Frantic February

Oh yes....  A frantic month it has been.  The word of the month is "Covid-19" as it took centre stage in February and triggered our very deeply ingrained humane trait of survival into overdrive.  While some of us did so elegantly, there were others who were simply just plain awful.   

Declaration Form & Sanitizing Station in My Office Lobby - Galaxy Note 9

As soon as the Singapore government raised the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition to ORANGE, people started thronging the supermarkets to purchase hoards of rice, instant noodles and hand sanitizers.  And surgical masks were practically flying off the shelves.  The strangest thing is...  toilet papers suddenly became hot commodity.  But this piece of news from Hong Kong could possibly take the cake for being the weirdest of all.  Well, a lot had certainly happened over a span of 4 weeks....  

People Queuing to Purchase Face Masks in Star Vista - Galaxy Note 9

Fortunately throughout all these madness we also saw how some wonderful souls stepped up to share what they have with other in such times of uncertainty.  Most of all, we owe a lot of gratitude to the frontline health care workers who have been under duress, even setting aside personal plans as they deal with the crisis.  Because of their great perseverance and dedication, as of today 51 out of 89 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital.  Hopefully they will continue to receive all the support they need as the battle against Covid-19 wages on. 

Hand Sanitizing Station at My Home's Lift Lobby - Galaxy Note 9

On a more personal level, I had to cancel our family trip to Japan this March.  Due to the Japanese government's botched handling of Diamond Princess' quarantine, I do not have the confidence that they will be able to contain the spread on land either.  That has been a great disappointment for sure...  But looking at the bright side, I now don't have to rush for my 1st April deadline.  Another way of looking at it, perhaps we should try to enjoy being in Singapore more and not always think that we have to go elsewhere during our holidays.  Most of the time, we missed what's already in front of our eyes when we set our sights too far.

I also think that Covid-19 will eventually become the new normal.  Given how easily the virus spreads and binds to human cells, we must somehow come up with a vaccine and make it a compulsory shot for everyone.

Maybe We Just Need to Sit in a Good Cafe With a Good Cup of Coffee 😉 - Galaxy Note 9

Exploring Dempsey Hill - Galaxy Note 9

As for my father's property in Batam, it's entering a period of uncertainty.  The number of visitors have dropped sharply and the profitability will be severely affected from February onward.  The local team created several new food promotions so I helped them to put up some online adverts on Facebook & Instagram.  My wife had actually been pestering the team to list on Go-Food but they were slow to work on it.  With this crisis looming, then only they started working and the listing will be ready sometime this week.  Hopefully there will be sufficient F&B income to cushion the drop in occupancy.

Sometimes It Takes a While to See The Light, So Hang On - Galaxy Note 9

I've also kept myself busy creating slideshow videos of our previous family holidays which I then played on the TV for the kids to watch.  At least I could share with them how the story unfolds from my point of view.  And it's much easier for them to remember the holiday when they see it as a video story rather than scrolling thru each individual photos.  So far I've made 7 videos with a running time of approximately 40 minutes and I'm now working on the 8th.  It's been very fun!  I now need to work on finding more soundtracks as I've used most that I could from Youtube Studio and Microsoft's own track list. 

We also celebrated Lindsay's birthday last week, the little girl is now 7.  She's definitely grown "smarter" (hiding her homework from us, made our helper do her homework, cheated during spelling.....).....  Gosh....  She's more like a BANDIT than a sweet little girl!!  Anyway, we dropped by Refuell II again for her birthday dinner last week.

Lindsay Put This Up Next to The Missus And Asked Me "Who do you like more?  This girl or Mamana?" 😂 - Galaxy Note 9

Okay... so much for my ranting....   Here's a closing shot for this entry:  

The Sleeping Tiong Bahru Cat - Galaxy Note 9

~ Photos Taken With Samsung Galaxy Note 9 ~