(I seriously need to trim this intro. :PP Anyways...)
I'm just this guy living in Jakarta, Indonesia. I've been on the Internet from 1996, longer than some Digital Natives have been alive, but I'd be hard-pressed to call myself a Digital Native. I sometimes post in Indonesian.
I believe the Internet, like many man-made technologies before it, opens up lots of opportunities for the growth of Human Potential, as well as dangers; we should be aware of its possibilities but on the other hand we shouldn't totally fear or shun it. And the genie is out of the bottle so to speak, now what do we, Humankind, ask of it?
• What I do for a living
For income purposes I am currently a freelance writer, with a focus on commercial and social media content writing and social media presence management.
And even more recently I've found myself learning to draw again and doing a tiny little bit of digital illustration (and I'd love to do more, I'm sure...)
I sometimes do some freelance translating, to and from Indonesian. I also used to be a graphic designer / art director / copywriter / whatever for various local advertising agencies in Jakarta. Nothing famous or significant, I can assure you.
Up to the end of August 2013, I had worked for a tech company based in Jakarta, Indonesia named m-STARS, PT. Antar Mitra Prakarsa. Our website is at
www.m-stars.net and we also have a
semi-official m-STARS G+ page here (which I had also administered). My last working position was as a Product Development Officer, where previously I was a Digital Marketing Communications Officer, and before that a Social Media Specialist. And no I don't code or write programs. Not yet anyways. Hehe :PP
Around 2011 to 2012 I volunteered for a couple of local film festivals & other film-related things. I pretty much hardly know anything about film though, or music for that matter. I learned to play classical guitar while in junior high, continued lessons till the end of high school, and I went to college majoring in Communications, minoring in Advertising while learning the flute as an extra-curricular with the campus orchestra (Mahawaditra). I don't play professionally.
• Where I stand, what I post
Obviously my statements published on this profile are my own and do not represent the opinions of my employers and/or associates either past, present, or future. I am more than just my employment. Or so I keep telling myself....
• Some of my interests:
Indonesia, Open Internet, Early-Adopter PC/Mobile tech, Google+ Hardcore, Phandroid, Open Source/Hacker, Lulz/Digital Culture/SubCulture, Int'l Politics, Indonesia, Twitter, Webcomics, Music, Film, Art.
• My Religious/Spiritual Beliefs
I am a theist. I feel I need to state this because it seems that some have mistaken me for a secular agnostic or an atheist based on my posts. If you feel you have been fooled I do sincerely apologize. I think I've been mistaken for a Muslim, too; so I think I should confirm I'm not a Muslim either ^^"
I'd been taught by my Dad (who died more than a decade ago in the mid-'90s) that if I'm not comfortable enough with my religion to admit it in public, I might as well not have it.
I'm a non-specific almost 'plain-vanilla' Protestant Christian (definitely not hardline-militant, fundamentalistic Evangelical, Pentecostal, or Methodist, but it'd be hard to peg my current belief set as specifically Calvinist or Lutheran or even Liberal Protestant), but I don't like pushing my religion down your throat. I would kindly ask you also not to shove your militant antitheism down mine either, thank you.
It's not that I hate militant antitheist for not believing in God, it's that I have had militant antitheism shoved down my own throat so much to the point it has become at least slightly annoying. At the very least I have Ignored people, or placed people in a muted Circle. Mostly I just Mute Posts. In some cases I have un-Circled. And as a last resort I have Blocked.
I am a big believer in freedom of religion, and this includes freedom to not adhere to any religion, if you should choose to. You could say that this has somewhat been influenced by my life-long experience of living as a minority Christian in a Muslim-majority nation--though I must also say that Protestant and Catholic Christians have it good in Indonesia compared to communities adhering to other faiths and/or belief systems. Google the terms 'Ahmadiyah' and 'Sampang', for example. I am somewhat saddened by the interfaith situation in Indonesia lately, when I recall my childhood days when Indonesia had on occasions been highlighted by the International community as a benchmark for interreligious tolerance, somewhat... (And don't get me started on how even that past may possibly be nothing more than a myth...)
I have been teased about being a Christian Humanist, that it is a philosophically sloppy ideological/ethical position, but nonetheless it is mine. I kindly request that you let me explore my own spiritual-rational path at my own pace; not everyone is as 'spiritually/rationally enlightened' as you at this moment ;)
And really, haven't we got other much more important and/or constructive things to debate about, other than personal beliefs?
• I Circle Back! But:
I will circle you back if you communicate with me. +1 a post, comment on them, or re-Share them. I prefer to place new Circled's in a topic circle so I know what topics you are interested in. In the past most of my shares were posted to limited Circles, but lately I've been experimenting with posting mostly to public. I have eclectic interests and am interested in learning new stuffs; especially new stuffs that interest me.
• That's it!
Nice to meet you, and thanks for reading all the way! ^_^Y
