CODA: Family matters

Recently I watched the film CODA 2021 about a Child Of deaf parents. Ruby is a hearing teenage girl living with her deaf brother and parents. She likes singing and joined the school's choir team and discovered she has a talented gift in singing. Her teacher encouraged her to go to the music college, but is torn between that and helping her brother & father on the boat as they dont have enough money to hire a hearing worker. 

I really loved this movie because: 

- It was the first movie I've ever watched about deaf people and it answered all my questions about them. 

Now I know they can write and read everything including lips and can have a hearing child but it can be challenging as Ruby's mom was scared if she would be seen as a bad mom due to her disability. 

- Protecting the family: the movie contains lots of lesson regarding protecting the family:

• Ruby tries to protect her family from harassments, she even teaches wrong sign language to her friend whom wants to date her older brother. 
• Ruby's mom tries to find family activities, so all the family members can join together.
• Ruby's dad doesn't blame her children over negotiating the fish price in the market and stop them from fighting each other. He tells them: "Guys! you want to fight, go fight those assholes! Our family sticks together!"

 - Sacrifice: learning when to sacrifice for your loved ones and when to follow your dreams. Sacrificing your self is very hard and challenging once you discover that you have a gifted talent and your family and loved ones rely on you. In Ruby's situation, it's not only Ruby who has to sacrifice herself; her family also has to sacrifice a free lifetime interpreter. 

- Appreciate other people's time & help: Follow your dreams. There are always some people to discover your talents and help you to achieve your dreams. Appreciate their help and their time spent on you.

- Don't be scared of judgement: Ruby is always afraid of hearing her classmates making fun of her family. She doesn't want her friend date her brother or doesn't let Leo go to the bar with hearing people until Miles tells her that she was cool when they were at 3rd grade and she was ordering beers for her parents but his own parents wont even let him to take the bus alone. He mentions his parents hate each other but Ruby's parents love each other. 

- Humor: I love the humor in this movie and laughed a lot after Gertie told Leo that "she has herpes" and when Frank says:

"You know why God made farts smell? So deaf people could enjoy them too". 

- Don't put all your eggs in one basket: When Jackie and Frank are struggling financially, Jackie suggests to sell the boat, but Frank disagree and says: "It's the only thing I know how to do!"

What I learnt from rescuing a street kitten in 10 days?

During quarantine, I used to jog in the car park. One day, I saw an injured kitten there but it was scared of me and ran away. I read street cats live up to 4-5 years while pet cats can live up to 14-15 years. That's why on September, when I saw a kitten behind the apartment's door, decided to rescue her but only managed to look after her for 10 days. She was black, skinny, and around 12 weeks old. Me and my friend decided to call her "Alfred Wallace" even though we knew it's a female kitten. I learnt some lessons from her as listed below: 

1) How to give a kitten a bath?

When I brought Alfred inside the house, I first gave her a shower. She didn't like it and tried to run away but could manage to hold her until shower was done and dried her with a towel as best I could. Then left her alone on the couch as she licked herself dry. 

Later I realized I should leave her alone from the beginning with some food and water, shower could be second step. 

after first shower

2) Identifying the kitten's sex

When I was thinking about a name, I was wonder how can I identify its sex. Based on my finding in Google, guessing the kitten's sex is a bit tricky especially for male kittens due to their undeveloped testicles. For identifying the kitten's sex, you need to look under their tails. So you need to be able to raise their tails gently and look at the distance between their anus and urinary organs. If the 2 organs are close to each other means the kitten is female but if they are far from each other, means it's a male kitten. 

3) Cleaning kitten's ear 

Her ears were very dirty. I cleaned her ears with cotton buds and baby wipes as best I could. 

4) Litter box 

Actually according to our apartment rental rules, I'm not allowed to keep any pet. During the day, I let her stay in the hall but at night, I had to bring her inside my room, so my housemate will not see her and complain to the landlord. That's why I was constantly worried of her pissing or pooping during the night while I'm sleeping. I bought litter and prepared the litter box for her. She was good at using her litter box. After scooping her first poop, I felt sick. So I decided to use 2 masks while scooping her first poop. Who could imagine Covid-19 virus couldn't force me to wear 2 masks, but my kitten did it with its smelly poop! 

