Showing posts with label melo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label melo. Show all posts

Sunday, August 16, 2026

Memori



Saya mungkin memang sudah masuk di rentang usia orang yang suka nostalgia. Dengerin Vertical Horizon - Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning) lewat di YouTube aja kok ya banyak kenangan yang muncul kembali, resurface. Tapi saya menulis ini sebenarnya bukan mau mengenang jaman awal-awal jadi mahasiswa di tahun 2000-an. Lebih jauh dari itu. Saya ingin memungut memori tentang masa SD saya.

Kenapa SD? Karena setahun yang lalu, ketika saya membaca berita bahwa SD saya hanya mendapatkan satu orang murid (yang pada akhirnya ternyata dua orang murid), saya jadi tergerak untuk kembali ke SD saya, menyumbangkan apa yang bisa saya sumbangkan. Bukan uang lho ya. Karena kebetulan saya bergerak di bidang Pendidikan, saya punya beberapa hal yang mungkin bisa saya share dengan Ibu Bapak guru di SD saya, SDN (dulu SD Inpres) Minomartani II. Ketika akhirnya saya kesampaian mengunjungi SD saya beberapa kali, memori-memori itu berlompatan.

Salah satu memori yang paling berkesan adalah ketika Ibu Kepala Sekolah menyuruh saya untuk menyapu halaman sekolah. Kebetulan mamah dan papah saya itu orangnya tepat waktu banget. Kalau masalah jadwal, sebisa mungkin jadwal itu ditepati. Papah saya, swargi, bahkan kalau bepergian itu selalu meluangkan waktu yang cukup longgar untuk tiba di bandara atau stasiun jauh sebelum jam keberangkatan. Jadi, ketika sekolah di SD, walaupun kalau naik sepeda dari rumah tidak sampai lima menit, saya seringkali sudah sampai sekolah setengah tujuh pagi. Itulah kenapa Ibu Kepala Sekolah ngasi saya kerjaan menyapu halaman sekolah. Katanya, "Aku tau kamu gak punya halaman rumah, jadi buat latihan nyapu ya. Siapa tahu besok kamu sekolah di ITB." Kalau dipikir-pikir sebenernya agak nggak nyambung juga. Apa iya kalau saya kuliah di ITB trus saya nanti harus nyapu pelataran kampus? Untung saya akhirnya kuliah di UGM...

Hehe. Bukan itu sih pelajaran moralnya ya. Keterampilan seperti menyapu halaman itu keterampilan yang hanya bisa dimiliki kalau sering dilakukan. Dan menyapu halaman itu salah satu keterampilan dasar. Tampaknya sepele dan membosankan, tapi kata penelitian neurosains baru-baru ini, kegiatan yang sepele dan membosankan itu malah mengaktifkan bagian otak yang sangat penting untuk mendukung pemikiran kritis.

Memori lain yang juga berkesan tentu saja Pak Tarman, wali kelas saya kalau tidak salah dari kelas IV sampai kelas VI SD, pas saya nakal-nakalnya. Saya waktu itu anak paling pandai di sekolah. Saya juga murid yang badannya paling besar (baca: gemuk) di sekolah. Ketika kelas V pun saya berkelahi dengan anak kelas VI dan menang. Saya pegang kerah anak itu, saya dorong, saya benturkan dia ke tembok, terkunci dia, tidak bisa bergerak, susah bernafas, tapi kemudian kami dilerai oleh Pak Tarman. Saya besar kepala, merasa jadi jawara, bisa berbuat sesuka hati saya. Tapi kemudian Pak Tarman "memarahi" saya, tidak dengan suara yang keras, tidak dengan intonasi yang mengancam, tapi nasihatnya membuat saya malu. 

