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I’m alive, yay.

I finally received my Association of Indonesian Translators (Himpunan Penerjemah Indonesia/HPI) membercard. It’s a great achievent for me, because I got the membership and the card because my skills were approved by professionals (I was invited to join the association–I was really honoured!). The membercard isn’t something like ID card or ATM card–it shows that I’m a professional!

And so last Saturday I attended the second member-meeting in Kafe Dapurku, Kuningan. (The second, because although HPI has been around for a long time, it once went to sleep for some years, so it’s all been reset to zero). The first speaker was Pak Kukuh Sanyoto, a Spanish/Indonesian interpreter/translator, once a weatherman for RCTI. Enviably slim and lively despite his age, he told us about, among others, how he got into the business. He said when he was 19, he had a fight with his diplomat father–at the time was posted in Africa–so he left home for Spain. He only took 500 dollars with him, and so he lived a life of a renegade there for months. He spent some more years there to learn Spanish in college. Wow. Isn’t that a very interesting experience?

The second speaker was Pak Widodo, with 30 years ‘ experience of being the translator for former president Soeharto. (”I’m also a son of a diplomat, but my youth was tame compared to Kukuh’s… and currently I don’t have as much hair as he does.”) There were also other interpreters/translators who shared their experience. All in all, it was very interesting.

Current project:

• I’m still continuing Regus. (Currently up to chapter 005A are available to download.) In fact, it is the only comic I’m working on right now; I planned to join the forthcoming magazine to be published by Megindo, but I don’t think I have time for it right now.
• Talking about Megindo, we have a new book division. A children book that I wrote will be published by the division, with illustrations. Right now I’m preparing to write the sequel, and another book not included in the series. We also have other plans for books to be published. Wish us luck.
• I’m currently translating the 8th edition of Campbell’s Biology, Dan Green and Basher’s Why Matter Matters (a very interesting physics book), and Plantagenet Somerset Fry’s The History of the World.

And there’s a plan for me to appear in m&c!’s Deathnote/Bleach-related events in Citos. Will update more about this.

New layout! Thank you Kat! She even put links to my AirComic… how very thoughtful of you, Kat :)

I’ve finished the translation for e-explore: Animals. Now I’m going to start with e-explore: Science, and also with the 8th edition of Campbell’s Biology (one of the most trusted undergraduate biology textbook in the whole world).

BTW, my translation for Scott McLeod’s Reinventing Comics (KPG) is now on the store. Go grab it!

Oh God, when’s holiday? I really need some break.

Right now I, with a partner, am translating DK/Google e-explore Animals for a local publisher. e-explore series are very interesting science books for children and teens, so I am very happy to be appointed one of the translators for the Indonesian edition. After Animals, we’ll continue with Science and History.

Am thinking of revamping the whole site, this time to suit my AirComic, Regus. I have designed the nine sons of the demon; I will draw them all and display the images here.

And I’ve finished my Mando Diao mission!

Well, it’s not just because people have been telling me that the colour combination of this site is too dark or not too ‘girly’ (LOL), but I would like this site to accommodate my current joint project with Vanessa, Kimidori. For the time being, you can check illustrations and doodles at her DA account or mine. We have plans of turning this project–that actually started as a P3 tribute–into something really big.

And right now I’m busy:

- teaching and grading papers

- editing several articles on forestry

- editing a guide for talented teens

- editing an astrophysics book

- working on NASTEA MIX

So I’m pretty occupied at the moment; but I’ll have a long holiday in the last week of this year and the first week of next year. Wish me luck!

How time flies. I’m still busy with work (teaching, translating) and am preparing an essay on Ikeda Riyoko’s Orpheus no Mado for next month’s Animonster.  My friend is writing the main part of the feature (story, history, characters, etc), so this is going to be a great collaboration.  We both love Orpheus no Mado to bits - even more than we do Rose of Versailles.

Other news: I’ve bought a tablet, and I hope it will boost my drawing/colouring skill soon.  *cross fingers*  Well, holiday is coming - it’s almost Idul Fitri - so I will have spare time to give the tablet a shot and finish some artwork that have been waiting idly at home.  And continue playing Persona 3, of course.  I’m crazy about the game.

Eid Mubarak, Minal Aidin wal Faidzin, Met Idul Fitri!

This week I began teaching at two senior high schools in Jakarta.  I teach Biology, of course.  I’m excited by the thoughts of what my students and I can do to help them with their goals.

Other than teaching, I’m editing a very wonderful book called The Gifted Kids Survival Guide: A Teen Handbook by Judy Galbraith and Jim Delisle.  Oh, if only this book was available in Indonesia when I was a child or a teen…

You can find my reviews on Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha and Kanno Aya’s Otomen in this month’s issue of Animonster (volume 101).  While next month, you are bound to read my report on the discussion held by Japan Foundation and KPG (called Buddha: Religion and Comic) and my review on Shiomi Chika’s Yurara no Tsuki and Rasetsu no Hana.

 Well then folks, your comments and opinions are always welcome :)

Today I received some proof copies from KPG. The first one is of Jared Diamond’s Why Is Sex Fun? (the result of a teamwork and a lot of editing, I bet). The book actually has been published sometime before. And also… of Larry Gonick’s History of the Modern World I (published here in Indonesia under the title ‘Kartun Riwayat Peradaban Modern Jilid I’, not ‘Kartun Riwayat Peradaban Jilid IV’ like I mentioned before).

I really enjoyed working on Gonick’s book, and although my editor naturally edited my translation here and there to make it even more funny, lively, and correct, I’m glad that some of the jokes I translated were accepted. Well, you can’t find a perfect translation for ‘It’s heretic clobbering time!’, bless The Thing, but there are jokes that can be adapted, such as:

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Two books that I translated are now on sale, both on Erlangga. One is under the Perti line while the other is under EFK.

The first one is Schaum’s Outlines: Biology, 2nd edition, by George H. Fried and George J. Hademenos. It is a book aimed to help students who take classes such as Biology 101 learning the concepts of biology, but it can also be used as a text book of the field.

The other book is the second part of The Giant Encyclopedia of Transition Activities. The original book is only in one volume, but due to its thickness, EFK has decided to split the book into two parts. The first part, Aktivitas Pintar Pengisi Waktu, has been published earlier; the second part is titled Permainan Kreatif Pengisi Waktu Luang in Indonesia. Both are books for parents and teachers of children 3-6 years old. Don’t think that it’s easy translating this kind of books. It’s frustrating to translate songs so that they can still be sung in the same tone without losing its intended meaning. Oh yes, it’s frigging hard, we finally got a consultant on the songs.

What other news? Hmmm… I’m working on some comics, soon to be appear here. One is a personal project, while the other is a project with my friend Vanessa. And next month, I’m scheduled to be one of the speakers in a discussion about Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha. I’ll keep you updated about this.

So here’s a new look of my personal site.  I’m still trying to adapt with the whole thing.  *laughs*  With many thanks to Kat, who, despite her personal injuries, helps me with this site, and also thanks to Ephi, who took care of the previous version.

OK, what else….  Hmmm lemme look around and think.

And oh, forget about the novel Mata Kelabu for a while.  The publisher sux.  I don’t think it will be published soon or now.  I think they’ve dumped it.  I even doubt that the publisher still exists, because they never contact me anymore.  Oh well.  But I’m still writing for Animonster, and there’s a review on Shiawase Kissa 3chome that I wrote in this month’s edition.  Go read it :)