Sunday, 2 June 2013

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013

It's been a long time since I posted something on this blog. I'm glad to be back on Blogger again :D

I was too busy studying and working in my college. I only had a little spare time. I used most of them for playing my piano. Let me tell you what I studied during my first semester. Conventionally, I took 11 credits, which can be divided into 5 subjects. Those subjects are: Mechatronics, Nonlinear Control Systems, Optimal Control, Advanced Robotics, and Specific Topic on Control Systems. In Mechatronics, we (I and my classmates) studied sensors, transducers, actuators, and sort of things related to mechanics and electronics engineering. In Nonlinear Control, we studied the describing function, phase plane, sliding mode control, and Lyapunov stability. We studied the optimal design of regulator and estimator which respectively called LQR and LQE (or Kalman Filter) in Optimal Control. We only studied a few new technique for robot application in Advanced Robotics. I don't remember what I studied because it was too difficult to me to understand. In the last subject, the lecturer gave us an introduction about model predictive control and anti windup schemes.
 
The previous week was the last week I had tasks to submit. At last, this semester is over. I have some time to breathe. I just learned some new songs, but still not perfect when I play those. I'll post the video immediately after I've mastered all of it one by one. The songs are: Final Fantasy Battle Medley which mostly arranged by Michael Gluck, The Dancer by Levi Gunardi, Intermezzo from the Concert Etude by Nikolai Kapustin, and Secret from the movie "Secret" by Jay Chou.

I intended to learn something about control systems and do some projects during this vacation since I couldn't have any class in this short semester because I had no interest to take one or both the two subjects offered. I want to review and re-study what I've learned and forgotten. For the project, I get an offer to make a new module for control system laboratory due to a new different motor that will be used. I also need to make a precisely regulated power supply, because somehow I need it on occasion.
I'd like to study english for TOEFL as well.

You may wonder why, but do you see? I don't do vacation. Even if sometimes I get bored studying all the time, I feel that I must not get bored before I've mastered what I studied. In addition, I'm still single. And, you know, I prefer to staying in my room or in laboratory rather that going outside alone.

By the way, the date format will be the title when I write my diary in this blog. Thus, this is my first diary I write on my blog. For me, it's a little awkward when a man writes a diary because in my head, I assume that most of diaries are written by women rather than by men. Maybe just because I don't know the real statistics or facts but, whatever. I'll keep writing my diary.

Friday, 4 January 2013

...

I don't know. I'm confused, after everything happened between us...

I think I saw the light again. I thought we can be together again. I was glad when you showed up and asked for my cares. I was happy about the fact that you were okay, even if I also knew the sad part, the one that made me jealous.

I don't want to distract you. I want you to focus to be what you wanna be. I want you to reach your success.
I want you to get the best, in every way...  

however, it turns out that my cares are just inhibiting you. Oh, sorry I didn't see that. Sorry...

but have you ever thought and considered my feelings?

all I want is you. To be with you.
as simple as that...

please, hold my hand and I'll do everything to keep it so.
I don't care with everything around us.
I want to live, as long as I can hold your hand.
I want to die, if you let me go and never come back.

Love is painful. My love story has turned into a tragedy.
Oh,  please! I don't want to fall in love anymore.
I wish I were born with no heart, so I can never feel the pain of love.

I'll go away from you...
I won't disturb you with my cares anymore...
because I want you to happy, to get everything you want...

I offered you my life, my soul, and my afterlife's life...
but unfortunately, you didn't accept my offer, you chose us to live separately...
okay then. Well, it seems that I can't fight for our love by myself...

Once I said, if you let me go for once more time, then you should kill me...
yes, I understand. You're killing me now...

Wednesday, 2 January 2013

Somewhere

I wish we were still together, and trust each other. I hug you and wipe your tears coming from your beautiful eyes. I'll say it's okay, everything will be fine. Just trust me that I love you, and I promise we'll be happy forever. Then, I whisper...

there's a place for us
  somewhere
    a place for us
      peace and quiet and open air
        wait for us
          somewhere

 there's a time for us
   someday
     a time for us
       time together with time to spare
         time to look
           time to care

someday
  somewhere

we'll find a new way of living
  we'll find a way of forgiving
    somewhere

there's a place for us
  a time and place for us
    hold my hand, and we're halfway there
      hold my hand and I'll take you there

somehow
  someday
    somewhere

("Somewhere", taken form act 2 of West Side Story, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

Tuesday, 1 January 2013

Remembrance

Today is the first day of the first month of 2013. I'm exhausted after about 10 hours journey form Yogyakarta to Bandung by night train. The train departed on time, but arrived late. I slept enough on the train but not well, since a family brought a baby, and the baby cried very often. It was really bothering me, and someone called me around midnight but I did not answer it, because I was sleeping. I came at my room in a boarding house in the morning, about 6.30. The room was really messy. It took me about 4 hours to clean it up.

The day before today, I still in my hometown. I didn't know how it came into my head, when suddenly I started to search piano songs which I've heard for the first time. The piano songs played by Richard Clayderman. The story begins when my mom was in a bookstore, when she was in the store, looking for books, she heard a beautiful piano ballad song. Being curious, she came to the operator and asked them about the song. She was being informed that the song title was 'A Comme Amour', played by Richard Clayderman. Later, she bought a cassette contained those song.