Kalau dulu sudah ada film Spiderman, mungkin nasihat Pak Tarman itu seperti "with the great power comes great responsibility". Dari Pak Tarman saya belajar bahwa kuasa itu bukan untuk dipamer-pamerkan, bukan untuk disalahgunakan untuk kepentingan diri sendiri atau kelompok, tapi harus digunakan untuk kebaikan, dipakai untuk melayani orang banyak. Sesederhana itu.

Saya juga punya memori tentang Bu Cahyani -yang menurut saya dulu cantik sekali- guru kelas I yang mengajari saya membaca, menulis dan berhitung. Saya ketika masuk SD waktu itu belum bisa calistung. Mamah saya yang hobinya membacakan saya majalah Bobo. Sampai sekarang pun, beliau hobi membaca majalah Bobo. Tapi begitu saya bisa membaca, saya ketagihan membaca. Saya ingat buku Mahabharata -punya Papah saya- yang tebal itu saya baca sampai habis. Saya terinspirasi oleh buku-buku tentang perjalanan samudra. Buku favorit saya? Buku IPA kelas V. Saya ingat betul ilustrasi tentang gerak semu matahari, perubahan musim, dan perubahan fase bulan. Semakin banyak membaca, semakin saya ingin tahu tentang hal-hal baru.

Ada lagi memori tentang bermain tulup (ini mainan berbahaya masih ada nggak ya hahahah, jaman dulu belum ngerti safety) dengan teman-teman. Berdiri di atas gundukan pasir di depan sekolah, menantang gunung Merapi yang terlihat cerah pagi itu. Atau tentang guru olahraga yang sengaja membiarkan kami hujan-hujanan di lapangan, "biar tatag (tangguh badannya)" katanya. Atau tentang cepet-cepetan lari dengan teman-teman untuk jajan bubur lemu yang kalau agak telat sudah kehabisan. Atau tentang kakak kelas yang mengajari saya merokok, tapi saya kapok karena pahit rasanya. Atau tentang naksir anak pindahan baru di SD sebelah (dulu sekomplek ada tiga SD). Atau tentang ikut lomba menggambar pemandangan tapi kalah karena yang lain gambarnya gunung, saya gambarnya pemandangan bawah laut. Atau tentang saya yang selalu menangis kalau disuruh menyanyi di depan kelas karena tidak bisa menyanyi.

Begitu banyak memori, kenangan, pelajaran, selama bersekolah di SD. Saya menangis ketika menyanyikan Hymne Guru di acara pelepasan murid, purna wiyata. Kali itu bukan karena malu tidak bisa menyanyi, tapi karena terharu dan tidak mampu mengungkapkan rasa terimakasih saya kepada guru-guru saya yang telah memberikan semua perhatian dan kasih sayang mereka kepada kami, murid-murid-nya. 

Waktu itu saya tidak punya bayangan akan jadi apa saya kalau besar nanti. Cita-cita saya tidak pernah tinggi. Seingat saya, cita-cita saya jadi tukang parkir, karena pas lihat tukang parkir di jalan Solo itu kok tampaknya berkuasa gitu, bisa ngatur-ngatur orang. Namun sekarang saya merasa punya tanggung jawab untuk kembali ke SD saya, karena saya tahu sedikit banyak caranya memakai teknologi untuk melayani orang lain, seperti yang Pak Tarman nasihatkan. 

...

it's not so bad

You're only the best I ever had ... 

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Advanced Educational Technology Discography

 One night, at the beginning of this semester, I sent a WAG message to my students:


 Indeed, music became an integral part in my course. I know my students better through their music. It's all started in 2021, when I first teaching at SU with cohort 2018: Rena, Nami, et al. It was in pandemic situation. Hence, the song of this cohort is really just about that: the feels of isolation, yet we hope someday all the shit is over. 


Teaching them is my gateway to Korean music indeed. 

Then came cohort 2019. They were a lot. I mean ... they were 24 students. I spent extra time to have one-on-one coding consultation with each of them, to make sure that at the very least, their module is in a good shape. And they did make it good.

