Normally, I would agree. Normally, I can live without my mobile phone.
But the past few days were not at all NORMAL.
In fact, it’s actually so freaky abnormal (especially tonight) that it’s like all the planets, moons, stars, asteroids and everything in the cosmic Universe was out to get me!
10.30pm 09.10.09 (Friday)
I am now at a CC in Seria. Normally, I would be comfortably at home with the family at this time…
48 hours ago (Wednesday)
I was living my very normal life (in Bandar) when my mobile phone battery was reading “low”.
No problemo, I thought, I’ll just charge it when I get (to my rented) home.
But when I got home, my charger was nowhere to be found!
Then I realised…my charger was left…in Seria…an hour’s drive away…
No problemo, I thought, I can live without my mobile phone. I’ll be going back to Seria on Friday anyways.
And before I went to bed that night, my mobile phone had “died” (the battery was so totally flat, it couldn’t even just be “on”)
24 hours ago (Thursday)
When I woke up, I tried switching on my mobile phone again.
It came to life for a few minutes, before it “died” again.
No problemo, I thought, I can live without my mobile phone.
I had urgent sms-conversation to be had with my bro from Kuching. But I couldn’t do anything…
So that night, when I went out for dinner with my friends, I borrowed 1 of their mobile phones, put my simcard in there, and 10 smses came pouring in.
2 were urgent and required a reply.
And so I took my time to reply 1 (using a foreign phone was not easy) and after I’d composed a text the length of 2 smses, it failed to send!
I was flustered.
I was even more flustered when I discovered I didn’t have credit (for international sms).
And so, I had to send that text to another friend’s phone and from there forward it to the receipient.
As for the other urgent sms, I just asked my friend to help me send a text to my bro in Kuching for him to call me.
4 hours ago
I just drove the 1 hour back to Seria (where my family lives) from Bandar (where I work) and I couldn’t get into the house!
All the cars were there but no one was home, which was really really odd.
I spent about 20 minutes contemplating my “predicament”…
Normally, I would call them and ask where they were. But my mobile won’t even switch on!
Or, they might even have texted me to tell me where they were or where they left the key. But my mobile won’t even switch on!
I tried switching it on…and it worked, but with a “Low battery” warning…so I quickly texted my younger bro to inform them I was in front of the house, asked them where they were and told them that my phone batt was flat and that if they didn’t appear in the next 10mins, I was hitting the town to look for food.
Message sent.
Dead.
Owh well, I thought, no point in waiting 10 mins (realising only after I sent that last miracle sms) as the cars were there, which would mean they were probably hitching someone somewhere, which would mean they couldn’t possibly arrive in 10mins! And so, I left my “non-valuables” in front of the house and also a message on a piece of paper in front of the house.
And I went to town.
And my problems weren’t over yet!
My plan was to hit a CC I used to go to last time and contact them online somehow…but the CC was closed. No, it was not closed. It was SHUT DOWN. No longer in business! What used to be a CC, was a mini mart. When I confidently walked up the stairs, thinking perhaps the CC was still up there, the people in the mini mart gave me a weird look. I must’ve looked lost.
Also, in my haste to get to the CC, I had improperly parked (parking against the correct direction actually) so I decided to re-park. Adding a ticket to the night will only make things worse.
And so I went around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around town to find parking, to no avail. The town was packed!!!!
And I was getting hungry.
And so, after countless times circling WYWY, quite like a shark circling its prey, I decided to just park at the entrance and order a takeaway.
Parking was only available after I had ordered.
Once my food arrived, I parked, and ate…in the car…
Felt like a stake-out where my “target” was the variety of different people and witnessing the shops closing for the day, and my “partner” was a DJ on the local radio spinning “UK Top 10s”.
It was almost 9pm when I finished my dinner…and I realised…its still too early to expect my family to be back home from wherever it is they went…and so I decided to check out another CC in town, which my younger bros usually frequent, half-afraid that they were closed already.
Fortunately, they were still open. The first thing I said to to the CC-keeper,
“What time do you close?”
“11pm”
And so here I am.
30 minutes ago
I was typing this post, amidst the racket a bunch of teen-angst boys were making while playing “Halo”, when the CC door opened and a farmiliar figure approached me.
It was my younger bro, who only got my miracle text less than an hour ago.
I was surprised he found me. I wasn’t exactly anywhere near food. I asked how he did manage to find me, his reply:
“I’m your brother. Checked at WYWY and you weren’t there so I knew you probably went to find an internet source.”
Aww. Yep, guess he is my bro. 
And just when I was still overwhelmed with his deductions, his next sentence was:
“Give me a dollar (for an hour on the net)”
And he told me that our parents were in Bandar (from where I had just come!) -_-”
So yeah, the past few days without my mobile phone, and especially tonight, was really difficult. But NORMALLY, I can live without my mobile phone. The past few days were just not normal.
Also, I discovered one very obvious truth from tonight’s happenings:
There is nothing for me in Seria (where I grew up and went to school) NOW compared to Bandar (where my life is)…
And it saddens me to say so…
