Microsoft Flight Simulator is a game that I have been playing since the 90s. On and off, I tried to learn how to fly.
The latest version has been released and I have been playing it extensively. It is not an easy game to play but of course, it is definitely fun!
Lets see how long I am going to play this 🙂
It has been a long while since I last took any photos. My cameras are all inside my dry box, waiting for me to take it out and shoot. The question that I have in my mind is:
Should I go out and shoot
Here are the facts with regards to the situation:
Honestly, I am not particularly sure whether I can or not go out. The facts that I listed above is based on what I read in the papers. Even today, when I drove to The Curve to buy a birthday present for my dad, I was not very sure but took the chance as I really need to get him a present (sounds stupid right?). Yes – come to think of it.
Here is my thought process with regards to whether it is safe to go out:
Seriously, it is a predicament that I have. After more than 1.5 months being stuck at home (or in-office), I am now rearing to go out to get fresh air. Though shooting is a non-essential activity. I can postpone this further rather than taking unnecessary risks.
After – reading what I wrote above, I have made the decision to NOT GO OUT and will stay at home until further notice. I will decide again, come next week.
We are now in Pandemic.
Many years from now, when I read this post, it will remind me how much life has changed. COVID-19 is a virus allegedly started from China and now has spread across to all corners of the world.
Am I scared?
To be honest, I am scared of the virus. I will be lying if I say that I am not frightened of it. Looking at the different videos on the internet on how the patients are suffering from the disease. It is definitely scary. The thought of losing the ability to breathe is alarming. In addition to that, we may contract the virus even though you are doing the right things. Stupidity roams very in every corner of the world, the difference is to what degree it is.
Community
The success of evading this virus does not just depend on the world and the Government(country). But it is the responsibility of each and every person to ensure that the virus gets eliminated. One thing that I noticed, the Community where I am staying now has definitely strengthened. Though we are not able to meet, the Facebook group is far more active now – and it helps to remind each other on what we can and cannot do.
Government
I can never be more proud of being a Malaysian now, knowing that our Ministry of Health is doing their level best to handle the situations. Of course, there are sporadic incidents across the other ministries who announced initiatives that are either outright stupid (hint hint.. Doraemon) or dangerous. I am glad, they are sane enough to retract that – if not the Rakyat themselves decided that they want to do what is right. For example, the announcement that the hair salons and barbershop can open their shop. In response to that, the business associations made an announcement that they are not supportive of the idea because such business practice poses a high risk given the close contact to the customers. There’s no robot haircut machine… yet!
Work
Work continues to be hectic – especially during this time of crisis. Given that I am in the Financial Services industry, we are at the core of the economy. As such, we will need to do our part to ensure that the economy keeps on running despite the global threat of COVID-19.
I have a letter that will allow me to go to the office. Still, I have decided to continue to work from home unless absolutely necessary. During the initial weeks, I continue to go to the office, but lately – I’ve been staying put at home as I can continue to do my work at home. The only issue is that working at home means that I am perpetually working. Working till late night is becoming a norm now! Comparatively to what I am used to. I hope that things can stabilise and I can go back and do regular hours.
Health and Diet
Well – the beauty of working from home is that I can control anything and everything that I consume. I no longer needed to eat out or Grab. In fact – I think in the past 4 weeks, I’ve only ordered from Grab 2 times. Once for roast chicken from Ayamas and another for Ramdon (from the movie Parasite)!
Workout wise, I subscribed to Freeletics for 3 months. This gives me access to a HIIT-based workout program. Some days are tough, others are ok. In fact, so far it has been quite good. Been losing some weight, which is good, but it’s slower than my usual routine because the workout at home can’t be as intense as in the gym. Never mind, I’ll make do with what I have! In fact, there are some days where I ran from my living room to my bedroom. Just to get that cardio mileage! Amazing.
In summary – this will be the new norm. Honestly, I don’t feel restricted and have gotten used to being living in MCO. I am still sane so far, and we have 2 more weeks to go. God bless Malaysia and Humanity. We will survive this ordeal!
