unknown scam phone calls...(plus extras)

I thought those of the online Instagram scams that I was being a victim in 2020 was bad enough, how about this one which is currently occurring on me through MANY of those unknown phone numbers? Believe or not, they call me specifically using regular phone numbers instead of WhatsApp like several of those advanced scammers with their respective methods out there, though this particular type of classic scam is already existed since more than decades ago, way before those of the advanced ones with combination between WhatsApp and those online social medias are now exist. Since I also installed GetContact on my 📱, I somehow leaked the slight secret about who are the culprits behind all of those unknown phone numbers, which I have no clue about how come if they also leaked my phone number there too.

After I briefly checked it through several of the identified ones (specifically for those ones which GetContact flags them as a spam, because there are many of them that are remains unidentified, oh boy), it turns out if those culprits are indeed either fake online loan promoters and fake (supposedly) technicians from one of the popular ISPs in our entire country, for this case (if I'm not mistaken, unless if I already read those popular articles related about them from various online news portals). There's not much else that I could say to them apart from the fact I still able to simply ignore them at all costs, unlike those online Instagram scams that I mentioned just earlier. So that's basically just it, I obviously DON'T accept any of those suspicious regular phone calls like so for highly obvious reasons. Which means, the only action that I'm gonna do against them is obviously blocking their phone numbers specifically using my 📱's built in contacts app (and possibly using Getcontact app too), though I'm not sure if they somehow able to call me back with a vengeance.

As for the bonus related to this short article, specifically in one of the popular online marketplaces. In the exact time where those of the aforementioned unknown scam phone calls that are now a thing in mass numbers instead of few, I received a single direct message thread from a fake (some sort of) customer service account on the direct message section where "they" claimed if my account would eventually suspended if I didn't do certain tasks which "they" specifically give to me, and "they" also sent me a random Google Drive link of an unknown file which I didn't even check it due to the fact I immediately deleted the entire direct message chat itself anyway, particularly in order to save my account from getting banned or hacked... This also reminded me to those times when I used to receive those of the SMS inbox message threads, which particularly claimed if I won IDR 500.000 (❔) from (supposedly) those of the popular marketplaces including that one where that particular unknown fake customer service itself used to exist there. They also even provided me those links that redirected to their fake Blogspot "winner" websites instead of redirected directly into their official sites from those online marketplaces, though they clearly stated if they don't do certain stuffs like so outside their official events from themselves. Those fake Blogspot websites also provided those WhatsApp numbers led to those of their following scammer syndicates, which roughly using the same scamming method like those online Instagram scams that I also mentioned earlier.

Well then, there's not much that I particularly say about this apart from the fact you MUST avoid them at all costs. If you suddenly caught those of the unknown phone call numbers especially outside WhatsApp, DO NOT call them unless if they're from the trusted source, or specifically from people that you know through your own phone app or contacts app. As always, pay FULL attention when it comes to dealing with one of these even if I already being a victim for few of those, because like majority of those scammers out there, you definitely don't want to lose your bucks over those simply for nothing.

maintaining the legacy with my old Plants vs. Zombies toys and mini figures...

It's been a long time since I featured all of those old Plants vs. Zombies toys and mini figures that I own for years, so it's time to explain about how I maintain the legacy specifically with themselves. Since I do live in the country where it has really high humidity yet I constantly "play" with them instead of keeping them in their storage or display, resulting by how come if most of them suddenly had some wear and tear on them. Without further ado, let me explain about those figures that already suffered from the way how they withstand against it.

Before I begin, I exclude most of those Chinese mini figure sets that I also own, since they seem to survive just okay overall since I purchased them. As for the ones that they suffer from those issues apart from the fact they already accumulated quite amount of dusts on majority of them, here are my examples about them:

A. 2013 KFC Plants vs. Zombies toys (ID)

All 3 plants (such as Peashooter on Pumpkin, Cabbage-pult, and 🌻) do share their own issue where their own black eyes are easy to be erased by simply touching them any objects in the slightest touch. Because of this, I had to DIY fix one of them with the combination of the black marker and correction pen, though it obviously make the appearance of it looks slightly uglier than how it should. This also applied to the green eyebrows on the Cabbage-pult, but since I already learned the lesson with the exact same toy that I borrowed from one of my old friend's house in 2014, I have to be very careful when it comes to "playing" with it in general.

