will i am's delayed diary

When the second booster was made available, the uptake was very slow. The nearest vaccination center in my neighbourhood was at Pavilion Bukit Jalil, and according to reports, the staff there just sit around all day. At first, my mum adamantly told me that she didn't want the second booster. Then all of a sudden, she wanted it. By that time, the vaccination was swamped no doubt due to rising infections, and the fact that the center was nearing the end of its stint. We went to the vaccination center on the Monday following Hari Raya Haji ( gratitude to the people who were working that day ). Since it was a holiday, I wasn't surprised by the long queue. Thankfully there was a separate line for senior citizens. Actually, there was no official announcement on the offering of second boosters to those below age 60, but there they were lining up for it. Nobody cares I guess, since the government might as well utilize the vaccines before they expire. After mum got her shot ( I didn...

Two months passed and it was time for my second dose of Astra Zeneca. Such a long wait when one compares it to those who got Pfizer and Sinovac. KH drove me to WTC and took it as a chance to paktor . How the definition of paktor has changed. Haha. As expected, it was a smooth drive to WTC on a Sunday afternoon. Some weeks prior, vaccination appointments were screwed up the city center was locked down to thwart a political protest against the newly-minted prime minister. He was so insecure that he even shutdown the rail service. KH dropped me off at the entrance of WTC, and went to park at Sunway Putra Mall. Experience taught me to update my "COVID-19 Status" in the MySejahtera app and refresh my profile before approaching the crew at the first check point. Compared to my first appointment in July, there was noticeably less people, and there was no wait. Just kept walking from point to point. No longer needed to get to Dewan Merdeka on fourth floor. Did a quick registration,...

The OUG Morning Market was still in a sad, suppressed state due to the MCO. DBKL did not allow open air markets to operate unlike the adjacent city councils in Selangor. When mum and I were there on Saturday, plainclothes enforcement officials threatened the vendors with summons and confiscation. The enforcement officers did cart away some goods much to the chagrin of the vendors. The vendors closed their stalls, and stood around grumbling about their predicament. Times had been hard for them because the situation had continued for more than a month. Some vendors rented empty shop lots, and others moved into the coffee shops. Even my favourite breakfast noodles were now operating inside OUG Lucky Restaurant . And a good crowd gathered in front of Fah Lian Trading because they were distributing food supplies to the needy. According to KH, they had been giving out groceries for a few days now.  Back home, I had fun with a can of foaming agent that BIL gave me. Pretty useful to plug u...

Finally it was my turn to get vaccinated. On the fourth of July, at World Trade Centre (WTC). Did you notice the name change? I don't when they decided to throw out the word "Putra". The drive there was smooth, with little traffic on a Sunday afternoon. Zero police road blocks too. I parked at Sunway Putra Mall, and that was easy too. Plenty of available bays at the basement. I took the elevator to the first floor and lucked out because the lift lobby was just beside the link bridge to WTC. Plenty of signage, with stickers on the floor, and some on the ceiling. A short walk later, I arrived at the main entrance. Traffic flow into the vaccination center was not as smooth as I expected because they required an updated health assessment to be done in the MySJ app. And so people were standing around the entrance tapping their phones, with the RELA personnel needing to give instructions on what to do. There were three stations which basically meant three lanes. My station was ...

Agong's birthday gave me a long weekend, but what does a long weekend mean during the MCO? Work and chores. In the afternoon, mum was suddenly inspired to paint the living room. I took SimonLover's advice and bought a mini roller for the job. It really did make the job easier, and there was less wastage. Although we just painted two walls, I was aching in several places the next day. Just as we finished cleaning up, Sis asked us over for a steamboat dinner. A perfect end to a busy day.

University of Malaya's Astra Zeneca vaccination center at the Examination Building has a capacity of 1,000 vaccinations a day. Chose this venue because of the proximity, ease of parking, and relatively low capacity. We left the house at 8:30 AM, and arrived at the KL Gate of the university before 9:00 AM. Traffic was extremely smooth as most people were working from home. The security guard let us in after checking the appointment date on the MySejahtera app. The security guards checked the appointment date a second time before allowing us into the parking lot. It was just a short walk to the building. I was surprised to see so many people loitering outside the building. Were they too early for their appointments? We joined the line to enter the vaccination center. At the entrance, the RELA stopped me from going. Turns out that they don't allow anyone to accompany unless absolutely necessary. Hence the reason there were so many people outside. Anyway, they had sufficient staff ...

