No travelling 2020

Given the current pandemic that is still flaring up all over the world, it really looks like there will be no overseas travels until next year at least. Also, I came to understand that the cost of future air travels are going to be exorbitantly high. And if accommodation cost, assuming will be cheaper, is not able to compensate for the increased air fare, I will certainly think twice before I travel. So, all in, it seems like traveling for me will not occur anytime soon...

Sighs... I really miss travelling.

The Rise of the Dragon

You cannot stop it and you see it coming. And truth is, the re-emergence of China as a world power has been greatly enhanced by Trump.

Trump has been a huge catalyst for the destruction of the current world order as we know it and after 4 years of his (lack of) leadership, America is a lot weaker in the eyes of the world. The chaos Trump had created, domestically and globally, is unprecedented in modern history post-WWII. So much for his MAGA war cry, his promise to drain the swamp, his self-proclamation (and delusion) that only he alone can solve all of Americans problems. America used to be seen as the dream country, land of opportunities, and highly respected and acknowledged as the leader of the world in many fields. All these are have eroded and no longer true now.  

China, on the other hand, has held steady and calm amidst the chaos of international politics. She has held consistent her policies and against all the negatives the western world had framed against her. XJP has consolidated and solidify his position in China and China’s position in the world. The firmness and oneness in how China has managed the pandemic allowed the pandemic to be controlled quickly. And in quietly reaching out to assist the different countries during this period, China has quietly strengthened its position as a world leader. 

Ok, this post is a tat random...

Getting bored

Truth be told - I find myself getting a little bored with working from home.

No, it's not that I do not like working from home. I do. Working from home allows me a lot a lot of flexibility in managing my time and gives me a lot of space to do what I want whenever I want. I need not be stuck in my office to attend meetings etc. But I do feel the pressure to be visible - both to my bosses as well as to my team. Anyone feel the same?

Or am I thinking too much? I am one who loves to be free yet thrive in an environment where I am constantly challenged and performing. Contradicting? And much as I love to be free, I get uncomfortable if I feel I am not sufficiently challenged and visible. Or is it a simple case of me having too much time to myself currently? 

Hmmm...

Half Year Check-in

It's July and it's amazing how time simply fly pass without us realising. Maybe it is an age thing cos when I was a little boy, time always seemed to be at a stand still - Chinese New Year takes forever to come by, so did Christmas, and major festivals, etc... anyway, we are now in the second half of 2020 and I think it is useful to take a quick look at how I have been since 2020 started. Let's see...

Health-wise, I certainly have had many things going on. Heart's ok and stabilising, kidneys ok and to review in a year's time, done my dental check-up (it is a big deal for me cos after my heart stenting and ablation, I had been a little more careful about such checks), prostate cancer check - cleared, backaches lessened, etc... so in short, kinda stable and good. And I would want to attribute this, in a huge way, to the increased walking that I did over the last couple of months. It had kept my weight down, provided me a lot of space to reflect and in doing so upkeep my mental well-being. I sleep a lot better too.

Ironically, my overall well-being improved because of COVID-19. You see, with the COVID-19, all of us had been forced to work from home. And this brings me to the topic of work. This year, since Feb, we had started to organize ourselves into smaller teams and work in different sites. And since Apr, we were asked to work from home. The initial weeks were stressful but we eventually adapted to it. Now, I find myself having a lot more flexibility to manage my time and my stress levels. And as a company, we are now more used to working remotely and many systems and infrastructure are now better placed to support us. We are now rather adept in using technology to interact, collaborate and to work. So yeah, it's good from the work front.

On the family and friends front, things had come to a stand still of sorts due to the circuit breaker (or the limited lock down). There's reduction in face-to-face interactions but as adaptable human beings, my sister and I as well as my friends are I are getting used to interacting over digital platforms. My friends and I do interact via zoom once a while and this helped us maintain a certain sense of normalcy even as we stay apart. I have, since the opening up in mid-June, met up with most people closest to me. We are still limited to no more than 5 pax per meet up, but positively, it allowed the meet ups to be more personal and intimate.