As for the 🌻, the bottom part of her stem already has some light stressing marks on it due to the way how I tried to connect her stem to the original base, since it's so loose every single time.

B. 2014 KFC Plants vs. Zombies 2 toys (ID)

All of them do seem to survive just reasonably okay, except for both of these moments that I mentioned here:

• I lost the "🔥" disc projectile that originally came with the Snapdragon, and
• I broke the inner workings of that iconic walkable Zombie toy since roughly a decade ago

Even with both of those aforementioned moments, but all of them still survive just like so, except with slight wear on each of them.

C. K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies

This one is possibly the weirdest one when it specifically comes to react against our country's high humidity. The fact I also "play" with most of those plant characters that I always wanted back then, they led to their weird issues which most of them couldn't able to fix them by myself. Apart from their original pieces that were loose overtime, here are more examples about the issues themselves:

• Weird darkening issues on their own original paints, specifically occurred on certain plant characters with solid plastics like Peashooter, Snow Pea, Cabbage-pult, and Garden Warfare/Garden Warfare 2 version of Peashooter. Unfortunately, those aren't fixable unless if I have to bring each of them to the paint workshop in order to make them "bright" again.
• Just like those of my old 2013 KFC Plants vs. Zombies toys, most of them do have their own similar issues where their own original prints are easy to be erased with the slightest touch from any objects (for example, 🌻's face, Peashooter or Snow Pea's black eyes, Bloomerang's face and his own boomerang's petal accents, 🌹's mouth [and possibly her eyes], and so on).
• Some light stressing marks that already occurred on most of them, such as 🌻's stem, 🌹's feet, and so on.
• Cracks on the bottom "leafy" part of my Fire Peashooter, since it clearly made using a translucent plastic, therefore it's partially hard to mount it on any of those Lego or any of those popular Chinese building block plates with ease anymore.
• Even if I saved my Kernel 🌽 on the storage (for this case, a small jar), it strangely has some tiny bit of black spots on it's own yellow 🌽 parts (possibly some sort of mold spots, especially for his head).

Because of all of those issues, I had to DIY fix it to most of them depending on how difficult I could able to restore each of their appearance, otherwise I just simply accepted their fate (since all of them are obviously nowhere to be possible to search each of their identical replacements in case if I accidently break or lose each of them, even if they're already flawed to begin with since they produced them from an unknown factory in China).

D. Other figures...

That one cheap static Plants vs. Zombies 2 Grave Buster mini figure that I got since 2014, it has it's own issue where it suddenly separated both the top part and bottom part of it due to the fact I accidently dropped it to the floor multiple times, though it's still easy to be fixable by simply gluing both of those pieces together.

Well then, there you have it for the way how I maintain the legacy with those of my following old Plants vs. Zombies toys and mini figures that I particularly have for years. If you have your own story related to this, be sure to write your own short story in the comments section if you're able to. Anyway, that's basically it from what I could particularly say over this, and as always, thanks for reading this exact article. 

archive: the "winner-less" Angry Birds toys online photo contest... (2014)

Back when I used to be a big fan of Angry Birds thanks to that one (some sort of) sweet chocolate chips brand in our country used to release their Angry Birds "egg" container toys, there were two online photo contest events that used to exist back in those of their "bird" days (specifically on their own Facebook page), which were once existed for few months in 2013 and 2014, respectively. However, I didn't participate in the former one; instead, I was once briefly participated in the latter with my cousin in the photo that I posted there back in those days. Though the former did select about the top 3 winners who used to post their own pictures of their children with their respective Angry Birds toys that they had back in those days. However, for strange reason, the latter simply didn't inform any of the winners whatsoever. Well, without further ado, let me particularly explain my own short story about how come if this particular "elite ball knowledge" still recognized on my mind until today.

