Just when I thought my iPad Mini is nearing its end and usage, it found a new lease in life. Two and a half months ago, I started playing Homescapes on my iPhone XR and have been at it constantly.
One day, to my horror, I discovered this activity drained one per cent off the phone’s battery health. Eeeks! Can’t allow this to happen. So brilliantly, I thought of using the iPad Mini instead for Homescapes and give my phone a breather from constant usage.
The iPad Mini is now experiencing a revival especially with this game despite some occasional instability but generally, the game can be played online and offline as well. It’s okay if I don’t use it to read the news on Safari or even crush candies because after all, the Daily Bonus streak snapped already on Candy Crush Soda.
The end is not nearer for my faithful iPad Mini and my iPhone XR’s battery health is intact. But during this MCO period, there’s a surge in using the phone to keep up with news and social media while the iPad Mini is purely for Homescapes. I am at Level 1783 now and expect to move up to pass another day in quarantine.
It is Quarantine Day 8 (MCO Day 13) and this staying put is starting to get to me. The daily routine is the same, day in, day out.
I wake up, I eat. Then I prepare lunch. Then we eat. Taking a breather I carve. Then I snack. Throw in some house chores in between.
Then I prepare dinner. Then eat again, accompanied by a stiff drink or two or sometimes three. Then as I get ready for bed, I think about what to cook for the next day. This routine is then repeated the next day and the next and the next.
See the pattern? It’s always revolving around eating and food. No wonder the waistline is expanding!
I shouldn’t visit the kitchen so often or rather, shouldn’t sit all day at the island in the kitchen surrounded by food. Seriously, the MCO should be applied to the kitchen area to prevent all this food temptation. During the past two weeks, the living room has been replaced by the kitchen as the most used place in the whole house.
It is Day 5 of our quarantine period but if I include the MCO period, it’s actually ten days being at home. I think both hubby and I are still doing okay but I suspect M2 may be a bit restless, cooped up in her room. All the way home but not quite home, no different from before because we are using the phone to communicate despite being in the same house.
We’ve been sending her food in a Bento box, leaving it outside her room. Almost like a hotel’s room service but this is where the service stops. No housekeeping provided so she has to take care of this chore until the quarantine period ends.
The various Bento box mealsBesides meals, there’s Snack Boxes too
Sometimes I even forget she’s back because she’s been so quiet in her room. Of course being out of sight, she’s out of the mind! But as she has online classes everyday, we leave her alone.
I guess I’m still not used to having her back, sooner than the original plans. Oh well, I’m not complaining. Better to have her here than afar with the ever changing situation of the pandemic.
However once the quarantine period is over, the situation remains except that M2 can leave her room. The government of Malaysia had announced on Wednesday, a further two weeks extension of the MCO! So we still have to stay at home until 14th April. It is with fervent hope that this drastic measure will flatten the curve to fight the Covid-19 spread.
Every other day, a new Whale is carved and completed
And until then, my cooking skills have been improving, my carving has yielded more Whales than ever and my waistline has been expanding much to my dismay. How can it not when I am constantly thinking of all these delicious food that I am now able to cook—because I have the time—instead of design work? In truth, the 16/8 diet has long since been thrown out the window at the start of this.
The situation has changed. As of Monday evening, both of us started a 14-day quarantine because M2 returned from Ireland and we were in contact, hubby directly and myself indirectly. He went to the airport alone to pick her up. The Arrival Hall was eerily quiet devoid of people which was good given the circumstances.
She can’t be missed coming out from the Arrival Hall
M2 will of course do the 14-days quarantine without question having flown back on Qatar Airways and being exposed during the 13.5 hours flight plus a three-hour transit in Doha. We are doing the same too (staying quarantined) as a precaution with almost zero contact with her. She will be confined to her room during this period and the first 72 hours will be critical.
We are thankful that our baby is finally home after the official announcement that classes are ending earlier for the Spring semester. With the onset of Covid-19 spreading so rapidly in Ireland and Europe, you’d never know what would happen next.
