Lost & Found - Part 1

During the term break (some 3 weeks ago), I was working on my assignment in the school's computer lab. I placed my one and only thumbdrive in the USB port to save my assignment. After I completed my assignment, I downloaded audio lectures into my thumbdrive (Fyi: An audio lecture takes <10>30 minutes to download from my laptop back in my hostel). Then, my phone rang. My friend has ended her class and was waiting for me at the other end or school, so I quickly packed up and left.

Two days later, I wanted to proof read my assignment to ensure that no further amendments are needed, only to realise that my only copy of it was in my thumbdrive. Guess what? I came to realise that my thumbdrive's missing! I left it sticking in the school's computer usb port and I totally forgot about its existence (or rather non-existence) until 2 days later. How blur can I be!

Even though I was blaming myself for my carelessness, I managed to find peace and calmness. Sounds odd but it's true. If it were the same me a year or two ago, I would have been panicky and agitated, calling others to rant about my misfortune and vent my frustrations, while frantically trying to search for my thumbdrive. Hmms. Looks like I'm a changed person.

Anyway, on the 40 minutes bus journey to school, thoughts kept running through my head and I concluded that the probability of getting my thumbdrive back is < .10, since I have lost it for more than 48 hours. During that period of time, many people would have gained access to that computer which I left my thumbdrive in and I'm pretty sure one of them would have taken it. Moreover, my thumbdrive does not contain any personal information thus it would have taken the person some effort to trace back to its original owner (me). In short, it's much easier for anyone to take the thumbdrive, delete its content and keep it for personal use than to return it to me. As such, I did not harbour any hopes of seeing my thumbdrive again.

To be honest, it's not so much the cost or value of the thumbdrive that mattered to me. I got the thumbdrive for free when I purchased an external hard disk drive. It was the data inside the thumbdrive which held great significance to me. There were notes (important), assignments (super important) and photos stored in the thumbdrive. (Don't need to speculate. There aren't any photos similar to what Edison Chen had).

Later that evening, as I entered the same computer lab (Baume Infoplace), I glanced through the notice board for any "Lost & Found" notice. All I saw was a "Missing Thumbdrive" notice. Looked like I wasn't the only careless one to make such a silly mistake of leaving my thumbdrive behind. I gave up searching for it and continued to work on the same assignment with my project partner.

In the midst of project discussion, I got bored and decided to check my school email and I saw a new mail titled "USB in Baume Infoplace". I opened my mail and this was what it read:

Hey there,

Just to let you know that your USB has been left in Baume Infoplace. Was checking to see who it belongs to ... realised you are part of the SSA so I'll pass your thumbdrive to abc/xyz if you do not see this email in time.

Yours truly,
JY

Note: Names have been changed and included the initials of my benefactor to maintain privacy.

Oh my goodness! I can't believe how lucky I was. My thumbdrive was picked up by a fellow Singaporean who managed to contact me by looking through my assignments for my student ID (our student ID is used as part of our schools' email address). I looked at the date and realised that he had sent me the email two days ago! Oh gosh. That was the exact same day I 'lost' my thumbdrive!

I replied his email with great excitement (I've no idea why did I feel excited) and this was what I wrote:

Hey JY,

Thank you for helping me to safekeep my USB thumbdrive. That was really nice of you =)

Kindly advise on when (and where) it is convenient for me to pick up the thumbdrive from you. If possible, I'll like to treat you to coffee. Degree, purple pickle or street theatre will be good. I am contactable at 0123456789.

Regards,

Mildred

After replying that email, I was preparing to leave the computer lab when I saw two friends of mine, whom I knew from SSA (SSA = Singapore Student Association. Fyi: SSA is a society/club formed by Singaporeans for Singaporeans in ANU. Coincidentally, the SSA president was my polytechnic IT classmate, Jason. He has since stepped down as he will be graduating and returning to Singapore at the end of this year). We chatted for a short while and I randmonly asked "Have you any idea who is JY?"

My friend, Chel went "I know two people of the same name. Which one are you referring to?"

I thought for a while before saying "To be honest, I have no idea," and went on telling her my story.

She replied "If it's the guy who picked your thumbdrive up from this lab, it's most probably him" and she gazed to this guy sitting two computers behind me. "Do you want me to ask him on your behalf?"

I shook my head and said "Don't want lah. So paiseh."

Just then, that guy walked in our direction and Chel went "Want or not, want or not? I help you ask, okay?

I kept insisting "Don't want, don't want. Really very paiseh!"

Just as that guy was behind me (he was walking in our direction, towards the Gents), Chel went "Did you happen to pick up a thumbdrive?"

That guy glance at everyone in the clique before looking at me. Then, he said "So you are Mildred?"

"Errrms, yes" I replied with a sheepish grin."



Super long post. I logged in 5 times on 5 different ocassions to type up this post. Shall publish this part of the story first before I continue the rest in my next post. Hahas!

Stay tuned, k?