Life with Rona — Day 3
Work has been busier than ever. I am not having to adjust to much, because I have never worked in an office, ever. I’ve been a 100% remote worker from day 1. Ever since I started working on open source in maybe 1998? The only adjustment for me is not flying around for ~250 days a year. So I’ll admit that my home office isn’t the best in terms of a setup, because if I ever needed longer periods of work time in KL, I do have an office; or I’d run away to Kuantan!
Anyway I do joke with a friend that I’d very much like to someday do an office job, the whole 9-5, but then I was told that it really is a 9-6, and there’s all this rush hour traffic you have to contend with. In fact, the only rush hour traffic I contend with is when I go to spin class early in the morning (I missed one class so far due to abnormal traffic; and then said I never wanted such an early class again!). So I don’t know if I would ever be ready for a 9-6. But I feel that I’ve missed out on a life experience many do go through.
I notice I have a podcast queue to go through. I listen to no podcasts when I’m not commuting generally. Or audiobooks. I have Spotify on my machines now; so I will admit I’m using Apple Music less.
We have more confirmation that the army is coming on Sunday for this partial lockdown. Oh dear. I guess the communications is a tragic comedy after all… this is what happens when you’re led by incompetents. This is martial law without calling it martial law. But we are reassured that there is no intention of calling it an emergency. Really? These people change their minds on a daily basis.
Cathay Pacific announced a 96% reduction in flights till end May 2020. They will still fly to KL but 3 times a week? And to just 15 destinations. NYC has been removed from the list. What a disaster. I was hoping to get back in the air come April. Maybe this will have to wait, after all.
I feel our journalists are doing an “ok” job, but are largely failing us, in Malaysia. We know that the 2nd death was of a 34 year old, mosque attendee but we do not know why he passed. Was there an underling issue? We have no idea what the situation is with test kits? We have almost no recovery stories and we have no idea what hospital capacities are at (we hear the primary Sg. Buloh hospital is full). We also hear that people are lying to doctors about their whereabouts, and this is putting medical staff in trouble too; they too have to get treated.
Netflix and YouTube have announced a reduction in streaming quality in Europe, to conserve bandwidth.
I am starting to get more SMS messages, mass sent, by the government. Why they did not use this earlier, one wonders?
It is confirmed our Health Minister is really not very bright. He went on TV to say that you should drink warm water, to kill the virus as it goes down your throat and the stomach acids finish it off. Social media went crazy with this.
We are starting to see Chinese media ask where the novel coronavirus really came from? They are starting to shift blame from Wuhan to America. It is ironic, because I was in Hong Kong in early October 2019, and spent the weekend in Central. I was asked how I saw it ending, and on 8 October 2019, said this, “Lam says she doesn’t need China help yet today. So… she’s hinting. But also I doubt China can pull anything. Maybe they’ll introduce sars soon to stop. Bioterror”. Back then it seemed like my mind was dark, but I did not see HK protests ending any other way.
We are seeing more countries shut their borders, Australia is claiming that they’re going for a 6 month shutdown. I bought this unlimited AirAsiaX pass (consider it a flying bond), but now I can’t use it just yet; I do hope that Korea/Tokyo is ready soon!
Almost right before bed, I see the UK say the government would step in and cover the cost of 80% of salary up to £2,500/month for any employee that is furloughed rather than made redundant. This is amazing; Malaysia needs to up her game.
Today is a late night for me (early morning?); I have been uncannily busy. Writing a presentation. Coding. Writing. Emails. Calls. Proposals. Oura will not be happy tomorrow.
