Just for today time ticked slowly. I had the attention span of a fly today.

Dozens of strangers went up to the front and said their piece; all I was fixated on was the tick-tick-tick of the clock's second hand. Words were said, how important, I cannot remember. All I remember was that I was hearing it all but not really listening. There were a few debates or two - mindless ones that I suspect were deeply rooted in personal vendettas- but their conclusions were irrelevant.

While trying to complete a project I was distracted, intermittently, by curious small red ants daring enough to march up my laptop screen. I flicked them away, one by one, only to return to the blinking cursor on MSWord, an annoying constant reminder that I had much, much more to write before I would be done. There was a nearby group making a heck load of noise. One girl spoke at rapid-fire pace - a rat-tat-tat-tat, and another guy kept rattling off useless 'Do You Know...' trivia loudly to the rest of the group, presumably from a website. Selective sentences from their conversation kept jumping out at me.

"Haven't you had the teochew muay at Al Azaar?".

"Have you heard of Thomson Road prata?"

That was when I decided enough was enough and I got up to leave. On my way to the carpark I had a sudden thought. "Have I paid for season parking to cover April as well? Nah, I should have." Starting up my car's engine I went towards the gantry, expecting it to lift up immediately. No go. $10.71 flashed across the screen. Shit, shit, shit. My random thought was really a minor premonition. That was weird.

The drive home was really a blur of lights from other cars and streetlights; and a blur of music - music blasting out from a newly created CD-compilation of Hip-Hop and Dance tracks. Today Sophie Swift seemed to be extremely obedient. No noisy protests as I guided her up the expressway ramps. Today it practically purred along the streets as I drove home. It was as if Sophie Swift was on auto-pilot. I wasn't even thinking much as I drove home.

Ja, today I had the attention span of a fly.