This is what I ate tonite, a sukiyaki in Ita-Suki Restaurant Plaza Indonesia. Sejak pertama kali gw makan di sini, gw langsung sejatuh-cinta itu..well,sebenernya kecintaan gw akan sukiyaki bukan dimulai dari ita-suki, tapi dari sebuah restoran bernama “SUKIYAKI” di kelapa gading boulevard. Sumpah itu sukiyaki mantep banget! Mungkin karena ada unsur non-halal alias minyak dan daging babi yang bikin aroma dan rasanya tiada duanya. Tapi karena alasan jarak yang super juauuuuhh dari cilandak, agak gak wajar ya kalo ke sana yang notabene daerah muaceett cuma buat makan sukiyaki.

When it comes to halal food dan terjangkau dari kediaman gw, di Ita-suki-lah gw bisa makan sepuasnya sukiyaki yang superenak. Kuah favorit gw adalah kuah tom yum yang bening dengan rempah-rempah dan rasa asem dan pedes yang kuat. Kuah tom yum yang ini slalu gw kagumin karena biasanya kuah tom yum yg ada di resto selalu berwarna pekat, sedangkan yang ini bening dan dengan citarasa yang sama. Cewek gw lebih suka kuah kaldu ayam yang lebih ringan. Belakangan ada kuah baru asem pedes, gak tau deh maksudnya apa, belom pernah coba. Goodnews-nya, satu panci bisa dibagi jadi dua jenis kuah :9

Untuk variasi isi sukiyakinya, tersedia buanyaaaakk bgt pilihan, mulai dari bakso-baksoan (sapi,ayam,ikan sampe bakso lobster juga ada), siomay, swekiaw, pangsit, aneka jenis jamur, aneka jenis tahu dan aneka jenis sayur-sayuran. Gw kalo makan berdua pacar biasanya (hampir selalu) makan 1 kangkung, 1 tahu isi ayam, 1 tahu jepang, 1 ayam, 1 pangsit/swekiaw. Selalu berkisar itu atau paling-paling nambah sirloin.

Saking doyannya sama sukiyaki, gw bisa makan ini kayak dua minggu sekali (sambil manfaatin voucher promonya). Dan hari ini juga begitu, setelah 2 minggu lalu makan di Ita-Suki Senayan City dan gak pernah bosen! Tapi untuk menjaga utilitas (minjem istilah mikroekonomi), gw mau makan ini lagi, yeah, at least 3 minggu lagi :p So far gw udah pernah coba Ita-Suki Senayan City, Plaza Indonesia sama Melawai. Paling recommended di Senayan City karena paling lengkap dan pelayanannya cepat dan paling gak recommended di Melawai karena sering abis isi tertentu. Gw berdoa biar Ita-suki cepet buka di PIM jadi lebih deket kalo kepengen :p

Untuk harga sebenernya tergantung berapa banyak isi yang dipilih. Satu piring isinya berkisar antara 15rb-25rb. Gw makan berdua pacar biasanya abis 150rb dengan isi kuah sekitar 4-5 piring.

Jangan bandingin sukiyaki-nya ita-suki sama sukiyaki-nya hanamasa ya, bagai surga dan neraka, jauh lebih enak ita-suki!

Silakan mencoba untuk penggila sukiyaki! :9

Orang-orang seringkali bertanya: “Udah berapa lama jadian?” dan orang-orang juga seringkali terperangah ketika mendengar jawaban “Udah 3,5 tahun lebih” atau “4 tahun di bulan Agustus nanti”.

Well, gw gak nyalahin mereka kenapa mereka sampai kaget seperti itu. I was like them before I have my own beautiful relationship. Hal itu sangat biasa sekali terjadi dan pertanyaan selanjutnya pun sangat wajar “Kok bisa selama itu sih?” atau “Gimana caranya? Gw aja bisa lebih dari 6 bulan udah syukur”. Well, dalam cerita ini gw akan berbagi sedikit apa yang gw rasakan selama ini.