5) Never use freshener

Silly me, I was tired of her smell and decided to use air freshener. Then guess what happened later? She started biting her box, running in the room, then Voila! After 1 hour, she had diarrhea. The next day, I had to take her to the vet. Giving her medicine, was challenging. I had to give her treats until she gets used to her medicine. 

going to vet

her medicine

6) Tuna, Tuna & Tuna

She loved her Tuna more than her dried food and every time I was in the kitchen, she would follow me and stand next to the fridge hoping I'd give her one more spoon! 

7) Kitten shirts

She was coughing and I thought she might feel cold, so I upcycled a few shirts for her out of old socks & shirts.

8) Playing mouse videos 

She was alone and I was busy with my job, no time to play with her and she spent most of the time sleeping or licking herself. I did play short mouse videos for her and she thought they were real and tried to catch them on my mobile screen, wasn't nice to fool her! Kittens are sweet but needs lots of love & care. That's why I decided to find a sweet home for her! 

Bo the dog, Covid-19 & blast...

It was 9th May, when I read the news of Bo's passing, the Obama's dog. I shared the news while going to the supermarket to refund some cherry tomatoes. Then found out the whole shopping mall was closed for 4 days because of increasing Covid-19 cases. I was frustrated by the sudden change and had to spend some time catching up on the news to track changes on shopping mall closures and train & bus operating hours...

When I opened my Twitter, everyone was sharing the news of the Kabul school bombing by Taliban. U.S. troops withdrawing from Afghanistan, and Taliban wanting power back. 

I remembered the day when I read Obama's speech in Cairo, I felt in love with his speech:

"Our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity -- men and women -- to reach their full potential. I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice"...

Now Taliban is grasping back power by killing innocent girls, stopping them from going to school and Obama doesn't seem to care. Only George Bush seemed to care about the effects of U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan. Even Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for his speech "A new beginning", but no mention of anything regarding U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan. Why should he? As he changed his tone during his second presidency time and released 5 Taliban members. Currently, they are present at the Taliban peace deal with the Afghan government. I am disappointed with Obama. 

90 people dead and 240 injured in the blast outside of Sayed al-Shuhada school in Dashte Barchi. So many families now scared of sending their daughters to the school. Who wants to collect the remaining of their children in a bomb blast? Who wants to go to hospital to identify a burnt body? Who wants to dig several graves for the remains of their loved ones? Some people ended up with having several graves in a cemetery. Soon, there'll be more labor for building of graves in Afghanistan than labor for building houses for the live ones. People have started advertising their funeral services in social medias. Only in Afghanistan, is economy growing based on funeral services. 

It's a complex feeling. Living in the present, battling with Covid-19 pandemic while trying take in on what's happening in Afghanistan, unable to help...

Kill or be killed?

Mass screening causing more Covid-19 cases. Yesterday, Covid-19 virus achieved another historic record of 13202 cases. 

It looks like Covid-19 virus is struggling with its own existential philosophy: to be killed is also to kill?

EMCO Timeline (1-14 July 2021)

29 June: 

I heard Mentari Court will be placed under EMCO but still thought that at least 1 person was allowed to go for shopping essentials. So, I was relaxed a bit. 

30 June: 

Around 4:00p.m. finally decided to go shopping. Bought flour, yeast, tomato puree, chickpeas and red beans can from 99. After I brought them home, I headed back out for more shopping. 

Around 6:00p.m. Just realized the month of June has 30 days not 31 and only 2 hours left to buy groceries. I did not yet buy creamer, hoping I could buy from the shops inside Mentari Court compound itself. 

1 July: 

Around 4:00p.m. I checked the shops inside the compound and found that out all the shops and restaurants were closed. Police stated: only online transactions for online shopping is allowed, not even cash on delivery is allowed. Regardless, I did not even take any cash from my account. Also found out couldn't use my card for online shopping as it is registered with my old number. 

Around 7:00 p.m. donations of 10kg rice, 2 pack of palm oil, 1kg sugar, 800 g flour delivered to our flat.

