Moving Notice

I'm moving this blog elsewhere...
It started to get a bit dull around here

Haven't got any names for the new one, actually am just thinking about it right now

So....

Toodles!

Jembatan Singa atau Raja Singa?

For those of you who are not Indonesian, the phrase "Jembatan Singa" could be freely translated into "Lionbridge" in English while "Raja Singa" is Indonesian for "Syphilis" (haha!)

Soo, anyone has applied or maybe had some experience being an Internet Assessor for Lionbridge?

Well, I applied, got a really really long email that seems to has copy-pasted paragraphs (my God, they must be lazy) saying that I need to pass 3 stages of exam, but must read a 150-pages long Guideline PDF (I mean, really... 150 of wasted pages.They really need to improve their sentencing. The Guideline was long, boring, and confusing. Some topics even contradict each other, or there are no clear definitions)

I tried the Theoretical Exam once, they said I did not pass, they didn't even tell me my passing rate (percentage). The email reads just like this:

Dear Candidate, Thank you for taking the time to read our instructional materials and taking the rating test. Unfortunately, you have not been successful in passing the exam. We appreciate your efforts and we hope you understand that we cannot give individual feedback on exam results. We will deactivate your user id from our system and would like to remind you to dispose securely of all instructional materials you might have downloaded and/or printed during the exam. Please note that your Gmail account is unaffected and will remain active for your personal use. We would like to remind you that all guidelines and information provided at the exam stage is confidential information to Lionbridge and should not be disclosed to any other 3rd party under any circumstance. Publishing of guidelines and/or exam material to a public domain that can be accessed by any other individual is also strictly prohibited. Failure to comply with the non disclosure section of the consulting agreement that you agreed to prior to entry into the exam will result in Lionbridge taking further action. Again, thank you for your interest! We will keep your details on file and contact you again should other projects come up, which may be a better fit for you. Sincerely, The Lionbridge Rating Program Team

Then I thought, okay, maybe I am NOT that Internet savvy or maybe I haven't studied the Guideline enough. It's just my fault. I was devastated because I would really love to work online from home considering I am between jobs right now.

But the weird thing is a couple of weeks after, the emailed me again asking if I would like to re-take the exam because (quote) offer you the opportunity to be resubmitted into our next exam batch. Please note that this will be your last chance to take the online exam (unquote). I was elated, I thought this could be my chance, I'm not gonna fuck this up. I'm gonna really study! Although SERIOUSLY who compiled that fucking Guideline?! Tedious and confusing as heeeeeeeeeell....

Fuck yeah let's ACE this bitch!!

So here I am re-taking the test again. I decided to to it slowly, 15 questions on day one, 17 on day two. I just finished the first 15 and REALLY take my time. Although it's supposed to be quite straightforward and logical, right? I am rather proud on my logical prowess, but still proceed carefully. But Jeebus that Exam is confusing!

Then I tried sneakily to google some hints to pass the exam and stumble upon these two guys: Paul and Robert. Apparently Paul, who is a expert SEO and Web developer was having a hard time passing the exam. Then what are my chances?!

Seriously, I got nothing compared to them...

The comments on those two blogs have some really negative reviews about this particular job...

Well to be honest, I used to work in a localization company,much like Lionbridge, and resigned precisely because they treat EVERYONE who work with them very UNprofessionaly and often very rude and abusive because THEY are the one paying you... Especially here in Indonesia, where workers mostly just being seen as "tools"...

I thought Lionbridge would be different... but I think their inner workings are almost the same (more OR less). Is every localization agency like that? Considering they are working with something very delicate such local information and language, which requires considerable amount of skill and energy to work with...Then workers are almost equal to just "slaves" :(

Well, might as well see how the next 17 questions go... If I failed again, then I don't know whether I'm just stupid or the system flawed :p

Feel free to leave any stories/experiences you have related to being an Internet Asessor with Lionbridge :)
Looking forward to all your replies! (seriously, I really am!)