My blog is a personal space for me to share. I don’t have many readers or subscribers. Before Facebook, this was the platform me to share most of my work. In fact, since a lot of my work is posted in the forum, having my web presence allows me to showcase my work deeper. Most of my referral sites are from the forums.
Decade past, most of the work is posted on Facebook – and me being me, don’t post much on Facebook. Though I do think that I should.
Commitment is the foundation of great accomplishments
Heidi reeder
Having a full-time job, I am not able to spend much time on writing. To be honest, I am not a very good writer, but I do want to improve. And, the best way to improve is for me to practice. I subscribe to Grammarly to help to improve my writing. It checks the way that I write. So far, it has been very helpful.
Back to the original context, my goal for this year is to have at least 366 postings! It is not easy at all, but I am going to try my best! Whenever I have time, I will write one post and schedule it. As you can see below, I have posts scheduled all the way till March! Though there is the temptation to publish now (like today!), I try my best to avoid it.
Ok till then – hopefully I’ll make it to 366 posts!
Just taking a cue from my writer’s block! I decided to do a video on PowerPoint! This is my first video (including my face too!). The video is unlisted on YouTube, so can only view it on this blog 🙂
I hope this video is useful!
Diamine Oxblood, Pilot FA Nib, Tomoe River Paper
Scribo
Tomoe River Paper
Waterman Inspired Blue Ink
Its the time of the year again. Instead of forwarding messages I decided to customized my own greetings this year. It is a simple video taken using iPhone and edited using Adobe Premiere. Simple greeting thru the new skill that I acquired a few days ago.
Today – I decided to go to watch a movie in the brand spanking new Aurum Cinema by GSC. I saw the advertisement for a couple of days ago and I decided to go and watch it. I thought they renovated the Gold Class but in fact, they completely transformed GSC Signature to Aurum Cinema. It was a huge transformation!
After you arrived, they will check your tickets and quickly you’ll be escorted to the dining area if you decide to dine first. Yes, the RM150 ticket comes with an Aurum pass which you will be entitled to a meal in Jin Gastrobar.
The Gastrobar looks posh. With dining tables and sofa for you to chill before the movie.
That was the “meal” that was provided. It was good. Very tasty. The menu is very limited now, but I presume that they will improve it over time.
The photo above shows the walkway towards the Gastrobar. I must say it is pretty cool. Check out the posters to the side.
The entrance to the suite. Confession – I actually watched the movie in Suite I but I was too lazy to walk back and take the picture. It looks the same.
The creme of the cinema. The seats (or is it a bed) itself. I must say, it was very comfortable. Reclining Getha bed with wireless remote control. Super comfy furry blanket to keep you warm. I was surprised that I did not fall asleep!
The side lamp has a dimming function, and those two round things are the remote control to call the attendants and the other is a wireless charger.
All in all, the experience was awesome. You are accompanied everywhere you go except when you are in the cinema. The service still needs to be improved but that will be in due time. Given that they just open, I bet it’ll improve.
I fully recommend this cinema for those long blockbuster movie. Probably not the short romantic comedy flick unless you plan to impress your friend.
So – should I watch The Last Jedi here?
Yesterday morning I woke up and felt that I needed some exercise. It’s not a golf weekend as I had to do something in the afternoon, therefore I either have to go for a run, hike or gym. Since I have not gone for a hike in a long time, when I opened my eyes yesterday – boom, its time for a hike!
First port of call, of course, is to find where should I hike. The first place came to mind is Taman Tugu. Taman Tugu is a new park that was opened earlier this year (I think!). It is located right smack in the middle of town. Somewhere near to Tugu Negara (National Monument), and not far away from Lake Gardens.
Drove to Taman Tugu, parked the car at the nursery entrance and quickly did a bit of stretch, and there I go! The first thing to do was to look at the map of the trails. The trails are properly documented, and by looking at it, I am confident that it is something that I can quickly conquer without much effort.
The main trail itself is about 3km long, and I took approximately about 50 mins to complete. Not that difficult at all. Even the climbs were easy, but with my weak knees – I brought along a walking stick to help me ascend and descend.
