Thursday, December 29, 2005

Pass

(Glek) Sebenarnya malu rasanya cerita tentang nilai2 mata kuliah ku. But i will tell you anyway. I got two PS, one CR, and one satisfactory (PS=pass, CR=credit). Pass itu nilai pas-pasan, credit tu nilai cukupan lah.

But i must admit, doing engineering subjects at UNSW is perhaps 3 - 4 times harder than in UGM, and maybe 2 times harder than NUS. Atleast this is how i felt.

Luckily i'm doing masters by research, so those marks have no contribution to the overal score. My final grade is only from my thesis (i think :D)

Hmm.. can anyone help me designing circuits in Cadence?
Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Cockington Green, Canberra

Welcome to Cockington Green Canberra. Just prepare $13.5, and you can enter the amazing world of ... guess what :D

(hint: what a small world :p)

















They even have Borobudur! I wonder where we can find a similar miniature of borobudur in Indonesia. I'm sure i've seen it before, but i forgot where...
Thursday, December 15, 2005

Sense of Rupiah

Living in Sydney costs so so soooo much more compared to the living cost in Jogja. Everyone knows this, there's nothing surprising about this.

Now here comes the problem. My problem.

1 cup of cappuccino
= $2.80
= 0.19% of monthly income in Australia <-- no big deal
= 1.24% of my salary in Jogja <-- a big deal

Get my point? It's very easy to spend on these 'no big deal' stuff, here in Sydney.
Especially when we already completely forget our sense of Rupiah.
I have no longer possess this "sense" of rupiah.

Only if i can control myself not to waste too much on these "no big deal" stuff.
It is actually a big deal, it really is...
Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Two shocking news

Feeling homesick again, yesterday i made my status on Yahoo Messenger to "Anyone please tell me how's Jogja?" (well actually it was not that, i used indonesian language instead). Off i went to my bed and had a nice short nap.

About 3 or 4 of my friends responded, but the one from Lina really shocked me. She gave me the link to detik.com which reported that my friend, Herman Saksono, is now arrested because of his blog! Never had i know before someone in Indonesia was arrested because his or her point of view which is reflected in their blog! And besides, Momon's blog was only meant to be a joke and even better, it further proves that a photograph does not necessarily mean what it shows, because anyone can make a twist here and there using Photoshop or anything similar.

I don't feel like to repeat this news again and again, just see that website or you can visit these blog entries: (sorry you need to know bahasa indonesia to understand them :p)

http://priyadi.net

http://riyono.com
http://blog.neofreko.com

Just now i chatted with Momon. Thank goodness he didn't have to be detained in the police station. Let's hope everything goes well.

Okay now to the other 'shocking' news.

Last Sunday was not the usual Sunday for me. Somehow i 'managed' not to go anywhere whatsoever that day. Nor did i watched the news on TV. Instead, i browsed seek.com.au to find a decent summer job, and i spent most of my time writing a 'professionaly looking' resume and cover letter.

Who would have imagined that at the meantime, a racists riot broke up in Cronulla Beach, south of Sydney. Anyone who seemed to be of Middle East origin were attacked by the mass who aimed to take revenge of the last week attack towards several beach guards by some guys with Middle Eastern appearence. These kind of news spread so quickly throughout the globe, and now Sydney is on big shame. More riots, mostly for revenge, continually happened the following days, mostly during night time. Many youth with middle eastern appearence smashed and wrecked any cars or shops in several suburbs in Sydney, including Maroubra which is not too far from my place. Some innocent locals got injured, one person was even stabbed with a knife on his back.

Last night a few men with anglican origin was seen to be suspiciously approaching Lakemba Mosque, one of the largest mosque in Sydney. About 400 muslims then gathered outside the mosque to guard their holy place for worship. Police responded by building a barricade and bloking roads towards the site, as well as blocking roads to some dangerous hotspots in several suburbs. Some violence did occur i presume, some police officers did get injured.

Urghhh this is already getting too far! Calm down everyone!!!

ps: Though i'm just a temporary Sydney sider, i feel ashamed for what happened here. I also feel very upset to someone in Jogja who reported my friend's blog to the police. Shame on him!
Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Great Wall of China

Temenku, Ary, baru pulang dari Beijing. Dia dapet teman baru di sana, namanya Yitian, dan entah gimana sampailah mereka pada perbincangan mengenai proxy. Dasar temenku ga ngerti apa2 ttg proxy, dia bilang "Selama ini aku selalu milih 'no proxies' di yahoo messenger." Temennya temenku akhirnya ngasih gambar2 ini utk nerangkan ke temenku, kenapa dia harus pakai proxy.

Ternyata beginilah keadaan di Cina, negara yang terkenal karena Great Wall of China-nya. Dan kini mereka punya 'Great Wall' baru yang ga kalah menakjubkan. Tapi dgn dibatesi gini pun, teknologi negara tirai bambu itu bisa maju bgt ya'?


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Sunday, December 04, 2005

Berita di Australia

Berita dan opini yang baru 'hangat' di media Australia:

- Van Nguyen, warga Australia asal Vietnam, kemarin dihukum gantung di Singapura karena terbukti membawa hampir setengah kg heroin masuk negara itu. Denger2, dia hanya transit dari Kamboja ke Australia. Dia mengaku berbuat itu karena butuh uang untuk melunaskan hutang adik kembarnya. Banyak sekali warga Australia yang menentang hukuman ini krn dianggep terlalu kejem. Respon warga sini ketika hukuman dilakukan cukup emosional.