(Updated on 9/3/2014)
Well... I failed. Again. No brainer huh?
Maybe I'm just too stupid for the test

A Not so Jazzy Muse

Java Jazz Festival has always been a treat!

Been going since 2006... Dulu masih sepiii, di JCC, ga se-semrawut sekarang hahaha
Not a really fan of the hustlin bustlin and making my way through people :p

Can't really remember when exactly I started liking jazz
My Dad and Mom are two people who can't live without them
I sometimes ecall hearing old songs, knowing the music, tapi ga inget lirik atau judulnya

And Dad has always been a great Jarreau-Benson devotee, so mungkin nangkep2 dikit dari situ ya

First jazz album was Incognito's Positivity, lungsuran almarhum abang
Swear to God, SETIAP PAGI di mobil sepanjang perjalanan ke sekolah (itu kelas berapa yah? SD sih seinget gw, kelas 3/4 kali ya) I would put that cassette in my Walkman (lungsuran dari manusia yang sama btw... Bahahahaha!), pump the volume so loud, I block everything our terus NYANYI teriak2 berusaha nyamain suaranya Maysa, THE Diva :p
Kasian bokap gw aja sih... Bertahun-tahun setiap pagi nganter ke sekolah begitu

Kayaknya sejak itu deh I realy fell in love
The form, the melody, the improv, how free-flow it is

You can literally jump to another song in the middle of a song and back again, and everything will sound absolutely BEAUTIFUL
And the scat!!! Oh how I love scat singing! They're just awesome
Have NO IDEA how to do it, but absolutely ADORE it :D

I think we need to appreciate art a little more, apalagi di Indonesia sama musisi lokalnya
Karena kayaknya (menurut pribadi saya yah) cuma itu yang akhirnya memisahkan kita sama mesin
The ability to create and appreciate art
*memeluk otak sendiri*

We need to explore more of our brain!! Bet there're TONS of crazy secrets hidden in there, you amazing gray matter you!

I'm sorry for not writing anything too insightful today
Tenaga habis Ciledug-Polumas-Ciledug *tewas*

Hey, a girl gotta make a living ;)

See y'all! *smooch*

Loud Horns and Raincoat

Kadang gw suka bingung kenapa sekarang banyaaaaaaaaaaaak banget motor di jalan...

Like SERIOUSLY, BANYAK BANGET MOTOR DI JALAN.
When did that happen?

WHY did that happen?

I've had my shares of busses, trains, angkot, bajaj, whatchamacallit-lah!
Basically I spent almost 2/3 of my life on the road, in public transport, so I guess I do know quite a bit of what I'm going to say next:

Kemandirian transportasi (ga, ga kepikir Inggrisnya apa.. udahlah)

Menurut saya, Amalia Putri, ini mungkin bisa jadi penyebab ini semua... you know, the motorcycles, the traffic....

Kayaknya sekarang itu yang dicari dan dibutuhkan seluruh jiwa yang menghuni Jakarta. We're very mobile little souls, hustlin' our way through the day until we get back to bed. 

Tapi nunggu bis lama. Heck Transjakarta aja lama.
Nunggu kereta, gangguan terus.
Naik angkot, ngetem bisa sejam, sejam tiga puluh menit.

Itu semua belum plus macet (+10000 pts)
Plus sempit (+250 pts)
Plus kalau hujan (+500 pts)
Plus basah (+300 pts)
Plus keringatan (+100 pts)
Plus desak-desakan (+200 pts)
Plus asap (+400 pts)
dan banyak plus-plus lainnya sih, tapi lagi ga inget
(plus poin2 di atas itu ngaco angkanya, don't read too much into it. It's just a BLOG.)

Bagaimana kalau misalnya plus plus yang lain itu bisa dikurangin??
Opsinya kan jadi dua: Either you get a motorcycle or you get a car

Sisanya tergantung sama taraf ekonomi dan kemampuan sih...

Beli mobil, well walau macet, tapi nyaman, tenang, ga perlu risau hujan, ga perlu desak2an, nungguin mobilnya ngetem, all that crap. 
All around comfort!

