I think, therefore I write. (我思,所以我写。)

Cogito ergo scribo

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Obstacles

Ok, as if a sprained ankle wasn't bad enough, i gotta be hit with another obstacles before the trip.



Uh huh, i lost my wallet today. All i can do is just to let out a big sigh. SIGH.

Let me see if i can relate the event... but the fact is that i seriously do not know how and when it happened.

Mom and i were packing our luggage last night (she is staying at my rented place for these two days). I recall that the last time i saw my wallet was at around 10pm+, when i was thinking to pass my Easi-Link card to my mom. At the end it was not needed and i THINK i then put the wallet back to my purse as i always do.

(I may have a habit of placing my glasses or mobile phones anywhere, but not my wallet. I always put it back to my purse after i'm done using it.)

This morning i called a cab to work. After i have received the confirmation of the booking on my phone, i put the phone back into my purse and then went down to the HDB block to wait for the cab. During the entire time, i did not really look into my purse and hence i do not know if the wallet was in the purse at that time or not.

When i've arrived at the office tower, i opened my purse and noticed that the pocket where i place my wallet was empty. My immediate thought was that i've left the wallet at "home" and then i called the IT Manager down to pay for the cab fare for me.

After i got into the office, i called my mom and asked her to check the room to see if my wallet was there. My mom said she could not see it and would help to look for it. Then, my landlady's mother and my mom search everywhere (even underneath the mattress and inside the dustbin in my room) but the wallet was still no where to be found. Later in the afternoon, my SG aunt also went to my rented place and helped to hunt for it again but to no avail. SIGH.

When my aunt went into my room, she noticed that the sliding window was not locked even though it was closed. I always place my purse on top of the table near the window with the zip opened, but i will always ensure the window is closed and locked. I do not know who had unlocked the window in my room. They then suspected that a thief might have slided open the window last night and took the wallet away. It was kinda eerie to think that someone actually did that while i was fast asleep just beside the table. This means that a thief (if there was indeed one) might be staring at me last night while i was sleeping.

So, we had concluded that there are three possibilities of how the wallet was lost:
(1) It was stolen last night through the unlocked window
(2) It was dropped somewhere this morning between the HDB unit to the ground floor
(3) The cab driver stole it in the car (since i was sleeping in the car and i THINK my purse was not zipped up at that time)

When i returned "home" this evening, i searched the room again and really could not find the wallet. So we decided to report the lost wallet to the police. I limped my way to the police station but was told that i need not report to the lost since i could not be sure if there was indeed a crime involved. I just gotta take care of reporting all the lost cards to the banks and replacing all the lost ID cards. SIGH.

As for my Malaysian IC, since i require a police report to get a new IC, i could do self-service police report of lost items from the Singapore Police website. I did that and have gotten a soft copy of the police report in my email.

I've also called up DBS and UOB to cancel my credit cards and ATM cards. For the credit cards, i told them that i am going overseas on Wednesday and they will arrange the replacement cards to be couriered to me (to my uncle's place at Woodlands) by tomorrow evening. As for the ATM cards, i will have to go to any of the bank branches personally to get a new one.

I have a corporate AMEX card and i've called up to cancel it too. However, there is no urgency to replace that card. Then i also called Public Bank to cancel my ATM card, but the customer service was the worst i've encountered so far. He was very rude, even though i was told that the card was cancelled (but i think i better call again to confirm tomorrow). I will relate the conversation in another post.

Now the most troublesome and biggest headache is the three IDs - SG NRIC, MY IC, and SG driving license. I will have to go to the relevant government agencies to get those replaced, and it will be multiple trips since it takes time to get those done. For SG NRIC, i would also be fined SGD100 for 1st time lost of NRIC. I think i could only go do all these after i return from LA. This also means that i would not be able to get my international license tomorrow without my driving license. SIGH.

Now, i only hoped that it was not stolen. I'd rather it was dropped somewhere and a good and honest person has picked it up and surrendered it to the police. I don't really care about the few hundreds dollars that were lost so long as i could get the IDs back.

Well, to say that this (yet another) incident has no effect on me would be a lie. Of course i was upset about it, but i did not panic at all. I told myself that whatever happened has already happened and there is really no use in panicking. I would just have to do the necessary to minimise further losses. SIGH.

Alright, i have actually let out more than one big sigh. There seems to be obstacles to my LA trip, and i just gotta keep the faith to believe in God. HE will guide the way, and everything will work out to be fine.

