GAMD: 12-July-2022, Macau
Tuesday, 12 July 2022 22:02![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elusivekI know the actual GAMD is 24-July this month, but, this is unprecedented times for me here in Macau. We had a relevantly easy time through Covid since 2020, pretty much controlled, no real lockdown (only the initial 2 weeks in February 2020), but right now, we have this draconian "it's NOT a lockdown!" lockdown. You can't even go walk the dog, according to the police. So. It's a lockdown. Officially started yesterday, so I've established a targeted routine for myself for the rest of the week... and the expected week after (the conspiracy theorist in me is convinced that the government will see "oh hey! it's so nice to have these people locked up. Let's extend it for another week for sh*ts and giggles!" Don't worry, I'm not at the foil-hat level conspiracy theorist yet.). Here's yesterday's newspaper front page for your leisurely review.
So. Despite it's no-dog-walking type of not-a-lockdown lockdown (the politically correct term to use here is "Standstill"), we don't really have to wake up so early, but old habits die hard. I try to roll around in bed and check out the social media news to see if there's any updates of note (particularly of the dog walking variety, but no dice).
I wake the dogs up and send them off to the balcony/verandah for their first pee/poop of the day. They're really used to the schedule of going out (streets) for the toilet, so it's going a little tough trying to train them to go at home. It's always available to them, and they know they can do it out there if it's really urgent, but they prefer to go out to the dog park or somewhere with grass. Only Frankie pee-ed.
Feed them breakfast. Again. They are so ingrained in their schedules, the older two refuse to eat "without having gone out first"... it's a headache for us. We might have to sneak them out later in the day, at least to the car park (still considered private area) or maybe the rooftop.
I try to get Menina and Sai-Lup to do their toilet thing again, but again, no dice. They are stubborn.
It's breakfast time for me, so I get my breakfast together. I've been craving savory foods for meals recently, so I decided to go for a cheese toast sprinkled with garlic salt, and a soft boiled egg. But. I overdid the egg. It's almost all cooked through, just the yolk was a little damp. Try again tomorrow!
I do the day's worth of exercise early in the day - there's a whole cause and effect reasoning behind this. It's so hot now (July! Summer!) so we need the air con to chill the room to sleep at night. But I can't just switch off the air con because then there's condensation... and my walls get wet, and my MacBook gets wet... so this is the time when I start to turn up the air con temperature to 22 or so C (overnight it's around 17 C) and I switch on a heavy duty fan I have in my room. Once the room feels warmer and I've finished the exercise (30 minutes power walk/light jog), I switch off the air con and keep the heavy duty fan blowing against the wall that usually gets condensation.
I should start to get to my work now, but I try again to get the dogs to do their business, and yes, Sai-Lup decided to let it go and pee. Finally!
It's also a must to the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) daily, so I have to swab up my nostril. We then have to do the NAT/PCR test every other day, which today we need to go, but we leave it to the end of the day to go with Sis.
I really need to get a move to log into my work system by now. It's fun, isn't it, using a Mac to log in to the virtual desktop system of a Windows, LOL. I need to keep reminding myself the shortcut keys are a little different. I am so glad that just before the whole not-a-lockdown fiasco, I managed to pick up this Muji Yuzu candy. There are no Mujis here, and every time I visit a Muji I MUST get this Yuzu candy. A shop just so happened to get a batch in, so when I saw them, I grabbed 2 packs of it. I have a mid-morning candy while I read the boring news and media monitoring saying how bleak the future is.
When I decide to check my phone, I see this message that almost triggered a mid-life crisis LOL LOL LOL. It's a message reminding me I have 6 months to renew my driving license. I don't know how driving license work around the world. I know in Hong Kong, is at any time you get a driving license, it's valid for 10 years. But in Macau, at any time you get a driving license, it's good up to your 40th birthday. (So I can get a scooter license at 16 years old, and my license is good until I'm 40. Or I can get a driving license at 35 years old, and it's good until I'm 40). Yes, because today is 12-July, officially the 6-month countdown to my 40th birthday (12-January). And I've outed myself LOL. But this turn of event was too funny not to share.
Just before lunch, I step out a bit to look at the outside world.
Lunch is a simple affair of leftovers from the past few days.
After lunch I see Menina looking as if she's desperate... I was so worried that I decided to risk it and take her down to the building car park. I was banking on it being still within the building estate boundaries, and it's hidden from the street view, so if there ARE police patrolling, they won't catch me. And FINALLY... she peed and she pooped.