I started off this year with a desire to "keep things simple, be happy, and keep my health in check". And so, I would want to say, YES, indeed, things are a lot simpler, and my health is in a good state, all thanks - ironically - to COVID-19.

:-)

Weight Management

I have increased my walking intensity over the last 2-3 months and I have thus far lost almost 7-8kg. But lately, I have also noticed my weight loss has plateaued off. I don't seemed to see a dip even as I have increased the distance walked daily. Anyway, will continue at it. I might need to consider doing some other exercises. And oh, lately the whether has been hovering about 26C and it is really pleasant to walk in this cool weather. 

Perfect.

Election is OVER!

With the election over, things are cooling down and life is getting back to normal. It doesn't matter to me the fact that the opposition won another GRC or that they have increased their voter base. It matters to me that I can get on with my life.  Here're a few things that I am very aware of, and had been confirmed again, whenever election season comes about:

• Long lost friends would suddenly remember you and spam you with all sorts of messages (most of which are fake and emotional) to discredit some politicians or political parties (esp the ruling party) and to try to get you to vote for the opposition. Doesn't matter for the fact that many of the messages are fake and had been forwarded umpteen times.

• Old flames will appear and chat with you about how things would be if we were to be together, etc and then very quickly, the conversation would turn to discrediting some politicians and/ or political parties (esp the ruling party) and idolising about the opposition.

• Uncles, aunties and cousins would text you with emotional stories about how the politicians from the incumbent government are "lying" about dishing out monies to people and keeping monies for themselves. One of my cousin said an MP was lying when she said the average amount of money spend per capita for COVID-19 is 23K cos she (my cousin) only received $600. She obviously didn't take into consideration the context of when the speech was made and she obviously and conveniently forgot about the thousands of support schemes put in place to ensure Singaporeans are protected during this period.

• And needless to say, all the alternative voices / media, etc will go on non-stop about all sorts of news, including lots of old news (politician's pay, CPF, education, succession, etc) to discredit the current ruling party, while glorifying everything and anything about the opposition parties and politicians, regardless of the many instances where these oppositions have fallen short of expectations.

And with elections over, everything has suddenly gone quiet. Friends, ex-lovers, relatives all somehow start to disappear again. It's like as though we just woke up from a dream. But of cos, the alternative media will continue to go on and on and on... like a broken radio. And oh, I forgot to mention, amidst all these, gay men in social media will talk about which MPs are cuter than who, who is more charming, who has a larger bulge, etc...

Roll eyes.

Scam

I strongly believe some one wanted to cheat me and that I would have been scammed had I not been observant. Here's the story...

Couple of days back, somebody texted me in Grindr. Now, I don’t usually reply people as my main reason to be in Grindr is to know who’s around me. But for some reasons, I replied him. He seemed like a friendly enough guy. And that’s how the conversation with this person started. He’s a very decent person, sane, sorted and friendly. He said he's Korean, grew up alone in S Korea after his both parents passed away. He was brought up by his grandmother and had a happy childhood etc... he said he was educated in NYU and is now working in Singapore on a 2-year contract. He added he works in Tuas (western end of Singapore) and is an engineer in the oil rig industry etc. He then requested for my whatsapp number, which I gave. I got a text from him using a US number with a 917 area code. I thought it was weird that he didn’t use a local number since he’s been working for over a year here but didn’t asked further.

