Avianto's Journal

Here I am in Berlin. More lost than ever. It’s rainy and grey today, so is my feeling. Sinked and drowned. *Sigh*.

Bring back those good ol’ days

Nothing feels right, nothing ever goes my way

I threw my future away

Now I walk alone out here in the cold…

Wandering astray

Where’s my future?

Gonna need a home

You’d expect the same, now wouldn’t you, wouldn’t you?

Your journey back to birth its haunting you its haunting you

Your departure from the earth, its haunting you, its haunting you

Lyric from Bug Eyes by Dredg

I will be moving to Berlin tomorrow afternoon. Not because I’ve got a job there, not because I am bored with Lübeck but because I am simply broke.

I am still looking for a job now (Here’s my resume in case you or somebody you know interested on hiring me.), so I don’t have regular income. I am practically supporting myself by doing some freelance works, not much but sufficient enough to maintain my survival for a couple of months. But it will be painful if I have to pay rent also. So with the courtesy of my best friend in Berlin, I could stay at his place and just share the basic living cost. Thanks Bud!

So yeah, I am off to Berlin, moving to another new phase of life. It will be amazing.

Note: I don’t know about the internet situation there, so I might be ‘disconnected’ for a couple of days or weeks. My cellphone still work tho, so I am not totally disconnected.

This year I become one of the honorary judge for Bubu Awards v.04. Again. Remember 2003?

Two years has been passing and to no one surprise, nothing actually change or improve with most of the participants. I know that two years in this digital era is just a blink of an eye but c’mon, where is the improvement?

Let’s go back in history…

Why 2000?

I’ve been involved in web development area since 1995 (10 years? Wow…). I’ve seen the rise and the fall and the survival of dotcom. I’ve been in this environment too long for not noticing the failure of \”state of the art\” technology, user frustration, information overload and how World Wide Web become World Wild West.

In 2000, Jeffrey Veen released his book The Art and Science of Web Design. This book blew my mind and became one of my main references. Even though at that time I was already supporting the Web Standards Projects, I was still not so sure about the whole situation. It was 2000. Mr. Veen’s book changed my perspective and I started evangelizing user oriented website.

It’s not easy back then. When \’blink\’ was more valued than experience. Lots of resistances, cynical comments, marketing jargons and all of that. Slowly I found people that have the same concern and together we learned, exchanged information, shared tips and tricks.

But it was 2000.

Now, 2005

Not much change, really. At least in the Indonesian web development community. Still the same old song. It is still the year 2000. The web is still as polluted as ever with confusing navigation, difficult to find information and frustrating user experience.

The statement above answered Mr. Veen’s question “How much progress have we made in five years time? Is either the art or the science of web design any better now?” on his entry about releasing his great book in digital form (PDF), for free. You can read the entry and get the book here. Go get it, read it (the entry and the book) and get enlightened. And please, stop polluting the web.

And while you read the book, let me feel the chilling everytime a Bubu Awards contestant website slowly appear in my browser…

I love London. Been there twice in my life and I loved every moment of it. Such a vibrant city and since I always love public transportation (C’mon, it saves me from driving for hours. Driving is killing us, people), I really enjoyed riding the Tube. Sometimes I even took a ride from the farthest station on one side to the farthest station on the other side just for the sake of it. And I love the building, the park (Hyde Park is amazing!), the small alleys (with some ghost stories accompanied many of them) and don’t forget the history of this amazing city.

So the news today is quite disturbing. My condolences to all the victim of the blast and their family. But London and Londoners are always strong, they survived the Blitz and the years of IRA bombing. Keep strong London and Londoners, my heart, thoughts and prayers are with you!

I never considered myself as a “lucky person”. Of course, I believe that luck plays important factor in life but for me, it probably SEP. I am not complaining here but it seems like some people recognized my hard work as a chain events of compiled luck. I wish that was true but no, it never work that way with me.

I am becoming what I am now is nevertheless a compilation of smart work. Luck probably plays some part on it but it never become a major element. People tend to measure by the result but they usually never try to look at the process. Take my personal experience as an example, do you think I could be here and acquired my Master degree just because I am lucky? It is irritating everytime I hear someone said “You are lucky to be abroad and earn a Master degree” because it seems like all of my smart works are reducing to a simple “luck”.

Smart work. I have to emphasize on that. Smart work is a combination between hard work and strategically correct work.

Really, I would not be able to study abroad if I was not fighting for it. I am a strong believer of “you could do everything, if only you believe and work smart”. Of course, if you are a religious type, praying helps, especially in the “meta” level because it keep your spirit alive.

Sidenote

I am back podcasting. Same topic as this entry but in Indonesian. Listen to it at Apa Saja Podcast!