You know times are dire when people are signing off work emails with “stay safe”
It’s day one of our two week “lockdown” and just like most of you out there, the team at Liveatpc.com is prepping for the apocalypse working from the comforts of our humble abodes. No waking up in a rush, no pesky traffic jams and no worries about getting a saman for double parking– Life’s good.
I literally woke up, wiped the sleep from my eyes, grabbed my laptop, and started working. It’s been seven hours and i’ve not gotten out of bed. I’m not quite sure how to feel about this whole social distancing thing, but only because this is literally my life every weekend and during the holidays.
If you’re not sure when a good time to start questioning your lifestyle is, the answer is when you realise there’s not much difference in your day to day routine with and without a “restriction of movement”. Oh and also when you’ve been awake all day without brushing your teeth, that’s an important one. That being said, I ain’t complaining.
Sometime between 12-1pm my stomach starts to make weird noises but instead of ordering in, I just grabbed the closest source of sustenance within arms reach, which in this case is a family pack of Maltesers, a can of Jalapeno Pringles and leftover pizza from yesterday.
By 3pm, I realise that maybe I shouldn’t have munched through an entire pack of chocolates, chips and stale pizza for lunch. Perhaps I should’ve went out to tapao food. Oh well, RIP toilet. As the hours pass, I get this sense of satisfaction in knowing that my immobility is contributing to the fight against Covid-19.
Or is it?
News is breaking that people are ignoring the restriction of movement order and eating out anyway. Based on the pictures, they’re mostly elderly folk. I can’t help but sympathise with them but at the same time, what the hell guys? There’s no ME in social distancing. I mean, yes there are three I’s but still! Didn’t ya’ll see High School Musical? This will only work if we’re all in this together. It’s more than just a song, okay!
Seeing as most older people haven’t even seen HSM though, it all makes sense. How could they possibly know that we’re all in this together, right?
I check my email inbox for the umpteenth time and finally, something not Covid-19 related! It’s a press release from one of the big brands and it’s a complete waste of time. As i’m about to close the tab, I realise that the PR officer signs off with “Stay safe”.
That had me shook.
Stay safe?! STAY SAFE?
ARE WE AT WAR?! You don’t need to tell me to stay safe, i’m doing what every Malaysian is supposed to do.. staying indoors! I am safe. YOU stay safe! Pshft..
At this point I find myself wondering two things
- If I have skin as thin as the off brand one ply toilet rolls people have hoarded to let something like this bother me.
- if staying in bed all day and eating all that junk food is messing with my head.
I decide it’s the latter, so I to head out to tapao something for dinner. What kind of a world would await me when I go outside?
It turns out, not much has changed. Was the dramatist in me expecting the streets to be in distress and the sun suffocating behind darkened skies?! Lol yeah. Of course, that wasn’t the case. The only real difference is that there’s a slight decrease in motorists and most eateries removed all their tables and chairs? In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mamak so clean in my life, so that’s a good thing I guess.
This isn’t what Im supposed to be seeing though. There should barely be any motorists. People should be at home, and yet there are still those who are wondering the streets. There were literally three dudes sitting down at a mamak over Teh o’ ais just.. chillin’.
These are probably the same people who repost stories about Covid-19 prevention tips on their insta-stories but also snap a video of themselves out getting drunk at some bar right after. Don’t do this guys. Stay indoors, stay healthy, stay sane and most importantly…
Stay safe.
