will i am's delayed diary

One morning, mum found a gaping hole in the char siew bao that she had left on the dining table. The food cover had been pushed to the edge of the table, creating an opening for the unknown pest. We wondered if our resident gecko could achieve such a feat. When a loaf of bread was chewed through, it confirmed that it was something more sinister. A few days later, during a midnight water run in the kitchen, I caught sight of small black shadow dashing across the corridor. Definitely too big for a gecko. The answer was revealed eventually one evening when we were watching television. Heard a crash in the kitchen so we went looking for the source. On our first sweep, we couldn't find anything. Upon a closer inspection, mum found a small rat stuck between the wall and the back of our kitchen cabinet! Guess it entered through the crack in the wall. Sigh. The rat escaped that night, and we started making preparations. Firstly, we started covering the rubbish bin in the kitchen to avoid

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

For the past couple of months, the intermittent pain in my left thumb had progressed into a chronic pain at the base of my thumb. Must be from my smartphone habit of single thumb swiping. Stretches didn't help anymore. Icing the area did help a bit though. But the pain would return pretty soon. I read that I should the thumb, so I bought a thumb splint on Shopee. When my package arrived from China, everything was there, EXCEPT the thumb splint. The seller tried their hardest to waste my time when I asked them about the missing item. In the end I raised a case with Shopee anyway. The seller kept asking me to weigh the items without telling me the weight of the missing item. Anyway, Shopee returned my money in the end, and my made my purchase on Lazada instead. Hopefully, this will give my thumb enough rest for it to heal. If things don't get better, I'd have to go see the orthopedic specialist. 

Ivan had been bugging me about having a crab meal for months. I finally agreed, and he killed two birds with one stone by inviting me to an early birthday celebration for his downline, Connie. Connie lived at Kota Kemuning, so it was considered gallivanting . Luckily, there were no police roadblocks. Actually it was my first time meeting Connie. She had been bugging KH to bring his spouse, so there I was. She's very friendly, and lives with her 5-year old daughter, Little Connie. Her daughter is really full of energy. The moment I walked into the living room, she jumped into my arms. Super friendly! Ivan packed two varieties of XXL crabs from Crab B Seafood Restaurant at Puchong Jaya-- sweet and sour, and salted egg. The birthday girl prepared a platter of raw oysters, and another platter of cheese-baked oysters. Oh la-la! It was a very satisfying meal. To crack the shell, Connie put a large pestle and mortar on the dining table! Surprisingly, Little Connie is not picky with food,

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.

With the pandemic and multiple MCOs, my social life has really dehydrated to a pitiful state. Really miss meeting up with friends over coffee and cake, or having a grand 'ol time at my favourite Japanese restaurant. And lets not forget about the private parties at Maison SK 2.0! Sad times. Be that as it may, there are still ways to close the gap. For example, the whole claustrophobic situation did not stop Apollo's mum from making several batches of her signature chicken dumplings ( bak zhang ), and sending them out to friends to celebrate Dragon Boat Festival! Lalamove to the rescue. When I received the package, the food was still hot! So touched, and I really missed her cooking. Speaking of dumplings, this year we saw the advent of the vacuum-packed variety. Lasts a couple of months at room temperature. Perfect for e-commerce in these trying times. 

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