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Thursday, May 28, 2020

COVID-19, MCO, life and the new normal

My family went for umrah and came back about 2 weeks before MCO started in Malaysia. Panic buying started a few days before the announcement. I went to the nearest grocery and bought some meat, chicken, vege and rice. I was thinking, ok we can still go out to get our essentials after this. Don't have to worry so much.
When MCO really started I realized that I didn't want to go out at all. So I stayed at home from 18th March - 14th May 2020. That was even longer than my confinement after child birth. Usually my husband or my eldest son would go out to do groceries and buy other essentials.
Before Ramadhan started, I was cooking 3-4 times daily and during Ramadhan I cooked once for iftar and sahur.
Aidilfitri came and went so smoothly. I didn't cook much for raya this year, only instant nasi himpit, rendang daging and ayam masak merah. We were only allowed to visit close relatives on the first day of Syawal and not allowed to travel cross state. So, I didn't get to see my family in Pahang this year. Hopefully things will get better in July so that we can go back for Aidil Adha.
As I'm writing this, we are in the CMCO (Conditional Movement Control Order) phase in Malaysia. Many businesses have started operating, the government is re-opening the economy. However, schools and universities are still closed. My kids are doing e-learning at home. My 2nd son is waiting for his UPU application result, so we have no idea whether he will start his foundation soon or not. New university intakes will have its challenges. Other uni students will continue with e-learning until December 2020.
The saddest part is there's still no news when gyms will re-open. I need to be at the gym to really work out. When I'm at home, I tend to spend more time in the kitchen, and then in front of the TV or my laptop. Getting myself to do some exercise during MCO is such a huge challenge. I need a trainer/instructor to scream at me every few minutes, otherwise I'll just sit around and sip coffee.
So, after 9 weeks of staying at home I finally decided that I should write. I went through some of my old folders transferred from another laptop and found a few chapters of a manuscript that I didn't remember writing. That's funny because I'd usually remember things that I created. So, I just copy pasted the content onto wattpad and continued with the story. Loop holes everywhere but I hope there'll be a decent story. Well, at least I'll feel good when I come up with something during this MCO.
Follow this link if you'd like to read it. The title is MIMPI.  Enjoy!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Salam puan,izinkan saya bertanya. knowing you as a writer, bolehkah seoramg penulis menerbitkan buku di lebih dari satu penerbit?