Before I explained to the 2014 one that I was referring to, let me explain the throwback to the 2013 photo contest that they used to do with their own Angry Birds toys. Basically, you took a picture of yourself with your own Angry Birds toys regardless of your pose, location, the amount of those Angry Birds toys that you used to collect back then, and random props that were suited for the franchise itself. Then, you posted it on their own Facebook page specifically until the last day of the May in that year, simple as that. There were lot of pictures by those guest who posted them on that aforementioned Facebook page, and believe or not, one of the guests also featured those of the 2013 KFC Plants vs. Zombies toys as a cameo (except for one, though they didn't win it anyway)... As for those prizes for the top 3 winners in this particular online photo contest that used to exist back then, the third place got some sort of iPod knockoff (❔), the second place got a folding 🚲, and the first place got a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.0.

Then, there was the 2014 one that I was concerned for. Similarly to the 2013 one, you took a picture of yourself with your own Angry Birds toys regardless of your pose, location, the amount of those Angry Birds toys that you used to collect back then, and random props that were suited for the franchise itself. The only difference between the 2013 and 2014 was the way how you played them instead of casually capturing yourself with your respective Angry Birds toys. Unlike the last contest, they claimed if you would win IDR 5.500.000 for doing so, instead of those items. However, after I waited it right past the May of that aforementioned year since I posted my own picture in there, specifically after few days since they passed the deadline itself (which was in the last day of that month in that year), I simply got no announcement from themselves. Seriously, I didn't even see any of their official announcement of themselves about who would come out to the top after all these years, even if I no longer being a big fan with this particular franchise anymore. Even if I used to highly doubt it if I would won the contest thanks to the way how I captured my own collection of themselves with my cousin, but I was also disappointed by the way how they simply didn't announce the winners themselves for strange reason that I obviously had no clue about it as a whole. Also, don't ask me if this was one of the reasons about the way how I quit enjoying Angry Birds and focusing more with Plants vs. Zombies stuffs, though both of the franchises are now in their absurdly dreadful state thanks to the way how both of those modern day companies behind their respective franchises ruined them to bits.

Well then, if you also remembered the time if you used to post those of your own pictures of themselves in their particular Facebook page, feel free to share your own short story in the comments section if you're able to. Anyway, that's basically it for what I sum up about this particular article, and as always, thanks for reading this particular archive article.

plants vs. zombies 2's latest update... (hint: ads)

Note : I originally made this particular article when the problem itself used to exist at the moment. However, since they actually fixed it later on, I originally didn't want to create this article, but I decided to do so anyway...... because why not.

Yet another fairly short article that I made here, but it's hard to believe it if the vanilla Plants vs. Zombies 2's latest update has it's own major problem where it is now consists of random video ads (just like other two mobile Plants vs. Zombies like what I explained them in one of my previous articles that I created just before). Not only the fact it is already applied to any newer players since somewhere in August of 2025 with those of the dreadful limited time ad-free subscriptions, but now it is also shockingly applies to certain veteran players like I do, which I already purchased certain plants and resources since a while ago... However, since I equipped my 📱 with the AdGuard DNS on it (either from private DNS or both of their respective IPv4 addresses), it seems to work 🆗, though they somehow hardcoded them with the way how that one endless Marigold loading screen always appears instead of those random video ads every single time I completed any levels on each of it's own game modes that are available on there (either from standard Adventure Mode*, Pinata Party*, Arena, or Penny's Pursuit), so I have to manually force close the game and re-open the entire game itself every single time when it happens, which causing my 📱's 🔋 to drop significantly faster than it should. 

* unless if there's a Zen Garden button, which simply skips those ads completely...

