It was the most horrible feeling.
When it sunk in my head, I was just screaming inside. 😱
It really wasn’t the laptop itself – it was the invaluable data and work inside it. I had spent endless painful hours on a number of projects and it killed me knowing that I lost it all.
Especially for one particular project – I literally worked through an entire month; weekends included.
And no, I didn’t do any backup. 😞 Because I was just so busy and kept on going & going…
Stupid of me. Shame on me.
And it was absolutely insane!!!
I wanted to kill the thief SO BADLY!!
And at the same time, I went all, “I always return valuables that I find!!! Why does this happen to me??” *breaks into hysterical cries*
But then a close friend of mine said the truest words, “Your mistake is thinking that everyone is as kind and nice as you are.”
Honestly don’t think he thought of that himself luh… Swear I read it in a book somewhere. Lol.
The aftermath of the theft just led to a lot of mess for me…
I knew I had to clean up a lot of mess with work – I had deadlines to meet. It’s not my clients’ problems that I lost my laptop; they still want their deliverables.
I was already utterly exhausted and worn out… but because of this incident, I had to go through all of it again; but at a faster speed, because time was already lost.
Immediately after informing the building management, I headed down to the police station to make a report.
And this was what went down… It’s a good thing she burst out in laughter and went on about how adorable I am… but I genuinely couldn’t stand seeing my statement having those errors… 😅
But after all the craziness settled; I realised just how blessed I am.
#1 An old friend works around the area; he came down to meet me and really helped to distract me and calm me down with his jokes. 😂
#2 When I posted what happened on Facebook, I received messages and calls from friends who tried to cheer me up. 😍 Super precious! You guys have no idea how much that meant to me.
#3 My boss wasn’t angry with me; he was just worried about how I’m going to manage the workload, and immediately requested for more time from the clients for me. ☺️
#4 I cried at the police station, but realised that my problem was absolutely trivial compared to others’… And that sort of calmed me down significantly. Like, honestly… What do I really have to panic about? I just have to put in more hours, sweat & tears, dig into my memory a little bit…
Other people had huge problems that made mine seem like I was complaining that someone stole my lollipop.
And anyway, this went down at my police station visit.
#5 When I got back to the office, my partner J pulled out Hokkaido cheesecake for me! 😋 I was told he specially went out to get it for me, to cheer me up.
#6 And when I got home late, Mark whipped up his awesome pasta! Really, he makes good pasta. 👍🏻🍝 And he even threw in my favourite crab sticks! He stayed up to sit with me in the kitchen at 12:15AM on a work night. ❤️
Through all this, I realised that like J said, I always overreact. 😑
And as much as I always say I’m used to being alone – I cannot deny that having some love from others (especially in such a harrowing situation), was quite literally a lifesaver.
Everyone made it so easy for me. And for that, I’m endlessly grateful. 😚
Maybe being a tad reliant on people for care & love isn’t as scary as I think it is.
I lost my laptop about 2 weeks ago – and since then, no news. I’ve already accepted that I won’t ever be getting it back… but it’s okay. I managed to work through it all – my memory served me quite well. 😬✌🏻 And it’s through such times that I open my eyes to the genuine care people express.
And I believe in karma! And for all I know… maybe that person desperately needed a quick buck for a life or death situation.
So I don’t choose to be angry, devastated or vengeful over this. You’d think that through something like this, I’d lose faith in humanity.
But, no. If anything at all, it made me believe in it even more.
So in a way, I’d like to thank God for letting this happen…
Albeit when it happened I was all, “Why, God?! Why, why, why?? Is it because I didn’t go church for the past lifetime??” 😂
I choose to keep this as memory to the awesome people I have around me; my background isn’t very pretty, but I think the picture painted in front is absolutely beautiful ☺️ And I wouldn’t trade this canvas for anything else in the world.
XOXO. G.
Gera Shen 