on 2 occassions within 30 days... my string of beads broke. Actually its pretty hard to find the beads once they roll off but on both occassion I found them. Why I was insistent on finding the beads, hahahaa.. they are quite costly even though they don't look flashy with all the blink blink and they are not from the people who lelong at a small stall. Ie: these are crystal beads from Burma.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TourmalineOn the first occassion the bad holding the beads broke at a the kopi tiam near my block while I was buying my nasi from an Indian store. I watched in slow motion as the beads scatter. I started to pick my beads and 2 other guys from the kopi tiam helped look. One other customer help keep an eye but he moved away to allow me to search. The chai png guy asked if I found everything. I told him I am missing one and he continue to look in the area and found it on the stack of flour bag. It was really a close call and I was amazed the crystal did not crack given the impact.
This morning, I squeezed onto a crowded bus standing near the front door. When I needed to get down, I had to squeeze through a lot of people (and very sorry malays were not cooperative and kept blocking the front when there is space behind the bus). I got down the bus and crossed the road when I realised my string of beads broke once again. Then I retracked my steps running all the way. Could not find any, then I ran to the interchange to catch the bus. I saw the bus at the alighting bay, approached the bus driver for help. He looked and looked and found one bead in an obscure corner. I found the rest on the floor. Still not cracked and intact. I was missing one and the driver allowed me to check the whole bus over and over. And I told him to promise me that if he find the last bead to let me know. I alighted the bus and went to work quite sad. Arrive at work, took out my book, the last bead rolled out and under a colleague drawer. I had to ask her to allow me to dig under her desk for the bead. Finally all the beads are united and uncracked. I was so happy. Seriously I thought I had no chance of finding the beads especially when I lost it in a crowded bus.
This made me realised that I needed to slow down, there are lots of nice people out there, just as I know there are lots of not so nice people out there... and these events kept reminding me to take it easy...