2 July: 

After the medical officer put a blue wristband with my identity card number written on it around my wrist, I did the swab test. Only they are allowed to remove it on the 14th July. 

In the afternoon, I made homemade mayonnaise using the donated palm oil.  

3 July: 

Ran out of creamer for coffee! I blame myself for buying cider instead of creamer, realizing its best not to consume alcohol before and after the vaccine. 

4 July: 

I received the test results: negative! Waiting period for the vaccine started! 

Around 5:00p.m. we received donations of a pack of 25g turmeric with a bag of vegetables (2 cucumbers, 1 carrot, 1 cabbage, tomato, lady fingers and green chili padi) and eggs.

After 10:00p.m. one of the florescent lamps in the room went off. Lamps aren't considered essential. 

5 July: 

Management replied: they may send a florescent lamp later, and it can only be changed by the tenant themselves not the repair staff. 

Having heavy period after 55 days! I bought a pack of period pads last month and a pack of liners on 30th June. Was worried what would happen if I ran out of period pads. Need to sew some cloth pads again! 

Around 10:00p.m. I read on the news, they'll be giving us the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine starting from the morning of 5th July. 

Woke up late and found out boss had been waiting 1 hour for me to change the address on one of the forms. EMCO affected business hours. I can't work at night and have to wake up early morning. 

6 July: 

I woke up after 7:30 a.m., couldn't sleep longer. Had to start work...

Around 12:00p.m. I received my first dose of vaccine! Waiting to say "Silenzio Bruno" to any side effects that dare show up!

Running out of chicken! I cooked the last portion of chicken with donated lady fingers.

After 7:00 p.m. finally got fresh milk donation for coffee, big relief!   

7 July: 

Around 10:00 p.m. I felt tired & hot, my head was shaking. My body temperature dropped to 35.5 Celsius degree. 

I read some people in Germany, advising government to fine those who are escaping their second dose of vaccine. Let's see how they manage our second dose vaccine. 

8 July: 

My body temperature is still around 35.5 Celsius degree. 

Since yesterday, I'm trying to stop talking about EMCO situation, as it just enhanced my stressful thoughts. 

After 9:00 p.m. I decided to make cucumber & cabbage salad and use the mayonnaise as salad dressing. The mayonnaise solidified in the fridge and after it melted, tasted more like oil than mayonnaise. Waste of time and effort :(

9 July:

I cooked the second carrot with minced chicken meat. My inner bunny has to fast again until further notice :(

10 July:

Receiving another box of eggs: finally the chicken or the egg question has been answered. 

11 July:

Milk-less now, entering black coffee season again! 

After 12:00p.m. the medical officer snipped off our blue wristband and gave a green release paper.

12 July: 

It's official! Today is our last day of EMCO. 

After 11:30 p.m., apartment dwellers started celebrating the ending of EMCO with fireworks. 

13 July:

Finally went out to do some grocery, bought paper cups to make cupcakes. 

Covid-19 virus had an enormous feast, 11019 cases recorded. Health GD requesting people to stay home. There's a possibility of extending EMCO due to increasing Covid-19 cases on EMCO areas. 

14 July:

Covid-19 is a very gourmand virus. Yesterday it had a new record of 11618 cases!

Due to EMCO, all shops are closed and repair staff cannot change the florescent lamp in the room.

17 July:

EMCO ended in Selangor yesterday. The repairman came to replace the lights this morning. Happy ending

Happy CMCO 🎆🎊

From 5th March to 18 March, we are living under CMCO. Hiking is allowed in Selangor as well as traveling between KL and Selangor. So I can hike in Selangor and KL. In the past 2 weeks, I went hiking in Bukit Kiara and Taman Tugu.

Hiking permit: RM1000 in Malaysia

MCO.2 extended again, this time from 19th Feb to 4th March. Public parks will reopen but outdoor activities are limited to walking, jogging, recycling individually. Hiking is not allowed and if anyone violates this rule, they will be fined RM1000. Hiking-goers are making fun of this on social media by saying hiking is the most expensive hobby or hiking permit is RM1000. 

My heart is broken as I can't reunite with my new hobby. I need to take a new course of life experience and develop my skills. Staying at home doesn't sharpen my skills. I still crave for hiking!