codes, colors, and chemistry

the dissonant sound of love

arisetyo — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:49:45 +0000

it’s been months since i wrote my last blog. between hectic schedule and relentless deadlines, putting down what’s on my mind seemed so far behind in my list of priorities. and this situation is unlikely to end in a distant future.

but i was so much intrigued to write a blog after i recently read two very interesting articles. both use love as their main theme. although one is somewhat platonic, and one is more romantically inclined, both ended gloriously in sad endings.

in the first article, the writer took me in a trip down memory lane. a story about two best friends sharing joy, sharing life, experiencing the world hand-in-hand. but unlike what children believes, and like what most adults already knew, all good things must come to an end.

it is saddening to see a beautiful chapter of life, painted with unconditional love of friends, must come to an end. although good-bye’s are never final, it’s never an easy part of life. time is a stream and we are merely drifters. when it’s time to say farewell, even the best of friends are not immune to the looming loneliness.

in the second article, the protagonist is standing by his argument on the absence of normalcy in love. in many cases, if not all, love is a place only the brave would traverse. so many boundaries, barrier, and obstacles are in the way. both man-made and divinely made.

there is never an easy way to love. but it is the pursuit of happiness that made it all worth while. what value is love, if one can’t find a reason to fight for it.

the problem with so many people is, they mistook lust for love. lust never worth the effort. but love is its exact polar opposite. it is an emotional strife worth dying for. the proverb “till death do us apart” is not an exaggeration.

the fact that the world is naturally a judgmental collective, discriminating people of what they are, what they choose, and who they love, one must realize that life is not the movies. there is no such thing as happy endings. there are only temporary-not-so-bad endings.

i used to say to one of my close friend, that i am perhaps, a love-masochist. the more excruciating a relationship is, the more addicted i am to it.

but perhaps there is some love-masochism in each and every one of us. the kind of self-inflicted painful pleasure we experience when love rejected us and spat us in the heart. the kind of feeling that made you smile and cry at the same time. the sense of being both a lover and a loser. the kind of loneliness so profound it inspires us.

love. the world painted it so bright and colorful. but, when we listen closely, sometimes, you can hear its dissonant sound.
PS. thanx to The Postal Service and Plastic Operator for taking out a large chunk of angst out of this article..

tu me manques

arisetyo — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:44:04 +0000

Think of me, think of me fondly,when we’ve said goodbye.
Remember me once in a while - please promise me you’ll try.
When you find that, once again, you long to take your heart back and be free -
If you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me

We never said our love was evergreen, or as unchanging as the sea -
but if you can still remember stop and think of me . . .

Think of all the things we’ve shared and seen -
don’t think about the things which might have been . . .

Think of me, think of me waking, silent and resigned.
Imagine me, trying too hard to put you from my mind.
Recall those days look back on all those times, think of the things we’ll never do -
There will never be a day, when I won’t think of you . . .

Flash CS4: Fully Recharged!

arisetyo — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:50:15 +0000

Cukup lama saya tidak menyentuh Flash. Bisa jadi dalam 1 tahun terakhir ini saya hanya menyentuh Flash pada saat mengajar saja. Padahal sebelumnya Flash adalah salah satu tool favorit saya dalam pembuatan content multimedia di web. Tetapi semenjak Flex, saya cenderung beralih.

Tapi bisa jadi rasa kekaguman akan keajaiban Flash yang sekitar 10 tahun lalu sempat menggema di seantero web, bakal terulang lagi. Get ready for Adobe Flash CS4. Dengan seabreg fitur baru, Flash CS4 lebih dari sekedar upgrade, ini adalah versi yang benar-benar dapat meredefinisi cara kita membuat animasi Flash.

Dengan fitur utama object tweening (a la Director), pembuatan tweening menjadi akan jauh lebih mudah, terutama bagi para pemula Flash. Fitur-fitur lain seperti inverse kinematic (tulang), motion editor, motion preset, 3D transform tool, dan tentu saja dukungan AS3 dan Adobe AIR, membuat Flash menjadi salah satu software terbaik 2008.

I guarantee that!

Problem mysql.sock

arisetyo — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:43:31 +0000

Masalah ini mungkin pernah dialami oleh teman-teman yang pertama kali menggunakan atau baru belajar Ruby-on-Rails di Linux. Pada saat hendak melakukan migrasi database (rake db:migrate) menggunakan IDE RadRails, muncul error message seperti ini:

“no such file /tmp/mysql.sock”

Saya sendiri newbie Rails dan yang membuat masalah ini semakin parah, saya juga baru setahun terakhir menggunakan Linux.
Setelah kebingungan, ngutak ngatik sana sini, akhirnya Google tetap memberikan hasil terbaik ;P..

