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  • Agi Tiara Pranoto

    Agi Tiara Pranoto

    Seorang Blogger Indonesia yang berdomisili di Yogyakarta. Selain menulis, dia juga sangat hobi bermain game FPS. Cita-citanya adalah mendapatkan passive income sehingga tidak perlu bekerja di kantor, apa daya selama cita-cita itu belum tercapai, dia harus menikmati hari-harinya sebagai mediator kesehatan.

    Have you ever had a salmonellosis? Apparently I just got one. I had to refrain from eating frozen foods, food from any food booth and food stalls and had to cook my own food in order to recover. And what's more sad than eating your lousy cooking whenever you hang out with your friends in the campus? 

    Okay, so salmonellosis aside, I was forced to rest when my bowel movement can't handle my swag and my fever hasn't gone down in days. So, what did you do when your stomach fails you? You stay at home, you drink a lot of water, and you go on facebook.

    Why facebook? Because, my dear, facebook is the source of all my misdeeds, misinformations, and misbehaving. I often traveled from one page to another in search of human stupidity (although my own account was a living proof that stupidity does exists) and sometimes I ended up in a very entertaining page about anti-vaccine movement, another day I ended up in this weird facebook groups about Anatidaephobia (I said weird because they posts tons of picture of ducks while being a support groups for duck phobia)

    So what kind of page did I find today? 

    It's an Indonesian page, which written in an improper kind of Indonesian language ("for F sake, please use a goddamn punctuation mark" - says my best friend, D, after I show him the page) but still very informative and yet, entertaining. It's a page about Handsome Police Member & Handsome Army Member.....Impersonation. To put it simply, it is a page about catfish. (the link is here, but the page is in Indonesian, and viewer discretion is advised because there were some nudities involved although most were censored)

    I rarely heard about Indonesian online catfish, although catfishing were one of the topic I covered from my old blog that has been deleted. In Ghana, the catfish/scammer use some kind of juju magic called the Sakawa so that their presumed victims will not caught on to their scheme. In Indonesia we acknowledged an almost similar kind of black magic called pengasihan or pelet. 

    I never thought that someday, like the Sakawa, the pelet will also go online on facebook. In the form of fake accounts with handsome policemen photos uploaded. Seriously, these accounts were so fake that you could detect its fakeness just by glancing at their profile, I mean, aside from human stupidity, what kind of reason could cause this kind of madness?

    the truth is this scammer, just like the Sakawa, preys on the lonely women (unfortunately, the age demographic of 30-50 were affected the most), which usually were indonesian who works abroad as household workers (a.k.a TKW), divorced woman looking for a love interest, or even a scorned and lonely housewives. 

    I saw naive women who were bluntly lured by sweet praises which might or might not came from a guy that was a loser, barely has money and trying to scam the bucks away. They hide behind a fake profile picture--which I had to admit, was very representative to blow your ovary away. I saw women who wire huge amount of money (there's one that wire close to 100 million rupiah which was a huge sum coming from a household worker). But admittedly what made me really sad is these women actually hope to meet their prince charming someday, and will do anything for the scammer including posting compromised pictures!

    What in the world was happening. I saw a woman who already had a teenage son putting up 'married' status in facebook with one of the fake account. The marriage never happened. She lost 65 million rupiah and i can't imagine what happened to her son. 

    Truth to be told, it's terrifying how they got fooled so easily, over and over again, with the same scheme to wire their money. It's terrifying how an empowered woman could lose so easily to loneliness. All they wanted to have is someone who loves them and showered them with affection, and they found it in facebook. but sometimes, their greed blinds them from actually realizing that everything is too good to be true. Maybe the biggest blessings to humanity nowadays is indeed an awareness.

    We all are social animals. That I can't argue. But were our animalistic instinct that intense so we actually yield to loneliness and let ourselves fooled by these scammer?

    There's six billions of people in this planet. A countless stars up above our head. Yet we still found an excuse to be lonely. Maybe it's just my naivety or there's actually a different meaning to lonely in these situation? Or maybe lonely was a term for sexual needs. Who knows. (In which, my best friend, D, will shout out loud, "ladies, you have a brain! control your vajayjay!"). 

    Loneliness will kill you. 
    So don't let it seek you.


    . Senin, 28 September 2015 .

    Stuff We Think on the Toilet #005: Loneliness Kills

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    . Senin, 28 September 2015 .

    Have you ever had a salmonellosis? Apparently I just got one. I had to refrain from eating frozen foods, food from any food booth and food stalls and had to cook my own food in order to recover. And what's more sad than eating your lousy cooking whenever you hang out with your friends in the campus? 

    Okay, so salmonellosis aside, I was forced to rest when my bowel movement can't handle my swag and my fever hasn't gone down in days. So, what did you do when your stomach fails you? You stay at home, you drink a lot of water, and you go on facebook.

    Why facebook? Because, my dear, facebook is the source of all my misdeeds, misinformations, and misbehaving. I often traveled from one page to another in search of human stupidity (although my own account was a living proof that stupidity does exists) and sometimes I ended up in a very entertaining page about anti-vaccine movement, another day I ended up in this weird facebook groups about Anatidaephobia (I said weird because they posts tons of picture of ducks while being a support groups for duck phobia)

    So what kind of page did I find today? 