Pertama-tama, apa itu cinta dan gimana itu cinta? Gw yakin gak ada satupun makhluk di dunia ini (terutama manusia) yang gak pernah tau apa itu cinta dan gimana rasanya. Bentuknya bisa macem-macem dan datangnya bisa gak diduga. Meskipun banyak yang percaya, gw pribadi gak percaya apa yang disebut cinta pada pandangan pertama. Pandangan pertama bisa disebut kekaguman alih-alih cinta.

Kedua, tak bisa dipungkiri, apalagi yang menganut kepercayaan cinta pada pandangan pertama, bahwa kekuatan penampilan fisik (physical appearance) sangat berpengaruh pada awal mulanya kekaguman itu. Mendapatkan cinta tidak melulu soal fisik yang sempurna, tapi fisik yang bagus, setidaknya akan membuat sebuah kekaguman menjadi hasrat untuk mengenal lebih jauh. Perlu diingat bahwa soal fisik ini sekali lagi juga relatif. Contohnya menurut gw Katy Perry itu supercantik, tapi menurut orang lain dia biasa aja atau bahkan lebih cantik Nicky Minaj yang menurut gw enggak banget.

Ketiga, kekaguman inilah yang akan membangkitkan perasaan ingin tahu, ingin kenal lebih dekat. Dan ketika gayung bersambut (thanks God, gayung gw selama ini selalu disambut :p), barulah perasaan kagum ini bisa berkembang. Jangan senang dulu, berkembangnya bisa ke arah positif (suka) atau sebaliknya (ilfil).

Keempat, rasa suka akan mendorong orang untuk lebih mengerti mengenai pribadi seseorang. Dari perkenalan lebih dekat itulah akan timbul cinta. Cinta adalah perasaan dimana “tak sedetikpun aku ingin berpisah darimu” (dangdut abis). Tapi itulah cinta, mau dibilang dangdut abis kek, lebayatun kek, gombal kek or apapun juga tetep hati ini berbunga-bunga. Di tahap ini biasanya banyak romantis-romantis klise terjadi. Seklise-klisenya tetep sweet dan memorable meski kadang memalukan ;)

Kelima, ketika cinta telah tumbuh di antara kedua belah pihak, di situlah akan berkembang yang namanya need. Cinta adalah bentuk penghargaan seseorang untuk orang lain. Ketika need sudah mengisi ruang-ruang cinta, keinginan untuk bertemu dengan orang tersayang bukan lagi semata-mata dunia milik berdua, tapi sudah berangsur-angsur “aku tak bisa hidup tanpamu”. Hal ini bisa berarti sangat luas. Contohnya gw. Gw udah masuk (dan mungkin sudah melewati) tahap ini. Kehidupan selama hampir 4 tahun sebagai mahasiswa (dan selama itu pula gw pacaran), bikin gw merasa gw slalu butuh pacar. Untuk hal-hal kecil misal ngingetin jadwal, belajar bareng, bikinin dasi dll itu yang menjadi “kebutuhan”. Di tahap ini, satu sama lain sudah saling mengerti luar dalam, kiri kanan, atas bawah, depan belakang. Dia tau both what the best and the worst of me and so do I.

Keenam, ketika ‘rasa butuh’ itu sudah berevolusi menjadi beyond needs. Apa ya bahasa Indonesia-nya yang tepat? Yang jelas rasanya udah seperti my very very best friend! Pacar udah berasa lebih dari sekedar pacar, tapi ya berasa kayak sahabat, kayak orang tua kadang, kayak pacar juga kalo lagi romantis-romantisan, kayak musuh kalo lagi berantem, dll. Di tahap ini (tahap gw sekarang), gw dan dia pernah mengalami masa-masa terberat (berantem karena masalah serius) hingga masa-masa terindah (masa-masa yang kadang bikin ketawa dan gak abis pikir bisa-bisanya gw lakuin itu). Oleh sebab itu, ketika sudah sampai hingga di tahap ini dan ada yang nanya “Kalian gak takut ya hubungan kalian terganggu dengan ngerjain skripsi bareng?” Gw dengan yakin seyakin-yakinnya kalo matahari selalu terbit dari arah timur keesokan hari, menjawab “ENGGAK”.

