7am, somewhere in Boston:

"Sigh... another cold morning in Boston, and I've to stand in Starbucks for 3 hours. Gosh, then I've to run for my classes." She got herself ready for work.


7:45am, In Starbucks:

"Routine, routine, routine." It is another busy morning where the earlybirds started queueing for their morning dose of caffeine. The queue never seem to get shorter even though the staff have been serving their customers for the past 45 minutes, since the start of the day.
"I can't wait for 11 am to quickly come... whaat... what's the next customer's order again?"


5am: In Apt 11 of Burbank St.:

*Flip and turn* "I've searched everywhere. It's not at home, it's not in Berklee. Is the one in Starbucks going to be mine? Did I bring it to the bank the other day? Maybe I should drop by the bank, if the one in Starbucks doesn't belong to me. F***. I don't wanna put too high hopes on getting it back. Yesterday morning the Security Office said the same thing, red passport in the safe. But it turned out to be a Japanese passport... I don't wanna make that stupid trip to the Consulate in New York on a WEEKDAY. Man, I can imagine the type of treatment they're gonna give me. Then when I'm back in Singapore, how to go back to JB? Make passport, going to the US Embassy to re-apply for the student visa, getting back to Singapore for the re-entry permit, the bus-ride, the queues, oh my gawd. The haze. Argh... my dad's operation... Damn, I can't even go back if I can't get my student visa done in a week. It's impossible. Not in a week, not during Deepavali and Raya holidays. I can't afford to withdraw from this semester. I can't stand staying for another semester here! And it's freezing cold here. When on earth are they going to turn the heat on? Why must I do everything myself!!!???"

8am:

She got ready. Anxious. "What if the passport in Starbucks is not mine? Then I'll be doomed."


8:30am, in Starbucks:

Me: Hi excuse me, I was told yesterday to come by this morning to have someone open the safe for me to see if my passport is here.
Staff: A passport? Can you please wait for like 5-10 minutes?
Me: Yeah, sure.
(After 20 minutes)
Staff: I'm sorry, we've checked the safe, but it was empty.
Me: Empty? How could that be? I should have got here name, but she told me that she picked up a passport sometime ago and left it in the safe. *lost*
Staff 2: Passport?
Me: Yeah.
Staff 2: Which country is it?
Me: It's a Malaysian passport.
Staff 2: It sounds familiar... I remember that. That was sometime ago, wasn't it?
Me: Yeah, I guess. Oh good, good... that it's familiar to you.
Staff 2: Why don't you leave your name and contact number with us. I'll check for you again and get back to you before this evening.
Me: Alright, hopefully you can find it, cos I need it urgently. My dad is having a major surgery and I need to get home by the end of the week.
Staff 2: I'm sorry. I'll see what I can do.
Me: Thank you. What's your name?
Staff 2: You're welcome, I'm Bridgette.
Me: Bridgette?
Staff 2: Yes.
Me: Thank you very much, Bridgette, for helping me find.
Staff 2: You're welcome.

I left for Mike Brigida's class at 9am.

10:57am, in Mike's class:
*Bzzzz, bzzzz* (Phone vibrating) "Argh, can't pick up the phone. It must be Starbucks."

11am, outside the classroom:
(New voicemail)
"(Voicemail recording) Hi Lisa, I found your passport. But I'll be off work after 11am. So,........"
"They found my passort!!" I screamed to Brigida. "(Eyes and mouth wide open) Wow! Praise the Lord!" Brigida shot back. "Yeah! I gotta go." I ran across the street to Starbucks and looked for Bridgette.

Waited for another 5 minutes before they had some free time to 'entertain' me. Then Bridgette appeared from the office with a red passport in her right hand. "I found it behind the office desk". "Behind the office desk??! Wow! Thank you, thank you, thank you. You saved my life!" I replied. I briefly flipped through my passport. My convict face is intact, student visa, no missing pages... Purrfect!

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It's amazing how every second, somebody, somewhere in the world - is put in a life or death situation, while on the another point somewhere in the world, someone else is just idling and trying to kill time. Better still, you'd never know when you'd literally save someone else's life - just by doing a simple favor, something you might not even remember 2 days later. If you find yourself stuck in life, or in a routine, break it! Do something that you don't usually do for a moment. Speak to a stranger, give someone a call, skip a class?!, visit somewhere, lose a passport?! It makes life much more interesting. Don't forget to share the love...

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For now, I'll not go back to Singapore/Malaysia as I've cancelled my plane ticket and dad's surgery date is not fixed. I'll just play by ear. More projects have just been assigned to us. Back to my normal routine of a student's life.