In Thoughts

Plu.vi.o.phile



It's almost the second week of 2014. How you all have been doing? I hope you all are doing great!

Woke up this morning by a huge rain, I almost didn't want to move from my comfy thick blanket and my effin' hard bed which suddenly became so comfortable in years. Ah, the irony. 

To tell you the truth, this is just a random post about one of the things I like the most about this world, Rain. Don't you just love it? *minus the thunder* *minus the flood* The sound of dripping water falling from your roof, gliding down your window, and that greenish hue after, and the air that becomes cold after. I love nothing more than snuggling in on a rainy day. I find it very peaceful and restorative. Ah, the dream. 


pluviophile

(n) a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days.

I've noticed a new word floating around the internet that describes a lover of rain as a Pluviophile. The definition is as follows: a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days.

Now I can honestly say this is me 100%. I grew up in a rather hot climate where we encountered many droughts but every time it rained I always found peace. The smell of it can always bring back good memories of the little amount of times we did get rain in my childhood and the sound can always keep me mellow.

I've met people who can't stand the rain and say that the dark clouds and thunders make them depressed (how is that even possible? O.O) but it has the total opposite affect on me. I, for one, am not complaining. I enjoy seeing a grey sky and watching the clouds roll in. 

If my memory serves me right, I only played once in the rain. One time? Because my mum isn't the kind-of-person who likes to see her kids getting all soaked and wet, yet she's too reluctant to clean the dirt from wet clothes lol. It was on Junior High School where I visited my friend's house. The rain fell, and voila. One of my friends suddenly walked through the rain, and asked us to come with him. Yet, we followed him. And it was soothing. The moment I write this, I am transported back to that memory. My very first moment playing in the rain. But I don't look forward for it anymore, remembering I got my gadgets with me haha.  

But no one denies the love and hate relationship with rain. For me, I mostly enjoy it. Quick survey, do you love or hate it when it's raining? 


Do you love it when it's raining?


And listen to this while reading all of my posts. special for you. The legendary 'RainyMood'
  

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In Thoughts

Growing Old



A couple of days ago I met an old gentleman. He was waiting for the red lights to stop, so he could cross the street away. And as a gentle lad #halah, I helped him to cross the street, seeing how crowded the street was with motorcycle. So I helped him. He then thanked me, and walked away. Seeing him from his back, really moved me. A 70++ year old grandpa, walked in agonizing pain by the help of a wooden stick, by himself on a busy street to get his medicine in the nearest apothecary. The question that popped on my mind was, "where the hell was his family?" 


That story is related to my biggest fear of all, which is growing old. Or what people these days would like to call as Gerascophobia *what the heck*. Based on Wikipedia's definition, it is defined as an abnormal or persistent fear of growing old or ageing.  It is based on anxieties of being left alone, without resources and incapable of caring for oneself, Sufferers may be young and healthy.

Funny isn't it? takut tua.. I also thought that it's super weird. Sementara jutaan orang diluar sana takut akan ajal yang bisa kapan aja menjemput, I, on the other hand, am afraid of getting old, like I'm sure I'm going to get old (hope is always there though).

But the real question is, why am I so afraid of getting old? Isn't getting old suppose to be fun? You sit on your wooden chair, seeing how your kids reach their success, play with your grand kids, spend some retirement money with your lovely spouse, and spend every minute with your lovely family.

But one of these days, society has taught us not to see wisdom and experience but weakness and ugliness. So when the inevitable truth of ageing confronts us in the mirror – is this sagging? Is that drooping? – we don’t react well. Consequently the ultimate compliment has become, “Oh, you don’t look your age!” And there is, of course, the inescapable fact that the elderly remind us of our own mortality as well as that of our nearest and dearest. I am frightened of becoming weak and needy, losing my minds and mobilityMore on my fears on growing old :
  1. Being undesirable. Most see fine lines and wrinkles, frown lines, laugh lines, sagging skin, etc with a sense of negativity. These are linked with ‘ugly
  2. Being lesser than who they should be. All of us have goals and dreams. When you were younger, you would have consciously or unconsciously envisioned yourself being somewhere at a certain age. It may be to earn a lot of money, achieve a certain amount of success and have a family. Reaching a certain age reminds you of your visions, and simultaneously triggers the realization that they are not where they want to be. This realization can be quite painful for some.
  3. Fear of Loss. Growing older comes with loss – seeing people pass away, losing what they have now, losing their youth, losing their health (see reason # 2).
  4. Being Alone. People see old people as a burden and they try to avoid them. For example, there is a lot of grandmothers in their 80s and presumably has more than one children. When it comes to taking care of her, her kid tries to shift responsibility from one another, giving reasons like they are too busy. Old age tends to bring solitude.
  5. Inability to do everyday's task. Most elder people can't do their daily activities by themselves. Waking up, walking to the bathroom, chewing the food. They need help from others to do their chores because of their physical limitations.
Have you ever thought of one of the points mentioned above? Harusnya. As for me, not a day that I would not think about it. Because it really got me, inside my head. Some of my friends said, 


