Life on Pause

Has it really been 84 days since it began? 

9 days short of 3 months... 

On that fateful day, March 18th 2020, when Malaysia, together with most of the world (*some country/-ies was/were still in denial, that this pandemic was just another virus and it will miraculously  pass like common flu) declared a state of emergency and started the Movement Control Order (MCO), it kinda threw almost all Malaysians into a state of disbelief and anxiety. Chaos almost broke out in every supermarket, hypermarket, wet market, stock market, you name it. People scrambling for food supplies, sundries and groceries - instant noodles, rice, sugar, salt, food that will not expire easily - but the one item that topped the list was (you know it), toilet paper. 

Why toilet paper?! 

Some say that it is because once you are "infected", you will have the urge or need to go to the toilet more often. But still, we are no strangers to the tap when it comes to Asian toilet etiquette, no? Really need that much toilet paper, meh? 
Well, to each, his(/her) own, I guess. :P

Well, massive queues everywhere - even though the government already stressed that folks can still come out to buy their daily needs when necessary - supermarkets are still opened - people just need to adhere to the social-distancing and mask-wearing requirements. Well, I hate to say it, but i guess Asians being Asians, we will always have that kiasu-ness in our DNA, whether we like it or not. :P

I guess I speak for most of us, if not all, when i say that when it all started, everyone was really worried. So many questions, so little answers. Thinking how on earth can we go through this? How effective is working from home? How can our children attend school from home? How safe are our food-delivery services? Will my TNB bill sky rocket? 24x7 with my kids (and/or spouse)? Will I keesiao or not? How to cook every single meal 24x7? What to cook? If I do go out and buy groceries, is it really safe? Are the masks really effective? Is there really a radius in which i cannot go beyond (10km)? Can I cross borders? There was a shortages of masks - what if I cannot get a hold of masks? Can i still go back to my office? Well, honestly, the government scored poorly in communicating what can be done, what cannot, which website should we refer to - federal vs state rules, etc. Fwah, the first few weeks was havoc. 

"Duduk diam-diam di rumah."

It's almost like tell us, "do not to ask too many questions, shut the front door and sit quietly at home..."

I still remember - at times i had to queue up to 2 hrs just to get into Aeon to get our weekly groceries. standing 1 meters apart, from 1 end of Queensbay Mall, all the way to Maxis, at the other end. Fwah I tell you... I managed to finish up 4 episodes of Brooklyn 99. :D (It kinda reminded me of queuing up for the Toy Story ride when it first open up in Tokyo Disneyland... ) Then when we did finally get it, to our dismay, most of what we wanted to get were out of stock. All kena sapu by earlier customers... it was really beginning to look like one of those hollywood movies... 

Well, one of the many things that I really (and I mean REALLY) like during the MCO was the lack of traffic! Man, I tell you, it was surreal. Almost no cars on the road, on a Saturday morning. I really miss that first few weeks - when most people were still too afraid to leave the house. Well, I had to come out to get supplies. Driving from home to Pulau TIkus market took me less than 10 minutes, what would have easily taken twice as long. 

A quick shout out to Dallas and wife for supporting us in our vegetable and egg supplies during the first few weeks of MCO#1. Rombo nandre, brother...  

Control at the Pulau Tikus Market was also pretty good - temperature checks, clearly marked lines for social distancing and staggered entry to regulate the number of customers inside the market. This was during the days, when people were still not used to having the temperature taken, and not required to sanitize their hands before entering the premises. Kudos, MPPP!

At work. 

That first 2 weeks of working from home was also hell-ish. 

A whole lot of brain cells killed and a lot of sweat trying to make sure that our workforce appearing at work were strictly meeting MITI's guidelines. Also, as a responsible company, we also tasked ourselves to making sure that the workplace is the safest place to be, other than your home. I guess that is very important, i.e. to make sure that the workforce are comfortable coming to work, feeling safe, and not needing to worry about health/safety issues, so that they can fully focus in getting their work done effectively. 

I almost felt like the few of us who were working on the logistics to get everything in place - which employees need to be physically at work, which needs to stay at home, making sure we are compliant - that we did almost nothing else, except that. It felt like I was in HR... :D But what a nightmare, it was. 

Life really almost did come to a halt, a pause. It definitely slowed things down to a pace which was alien to most of us. Spending 99% of our time at home, not needing to wake up early, rush the kids to school, then formula-1 to the office, dive into cubicle and plough through work, meeting meeting meeting, then negotiate the rush hour again to pick the kids up, get dinner, work with them on their homework, some tuition, some music classes, get to bed, then repeat the next day. 

It was more like, waking up just-in-time to brush teeth and then jump into meetings from home (in my pajamas), wake the kids up half way through the first meeting for them to get into their Zoom classes, then continue on with meetings meetings meetings from home, cook, watch some TV, some night meetings, and then go to bed, and then repeat the next day. I felt that working from home has blurred the lines separating work and home. Unhealthy? I think so. 

We have this software called Wellnomics that helps keep track of our office ergonomics - capturing time on the computer, mousing activities, break compliance, etc. Mine was at high risk for 4 weeks in a row... definitely not healthy... :D

Then MCO#2 started, I thought, okay-lah, we've gone through MCO#1, sure can handle MCO#2. But how wrong I was. The nightmare from MCO#1 started all over again, with new rules, new challenges, new Excel files, pivot tables, macros, new players. Like next level of an Arcade Game... 

I was not until MCO#3 that things started to look better and settled down. 

So... 

MCO#1 (Mar18 to Mar31)... 

then MCO#2 (Apr01 to Apr14)... 

then MCO#3 (Apr15 to Apr28)... 

then MCO#4 (CMCO#1) (Apr29 to May12)... 

followed by MCO#5 (CMCO#2) (May12 to Jun09)...

And now MCO#6 (RMCO#1) (Jun10 to Aug31)

When MCO#5 was announced, fwah, people started flood the streets, traffic started to build-up, more and more people were seen at malls. I guess they are saying, they've had enough, 2 months being locked up at home is too much - unless if you have a home like Jack Black, that is. 

This, then raises the next logical question, will this then jeopardize our months of "hard work" controlling the spreading and successfully bringing down the numbers, risking the possibility of another wave? 

Honestly, at some places, e.g. the wet markets, some people just do not give a hoot about social distancing. "If I want that broccoli, I am just going to breach that social-distancing bubble and reach over to grab it." Now, that is a concern. People need to be reminded about the importance social-distancing, for the sake of themselves and the sake of others surrounding them. Maybe it is time to invent a proximity trigger gadget, something that we can carry with us, and when people come within social-distancing allowances, it will trigger and alarm, asking the other person to observe social distancing requirements. Bzzz!

Well, today marks the end of the MCO#5 (CMCO#2). And to be entirely honest, I miss those days of stricter MCO. Somehow, I am feeling a little uneasy and nervous as we move into the days of RMCO, with so many uncertainties, questions and doubts... 

... more stories to come...