Gerakan Bawah Tanah - Mr. GBT

 Today, I was planning to go to my office at Sumarecon Tegalluar but this morning my body was not cooperating. I felt a little stiff. I don't know why since yesterday I thought I was working normally. Nothing that would take my energy.  At my age, > 60s, I need to listen to my body. I decided to work at home. Plan must change. Fortunately, I didn't have a scheduled meeting or anything like that.  Working from home is okay for me. I've got used to it even before COVID-19. It's just I drank too much coffee this morning. Ha ha ha. I think it was just a way for me to release my stress(?), which I thought I don't have. Anyway, this is just my ramblings in my corner. Nobody knows this corner. I am safe.  

So this is the first week of January 2025. In fact, this is the 5th of January 2025. New year is here, but some 2024 resolutions were not met. As usual, new year but old problems. This year I am going to write more in my blogs. Including this one. But promises' promises. We'll see how it goes. The most important thing is to stay healthy. I was sick pretty bad in 2024. This year is my recovery year. It should be better compared to last year. Knock on wood.

In my other blog, I wrote something about my time management which is based on urgency. Not the best approach, but the most appropriate for me. One of the reasons I picked that one is because I have too many things to do. Many people would not believe me if I tell them that I am a multi-tasking person. I love doing many things at once. People will say that this is bad. I know. But, this is me. If I do one thing only, I would get bored. Then what? I am not productive. (Although this is debatable.) I realize that I have too many things to do. I am not complaining. I am just acknowledging that fact. It is bad. I am trying to make it better, but in my own way. In ways that I enjoy doing it. Now, that's something that I have to learn myself. (Although I am trying to learn by reading many books.)

A few years ago, I was invited to Australia on a business trip. This was the first time I am flying on a business class. I was looking for things to do and found this Boz Scaggs album on the music section. Whoa! I knew that this is a great album but I never listened to it in a complete album. This is a no brainer choice. Put the headphone and listen to the whole album. Travelling just got nicer.   Thanks for the great album.

I used to blog everyday. Now, I am creating YouTube video everyday. The reason is that now it is easier for me to create video content. I just shoot it with Macbook and upload it to my YouTube channel. That's it. I don't edit my videos. Now, I am neglecting my blogs (there are two of them). I am thinking of using this blog as a support to my YouTube channel, by using it as a note (to self) about topics that I should make (record). But if I do that, this blog is going to be in a non-coherent situation. The posts are mainly bits and pieces. I guess, it is still better than there's nothing at all. At least you could see something. Actually, you would get a sneak preview of what I am going to talk. Hmmm ... I should do this.

The word "healing" is being abused here (and maybe elsewher). Some people use it as an excuse to get away from work or from responsibilities. At least that's what I thought. Maybe I am correct but I could be wrong too. So, I did take a few days off from work. Healing. And it's real. Being away from responsibilities is nice. I am lucky because I could do it without losing my credibility. Meaning people have to believe me and I don't get punished. That's because I did this without neglecting my tasks and responsibilities. Now, I am back and I need to complete my tasks (and more). While relaxing - or healing - I thought I did nothing important, but it turned out I was learning. Apparently, I enjoy learning. Thus, the time that I am away and learning is actually healing for me. I enjoy learning for the sake of it. Nothing specific to learn, but in the future I am sure I am going to use whatever I learned for greater use. It has been like that. Anyway, I just need ...

It's raining outside I know you hate rain but, I am here waiting in the rain Does that mean you hate me?

In a WhatsApp group discussion, we were talking about Def Leppard. One thing led to another, I found out that most of my friends stopped listening to Def Leppard after the Slang album. Not sure why. Yes, Def Leppard older albums are great albums, but they also have good songs in latter albums. I decided to create a (play)list of Def Leppard from their newer albums. Taste is something you cannot argue. Thus, my list may not be what you like, but at least it is an attempt to keep people who may have the same taste but did not know that there are good songs in newer Def Leppard albums. So here is the list ... (From time to time, I am going to update this.) Love (the Sparkle Lounge album) Unbelievable (from X) Let me be the one (from X) Take What You Want (from Diamond Star Halos)

 This is my first post in 2023. It's January 1st. This blog is actually my first blog after doing a lot of homepages - that's what they were called at that time - with a lot of HTML codes. Blogspot was one of the first blog services that I use in 2002. Yes, this blog is older than some of you, 21-years old. Although I have not updated this blog regularly - kinda neglected in a way, I am still keeping this. This is one of those relics that is still around. Standing still. Oh, btw, this blog was considered one of the top-10 blogs in Indonesia in 2005. You wouldn't believe it. But then again, maybe there were only 10 blogs at that time. Alas.

It takes time to heal when you're older. Physically, that is. But, mentally, the time it heals could be the same. It may even be possible faster. This creates frustration. Mentally, you are ready to work, but physically you're not ready. Aaarrrggghhh.

Many people ask questions because of many reasons; to look smart, to look important, or to test another person ... other things. On the other hand, I ask questions because I don't know. As simple as that. Most people would not believe that because they think I know many things. That is true, but when I learn new things, they are usually come with new questions. So, if originally I have 5 questions and answer 1 question, I actually end up with 3 more questions. Now, I have 7 questions. The number of questions grows. I don't mind that I have more questions than when it was started. That is not my problem. The problem is that people do not want to answer my question because they think that they are being tested. They become defensive and I don't get the answer. That is the reasons for me writing this blurb. So, I asked a question, I do need help finding the answer(s).

