I think RIM/BlackBerry actually don't want its user to customize.
But it's not impossible, if you really dig deep to know how. And well... still, they hide the settings somewhere in the limbo.
The inconsistency of where the common settings are and how to access them is very bad.

At the very least, I can install an alternative browser instead using the default one which is very... very.. bad. It doesn't even detect mobile sites like Chrome can do on Android.

In the absence of widgets, BB OS 10 expects us to use Active Frames instead.
Whatttt? What the hell are you talking about?
They're the preview of your opened apps ! Those small thumbnails on the home screen. For example, I've found an app which shows the percentage of the battery.

I can see that, wow.. It's cool that the OS can keep so many multi opened apps. It's good enough for that level of multi tasking, maybe even much better than iOS.
But what the heck? Do you expect the users to keep opening those 'widgety' apps everytime they restart the device??
Or maybe BlackBerry doesn't even support the practice of 'widgets' anyway?

I also see it as primitive, to aggregate all the message in the BlackBerry Hub while I can't do extra actions through it.
For example, I can accept a friend request but I can't edit my new just added friend's group on Facebook from the Hub.
I prefer to access the Facebook app directly anyway.

There are some good stuffs about BB OS 10 that I like though.
The BBM works very well. It works flawlessly like the iMessage + FaceTime.
And BlackBerry put the feature up front.
Android can do similar thing with its Gtalk, but new users usually don't know about that.
And I gotta say that the screen unlocking gesture is addictive. I often forgot and do that gesture on my GNex then Google search comes out haha.

Let's see what I will find out more tomorrow.

PS: I wrote this post in my G+ app on my Gnex then edited some parts a bit on the web :P

End of (your) Game

"Ladies and gentlemen ! From now on, this whole area of mall will be your Arena ! The movie theater, food court, plaza, shopping districts, everything on site will be your survival stage ! Anyone who tries to escape the arena, well... let's see if you can. *chuckles*
So, ladies and gentlemen ! Congratulations ! Welcome to the game, or should I say.. the end of YOUR game !
PS : There are some killers out there. Real killers. Be careful ! *chuckles*"

That was what I heard from the announcer loudspeakers, when I looked outside the window and there are only white clouds enveloping all the walls of the mall building.

And then suddenly, the water sprinklers went mad, splashing water at all directions and some of the electrical equipment got short circuits and went crazy. I could even hear some little explosions here and there.

People starts to panic and tried to run away, get out of the theater. Yelling, crying, hitting somebody else a the door, etc etc.
What the heck is going on ?!
I follow them on the back when the door was not too packed and jammed anymore. I was keeping my cool.

I managed to get to the hall where it leads to the plaza. There, I found an even more vexing situation.
There are many wounded people everywhere, most of them were burnt.
There was a heat wave coming in from the open door. What the hell is going on ??
I ran into one of the opened door. Only when I've just put one or step outside, the white clouds engulfed my body. It's HOT ! Shit !! That was not clouds, that was .. What was that ?! I felt like steam, or very hot smoke just like the one coming out from the volcano.
I jumped back into the building.

I was just taking a deep breath when I realized that everybody has been screaming and running around in chaos.
"Killers !!! They are real !! They are coming at us !!"
"Get out of my way ! I don't wanna die !!"
"Annie, save yourself ! Leave me !"
WTF ?! Seriously ? What the announcer said was true ?!
OMG, what do I have to do in this kind of situation ???

I look around, bewildered, when my eyes stopped at the two figures in the middle of the crowd.
An elementary school boy who was trying to pull in a frail looking grandma. Huh ?
On the other side, I can hear the loud screaming getting closer and the sound of body chopped.. like meat being chopped in the butcher I bought this morning, getting much much closer.

Damn, this is not the time to idle !
I ran into the boy and grandma, took their hands and literally dragged them out of the room. I couldn't even care if they were really not walking.

We managed to get out of the screaming herds, and hid in the theater's restrooms.
I saw my arms, some parts were kinda burnt.
"It hurts ! No way, now it's starting to hurt ! Shit !"
Then I blacked out.

...
I'm dreaming, I saw people killing people. Who's the bad guy ? The good guy ? They both have cleavers and cutting each other. Those guys, they don't even look human anymore..with burnt all over their bodies, that vicious expression on their faces, hateful swinging of their cleavers aiming to kill.. to end someone else's life !
If this was a dream, I want to end it. I want to get out. Now !

...
I woke up. My vision was blurry, i was dizzy...
"Where am I?"
The lighting was dim, it was quiet. I could hear some sounds from sparking cables though.
Where was I again ?
Oh right.. the toilet. Hmm, what's that ? Was the toilet door painted in red ? Dark.. cloggy.. red ?
.... bloody.. red...?

