Tag Archives: Malaysia

DIY Project #14 or 12B

1 Jun

Soon after completing DIY project number 13 or 12A, I jumped right into working on project number 14. As I am not keen on the numbers 14 (and 13), being superstitious, this set has another number, 12B, like the recently completed set.

The project started well. It’s a bookstore, and there are many books to make. But several days into it, I hit a snag! Uh oh.

I glued the books down on the orange shelf wrongly. And now it looks weird, but I guess nobody would know if I didn’t say anything, right?

I have to be more careful from here on.

Books, lots of book and pictures for this set!

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Total Lockdown

31 May

Just when we thought we were managing well, Covid-positive cases exploded out of control. We are now facing a total lockdown again come tomorrow for two weeks. So all that discipline staying home since the beginning of May has come to nought.

We now have another week of staying home instead of until 7 June with this total lockdown imposed. The new lockdown comes into effect from 1 June until 14 June.

What can we say or do except to be good and stay at home?

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Challenge Deferred

21 May

Earlier in April, I talked about the Iron Challenge in my golf club and was excited about the tournament. For a couple of games, I even resorted to using only my irons to practice and kept the driver, wood, and utility clubs out of the bag. It was going well, and the mind frame was ready until the recent lockdown.

This morning, I looked at my calendar and realized the tournament would have been tomorrow if it wasn’t for the lockdown. Somehow, I overlooked removing the event from my calendar. And how unfortunate that it has been postponed again for the second time.

I hope when the pandemic situation becomes more manageable and the lockdown lifted, we can go back to playing golf. And hopefully, the Iron Challenge tournament will be reinstated. Is this wishful thinking as cases are soaring beyond control?

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Nationwide Lockdown

11 May

Yesterday, on Day Five of the targeted lockdown, I felt that it was taking a toll on us. It’s a challenge to be optimistic, and I was willing the days to go by quickly. One more week to survive is not too long.

Come evening, the situation changed. A nationwide lockdown was announced, and a reset on the duration as the past five days do not count! Oh, dear. The new nationwide lockdown will begin tomorrow and end on 6 June.

With the new 26-day lockdown ahead, we better ramp up our creativity and activities to keep ourselves sane. God bless us all.

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Here We Go Again, Part 2

7 May

As anticipated, MCO 3.0 was enforced for six districts in the state, starting from 6 May until 17 May. Here we go again, homebound but two days shy of the usual two weeks.

A day before the official start, I didn’t go to the office and was bored to tears. Time went by so slowly. Oh dear, will I be able to handle this round of staying at home? We will find out.

The next day, I kept busy with house chores. And when there was a window of opportunity, I got down to working on DIY project number 13 or 12A. I must say there was good progress and I’m pleased. Hubby also got down to baking. If we keep these activities up to pass our time, we should be okay.

Piecing everything together!
A quarter was gone before the cake even left the cutting board!

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A Year of Controlled Movement

19 Mar

It is exactly a year yesterday that my country, Malaysia, went into total lockdown when the Covid-19 pandemic blew up. One year has passed, one year of lockdowns, called Movement Control Order (MCO) in various stages depending on the severity of reported cases.

Over the year, we experienced total lockdowns (MCO), conditional lockdowns (CMCO), enhanced lockdowns (EMCO), and eventually recovery (RCMO) either in totality for the whole nation or partially in selected states. With a year of controlled movement, everyone’s lives have changed, ours included.

Businesses were affected, travel disrupted, and lives were lost. The whole world was topsy-turvy. Did Nostradamus ever saw this coming? Hmm. However, sad and dim as it looked, sometimes a bad situation can be turned around for the better if one’s outlook is different and positivity prevailed, at least for us.

We learned to appreciate the simple things in life that we always take for granted. We learned to slow down and smell the roses. Along the way, we picked up new skills and hobbies to keep ourselves busy when we had to stay home during the lockdown stages. And we are still doing those things today – hubby with his baking, and myself with crafting DIY miniatures.

While it looks like the controlled movement may go on with CMCO still in place where we live or various other MCOs in other areas, I wouldn’t be surprised if this continues until the end of the year. By the way, the latest CMCO has extended again for another two weeks until 4 April.

If this is the case, keep on wearing a mask and maintain our distance from others whenever we have to go out. These practices are by far the easiest, least painful, and sensible.

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What Version MCO Now?

9 Feb

There have been several extensions to this year’s MCO, originally termed MCO 2.0. How do we categorize these extensions? Typically it’s a two-week duration, but the second nine-day one threw things out of order. Do we say version 2.3, 2.2.1, or part three for the latest extension for 14 days until 18 February? Sigh. Whatever it is, one thing is for sure, the coming Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year on 12 February will be very different with the latest MCO enforced.

No interstate travel back to hubby’s hometown up North to see his folks, no Reunion Dinner even with my Mom, my brother, and his family because we are well beyond the 10km distance allowed for in-state travel. Other secondary no-nos include the customary New Year golf game with hubby. The list can go on. A very muted celebration, if one can even call it a celebration.

Despite the bleak outlook, we have put up the customary red cloth at the house entrance to brighten the situation. And we will have to find a balance to keep well for the remaining MCO days until further notice.

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A Good Distraction

2 Feb

Last weekend I was very tired mentally. I didn’t have the energy to do anything. In fact, I didn’t want to do anything. Is cabin fever getting to me?

This round of lockdown is getting to me despite coming to an end by Thursday. But will the MCO be lifted come 4 February? We will find out soon.

The garden is almost complete with the landscaping effort, and project number eleven is at the tail-end. I needed a distraction to snap out of this negative mindset. So I created a distraction for myself by stacking stones collected from the garden.

The stones were left aside at the moment because of our efforts to redo the garden. And I was honestly having fun with them.

The first balancing act that started it all

It was a good distraction as I discovered the act of stacking stones is similar to life. You have to find the right balance for things to work. It was an enlightening moment.

I guess my balance was off, hence, the unhealthy predicament. I am much better now, thank goodness.

By Sunday, I was having a blast!

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MCO 2.0, Part 3

26 Jan

Before the current MCO (Movement Control Order) can end, it has been extended for another nine days! We did not see this coming when it was announced a few days ago. Originally it was from 13 to 26 January for six states. But now, the MCO will be until 4 February.

The rationale for this extension is to synchronize with the other states. They have been recategorized to the MCO phase from their original CMCO status. Yes, cases are alarmingly high. And the government has decided to take drastic and necessary measures to curb the spread.

By 4 February, the pandemic situation is assessed again before another decision on what to implement. We continue with life as is and hope for the best.

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MCO 2.0

15 Jan

We were all expecting it, another lockdown. True enough, on Monday, the announcement came that MCO (Movement Control Order) 2.0 will be enforced from January 13 to 16, 2021. However, not the whole nation will be under MCO, only states with a high number of positive Covid cases. And where I live, we are affected, and thus, we have to follow the MCO rules. States that are faring better will be under either the CMCO or RMCO phases.

This lockdown is inevitable as the public healthcare sector cannot cope already with the surge of positive cases in four-digits for several days now. During this MCO phase, SOPs are more strict going out and being out in public areas. If possible, don’t go out.

So for the next two weeks, golf outings are out of the question. Maybe this is for the best. I can rest and focus on DIY project number ten that has stalled.

Design work in the office picked up a little during the last two weeks. As such, I couldn’t devote too much of my time to my whimsical project because I was tired-out when I got home. But now, with this forced break and no golf, I can focus on it. Perhaps I can complete DIY project number ten before the two weeks are up? We shall see.

Coming along swell!

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