Long Weekend Ends

It’s a lonesome Sunday.

I thought I would go out, take a view of the unknown, but the thought of having to mask up everywhere I go turned me off. So I stayed at home, playing games, listening to podcasts, and trying to figure out how this year whizzed by in a flash and I still stayed unproductive. Well, I did do grocery shopping, which meant I ended up with lunch and dinner of fish.

I tried to make one of those one-pot-pasta, but I never seem to be able to get the proportion correct. Too much water meant I ended up with noodle soup instead of a nice creamy pasta with gravy to boot. Perhaps I could try my hand at this again.

It’s a lonesome Sunday, and the work week beckons.

Losing the day

I kind of, lost the plot for Monday.

Wake up, procrastinate.
Maybe I will get some exercise on my Decathlon mat while my housemates walk the dogs.
Maybe I’ll be on my mobile game, or watching someone else’s game on YouTube.

Then I power up my computer and wait for the weekend’s e-mails to stream in.
By this time, I should have had breakfast, that likely consisted of bread, fruits, and some drink, or a subset of the above.
I dread work, but it embraces me, and smothers me in its embrace.

I think the most exciting part of Monday was this briefing I sat in, that required me to scout some locations around the country.
Indeed cheap thrills for the weary soul.

I dine out, and got some groceries as well.
My basket was a mix of sugar, eggs, and milk.
Yes, I would like to be baking come the long weekend.
I just wasn’t sure of my skills.

The Monday comes to an end, with some random television and games, without so much a fanfare, or any excitement.

Buying fish, and groceries

Hello, Tuesday.

I took the afternoon off, to go grocery shopping. At the supermarket, I was stumped by a fish type called “Toman”. I read it wrongly at first, mistaking the fish fillet to originate from the island of Tioman in Malaysia. It was through Google that I realised that was the name of the fish otherwise known as Snakehead Fish. It had its skin still intact, and I for one, love fish skin (more so steamed than in any other form), and the price appeared reasonable, so I bought it.

Reasonableness, really, is how much I was willing to pay. Not that I actually followed the prices of fish.

The afternoon I spent resting, thinking of why I took leave on a lovely Tuesday instead of midweek. Well, why did I even take leave at all since no one is going to figure whether I am lying on my bed during this period instead of working, or something? I guess I just needed the excuse not to be in front of my work laptop. That worked.

Games, the usual, Netflix, more Dominion Online, and this blog. It’s just another day in “circuit breaker”, coming soon to an end, but the transition out of it, unlike into it, will be in long drawn-out phases. I don’t know how long anyone can stand to be at home all the while any longer.

Perhaps I have a new found respect for housewives.

Thursday, not quite Friday yet

I queued for McDonald’s. In retrospect, that was not very smart of me, but sometimes, we just do the things we do.

Deadlines continue to loom at work.
Humour comes in the form of yet another postponed meeting.
I see things in such a strange light these days, and I wonder whether my sense of funny is in overdrive because of this pseudo-lockdown.

I did some groceries while I was on the fast food run, and ended up with more cartons of soy milk than I really needed. The expiry date hit me, because it was a date after “circuit breaker”. I think I was struggling to see life beyond 1 June 2020, and what it would look like.

Also, I feel like I was in need of a vacation, as I am sure many around us would feel as well.

Is it this or next Sunday already?

I woke up, decided I wanted to go out somewhere, probably grocery shopping. I wanted to go to a supermarket further away, but ended up at the nearer one that had yet to open. A queue had formed. I saw it, and decided to join it even though I had no time-telling device on me, and had no clue how long I would have to wait listlessly in line.

I did not bring my mobile phone or any sort of entertainment.

I stocked up on vegetables and fish, juice, and got breakfast on the way back. I would have liked porridge, but the stall helpers were too busy with handling food delivery orders that I decided to pay my coin to the bakery nearby. No one’s loss there.

Sunday, Sunday, like any other stay-at-home day, except I don’t feel obligated to switch my work laptop on. I managed to get to the final boss of Hades, I think. I still am a long way to go from clearing the game though.

Maybe next Sunday, I will?

A Simple Day

I had no plans for my Saturday morning, and went shopping for groceries. Flour, chicken, lime, and kiwi fruits filled my shopping bag. I decided to give the no-knead bread another go. Similarly, baked green beans and chicken breasts lasted me a meal. Simple, and boring be my signature.

I went back to work in the afternoon, before heading to an ex-colleague’s housewarming event. That was great, catching up with friends, chatting and gathering. We have known each other for some eight-over years now, and how all our lives have changed greatly since, with different jobs, children, and different dwellings. Friendship that lasts, is perhaps the one thing I chase after, and hope for.

May we continue to gather like this, or just because, for many many years to come.

Groceries

Grocery shopping on a Sunday morning was surprisingly therapeutic, and unsurprisingly costly. I bought quite a bit, and somewhat on the spur of the moment.

From the wet market:

Minced pork, 300g for $3

Chicken breast meat, 3 pieces for $5 where each piece appears to be able to last me two meals

Dried shrimp, 100g for $2.50

From Cold Storage:

Xiao Bai Chye, tomatoes, french beans at a packet for $1 each

From Fairprice:

8 pieces of kiwi fruit for $6.95

10 eggs for $2.25

A pack of grated cheese for $5, 100g

Add those to the herbs in the kitchen, as well as pasta in the fridge, and I made 18 meatballs, had pasta and chicken for lunch, and baked chicken with french beans for dinner. My palette is typically bland, and I was uncertain the amount of seasoning I should have added. All in all the food turned out well, and cooked, which really is a low standard but good enough for me

Pennywise Poundfoolish

I know of places where the baguettes are cheaper, and so I travel there and spend additional time on top of my usual way home. The travelling cost and time incurred may not make up for the savings. It wasn’t also as though the bread was to die for. I’m shortsighted that way.

My boss is away this week, the most of it, and I’m coming to work later than usual. I’m lazy, and subtly rebelling against his mantra that one should come to work on time. Does anyone care that people leave work after hours? They should if they care about people coming in at their reported time. Also, one can definitely disappear for an hour or so in the middle of the work. Sometimes, I really do not understand my boss.

Decisions

Four green kiwi fruits for S$3.95 or five for S$4.50, that was a choice I had to make when deciding on fruits. It was kind of funny that I walked between the shop and the mart to figure out what it was I wanted, and also that my memory of prices at the mart was not clear in the first place. In the end, the quantity did not make a difference here for me and so I went the value-for-money option.

Speaking of value-for-money, I believe it was for the first time that I’ve been purchasing shower products that I chose a pricey option versus a parallel import from a neighbouring country. Was it that I did not trust the quality of the latter, or that I felt more assured paying more money for supposedly more legitimate products or products that I presumed have gone through a more rigorous process of quality control?

Monday blues comes around, but with a determined plan for my schedule ahead. I felt mostly productive at work, I got a haircut after work, and I even caught up on the first episode of the new Game of Thrones season. Sometimes, pressure can spur the greatest or strangest in people, given that for one, I’ve never actually sat through a full episode of the hit series till now. But it’s a good time to start, or end, I gather.

Clean

Shopped for the new place; found myself having to consider and recall the brands of cleaning agents that I’ve heard or known to be effective and wallet-friendly. My mind draws a blank. Slowly, a new beginning approaches!