The photo above shows the entrance to the main trails. Well placed signed to ensure that you won’t get lost. In fact, when I got there – I was a bit lost because I could not find where the entrance was. I asked the general workers and they pointed me to the entrance. Stupid me because I didn’t look properly while walking to the park.
The trail itself is very clean and well maintained. Despite its the rainy season, the tracks were dry enough and my boots were sufficient to get traction.
Every few checkpoints, there were places where you can hang out on the swings and benches. Very good indeed. The trail was very easy, thus I didn’t have to hang around for a rest.
In addition to the swings, there were at least two gazebos that I saw along the way. Pretty cool indeed. If I do have all the time in the world, I would probably just chill here.
After completing the trails, I then exited and enjoyed a cup of joe from the food truck outside the trails.
The food truck also sells breakfast – so you won’t get hungry! I typically don’t eat breakfast, hence a cup of americano is more than sufficient for me!
Note – the toilet is very clean and well lit. It also comes with a shower with decent water pressure. No hot water though. Now the thinking in my mind is whether I should consider coming here before going to work. Perhaps can start by once a week then move into 2-3 times a week. A combination of circuit and trail walk/run will be good for my 2020 fitness goals!
Two more weeks, and it will be the end of the decade. This year moved so fast, that I barely could breathe. The year ain’t over but I am already feeling breathless. In fact, if you look at the postings for this year, it is actually very much less compared to the previous years. I wish I had more time to posts, but I guess work got ahead of me.
Moving to this year, I seem to be getting way more work compared to the first year working in the bank. Am I happy? I can’t be more thrilled in fact. Not to say I am a masochistic person, but being given the opportunity to do more role is proof that the bosses do believe in my ability to deliver. On the flip side, it could also prove that I am such a good actor! I hope that I am not.
Can I share what I do in the bank? Well at this point probably not. I will leave it to my LinkedIn profile which has not been updated for more than a year. I do really need to do that. Maybe a goal that I will draw up for the new year!
My working life cuts across three decades, and if I have to summarise – it would be the following:
The last 1 year has been quite a challenging year. My scope has expanded leaps and bounds but I continue to transform myself to be able to cope with all the new work and learnings. Not easy, but I managed to maintain composure. I do hope that I can end the year with a high. It is probably my most learned year ever. I do hope that I am able to be a better person(banker) next year.
Sugar is the root of all evil.
In cooking – there are three flavours that generally that require a balance.
Sweet
Salty
Sour
A combination of this flavour profile will make or break your dish. The choice of taste is subjective and dependent on the person’s preference. For me, I do not have any particular preference except that I don’t like sour. I would prefer if it is sweeter. Hence it requires sugar.
Sugar exists in many ingredients in addition to the tool to create the taste. The most straightforward example is rice, which is the primary vehicle for almost all Malay dishes. Hence a lot of the food where we consume is generally eaten together with some form of sugar. Therefore, when one was to add the total sugar consume for a typical Malay dish, one will realize that there is way too much sugar. I guess I am one of those victims from this.
Sugar has an addictive nature. The more one gets used to sugar, the more they want it. I think of it as a legal drug. The long term effects include obesity and diabetes. It is not easy to eliminate sugar, but one should try.
I am trying very hard to remove sugar from my diet. I acknowledge that I am a coffee addict. In the past, I will always take my coffee with milk and sugar. In fact, since the existence of expensive coffee joints, I started to shift to drink coffee in the form of cappuccino or latte.
I have managed to get used to drinking black coffee. That helps to reduce my sugar intake. The next phase is to remove simple carbohydrates from my diet. As easy as it sounds, this is more difficult.
I have tried many times to go into a low carbohydrates diet, but it seems to have failed many times too!
I still wonder what can motivate me to transition to a healthier lifestyle. There is a saying in Malay:
“Hangat Hangat Tahi Ayam”
The English translation for this is “Hot hot chicken shit”. What it means is that I will go all out for the first part, and then ended up going back to start. It has happened way too many times. I am terrible at self-discipline.
I need to improve my self-discipline. Full stop.
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