Frankie got a quick walk and a run around the car park as well with Dad. Sai Lup was still snoozing so we just let him snooze on. After this short interlude, I return to my "work desk" and go through some more work emails.
By 3pm-ish I figured I've worked enough, so I take a break and play a bit on my phone.
I take the chance to do some German study too! I'm on numbers now, and surprisingly, I'm pretty good with numbers. For the reading exercises though, there might be a bug in that platform. It shows I've read 354, but it still says I'm wrong (it's in red), so I'm annoyed!
By around 5pm, the government press conference is live, so I stop everything watch it for a bit (the small window-in-window, bottom right corner), again, to see if there's any pertinent information, or an update to say we CAN take the dogs out for their necessities. And it's no.
I had the idea to try buying some fake grass mats. However, seems like many people had the same idea, so there was only one last piece in the shop. We'll try tonight and tomorrow if it helps the dogs to pee more willingly at home.
Sis arrives home pretty early, and since today is the "other day" that we have to go do the proper NAT/PCR test. Can't shoot a photo of the testing centre, but you can see the guys in the full hazmat gear there in the far end. And there are cars driving around town with loudspeakers telling people to wash hands, stay home, etc etc blah blah blah.
We get given 5 new boxes each of the Rapid Antigen Test. I smile internally because the government used to provide European brands, but now they've changed to China brand. Hm. Must be a strain on the budget and reserves.
At home, I see Harley and Nutmeg being sweet on each other. I wonder what's up?
Dad made beef stew for dinner. It was yum. We also got nice cakes today, because my bestie C saw that I posted on Facebook about the fake grass. She bought some of those fake grass mats back in April for her Alice in Wonderland series photoshoot, and she didn't need them anymore. So I walked down to her cake shop (just down by my place) to pick up the grass. I saw the cake shop had 4 last cakes, so I bought them all. She helped me, I'll help her :-)
I chill a little after dinner by sitting down and trying to read and progress more into the book...
Try to talk the dogs to peeing again. It was too dark to take any photos anyway. I shower and do my night skincare routine.
The rest of the night is for Netflix. (if I'm paying for it I better be using it). I noticed that I lost the color of a nail; I do a soft gel nail and when the color starts to chip, it’s easy to just peel it off… apparently it came off on its own, hehe.
Midnight and lights off and sleep. Well. Seems like I still got a pretty full day despite being stuck at home almost all day.
So. Despite it's no-dog-walking type of not-a-lockdown lockdown (the politically correct term to use here is "Standstill"), we don't really have to wake up so early, but old habits die hard. I try to roll around in bed and check out the social media news to see if there's any updates of note (particularly of the dog walking variety, but no dice).
I wake the dogs up and send them off to the balcony/verandah for their first pee/poop of the day. They're really used to the schedule of going out (streets) for the toilet, so it's going a little tough trying to train them to go at home. It's always available to them, and they know they can do it out there if it's really urgent, but they prefer to go out to the dog park or somewhere with grass. Only Frankie pee-ed.
Feed them breakfast. Again. They are so ingrained in their schedules, the older two refuse to eat "without having gone out first"... it's a headache for us. We might have to sneak them out later in the day, at least to the car park (still considered private area) or maybe the rooftop.
I try to get Menina and Sai-Lup to do their toilet thing again, but again, no dice. They are stubborn.
It's breakfast time for me, so I get my breakfast together. I've been craving savory foods for meals recently, so I decided to go for a cheese toast sprinkled with garlic salt, and a soft boiled egg. But. I overdid the egg. It's almost all cooked through, just the yolk was a little damp. Try again tomorrow!
I do the day's worth of exercise early in the day - there's a whole cause and effect reasoning behind this. It's so hot now (July! Summer!) so we need the air con to chill the room to sleep at night. But I can't just switch off the air con because then there's condensation... and my walls get wet, and my MacBook gets wet... so this is the time when I start to turn up the air con temperature to 22 or so C (overnight it's around 17 C) and I switch on a heavy duty fan I have in my room. Once the room feels warmer and I've finished the exercise (30 minutes power walk/light jog), I switch off the air con and keep the heavy duty fan blowing against the wall that usually gets condensation.
I should start to get to my work now, but I try again to get the dogs to do their business, and yes, Sai-Lup decided to let it go and pee. Finally!
It's also a must to the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) daily, so I have to swab up my nostril. We then have to do the NAT/PCR test every other day, which today we need to go, but we leave it to the end of the day to go with Sis.
