Counting Stars

I got my wallet back!

There were 2 possibilities. I either dropped or misplaced it somewhere or it was picked from my pocket.

I dropped it in a bus. -_-

But the most amazing thing was that I got my wallet back! Now, when I told a friend, he said

"My god.. There are indeed honest people left in this world. I guess all of them decided to reside in Singapore?..."

Nah. My faith in humanity has increased a bit. It was found and returned by a Mr. Sendhu Bolkar Singh. He's a construction worker working in Singapore, from India. I would like to say TAKE THAT to all those people who demonise foreigners, blue-collared workers, and lower income groups automatically without giving a chance... in particular, this group of residents I recently came to know about in Singapore who were against the setting up of a hostel for workers in their relatively higher class housing estate. Although I understand why they might be suspicious and all, I thought their comments were quite hurtful...

If I were in their shoes, would I have taken the same stance though? I wonder. Well, if there was reason to believe that security is trustworthy, then ok. But then I live in Malaysia, and I wouldn't get a chance to voice my opinion anyway. And I DO NOT TRUST the security in JB... So...

On another note, RIP nujabes aka Mr. Seba Jun. You were one of the people that made Samurai Champloo great.



This is played in one of my favourite episodes.

Forever Broke...

Today, I lost my wallet. I don't know when I lost it. I realised I lost it when I was queuing up to pay for things I was intending to buy.

I was waiting in line, looking at the little things they like to put near counters (the little stuff that no one really needs, like masks, lousy sweets, but looks a bit tempting, as though a last ditch effort to get customers to spend more money). I suddenly had an uneasy feeling. I put my hand into my pocket to find my wallet gone.

I walked around looking for it. Then my friend and I went to ask for some help from the shop's security. I think it was quite hopeless. I looked around and saw so many happy faces with wallets ready to buy stuff. I felt sad...

We took a bus back to the place I last took out my wallet, in case I had accidentally thrown it away together with the cup of Milo I had bought there. It was not there. There was no wallet in the bin. There was no wallet on the floor. The drinks auntie didn't see any wallet. No one had seen any wallet.

So, resigned to the fact that I was unlikely to see my wallet again, I proceeded to cancel some cards I had in the wallet. I called the bank to cancel my ATM card. To my pleasant surprise, there was no annoying "If you wish to make a donation to us, please press 1...". Instead, I was immediately greeted by a human.

"Hellosir, howmayIhelpyou?" (CHEERFUL)

"Ah.. Hello. I would like to cancel an ATM card I lost." (embarrassed)

"Ahhh youlostyourATMcard, Sir? NO PROBLEM! Don't worry about it, Sir!" (SUPER CHEERFUL AND REASSURING)

I suddenly felt less troubled and rather cheerful myself. Then I was told I could get my replacement card practically anytime starting next day.

With that done, we took a bus to a police station to make a report. The bus was calm and cool. I saw a little girl holding her wallet in her hand. She was going out with her mum to go shopping. I watched her play with her wallet. I felt sad that I did not have a wallet to play with.

I hope I did not scare her mum by staring at the little girl and her wallet. The little girl was very cute.

We walked toward where we thought the police station was. Just to make sure, we stopped by a 7-11 to ask for directions.

"Yup, just follow the road, you will see a mosque. It's near there. About 5 minutes."

We walked until we reached a very swanky, modern looking mosque. Really swanky. It didn't cross my mind that mosques could look like that. Suddenly, Malaysian  mosques felt very old-fashioned... but then I thought about the costs of the swankiness... but decided it doesn't matter, whether it's swanky or not; as long as it doesn't cave-in and has nice ventilation and acoustics, I guess.

After a looooooooong trek, we reached the police station and made the report. I don't think the girl at 7-11 walks around much.

 ***

I feel sad. I should have spent all the money I had earlier when I passed by shops selling nice stuff. Rats.