The Wishlist

April 1, 2019 by Prisanti Leave a comment

I think, a lot of people listed ‘reading more books’ as one of their New Year’s goals. In my personal opinions, reading is always good. I often get overwhelmed by people who reads heavy materials as their common read and I also used to judge people by their books (who doesn’t?). But as I grow older, I thought someone who still gives a slot on their day for books is always the best kind of people. At least, they are trying to be one.

Though I don’t have the luxury of buying books randomly anymore, I do keep an update of the books I want to read. From graphic novels to essay collection, from design book to Japanese novel, here are the latest books that I add to my Wishlist lately.

The Yellow Season

October 3, 2018 by Prisanti Leave a comment

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.

The Night Before Monday

August 26, 2018 by Prisanti Leave a comment

It’s Sunday night and I’ve finished listing down my to-do list for next week. So, I thought I will write here before midnight greets. It’s been quite a while for the obvious Random Round-Up, so here it comes again.

Every single year, I always want to add more books to the rack but I’m completely aware of my limited budget to do so. Foreign books nowadays cost around IDR 150.000 – IDR 400.000, so I always prefer to get the Indonesian translated version because it’s way cheaper. I can’t read an e-book, because my work is related closely to my laptop and I want to limit my interaction to electronic screen. Besides, the only devices I can use to read an e-book are my laptop and phone. The screen size is either too big or too small, which make both uncomfortable to use. But last week, I found this promo from Gramedia website. Paket Merdeka gives the opportunity to buy a bundle of books according to a genre which features 1 best seller book and 4 mystery books. There’s also a Mystery Blind Bundle which include 5 mystery books from various genre.

The concept itself is not completely new, POST has been organized a couple of Blind Date with A Book events, where the customer buys a book without knowing what the title is. But I think it’s a fresh approach for Gramedia and a nice way to clean up their inventory :P I choose Paket Sastra 2 and though I just started reading them, I’m totally satisfied with all of my books :3

The Budget Game

August 3, 2018 by Prisanti 2 Comments

Akhir-akhir ini, nggak terhitung berapa kali saya berkunjung ke IKEA. Walaupun jaraknya lumayan jauh dari rumah, tapi tetap saja saya rela melintasi provinsi untuk datang ke Tangerang :)) Tampaknya sudah bukan rahasia lagi kalau penduduk dunia pada umumnya suka menghabiskan waktu berkeliling IKEA. Terbukti dengan tokonya yang nggak pernah sepi, haha. Mungkin banyak yang sekedar mencari inspirasi, memenuhi keperluan furnitur rumah tangga ataupun menganggapnya sebagai rekreasi dan numpang makan.

Sekarang ini, IKEA sudah memiliki layanan pengantaran online. Pengirimannya memang lebih mahal dari ekspedisi biasa tetapi menurut saya, lebih hemat dibanding jastip (untuk barang-barang ringan) kalau pembelian barang lebih dari 5. Sila dihitung-hitung sendiri sesuai kebutuhan yaa. Sedangkan kalau barang yang dibeli banyak ataupun berat dan jarak rumah ke IKEA lumayan jauh, menurut saya sih ongkos pengirimannya masih sepadan dibanding effort untuk datang langsung ke IKEA.

Saya sendiri memang banyak menggunakan furnitur IKEA untuk mengisi rumah. Design barang-barang IKEA yang minimalis dan ukurannya yang compact, sangat pas dengan kebutuhan saya yang memiliki space rumah yang terbatas. Untuk hitungan harga di Indonesia, menurut saya harga barang-barang di IKEA ada yang bisa sangat bersaing dengan barang lokal. Kita memang bisa mendapatkan harga miring dengan membawa katalog IKEA ke pengrajin lokal untuk dibuatkan duplikatnya tetapi kadang, ada juga warga biasa yang terlanjur malas dan nggak tahu pengrajin mana yang punya kapabilitas baik dan harga yang bersaing.

Kalau menurut saya, penetapan harga barang-barang IKEA cukup fair berdasar kualitas. Dengan ukuran barang yang hampir sama, kita bisa menemukan meja senilai 79.000 dengan material serbuk kayu dan meja yang bernilai 599.000 dengan material pinus. Istilahnya, ada harga ada barang. Nah, karena akhir-akhir ini saya lumayan sering mengecek website IKEA, kali ini saya membuat beberapa perbandingan barang yang fungsi dan designnya kurang lebih mirip tetapi memiliki harga dan kualitas yang agak berbeda.

Lampu meja IKEA PS 2017 (IDR 499.000) vs Lampu kerja TERTIAL (IDR 179.000)

Untuk sebagian orang, design modern identik dengan warna yang minimalis. Putih, hitam, ataupun warna kayu alami seperti yang sering kita lihat di rumah-rumah Jepang. Walaupun suka segala hal yang berwarna, saya sendiri nggak punya banyak baju ataupun furnitur yang berwarna-warni. Kebanyakan lemari dan rak di rumah saya warnanya coklat tua (karena kompromi dengan suami, cih). Lampu berwarna kuning ini menurut saya pas sekali untuk menambahkan a hint of personality. Ukurannya yang kecil tetapi dengan warna yang mencolok membuatnya nggak berlebihan, tetapi bisa menjadi center of attention.

The Celebration

July 17, 2018 by Prisanti Leave a comment

I plan to post this a few days before World Cup final, but unfortunately, time passed by so fast :))

Football and the World Cup have taken the Summer by storm. Unlike my husband (who predicts Croatia will get to the final before the World Cup even started), I’m not an avid football hooligan. The farthest thing I did for football is finishing the whole edition of Fantasista and watching PSS Sleman on their home last year. But, I still love all the celebration and the side stories.

I once gave a small workshop to my colleagues at the campus about writing (can you believe it?). I’m not a great writer, but I know a great piece of writing when I read one. So in the workshop, I gathered a few of my favorite articles and short stories. From a food article about Bakso dishes to a movie review about the cheesiest movie ever made. Turns out, the workshop went well and the audience broadens their horizon about taking angles and a new perspective when writing about a subject (well, I hope they did :P). So, here are some of my favorite things and articles about the World Cup. You can relax though, there’s not even one about the Pussy Riot or Russian’s politics :))

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INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA – MAY 22: Referees are seen in the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) Box during the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 group F match between Saudi Arabia and Senegal at Incheon Munhak Stadium on May 22, 2017 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo: Joern Pollex – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Though the technology is already used at Serie A before, the usage of VAR (the abbreviation for Video Assistant Referee) in the world stage has given more controversies and conversations to the football fanatics. And have you ever wondered, how could the statistics on half-time also include the distance run by a player, an accurate ball routes, and ball possession percentage? And did you know that ADIDAS has planted NFC chip in the ball used on every match? Sure the World Cup is about the sport, but the event has brought us more innovations and technology that you can only imagine years ago. It is always a joy to read a thing or two about the latest tech.