The Adventure of Summer Break

Never had I ever thought that summer break would finally arrive. School felt like it was going on forever. And now, every day is like Saturday. It’s every student’s dream to wake up earl, expecting to go to school and realizing that there is no school today then going straight back to bed with a calm soul. But that’s not how I intend my summer break would go. I’ll party like I was born to do it. I’ll throw water balloons at people’ house, prank call random numbers, and go out at late night doing things people would normally consider be the actions of dream catcher selling hippies from the 90s. And I’m very sure that everything would go my way and nothing could possibly go wrong.

Before many of my mischiefs would commence, I would need a place to prepare it all. I decided I would go to my uncle’s house since he had like an abandon bunker sitting around in his backyard. I might as well make that my hideout in case I need a place to chill on my own. His house is just a few minutes away from my house so it was kind of destined to be my little lair.

I went down to check the bunker and it sort like an abandon research center. Everything there looked like it doesn’t belong to this era. I started cleaning my base and found a stand able platform. It was very fascinating machine in which I started knocking it several times to see if it’s still working and it ended up switching on. The machine looked like it was made for two people but I don’t think that it needs two individuals in order for it to function.

Considering that the panel has a timeline function on it. I was convinced it was some sort of time machine. I jumped on the platform with excitement and curiosity. As I aimlessly mashed the panel, the platform started to lit up and I could feel every atom of my body start to separate from each other.

My eyes went black and I could feel nothing. I was able to see once more and saw the bunker was in its prime. Even though at first it was like something out of a comic book, I panicked and ran out outside to see if I really did travel in time. I sprinted to my house and my family wasn’t even there nor was my friends even alive. My life started to crumble as I realize that I lost everything precious to me. Once again, I blacked out considering I haven’t eaten all day. As my vision start to clear up, I woke up in room. Turns out, it was all just a dream. Seems like I’m going to take this summer break easy.

Trust, Which person ?

These days, correct decisions can be more valuable than any kind of jewelry. Every decision or any way of thinking would determine one's future tremendously. One wrong decision could deal a fatal damage not only to you, but possibly others that are around you. People tend to do this, especially the young generations. Since they are not the best at making decisions, they rely on others to help them make or decide decisions for them. But sometimes, those "others" referred to as "experts", don’t live up to what you think they are.

You see, in order to relate or depend on an expert, they should be trustworthy and gain our trust through their experience. They would need to be honest and good hearted for us to put, basically our entire life, to them. However, in a world full of politicians swaying and fooling everybody to believe what they want you to believe makes it quite hard to put trust in a person. The languages they use make it hard for people to truly understand what they are saying. Experts expect people to listen to them, when in reality, people have no idea what any of the experts are saying. That's why most people rely on others who are similar to or like them.

In this era, almost anything you could think of doing can be done online. If you can’t find friends or people who are like you in real life, then why not just try to find them online? The internet is the home for people who had enough of experts. They rely more and more on the online community rather than actual and qualified experts to help them make decisions. In a way, this is good, but because you’re listening to people like you, you are unlikely to agree on other people’s opinion or point of view.

“Who is the best to listen to?”, both actually. It is best to listen to people who understand you while also listening to experts who have experience.

In conclusion, good decisions are made by a person who can see every point of view and understands it.

Smartphone Photography: Will it take over the photography scene?

“Photography has always depended on technology and every change in technology has affected the history of photography, but the smartphone, in its nature, is a device that is not for photography. It’s a device that is for communication”. This quote was once stated by Henry Jacobson, a well-known photographer and film-maker. There no need to say that throughout the years of evolution of technology, it has taken photography to a whole new level. Because of the development of technology, it has given people opportunities to try photography out by using their smartphone. And yet, in Henry Jacobson’s statement, the smartphone is not something for photography and that is only for communication.

I entirely disagree in his take of smartphone not suitable for photography. Without smartphone being in the photography scene, it wouldn’t as popular as it is today. In this digital age, almost every teenager has a smartphone, and because of how they are all “in to the future”, they can access it very easily. With a camera, it would make teenagers have a hard time just to share the pictures they took. They would need to transfer the pictures to another system that looks like it came from the 90s. Not to mention that you can’t fully control some of the options in a camera. Smartphone features might also have an equal or even higher value than the extra image quality they might gain from using a camera.

On the other hand, his statement is not entirely false. When, for example, you would like to take a shot of nature, the smartphone just doesn’t give you room for any optimizations you want to make in taking the picture you want to take because of how short the focus length is, compared to a camera. Not to mention you would have to get close in order to take the picture. “But smartphones have a capability of zooming in so the distance between you and what you want to take a picture of doesn’t matter”, you would probably say something along those lines when you read what I said. When zooming in, it will crop the image of the subject and then enlarges it to fill the frame. This will heavily degrades the quality of the picture the further you zoom in. And if you were to work as a photographer in a wedding for example, people will expect you to show up with professional photographic equipment and not a phone. Otherwise, people will not take you seriously.

In conclusion, there is no real winner whether which technology is better than the other. One might be superior because of it’s convenience and it’s ability to share something you have just took very easily, while the other might have a better image quality regardless of the subject and where it is located, as well as looking more professional and how likely it is for people to take you seriously when you’re up for the job. The smartphone was never invented for the sole purpose of photography, but it opened doors of opportunities to how far can photography be taken to. In the end, it’s up to you, whether you want to use a smartphone or not for your photography.

