Heh, today is one of those days. Survived it, albeit with a slight scrape.

Rather tired from work I guess. Had trouble sleeping the night before, due to the 3 hour time difference in Malaysia. At 130am, I was still wide awake, as it was only 930 in KL. Read some stuff in the dark to tire my eyes a bit. Got a jolt from the alarm clock this morning. Heh, I could really feel my heart pumping from the sudden scare. Normally, I’d wake up instinctively and immediately alert. Still trying to get used to getting up early again.

Work was the usual stuff. Colleagues are happy to see me and not too much has changed over the last 3 weeks (thankfully). Overall an uneventful day, and recalled how the work was supposed to be done. However, I was constantly absent minded. It was rather cold this morning and wore a jacket to work. Only remembered I had forgotten it when I saw the lift door close. That led to me punching out $100 from the ATM machine and not taking my money. Ouch. Only recalled when I nearly finished dinner with friends, and recalled the motions I went through. Didn’t remember me putting the money into my wallet. Sure enough, there was nothing in there when I checked it. Heh, brief insanity I guess. Was hungry and mind was thinking of 101 other things at the time.

This was not the first time I’ve forgotten something. On my way back to KL, during the security check I had to remove my hunk of a cube to go through the x-ray. My tripod dropped and a kind man had to run after me to return it to me at the gate terminal. I’ve also left my PDA at the post office before, only remembering I had forgotten it a day later (which shows how much I use the thing, heh). Luckily for me, nobody wanted it and I collected it the following day. Leaving $100 at an ATM machine is like banking in a cheque with the word “Cash” on it. Free for all.

$100 is okay. It smarts, but I’ve lost money for dumber reasons. Like the time I bought a tram ticket, went home and changed my pants. Left the ticket on the table. Took a tram back to the city and got caught on the last stop before I got off. I was confident I had the ticket and I felt my brain freezing when I couldn’t find it. I paid for the ticket and still got fined for $150, which I felt was unfair, but it seemed justified by my carelessness.

Lessons to be learnt in life I guess. Heh, I remember a time when I was very careful with all my belongings. Every now and then, I’d check to see that I had my wallet, my phone and keys on me. My life was like that once, not taking risks with losing things. You just don’t want to bear the burden of the cost of replacing something (and you think at times about things that can’t be replaced). I’ve grown a little more lax over the years. Still usually careful, but there are always times where there is a lapse of concentration because you’re always thinking of something and somewhere else.

Heh, only a word of advice to myself. Focus when you’re doing something and try not to get distracted (advice I’ve given before).