Group assignment : happy?

It has been a while since the last time i wrote a post. Geez. i'm starting my week 8 (out of 12 weeks) in this semester this coming monday. As usual, time goes like a click once the assignments and works started. I had 3 mid tests last week and lots of assignments until next week.

I was struggling in my music group assignment these days. Not exactly about how difficult the assignment is, but it's more about finding myself a right group. Ridiculous? I didn't think so. It was my worry since the moment i decided to take this unit, beginning of week 1. Finding myself one of few non-music-faculty student makes me nervous. How can i make friends when this unit only take me 2 hours class a week (i know this is actually the nice part of the unit).. Moreover, i didn't play or read music for quite some time. I even did consultation with the unit coordinator, ask them whether a non-music-player will be able to cope with this unit. Whether this unit require us to play or write music. I remember so clear that Tavis, my lecturer said, "Yeah, you need to write piece of music, but don't worry, it won't be due earlier than week 8" He successfully convinced me. And i said to myself, "Okay, you'll be fine, finding some people to work on this assignment wouldn't be that hard"

I was trying to talk to someone else in every class that i attended. It didn't really work. Well, maybe i found some Hi-Bye-Friends. That's it. Make the story short, I met some people yesterday, composed a 40 sec piece of music for 4 hours and we will submit it this coming monday. Surprisingly, each person in the group didn't know each other before. They just simply put their name in the web, randomly. Woo, at least, im not the only stranger.

They are okay, i guess. BUT, i found it not easy to communicate with them, Aussies. :(

I don't mean to discriminate people or something, but it is just hard to click. Huhuhu. Sometimes i didn't get what they're saying. And even worse, because of those music vocabulary which i'm alien to. I don't know how to say, "How about if we put 4-ketuk note, rather than all 1-ketuk note.." Aaarrggg.. it was a looong afternoon. So glad that finally we finished it. at 6pm.

So this is my point, i don't have a problem in introducing myself, berbasa-basi, etc. Even i met this local people in the church today, and he said, wow your English is good. However, once i need to communicate something deeper and more complicated, it's not easy at all. I know i shouldn't say this as i don't wanna limit myself, but, It's much easier to communicate with Asian and (definitely) Indonesian.

No. i'm not frustrated. I'm just kind of disappoint that so much effort is needed even to express my thought. It's not easy to express who am i. OK. Practice makes perfect.

Semangat. Good night.

Kisah seorang survivor

Di sebuah pulau tak berpenghuni, terdamparlah seorang pria dari kecelakaan kapal. Ternyata dia adalah satu-satunya orang yang beruntung, selamat dari kapal karam. Ketika sadar tak ada orang lain di pulau itu, mulailah ia mengumpulkan bahan makanan dan barang-barang dari kapal yang terdampar tak jauh dari tempatnya. Sehari, dua hari, dia tak kunjung berhenti memohon pertolongan Tuhan sambil terus mengamati kalau-kalau ada kapal atau pesawat terbang yang melintas.

Tiga hari berlalu, persediaan makanannya pun menipis. Tak habis akal, mulailah dia mencari buah-buahan dan bahan makanan dari pulau itu. "Sebaiknya aku mendirikan gubuk kecil tempatku menyimpan makanan dan berlindung dari dinginnya malam," pikirnya. Dikumpulkannya kayu-kayu sampai akhirnya berdirilah sebuah gubuk sederhana di pinggir pantai pulau itu. Hari demi hari berlalu, namun pertolongan belum juga terlihat.

Suatu hari, sepulangnya dari hutan, terkejutlah dia ketika mendapati gubuknya dilalap api. Api yang begitu besar membakar habis gubuk dan segala isinya tanpa sisa. Marah dan kecewa meliputinya. Dia pun berseru pada Tuhan,

"Tuhan, mengapa Kau begitu tidak adil? Setelah kau membiarkan aku disini sendirian tanpa pertolongan, kini Kau membakar semua persediaan makananku, melenyapkan semua kerja kerasku selama ini.. Apa mau-Mu Tuhaan..." Di keputusasaan dan kelelahannya, dia pun tertidur.

Ketika ia terbangun, dia melihat di kejauhan, sebuah kapal besar menuju ke arahnya dan mengirimkan sekoci kecil untuk menolongnya. Dia begitu senang dan tak percaya, akhirnya pertolongan datang. Dia pun bertanya pada awak kapal penolong, "Bagaimana kau bisa menemukanku?" Awak kapal menjawab, "Kami melihat smoke signalmu, tanda meminta pertolongan" Ternyata terbakarnya gubuk kecil di pulau itu memberi sinyal pada para penyelamat untuk datang. Pria itu pun hanya bisa berdiam diri dan bersyukur pada Tuhan atas apa yang terjadi.

Tuhan bertindak. Kadang persoalan hidup memang begitu berat dan seringkali kita bertanya-tanya, mengapa hidup begitu sulit. Tapi percayalah, di balik semua yang terjadi, Tuhan punya rencana buat setiap kita.

Because He makes all things beautiful, in HIS time.

Blood donation

Hey ya!

I just had my first blood donation last Friday. Woohooo.. I feel cool. Everything happened smoothly. no faint. no vomitting. no dizzy. No difference at all.

Actually i have tried few times donating blood during my high school in Indo, and in Malaysia. But it always failed at the end. Once, they told me that my blood pressure was too low that i was not eligible to donate. Second, in Malaysia, they require us, foreigner, to be inside Malaysia at least a year while i just came back from Indo back then.

I actually quite nervous to donate, worry if i would faint, or at least throw up after. Suprisingly, it's all good. They informed us to have a meal and lots of water to drink before the donating time. And i obeyed (afraid something bad happened if i didn't).

No pain. I donate 450 ml of my blood which is less than 10% of the total blood we have. If i can do it, u can do it too :)