According to one of the internet citizens out there, it turns out if this occurs simply because of an unknown bug, according to some people who works at the modern day Electronic F****... However, not too long since this bug existed thanks to how majority of the internet citizens who still playing this particular Plants vs. Zombies game were highly frustrated by it, they actually listened the aforementioned problem itself by fixing the said bug itself later on. Even though they probably stated like so, I have a doubt if this particular hotfix will stay in their next subsequent updates though (since the ad-free pack is still present at the moment), despite it's horrible state that this game currently suffering nowadays since they outsourced their works to that one company in India since somewhere in 2022. Again, that's basically it for what I could particularly say over this awful update of the vanilla Plants vs. Zombies 2 as a whole, even if it is now back to how it should be... Despite this, I have no clue if I eventually decide to download some of their fan-games or mods that perform way better than it anyway.

my shocking life stories...⚡

This isn't inspired directly from that one ElectroBOOM's video on YouTube where he clearly explains about his own shocking life stories with various electronic devices that he used to deal with (specifically back in his good old days), which was the reason about how come if his YouTube channel itself is now existed since his first video where he shocked himself for very first time on camera with that ESD device... In relation particularly about him and his shocking life stories though, I also have plenty of my own shocking life stories which involves various electronic devices, including electric fans (though I already explained them in one of my older Blogspot articles about it, so I decided to list them again). Without further ado, let's take a look at my own list of my own shocking life stories, shall we?

(this wasn't the same night light that i was referring below [👇], because it was occurred in my childhood house...)

• I was once tried to plug a mini night light on the power outlet, and there was an earphone cable hanging RIGHT in front of the power outlet. I recklessly plugged it in, and BANG!!! My childhood house's entire power got cut in that evening!

• One of my family's relative's from my mom's side was attempted to reuse one of the unused old E27 light fixture that was laying around since the last usage of it (which was from several years ago). He tried to use it in order to add the additional light in the kitchen of my childhood house by installing a random low wattage CFL bulb on it, and it suddenly BANG!!! My childhood house's entire power got cut in that evening!

• During one of the class sessions in my old primary school, there was a moment where one of the teachers brought an accumulator as a part of the study itself. I touched the top part of accumulator itself, and I immediately got shocked.

(this wasn't the same vintage fan that i explained below...👇 [since this one clearly had completely different brand])

• In one of neighborhoods of my childhood house, there was a vintage Sanyo (❔) desk fan running on 110v of voltage rating, which it used to work just fine since it was connected to step-down transformer (if I guessed that right). I decided to move it to another spot, which I stupidly connected it to the power outlet with standard 220v/50Hz of power rating, which caused the fan itself release some smokes out from it after several seconds later.

• I was having fun with that one AC 220v cooling fan that I used to have, which I purchased in 2014. Somewhere from almost a decade ago, I was stupidly had fun by playing around with it due to some boredom that happened to me at the moment. Then, it suddenly decelerated yet it also produced some burning smells, and then it POPPED! The fan just stopped working due to the sudden burnout that suddenly occurred, yet it also popped my previous house's MCB. After all of that occurred, since it wasn't working anymore, I obviously trashed it away, and that was basically it.

• A ceiling light socket in the TV room of my previous house used to trip the MCB plenty amount of times every single time I turned it on by flicking the light switch that was connected to it, especially when it used to equip any CFL bulbs on it regardless of the amount of wattage that they used to have. I decided to replace it with the LED bulb, and it did work just fine, except with some flickers every single time I turned it on. However, a repairman already replaced the light socket itself with a better one later on, and the old light socket itself also caused the small portion of the ceiling where it used to be installed got torched slightly.

• My current house's indoor MCB used to trip the entire house's power several times due to it was faulty by all of the sudden specifically in that night, so I had to call a repairman in order to replace it with a better one.

If you have your own shocking life stories with various electronic devices that you ever experienced, feel free to share your own story specifically about it in the comments section if you're able to. That's basically it for what I could particularly say to it, and as always, thanks for reading this particular article.

The "death" of my two old 💻's hard disk drives...

You probably remember the time when I used to own both of those following 💻s before I own my current one (Lenovo), which those were both 13" Dell and Samsung, respectively... Since both of them were no longer work properly, I decided to take each of their own hard disk drives from them both in order to retrieve MANY of my old archived files from it. However, they both suddenly had their own problem where I was attempted to connect them to my current 💻 using the USB SATA cable, therefore I no longer able to retrieve ALL of my old archived files from them both anymore. Without further ado, let me explain both of those hard drives that came from both of those old 💻, right away.

