A pure concidence

I happened to come across the term "blogging" last year. One of my students introduced me to this term. But, I never thought about its potentials. The reason is very simple: I no longer use the Internet as much as when I attended my masters degree program in 2001 to 2003. When I finished my study at Boston University, Massachussets, and I was back again to teach in my almamater, i.e. Sanata Dharma University, I found that the Internet connection was very slow. I didn't have enough patience to access the Internet. Having a personal Internet connection at home is also not a good choice. The pay is too much for me. That's the typical conditions among developing countries.

I woke up 4.45 this morning. I read my students' papers for about one hour and as usual, I spent a few minutes to read KOMPAS daily newspaper. I was surprised to see a very familiar figure, with a broad smile in her face, on the third page. Ibu Maria ... the one that I knew when I was still in Boston. In 2002, she was having a post-doctoral program. In 2003, my wife and I spent the night in her house in Radio Dalam area (Jakarta) before we headed to Jogja. The news told me that Ibu Maria was finally granted full professorship in Universitas Indonesia. I could imagine how tough and difficult it is for her (of minority group) to be honored with such a prestigious title. That motivated me to send her e-mail.

The idea of blogging didn't come from my e-mail to her though. After I finished writing the e-mail, I was distracted by e-mail from a colleague, Jaha Nababan. He wrote an interesting piece of writing that was published in the Jakarta Post -- and national English Newspaper. Even, I was more interested to see that he is a blogger. I was so surprised that he started blogging in 2004. I felt like I was left behind so much with IT development. I know very little about the Internet after some time not using it on a regular basis. Writing for bigger audience is of course fascinating. Writing has been my concern for a long time. And I found this blogging exciting. I finally found a room to practice writing and sending ideas to other people.

Well, this is the first posting. I hope I develop myself through this blogging.