12 Jul 2020 - Eating out for the 1st time since Circuit Breaker starts

Since the Covid-19 circuit breaker measures kicked in on 7 Apr, this was our first time eating out.  We had our lunch at Hawker Chan at Tai Seng, which is Jerlene's and Javier's favourite.  We had to wear masks at all time except while eating or drinking.  Will this be a new norm moving forward?  Only time will tell..........

11 Jul 2020 - Online Purchase

We have been buying stuffs through online channels all this while.  During this period, I guess most people are doing it since it's no longer a pleasant experience to visit a supermarket and shopping malls now.  This morning, Tracy ordered a packet of orange juice which cost about $2 but it came in a huge cooler bag with two big ice packs.  We were thinking probably the ice packs cost more than the orange juice itself.  Furthermore, we managed to get it with free delivery through a promotion.  :-)))

10 Jul 2020 - Singapore General Election

As we have been staying at home most of the time during this Covid-19 pandemic, there is really nothing much to post.  However, today is a big day for Singapore.  It's the General Election.  Due to the current situation, all voters were allocated a specific time to go the voting station.  For us, we were being allocated a time from 2pm-4pm.  Fortunately, our voting station wasn't too crowded and the entire process took less than 5 mins.  I heard that in some other voting stations, the queue was extremely long, especially in the morning.

Below is the result of the election and as expected the incumbent party won most of the seats in the parliament but the opposition party was able to improve their performance over the past elections.

28 Jun 2020 - Javier got his 100th YouTube Subscriber

About a month ago, Javier had set himself a target of achieving 100 subscribers for his Youtube channel.  Since then, he has been diligently posting at least one video a week.  His hard work has finally paid off today as he welcomed his 100th subscriber.  He was so happy and felt very motivated.  Well done and congratulation, Javier, for achieving this milestone!  So what is your next goal?  :-)

22 Jun 2020 - Installing Fire Board below our roof awning

We had installed a roof awning few years back but early this year, we received a letter from SCDF claiming that we did not submit our awning plan to them for approval.  We later realized that many other residents in the estate had received similar letters too.  We were all caught by surprise because most of us had gotten a Professional Engineer (PE) or Qualified Person (QP) to approve our plans before we erect the awning.  At that time, no one had advised us that we need to submit our plan to SCDF for their approval.  We even invited SCDF officers to come and clarify the matter.  According to SCDF, this has all along been a mandatory requirement under the Fire Safety Act.  Apparently, not many people are aware of this though.  One solution provided to us is that we need to install a 1 hour fire rated board below the awning.  Soon after, the government implemented the circuit breaker measures due to the Covid-19 situation and we had to delay our rectification works.

Now that the circuit breaker measures have been relaxed, we engaged a PE to assist us in submitting our plan to SCDF, and followed by getting a contractor to install the required fire board below our awning.  The work has been completed (see below) and we are now waiting for the inspection by SCDF before they issue us a Fire Safety Certificate.

For anyone who intends to erect an awning, do take note of this requirement by SCDF.

21 Jun 2020 - Father's Day (父亲节)

It's Father's Day today and we were glad that the circuit breaker measures have been slightly relaxed, which means my whole family was able to visit my parents for lunch.  Instead of going out for a meal as in the past, we ordered some food to their place and had lunch together.

I had also recorded a song for Father's Day and hereby wishing all Daddies, a Happy Father's Day!

14 Jun 2020 - Organizing a Scratch Competition

After participating in a Scratch competition recently, Javier (JJJwong) decided to organize one himself.  Initially I thought no one will be participating in this competition as I doubt he knows how to publicize it.  However, within two days, he had already received about 10 submissions.  It was only then that I realized he had actually advertised his competition on Scratch forum, reddit community as well as on his Youtube channel.

In fact, he has been helping the other "Scratchers" by answering their queries and providing advice.  Below is an example on reddit community where he tried to help out another user.

And following is his Youtube video publicizing his competition.

13 Jun 2020 - Ballet Practice with Zoom

As physical ballet class has not resumed, Jerlene continues with her ballet practice via Zoom meeting.  Though it's not ideal, that's the best it can be done for now.  Let's hope the situation can get better soon so that she can go back to the dance studio to have her proper lessons.

3 Jun 2020 - Early Moon Rise

The moon rose pretty early today.  Managed to capture it with my iPhone together with a binoculars.  Can even see the moon craters vaguely along the edge.

As there are lesser people commuting around nowadays, the air seems to be much cleaner and the atmosphere much clearer.  The little white dot in the following two photos is the moon above.

2 Jun 2020 - Back to School with Mask On

After staying home for more than a month, Jerlene and Javier returned to school today to start Term 3.  As circuit breaker measures are still being enforced, they got to wear a mask to school.  Also, they will be alternating between going to school and home-based learning on a weekly basis.  Hopefully they will be able to adapt to all these changes, which is necessary in view of current situation.

1 Jun 2020 - Blue Sky behind the Cloud

Today is the last day of school holiday, which was brought forward by a month this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  Though the current situation is still "cloudy", I am sure we can get through it and become stronger when we recover.  Just like the clear blue sky behind the cloud below.  :-)

17 May 2020 - Compilation of the Amazing Waterfalls in Iceland

I spent my afternoon today compiling a video with all the amazing waterfalls that we saw during our road trip in Iceland about 3 years ago.  This trip to me is still one of the best.  Iceland, the Land of Fire and Ice, is simply beautiful and full of natural wonders.  Enjoy the following video and click here to see my trip itinerary.  

12 May 2020 - Easing Circuit Breaker Measures

From today, a number of businesses and services will resume operation as government is slowly and cautiously lifting restrictions.  Following are the list of businesses that can resume operation:

- Manufacturing and onsite preparation of all food

- Retail outlets of food (including cakes and confectionery, packaged snacks and desserts, may be open for takeaway and delivery only)

- Home-based food businesses, but only for delivery or collection

- Retail laundry services

- Barbers and hairdressers for basic haircut services

- Retail of pet supplies

Of all the above, it is expected that Barbers and Hairdressers will be "swamped" by customers, especially for guys, who normally get a haircut every 3-4 weeks.  True enough, when I was at the mall opposite my place collecting our lunch, there was a long line of people queuing to get their haircut.  I guess Javier and I will probably wait for a few more weeks to get ours.  :-)

10 May 2020 - Happy Mother's Day (母亲节快乐)

Today is Mother's Day and due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation, we did not get to celebrate this day together "physically".  Instead we got everyone onto a video call and celebrate Mother's Day virtually for the very first time.

Usually we would either go out for lunch together or cater food and gather at someone's place.  Since we can't do that this year, we ordered some food from Din Tai Fung (鼎泰丰) and delivered it to my mum's place.  Glad that she likes it.

I hereby wish all mothers out there a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
在此我祝愿全天下的妈妈，母亲节快乐！

7 May 2020 - Last Supermoon of the year

Tonight's full supermoon has been dubbed a "super flower moon".  It seems to have earned its "flower" nickname as an ode to spring in the Northern Hemisphere.  This will also be the last supermoon of the year.  I managed to take the shot below using my iPhone and a lousy binoculars.  As I do not have any tripod to fix my binoculars and iPhone, I struggled to aim the binoculars at the moon.  At the same time, I had to keep my hand steady while aiming my iPhone lens to the eye piece of the binoculars to take the shot.  Considering all these "challenges", pretty satisfied with the result.  :-)