Yes, I am still alive and well. But, how come I seemed to abandon this blog? My energy was focused on my YouTube channel. It's in https://youtube.com/user/rahard. Year 2020 and 2021 were the time I was trying to understand the YouTube behavior. Now, I got it up and running. It is time to resurrect my blogs; this one and the one in medium. Blogger (Blogspot) seems to be way behind Medium in terms of user experience (and look-and-feel too). Thus, I am inclining to write on my Medium account. I just wish there is a way to make me interested to write in this blog. Really. Maybe a better template? Or at least, look and feel. Oh well.

 It is official that I am having difficulties in keep on blogging. These days I am doing vlog almost everyday. My way to create vlog is just shoot the video and upload. No edit. That is way I am so productive in generating vlog. This used to be time consuming, if I have to do more edits. I am still trying to keep this blog. I should post more, which is at least one a month. No promises, though. So, see you next month. Or earlier. Ha ha ha.

I've been searching for ways to do podcasting. Years actually, but I could not find an easy way to do a podcacst. I am a techie person. If I cannot do it, then it is going to be difficult for ordinary person to do a podcast. Enter anchor.fm. I am not sure how I came across anchor.fm, but this is the solution that I am looking for. If you want to do a podcast, all you have to do is record your voice in a file and then upload the file to anchor.fm. That's it. They will distribute your podcast to all kinds of podcasting sites. Spotify is one of them. Interesting. Then, I realized that anchor.fm is actually part of Spotify. Ha. Now, I am podcasting. It's in here: https://anchor.fm/budi-rahardjo What I do is actually take the audio part of my YouTube videos and upload them to anchor.fm. Most of my YouTube videos do not need the video parts. They can be listened to. So, that's what I do. Enjoy.

Last night, I was part of a discussion on the new WhatsApp (WA)'s privacy policy. What is the impact to all of us. My points were actually the same as the one posted in my blog. ( Here . In Bahasa Indonesia.) It's just a different audience and different way of delivering the content.   Anyway, I hope the event is useful to the audience. On to next topics.

For the last a couple of weeks, I've been wasting my time watching Netflix. Our family has subscribed to Netflix a few months ago, but we didn't watch it seriously. At least, I didn't. But, for the last weeks (I think it's more than 2 weeks) I have been watching Netflix. What do I watch? Many things. Nothing new, actually. For example, yesterday I have just finished watching Sherlock Holmes, the TV series. I should list movies that I watched. Just for the references. Classes are starting today. I am teaching 4 (or possibly 5) classes. I should stop watching Netflix. But, I wouldn't cancel my subscription yet. I know it is expensive compared to Disney's Hotstar. I know. Let's just wait and see.  

My telegram feed shows a lot of people subscribing to Telegram. What gives? Apparently, many people are starting to install Telegram because they are worried with the latest WhatsApp's privacy policy update. (I should put links here.) So, that's it. In short, in my opinion there's no need for the migration. I have an explanation in a video, but it's in Bahasa Indonesia. It's here. Now, back to the "euphoria" (if you can call it that). Would people start abandoning WA (WhatsApp) and switching to Telegram? Is it for good? I don't think it is happening. It's like abandoning Microsoft Windows for Linux. Linux is as good as Microsoft Windows. (In my personal opinion, Linux is actually better, but this is from a techie person who have been using Linux since its early stage. I am biased.) Have you seen majority of people migrating to Linux? No. People are staying with Windows. Why? Because, we are used to Windows. Linux as a nice desktop too, but it is no...

Here is my "problem", if you can consider this a problem. For some reasons, I feel that I am wasting my time if I am reading. There are many books and other documents that I need to read. Not want, but need. I have to. However, I feel  like I should be writing instead of reading. But to write something I have to know it. How do I know the subject if I don't read it? This "problem" has been there for quite sometime. Because of this I am actually wasting my time; not reading and not writing. I guess, I have to read and give it a time (and schedule) so that I know that I am working. Reading is working . That's what I should have felt. It is still a problem for me to digest that. Reading is working. Reading is working. Reading is working. Maybe if I say it many times, I will believe in it.

 Happy new year, 2021. This year I have a new resolution. Usually, I don't have a resolution. This year, I am going to write more in this blog. I am going to challenge myself. In my other blog (the one with wordpress.com), I challenge myself to write daily. I want to do the same thing here, but I don't think I could do that. So, I am not going to go there. But, I do want to write more. It's just not daily. On my social media front, this is what I am starting with this year.   Let's go!

Technologies move so fast. We all know that, but we wouldn't realize it until we face with it. Like right now. I am cleaning my cupboards. Lots of books in it and, wait for it ..., compact discs. Whoa. I used to keep these CDs for backups. So, I am looking at some CDs and don't know what they have on them. The problem is I don't have a CD drive anymore. Actually I have in my desktop machine, but it has been disconnected. I am not sure if there are enough cables inside the machine to reconnect the drive. CDs were God sent. They were cheap and relatively reliable. Now, they're just useless. Everything is stored online. Do you have a "tech-dinosaur"-story?