Religiously checking mum's MySejatera app did not help in hastening her vaccination appointment. So much for priority for the elderly. Since it was so slow, I decided to register mum for Astra Zeneca on May 23rd instead of waiting for the government to arrange. Rather than being a sitting duck, might as well grab whatever was available. As expected, the first thirty minutes after registration opened was a complete waste of time. The system was fucked up. But things normalized eventually and I got mum a slot at Universiti Malaya. Three days later, it was my turn to register. More than a million slots were available. Firstly, registration did not start on time. When the doors were opened, the system completely failed due to the immense number of requests. People were frustrated because they had to keep filling up the form only to have it fail when they try to choose a slot. Most of the time, the list of vaccination centers could not be loaded. And when the list could finally be loade...

I remember Easter 2021 as a very hot Sunday. The air or celebration was subdued because we couldn't linger around the church compound after mass. And there was a marked absence of Easter eggs ( hot cross buns were also missing from Good Friday ). The Sunday school kids had their Easter egg painting contest via a Zoom call.  For lunch, we ventured to The Central Kitchen  ( previously Lima Pulo at Heritage Row ) at Taman Shanghai. Former-model Alan Yun transformed a corner lot into an old school Peranakan cafe, featuring its award-winning Nyonya laksa . The place is just a stone's throw away from Restoran Choon Sun  with its famous fat chef. Although it was sweltering, many chose to dine al fresco under the foliage of an old tree. Mum and I opted for the air-conditioning. The laksa was pretty thick and not lacking in spices, however I must complain that its pretty basic with some shredded chicken and egg. The volcano kopi c ( some assembly required ) was pretty fun. ...

Compared to last year, the Malaysian Catholic Church was allowed to celebrate the Paschal Triduum, the most important celebration of liturgical year. And of course with strict SOPs in place. In pre-pandemic times, the church would be flooded with parishioners. This time round, we had limited seats for registration. If not for the fact that I was volunteer for the SOP team, I wouldn't have gotten a place. Couldn't secure a place for mum because the seats were snapped up so quickly.  Maundy Thursday proceeded without the characteristic Washing of Feet. And the Altar of Repose was moved to a corner of the church, where parishioners prayed at their seats. On Good Friday, the altar was veiled and the tabernacle was empty. Usually, the Veneration of the Cross would see the faithful approaching the cross and kissing it, but obviously that was not allowed this year. During the Easter Vigil, the lighting of the paschal candle was witnessed by the cathecumens only. The rest of the congre...

NotMyPM announced another round of MCO for several states starting from the 13th of January till Boxing Day. On the eve of the movement control order, KH and I went out for dinner at nearby Bukit Jalil. Brew House at Aurora Place was teeming with customers. Last chance to have a beer with buddies I guess. Looked kinda scary because it was packed. We ate at Nonya Platter instead. Shared a plate of Portuguese fried noodles and a hot teh tarik . The meal didn't leave KH satisfied. He wanted more! Headed down to Super Seven to look for some roasted meat, but the non- halal section was not operating. Opps!    Took a leisurely walk back to Bukit Jalil City in search of our second dinner. Discovered Goong Bar which looks like a gay bar / bistro. Can visit when times are better. Hopefully it will survive. In the end, we ate pork noodles Like Mee Noodle House . A pretty thick pork broth, but not to KH's liking. I won't be going back because the waiters practically throw the menu o...

The pandemic practically killed my Starbucks habit. If not for my free birthday cake reward, I wouldn't be ordering a ristretto bianco. Haha. The new normal had changed some Starbucks SOPs. The tumbler discount is still there, but they no longer take the cover. And for the first time ever, when I collected my drink, there was decent latte art on it! Perhaps its just the barista at IOI City Mall. Lucky I reckon.  HaiDiLao had a more drastic change. No more long waiting lists to dine there. Lost its luster. Their staff actually don a sash, wear cute-sy hairbands, and venture out with flashing light sticks and hunt for customers in packs. Wonder if they will survive in Malaysia. 

Been a while since I met Mei and MiniMei, so KH and I organized dinner with the pair. KH recommended a new shop in OUG called Zhuji Spicy Soup . Don't be misled by the name, they actually specialize in pepper pig stomach soup, not the type of spicy soup popular in Kajang. Mei looked so fabulous when she walked in because she made her face, and had eyelash extensions put in! The food was pretty nice, but it's kind of hard to share food there due to the seating arrangements, and the type of the food. The pepper pig stomach has a nice aroma or peppercorn ( but a tad salty ), and I also recommend their shrimp paste fried chicken wings. Crispy and moist. MiniMei walloped 3 pieces by herself.    Super hard to talk at the dinner joint, so followed up with coffee at Morrow ( previously Doors Cafe ). Although MiniMei didn't take any coffee, she was pretty worked up, giggling all the time. Maybe it was sugar from the cakes ( she liked the rum and raisin... like mother, like daughter...

