I spent two days in Magnuson Park for the huge book sale. It’s indeed huge-it’s so huge that it makes me anxious that I could not compete with hundreds of scavengers with suitcases and board boxes to dig out the valuables from millions (maybe?) of books in the two rooms. I was so anxious that when I left for lunch and stopped at bank for some cash I left my card in ATM machine. Before I realized it and called the bank to report the loss, someone took out $700 from my card in 20 minutes. I will get my money back, under the bank’s protection policy, but it just makes me feel like swallowing a fly. To get my money from my card, this person literally had to stand behind me and continued with two money withdrawals right after I stepped away. And this person did it without hesitation. I had a pretty good idea of what this person looked like, and I might smile at this person at some point. It troubled me when thinking of how this person decided the next move-to stop me telling me I forgot to take out my card, or watching me walk away while taking my money out. The cold and clear mind (or maybe in a total exciting mentality at that moment) chilled me to the bone.
April 21, 2009