Glad to find this very old sketch. This is from 11 years ago.
Dy, you remember this, don't you?

My D medley

On my defense party, when I was asked to give a speech I sang instead.

The lyrics were done one day before my defense. So, instead of preparing myself for the defense, I spent all of that night and morning before the defense practicing the song...hehe..

This is the beginning of the medley... for complete lyrics, click this.

#1: Melody from Begin the Beguine
(piano gives a tune, Mer sings acapella)

When I began the Big D, I was so young and my mind was so tender
I thought of the joy my studies would render, I thought of the bliss of a Ph.D. degree
But I didn’t know the torment ahead, or how my mind would be kept swaying
And into night I would be praying, oh, why did I begin the big D?

continue....

New house, rumah baru, nieuw huis, imah anyar

Two weeks ago, I got this domain. Merlyna.org. Wow, finally got my own home! Feels so good. One of some reasons is that these days many jobs (in my field) ask for applicants' homepage url. I thought it's not so great to provide free geocities url for a serious job. It took me one weekend to make that homepage, designing, filling with some basic content, and retouching here and there. So, I have that domain now, my blog perhaps will be a bit academic (well, not really, just more related to my academic stuff than this blog), but some other stuff (travel, sundry items) aren't academic. I'll still have my celoteh here.

Akhirnya, punya domain juga. Di sini. Asik juga maen-maen dgn rumah sendiri. Ngedesain, ngebangun, ngisi2, dan dekor sana-sini. Mudah2an temen2 suka dgn rumah baruku di situ. Kalo ngga suka ya terserah, tapi ah harus suka dong (maksa), atau pura2 suka :). Tapi janganlah dikau berpura-pura karena daku tak sudi dimadu. Walau begitu, jangan sama-samakan daku dengan yang lain. Anyway, si celoteh sih, terutama yg berbahasa Indonesia, berbahasa dewa dan berbahasa tarzan, tetap akan muncul di sini.

Ik heb een nieuw huis, hier. Het voelt goed om een koel nieuw huis te hebben. Ik bouw. Ik ontwerp. Ik vul hem. Maar ik ben verward. Ik ben frustated. Omdat ik kan spreekt niet Nederlandse! I geef niet! Ik kan zeggen Hoge Veluwe en Enschede! Zo dat ik ben geweldig, hehe. Ik ben gek. Eh, ik ben toch niet gek - Media Markt :). Wat dan ook. Gedaan. Klaar.

Abdi tos gaduh bumi anyar euy, di dieu. Duh, meni sumringah bin borokokok... eh, lepat. Pokona mah hate gumbira, gaduh bumi nu ageung di dinya. Tiasa ngahariring, jujumpalitan, jejerewetan, sareng ngagorowok sangeunahna upami keur jangar binti lieur. Eh, di dieu oge tiasa ketang. Ah, pokona mah kitu lah, pun rorompok teh anyar suranyar. Asik pan asik? Yu ah..tariiik mang!

On the day of forgiveness

My dear friends and colleagues,

Forgiveness,
it's a blessing
when all bitterness departs
like a breeze of the new day
that blows all dust away

Forgiveness,
it's an opened door
through it the mercy flows
purifies the heart
and renews the soul

I wish you to forgive me
on this special day, the day of forgiveness

Happy Eidul Fitri
Selamat Hari Raya Lebaran
Minal aidzin wal faidzin
Mohon maaf lahir dan batin

mer, l.a., lebaran 2005