The Loyalty of an Old Barber

I don't know his name. Never really asked him though about it. But since the banner in front of his shop has this writing "Narimo", I always refer to him as Pak Narimo.

He was a barber. Not a famous nor a big one. In fact, I knew his place just by accident, since I was accompanying my grandfather buying satay, right across his place. At that time, I decided to try having my hair cut there. It was in 1999, and it cost me only 1500 IDR. Pretty cheap, eh?

Since it is not a big salon, don't expect to have harajuku style, or any other popular style. It is a grass root barber shop. Simple cutting, simple people. You could find pedicab drivers having their hair cut there, you could also find students, or old men. Yet, you will feel the peaceful ambiance there. It was almost similar to the atmosphere in the village.

It has been a long time for me to go there. Usually I have my hair cut by my mother (yeah, it's free) or by my neighbor (cause my mother will pay it. Damn, I'm so stingy in this matter!). And several days ago, I got annoyed with my messy hair. My neighbor's salon was closed, and I didn't want to ask my mother. Thus, I decided to pay "Pak Narimo" a visit.

I came to the place. No one's waiting. I sat directly in the chair, and he smiled at me. Still as friendly as ever. Still wearing tailored pants and white shirt, time seemed to freeze in that chamber. I said nothing about the model. Just need to trim it. It felt so nostalgic.

Suddenly, he asked me, "Where do you study now?" Ah, I thought it was just a friendly question. I answered that I'd graduated and worked as a teacher.

"Ow, time really flies," he said. "Last time you went here, if I'm not mistaken, you were still a student of junior high school!"

DEG! My heart felt like stop beating. He still remembered me, even after this long years. I never thought that I am worthy enough to remember. At a time like this, I felt very happy, because somebody would remember me, for being me.... Just when I thought that I worthed nothing to remember.

My haircut finished. I paid him with 10000 IDR bill, and he gave me change of 6000 IDR. "Thanks!" 4000 IDR! It was too cheap. Last time I went there, more than 4 years ago, it was still 3500 IDR.

However, I know that deep down, he didn't look for a prosperity. He searched for longevity and happiness. With that rate, many people still go there, especially those grass root people. When big businesses are hit by the global crisis, a business like this will still exist, under the consumer loyalty.

And I think, I'll continue visiting him to have my hair cut again. He deserved it, for remembering me after all these years.

An (Ever) Offline Account

I logged into my Yahoo Messenger, and saw his icon. Offline, just as usual. But from this point on, I know that it will never appear online again. Damn, should I just delete him from my friends list? But then, it would be as if I denied and erased all the history behind. And for me, past is something that formed us the way we are now.

I met him at the online forum, tracked back into five years ago. Video games forum, to be exact. He was selling DivX Anime back then, and I was drawn by the offer. He stayed in Yogya, the same city in which I reside. It might be easier and faster rather than my usual DivX vendor who resided in Jakarta. Thus, I decided to contact him, to be able to get all those precious films, which I cancelled later on, seeing on the price. Uh, probably it was me being too stingy though.

He was glad to find some forum users who came from the same city with him. Back then, in 2004, not many people from Yogya went into the forum. When Pink made a special thread for users from Yogya, we grew closer. Not that close, though, but since the thread was first populated only by him, Pink, Ast, and me, what did you expect? We filled the thread, bumping it over and over again. Our effort was worthed, many people started coming to the thread. We grew in number.

It came from Pink’s idea to make the first gathering. Too bad, only three people came then. Me, Pink, and him. Seeing him for the first time, we felt very shocked. He was more than six years older than us. Yet, when we played game in Fantasia, I felt this inferiority of being childish. He was so calm and looked mature. Yet, as a fellow Chinesemen (Okay, I’m being a racist bastard again!), he managed to see beneath my dark-arabic-like skin and face. He suspected me being a Chinese.

My first encounter with Yahoo Messenger led me to add him as my online friend. We chatted, and surprisingly, we found many interesting facts. We studied in the same junior high school, shared the same hatred and love towards several teachers there. And he actually knew my family! Yep, his father and uncle were actually my grandfather’s tennis and basketball mates. He used to live near my previous home. And, we share the same surname!
Furthermore, he even told me his plan to get married, the process of getting into the relationship, and the proposal. How the condition was reversed, in which the girl proposed him, upset of the slow pace. Hehehe! I also managed to find out that he used to have a kidney operation two years prior. It led him being unable to access the excessive workload. But he was in the recovery process.

Just few days ago, Ast posted in forum, asked us whether we knew the bad news from him. People started wondering, what kind of bad news was it. It turned out to be the worst news.

Just when Ast wanted to buy some papers from his store, he called him. Long tone, before suddenly a woman picked up the phone. She told him that Agus passed away that morning. Kidney failure. Very shocking.

So, I think I will just save your ID in my messenger list. At least, while I know that it will never appear online again, it will serve as a reminder of you. Agus Julianto, or better known as Agus08221 in VGI forum. So long my friend! Rest in Peace!

PS : But what should I do with your number in my phonebook???

Facebook oh Facebook!

A social networking site has become a hype since the introduction of Web 2.0. Well, not that hype though during the very first existence of it. Even I did not really pay any interest to the launching of Friendster Beta. I created my friendster account only to take a sneak peek to the global phenomenon (at that time).

During few months after the creation of my account, I didn't bother checking it at all, since I only got few friends with friendster account. But then, when they grew larger in number, I started to e caught in the flow. I started to enjoy looking for some friends of mine. Interestingly, I managed to meet some of my old friends there. Friends from elementary school, from junior high school, and some of old colleagues.

