About Me
I can fix your jammed printer.
Yo, Serén here 👋
This page is sort of self-indulgent, as a means to introduce myself via this tiny space on the internet to strangers who happen to find it. Nice to meet you 🍻
I think experts in niche fields are cool. Generalists who offer new perspective from intersections of sectors are also cool. But being a human is more than acquiring professional credentials. It's also important to know when to distinguish an artist from their art.
I am a big fan of manga and comics art. Reading is a passion, and writing is an effective coping mechanism. My background in forestry science nurtures me to be attentive to the environment whether I like it or not (there were days I wished I didn't know so I could continue my life pretending the world is okay).
In 2018, I encountered the 80,000 hours concept, but it wasn't until some times after graduation that I started to comprehend it seriously. The first step for that was the opportunity to be involved with Project Management Unit in Forest Investment Program 1.
Through this experience, I found out that some global problems are bigger and more neglected than others, and I felt compelled to make thoughtful decision about which problems to work on with the time that I have in my life.
A little history ⌄
My journey in five paragraphs.
I was born in Ende, home of the magical color-changing Kelimutu Lake. Approximately 10 months later, I was brought and grew up in a cold, small, peaceful town—Salatiga. Mom said I learned how to crawl on the ship, backwards🐤
Mom bought our first computer circa 2007. And wow, this tube square machine was intriguing. Our technician kept coming back to repair it, reinstalled Windows, upgraded everything; apparently I kept installing heavy softwares above its capability and brought viruses along into it. This was also the time I awkwardly stumbled into graphic design.
I went to earn my bachelor degree of forestry science in Yogyakarta. My years in university are full of International Forestry Students' Association (IFSA) activities, most importantly in IFSA LC UGM. Here was also where I built friendships that I hope could last a lifetime—please stay guys, making friends in adulthood is hard.
I was 1/6 student teaching assistant in the Forest Mapping laboratory (we're really cool). Daily necessities won't pay for itself, so I started gigs on graphic design and translation services, served happiness (read: delicious food) at Pothz, and helped people make the best web hosting experience with wonderful peers at Hostinger.
While I found forestry and environmental sector to be critical, the gears stepped into several industries led me to acknowledge that interests and learning are exponential growth, and I'll let them bloom.
What I'm doing right now is likely to be more detailed here.
Trivia because why not ⌄
You may pass a friendship quiz about me after this.
I'm an introvert
... despite some people's first impressions. I don't mind meeting new people or talking to strangers on the bus. Introversion doesn't mean social shyness, I think there are still many misconceptions about this.
I enjoy solitude or having an 1-on-1 conversation. Sharing laughs with a group of my close friends would be the cherry on top. If I'm not careful, I could stay in my own room for weeks, only going out to buy food 😂
It could get problematic, I once gradually lost my ability to hold a conversation post pandemic. I have to remind myself that I'm still a human being that thrives better as a social species.
I have five main hobbies fulfilling my life
Reading, writing, city-cycling, drawing, and daydreaming. The reading itself covers a very wide area. Learning new ideas, concept, and perspectives through reading is part of it.
It's probably weird to put daydreaming on the healthy spectrum (I hope) as a hobby . Maybe I should call it as having active imagination? The daydreaming in particular could be making MVs in my head, internalizing slow motion when I look at breathtaking landscape, conversations, story prompts that appear out of nowhere in my head, and wondering about topics that randomly pop up like trivia jukebox.
As such, being able to spend leisure time in my own companion is one of my defining trait.
I adore slow-living 🐌
The first time I realized that I don't prefer living in a fast-paced environment was when I got stuck in traffic. For 15 minutes. On a motorcycle. In Yogyakarta.
"Itu bukan macet, Ren, itu namanya ngantre."
"That's not traffic, Ren, that's a queue line," said my friend Miko, wealthy of experience from the busy capital. Another friend, Sigit—also a Jakarta survivor—sighed in disbelief. Now that I've lived in Jakarta, I couldn't agree more.
Please let me vent. The frustration. The temptation to leave the motorcycle just right there and walk away home. The inexplainable urge to mute my surroundings. If I can pay someone to drive it for me, I would. We have on-call drivers, why can't we have a professional job where someone trades place with us during traffic?