After she came home, my mother played those on tape player. Me, being a fifth or sixth grade of an elementary school student, found the songs were beautiful. Before I knew the song, I didn't know anyting about piano, I didn't care about music. But, after I heard that, I became very interested in piano. I started to collect money, and used it to buy more cassettes. My father had a keyboard, and I started to play what I heard on the keyboard. I didn't know any music theory, except the one from my grandma. My grandma once taught me some child's songs on her electric organ when she was still alive, and I was just a first grader in elementary school.

Entering primary school, I started to learn piano on my father keyboard. I enjoyed Richard Clayderman's songs so much. Some of them were 'Ballade pour Adeline', 'A Comme Amour', 'Les Derniers Jours D'anastasia Kemsky', 'Love Story', 'Maria-Tonight-America (from the opera West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein)', 'Time to Say Goodbye', 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow', and many more. At second grade, I started to get myself a piano lesson, from a local institution. I asked my parents to get me those piano lesson since they didn't let me to go to Bali Island on school holiday. I ever mastered several songs, like 'Ballade pour Adeline', 'A Comme Amour', and 'America'. For the 'America' song, I arranged it for piano solo by myself, because I didn't have the piano score, and I performed my 'America' in a musical class practice test when I was a first grader in high school.

Yesterday, I got some Richard Clayderman's songs from youtube. I also search the cassettes which I bought a long time ago, and I found some of them still functioning, even covered by dust. Listening to the songs evokes memories of the past. This event makes me to think. Had not my mother heard the song in the bookstore, maybe I've never studied piano, and maybe I've never been a piano player. Thanks mom, because you have introduced me beautiful piano songs in my early life.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

Pathétique

What would you thinking when you heard this word: pathétique? I wonder if some of you may notice the letter 'é'. Yes, I talked about a composition, and maybe a little about personality. Sonata Pathétique is a composition for piano solo composed by Ludwig van  Beethoven in 1798. Formally, it is known as Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13. He published it in 1799 and dedicated this composition to his friend, Karl von Lichnowsky. Actually, this sonata is consist of three movements. In this article, I prefer to talk about the second movement, because I like the second much more than the first and the third.

I heard this sonata for the first time 8 years ago. I remember, that I went to local book store to buy a classical piano songs in a cassette (cassette was a kind of data storage apparatus, what I bought was a magnetic tape sound recording). I played the cassette, and I heard a very beautiful melody. I was curious. Then I started to ask myself. What was the title? Who composed this? To get some answers, I looked the information in the cassette's cover, and I discovered that the title was Sonata No. 8 in C minor 'Pathétique', Op.13 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Actually, what I heard was the second movement of the sonata.  

A few days later, I asked my piano teacher (I started my piano lesson at 14, and I had it for 12 months only) whether or not she had the score. Luckily, she had the score. When I saw the score for the first time, it seemed difficult to play. But I had my will. Whatever happened, I shall play this. I wanted to utter my feeling, and I felt that the second movement of the composition could express my feelings. I spent my time practicing this sonata for about 2 months, and I successfully performed it in my first concert in an annual concert held by the institution I used to take my piano lesson. 

The sonata has became my favorite, even until now. I like to play it in a particular time when I feel sad, lonely, or pathetic. Here's my favorite melody, which also the main theme of the second movement. You can easily see it in the first eight bars as shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1. The first eight bars of the second movement.
  
By the way, I like the tempo mark, adagio cantabile. Well, adagio means slowly, and cantabile means in a singing style. The theme has been considered as one of the famous cantabile melody. 

I play the sonata on occasion, when I feel so pathetic. It seems that the second movement of this sonata can fully expressed my pathetic feelings. An online dictionary defines pathetic as: causing or evoking pity, sympathetic sadness, and sorrow; miserably or contemptibly inadequate. Yes, I confess that sometimes I feel sad and miserable. 

In the end, I'll conclude that this sonata is my favorite, because it can express my pathetic feelings. You can watch me playing the Adagio cantabile movement here (I played this about 2 years ago, when my acoustic piano's pedal still worked, but now it doesn't work anymore).  Any critic and comment would be highly appreciated. Sorry for my bad word, if it does exist. You can see my refferences here and here.

Saturday, 29 December 2012

Intro

Hello everyone!

This is my personal blog. My name is Sebastian Adi Nugroho. I was born in 1990 in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia. Currently, I live in Bandung. I work for my professor at Bandung Institute of Technology and pursue my master degree in the same university. My major is electrical engineering, focusing on control systems. My hobby is listening to music and playing the piano. I also like to compose music, even though I haven't created any formal composition yet. If I created one, I'll let you know.  

This time, the time when I started to write this blog, is a difficult time to me. I feel that this is the lowest point of my life's chart. I just break up with my girlfriend whom I loved for 6 years. That's really stressed me out. I feel that I become crazier, more than usual. My personality becomes short tempered and moody. 

By this blog, I intend to create a new phase of my life. I want to write anything in this blog. This  blog would be a black box for my life. An Excerption of Life contains some notes, quotes, and citations from anything happened in my life.

Finally, please enjoy my blog. Correct me if I made some mistakes and forgive me for my bad english. You can contact me on facebook here or twitter on @antimon40.