Ternyata masalah ini disebabkan karena pada saat kita menggunakan Linux (dalam hal ini saya menggunakan openSuse 10.2), kemungkinan MySQL telah ikut terinstal. Dan ini menyebabkan file mysql.sock disimpan di tempat yang “unik”. Dalam hal ini file mysql.sock saya tersimpan di var/lib/mysql (untuk distro lain seperti Ubuntu, biasanya disimpan di /var/run/mysqld/).

Ternyata solusinya sangat simpel. Cukup buat sebuah link simbolik :

ln -s /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock /tmp/mysql.sock

maka perintah rake db:migrate tadi akhirnya dapat berjalan sempurna, dan saya dapat melanjutkan belajar Rails…

good luck!

Dugong PHP-Flex Framework

arisetyo — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:51:45 +0000

Dugong adalah sebuah framework PHP-Flex yang ditujukan kepada para programmer Flex-PHP (dooh..). Framework ini menggunakan AMFPHP sebagai sarana komunikasi antara Flex dan PHP.

Tujuan dibuatnya Dugong adalah untuk lebih mempermudah proses pembuatan aplikasi berbasis PHP dan Flex. Dikembangkan dari PHP-Flex Framework-nya Mike Potter dan beberapa contoh dari Jack Herrington. In this first version, I just simply added a database modelling class, an ActionScript RemoteObject class sample, PHP and MySQL sample files. Nothing much.

Buat programmer PHP yang ingin belajar Flex, dan sebaliknya, this one is for you. Juga buat programmer PHP-Flex yang sebelumnya menggunakan RESTful Service atau Web Service.

Dugong adalah hewan mamalia air lucu yang hidup di muara sungai. Kinda a mix of PHP’s elephant and MySQL’s dolphin.

Klik di sini untuk mendownload Dugong 0.2.7. Harap maklum kalau masih banyak kekurangan. Mohon kritik dan sarannya..

sepi…

arisetyo — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:41:53 +0000

if you’re wondering (although I doubt it) why this blog hasn’t been updated for a relatively long time, it is because i resign from office and for the moment i don’t have/need internet connections. thank you.

Pre-Release of Oleander

arisetyo — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:27:31 +0000

Dalam waktu dekat saya akan segera merilis Oleander, sebuah free downloadable book, yang berisi kumpulan puisi. I’m going to put it all here, semua puisi dari tahun 1994 sampai 2008. Tapi sebelum itu, saya akan menceritakan sedikit mengenai sumber-sumber inspirasi dari semua puisi di buku tersebut.

Surprise surprise.. the source of inspiration for 90% of my poems are girls. What do you know…
So here are their stories, and some of the poetry lines inspired by them.

8. N

This particular story happened almost 16 years ago. My first girlfriend, it was during Junior High. The poem says it all I guess. On the day she broke up with me, I remember, I was such a total asshole. I forgot how big of a crush I had for her that day. And perhaps this poem is my way of saying, I am really really sorry.

One of the songs that reminds me of her is Chicago’s “You Come To My Senses”.

tender as petals of jasmines
you were love at first sight
and today my biggest regret is
that i didn’t treat you right
- excerpt from “for leah”

7. D

The biggest crush I had during High School Years. It was all started with a simple poem, and ended with one. I was so stupid to let her slipped away. A regret I still really can’t comprehend. And it was the song “If” by Bread, she sang so perfectly, and will always reminds me of her.

kasih, andai kita bisa membalikkan waktu
andai kita bisa membalikkan keadaan ini seperti semula
ma’afkan, kini terasa sesak untuk menyatakannya
apakah jawabanmu masih seperti dulu ?
- excerpt from “rekaman II”

6. M

Maybe it was wrong, maybe we were just looking for something different. But I am glad one of us walked away. My song for you is, Craig David’s “Walking Away”.

kau muncul seperti pencuri
di tengah dingin malam dan hujan
yang tak pernah berhenti

kau ambil mimpi, kau ambil harapan
dan kau tinggalkan
sejumput aroma kerinduan
- excerpt from “seindah kekasih”

5. A

I guess you must have understood, that I really enjoyed our time together. No matter how blurry it was, for a brief moment in time, you took me away to a different world. And I don’t need a reason, like the song that reminds me of you, Hoobastank’s The Reason.

the first day of forever is here
engulfing me with a dream of a future
a future in which i can see your face
in the morning mist scented with roses
- excerpt from “the first day of forever”

4. F

It seemed that we were bound by some cosmic gravitational force. It was so bewildering. The story started more than 10 years ago and ended so abruptly. Then only a few years ago, we met again, different city different circumstances.