A. Western Digital 500 GB (13" Dell)

Started off with this particular Western Digital 500 GB one. This was the one that originally came with that ancient 13" Dell 💻 that I stupidly wasted a lot of bucks from 6 years ago. At first glance, it worked reasonably fine, including by how I connected to my current 💻 using the SATA USB cable roughly after a while later since the Dell's LCD backlight screen died. However, somewhere in the last year, it suddenly ran into a problem where it simply bogged down for a whole lot, which caused it painfully slow to load everything on my current 💻's screen, specifically on the Windows Explorer. I tried many ways in order to fix it, but it barely did anything. Right now, I still keep it despite the current state that it has, but I don't think if I eventually decide to plug it on my current 💻 though for the umpteenth time.

B. Toshiba 320 GB (Samsung)

And then, there's this particular Toshiba 320 GB, which originally came from my old Samsung that I purchased back in 2013 (which also replaced my very first laptop, which was that Acer, though the condition of that Acer was okay apart from that weird BSOD itself which I already explained in some of my older Blogspot articles before)... Right after the original LCD screen itself went all white (which was unrepairable, with how the screen's bezel itself was also broken on one of the hinges), I decided to take the hard disk drive itself out from it and connected it to my current 💻 using the SATA USB cable, though I had a lot of "effort" for removing it from my old 💻's hard disk drive's slot thanks to all of those screws that originally screwed it in there. Similarly to that Western Digital one, it used to work reasonably okay, either during the old 💻 that used to equip it was working on it's own for years, or during I connected it to to my current 💻 using the SATA USB cable...... until it suddenly ran into a problem in similar fashion to that Western Digital too, except it now no longer getting recognized with my current 💻. During it occurred, I was attempted to check ALL of my old archived files on it, and then Windows Explorer on my current 💻 suddenly froze instead. Instead of restarting the Windows Explorer during it was in "Not Responding" state, I stupidly unplug the hard drive itself RIGHT in that exact state❗ Because of that, it simply no longer getting recognized with my current 💻. I tried many ways in order to fix it, but it obviously didn't do anything at all, yet it also makes some weird ticking noises from it too when this occurred.

(notice for how severely crooked the 💻's screen is...)

Well then, there you have it for both of those old 💻 hard disk drives that were once worked, but now both of them have their problems that I couldn't even fix them purely by myself. If you know about how to repair them (though it's nearly impossible to fix them both), please let me know particularly about it in the comments section if you're able to. That's basically it for what I could particularly say about this, and pay attention when it comes to treating one of those old physical storage devices like those, otherwise they will end up like both of those that I mentioned there.

My reaction with the current state of the mobile Plants vs. Zombies games...

(this is clearly the port from the good old PC GOTY version, but it doesn't matter for this exact article though...)

Believe or not, those of the popular mobile Plants vs. Zombies tower defense games (such as original free version, it's sequel, and Heroes) are still active since then until today. However, let me tell you about something that isn't right on each of them according to bunch of people who are still suffering by playing any of those mobile vanilla Plants vs. Zombies games, including myself in general. So, how come if each of those mobile Plants vs. Zombies games are still getting updates albeit if all of these games are existed since more than a decade ago? Well, it's time for me to explain them about why.

According to most internet citizens out there who somehow still suffering by playing each of them, both modern day P**pc**p and modern day Electronic F***s are no longer developing each of those games since somewhere in 2022. Instead, they deliberately outsourced them to that one company in India (hint: not Crompton Greaves [never mind, I'm joking...😁]). Which means, they actually butchering any contents on each of them so badly, including by how they literally add even more random video ads and pay-to-win features than before. As of each of those mobile Plants vs. Zombies games themselves, each of them have their own story about how come if each of them look severely weirder than before. So, those features of them are:

A. Plants vs. Zombies 🆓

• It now only has 3 lawn mowers or roof cleaners instead of the usual 5 (or on the Pool/Fog level's cases, only just a single pool cleaner and two lawn mowers, or vice versa). In order to "add" them, you must watch the random video ads in order to make them...... appear. However, according most internet citizens out there, they immediately RUNS OFF the lawn/pool/roof once you've done watching the random video ads themselves... Oh, apart from the lawn mowers (or pool cleaners or roof cleaners), you must watch the random video ads in order to get certain items such as garden rake, Explode-o-nut, and so on.
• Those of the random video ads sometimes appears RIGHT when you're playing on the game itself, especially if the game itself is RUNNING on the background without pausing it.
• In order to temporarily disable ads for certain amount of time (for this game's case, JUST for a week), you must purchase the "remove ads" subscription feature itself to do so.