The ability to give testimonial to friends was very attractive. It became an arena to show off, a free place to encourage our narcissism. But the idea of testimonial grew older and started to be left behind. At that time, friendster started to change it into comment. But recently, the once-dynamic-site grew older and unattractive. I don't find enjoyment anymore. Nothing left to do there.

At this twilight moment, rise the dawn of facebook. As previous case, I joined facebook just because of the invitation from my friends. I created my account there, but I lost my interest to the social-networking site already. At that time, most people still used friendster, and only some migrated to the facebook.

As time went by, more and more people join facebook. I still hadn't found any good reason to be active in facebook, even with all the interesting application available there. I didn't play the game, I didn't bother sending gift or such. It was not until I found the interactive facebook mobile, in which I could access facebook via my beloved old cellphone. I found that it worked like plurk, it updated the news in a more detailed manner than friendster. (Beat me, I know I was such a n00b).

I started to be active in facebook, in terms of creating stronger bond to those in my friend list. I managed to find some people who were not in friendster before. I could even find my father's colleagues, some famous authors, some artists, and such. My mother's schoolmate did add me in facebook, thus making me the bridge for communicating with my mother. I found some lecturers of mine, and many pastors!

(This is the point of the writing!) To surprise me even more, I even found my father in the facebook. DAMN! I live with him, meet him everyday, and he didn't say any single word about joining facebook. And I found his profile!!! My dad, the techno dummy, the one who always blamed my gaming habit for corrupting the computer system, the one who couldn't differentiate between email and blog.......

Omidog! The facebook influence really is that wide!

Being A Teacher

Reading Pak Markus' notes in the Facebook, I suddenly remembered one of my precious experiences in teaching. This is one of the experiences that encouraged and strengthened my will to be a teacher.

His name is Fir. A troublemaker in school. He never had any friend for more than two months. The other teachers hated him that much, the other students alienated him. He skipped class often, mostly without giving prior notification. Nobody would like to be with him. Nerd, lazy, unsociable, your usual bullied kid. Yet, he was introverted.

Fir joined the English Debate Society, an extracurricular where I served as the trainer. The same fate happened here, since nobody voluntarily be in a team with him.

During his first debate tournament, he already caused problem, for both his team, the other team, and me as the trainer. He came late to the venue, since he knew not of the way, and he rode his bike to go to the venue. Twenty kilometers. He brought no cellphone, so there was no way to contact him. It caused his team to be disqualified. One of the adjudicators who happened to hold a grudge to me, blamed me in front of the public. Well, I didn't and never hold a grudge towards Fir though. I tried to console and calm him, when he faced the sinister looks from the adjudicators and some friends. He almost cried and felt very guilty for that. I didn't want to add his burden.

As time went by, his social life showed no improvement, leaving him teamless. However, I knew that I could help him. I approached him not as a teacher, not as a trainer, but as a senior, as a brother, and as a friend. He started telling me his problem, his family life, as well as his financial problem which made him feel inferior.

As a second year college student, I didn't really know what I should do. However, I believed that trusting him was something that I could at least do. I tried so hard to involve him in any activities. Though he was teamless, I tried to involve him in the practice by taught him how to adjudicate. Thus, he could still participate in the events. With his knowledge in computer and technology, I gave him the chance to manage our website, our forum, and our friendster account. I told the others to consult him in terms of brainstorming about computer and technology.

It worked. He didn't feel left behind anymore. He started trusting me, he started to listen to what I said, and he started to work himself out.

In time of national exam, I always have this habit of texting my students. Hoping the best for them. And to my surprise, in the moment of graduation announcement, he was the first one to text me. He told me that he graduated and had already received scholarship from one of the computer institutes in Yogyakarta. He said thanks to me, for trusting him, for not leaving him behind. Deep down in my heart, I felt this burst of satisfaction. It felt more than thousand orgasms to me. That was one of the things that put me into belief that being a teacher open a door to a miraculous work. We can create a change!

Spiderman meet Obama!!! It's for real!

Yeah, I downloaded Amazing Spiderman #583 already. Though it has no big arc, or special contribution towards the continuity, it is considered special though. How often do you see the president-elect of United States make it to the cover of the comics? Sure, in 1970's, Captain America was elected as a president, but being despised by US foreign policy, he decided to change his name into Nomad. But this time, Barrack Hussein Obama really make it to the cover!

Yes, Amazing Spiderman #583 was named as Special Inauguration Day Edition. As far as I know, Marvel didn't publish special inauguration day for other presidents. Dude, did that mean that Obama really is special?? Well, couldn't say anything though.

Well, the story was actually just a fragment. In the end of the comics, when Peter Parker was assigned to go to the inauguration day, he saw Obama's doppleganger. One of them is Chameleon. And in order to test both Obama, he asked them the nick name of Obama's nickname on his high school's varsity basketball team. The real Obama answered Barry O'Bomber, while the impostor said it was Barasket Oballma! Wuahahahahaha!!!

Another joke would come from Spidey's quote in dealing with the impostor. "Hey, I've got a little experience with imposters, be they clones, robots, or TOBEY MAGUIRE. I can help!" Tobey Maguire, dudes! ROTFL!!

Furthermore, Spidey pointed out that Biden saved grudge for him, since once Spidey mistaken him as Vulture! Bwahahahahahaha!!!! Omidog, Marvel!