The situation is very unpredictable, being so dynamic and constantly evolving. As it is, flights are being suspended to/from Ireland and it would have been impossible for her to come home had we had acted later. Shudder… thank goodness we didn’t.
So for us now, it’s a reset of our situation of staying put. Today being Day 7 of the MCO, it is now reset to 14 days.
Let’s hope we stay sane. One thing’s for sure, my cooking skills will improve by leaps and bounds now that I will be cooking for three!
It is Day Six of our partial lockdown and I must say, it’s been surreal. Everyday felt like a Saturday until we lost track of the days. But we have not been bored which is good.
This month alone, I completed four, one in progress and more to come!
Everyday I carved and cooked two meals whilst hubby tended to the garden. And every now and then, house chores were thrown in and the days passed by albeit slowly.
For someone who has not cooked for the last 12 years because we had a lived-in maid to do this, I find myself still quite adept in the kitchen. Thank goodness because eating out is not an option. For the record, our maid went back for good this year in mid-January and so we’ve been “help-less” for the past two months. But we’ve managed well.
And so far, the lockdown menu has been impressive and varied because I have more time now to plan than the last two months. And mind you, it’s none of the easy way out of opening a can of whatever and just warming up. I must admit, this cooking task is rather enjoyable. A nice change from carving, keeping me occupied to pass the time quickly.
As for our movement, it’s been controlled. The last five days, we went out only two times each. Briefly on all occasions – once together to the office to copy some work files home, then only hubby to the pharmacy for some supplements and just myself to replenish some groceries.
When I was out to the nearby grocery store, I was early. So I stood in line, far apart, with the rest of the shoppers waiting for the shutters to open. Senior citizens, allowed to go in half an hour earlier before the crowd, certainly took advantage of their allotted shopping time without stress.
The half hour wait outside felt rather long and when it was time to go in, I took merely three minutes to get in and out, picking up only what I needed. I was second in queue, so it was a fast turnaround.
People were more disciplined and I noticed less panic buying. Most just picked up what they needed. I guess by now, most people know what to do compared to the initial days when there was so much confusion and some level of fear.
We have another eight days to go until this Movement Control Order is lifted and this is if the public continues to be disciplined in following orders. However the situation keeps changing and staying put is best and for our own good.
We have been under Movement Control Order (MCO) as instructed by the government and today is Day 3. I must say it has been good so far. I wake up when I am done sleeping. Then I have my tea at a leisurely pace because I don’t have to get ready for work to face the challenges ahead.
The number one worry-free plus point from this experience: no stress over the car next to our reserved parking lot at the office. The lady driver always, without fail, parks her car very close to our lot (and not in the center of hers) whenever she arrives before us, thus giving me very little room to get out of my car. A two weeks’ break from this daily annoyance is certainly welcomed.
We’ve been enjoying the comforts of home as I spent most of my time carving whilst hubby would be out in the garden tending to his plants. In between, I have been preparing meals and doing some light chores around the house. So domesticated. Hahaha…
My daily routine now: carving Whales
After lunch, I carved. And carved and carved. Then I would get dinner ready. The best part, we have been having pre- and post-dinner drinks more often than before. Whiskey, gin, wine and beer… we’re doing it all.
Then it’s Netflix all the way until bedtime. And this routine will be repeated day in, day out until the end of the month.
The downside from this partial lockdown: no golf until the end of the month as well! We contemplated taking walks in the evenings to address the exercise portion of our lives. Hmm… then again, doing house chores is exercising too.
The upcoming weekend may see a break in pattern or most likely not. Everyday feels like a weekend now. And so far so good, we are still sane.
When 2020 came around, there were many positive thoughts and attitude towards the new year. After all, it’s the start to a new decade, and maybe a better outlook after what felt like a dismal 2019. It will be the best year to come, many thought.