The conversation went along well. He would text me in the morning, disappear for the day and text me again in the evenings. And each time he text, he would send me his pics. Thought this behavior was weird. Two days into the conversation, his profile in my Grindr disappeared. I asked him about it but he didn’t answer. And the next morning, he said he might be activated to Dubai as they had some issues there. A few hours later, he texted me with a pic of him, saying he had just arrived at Dubai and was gonna take a shower. Now, this was when I started to suspect this chap. Firstly, traveling during this lockdown period is almost never heard of. I google about travel arrangements into Dubai and noted that although they are out of the lockdown period, they are still very restrictive to international biz travelers. And because I had been Dubai before, I know exactly the challenges of making traveling arrangements to get there. My suspicion started to grow but I didn’t pursue further.

The next day (yesterday) he send me a text in the morning saying he will be going out to do some site survey. It was weird cos in Dubai's time, it would be 4-ish in the morning and doing site survey at 4-5am doesn’t make sense. And a couple of hours later, he send me quite a few pics of his boat trips. The pics was quite a surprise frankly, and I entertained him and continued chatting with him. Still feeling suspicious, I asked which hotel he is staying in and he said Grand Hyatt. It was weird that a person would be put up in a 5-star hotel during a company trip. Anyway, the conversation has started getting a little uncomfortable for me as he had started addressing me Baby, Honey and what have you. I wanted to test this guy further and asked him for his last name. He said it was Cheung. And this was a total giveaway. Cheung is a cantonese surname. Koreans don't use Cheung. Koreans use Jung. But well, I kept quiet. 

Today, he texted me again and tell he bought some gifts for me and asked me for my address. I rejected him and told him if he is keen on being friends, I would prefer for it not to involve any gifts. He said I made him look stupid. In response, I told him I expect him to respect me and my wishes to keep things simple and with no gifts involved. He pressed hard but I refused. In the end, he relented. I knew how this conversation is gonna go and was ready for it. I went on to google his area code 917 in NYC and learned that it's an old area code started in the 90s. It is not issued to new applicants. He claimed to be 35 years old and it would not be possible for him to have studied there in the 90s. Some minutes later, he send me another text, asking me to purchase iTunes USD500 Apple e-Card or something and send it to him... so yeah, this is the final straw.

I blocked him.

Preventing COVID-19

One key principle, Four key practices:

- Be responsible

- Wash your hands

- Wear a mask

- Avoid crowded places

- Practice physical distancing

It's as simple as that! Now, what's so political about that?

Mental well-being

Working from home can make a person feel very isolated and detached given the lack of personal face-to-face contacts with people and teams. This feeling can be reinforced especially when people live alone or away from families.

So if you know someone who is in such situations, please reach out to him/ her, even if it's just a simple "hi", “all ok?” or "how are you?". Such check ins may be simple, but you never know how much it means to those who are living alone, or worst, living with others, but feeling lonely.

Go on, do a simple check in.

Do magic!

Stomach scope

I did a scope of my stomach yesterday. It was an interesting experience not much different from my colonoscopy procedure some time back, except that this time I didn't have to clear my bowels over 3-4 days.

Anyway, it was a day procedure and everything was settled within the day. Apparently, the doctors found something abnormal and they have extracted a small bit of my stomach tissue for biopsy. Will know the result in a month's time.

And oh, I did a cancer marker test during a urologist visit recently and was told that if they find anything nasty, they will contact me, usually within 24 hours. Well, I didn't get a follow on call from the hospital. I guess I must be ok. Let's see how this go and hope for the best.

Que sera sera.

Horrifying developments

I've been following news from US, UK and China lately (in my attempt to avoid local news due to elections) and it's really worrisome to see how the COVID-19 is spiking in the Americas. The trend of new cases recorded daily is scary. And this morning I woke up to a sudden jump of more than 51k cases in the US.

I wish my friends in US all the best. Please stay safe, wear a mask, keep your social distance and continue to practice highest levels of personal hygiene.

Black Spots

Went for my eye review 2 days ago and was told my left eye (that had bad conjunctivitis) needs further treatment as there are spots seen on the cornea. This probably explained why the vision of my left eye was bad... for now, had to administer steroids as well as antibiotics for the next 3 weeks.