!!!
That shocked me back into reality.
OMG, this is ... not a dream !
I have passed something bad. Something... like butchering. Shit, that gotta be close !
Did they think that I was already out ? Good grief, good for me !

Btw... Where are the boy and the old woman ? That grandma is like... 70 years old or more, she won't be able to move far ! If they met a killer, they won't be able to flee !
Is that blood on the door and the walls, theirs ??

I walked out of the restroom into the theater's lobby.
It's chilly, I could hear the aircon was buzzing, trying hard to cool off the room. I guess it was because that hot clouds outside ? May be ?
Is there no one here ? There are some lumps of dead bodies though, ugh.
It smells like iron.. intoxicating.. I hate it.

I walked deeper into the hall.
My wound stings, but.. hmm, I just realized that my arms were already bandaged.
Was it the boy who did it to me ?

While I kept walking, my mind started to cluttered.
What had happened while I was unconscious ?
How many were killed ? survived ? How many killers were there ?
Could I escape ?
I didn't see the boy and the grandma's bodies, did they survive ?

Shit, this was suppose to be an ordinary day in my life.
A boring day as usual, where I went to the theater to watch a movie and then go home, alone...

I didn't remember how far I've gone into the mall when I heard footsteps.
Were they from the killers ? Or survivors ?
I couldn't be rash, I gotta hide !
My heart beats went faster and faster.

I could see something reflecting the light a little bit, was that metal ? Was that a cleaver ? Was that the killer ??
He passed on me.
...
...
No, I couldn't relax yet. He was still close.

THUMP !
Shiiiittttt !!! What was that ?!?!?! Was that the killer ? But he just got away ??
I looked at the source of that noise.
I saw, the boy ! He was alive ?! And the grandma ? I saw her behind the boy.
And then my eyes caught into the pot that fell on the ground.
That gotta be where the noise just now from !
"Oh, no, this can't be good ! Did the killer hear that ? What if he came back here and kill us all !"

"Hey, kid ! We gotta run away from here ! Hide ! Quick !"
That was my plan, to run. But I've just realized how the grandma couldn't run. She was only able to walk verrrryyyy slowly.
"This is bad. Very bad..."
The tension in my veins in my temple must have raised. I felt anxious, I was scared, I was angry, I couldn't do anything to make this better ?

"We must go back to the toilet ! We can lock the door there !"
I believed that it was a miracle that we could even got there safely. The boy was wheezing, the grandma looked so tired and painful, and I.. I was so stressed.

And then I heard the footsteps, again ! It was him !
I swear my heart stopped for a while when I heard something metallic started to scratched the wall and it was getting closer to our hiding spot !

SKRREEEEEEEEEE.....!!!!

Oh, no ! I looked at the boy's eyes filled with horror.
I couldn't take this anymore.
I'm gonna break down !

BANG !

I woke up.
I was laying on the sofa. It was so cold.
...
Man, this time I woke up for real, don't I? What time is it ? 1 AM plus...
What a dream was that.. or should I say, what a nightmare ?
I'm tired. So.. tired...

Why is the leader always right? (In term of entrepreneurship)

Or in other words, why is your employer always right?

Because, he(/she respectfully) decided to open the company by himself to do his stuff differently.
If not, why should he stray away from the usual path? Why don't he just work on another company for someone else?
That different kind of attitude is something people usually see as wrong doing.

"The leader is wrong!", they say.
But, the fact is that he is still right!
You just don't know about it. Because if you do, you'll open your own company.

Does that make sense?

That's why to make it simple, mostly people just say,"no matter what, the leader is always right".

In the end, it's just an experiment of the leader. If he is truly right, he'll achieve his goal. And oppositely, if he is in fact wrong, he'll not achieve his goal.
That's it, that's all.
For employees... Just follow him, without complaints. If you don't like it, complaining about his wrong doing etc, leave it. May be you should open your own company :)

Galau mode : Tentang Kekayaan

Bangsa Indonesia itu sama seperti bangsa-bangsa lainnya di dunia, memiliki keanehan-keanehan.
Salah satu keanehannya adalah bahasa Indonesia.

Misalnya saja kata 'kaya', di mana dalam bahasa Inggris ada banyak kata untuk mengekspresikan keadaan 'kaya' tersebut. But let's say we pick up 2 of the most popular : 'rich' & 'wealthy'.

