November in Birmingham

I have been in Birmingham, England, for two and a half years. This is a city that I frequently heard of during my childhood and teens. A far way city unknown to me and my childhood to university friends. If I looked back to those years, it was almost unbelievable and near magic that I was going to pursue my PhD in this lovely city. At that time, in Purwokerto, a small city in Central Java, Indonesia, I was struggling to finish my undergraduate thesis, not to mention thinking about doing doctoral research abroad. Yet, I'm here. Cruising through the ups and downs. Responding and trying to solve challenges and issues. Now, I live with my wife and our cute but intelligent daughter. November in Birmingham is cold. It's technically in the winter. Snow is supposed to be expected but none has...

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Menjalani Hidup Gaya Masa Kini

Hidupku berbeda dengan orang pada umumnya. Aku sering muncul di media-media sosial (medsos) utama dan populer. Bahkan kalau ada media sosial baru, aku akan menganalisa medsos itu, melakukan ekstrapolasi ke masa 5 sampai 10 tahun mendatang. Dengan begitu aku mampu memprediksi tingkat popularitas, kemudahan pemakaian sekaligus potensi bisnisnya. Sehingga aku mampu memutuskan sekarang untuk membuat atau tidak membuat akun di medsos yang baru muncul itu. Aku tidak hanya sering muncul, tetapi juga muncul secara rutin, periodik dan berkala. Bisa dikatakan aku mampu mengupdate kegiatanku sehari-hari di medsos dalam hitungan jam. Pengikutku tidak akan kekurangan bahan untuk dibahas mengenai kehidupanku. Pengikutku tidak perlu ragu akan akan kehilangan tren. Justru akulah pembuat tren-tren. Aku...

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Random - Stay Abroad (part 1)

Many Indonesian students and intellectuals who reap promising and prestigious position abroad are rarely going back to the country. One of them is a computer expert residing in Singapore, Ainun Najib. A well-known story has been viral on the internet as he was asked directly by the President of Indonesia to leave Singapore and relocated to Indonesia in order to build the nation and share his knowledge for domestic audience. Looking farther, back to the time when President Yudhoyono selected and then announced his cabinet, an appointed minister was drawn controversy because he has spent a quite lengthy period in the US and been granted citizenship. Although the citizenship was then confirmed untrue, the story told us that intellectuals outflux...

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