will i am's delayed diary

Eighteen days into the MCO, mum suddenly remembered about her quarterly gynaecology follow-up at Bandar Puteri Puchong. I quickly called up the clinic, and they sent me a doctor's letter via What's App. And luckily, her appointment card was scribbled with the exact date-- the 4th of April. During those early stages, police roadblocks were all over the place, and vehicles should not have passengers. But we had a good justification when we were stopped below the BK5 LRT station. The policeman gave my What's App letter a cursory glance, but decided to scrutinize the appointment card instead. He waved us through a couple of minutes later. At the clinic, it was business as usual, just that the nurses wore face shields over surgical masks. You Noodles House which was our usual breakfast spot every time we visited the area was not open. Anyway, it was a little exciting to be able to get out of the house, although it was just to visit the doctor's office. 

Many hidden cooks and bakers were born during the MCO period. Eating out had been removed from the equation, so people had begun to re-enter the kitchen, willingly or unwillingly. From BIL's Unit Tindak Kinrara (UTK) network, we often had home-cooked goodies on a daily basis. Someone would could bakzhang on Saturday, and it would be distributed to the other households. On the next day, it might be dongpo meat, charsiew , chiffon cake, or egg tarts. People would take turns showing off their culinary skills. Mum had contributed deep-friend niangao , while BIL whipped up his mother's chicken rice recipe. It was really fun getting a surprise dish nearly every day. 

During the MCO, my sister and BIL's  factory was closed down. Both of them were camped at home. Although they couldn't run their usual production line, it didn't mean that their hands were idle. Through my BIL's contacts in Unit Tindak Kinrara (UTK), he volunteered to produce face shields for Hospital Serdang. The government hospital was desperate for supplies because supply from overseas was disrupted and their stock was running low. The face shield was easy to assemble. All that was needed was clear plastic sheets, strips of foam, glue, and elastic bands. Even my mother joined in when she wasn't busy cooking. Unfortunately, I was too pre-occupied with work. In just a week, they churned out a couple thousand face shields. 

On the first Saturday after the MCO was declared, mum and I risked a quick visit to the OUG morning market to restock. Cars and crowds were absent from the usually boisterous market. Parking was easy to find. We gave each other wide berth and turned our faces. Like playing a childhood game. All of the open air stalls were not operating. The Marketplace OUG was open, as well as some of the shop lots. Once we saw the crowding at the entrance, we shook our heads and left. Not gonna risk it. Went to tapau breakfast at one of the less popular adjacent roads, then left. So what did I do on the first weekend of the MCO? My taxes. Zzz.

On the 16th of June, Muhyiddin Y. declared that Malaysia would undergo a Movement Control Order (MCO) starting on the 18th of June March. The purpose of the partial lock down was to flatten the Covid-19 infection curve. In response to that, my company directed that all staff would be working from home. Hardly a few days before, my office in Petaling Jaya had scheduled a round of disinfection because a colleague was related to a someone in the Patient 26 cluster. Later it was revealed that no local transmission took place. Working from home quite refreshing experience. Things were pretty normal for me because my development source code is on AWS CodeCommit anyway, and we use Microsoft Teams to collaborate. Everything was online. Could sleep more, have a leisurely breakfast, and then start work in skimpy lounge shorts. The second half or the day would be spent at my sister's place because that's where mum cooks lunch and dinner. During the early stages, people went into a cookin

  Before the Tabligh Covid-19 cluster exploded into the media in March, not many people knew what Tabligh was about. For years, I had been seen their members take the LRT to Bukit Jalil station, but I never knew what group they belonged to. Often see in long white robes and turbans, the members were mostly from out of town judging from the bags they carried. When the news came out, mum was actually curious about Masjid Jamek Sri Petaling, the headquarters of the Malaysian Tabligh chapter. From Kuchai Avenue, we drove to Bandar Baru Sri Petaling to take a look ( after my last haircut before the commencement of the MCO ). The usually busy Jalan Radin was actually quiet, and no cars were parked along it. When we turned into the commercial area, the roads were also abnormally clear. We actually parked to go buy egg tarts at Tong Kee . After we had done our shopping, we spotted a Tabligh member heading in our general direction.  Jumped into the car as fast as we could. Haha.  Also had the

  International Women's Day is celebrated on the 3rd of March, highlighting the importance of women's rights, and achievements. I remember that it was a Sunday, and I brought mum, the most important woman in my life, out to lunch at Ichiriki , The Gardens Mall. Our full pork lunch began with a decadent kurobuta katsu topped with grated cheese. Next came a belly-warming pot of motsunabe, filled to the brim with minced pork balls and tender pig stomach. Extremely satisfying. As the day wore on, it rained quite heavily. Mum and I stopped for a cup of latte at Jaya Grocer. As luck would have it, I bumped into my primary schoolmate from Kuantan there.  That was IWD lunch. IWD dinner was arranged with my mum's friend, whose son is one of the founding partners at Down To Bones . Guess the pork theme from lunch continued right through to dinner! She treated us to a nice dinner of signature pork ribs, and mushroom soup. I noticed that they have a new variety of pork ribs now that