    It's an Indonesian page, which written in an improper kind of Indonesian language ("for F sake, please use a goddamn punctuation mark" - says my best friend, D, after I show him the page) but still very informative and yet, entertaining. It's a page about Handsome Police Member & Handsome Army Member.....Impersonation. To put it simply, it is a page about catfish. (the link is here, but the page is in Indonesian, and viewer discretion is advised because there were some nudities involved although most were censored)

    I rarely heard about Indonesian online catfish, although catfishing were one of the topic I covered from my old blog that has been deleted. In Ghana, the catfish/scammer use some kind of juju magic called the Sakawa so that their presumed victims will not caught on to their scheme. In Indonesia we acknowledged an almost similar kind of black magic called pengasihan or pelet. 

    I never thought that someday, like the Sakawa, the pelet will also go online on facebook. In the form of fake accounts with handsome policemen photos uploaded. Seriously, these accounts were so fake that you could detect its fakeness just by glancing at their profile, I mean, aside from human stupidity, what kind of reason could cause this kind of madness?

    the truth is this scammer, just like the Sakawa, preys on the lonely women (unfortunately, the age demographic of 30-50 were affected the most), which usually were indonesian who works abroad as household workers (a.k.a TKW), divorced woman looking for a love interest, or even a scorned and lonely housewives. 

    I saw naive women who were bluntly lured by sweet praises which might or might not came from a guy that was a loser, barely has money and trying to scam the bucks away. They hide behind a fake profile picture--which I had to admit, was very representative to blow your ovary away. I saw women who wire huge amount of money (there's one that wire close to 100 million rupiah which was a huge sum coming from a household worker). But admittedly what made me really sad is these women actually hope to meet their prince charming someday, and will do anything for the scammer including posting compromised pictures!

    What in the world was happening. I saw a woman who already had a teenage son putting up 'married' status in facebook with one of the fake account. The marriage never happened. She lost 65 million rupiah and i can't imagine what happened to her son. 

    Truth to be told, it's terrifying how they got fooled so easily, over and over again, with the same scheme to wire their money. It's terrifying how an empowered woman could lose so easily to loneliness. All they wanted to have is someone who loves them and showered them with affection, and they found it in facebook. but sometimes, their greed blinds them from actually realizing that everything is too good to be true. Maybe the biggest blessings to humanity nowadays is indeed an awareness.

    We all are social animals. That I can't argue. But were our animalistic instinct that intense so we actually yield to loneliness and let ourselves fooled by these scammer?

    There's six billions of people in this planet. A countless stars up above our head. Yet we still found an excuse to be lonely. Maybe it's just my naivety or there's actually a different meaning to lonely in these situation? Or maybe lonely was a term for sexual needs. Who knows. (In which, my best friend, D, will shout out loud, "ladies, you have a brain! control your vajayjay!"). 

    Loneliness will kill you. 
    So don't let it seek you.


    . Minggu, 27 September 2015 .

    it's been a year since your 24th birthday, the day when I forced myself to wake up at 4AM, drive to your home bearing cupcakes and birthday gift. this year, i forced myself to wake up even more earlier just to send you a video that I assembled for hours because you're 500km plus an island away.

    I watch you grow. I watch you became the man that has a sparkly eyes. That doesn't fake his laughs anymore. That stopped wasting his time just because he feel like he doesn't want to struggle anymore. I watch you re-emerged from the life you often referred as "hell". I watch you finding a purpose to life rather than solemnly living for nothing.

    Last year, I was looking with a man with a blank stare and no life in his eyes. When questioned about the future, he will simply say "my (insert relatives/family member/ex-gf/friends) says there's an opening in the (insert government agency/pharmacy companies/foreign farms) so maybe I'm going to apply". When questioned about his relationship with anybody he will simply say, "I haven't got the slightest idea how to really bond with anyone". When questioned about his family he will simply state that his family had their own needs that they need to attend to.

    The very first month into our relationship, I saw an abusive, wreck-job kind of man who is trying to serve his purpose on keep breathing. I saw a man who neglects himself, rarely eats, never wash his car, without any penny on his pocket to spend. I saw someone who were asking for help.

    Imagine living with someone who were trapped in his own darkest corner of his world, and all you're trying to do is bringing candles because you don't even have a light on you.

    Day by day, I forced him to go out with his friends and enjoy a night out. Forced him to go to his relatives and family members to get to know their better side. Forced him to study (by asking too many questions about his field of work). Forced him to understand that everybody has feelings, and feelings were something we attend to. Teaching him to care about other people were as hard as teaching a 4 years old calculus.

    One day he asked me, whether or not he should be a government workers. 
    I asked him back what he really wants with his life. 
    And he said, rather than being a government worker, right now he wants to use his profession to save lives. then he tells the story of how people around him kind of pressed him to enter the government worker employment exams.
    And I said, do what you think is best for you. do what will make you proud of yourself.
    Not because i don't want him to be a government workers, but rather because you can never get in between a man and his dream.

    A year later, i feel like it's been paid off. I saw a glow in his eyes when he talk about his job. I saw his better version of himself when he started caring about others. The abusive wreck job that I knew was replaced by this kind, full of smile, selfless and sincere guy I don't even know. But I'm really happy to know him. And everytime I saw this guy with a smile, talking about how he saves lives everyday, I feel really proud of him. Proud that he finally found something that he can be proud of. Something that will bring joy to his life.  

    everybody has a past. everybody will have trials and tribulations. 
    F Scott Fitzgerald says:

    For what it's worth: it's never too late to be whoever you want to be
    I hope you live a life you're proud of,
    And, if you find that you're not,
    I hope you have the strength to start over.

    Happy birthday.