“He is already in the house. He is still here right now, smoking, walking all around the house.”

When Sek Man Ng moved from Hong Kong to New York City, he Americanized his name. Thus it was Simon Ng who lived in a Queens, New York apartment with his older sister, Sharon Ng, originally Cho Man Ng.

Simon began blogging on Xanga on October 3, 2002. He hated talking about himself, he wrote, but wanted to try to keep a diary. He described doing programming homework and playing Warcraft 3, not unlike many other 16 year old high school students in 2002. After four quick posts, he stopped blogging for three years.

Simon’s life changed drastically during those three years. His parents moved back to Hong Kong in 2004, leaving Simon, 18 at the time, and his sister together in the Queens apartment. Because the siblings rarely saw each other before 10 p.m. each night, Simon was often left to his own devices.

Simon continued blogging on April 22, 2005:

Imagine a guy who doesn’t know how to take care of himself and had been relying on others for like 18 years. All of a sudden have to take care of themselves. So its been hell, two meals rarely and one meal a day most likely -_-. Overcooking and messed up cooking all the time. If it was before I would just say fuck it, lets wait for my dad to cook me some food ( Proceed to throw them all into the bin). Now I have to eat whatever crap I cook out, which is pretty bad believe me. Anyway I am starting to get used to this life style and am improving day by day doing all these small stuff that everyone probably knows how to do.

Now convinced that he had wasted his youth, Simon swore to improve himself. After barely ever stepping foot in a library, he began spending 4-8 hours per day studying at his college’s library. He earned two A- grades, one A and one B+ during his first semester in college.

It is regretable that I screwed up on the finals, because my laziness kicked in. I really wanted to get 2 A- and 2 A+ and I know I could… Yeah I know I should be happy bout it but I am a greedy person. The reason I have regret is probably because it wasn’t all As. I would have really surprised my parents and makes them happy ;) (Not that it hasn’t ;P).

Simon signed up for a $600 summer science course and was hoping to land a job soon. He began blogging regularly, hoping to keep a record that he could look back on in four years when he graduated from college.

The last May of Simon’s life was chronicled closely on his blog.

Simon became hooked on Musui’s Story: Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samuari, the first time he’d read a book without fighting sleep. He finished the book quicker and more happily than any he’d ever read before. Hungry for more, he planned on picking up other books from his Japanese class’s syllabus to “get started on a reading habit.” After watching a movie trailer, he also had plans to on seeing the third Star Wars prequel.

“Even though the last one bored me to death,” wrote Simon. “But Darth Vador is so bad ass, and just him being there gave me enough reason to go see it. LOL the whole day went by with me watching the trailor over and over again. Don’t know why it is so addictive and I can’t concentrate on doing anything after watching the trailor… I can’t wait till [May] 19!”

As well as he’d been doing in school, Simon’s life at home was problematic. He ate as rarely as once a day, unable or unwilling to prepare regular meals for himself. He had been sick for a month.

Life has been really hard lately, I am still ill and it is zapping my every strength.

Even though I am underweight, I am still losing more weight. Gonna become human stickfigure soon, since I am eating one meal a day. No money you know, I can ask my sister for some if I wanted. She usually ask me if I need any, but I declined since she doesn’t make much and like to waste money.

No smilies today too tired exhausted, when will I recover…

In an attempt to recover from a “bad throat”, Simon missed classes for three days.

On Thursday, May 12, 2005, he was home sick when his doorbell rang.

Today I missed my Japanese class again, since I have gotten a bad throat. I only went to the class once this week, so I am probably so far behind now. I will catch up in the summer tho so no worries hehe. Anyway today has been weird, at 3 some guy ringed the bell. I went down and recognized it was my sister’s former boyfriend. He told me he wants to get his fishing poles back. I told him to wait downstair while I get them for him. While I was searching them, he is already in the house. He is still here right now, smoking, walking all around the house with his shoes on which btw I just washed the floor 2 days ago! Hopefully he will leave soon, oh yeah working on the jap report as we speak!

Jin Lin, Sharon’s ex-boyfriend, had come to the apartment at about 3 p.m.

Simon made his last entry on Xanga at 5:05 p.m. Shortly thereafter, Jin stabbed him repeatedly in the chest and neck with a butcher knife. Simon was bound with duct and masking tape while Lin, according to his confession, searched the apartment for cash. He found little to nothing of value. When Sharon came home at around 9:30 p.m., Jin stabbed her and her brother nearly five dozen times in the neck and body, reported Times Newsweekly and Times Ledger. Simon died in the apartment. Sharon died an hour later in the hospital.

Although Jin initially denied any wrongdoing, he confessed once the police found Simon’s blog. In 2008, Jin Lin was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Photo: Times Ledger