New Year Newbie

All my life I hadn't been much of a fan on new years, but this time I figured I'd be a different, but kind of the same, by jotting down my cycling, driving, and living experiences right here on this blog.

As you may have noticed, there had been four posts prior to this one, that's because I've only started to revive my blog today, the 8th January 2021, and events before that just had to be uploaded, in a backward sequence, with no reason.

So here's a photo of my first ride out on the 1st January 2021, here's to more rides and profitable life decisions in the future!

Bintaro Trouble

The last post had been about the first Sunday of 2021, this time around it'll be about the first Saturday of the year. Another weekend, another morning ride. Met up with Adhit and waited for Luke at the BSD police station across Autoparts.

Then rode to Tuku BP Bintaro for a quick Es Kopi Hitam Tetangga. Through the corner of my eyes, I spotted a yellow 190E, which I knew belonged to Oki, so I went up to him and had a little chat, of course with our masks on and two meters apart.

After coffee, we tried to crank up some miles to Bintaro Plaza, but some dude's masterlink snapped and we waited for them to fix it at a small bengkel near STAN.

Alam Sutera Helmet Hunt

On the first Sunday of the year 2021, Alvin, Adhit, Luke, Kenny and I went for a morning ride to Alam Sutera. Seems that it had been to early for cranky little Alvin.

We went to the not-yet-opened Decathlon where Adhit took photos for Satsun Santuy. Upon looking at my photos, it looked like my current helmet was too small, so we bike-shop hopped all over Alam Sutera only to find the helmets in my budget range did not fit, and the ones that did were not in my budget range.

Sol Sepatu and Half Raboo Raboo

T'was Wednesday and my three year-old Vans were pretty worn out from all the use and abuse through the years, so in a manly fashion, I went to the sol sepatu close to my house to mend them, stealing a quick ride at lunch time.

In the late afternoon after work, I went out to meet Luke by the McDonald's at BSD Plaza for a Raboo Raboo ride. Waited for quite a while and took some photos of a classic BSD backdrop, only to find out he was still taking care of some things at home.

Being the good citizen I am, I headed to his house to wait some more. His dad owns an immaculate Toyota Kijang kotak, which I figured was kinda cool, more photo-ops.

We left and cycled around Alam Sutera, then through Jl Raya Serpong, then stopped by Gading Serpong for a quick break when it started to rain a bit.

In the end I went back home alone since I didn't want to expose myself to more people and crowds, while the others continued their Raboo Raboo ride to Tangerang Kota. Thanks to the rain, I arrived home with a wet and sandy back, shoes, and bike, it's a good idea to carry around a saddle cover.

Sentra Onderdil and Sunburst Field

Decided to go out on a quick ride after a hard day's work (from home). Waited for Adhit at Sentra Onderdil BSD, which turned into an impromptu #BAAW shot with a touch of cringe Twitter reference.

As is Adhit tradition, 10 kilometers is enough for an evening ride. He wanted to recce the empty field in BSD Sunburst which had been used for circuses and fairs in the past for some sunset shots, credits to him for the following photo.

Short post-university update

As stated in the above title of this post, I would like to catch up and review my days since the day I graduated from university on May of 2017. It's been almost a year and my head's still trying to figure out how quickly time goes by, it was as if I was hanging around the nearby burjo joint in Jl. Pandega Mandala getting a late-night nasi orakarik in one day, and here I am coping with work and responsibilities, and writing blog posts in Bumi Serpong Damai the next.

A little insight on my life right now dates back to a couple of days after my thesis presentation, when I decided to intern at a car workshop to acquire mad skillz working on cars, which I did not get much from my years at the university, so I began searching and contacting a few well known car workshops in Jakarta, and none of them even responded to my messages. That is, much to my surprise, until a particular private classic car restoration workshop welcomed my inquiries and request for an apprenticeship. It's funny how all the mediocre workshops did not want apprentices, but a high-end one would gladly accept one, though I still consider myself very lucky and had asked at the right time.

I would love to write about the details of my experience in the workshop for the past couple months, but I guess that's a story for another time.

I didn't choose the thesis life, the thesis life chose me. Or not.

I can safely say that right now I am in that stage of uni life where many people consider to be the most stressful and tiresome. It's the stage where I'm starting to watch my friends - of the same year group - graduate one at a time, while I sit my fat-ass here writing dumb blog posts, listening to the same music for ten-plus years, still taking classes, and only just starting my final thesis.

Despite the setbacks mentioned above, I would like to beg to differ from what people are saying about this stage of uni life: it's not as bad as you'd think. Sure, those people you stuck with from the beginning tend to change, and are getting their degrees with their smug grins across their faces, but hey, who am I to tell them what to do with their lives. All I care is that I'm the one living in the moment, in my own pace - hopefully not too slow, though - and giving my shit the shit they deserve. By taking only two classes this semester, I'm starting to have more free time on my hands, meaning more personal, passion-channeling activities which I will be posting on this site in the future.

Speaking of the shit I go through these days, my thesis guidance counselor has been quite a pain in the butt for me to find around campus, and we've only met twice in two weeks! What sucks even more is that my proposed theme keeps getting rejected, but I guess its my fault I haven't thought my two previous ideas through. I really need to get my stuff together.