How wrong we all were! Barely three months into the year, humanity has been threatened by a new contagious virus never encountered before: the Covid-19. As such, everything has been disrupted with daily routines being thrown into disarray to circumvent the spread. You could say the whole world has almost come to a standstill with the pandemic outbreak. Unprecedented!
My country has not been spared. With a surge in cases at the beginning of this week, the government of Malaysia has imposed a partial lockdown starting tomorrow until the end of March. Panic buying has also occurred here. Luckily we were sensible enough to stock up our food supplies last week.
It’s as if the virus is a smarter-than-us alien attacking mankind like a gripping sci-fi movie from Hollywood. Always one step ahead to avoid detection, it lurks then pounces on the unsuspecting and weak. The intention: to take over our world and make it their own, wiping out mankind in the process. Horrifying thoughts in overdrive mode here. Shudder…
Do we need to collectively pray for divine intervention and perhaps a miracle to overcome this? Or should it be social consciousness or even civic-mindedness to prevent the spread? I can’t find the right words for this…
Every single human being has to do their part and be socially responsible, whether directly or indirectly to combat this together. The phrase “United we stand, divided we fall” is so apt right now. Otherwise the whole world will be living in fear until there is a breakthrough to fight this infectious virus. When? We don’t know… God help us all.
Sometimes the act of impulse buying is merely to appease the buying urge than the need for the item itself. That’s why it’s called impulse buying.
Once in a while, I succumb to this impulse when I am cooped up too long doing the daily routine and feeling like a robot. Life has been without excitement lately, and especially so given the pandemic Covid-19 that has gripped the whole world and crippling all sorts of movement and activities.
Like everyone else, we have been keeping abreast with the daily development of the situation and have been dutifully avoiding crowded places. Practising social distancing to stay safe, we haven’t gone to the mall for ages. So much so, routine has become so predictable, dull and boring.
Over the weekend however, I was at my golf club and there was a golf equipment sale and I bought a Maruman Conductor 5-wood! Honestly I don’t really need it because I already have my XXIO MP 900 golf clubs complete with the 3- and 5-woods plus a U-5. So why did I buy it?
Well, the impulse buying urge for one. Secondly, I haven’t bought anything of late and grocery does not count. So the purchase was for some form of gratification to excite the otherwise predictable, dull and boring life.
My shiny new 5-wood to complement the other two clubs of the same series!
The new 5-wood complements the Maruman Conductor 3-wood and U-4 that I already have and had been retired for some time. Maybe from here on, I might change my XXIO MP 900 woods for this set for variation to make golfing more interesting.
This—my game that is—has been too routine and boring as well; there’s no excitement anymore approaching the game. Same routine, same mistakes, same near misses… so predictable.
Well, put it this way, this impulse buy may be just what I need to vary the mundane, predictable and dull, be it my golf game or my daily routine, the story of my life now.
It was drizzling and gloomy when we got home. And I had dinner to prepare in the kitchen, so I got things going. Hubby went to the garden and our adopted pet, the Golden Retriever from next door heard him somehow.
The adorable fluff ball dashed out of his house for a quick love pet and exchange.
However the fleeting moment was interrupted. His mom called out to him and reprimanded him for the sudden escape into the drizzling condition. I guess she doesn’t know he’s sneaking out for love pets from us. Heheh… So the poor fella had no choice but to go back indoors. Awww…
But he got his happy love exchange, hubby did too and I didn’t. Shucks.
You know how apps are automatically updated? Of course this is if the device is set up for it to do so. Over one mid-December weekend, something unusual happened with my iPad Mini. It was updating Candy Crush Saga in the background whilst I was playing the Soda version.
Suddenly the game quit unexpectedly and a black screen with the Apple logo appeared. Uh oh. Then the next thing I knew, the Candy Crush Saga app disappeared! Is this a sign that the end is nearer for the iPad Mini?
I had to do a complete shut down, wait ten seconds then switched on the device again before the app appeared. Haish… why do this to me?
Seriously methinks the Mini wants to retire for good.
Angieneering 
Remarks