today

decided to go to church and meet up with some friends afterwards for lunch and whatnot. had a lot of fun chatting about anything that came to mind. enjoyed the unique burger meal i had in mo's burger. also saw an old friend from work, bought some stuff in the supermarket, and chatted some more with my friends with a few photo ops in between sips of our zen milk tea in kumori. then went home, watched a movie, cooked dinner, ate dinner with family. these activities make for a pretty regular sunday if you think about it. but with covid, nothing is really "regular" anymore. 

starting of course with the mandatory wearing of face mask and face shield within public premises. let's face it. it's difficult to talk to someone without having to ask them to repeat themselves because their voices sound muffled and hollow behind their own protective gear. so of course we move closer in order to hear each other clearly. so much for social distancing in that regard. 

next would be the completion of contact tracing forms in every single establishment before entry.  there are two ways for this to be done: by paper and by qr code. thus queues form especially if you are quite slow in writing down your information. they aren't that long actually, but to me a queue is a queue and i have no patience whatsoever with slowpokes. i am that slowpoke sometimes. 

lastly, the temperature checks and spraying of hand sanitisers. these, along with the wearing of face mask (face shields weren't required until just a couple months ago) were considered our first line of defense since february. 

now combine all those factors with meeting up with friends and family. this one is kept to the barest minimum. i mentioned in a previous post that i get that touch of guilt whenever i go out because there's always that underlying fear of catching covid or worse, passing it to people unknowingly. even when i strictly follow safety guidelines to the point of being suspicious at the slightest cough. although everyone had been subject to all these guidelines for the past eight months, there are just some times wherein it gets exhausting especially since some of our country's so-called leaders think they're exempted but that's a story for another day. 

so exhausting that when i see characters in old tv shows or movies interact closely with each other, i think, is that how we really lived before this madness? it seems like i have forgotten what a good old pre-covid day feels like. i told my friend so and she agreed wholeheartedly. having to live with covid hanging over our heads has done a number on us in so many ways. whether we like it or not, it has indeed part of our "regular" days until a vaccine is found. so until then, taking the utmost care will be the name of the game.

i would have zoned out on my friends with these gloomy thoughts had i not checked out this paper wrapper that contained my krone. 

and i am jerked back to what really matters: cherish the moments spent with loved ones. in the short time i was able to get out, i was able to return to church. had a great time bonding with friends who i hardly saw for the past eight months except online. and then things at the home front were calm. even the weather was really cheery. bright blue skies with cool breezes blowing which were rare in the past month.  

yep. today is a good day.