Singapore Circuit Breaker #tings

Singapore's Circuit Breaker (CB) was officially announced on 7 April 2020 and scheduled to last till 4 May 2020. On 21 April 2020, it was announced that measures needed to be tightened to the Circuit Breaker period, to further reduce the transmission of COVID-19. The Circuit Breaker period was extended by another 4 weeks till 1 June 2020 (inclusive).

With the extended time being stuck at home, people glued themselves to Netflix, dug out family recipes and became home chefs, experimented with baking, started exercising, de-cluttered like Kon-Marie and became Tik Tok stars.

I stepped out of CB into Phase 1 on 2 June 2020 with the following CB Tings checked,
1. Training Cycling Station
I figured instantly that the extended hours copped at home will mean that I needed a simple cardio activity that I enjoyed jumping onto. I for one am not a fan of online exercise videos that were made very popular to keep one motivated during CB. I fixed up my Scott Contessa with my Minoura Cyclone trainer at my study area to spin. It's now a fixture in my study space. It worked really well mixed with my regular outdoor runs around the neighbourhood and occasional strength training with weights.

2. Toilet Paper Meme MV
When DOSCORN Orange kicked in on 7 February in Singapore, Toilet Paper started vanishing from supermarket shelves making the humble toilet roll one of the most sort after commodity in the country. This was apparently not unique to our tiny country state but a phenomenon witnessed all around the world. Fights broke out over heated snatching of toilet rolls with restrictions put in place from preventing shoppers from over purchasing.

To commemorate this event, my MV gang came together (remotely) to produce our version of the Toilet Paper Meme as the extension of CB kicked in. It was simply fun and featured my cycling station!



3. Formation
a. Holy Week Bible Study (Formed)
b. Webinar with Christopher West (1 May)
c. Theology of the Body (TOB) Conference (Weekend of 8 May)
d. Introduction to Virtues (7 Sessions)

The annual TOB Conference by the Theology of the Body Institute, usually held in the States was made available online for the 1st time! It was a star studded line-up of over 60 global speakers talking on various angles on this topic that I immensely love. It was a jam packed, knowledge filled weekend. In the midst of COVID-19, I felt so blessed to have the opportunity to participate in the sessions. I simply love how TOB touched my life in my early 20s and continues to have this profound impact even till today. It is true that when God sows a seeds, it will continue to grow.

The Introduction to Virtues lesson was a formation program I planned for at the start of the year. I was delighted to have it offered FREE as a 7 lessons online class by Fr. David Garcia during CB. Zoom online classes turned out acceptable and way more convenient.

4. Planted and harvested Covid Greens Dwarf Pak Choys
Every block of 40 - 50 days is a good period to setup a veggie seeds tray for urban farming. Urban farming become quite a thing for me last year and knowing that I can sustain an extremely small portion of my vegetable consumption from my own garden is heartening. It's always a delight to reap the rewards sown by your hands. After harvesting the batch of "Easter Greens", I started "Covid Greens" which was harvested just before CB concluded.



5. Re-watching Babylon 5
Am I the only one that finds nothing on Netflix is worth watching despite the millions of dollars the platform has pumped in for new content? There is also a void on good Sci-fi... everything worth watching have been watched. And rather than spending hours committed to a new but lousy series that leaves one dissatisfied, I decided to re-watch 1994's J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5. I was a young teen when the B5 series ran for 4 years on free-to-air TV, it was filled with interstellar political conflicts, space-stations, dog fights aliens and lots of low budget computer graphics CGI. Having completed every spin-off of Star Trek and 9 seasons of The X-Files in the last few years, I thought it was time for B5. And it has been a real joy to revisit.

6. Home Upgrades
Being stuck at home did not stop me from the convenience of online shopping. I spruced up the workstation with a new Microsoft Surface Keyboard in smooth gray and invested in the Philips Hue Smart Lighting system to create a more intense lighting dimension of my spaces. Yes, I am quite extra. And that's just 2 of the more notable things that kept me happy on the shopping front.

7. Created St. Teresa Church Young Adult's website
For our online evangelisaton efforts. Visit the website at http://tinyurl.com/stcyac

8. Portfolio Update
Something I've always wanted to do but never came around to. I've finally copied all my old portfolio works back into my 12TB of hard-disk and touched them up to be compiled properly into a portfolio to be uploaded to YouTube. It is still a work-in-progress but happy that it has kicked off to a decent start.