I really need to get a move to log into my work system by now. It's fun, isn't it, using a Mac to log in to the virtual desktop system of a Windows, LOL. I need to keep reminding myself the shortcut keys are a little different. I am so glad that just before the whole not-a-lockdown fiasco, I managed to pick up this Muji Yuzu candy. There are no Mujis here, and every time I visit a Muji I MUST get this Yuzu candy. A shop just so happened to get a batch in, so when I saw them, I grabbed 2 packs of it. I have a mid-morning candy while I read the boring news and media monitoring saying how bleak the future is.
When I decide to check my phone, I see this message that almost triggered a mid-life crisis LOL LOL LOL. It's a message reminding me I have 6 months to renew my driving license. I don't know how driving license work around the world. I know in Hong Kong, is at any time you get a driving license, it's valid for 10 years. But in Macau, at any time you get a driving license, it's good up to your 40th birthday. (So I can get a scooter license at 16 years old, and my license is good until I'm 40. Or I can get a driving license at 35 years old, and it's good until I'm 40). Yes, because today is 12-July, officially the 6-month countdown to my 40th birthday (12-January). And I've outed myself LOL. But this turn of event was too funny not to share.
Just before lunch, I step out a bit to look at the outside world.
Lunch is a simple affair of leftovers from the past few days.
After lunch I see Menina looking as if she's desperate... I was so worried that I decided to risk it and take her down to the building car park. I was banking on it being still within the building estate boundaries, and it's hidden from the street view, so if there ARE police patrolling, they won't catch me. And FINALLY... she peed and she pooped.
Frankie got a quick walk and a run around the car park as well with Dad. Sai Lup was still snoozing so we just let him snooze on. After this short interlude, I return to my "work desk" and go through some more work emails.
By 3pm-ish I figured I've worked enough, so I take a break and play a bit on my phone.
I take the chance to do some German study too! I'm on numbers now, and surprisingly, I'm pretty good with numbers. For the reading exercises though, there might be a bug in that platform. It shows I've read 354, but it still says I'm wrong (it's in red), so I'm annoyed!
By around 5pm, the government press conference is live, so I stop everything watch it for a bit (the small window-in-window, bottom right corner), again, to see if there's any pertinent information, or an update to say we CAN take the dogs out for their necessities. And it's no.
I had the idea to try buying some fake grass mats. However, seems like many people had the same idea, so there was only one last piece in the shop. We'll try tonight and tomorrow if it helps the dogs to pee more willingly at home.
Sis arrives home pretty early, and since today is the "other day" that we have to go do the proper NAT/PCR test. Can't shoot a photo of the testing centre, but you can see the guys in the full hazmat gear there in the far end. And there are cars driving around town with loudspeakers telling people to wash hands, stay home, etc etc blah blah blah.
We get given 5 new boxes each of the Rapid Antigen Test. I smile internally because the government used to provide European brands, but now they've changed to China brand. Hm. Must be a strain on the budget and reserves.
At home, I see Harley and Nutmeg being sweet on each other. I wonder what's up?
Dad made beef stew for dinner. It was yum. We also got nice cakes today, because my bestie C saw that I posted on Facebook about the fake grass. She bought some of those fake grass mats back in April for her Alice in Wonderland series photoshoot, and she didn't need them anymore. So I walked down to her cake shop (just down by my place) to pick up the grass. I saw the cake shop had 4 last cakes, so I bought them all. She helped me, I'll help her :-)
I chill a little after dinner by sitting down and trying to read and progress more into the book...
Try to talk the dogs to peeing again. It was too dark to take any photos anyway. I shower and do my night skincare routine.
The rest of the night is for Netflix. (if I'm paying for it I better be using it). I noticed that I lost the color of a nail; I do a soft gel nail and when the color starts to chip, it’s easy to just peel it off… apparently it came off on its own, hehe.
Midnight and lights off and sleep. Well. Seems like I still got a pretty full day despite being stuck at home almost all day.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-12 14:29 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-13 02:11 (UTC)The no dog walking thing has caused a lot of discontent. Generally, because there are mostly apartments here, people train their dogs to potty outside. Now just in a sudden they mandate no dog-walking, many owners are worried their dogs will refuse to go at home and then cause future sickness — which fair enough, I worry about the same thing. Some lawyers are working with shelters/pet charity organisations to petition for something like a half-way arrangement. e.g. dog walking only between 10pm-7am or something like that. Not sure how it's coming. It's continue to keeping track of the news today (and upcoming days).
no subject
Date: 2022-07-13 16:51 (UTC)as for driver's license, that's crazy you can get one at 16 and it's good until 40. my state wouldn't miss out on those fees they gotta charge every time you renew. i think it's like every six or seven years here.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-15 15:19 (UTC)