Towards the end of July, mum and I registered to attend Sunday mass. A week before the date, I registered through an ever-changing Google Form. Once we received the confirmation e-mail, we knew that we were good to go. Rules were enforced, an amalgamation of parish. archdiocese, and government SOP.  Entry to the church compound will be prohibited half an hour before the mass time. Maximum seating for each pew was two parishioners. Due to that arrangement, the church was running at 30% seating capacity. No choir, only pre-recorded hymns. Parishioners aren't allowed to remove their face masks, except for a brief period during communion.  No hugging and shaking of hands during the "sign of peace". Communion by hand only ( there are Catholics who are not happy about this ). No lingering in the church proper, and on the church compound after mass is over.  The mass went on without a hitch, but I couldn't help notice that the parish priest was very stressed out when giving ...

Ever since the start of the pandemic, I had stopped taking the LRT and MRT to work because Prasarana did not do any crowd control. Basically, once you're in the train, you are at risk of being crowded in. If you follow @askrapidkl on Twitter, you can see passengers Tweeting about "no social distancing?", and the official answer would be "we are running at full capacity, and it is the responsibility of the passenger to maintain social distance". I know the reality is that those inside won't get out because the train is too packed. And those outside will still board if the train is already like a can of sardines. So, it's basically ride at your own risk. Since I have the option of driving, I started doing that. And the good thing is, I could share the parking because I have a colleague who stays nearby, and we are actually on alternating teams. At the end of every week, we would pass each other the parking disc. But driving definitely comes its own set of ...

Starting the 1st of June, my company started loosening the work-from-home policy and encouraged employees to return to the workplace. A staggered approach was chosen, with two teams taking turns on a weekly rotation. I was Team A, so I got to experience firsthand the new normal.  The biggest change on my part was that I no longer took the train to work. The trains were too risky in my opinion. In the early phases, traffic was excellent. Entering my office area required a temperature check at the boom gate. Funny thing was, the procedure was mandatory for the driver, not the passengers. Big loophole huh? The lift buttons were covered with plastic and supposedly sanitized periodically. Never once did I see anyone cleaning the buttons. And since the lifts were tiny, only two persons were allowed at any given time. Entering the office, I had to register and do another temperature check. I didn't wear a face mask in the office ( surgical mask : no, fake smile : yes ). Hand sanitizers we...

The MCO had revealed that frozen bao and dim sum are staple favourites among the Malaysian Chinese community. Factories went into overdrive, and every Tom, Dick, and Harry seemed to be selling frozen char siew bao , sang yuk bao , and siew mai on social media. Wouldn't be surprised if one of your neighbour's was a distributor. Can't deny it's popularity because it's delicious, easy to keep, and easy to prepare. Just stick it in a steamer and you have a hot meal. Great for breakfast or tea time.  Was  bao  and  dim sum part of your MCO diet? 

For the first time, the Easter Triduum was observed away from Mother Church. The clergy had started jumping into the deep end, leaning about the challenges of live streaming over social media platforms. Some embraced technology pretty well, and emerged as mini online influencers . Stations of the Cross was broadcast live from my church compound using Facebook Live. And through YouTube Live we participated in the Maundy Thursday Mass, Good Friday Liturgy, Easter Vigil Mass, and Easter Sunday Mass. Usually, the Holy Week would be such a busy time as it involves much preparation and involvement from multiple ministries, but the Covid-19 pandemic had turned things on its head, giving a chance for everyone to take a step back and reflect.  "Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song." -- St. Pope John Paul II

   Covid-19 created a surgical mask obsession among the general public. Supply was scarce and the price was obscene. MYR80 was considered cheap. During the haze period, I remember buying a box for just RM7. All that drama inspired mum to start sewing face masks. But first, had to fix the leather treadle belt for her old Singer foot-operated sewing machine. So easy to source for spare parts online. Much easier and cheaper than the brick and mortar shops. Once she got it working again, she started digging out her hoard of cloth remnants from her long career as a seamstress. Mum's cloth masks were double-sided, and featured a lining at both ends. Its designed to be used with a surgical mask, where its inserted into a slit at the side. Talk about making a fashion statement in this pandemic. Most people like her batik and floral variations.    Keep safe, and keep sewing!