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OH NO! why the bad things keep on coming and coming ?! please make sure you have done all the right things, i.e report immediately the loss of you IC to the police station (even in malaysia), cancel the credit card and ATM. if it's really case of a theft, who knows the thief would used it for something sinister, not to add to your anxiety. seriously i hope this blog is obsolete with another news - "oh, i found the wallet, how forgetful am i ". sigh. ..... please stay strong and don't be panic. like what you have quoted - those who perseveres under trial when stand for the test will surely receive "crown of life". you can make it, i have faith in you. cheers.

sigh ..in total you have lamented 5 big SIGHs. gosh, i thought i would have read the posting yesterday but somehow missed it (donno if the network was slow refreshing the page). if only this post is obsolete with a new one - "I FOUND BACK MY WALLET, DUH - HOW FOOLISH I AM". oh well, like you have mentioned, no point of blaming and dreaming about it. hmm, if i can play a bit sherlock holmes here, hopefully i could help to trace back the loss ... you were "cogitating" on sunday around 11-12, that was probably the last time you held your wallet when you thought your mom doesn't need the ezlink card. could it be at that time you need to attend something else, bringing along the wallet at the moment of convenience rather than immediately put it back into the purse? you might leave it in kitchen when you fill a cup of water, living room, toilet, couch, outside room shelves/table/fridge? you could have left on your table, accidentally dropped it and swept into underneath of the wardrobe, bed, table and forgot about it (when you were rushing to surf internet, and blogging lor, oops). then you went to bed, woke up, brush, bath, dress, open the purse, put the phone into it, and of course you would have zipped it. and before you left the room, you would have slide the window shut, lock it unless your mom is still in the room.

hmm, if your window is facing corridor, which i doubted otherwise your landlady would have installed grille, it would be hazardous for the thief to climb all the way up to 6th floor (no?) just to steal a wallet in a purse. And he has to unzip, look, grab which would be more inconvenient if he just grabs the purse and escapes with it hanging on the shoulder, and how he could have missed the iphone. and probably there would be dirt on table/floor/chair coz the thief could be wearing shoes. you might check the bins at the lobby, once the thief removed the loot he could probably throw the wallet into one of them. as for the window being closed, could it be done by your mom/landlady's mom after they failed to locate the wallet, and closed it without locking...

another probability is like what you have opined - you dropped it somewhere when you exited from the flat, entered the lift, walked out from it, waited for the cab, opened up the purse, entered the cab, informed the driver the destination, tilted the purse and put the iphone into it, zipped it back. you could have dropped the wallet when you were inside the cab, when it was not lodged in the pocket after you removed it in the previous night. have you checked the cab floor also before you exited it? and, accusing the driver stealing is bad already of you, coz he would have created awkwardness and alerted your sense of security/vigilance when you fail to pay the bill. and, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE SLEPT IN THE CAB during the journey to your office! it's a DANGEROUS thing, even in safe country like singapore. instead, geez, have sufficient of sleep at the previous night and cut the habit of a night owl. never again sleep in a cab!. sigh..

i also wonder if you have remembered wrongly about the ezlink, and searched thoroughly the purse. hopefully, it all turns out to be one big prawn head - 大头虾, like your old watch.or a good samaritan brings it to the police, who will call you and inform you about the find. i still remember a housemate of mine left her passport in a larkin bus counter when she traveled back to KL, and she panicked when she discovered about it when she returned to the station before taking SBS bus to SG. fortunately, the operator kept the passport, and returned it to her. it would probably be gone case if the operator brought it to police in Johor, but singapore is different with malaysia -_-. of course, relying on miracle is something you shouldn't have placed upon >70%,and i have to salute you for able to keep cool (minus the upset) to conduct proper course of action, especially your grand holiday is so so near (pat, pat).

what has happened already happened, no point of lamenting without vow changing for the better. if miracle does happen,it would be truly a bless, even if being one 大头虾, and you must blog about it then. sigh - write, talk are easy (and one long wall of text too) especially from a person without the experience of losing IDs. hopefully, instead aggravating your anxiety and frustration, it cheers you up (a bit). oh, do enjoy your holiday as a sign of perseverance without giving in to all these misadventures. go pinpin go! cheers.

My rented room is at the corridor with sliding windows and grille (big square type). I had kinda done a "crime scene reenactment" (if there was indeed a crime) and it was quite easy to slide open the window and reach for the wallet in the purse (i do not zip up my purse when at home). As for my phone, i did not place it on the table but on the chair beside my bed and is not reachable from the window.

There is a possibility that i might have dropped it even though it was only a short distance between the unit to the lift and lift to the lobby. It might have dropped in the cab too but i could not be sure. Actually i've thought that the chance of dropping it was slim because my two phones were placed in the pockets in the purse that are above the space where i put the wallet. The phones would have dropped out first before the wallet.

My mom and the landlady's mother had almost turned the room upside down and they could not find it anywhere. They also looked around the living room and did not find it. I don't really carry my wallet out of the room anyway.

Oh well, i'll just take it as lost and already cancelled all the cards. Since i have not done the replacement for my IDs and driving license, let's hope that miracle does happen and i'll get good news when i am back.

Share your cogitation



Monday, July 25, 2011 @ 3:57 am: Diagnosis of my sprain
Saturday, July 23, 2011 @ 4:55 am: Update on the sprain
Thursday, July 21, 2011 @ 3:23 am: Sprained ankle
Monday, July 18, 2011 @ 12:36 pm: Flight delayed
Monday, July 18, 2011 @ 12:07 pm: At Senai Airport
Monday, July 18, 2011 @ 4:29 am: Trivia of my uneventful days
Friday, July 15, 2011 @ 1:26 am: Another late night
Thursday, July 14, 2011 @ 4:39 am: Yellow
Thursday, July 14, 2011 @ 3:47 am: New look with bugs
Wednesday, July 13, 2011 @ 3:49 am: Stupid new dashboard