Things that go Poof

Today was horrid. Due to some very urgent family matters, I was unable to attend the morning (ie. very important!) lectures. And the dear lecturer decided to ask questions to the group he'll be taking, so obviously he found out I'm not there. For some very strange reason, there was quite a hoo-ha over it. Wonder why ... I got people streaming out from the seminar room telling me again and again that the lecturer asked about me. WTF? And it seems that information isn't being passed round very well - somehow I never got to know that we're supposed to flash our magnetic cards to log in and out of the seminar room, to clock our presence.

Prof. Lee's lecture was excellent though, loved his humour. Went back and did some time-tabling, and it's getting alarming. Shouldn't have done that.

Now, to the topic. Things that really disappear. The story started from yesterday evening, when yx drove to fetch me from NUH, with brownie on board. It started pouring and thundering, so I dashed into the house carrying brownie while she ran in with the keys and my bag. At about 9.30pm, we discovered her handphone was lost. The last time I saw it, it was on the car's deskboard. Never left home since coming back, so there were only 2 places it could be: my car, or my house. It wasn't in the car, and it was locked, so no-one could have taken it, assuming we left it inside. It wasn't in my house either, we even searched the fridge (did some cooking when we got back) and in brownie's mouth since there was this remote possibility he might have eaten it. Now, the phone was not on silent mode, but we called and called and no sound at all. Nothing.

It turned up today. At Joo Chiat Rd.

Don't ask me how it happened. The very honest provision shop uncle called me early this morning (my number appeared on the missed calls list 30+ times, and he left it in his shop last night so no one picked it up) and I went down to collect it at 7am. Would have made it back if not for another horrid, nasty $%Q@# but let's just leave it at that - things are now bad enough as it is. The uncle said his neighbour found it at Pasir Panjang Rd and left it in his care in case the owner called. But let's say the phone dropped when we were trying to get from the car to my house (2 metres away?) - wouldn't it have been soaking wet? It was in pristine condition when we got it back.

Gah. Whatever. We can guess and hypothesize, but what matters is that we got it back! A long lecture (from me) about taking care of your own belongings, and it's all good.

Now, I'm typing away with a glass of Australian wine (2001 vintage!). It's a mix of Sauvignon and Merlot, but after all these years, the oak flavour really surfaced and when it's slightly warmer the bouquet's amazing. Colour's a little disappointing though, it's maroon and with sediments, but could be due to storage. Time to get one of those mini-cellars.

A thought suddenly came to me. Will I die from a myocardial infarct? I can imagine years later lying in hospital, and the new generation of M3s asking, "Uncle, do you drink alcohol?". Isn't red wine supposed to be cardioprotective? The fallacy of research - this year, alcohol's bad. Oh wait, we found out that it's good! Now, then again, we review it, and it's bad. Oh, for f*'s sake, make up your mind yes? Same thing applies to fats and oils. Olive oil for example. It's good, it's bad, it's good.

It's like Pri School physics. You push at it from both ends, and no work is done at all. Now, quit analysing everything you eat and indulge in (jogging is good, jogging hurts your knees, blah ...) and just do it. You only live once.

"Do what ye will, an it harm none"

How very apt. Does anyone know what Wicca is anymore? That was from the Wiccan Rede, by the way.