Memoir of An Average Homebody

It’s the seventh day of fasting. I woke up at 5 am and had two pieces of buttered toast. Then I prayed and went back to sleep. I roused a couple of hours later, showered, and started to click-clack away on my laptop keyboard keys hoping to churn out something somewhat readable. It has been a long time since I wrote a story like this. I would probably say five years but even in school, I tend to write fact-based essays whenever I can because in my opinion, it’s simpler than using words to paint pretty pictures or to create cool characters. Enough about that. Let’s talk about current issues.

Who would have thought that the world would be plagued by a viral disease and our lives would come to a complete stop? The 16th of March was a Monday. I fitted a denture for a patient in the morning and did a tooth filling in the afternoon. Our student polyclinic was already buzzing with the news that the other dental schools in Malaysia are closing in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Other faculties in the university are also planning to close down. You could imagine how anxious we were since the outbreak seemed to be getting serious and how susceptible we are to the disease because our line of work involves close contact with other individuals. That night, the prime minister announced the commencement of the ‘Movement Control Order’ (MCO) starting on the 18th of March.

Our faculty immediately released an announcement stating that classes and clinical sessions will be postponed until further notice and that students are encouraged to go back home. I snickered gleefully at the thought of not having to prepare for the supposedly next day’s discussion. I went home the next morning, right after having a McDonald's breakfast with my friends. Who knows when we’ll be able to do that again?

And just like that my life begins as a homebody. So much free time, so many things I can do... An activity that I practically indulged in is baking. It’s no secret that I love desserts; cakes, cookies, pies, muffins, pastries; you name it. I started baking some years back just because I had an intense craving for apple pie. It turned out fairly nice on my first try if I do say so myself. Then I stopped because of university; but I still bake the occasional muffins or cookies once in a while. This time, however, I went bonkers. I made lemon cake, pandan cake, apple cake, carrot cake, peanut butter cookies, doughnuts, a couple loaves of bread, etc. Of course, not everything was smooth sailing. On the fifth day of the quarantine, I tried to make a Basque burnt cheesecake. I literally burnt the cake, top and bottom. It was bitter. Both the cake and the incident.

It just so happens that my family is currently in the process of renovating our house. With the MCO in place, all the construction work is stopped for the time being. Thankfully, all of the walls and roofs are up and the doors and windows are installed. However, the kitchen is not fully furnished yet. I’m not sure what we’ll eat if my parents didn’t go out and buy a gas stove just one day before the quarantine starts, probably just takeout and instant food for the next few weeks. Of course, with every construction work comes great dust. We finally have the time to thoroughly clean the house. We wiped, vacuumed, mopped, swept, scraped, and scoured until all the surfaces are squeaky clean and spick-and-span. Decluttering was also done during the process. All of the unopened boxes, drawers, and closets are cleaned out; old clothes, books, and toys were thrown away or set aside for donation to the less privileged. I also finally tackled the mountain of exam papers and notes from my school days. I know decluttering is daunting for some people but I think that once you start, you’ll be on a roll. There is a sense of satisfaction from knowing exactly what you have and where you store them. Cleaning also becomes a whole lot easier without the junk that you refuse to throw out.

Next order of business, online shopping. I know I am not alone in this. Online shopping is already a norm among most of us but with the quarantine in place, people have been ordering more and more online. I was curious as to why this is happening so I searched the internet and found a number of articles about it. Boredom is one of the factors. It is like an itch that we scratch by shopping because it is fun and it keeps us occupied. I found myself scrolling through an e-commerce application looking at stuff that I don’t really need more often than I like to admit. On the bright side, thanks to the existence of online shopping platforms, I can buy all my Raya necessities such as clothes and kuih in the safety of my own home. Anyhow, the inconvenience of this kind of shopping is that we cannot see the items in front of our own two eyes until it arrives. Just last week, my father bought a few kilos of squid. From the picture, it looks just like your normal-sized squid but what we got instead was a basketful worth of thumb-sized mini squids.

All in all, I am glad that I am able to spend the MCO at my home with my family since some are not as lucky as I am. Quarantine taught me to never take things for granted. Be thankful to all the people that help us fight this virus and also to the people that provide services for us. Take advantage of this free time especially in this holy month of Ramadan by getting closer to Allah through salah, reciting the Qur’an and tasbeeh.

This is also a good time to donate money to the less fortunate who are affected by the lack of a steady income or to a fundraiser collecting money to buy Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the healthcare personnel working tirelessly around the clock.

Besides the activities that I mentioned above, I’ve also watched tons of television shows and movies, crocheted, tried watercolour painting, did some gardening, helped my sister with her video project, joined several online classes, and more. If I were to list down all of them this essay will never end. Well, that’s all for my story. I hope you’ve had a pleasant read. With that being said, thank you.