You might think I'm going nowhere with this post, and you're right, I'm actually writing this as a mere writing exercise - with a little update on my life - because I tend to get really bad cases of the writer's block, and I'm still trying to get my head in the game.

Kalimantan Living

As you might not know, I had recently returned to Yogyakarta to continue my studies after having spent two months in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan for an internship at Total E&P Indonesie, which began on the January 25th and ended on March 25th 2016. And boy, it was two months that really changed my perspective on life - at least for the near future.

I landed in Balikpapan on the 24th of January. It was a warm Sunday and I could still recall my first impression on the city as I made my way to the hotel. Being a gaijin with no friends or relatives in Balikpapan at the time somehow worried me for a second, but then I imagined all the possibilities in meeting new people. The city itself seemed like a quaint place to live in despite its mild hustle and bustle, no wonder Balikpapan won the Adipura award consecutively!

Long story short, my internship started off and went on quite well, I had made a lot of friends and colleagues to share thoughts with, from engineers, staff, operators to fellow interns and all the other people I got to know outside of the workplace.  I knew there was nothing to be worried about in getting out of the comfort zone and setting foot on stranger shores because in the end everything will always work itself out as long as you appreciate and enjoy the process.

The internship aside, Balikpapan proved itself to be a place I wouldn't mind revisiting or even living in, despite its high living cost. I just can't seem to point out the stuff that make the city enjoyable as it was for me, so it's safe to say that it might be the food, the weather, the sights and the people altogether.

I'm back (again). Hopefully for good.

Quoting from my previous blog post:

"I guess that's all I have to share right now, but I'll be updating the blog quite frequently from now on as I have nothing to do until September when my university life starts." -Post examination catch-up (25/7/2012)

Liar liar pants on fire you fat turd. It's been almost four years after "September when my university life starts." But you know what they say, you can't please everybody, so here I am trying to please myself instead with a comeback to the bloggerverse although I doubt hardly anybody reads blogs anymore these days.

I can say this would be a new start for me in the midst of the final year of college - hold up, final year? You old, mayyn. You see I've been *forced* to writing blogs by my father ever since I was a wee boy, writing about almost anything, from family trip reviews, book reviews, to Maple Story related stuff. Yes you read that right, back then I was addicted to Maple Story and I would play every night, but my father being my father decided to set a prerequisite for me to play the game, that is to write a blog post with a minimum of four paragraphs.

Boy was I pissed when this happened, but not as pissed as my father when he sees me play without writing. As time passes I really got used to it, and many years later I finally realized that all that was actually for a greater good, and now I just can't thank my father enough for making me go through all that. Writing definitely was mind-opening, it shaped my discipline, knowledge, and I can say got me this far in life. It was the cornerstone to my life, and I have my strict father to thank for it. Thanks ayah.

Therefore, I have changed this blog name to Ariq's Corner(stone), in tribute to the good old days. You might notice that the first few posts in this blog is filled with stupid teenage angst, complaining about stuff, and I admit they were the result of my blunder years through high-school in which I might add am not ashamed of and those posts are going to stay on this blog for me (and you) to reminisce those blunder years.

Post examination catch-up

Hey everyone, I'm back on blogger, after month after tedious month of exams like the UAS (school exams), UAN (national exams) and SNMPTN Tertulis (the exam which gets you into national universities). Right now, I have been doing nothing at home but lie around, go over to a friend's house, and going out cycling in the afternoon waiting for maghrib, as you may know, it's Ramadhan! (it's when muslims fast for a month)

As for the results, I have to say the UAS were somewhat satisfactory and were above my expectations, not going to share the numbers or anything, but yea it got me graduating from high school. The UAN results? Abit disappointing, but having thought the school only had two weeks of preparation unlike other schools who get the whole year, I got one question wrong on the english paper, which'll leave a bad mark everytime I look back, but at least it also got me out of highschool.

I had to take the SNMPTN Tertulis all the way in Purwokerto, where most of my relatives live (that's in central Java by the way), because where you had to take the test depends on which universities you had for the two choices you were given, and I had chosen Gadjah Mada University (UGM) which is considered as a region II area, and Purwokerto is a region II area. I mentioned in a post on this blog that I wanted to go to Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). Well, I bailed out because I thought I was never going to survive, or let alone get into the place, and decided to go for something abit realistic.

And guess what?

Yeaaaaaaaa!

Couldn't believe it at first, the night the results were posted online I couldn't help but run and hop around the house, after all the failures and disappointments in these recent years, I just didn't know what to say, but I guess God really is fair.

So I went to Yogyakarta on the 3rd of July by car with my mom, sisters and brother, stopping by in Purwokerto to drop off my sisters and brother at my grandma's house, so they don't have to continue the journey to Yogyakarta. In Purwokerto, I was really glad to see my relatives being happy for me and all, and all I could do was smile and nod.

My mom and I got to Jogja on the 5th, the roads were freshly paved, too bad I was too occupied in driving to take pictures. I'll get you some after Ramadhan. Having gotten to Yogyakarta, I headed straight to the UGM administration office to hand in some documents. While waiting, I talked to people sitting next to me in the waiting room, and boy these people were from all over the nation. Some even came all the way from Sumatra, and Sulawesi, even from places I've never heard before. But it feels really good to meet new faces and make new friends here.

I guess that's all I have to share right now, but I'll be updating the blog quite frequently from now on as I have nothing to do until September when my university life starts.