Mungkin belom ada badai sebesar Katrina, atau gempa 9 Skala Richter atau tsunami Sendai yang menghantam hubungan kami berdua. Namun seiring dengan tingkatan-tingkatan yang telah kami lalui, ibarat pohon, kami punya dasar akar yang kuat, dimana badai itu hanya akan sekedar menggoyang dahan kami. Hanya DIA yang akan memutuskan apakah akar tersebut akan tercabut atau tidak. Satu yang pasti, sebuah hubungan harus terus dipupuk agar akarnya semakin kuat dan kuat.

Semoga sharing gw bermanfaat. Maaf sotoy ya, pengalaman pribadi doank ini. 

Goodnite everybody.

WOW! Seven months I did not even open my tumblr! Hahahaha.. There are A LOT of things happens in those such short period. Thanks to Ichong who actually reminds me that I still have this blog.

Talking about the last seven months, first of all, I become a quiz-freak. Yes, QUIZ FREAK. Hahahaha.. I join almost EVERY quiz that I know. From MTV until Qatar Airways with the prizes vary from iPad to traveling! But sadly, I won nothing until today :(

Anyway, seven months means one semester plus one month. I am so happy that last semester, I got my second highest semester grade point! They are all straight A, except the Business Law subject! Grrrrrr..

Here are seven highlights of my last seven months:

1. I went to Seoul, South Korea for the second time on October 2010. I was so happy to meet Lee Dong Sung again, my little brother. He has grown up and now is a university student. I’m so proud of him. However, I miss Lee Dong Kyu and their mom as well but I couldn’t make it to meet them.

2. I joined Sampoerna Day, a very big recruitment day from Sampoerna Tbk. The event was held in Shangri-la Hotel, exactly one day before US President, Mr. Barack Obama came to Jakarta and slept in the same hotel. I can see the Secret Service and all the cars including the Obama’s car. I think that’s one of the most memorable from this event besides, of course, passing all the selection process and got many new friends. However, I still don’t get the call for BCP until now :(

3. This year (2010-2011) is literally the last year in university and that means that it could be the last new year (from 2010 to 2011) that possibly celebrated with my university friends. Therefore, we had a very crazy new year party on 31 Dec 2010 until 1 Jan 2011. It was held in Andy’s house and attended by many students of my batch. What a party!

4. Moving to January was the time for me to mudik to Klaten and Yogyakarta and seeing my family. The feeling of being home with people that I love and love me was priceless.

5. February was all about brandstorm. Although my team and I didn’t make it to national final, but I’m very proud that none of marketing people in our team to break into university final! February 2011 also meant that my relationship with Rosa Oktavia was officially 3,5 years-old. A very long story since the beginning of my university life, and we’ll beautifully graduate from the school, together, hopefully before the celebration of our 4 year anniversary. This month I went to Dufan as well with my finance students friend using vouchers from Coca Cola :D

6. March. I went to Manila to attend the 4th Economics and Business Students Summit 2011 hosted by De La Salle University. It was an unforgettable experience with special thanks to Dan Paculan, a 3rd EBS Summit delegate and our BEST tour guide in Manila! Every single day in Manila was so memorable. March also meant that my girlfriend and I worked so hardly to finish our thesis! The very hard efforts gave a very sweet result: we did the very first seminar 1 in our batch. March also became my first day of teaching. Yeah, as a microeconomic tutor.

7. April comes. My girlfriend and I had our seminar 1 very well. Yes, very well with very minor revision. I’m so please and satisfied and excited to finish it as soon as possible. This month is still going and I hope that the best thing will come.

Hmmm..I think that’s all. I will edit this with pictures soon.

Have a nice day everyone!

Dear my tumblr readers (i wish i have them :p), it’s been a while (yes, a “while”) since the last time I did the tumblring thingy. However, I start to miss it. My last post was about Garuda Indonesia and how much I admire its CEO, Mr. Emirsyah Satar and wish to meet him someday to discuss the future of our nation’s flag carrier.

However, I wanna share something that I believe are faced by many young Indonesian (even the youth of the world..hahaha). It’s about passion, career and money. Seems quite serious huh? Let’s make it fun then.