Saya pikir orang Inggris, orang-orang yang berbahasa Inggris, bisa menilai bahwa yang disebut kaya itu bukan hanya berdasarkan dari jumlah uang yang dimiliki. 'rich' is similar with 'wealthy' but not the same. Mungkin di sana, ketika seseorang disebut kaya, dia tidak perlu memiliki uang yang tak akan habis 7 turunan, rumah luas dan mewah, mobil-mobil yang sepertinya dipakai ke ke jalan itu sayang, pembantu atau pelayan yang selalu bilang 'yes sir/maam !', dan lain sebagainya.
Orang yang kaya, adalah orang yang mungkin tidak memiliki semua yang disebut di atas, tapi hidupnya cukup untuknya, atau mahkan berlebih sehingga dia bisa membaginya dengan orang lain.

Saya jadi berpikiran seperti ini setelah menonton video Pak Ahok di YouTube.
Dia bilang, (kurang lebih) orang yang memiliki banyak uang, harta benda tapi tidak pernah merasa memiliki apa-apa adalah orang miskin; sementara orang yang memiliki uang secukupnya, harta benda secukupnya atau bahkan tidak punya dibanding contoh pertama, tapi apabila dia merasa sudah memiliki segalanya maka dia adalah orang kaya.

Ada banyak hal yang bisa dimiliki oleh orang-orang dalam hidupnya : uang, keluarga dan sahabat, pengetahuan, pengalaman, apa lagi ya ?
Di Indonesia, kekayaan identik dengan uang. Dari sejak kecil, seorang anak disuruh sekolah untuk belajar matematika, bukan untuk belajar berhitung dan memecahkan masalah tapi agar tidak ditipu orang saat berdagang. Anak dituntut untuk menjadi ranking 1 karena agar CV nya terlihat bagus saat melamar kerja, bukan agar itu menjadi bukti bahwa dia telah menjadi seseorang yang berhasil menyerap ilmu sebaik-baiknya.
Ketika dia beranjak dewasa, dia mencari kerja di perusahaan yang ciri-cirinya memberi gaji sebesar-besarnya, bukan karena perusahaan tersebut adalah tempat di mana dia bisa menjalani fungsi sosialnya.

Siapa bilang ?! Siapa bilang kami hanya bekerja untuk mencari uang ?! Kalau kami tidak suka atau merasa cocok dengan pekerjaan atau perusahaan tersebut, pasti kami tidak akan bekerja di situ !
Banyak yang pasti langsung menjawab seperti itu.
Yah, jawaban standar, sama standarnya seperti set pertanyaan dan jawaban ketika melamar masuk ke suatu pekerjaan.

Bandingkan dengan orang-orang Jepang masa setelah perang dunia ke-2, di mana satu orang bisa bekerja di suatu perusahaan selama berbelas-belas tahun. Kemudian perusahaan memberi tunjangan pensiun pada orang tersebut. Di mana sebuah fungsi sosial dijalankan dengan ketekunan, hubungan yang tak patah arang dalam kesenangan dan kesedihan, dan penghargaan antara masing-masing pihak bahkan ketika tak bekerja sama di fungsi itu lagi.

Bodoh ! Bego ! Memangnya kalau ingin menjalani suatu fungsi sosial hanya bisa di perusahaan tersebut ? Di perusahaan lain juga bisa, dan bayarannya lebih besar pula ! Kalau bisa lebih kenapa harus kurang ?!

Tipikal. Money is everything.

Ketika menikah, upacara pernikahan dan pesta/resepsi luar biasa megah. Dengan dekor yang gila-gilaan, makin gila makin boros alias makin 'kaya'. Dengan makanan dan minuman yang tak boleh habis sebelum tamu-tamu pada pulang. Kalau habis ? Dasar pelit ! Dasar miskin ! Begitu umpatan orang-orang.

Kemudian ketika punya anak, sekolahkan di sekolah yang bagus ! Dan mahal ! Gengsi juga termasuk dalam perhitungan, bukan hanya kualitas sekolah tersebut.

Sudah agak besar, anak-anak perempuan pada umur 17 tahun, mengadakan pesta sweet seventeen yang saya sekarang sering salah sangka pesta pertunangan/pernikahan. Ckk ckk....

Sampai akhir hidup pun, orang-orang masih membandingkan kekayaan.
Saya tidak tahu sih kalau di suku/komunitas lain seperti apa. Tapi kalau di suku saya,  orang 'kaya' ketika meninggal, jasad dia akan diarak beramai-ramai sampai mengganggu lalu lintas; Banyak tamu pelayat dari orang-orang 'kaya' lainnya; Upacara kematian pun hampir tak kalah dengan upacara pernikahan.
Yang diam-diam saja, itu orang 'miskin'.