"kenapa dipikirin sih? jalanin aja haha. namanya juga proses hidup" 

Am I being irrational? Maybe. But the point why I'm sharing this is because, life is too short, that's why I try to embrace every moment and opportunity yang ada, related to the second point mentioned above. Because you never know, when your own body is going to limit you to certain job that you need to do. Honest to God, naik tangga sampai lantai 4 kost aja udah bikin gw capek ga kepalang.

How am I dealing with this issue? I read an article that led me to this quote
"Don’t wake up one day only to regret having missed out on so many things in life. Don’t miss out on all the marvelous things that are out there in your life now, because you are too busy fearing something which is going to happen anyway. Don’t fearing growing older now, only to look back later in life and regret not having lived life the way you wanted."
I'm still scared until this very moment yes, and I believe that it's normal. I'm still dealing with it though, hope I can get closure asap. By the end, here are some quotes that eased my mind about growing old (and help me to think, rationally):


“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” – Mark Twain

“If wrinkles must be written upon our brow, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old.” – James A. Garfield


Lastly, what's ur biggest fear in life? Leave it on the comments below



Till Next Post


Marcel

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In OOTD

UNIQLO Holiday Sale Review




Heya peeps! How's your first week of 2014? Anyhoo, I just go back from UNIQLO Holiday Sale at Mal Taman Anggrek a couple of days ago. And honest to God, if I had all the money in the world, I would like to empty all men's section haha. Not everything was on sale though. For men's top, the price started from 130.000, while for men's jeans, started from 199.000. Men's outer was also on sale, starting from 149.000. As for shorts, started from 99.000.

I ended up my shopping spree with a faux leather jacket, a black tee, and an ill fitting jeans from UNIQLO. And here's how it looks like on my body. Ah, if you buy any pants from UNIQLO more than 300.000, you can cut your jeans for free :D

By the time I write this post, I'm currently working on my thesis at the moment :/ 
Hope you guys have a lovely weekend to spend! Adios!









UNIQLO Faux Leather Jacket | Black Tee | Jeans 
Pedro Oxford Shoes

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In Competition

Unilever Leadership Internship Program



HA-HA-HAPPY NEW YEAR INTERNET PEOPLE (and trolls) 

*blows trumpet, eats firecrackers*


What-a-2013 we have just passed together! Have you made your #resolutions for 2014?

I haven't made one because of this lol

Anyways, starting from January 2nd, I will be officially working in Unilever Indonesia as Human Resource Intern in Leadership and Development Department -gimme hi five?- in Unilever Leadership Internship Program or as widely known as ULIP

luscious poster, highlighting intern who eats ice cream together :")

As promised from last posts, I would like to share my experience about ULIP, mostly about its phases. For those of you people who haven't known Unilever before, it is a Multinational Consumer Goods Company. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal health care (eg: Pepsodent, Citra, Ponds, Blue Band, etc).

ULIP itself is an internship experience that allows you to work in a cross function team on specific projects. You will be placed in a team where you can learn from your peers, your line managers, and senior leaders that will help you develop your skills and competencies. This Internship is opened for 3rd year student and provides them with 5 different functions to work in, ranging from Marketing, Supply Chain, Customer DevelopmentFinance and Human Resource. 
   
I found about this program from my club's Facebook Group, a year ago. But then, because of one reason led to another, I skipped the opportunity. But thankfully, a friend of mine who got in, told me about this batch's ULIP recruitment. So, without second thought, I applied for the program right away for 2 functions, Human Resource as my first preference and Marketing as my second preference.
"But you're from Computer Science, how come?"
"You got in as HR but you're an IT student right?"
"Didn't they choose the interns based on their major?"
Hold-That-Confused-Thoughts. 
We'll get there in a bit

So what were the processes that I had to go through? 