First of all, why do I wanna write about this is simply because I am a 7th-semester student and it means next year, I will be a bachelor (amin).

Then, talking about passion, it is actually the simplest thing to be recognized by each of us. But why most of us simply can’t find what their passion is? I define passion as thing that you love the most and therefore you wanna go for it whatever happen. Seems quite lebay doesn’t it? Hahahaha.. But somehow it’s true. And when somebody’s passion is hard to define, it means that there are too many distraction surround him and create an ambiguity.

Career is something that someone want to achieve in the period of working as professional. Good career means having a smooth path to climb even higher and higher position in the company. A dream of successful career could be one of the passion’s distraction.

Money, nobody doesn’t know money. It’s things that cannot buy the world but it does control it! Yeah, like it or not, money control the world. Having more $$$ than your friends means you are more powerful than them by simply showing your ability to pay the bill in a reunion gathering, everybody will seem to look at you and you can make those situation benefit you. Hahaha.. this is the biggest distraction to define your passion.

So now, when somebody ask what’s your passion? You might think for few seconds, where can I achieve a good career, where can I earn much money, which one is easier for me, etc.

1. Somebody share, follow your passion and you’ll find happiness and enjoyment of life;

2. the other say why do you waste your time to do your ‘useless’ passion where you can achieve higher position and better life;

3. the last one say, earn money first then do what you wanna do in a better way.

Which one are you? and Why? I think it will be wiser to define first what are you looking for in your life. Hmmm.. an even harder question huh?

The goal of the World Bank is to reduce poverty and to improve the riving standards of the people in low and middle-income countries. 

The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. We are not a bank in the common sense. We are made up of two unique development instiMions owned by 185 member countries-the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRO) and the International Development Association (IDA). 

Each institution plays a different but collaborative role to advance the vision of an inclusive and sustainable globalization. The IBRO focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries, while IDA focuses on the poorest countries in the world. Together we provide low-interest loans, interest-free credits and grants to developing countries for a wide array of purposes that include investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development. agriculture, and environmental and natural resource management. 

The World Bank-Singapore Urban Hub is a represents the partnership between the World Bank and the Government of Singapore. It leverages Singapore’s recognized expertise in urban development and infrastructure finance, education and public administration in combination with the World Bank Group’s global knowledge and operational experience to help address key challenges facing developing countries. 

For more information, visit www.worldbank.org 

Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) is an agency formed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore in May 2006 to respond effectively to the multitude of foreign requests to tap on Singapore’s development experience. SCE works closely with Singapore’s 15 ministries and over 60 statutory boards to tailor possible solutions to match the foreign parties’ needs. Where necessary, SCE will invite participation from relevant private sector players, including representatives from trade and industry associations. 

SCE’s main objective is to share Singapore’s public sector expertise with foreign ministries. agencies and parties interested to enhance or adapt t’”:eir systerr: using Singapore’s model as a reference. In doing so, we aim to build long-term partnerships with foreign parties and to generate business opportunities for Singapore’s private sectors through public-private partnerships. 

The International Partnerships Division (lPO) is a dedicated unit set up within SCE to spearhead partnerships with Inter-Governmental Organisations (lGOs) and philanthropic foundations such as Asian Development Bank, Commonwealth Secretariat, Temasek Foundation and the World Bank Group. IPO works closely with IGOs to provide customised solutions in various areas of interest such as governance, public administration, urban planning, water and environmental management, education and trade promotion. Our partnership with the IGOs enables both parties to enrich the content and delivery of the joint programmes for developing countries, scale them up and continue to support these countries beyond what would have been possible working alone. 

For more information, visit www.sce.gov.sg 

About Temasek Foundation, Singapore 

Temasek Foundation is a non-prom philanthropic organisation anch’ored in Singapore that seeks to contribute to sustainable growth and a bright future of hope and opportunities for people in Asia. The foundation works with partners to support programmes that develop people through health care, education and research, programmes that build bridges between peoples, programmes that build institutions of excellence through good governance and ethics, and programmes that rebuild lives and livelihoods affected ty natural disasters. 

For more information, visit www.temasekfoundation.org.sg