B. Plants vs. Zombies 2

• Similarly to the original game, and specifically in it's recent update(s), in order to temporarily disable ads for certain amount of time (for this game's case, either a week or a month), you must purchase the "remove ads" subscription feature itself to do so. This trait was applied specifically when you make your own brand new username on the entire game itself after August of this year.
• They keep adding EVEN MORE characters that are WAY more tackier than how both modern day P**pc**p and modern day Electronic F**** used to do so, which majority of them are just premium seed packet plant characters that you definitely couldn't able to unlock them sooner since their debut (especially for post-2022 premium seed packet plant characters [unless if you play Arena or wasting a lot of gems in order to unlock them]). Many of them are basically clones of another plant (or basically just fusions from those of the pre-existing plants, either stronger or weaker than those), or on most cases, they do have really awful designs, and so on. Despite all of those disasters, there are few exceptions that are okay in performance to use though, and so for those that surprisingly have okay designs as well.
• They also keep adding EVEN MORE features that makes this game's content looks and feels massive compared to any of those Plants vs. Zombies shooter games trilogy combined. Most notable features are the Arena tournaments that are getting trickier than ever (depending on which level designs that they deliver to every players, including me [though I can do it by using the "Practice" section for testing them without any risks for being beaten by the actual opponent]), and Penny Pursuit's game modes that are now basically highly repetitive than how it previously should, unlike it's Chinese version. 
• Certain limited time event game modes such as seasonal Thymed Event(s), Plant of the Week (formerly known as Premium Plant Quest which used to be accessed in the Travel Log section), and New Plant Nursery, are now present...... yet as of it's recent update, the regular seasonal Thymed Event itself is now more challenging than how it used to do since their initial release of them. As of the New Plant Nursery ones, it's basically just renamed Plant of the Week ones.

C. Plants vs. Zombies Heroes

Since I no longer play this particular card game since few years ago, I couldn't recognize about which part that they recently butchered in their recent version of the game itself though. However, according to most internet citizens out there, they butchered certain parts of the entire game itself where most of the characters from both sides are either more weaker or more stronger than how they used to be.

With all of those extreme disasters that they recently doing so in each of those mobile Plants vs. Zombies games, how's my reaction about all of those anyway? Well, because I still play one of them right now (which for this case, it's the Plants vs. Zombies 2), I have no words apart from the fact I'm so shocked by how they badly butchered each of them these days. Though these games are somewhat still better compared to any of those trash modern day mobile games that are now popular (including most of those that involves those of the recently viral generic AI character doo-hickeys), but it's still awful thanks to all of those microtransactions in general, especially for most of those that lasts WAY shorter. 

Note: Those of the particular excessive pay-to-win features aren't just for these games, but that also applies to EVERY SINGLE modern day mobile games that are now being developed by that one Indian company that I mentioned earlier.

Oh, and one more thing before I wrap up this entire article. Even though I still keep my original Plants vs. Zombies game on my 💻, but I obviously prefer it over the current version of the mobile version anyway (though as of nowadays, there's also the Replanted version as well, though that one is still a bit flawed [even with those of the new features and recent bug fixes on that one])... Although I also used to play the older versions of the mobile version in my older Android devices that I used to have (except for the HD version, which it simply didn't open at all), those versions were way better compared to the current one as well. So, that's basically it for what I could particularly say over those of the modern day mobile Plants vs. Zombies games that are now in their obnoxious state thanks to all of those disasters... I have no clue if I eventually decide to download some of those fan-games that performs way better than those of the vanilla ones, so.