#1. THE APPLICATION FORM

In the beginning (around June-ish?), I was asked to fill some forms in Google Docs. More like a CV kinda-thing, but it's more complex. I filled the form for about 2 hours (you probably can do it faster though). Reason was, because there were essays that I needed to complete in the end of the application form. And it's not a regular question like "tell us about yourself". Some of the examples were like 
"What are your proudest achievements?" 
"What is your major disappointment in life?"
"What is your most significant leadership experience?"
Not only that, I was asked the reason why I chose my function preference and my expectation upon it. It was hard. Why? First, it's in Google Docs format, which you can't save and work for it later, or procrastinate it. You need to complete it until the very last page, right at that very moment. Second, the essay seems to be simple, but you really need to explain your answer in a brief and short paragraph, and make sure that the recruiters are able to understand your points. Remember, be honest about yourself, don't make up things that are not even real / existed. Be confident of who you are in filling those forms okay? 

Finally, after 4 months, I got an email that I was invited to Focus Group Discussion and Interview Session. Out of 600 applicants-ish, I got into top 12 with another 11 applicants. I was a bit confused at that moment though, because last year, a friend of mine, Janet Valentina had to to Numerical and Logical Reasoning test, known as Aptitude Test (go check my #RECAP post for more details about the test) before this phase. So, I automatically arrived in the second phase which was..

#2. THE FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION

We were gathered at Graha Unilever on December 4th, 2013. There were 12 people from different Universities, mostly from UI, Atma Jaya, Binus, and Petra. We were divided into 2 different groups consisted of 6 people. For 1 hour, we were asked to analyze Business Case that was handed to us. The case highlighted different problems faced by 5 different functions mentioned above, and we needed to solve which function that was relevant to the whole case. Another 45 minutes, we discussed the best solution to overcome the problem stated in the case. 

Don't you ever dream to be dominant in this phase. Why? 

Let me give you a little secret about FGD. The main purpose of FGD is to analyze different approaches used by people in stating his/her arguments in a group. It's not a shut-up-i'm-way-smarter-than-you show. Believe me, you don't wanna cause a scene. When you're being too dominant/pushy/hard-headed in letting your arguments to be accepted in a group, the supervisor will see you as someone who doesn't want to cooperate and accept other people's ideas. The real key is "knowing when to open your mouth". Don't keep your opinion to yourself because your contribution in the problem's solvency also play huge role in determining whether you're in the next phase or not. Also important, make sure that your dialogue is still on the right track, when it shifts, put it back on track. Just be calm and assertive, and you'll be just fine

Long story short, I got into the next phase. The Interview *dun dun dun* with 2 other people (UI and Petra Christian University)

#3. THE INTERVIEW

The moment that I've been waiting for. The Interview. I was interviewed by 3 different Human Resource staffs who were very intimidating. Janet said that the interview she had was fun. But in my interview, it went 180' than what Janet had experienced. My interview went really tense to be honest, because the interviewers really dug out the reason why I wanted to have an internship in Unilever Indonesia. After my short introduction, I was asked about the reason I chose HR instead of Marketing as my first preference, and what criteria is needed to select the best employee in a company as a HR.  I was also given a case to put priority level based on 3 different projects in HR. No question about my achievements nor my organizational experience, nothing. 

The key is to this kind of interview is to be calm yet firm. Be true to yourself. They will know when you're lying with your made up answers. Just answer every question with your perspective. It's also important to have a research about the company you're applying to (like its values, its vision and mission, and its programs) so when they ask about it, you will be prepared for it *which I didn't do* *sad*


I went home thinking that I blew everything up. But then, a week later, I got an email confirming that I was accepted as one of 3 HR interns in Unilever Indonesia. YAY. 



Am I done? Not really. The last phase

#4. THE MEDICAL CHECK-UP

It was the last phase that I needed to go through before being accepted officially by Unilever Indonesia. I needed to have 8 hours of fasting before the medical checkup. In the medical checkup, I was having my blood, urine, heart, eye, ear, mouth test-pretty much every single part of my body was being-tested (wrong phrase...) So make sure that you don't have any addictive substance in your body, because they will know. You can't be color blind as well, they tested me for it. So, make sure that you are in your best stamina before having the medical checkup.

Weeks went by, I thought that I failed the medical checkup. But on 23rd of December, I got an email. This email




I'll begin my journey starting from tomorrow. Wish me luck peeps! Pray for me so I won't screw anything on my first day of work though lol. Nevertheless, I hope that my post will help you in applying for ULIP application that will be opened next April. Good luck!



Till Next Post


Marcel

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