There are several songs that reminds me of them. Rachel put Yellow cover by Brooklyn Duo in her artstep project in final EDUTECH assignment. That, I will never forget. It's like a full circle to me when I played the song for them and they gave it back to me. Lots of the folk liked K-Pop, so Rose's On The Ground reminds me a bunch of them. And they were resilient. Despite of shortcomings, they tried their best. Yura Yunita's Merakit never fails to make me watery eyes while thinking about some students in cohort 2019. 

Maybe one song that represents them the most is Coldplay's Fix You. I played the original song in the class. But Jacob Collier has an incredible cover at the end of last year: 


Cohort 2019 is indeed pretty special to me. Some of them took their time, traveled to Jogja for vacation and stopped by my house. Some of them, I supervised their capstone and a bunch more asked me for advice even though I was not their supervisor. Some worked in a "research-for-fun" with me. A bunch of them still say hi to me through WhatsApp or Instagram.

Collier's Fix You illustrate it best.

After the pandemic is over, I was given the privilege to teach my courses online. But I go to SU when I see it fits and is necessary. 

My first face-to-face (F2F) meeting was with cohort 2020, the pandemic cohort. They started their journey in Sampoerna University fully online. Fadil didn't even show up when I had my first F2F meeting because he is still on the way to Jakarta from Kalimantan.

This cohort, so far, is the most musical. 

Well, there's El. But there's also Syifa who self declared having Ph.D. in DAY6 (a band from Korea) and metal head Jessica. In fact, I started my "Student" playlist in this cohort. I filled the list with DAY6's Time of Our Life, an OST from Persona5 (a game that Fadil spent his life force on before he met 'the girl'), "Bad Things" from a rock indie band Prevail introduced to me by Jessica and some other songs.

However, Miley Cyrus' "Flowers" has a special place in our collective memory. Jessica presented lyricstraining for Technology in Teaching Listening/Speaking and the whole class jammin' to Miley's tune.

I found that the mashed song cover by Poomplamoose  represent the dynamics, the creativity, and the quirk of cohort 2020.



They are a bunch of students who asked me the most questions to ponder in class.

I'm still looking forward to cohort 2021 playlist, but as I said, in my opinion they are not "musical". I mean, maybe they love music but I never be able to probe what their music is all about. I would guess maybe similar to K-Pop thingy, but some of them have old soul as well. In all of those mystery, I'd like to hook this cohort with Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It's complicated. It's hard to play. But it's beautiful af. 



It's really ironic though, since Ally and Nat probably the only two students who spent three semester with me. They took ADV.EDUTECH with 2020 cohort and then took the regular EDUTECH on the next semester, and TLL on the semester after that. But somehow, 2021 is overshadowed by their "neighboring" cohort.

And finally, the 2022 cohort. The cohort whom I sent this message to. It's the end of the semester and I found a perfect song for them. Teaching faculties in SU often advertise their cohort as one of the best they had. And surely, they didn't disappoint. They're crazy, but crazy good. Quirky. Unique. Creative. Hard-working. Resilient. All the good things. A "Crazy" song cover from Walk Off The Earth would fit their characteristics perfectly. But no. Our interaction during the semester is more than that. This cohort is always looking for connections. Something that has meaning beyond the face value. So I wouldn't choose classical music even though Celine would love it. I wouldn't choose any oldies like Michael Learns To Rock's "Strange Foreign Beauty", or some MRT song that Gio put in their Spotify list for me (Yes, MRT stands for Mono Rail Train).

Their song, in my opinion is this:


This is a soundtrack of Sakamoto Days anime series, aired on Spring 2025. Exactly. This cohort only doing one semester with me because in the Fall 2024, I didn't teach. And Sakamoto and his bunch portrayed my interaction with this cohort perfectly. Not to mention, the Japanese vibe of Gaby and her SONIC obsession is too strong LOL.