Anyway, slow-living becomes embedded in large parts of my daily routines. I'll handle crowds and full-packed schedules when it's necessary. Most of the time, I prefer calm surroundings.
I'm a minimalist (or I try to be)
I dislike waste. It means I'll squint my eyes with judgment if I see you don't clean your plates (I might not say anything, but my burning gaze would tell). Especially if people consciously choose the food themselves, not by any force.
Goodbye, Things is one of my favorite book. "It felt very cleansing, like taking a shower at the end of a long day," reviewed Alice, one Goodreads user. I try to be mindful and deliberate of the things I own in my life.
Sharing some tips from the book:
If you lost it, would you buy it again? If you don't remember owning it, you probably don't need it.
Minimize anything you have in multiples.
Stop thinking that you would need it "someday". That someday might never come. If it does come, consider borrowing or renting.
I try to care deeply about little
Commit to a few people who are important in my life, doing things one by one. I once tried to pursue them all, it ended up ruining everything. Running away. Broken trusts. Broken promises. Broken relationships. Insincere words. Shallow results. Burning bridges. The guilt still haunts me sporadically, and I don't want to live like that anymore.
Other trivias:
I love drinking tea so much, it's an obsession. Having a sweet tooth is a bonus.
I dislike spicy foods. This makes me a minority in a spice-loving country like Indonesia. I only feel the burns on my tongue; it extinguished any other taste of texture and seasonings, the act of eating becomes an unpleasant experience 😔
I want to learn lots of stuffs. Literature, languages, approaches to life, and how the world works like it does.
I believe in mercy and non-violence, but this quote bothers me. Still contemplating.
I deleted big 3 social media accounts in early 2021, it just became too much noise to manage. I still keep Pinterest (for the lols without being social) and LinkedIn (you know, to have somewhat resume-able online presence).
I'm a K-pop stan for Highlight (formerly B2ST), BTOB, and Super Junior (2nd gen is in my heart).
Other musicians that I trust-listen to all songs blindly: Monkey Majik | Homemade Kazoku | Maiko Fujita | Kana Nishino | Unlimited tone | 安儿陈 (An Er Chen) | 西瓜JUN | CNBlue | 2BiC | B.A.P | MLTR
After years of vaguely describing my music preference to friends, Spotify managed to enlighten me that my favorite sub-genre is called Sunshine Pop. I owe you one for this, Spotify.
Before you go...
I'm raising awareness on:
This is not an attack against collectors nor maximalist. I'm still a comic books collector as well because I feel their values in my life; they make me happy, they sparks joy. I want to introduce another lifestyle option that allows people to re-evaluate the things they possess and avoid impulsive consumerism.
We should be familiar with notion that social media is eventually designed to monopolize our attention, hindering ability to do actual meaningful work. Consider checking the privacy-centric and FOSS options. Be aware of what personal information you are willing to compromise to the internet. Myself for example, by using this webservice, already surrendered my data to Google 😶🌫️
The first step is to make sure to clean our plates (don't eat too much that what we can chew). Global food waste is a depressing irony it's almost hilarious. On one side we have hundreds of millions starving people, and on the other side there are insane amount of leftovers dumped in the trash.
I know from personal experience that it takes time, patience, and developing empathy to understand why we are the way we are. People fear the unknown in general. We could have different political views, different lifestyle, different status, different preferences. But it shouldn't take a genius to understand that violence, in any form, is a big NO. Love doesn't cause any harm. Blind hatred does.
War sucks. Apparently we don't learn from history. There are still ongoing wars in many countries as well. It feels weird and dissociating when things are peaceful here while there are people out there, either dying or living in fear, because of some high-profile narcissists sickening greed.
Terrorism and war only leads to death and suffering of innocent people. We don't need another fear, hatred, and violence. The conflicts origin is more complicated than it seems, but right now grief is all around; the whole country has to continue living with traumatic disorder, 40% of death tolls were children—these are the facts that are not hard to grasp. It's a major humanitarian crisis. Still, there are people working tirelessly to assist peacebuilding for Israel and Palestine. We should never give up on peace and upholding justice.
I believe our support, no matter how small in whatever shape it might take, is not wasted.
Thank you for reading this far, stay safe and healthy🍀