Beli motor, well, it's almost like cheating death here in Jakarta.
Because traffic jams will be the death of us (LOL)
Walau kehujanan dan panas dan asap, tapi bisa nandingin macet itu patut diacungin jempol (*kasih jempol*)
Plus struktur tata kota kita tuh menjadikan motor pilihan yang sebenarnya sangat LOGIS

(Ga usah bawa2 banyak kecelakaan atau apa deh, itu salah pengemudinya ga tertib. Idiots. I do not feel sorry for them yg ga tertib.)

Plus liat efeknya buat kaum menengah ke bawah (karena sebenarnya appeal pasar motor ini lebih ke arah mereka kan)
Dulu mungkin mereka harus naik angkutan umum yang sama sekali ga bisa diandalin, tapi sekarang mereka bisa bebas mau kemana aja, kapan aja, naik motor sendiri.

It's the FREEDOM
That independency of not having to rely on something utterly unreliable.

That must be kind of a revelation
Mengubah gaya hidup dan kesempatan
Pretty awesome, in a way :)

Sekali lagi, balik ke poin gw di awal: Kemandirian transportasi

Penyedia jasa transportasi umum ga bisa diandalin, ya usaha sendiri ajalah! Mungkin ga menang semua, tapi daripada ga menang sama sekali? :p
Beli motor atau beli mobil. Your choice.

Bukannya gw ga dukung transportasi umum. 
I'm ALL for it. ALL FOR IT.
Enaklaaah, naik tinggal duduk manis, tidur kek, ngobrol kek, baca kek, mainan kek, tau-tau nyampe
MEJIK BANGET KAN ITU?!

Makanya sampe sekarang gw masih ngiler berat sama MRTnya Singapura... (yaah maaf deh kalo ada yang lebih canggih, baru nyobain itu doang sih)
Dan tiap gw naik Transjakarta, entah kenapa kadang gw semakin skeptis dalam waktu dekat kita bisa ke sana... 

Created with All the Energy I Have Left. Read It.

Hello, Blog!

So what, it's been like a year since I've write anything here, huh?
It's not like I went anywhere...no, I didn't

Life just... happens...
Well actually work happens. Mostly work and then a little bit of life

I must say this about adulthood though

First there's this:

And after a while there's this:

In conclusion, in short, I think Admiral Ackbar knows what's up:

and that he's been trying to warn us a long time ago... We're sorry we didn't listen, Admiral!!

WE'RE SORRRYYYYYY!!!!

(and of course now you also know that I've spent too much time on the Internets)

Despite that... despite my daily life as a computer slave, I've decided to do something about it. Somewhere deep in my mind a little voice keeps telling me that I'm not taking any of this shit anymore. 

I am fed. up.

Imagine, spending all day clicking buttons, looking at monitors, reading, typing, editing, listening to customers whose requests can only be made possible by the Lord Almighty, and the stress.

The stress and the utterly heartbreaking realization that this is your life. It's ending one second at a time and you're just sitting there. 

(and also partly my obsession with Fight Club)

I feel doomed.

This is not what I want. This is NOT what I envisioned.

Of course I'm not saying that nobody deserves what they want, it's just that if I still have a choice, I sure am not going to choose being a cubicle zombie for the rest of my life.

So I made a choice

A risky and overly confident choice: I'm quitting.

It's scary thinking of it right now... Because like it or not MONEY is in the picture. And I don't want to be any burden to my parents anymore

Nothing is clear right now... To be honest I'm not sure what to do right after...

I am actually thinking about taking my Master's. Let's see how that goes :)

(am thinking of New Zealand... for all the wrong reasons.... like salmons and Hobbiton)

I don't even know why I write this, just need to get it out, maybe

And I'm nervous, scared, excited, and anxious at the same time. It's a weird combination of feelings to be having

So then I bid you all good night. Have no more mind to spill nor the energy to do so

(Plus I put images in, so stop whining!)

Because Chuck Palahniuk is such a BADASS