IN THE END

....story of Friday the 13th....


I never believed in superstitions. But today everything had to go wrong.

You know how you have these bad feelings you can't shrug off no matter how hard you try to? I had that the whole day, and indeed, luck was not on my side.

First day of work is like first day at school, it's either you like it or not. Nevertheless, after all the anticipation yesterday, I was not even bothered. So that was already a bad sign.

Of all the days to report for duty, it has to be on the day the fire alarm goes off. Second sign. It was just a technical glitch and everything went back to normal shortly after but it made me wonder. Call me paranoid but a fire alarm in KLCC could only mean one thing; it's either a real fire, a bomb threat or an earthquake.

The onboarding for me began soon after. I was passed from department to department to get settled and organized. In one word: exhausting. The supposedly 2-day programme was squeezed to 1 day for me as I was scheduled to attend training beginning next week. There's so much I had to digest in a matter of hours. I was eventually introduced to the team I'll be attached too. And the bomb was dropped.

"We're sending you to Miri. You must be excited"

More like my heart just collapsed.

My gym!

My malls!

My cats!

My friends!

"You'll be attached there for a couple of years."

Can somebody please stab me now?

I only knew that my old friend Chin Peng will find this news funny to the bone. That will make two of us stuck in Miri for a while. I, on the other hand didn't find it amusing.

At 5.30 p.m. I made my way back to Life Centre where I parked. It's a 10-minute walk but it felt like forever. It was raining cats and dogs; I had a big umbrella with me, but just because it's a bad day, I had to be soaked all over. My pants were wet, I ruined my wedges, my Crumpler was drenched, I nearly slipped and on top of it all....a car passed by and I got splashed, big time. The day was beginning to really get to my nerves.

Okay, I tried to convince myself that the misfortunes may end soon. But the feeling of dreadness still lingers.

I got my gym bag from the car, went to the gym, attended classes and took my shower.

Then walked back to the car. I noticed something strange. I had a stack of paper on the front passenger's seat, and now it looked like it has a dent on it like somebody sat on it. And it must've been a dirty butt, :O yuck! Oh s%*$!!!!!! I quickly checked. CDs gone (ALL of them and ALL are favourites!), a half box of Mentos gone (I'm not lying), a pair of sunnys from a flea market gone. My CDs!!!!!!!! Oh, my CDs. :( Do they even listen to the music I listen to???!!!! I hell am going to shoot them if I knew they'll just throw away the CDs they don't fancy. I was on the verge of tears now. Why me?????!!!!!

Shaken, I checked again. Touch & Go card, passcard, money (yes, those loose change you use for travel), my Crumpler, my Nike trainers, my Benetton sunnys still there. Thieves are a bunch of morons after all. Still I was so devastated by the whole episode I didn't know what to do except one thing; confide in my friends.

As I was driving aimlessly afterwards to clear my mind, I got a phone call.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes." (No) *sniff*

"I know you're not. Come have a drink with us."

A steaming Venti Hot Chocolate with extra whipped cream that was overflowing was waiting for me. I also got: A big hug. A good laugh over a shower gel story. A nice long chat. One of the best and memorable evenings. The best company.


I forgot about everything that happened earlier in the day. Friday the 13th? No idea what you're talking about.

I thank my lucky stars.

Because I have flowers on my window.

*big, big hugs*