Yet another busy period has come and gone: a week ago, I secured the last recruitment quota to be in the Business Builders Club's 3rd season of qualifiers; my long-standing, highly anticipated dating workshop collaboration with good buddy TY has just ended it's third successful running; and my Rotaract Club's keynote project, The Batik Inspirations Charity Dinner, has concluded it's first phase of preparations, with Conrad Hotel stepping up to assist us. Things are running perfectly.

Whew! I'm grateful to put these weights on my back aside for now and take a well deserved break - and I do this by spending a slow Monday morning with my girlfriend, Sandra, reading the papers, sipping coffee on the couch as the world whiz by, grimacing at the 'Monday Blues' ;)

And by mid-morning, the day is still perfect: the sky is a deep azure blue, yet not too hot that it makes you sweat uncomfortably in your clothes. Oh! The feeling! Sandra and I took a leisurely stroll along the road, admiring the cars going by - commenting on which cars we like, and which ones might look better with a face lift, and-

*BANG!*

We spun around to witness, almost in slow-motion, a yellow taxi running over a dog. First its bumper hit the dog in its hind, causing the dog to fall on its side, then with sickening clarity, we saw how the dog was momentarily pinned under the front wheel of the taxi, and then being rolled over by the back wheel. What was really disturbing was that upon impact, the taxi did not slow down, but nonchalantly continued to speed off.

There goes my beautiful Monday morning.

Now the dog was yelping in pain, squirming on the ground, and throwing up. It didn't end up as road kill, but we could see how its hind was contorted in an angle that it was not meant to be bent. A kind fellow carried the dog to safety from the middle of the road. We couldn't just stand there and not do anything, so we decided to call, of all people, the Police, hoping they would make arrangements with the SPCA to deal with the situation.

"Hello, is this the police? We just witnessed a dog being run over by a taxi. It is hurt badly but someone has moved it to the side of the road. Could you help?"

(muffled silence ensued) "...oh, er, ok. Is there any damage to the public property?"

WHAT?? We're talking about a poor creature whose life is in danger after being brutally run over by a 1000kg vehicle. It just happens to be a dog now; but might just as well be a little boy, or a little girl, or someone's mother, father, girlfriend, boyfriend, wife or husband. And here the first thing the police ask is about damage to public property!?

The police said they'd notify the SPCA. But they called again later, this time, to ask "..er, about the report you made earlier, were you the one that ran over the dog?" NO YOU MORON! We're the witness!!

It is really hilarious now that I think about it, but Sandra and I were pulling our hairs in frustration.

As funny as this whole thing seems, it really demonstrated how life can take on a 180 turn even faster than a rally racer taking on a hairpin bend. One moment my day was full of tra-la-la, and the next moment I have the horrific image of a mangled, puking dog impressed into my mind. The poor dog was probably going tra-la-la too after breakfast. Little did it expect to be hit and run over by a merciless yellow vehicle, breaking his bones and making him puke his most recent meal. Life's not always bad, but it can be unpredictable. So I realize there's really no time to waste here. If there's something we want to do, we have got to do it now. Not later, but now.

And so, as the old saying goes: "Live each day as if it's your last".

I do sincerely wish the poor dog lives to eat another round of breakfast.