The Reflection in The Mirror

When the terms self-love surfaced in recent years, people describe the terms with the ability to accept themselves and trying to start taking care of themselves better. Acceptance of their flaws and the imperfection. But when it comes to physical appearances or looks, sometimes, the term won’t apply completely. Women, especially women, sometimes feel inferior in front of other women. A flawless Selebgram, the women effortlessly strutting the airport with no eye-bag, the stylish random people on the street. I unconsciously being ashamed of myself seeing people at a wedding reception, wearing a full make-up and completely perfect hair. Often times, I told myself I really don’t care. That’s not what I’m comfortable of wearing, that’s not how I want to see myself. But other times, I feel that I need to have a full make-up and completely perfect hair to be accepted, to be normal.

When I was in junior high, there was a popular hair treatment that able to straighten your hair for a couple of months. I guess, that was the time Meteor Garden started their popularity and suddenly, everybody wanted a straight long hair. Me included. I asked my mother to go to the hair salon and undergo the treatment. I guess that’s when my thoughts about the acceptance started. I have a wavy and curly hair, so I feel that I need to have straight long hair to be accepted, to be normal.

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The Night of Silence

Here lies the proof of our common misunderstanding.
Of ambitions, of lies.
The tragedy of human’s greed and the choice to stay away with all of it.
Living under the land of broken hearts, reading The Art of Suffering.
Choosing of being totally energetic, or totally not in love.
Captured in frames, aired in a screen, with a thousand of thumbs.
There is a lot of life out there, with hundreds of words.
Can we really bear it all?
Can we really see beneath it all?

Here lies the proof of our common misunderstanding.
The young are always angry, the old are angrier.
The right will always right, and the left is always left behind.
Why can’t we stop these stream of bytes?
Why can’t we see the silence?

I’m sitting to prove a point and I see nothing but the flashes.
I’m running to the edge of the world and the night sky surrounds me.
It’s bleak yet comforting. It’s lonely but soothing.
We can stop the stream of bytes, but we should never see the silence.

Some Words in Paper

For the longest time, I want to write letters to others. It’s a dream comes true that I finally can do it with the power of social media :))

One time, my friend asked me how have I been? A simple gesture which maybe means nothing to her, but for me, means a lot at that time. I know the feeling of being asked at the right time can means that you still needed. There is someone who still wanting to know your whereabouts and asking you to tell your story.

A human connection. Even in this digital era, can do a lot of things. So awhile ago, inspired by my own writing and thoughts, I asked a simple question (with not so simple answers) to my friends on the internet.

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The Yellow Season

In October, I celebrate a lot of things. It’s a joyful month, which also marks the beginning of the holiday season. The busiest time of the year. I think it is the same in every field of work. It’s funny that we’re talking about the end of the year, but we’re not actually ready to face another end of the year. So, here’s a couple of things that I found at the beginning of October.

At the end of September, MailChimp announced their newest re-brand. I use MailChimp as my e-mail marketing provider at Kawung Living, so I’m quite familiar with their branding. They used a lot of colorful colors and always keep their iconic Freddie the Chimp in a good way. At first, I thought the 17 years old company doesn’t need a rebrand whatsoever. But after seeing what Collins did to the company website and element, I know what MailChimp sees in the future. The marketing provider is growing and now aims for small businesses and brands. Their latest campaign tells a statement: Growing Up Doesn’t Mean to Buttoning Up. That’s why they suddenly getting the Yellow color (which I totally love) and all the quirky illustrations. I love seeing weird designs in a tech company! See more of the rebrand here.

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Starting Small – Memanfaatkan Data

Setelah sebelumnya mengulas tentang cara penghitungan finansial sederhana, sekarang saya ingin membahas hal yang tidak kalah pentingnya: Data.

Akhir-akhir ini, kita pasti pernah mendengar kata Big Data, pekerjaan dengan titel Data Researcher, ataupun beberapa workshop berjudul Data Science. Pekerjaan yang 10 tahun lalu ini masih eksklusif dikerjakan oleh research company seperti McKinsey, sekarang sudah umum dikerjakan oleh seorang individu. Nggak aneh kalau beberapa universitas sudah memiliki jurusan atau mata kuliah Data Science di kurikulumnya. Data seakan menjadi salah satu tolak ukur penting yang digunakan sebagai penentu keputusan-keputusan bisnis ataupun arah perusahaan sekarang ini.

Apakah bisnis kecil juga harus ikut-ikutan memperhatikan hal ini? Data apa yang sebenarnya dimaksud dan apakah akan berguna untuk kelangsungan bisnis kita? Apa nggak bisa kelihatan dari menghitung stok barang saja? Nah, kali ini saya ingin mencoba berbagi hal-hal sederhana tentang bagaimana kamu bisa menggunakan dan memaksimalkan data yang kamu miliki dalam bisnis kecilmu.

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