2016 was an interesting year, tough, but interesting. New colleagues, new friends, new experiences, new knowledges, also one wonderful new family.

One of the interesting stuff that happened in 2016 was dengansenanghati. A rather small start-up company that I started at the end of 2015. For us, dengansenanghati, 2016 was the very first year with lots of enjoyable struggles and juggles.

It started with an idea, concept, stories, moved into a small space at the nearest coffee shop (Kopi Anjis!), evolved into a bigger building (which we knew later that the building happened to be under controversies & dispute, plus it was also occupied by ‘spirits’), until we finally got our own home, a very modest space to create, to play, and to grow alongside each other. …

“Joking seriously”, the kind of expression I often use. After so many years working in digital industry which growing rapidly in Indonesia for these past few years, to develop our selves as well as make the most of our time, my friends and I doing fun research simultaneously and mostly about stupid things.

There was magic jar, which will twitting automatically after the rice has cooked and mention a single friend on twitter to remind him/her it’s time to eat. Smart praying cap, the one that also will twitting about how long does the shala takes and auto twit after first sujud. The other one was alarm application for android which will makes you pay 1$ if you want to push the snooze button. …

dengansenanghati, a small company based in Bandung, are very concerned with the health of friends in work. Recommendation to drink at least 2 liters of water a day is often overlooked because it was too cool to work.

This makes our company doing research for fun; try to overcome the problem of lazy drinking. Starting with the small talk later emerged some interesting ideas. Due to the fact we are not as smart as we expected, the most efficient and the simplest ideas are selected for execution.

We begin by dismantling the only dispenser we got in the office and then add some mechanical components. We intentionally planted Wi-Fi module to connect to the Internet and the RFID reader. After successfully ruined a well-manufactured dispenser, we employ e-KTP card as RFID and simply affixed with rubber bracelet to glass. …

I am a daydeamer. Or simply a dreamer, you may say. And most of the time, an optimist. Or more likely a sloppy one with so many dreams, and fantasies, and things I wanted to achieve.

I wanted to have a clothing brand, I wanted to make schools, I wanted to develop more games, I wanted to open a Coffee Shop, I wanted to help elevate the state of our nation’s economy by providing a proper education to Small Businesses about the use of technology and how to utilise social media, I wanted to support our country’s educational system continuously by lending my hands for the teachers and lecturers, and introduce them to future technologies. …

Aside from being a banana tree and a bus driver, I was once had a dream of becoming a vocalist of a band. I do love music, I love to sing, I love the way them musicians have their own way to express something through their music. If somebody asked me what would be the most magical thing in the world, I’d answer it right away: music.

Yet we can’t always get what we wanted, right? Right? There were times where I tried singing on the karaoke room and there isn’t any notes coming out of me which in pitch with the melodies of the songs. I tried to upload my own voices on SoundCloud and I got so many pity responses coming from all of you. …

Uber Taxi, Gojek, Grab Bike, Grab Taxi and some other business in transportation section today, in which I am really sure that there will be more coming in the near future. Aside from the controversies, there are a lot of good and heartwarming stories from them, especially when it comes to the drivers’ welfare.

I won’t talk about the business, money making system, or whatnots. I am sure there are a lot of you who already talked about it, and I bet your understanding about that is thousand times better than me. Hehe.

I am one of the regular customer of them, both Gojek and Uber, because they really help me in my daily routine. Before Gojek, to ride an ojek is so troublesome, not only that I had to bargain to decide the price, I also had to point out the ways to get me to my destination. This also happened when riding a Taxi. Those are exactly why I totally go for Gojek and Uber Taxi. …

“Do you know why Mom prefer you to pay for my Umrah/Hajj trip rather than buying me a car? Because there are so many car rentals out there. But there’s no umrah-rental.” — a short conversation between me and my mother once upon a night.

Time flies.

I met many people with various background and life journey, also their own level of achievements and level of happiness. This crossed my mind, something about ‘Experience VS Things.’
Just, you know, read along.

Some people with money prefer to buy things, cars, hi-end gadgets, houses, and other stuffs. Some, meanwhile, prefer to go on an adventure and experience new things such as traveling, culinary trips, tasting coffees in different places, and flying around the world. …

I like reading books. No, I love reading books. To me, reading is the fastest, easiest, cheapest way to learn and to see something from other’s point of view.

Since 2011, I have a goal that straightly became one of the good habit of mine: once in a month I have to buy 3 books and finish them by the end of the month. And thank God, even though there were times I only read less than target, I mostly reached my goal every month.

I normally read books before I go to bed, and in between my me-time inside my room from time to time. But this year, I have to admit that I gradually read less book than before because life seems to turn me into a person with a tighter schedule with business trips, wedding preparation, moving to a new house, having kid, and so many other things that kept making me read less books, and less, and less, and less. …