- PM John Howard berniat menggolkan UU baru tentang ketenagakerjaan. Byk sekali orang yang protes krn dikhawatirkan hak2 pekerja akan banyak berkurang. Dikhawatirkan keadaan ketenagakerjaan di Australia bisa mundur kembali kalo UU ini gol. Tapi pemimpin oposisi, Kim Beasly, tampaknya setuju2 aja.

- Abu Bakar Baasyir dianggep bertanggung jawab sbg perencana bom bali I, karena itu mereka protes keras ketika beliau hendak diberi remisi.

- Salah satu terowongan di Sydney amblas, mengakibatkan sebuah flat rusak parah. Diduga ada unsur korupsi di proyek itu.

- City cross tunnel yang baru dibuka bbrp bulan lalu, awalnya dianggap membingungkan pengendara. Belakangan, pengguna terowongan makin bingung dgn pentarifan tol. Mereka pikir terowongan adalah sepenuhnya gratis. Yang benar itu, hanya segmen "Sydney Cross Tunnel" yang baru thok yang gratis. Terowongan yang menuju ke situ masih bayar.

- (ini berita basi) Australia krisis air. Warga dilarang mencuci mobil dengan selang. Warga dilarang menyirami taman dgn selang di waktu2 tertentu. Untuk menghindari krisis serupa di masa mendatang, pemerintah kota Sydney berencana membangun desalination plant di daerah Botany Bay.

- Orang2 sini kapok ga mau ke Bali lagi. Dua kali bom sudah cukup keterlaluan.

- University of New South Wales (tempat aku kuliah hihihi) dlm waktu sangat dekat akan membuka UNSW kampus Asia, di Singapura. Sementara khusus untuk fakultas Commerce. (ini berita di kampus aja di, bukan berita nasional)
Thursday, December 01, 2005

Queen Victoria Building

Liat foto di sebelah kiri ini gak? Dari pantulan kaca jendela gedung itu, keliatan dua bangunan terkenal di Sydney. Yang kayak menara itu (pancen menara si) namanya Sydney Centrepoint Tower (atau udah ganti jadi AMP tower ya, mbuh). Terus yang ada kubah hijau, itu adalah QUEEN VICTORIA BUILDING.








Beginilah kira2 Ratu Victoria itu seperti apa. Patung ini ada di lantai teratas Queen Victoria Building (QVB), agak di selatan. Lumayan cantik ya :D ? Yo wajar lah, keluarga kerajaan memang biasanya cakep2 dan cantik2 hihihi. Mahkota imitasinya juga keliatan sangat ... gimana yo... kayak di filem2 lah pokoknya.








Dan beginilah QVB dilihat dari dalam. QVB selesai dibangun tahun 1898 kalo ga salah inget (katanya Wikipedia sih, aku jelas belum ada jaman segitu). Arsitekturnya, as you can see, sangat bergaya kolonial. Sangat indah menurutku. Aku dah bilang belum ya? QVB ini sekarang adalah sebuah shopping centre. Ada banyak restoran, toko suvenir, kafe, butik, ada toilet umumnya juga, ada terowongan yang langsung menuju ke Town Hall dan Town Hall Station dan beberapa toko lain di seberang jalan.



Ratu Elizabeth II dari Inggris (ratu nya Australia juga sebenarnya) pernah mengirimkan surat di sebelah kanan ini ke walikota Sydney, kira2 tahun 1980-an gitu. Dan di sampul amplopnya tertulis "On a suitable day to be selected by you in the year 2085 AD would you please open this envelope and convey to the citizens of SYDNEY my message to them. - ELIZABETH- ". (Ada gak ya cara ngintip isi amplop itu? Pake UV atau sinar X gitu bisa gak ya? hihihi)
Btw, iseng banget yo ratunya hehe...


Tapi jangan pikir QVB ini sangat indah dan 'perfect'. Di ujung lorong yang tembus ke Town Hall, kulihat agak jorok. Dan di belakang QVB, tempat halte2 bus itu, tampak ada orang yang keliatannya agak depresi nih, kasihan.


Begitu kita keluar ke pintu selatan QVB, beginilah kira2 pemandangan yang kita lihat: gedung Woolworths city. Woolworths yang ini paling aneh menurutku dibanding Woolies lain. Dia menempati empat lantai (atau lima ya?), dan punya lantai basement yang persis gandengan dengan Town Hall Railway Station (bawah tanah). Oya, di supermarket ini ga ada trolley. Adanya keranjang aja. Dan satu lagi, Woolies Townhall ini yang menurut pengamatanku paling banyak orang indo yang kerja di situ. Kalo utk Coles, cabang Pagewood yang byk indo nya. Kalo Franklins, kayaknya di Maroubra itu aku curiga salah satu pegawainya orang indo, tp blm yakin.


Dan rasanya belum afdol kalo jalan2 ke city tanpa mampir toko buku terkenal: Kinokuniya. Letaknya persis di utara Woolies, persis depan QVB (sebelah timurnya berarti), dan ada di lantai dua. Pemandangan dari dalem toko nya bagus, seperti yang bapak2 ibu2 saksikan di foto sebelah kiri ini hahahaha. Sayang sekali harga buku di sini standar mahal. Tidak recommended utk beli buku disini. Tapi sangat recommended utk baca2 aja hihihihi. Koleksi bukunya sangat lengkap, ada bagian khusus buku2 jepang pula.


Morale of the story:
1. Jangan beli apa2 di QVB atau Kinokuniya kecuali memang niat menghambur2kan uang.
2. Siapkan receh, sapa tau ada yang ngemis minta duit hahahaha.