I am looking forward to meet the next cohort. I wonder what their song would be. Or would Sakamoto be my last song? I never know.

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Langit


"Sesekali tengoklah langit." 


Langit malam terhias bintang, kerlip cahayanya menempuh ribuan tahun, mencetuskan rasa keindahan, kenangan, harapan, dan cita-cita. 

Terkadang langit kelabu, membawa muram suasana. Namun ketika awan menjadi hujan, bumi yang gersang hidup kembali dari matinya.

Langit biru mengingatkan sejatinya milyaran manusia bersaudara, bernafas satu udara, dan bernaung di bawah atmosfer yang sama.

Langit jingga petanda senja. Setiap hari pasti ada akhirnya, setiap manusia suatu saat akan tutup usia.

Dan langit yang begitu luas adalah pintu rizki, testamen bahwa ada yang lebih besar, lebih tinggi, dan lebih mulia dari diri kita 🙇🏻‍♂🙏🏻.


Sesekali, tengoklah langit.


P.S. In loving memoriam, 

Prof. Ir. Sudjarwadi M.Eng., Ph.D. 

13-03-1947 // 10-08-2024

Friday, August 18, 2023

78

It was in the morning of August 17, 2023, the Independence Day. I was on my way to the train station, riding TransJakarta 6H heading to Pasar Senen. Several people boarded the bus from a bus stop in the Kuningan area. There was a young man, some guys, and a family with the mother carrying her daughter. The seats were all taken at that time. The young man then reminded the people to give up a seat for the mother who carried her daughter. A young lady from the women-only area gave up her seat for them.

The same young man who stood up for the mother was carrying a small flag on a small pole on his backpack. After some passengers got off the bus, the young man sat down next to a couple of grandparents who were carrying a baby girl. The baby, I assumed, was around ten to eleven months old. The young man then gave his flag to the baby. The grandparents expressed their gratitude. The baby squealed, expressing her joy.

It might have been a regular and small gesture of kindness. But with the patriotism in the air, it moved me. I thought that those young people could be a reason for an old fart like me to feel optimistic again for this nation.

No matter how dark the times are, there will always be light. Flickers might not be enough to light up the room, but they are juu..st enough to give you hope. Hope keeps you alive. Hope drives you to be a better person until you will become light yourself.

Dirgahayu Indonesia!

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Spourgitis

Pagi ini suhu di Baltimore 2° F (-17° C), saya turun ke bawah ambil sarapan dan makan sereal sambil buka newsfeed facebook. Saya tertarik sama film pendek berdurasi 3 menitan yang di-share mas Zen. Saya klik. Dan ketika film itu selesai, sendok yang siap masuk mulut berhenti seketika. Dada saya sesak rasanya.

Well, saya merefleksikan film itu ke diri saya tentunya. Saya termasuk anak yang seperti di film itu. Tapi bedanya, saya nggak inget saya menghabiskan banyak waktu kecil saya sama bapak saya. Karena, saya nggak ketemu bapak saya sejak lahir sampe saya umur 3 tahun. Setelah itu pun, bapak saya sibuk karena ekonomi keluarga sedang sulit. Setelah lumayan mapan, saya terlanjur udah gede dan sudah bisa dolan kemana-mana sendiri, hang out sama temen-temen. Seinget saya, saya melewatkan masa kecil saya tanpa bapak saya. Di memori saya, saya diajak bapak saya ke kantornya dan main sendiri di halaman kantor sementara bapak saya bekerja.

Yang bikin saya tambah berasa ngenes, sekarang saya harus melewatkan masa kecil anak saya juga. Sama kayak bapak saya melewatkan masa kecil saya.

Jadi melalui postingan ini, saya pengen anak saya tau kalo saya sayang banget sama dia. Well, seenggaknya waktu dia umur 3 tahun saya tiap hari sama dia selama setahun. Dan, bukan maksudku melewatkan masa-masa emas-mu, nduk...