Aghast August

This hasn't been a good month. Sometime in the middle of the month, I learnt that my brother, my aunt and a daily helper at home finally became part of the statistics of COVID-19 patients in Surabaya.  I'm not too worried about them, I'm more worried about my mom.  At first I thought of getting my mom to move out to avoid staying too close to them.  Yes, there's no quarantine in dedicated facilities or hospitals... that's $💀#💢*!💣! crazy rite... Even my brother had to drive himself to the hospital to get tested again. But then again, moving out does not guarantee my mom will be any safer since she'll be exposed to more strangers.  In the end  I thought it would be much safer for her to just stay home and make sure she doesn't get near my brother and my aunt, and in case she had to go near them, to make sure she puts on all necessary protective equipment.  At least the daily helper is not coming in for the next 3 weeks.  The daily helper already has antibody in his system, which means that he had contracted the virus way earlier and somehow recovered without even noticing it.  This episode really got me worried sick here.  There's really nothing much I can do but hope for the best.  I really, really hope my mom's luck won't run out on her just yet.

On a much lighter note, we paid a visit to Marina Bay Sands earlier in the month.  It was an unusual sight to see a mostly empty The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.  

An Uncharacteristically Quiet Rain Oculus - Galaxy Note 9

The Cat Cafe Bugis Visit

On Sunday we visited The Cat Cafe in Bugis.  The pricing is $16 for 2 hours with a free soft drink per person.  That is quite reasonable actually, when compared to other cat cafes in Singapore. Linc & Lind were excited from the start, the thought of getting up close to furry felines, petting and playing with the furballs got them somewhat impatient throughout the morning.  After a quick breakfast in Bugis, we climbed up 3 storeys in an old shophouse outside Bugis Street.  

Here We Are - RX100 Mk3

Just July

As July comes to an end, the past 3 weeks have been crazy stressful at work.  The e-approval processes I have set up suddenly required urgent fixes because the send mail notification and the approval connectors were decommissioned (deprecated in Microsoft lingo).  The approval connector deprecation is especially hard to swallow, as I will need to re-design 6 of my flows - which I'm still figuring out...  At least, the other 43 are already OK...  I tried parallel branching, which brought down the nesting level to 9, just one over the maximum allowable 8.  I also looked at using Child Flows, but after careful consideration, I will end up with more flows to manage if I use this technique. Not forgetting to mention that this technique also requires premium subscription and a crash course on JSON, so...  nope, using child flow is also out.  The last technique I need to explore is variable initialization.  And I somehow must make this work.  Prior to this "breakdown" there were the usual office drama, politicking and reading between the lines which really, really drained me... man...  I really wish I could just jump ship.  

Along Alexandra Road - Galaxy Note 9

Jerky June

The kids returned to school this month.  At first they were alternating each week, but as of yesterday, all of them returned to school for good.  However, it's not all good news as Lincoln has his common test this week.  *crunch time* 

Just Another Sunrise - Galaxy Note 9

June Cycling Diary

I have been cycling once a week with the missus in the past 3 weeks.  So far we've been to Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by The Bay and Henderson Waves.  From Alexandra Canal Park which is right in front of our apartment, we could go all the way to East Coast Park if we'd like to.  It really is amazing how we can get to experience so many places with our bicycles.  

Stopping by Rodalink Commonwealth to Adjust My Bike's Saddle Post - Galaxy Note 9

Muted May

It has been a very quiet May, naturally, since we are in the midst of the Circuit Breaker period. Although the kids started their holiday this month, they have not been able to get out of home. And Youtube is just not wholesome for them... not even Youtube for Kids.  So I took out mine and the missus' 16 year old Nintendo DS and let them have a go at proper gaming.  Seeing how much they enjoyed it, I decided to splurge on a Nintendo Switch Lite.  Real gaming is still the best as compared to the new capitalist mobile games where you have to pay to win.  And just because you have forked out a princely sum, that still does not guarantee that you'll enjoy the game.  I also hate how the new mobile games seem to run like daily chores with no end in sight.  There is no story arc, grinding does not get you to the top, after a while some new characters will be introduced which makes your previous grinding (and sometimes purchase) meaningless - seriously, even other open ended games like The Sims or Sim City are way better.  Old school gaming is still gold.  So it's Nintendo Switch Lite + Final Fantasy + Mario Odyssey + Mario Deluxe.  I'm the only one who still loves RPG, so much that I'm the one playing Final Fantasy III on my DS now while the kids play with the new Switch Lite. 

Good Old Nintendo DS - Galaxy Note 9