Staying at home for few weeks isn't challenging for me because I'm really in need for a short break! Unlike working adults who need to work from home and attend numerous conference calls, I could just duduk diam-diam kat rumah and do whatever things I want! Taking time to unplug and recharge ourselves is essential, not to mention it would further boost my productivity. Hence, I view MCO as a chance to enjoy a slower pace of life. No more rushing to catch the bus or attend classes. (Valid reasons to skip classes!) No more spending hours to travel or stuck in traffic jam.
So, how did this lazy girl spend her time during MCO, which makes her feel occupied?
1. Cooking
I am a good girl who follow our Prime Minister's recommendation to try out different recipes at home. My mother always views dining out as evil and unhealthy, and now she is prohibiting us from ordering any food delivery to minimize contact. My survival rule at home is never convince my parents on any issues. NEVER. So I gave up on talking to her about this. Assuming that we are going to cook ourselves for two weeks (now it's extended to four weeks), I can foresee my mother cooking porridge everyday as our lunch. To prevent myself from being phobia of porridge, I have decided to cook myself! I also want to take this chance to improve my bad cooking skills.
Racking my brains to come up with different menus by using limited ingredients and cooking tools is my daily challenge during lockdown. It is difficult to satisfy my picky siblings' appetite and to ensure that we don't eat a boring lunch (lockdown lives are torturing these two kids whom one wants to go shopping and dine out; whilst one wants to play sports). I have faced numerous hiccups during the process of cooking, luckily I'm dating a chef! He has been complaining that I'm worse than his Bangladesh subordinates, but thankfully he is still willing to help me to resolve the cooking problems. Not burning down my kitchen would be my proudest achievement during the lockdown! I sincerely hope that my dishes would not traumatize my siblings.
2. Home Workout
Shelter-in-place restrictions pose challenge to stay active and healthy. Staying at home makes it easier to sit for long periods of time, especially when you are so close to your bed! I insist to cook at least one meal daily so I could move around a bit in the kitchen. However, neither spring cleaning nor cooking could provide the adequate levels of physical activity needed. To stay physically healthy, I try out some home workout recommended by my sister. I find following the workout videos more exhausting than outdoor activities such as swimming or playing badminton! (I know I'm weak >.<) I prefer to follow the workout routines by a former TVB artist, Coffee Lam 林芊妤. Now, she has reinvented herself as a successful yoga instructor. Her workout videos are very intensive and difficult to handle at first attempt, but completing the full routine would give you a great sense of achievement! Hopefully I am disciplined enough to continue my home workout routine throughout the full lockdown period.
Be like Thor!
Source from: Facebook
3. Sleeping
Sleeping is life's greatest little pleasure after we grow up. Lockdown life has been so awesome for not having to set alarm for the next day and able to take a nap everyday without worrying much about deadlines (Perks of completing all assignments and presentations before lockdown?) I couldn't recall when was the last time I get 7 to 8 hours of high quality sleep on a regular schedule. Now it's time to repay my sleep debt! However, having too much sleep could be detrimental and draining, therefore I am trying to reset my body internal clock by fixing my sleeping schedule (apparently it's just an "attempt" because this girl is still awake at 1a.m. to write her blog post).
4. Playing Online Games with Friends
Despite unable to meet up with our friends, the Internet accessibility has offered us various alternatives to bond with each other, such as online games or Netflix party! I'm not a big fan of gaming because my parents are typical strict Asian parents that view gaming as a sin. After I grow up, I realize gaming could provide our brain with meaningful stimulation, but high degree of self-control is essential. I have been playing skribbl.io with my friends, which is a simple multiplayer drawing and guessing game. I like this game because it tests our English vocabulary and also flexes our creative imagination, which are something that I lack of. I am still exploring online games that are friendly to non-gamers like me. (I am too stupid for some games!)
5. Social Media
Normally I would restrict my time spent on social media because I reckon social media is as addictive as gambling. However, MCO has got me to engage in social media for long hours and neglect my studies! I have been mindlessly scrolling Facebook and Instagram as these social medias' content has become so expansive that makes it very easy to get stuck in.
Do we really need to be informed about so many things? Are all the info that we receive daily are coming from credible sources? I find it important to trim the Facebook/Instagram pages we are following. Reading a heavily clogged Facebook/Instagram feeds could take way too much time, yet we are just receiving worthless information. Now, it's time to STOP and focus on my utmost priority, which is STUDY!
On a side note, I am impressed by the creative memes or marketing strategy during lockdown, especially the viral Makcik Kiah memes. And also all the bingo templates or creative (weird?) drawing/writing challenges at Instagram.
6. Studying
Shame on me because I have only studied for eight hours since the lockdown! MCO is definitely a great opportunity for me to catch up on my studies because I have been skipping all lecture classes (shame on me again) throughout the whole semester. After slacking for one whole week, I finally opened my AAA workbook to attempt few questions! My lecturers didn't conduct any online classes because they strongly believed that physical classes could be conducted in April before the announcement of MCO extension. Besides, communications between lecturers and university management are messy and there are a lot of changes happening but still many things are not confirmed. For example, we are not yet informed on how to sit for e-assessment. It's time for me to buck up and spend more time on studying instead!
7. Binge Watching Drama
As a drama lover, lockdown is the golden opportunity to binge watch dramas and clear my to watch list! When you would have a considerably large chunk of time to binge watching if not now? (Wait, isn't now the best chance to focus on my studies? Wrong priorities!) I have started to watch few Korean and Hong Kong dramas before the lockdown is announced HAHAHA.
So far, the best drama that I have watched during the lockdown is Kingdom. It is Netflix's first original Korean series which consists of 3 seasons. Some finds the contagious zombie virus in the drama identical to the current pandemic COVID-19 outbreak, while I am attracted by the news that the famous South Korean actress Jun Ji-hyun is going to play central role in the upcoming season. With only six episodes per season, the story plot is exciting, dense and suspenseful. The zombie plague in "Kingdom" is more interesting than the movie "Train to Busan", and I am impressed by the acting skills of the "zombies". I like the comedic moments in the drama, which improves my watching experience. I prefer Season 1 over Season 2 because the Season 2 is less refreshing, but the ending of Season 2 is so dramatic and has gone viral at social media! Can't wait for the final season.
Conclusion
In short, I believe that staying at home could be as productive and fulfilling as non lockdown period. (Apologies to the extroverts who desperately want to hang out with their friends hahaha!) Anyway I feel we should be grateful for being able to stay at home safely, because the healthcare workers are risking their lives at the front line to fight the virus. Now staying at home could be the least thing we could do for the nation! I also hope that the lockdown could be eased as soon as possible so everything could be back to normal and I could meet up with the people I miss badly.
"You are not stuck at home. You are SAFE at home."
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