But the flame, I guess, hadn’t die. This was your favorite song, Jewel’s “Foolish Game”, and a foolish game it was for us.

kau yang membuatku merasa lemah di hati
yang membuatku takut jatuh
ke dalam dirimu…
kau yang membuat bulan kehilangan malam
yang membuat semua angin membawa lagu
akan kerinduan…
- excerpt from “nebula”

3. A

It is probably the most complicated situation I’ve ever been. But the feeling was anything but. It is pure and simple. Everytime I listen to Boyz II Men’s “You Make Me Feel Brand New”, I remember sitting next to you babe, fascinated by that gorgeous smile of yours.

in a place where identities lost
where promises breaks and commitment dies
will the wind blows hard and frost
the faith, like tears in these eyes

does she realized a flame she had ignite
it drained me dry and it burned me bright
- excerpt from “desk”

2. N

One day I was singing Rod Stewart’s “I Don’t Want To Talk About It”. Then suddenly, this really exceptionally beautiful girl, sat next to me and started to sing along. We were close friends. Too close perhaps. And I really can’t deny how much I loved her.

But ironically, she was more of an inspiration to me, after we were apart. The days when I hate honesty so much. But all the anger faded away, and all I see now is how wonderful we were for that moment in time. Up to this day, it is the song that reminds me of her. And forget you, I will never dear.

dalam tiga detik yang berhenti
lupa berdegup, jantungku mati;
keindahan langit telah didaulatkan
pada inkarnasimu, wahai puan

dan tersadar, ku tak mau enyah
ruang piluku telah kau debur basah;
ingin menyentuh membunuh akal,
mungkinkah afeksi berakhir sesal?
- excerpt from “tiga detik”

1. B

Of course, the biggest inspiration is in fact, my beautiful, strong, and smart wife. We’ve been together for a decade, through so many up’s and down’s. I am truly blessed that she would stay here by my side. The song that was a hit during our first years, Trisha Yearwood’s “How Do I Live Without You”, not only reminds me of my wife, it is really how I feel for her. I love you dear.

setiap tetesan air mata,
setiap tarikan nafas.
setiap derai canda,
setiap alunan cinta.

kaulah satu,
pasangan hidupku.
ibu anak-anakku,
perempuan hatiku.
- excerpt from “pasangan jiwa”

kicking bad habits of project management

arisetyo — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:41:55 +0000

Everyone on IT knows how infamous Project Management is. Sometimes you feel that you can’t operate without it, and yet sometimes you felt like it is more a hindrance than a help. For everyone involved in project management, these videos are for you.

Things to say during sex

arisetyo — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:04:04 +0000

extremely funny.. i wonder if he really did some research on the bad ones..

guilt is a useless emotion

arisetyo — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:23:30 +0000

“Guilt Is A Useless Emotion” is a song from New Order, from the album “Waiting for The Siren’s Call“. It is one of my favorite songs, from any musician. The title, the lyric, and the name of the band, seem perfectly appropriate for the moment. Perhaps I have it up to here (*pointing at throat*), perhaps I just dont give a fuck anymore, perhaps I just cant stop this feeling any longer, perhaps it’s them, perhaps it’s you dear. I just dont know. All I know is, I’ve been here before, and this song was there.

So read the lyrics and enjoy the sound. Without further ado, I give you; New Order with “Guilt Is A Useless Emotion”.

Just another day in the week
Waiting for an opportunity to step in front of me
Maybe I’m losing my mind
Searching for another place in another time

Real love can’t be bought
It is wild and it can’t be caught
Real love can’t be sold
It’s another color than gold

(I need your love) I just wanna buy it
(I need your love) Will you help me find it
(I want your love) How can you deny it
(I need your love) You’ve just gotta try it
(I want you now) Something that you gotta know
(I need you now) My love for you I wanna show
(I want your love) I’m telling you that I belong
(I need your love) You and me just can’t go wrong

Standing on top of the world
Thinking at the joy you bring when you do that thing to me
You sure know a lot for a girl
You could bring the good times back get me on the track

Real love can’t be bought
It is wild and it can’t be caught
Real love can’t be sold
It’s another color than gold

(I need your love)
(I need your love)
(I need your love)
(I need your love)

You and me just can’t go wrong
You and me just can’t go wrong
You and me just can’t go wrong
You and me just can’t go wrong