Hmm...
Yah....
Fakta, bahwa banyak hal yang tak bisa dibeli dengan uang. Banyak juga yang bisa.
Tanpa uang, sulit hidup di kota. Di hutan, orang bisa hidup seperti Tarzan, tak perlu uang.

Dan ketika semua orang, orang tua sendiri, siapapun berkata bahwa kaya itu = banyak uang. Dan miskin itu... hina atau dosa, mau bagaimana ? Harus bagaimana ?

Pak Ahok bilang, orang paling kaya itu orang yang isi kuburannya penuh harta benda, orang yang paling tidak bisa menikmati 'kekayaannya', karena dia sudah mati/keburu mati. Dan kalau saya tidak salah mengerti : Orang yang paling kaya adalah perampok kuburan, tanpa usaha sepanjang masa, dia bisa mendapatkan harta benda tersebut.
Tentu saja apa yang dibilang itu adalah satir, sindiran.
Hidup yang menyedihkan, eh, kematian yang menyedihkan maksudnya. Juga, kemiskinan akhlak.

Ah, galau....
Hari gene, bisa sehat setiap hari; bisa melihat keindahan matahari terbit dan terbenam; bisa berkumpul dengan kawan-kawan di rumah, hanya bertemankan segelas air putih dan mengobrol seperti tak akan ada hari esok; bisa bekerja sesuai passion/minat; bisa memenuhi kebutuhan sehari-hari (benar-benar) secukupnya; itu semua hanyalah jadi hidup yang 'miskin'.
"Dasar bego !", umpat mereka.

My take to "Protect your art career by stephen silver" video

Just wanna highlight some keywords from the man I admire, Stephen Silver, especially the keywords which my fellow Indonesians must pay attention to. So that we can understand better or clearer on his context.

1. Dat 10 minutes

Stephen gave an example about if someone ask him to make some art for free. It will not be his 10 minutes that he'd be offering for free but 40 years of learning and experience + 10 minutes drawing. It's 40 years, fellas. That is to be compared to how many years of your learning and experience ?

What can he make within 10 minutes ? What can you make in 10 minutes ?
I hope dis 10 minutes will not become a standard to define value of anyone's art piece.

And also I hope no one shall confound working for free with working for "low" compensation.
Yea.. low/high is relative btw.

2. It doesn't mean you gotta be cheapskate for all of your life and for everything

At around 5:00, Stephen said "if it's for a charitable cause, if it's for something where it's gonna help benefit someone, you do that sort of stuff for free. If you understand and you believe in that cause. But you just don't do it for nothing just because."

What is the cause of your art life anyway ? Would you cost the world to help make life better ? Other people's life better ?
Please get a good understanding of the differences between 'profit' and 'benefit'.
If you always think about (your own) profit, your parents will never had given birth to you. And I assume that you would not prefer having kids either.

3. So, those cheapskate people who are asking for your effort for free are evil ?

Then what ? Are you going to raise a fight ? Alliance of the light ? Hate speech ? Demonstration or a strike ?
Dear friends/colleagues/mates, they are still our potential clients. It's useless to start a war with them, please don't waste your energy and time for that. You would never want to claim, "Dammit, they are asking my 30 years worth of learning+experience plus 10 years of striking, to do an art job for free !"
What the heck ? Couldn't you have used that 10 years to increase your experience and much more learning ?

Now, instead of having war, please help all of us by educating them ! Join them, influence them internally to appreciate the art industry more. Or may be you can even become one of them but with better appreciation to artists. Become the better next generation.

Final words, 

Take my post with a grain of salt. I just want to remind people about understanding the context before plunged into generalizing stuffs.

Season's Greetings 2012-2013 !

Hello folks !

It's already that time again !

I missed greeting you Merry Christmas 2012 but it's still in the season right ? :)

So, here I'd like to share our Season's Greetings at Jotter Production.

A little bit of confession.. it was actually rushedly made =_=;;

It was about 1.5 days before Christmas when I asked Fifi if she had made any image for the Christmas and New Year. She said not yet and got no idea on what to draw/paint.  

Then I sketched something for her. Just some random idea about Santa and Rudolf got lost in the middle of somewhere.  So, they were looking right and left to find the way out. 

You can see what happened next in Fifi's blog post here :

http://fifixu.posterous.com/happy-christmas-2012

She had written a step by step of it :)

I hope you find this as an interesting post. 

Merry Christmas 2012 

and 

Happy New Year 2013 !

I wish you a great year to live in next year !

btw, I also sketched something else on Christmas day. 

Here, it is. Enjoy :)