Dangerous or risky activities have been around to excite and lighten up people from normal and boring activities for quite a while. Doing dangerous or risky activities all seem fun, exciting, and a great experience to have, but many people ignore the outcomes that might happen from doing such things. I think it’s fun to watch people try pulling the stunts out, but I also think that it’s not worth it if it may cost someone’s life

First of all, let’s look at some of the dangerous activities. They include like sky diving, air gliding, dirt biking, and many more. Many people watch and do these kinds of activities usually for excitement or perhaps to release stress. Stress relieving comes in all kinds of shapes. You never really know the right way to release stress because people are different. This all seem good and all, until something can go absolutely wrong.

Second, anything can go wrong. Because of the excitement from doing and watching these activities, people tend to ignore what could go wrong. Let’s look at dirt biking. Wow, people in tight suites, riding around and doing stunts, like flipping, and more flipping. That’s so cool, until… they break their bone from doing something to try to excite the audience and end up not being walk or ride again. And when they “dangerous” sports, of course that doesn’t only mean major injuries, it could also lead to death. A very bad way to die actually, in my opinion

Lastly, pleasure and excitement. Being able to do something very risky and succeed in doing it feels very good. There’s not much you could say about these people who do these kinds of stuff just for feeling pleasure and accomplishment. People who do these activities probably do it because they want to feel cool and to be able to do something their friends and other people can’t do. Like I said before, doing dangerous sports is a sort of entertainment for certain people. Some people just see more entertainment in seeing people doing risky stuff rather than seeing people hit, kick, or throw balls(volleyball, soccer, basketball).

In conclusion, my personal thoughts about dangerous activities are good and bad. It gives you excitement and pleasure, that you overlook the possibility that someone could get injured or literally die. You should probably do these activities with your own risk and if you’re sure you can do it. Unless you want to be in a hospital for five days just because you want to impress your friends about how they made fun of you not being cool.

Interview with Jericho Tampubolon

Interviewee: Jericho Tampubolon

Interviewer: Bagas Abednego Silaban

Bagas: Good morning, Jericho Tampubolon, I am Bagas

Jericho: Good morning Bagas

Bagas: How are you doing today?

Jericho: I’m doing fine. Thank you for asking

Bagas: I’m very happy that you have agreed to do this interview with me

Jericho: The pleasure is all mine

Bagas: Well then, let’s start the interview.

Jericho: Before we start the interview, let me introduce myself. My name is Jericho Tampubolon. I’m 18 years old and I graduated from Sekolah Mutiara Harapan High school. I’ve been accepted in Sumatra's Institute of Technology (aka ITERA, in Lampung)

Bagas: Do you have any accomplishments in your journey finishing high school?

Jericho: I do not. I did participate in an Olympic called the Sumatran English Olympic back in Junior High.

Bagas: I see. To the next question, do you have any passion for anything?

Jericho: I have a thing for singing and cooking, but I just consider them as my hobby

Bagas: How do like to spend your free time or what do you do most of the time when you’re bored?

Jericho: Other than singing and cooking, I play games, read manga, and watch some shows online

Bagas: Next one, do you have any regrets going through high school?

Jericho: Not really. I had the resolve to not regret anything going through high school and live my life to the fullest.

Bagas: Next one, do you have any memories that you’ve cherished? If so, what are they?

Jericho: The memory I’ve cherished is probably going to east java back in March 2017. I had one of the best times going there and I will never forget the things I did and the fun I had going there

Bagas: What was the hardest obstacle you’ve ever faced in life?

Jericho: Probably enrolling for college. I was really happy when I got accepted and I would like to thank my friends and family for giving me the courage to give it my all

Bagas: Alright, last question; what do you see yourself doing in the next 8-10 years?

Jericho: I would see myself in the 8 years or so being able to find a job that is laid back and doesn’t put a lot of pressure.

Bagas: Alright. That’s all for this interview. Once again, thank you for being able to spare some time and agreed to do this interview.

Jericho: Thank you for inviting me and I had lot of fun answering the questions you’ve prepared for me

AN OUTDOOR ADVENTURE

An Article written by Bagas

Being in a remote area can be something very interesting, whether it would be going for sight-seeing or to discover something you can never see every day, it is truly amazing. It would be a waste not to go outside and explore some of the greatest lands that can you can ever imagine. It wouldn’t hurt to check them out, it does have some positive sides to it. For instance, you could get some time off from using your device and re-connect yourself to nature.

This especially important for everyone because it would train you to not rely on your devices all the time. So when a unexpected event would happen related to not using devices, you would stay calm because you know that everything will be alright. The other is that you can enjoy the pure, untouched by human society, clean of nature. Where almost everything is clean and fresh, and by “almost” I mean that everything that in nature except the ones that are already touched by companies and building construction sites are clean and very fresh. Not only that, you can also just calm yourself and get everything out of your chest and let the breezing bird sounds and the clam river flowing take you to a paradise.

So far, from what I said, they are like dreams you can almost never get, that are only dreamed by people who really have their mind synced with nature, but there some things that truly make the nature being taken down by big companies. Not for building more big companies or big and fancy houses, but how dangerous it is. Yes, there are some negative sides for being in a remote area. The first is that dangerous animals that lurk around in places you never know possible, waiting for you to get near them , then “AAAAHHHH”, blood everywhere, just kidding. Maybe a bit over the top, but the first is true.

There are some animals that are dangerous that could possibly kill you, so be careful. The second is that you have to have some surviving skills, in case you ran out of food or something like that. And since you don’t have your phone, you can’t call for help if you are lost or in need of food. In the end, it is up to you whether you want to go to remote areas or not. Everyone has their one way of thinking about something. And no matter how much you try to make someone think the same way as you do, they will probably stop you before you can go any further.