Staying home but thinking of going out…

The restrictions have now eased ever so slightly here in HK, and we can eat out at restaurants until 9pm now, extended from the previous 6pm time. Numbers now seem to be below 20 each day, which is still much higher than the previous 1 or 2 cases that we were getting back in June, but better than the 100+ cases that we were getting in July. We can still only go out in pairs, and the two places that I miss the most (the gym and the library) are still closed. So the only difference for me in the current environment is extending dine-in hours until 9pm. But I’ll take whatever I can get. That’s just life nowadays!

Despite the fewer numbers, I am still not that interested in going out. So I just continued watching more Bondi Rescue! I’m a tad obsessed 😆 And we also watched Kung Fu Panda tonight. We saw it when it first came out, but that was so long ago now that I don’t remember anything that happened in the movie! But now that we have watched it, we can start making our way through #2 and #3 😊

I think I should get out of the house tomorrow, though. I’m thinking of going out for a bit of a walk around the block or something each day, just to get a bit of exercise and fresh air (as ‘fresh’ as it is in HK! 😂), since the gym has been closed pretty much all year. We live in a pretty hilly area, so even literally walking around the block could be quite a good workout!

Reality hits

I sorta feel a bit empty now, after finishing Bad Blood 😂 I always feel this way after finishing something that has consumed me for days or weeks on end. I guess my obsession was short-lived! I still want to listen to the podcast The Dropout, and watch the Jennifer Lawrence movie, but thankfully that all-consuming feeling that I had yesterday is no longer there 😆 Monday has probably brought me back to reality.

Cases in HK continue to rise, unfortunately, and there is now talk of a possible curfew if the numbers don’t improve after the tighter measures that they put in place on the weekend: masks are now compulsory in indoor spaces such as shopping malls and public transport; and civil servants in non-essential services are working from home this week. Sighhh… We were doing so well in this city, did we just get complacent at some point?? 😔

TV nostalgia

For some reason, the Australian teen show Dance Academy came to mind today, and so I felt the urge to watch the series again. The whole series is actually on YouTube, so now I’m making my way through the show 😂 I actually don’t think I watched the entire series when it first aired, so this is as good a time as any to watch it from start to finish 😆 There are only three seasons, so it shouldn’t take too long to get through 😊

We also started watching The Breakfast Club today 😊 This one was because of Modern Family 🤪 They mentioned the song If You Leave by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark , which I think was from The Breakfast Club. But now that I think about it, it might be from a movie with Andrew McCarthy, probably Pretty in Pink…

Yep, it was from Pretty in Pink. Too late, we’re halfway through The Breakfast Club now 😂 That’s ok, that movie is such a classic anyway.

We didn’t finish it, though, because N had to go to karate, so we’ll have to finish it another day. We might watch Pretty in Pink afterwards. I haven’t seen that movie in decades either anyway 😊

Korean tv and movies

I wanted to go to a park in Wan Chai that apparently has cherry blossoms. I’ve never seen cherry blossoms in real life (I mean in nature, so excluding Gardens by the Bay in SG) so I’m really hoping that they’re still blooming. I know cherry blossoms only have a very limited lifespan each year, something like two weeks, so I don’t know if I’m too late this year.

We didn’t quite make it out of the house today, though, so hopefully we can find the cherry blossoms tomorrow 🤞🌸🌸🌸🤞

We watched Parasite today. It was good! I really enjoyed it. I haven’t written about them lately because I haven’t been watching them, but I looove Korean dramas. So I figured I would also like Korean movies. And I definitely enjoyed this movie!

And then I found a new potential Korean drama: Hi Bye, Mama! Crash Landing On You hasn’t really grabbed me, so I’m still wondering if I should persevere and continue with it. But it has been mega popular… I haven’t been watching much tv lately, though, so not sure if I’m going to watch either anyway! 😔

A walk and a potential new show

We went out for a bit of a walk, going from Central to Kennedy Town and back, following Victoria Harbour. I didn’t know that there’s effectively a promenade that runs by the water for pretty much the whole way! 👍 It was a bit humid and also a bit smoggy today, but the walk was pleasant nonetheless. Now that I know that this promenade exists, I may make more of an effort to go for a walk there every now and then 😊 But maybe after this damn virus is under control… 🦠

SG numbers are still increasing, and now they’re enforcing stricter and stricter measures there 😔 We’ve hit 1,000 with 11 new cases today. Even lower than yesterday’s number. And ten of those were people who had arrived from overseas, so it’s looking promising! Fingers crossed! 🤞

We watched a trailer for The Crown, which looks promising. It may be our next series… 😊 And IMDb has a rating of 8.7/10 for it, so that’s promising too… But first, I want to watch Parasite! Have you seen the movie yet? What did you think of it? What about The Crown?

Opposites

We were originally going to go out and do some shopping, but we decided against it, as it would’ve been a non-essential outing. So we stayed home and watched tv instead 📺 I decided to watch Contagion. It was a bit too close to reality at the moment, which was a bit freaky, but hopefully real life doesn’t get as extreme!

And then we finished Dirk Gently, which is so far from reality 😂 I liked season two more than I did season one, so I thought they were on a good roll. But apparently it didn’t get picked up for a third season, which is a shame. I liked that show 😔 So now we’re on the hunt for another tv series!

I heard a bit more about the situation over in the US at the moment and how the states are basically bidding against one another for ventilators. OMFG. It’s capitalism at its absolute worst. And then I heard that Jared Kushner denying New York much needed medical supplies because ‘… the federal stockpile is supposed to be our stockpile, it’s not supposed to be states’ stockpiles that they then use’, he says. What the actual F, man. Isn’t that exactly what the federal stockpile is for, when the states need it in an emergency like what they’re going through right now?!?? 😱😡 If you’re not going to help New York that is clearly the state in the most pain right now, then who will you help?!?? Unbelievable.

In complete contrast, when Wuhan needed help, other provinces in the country got behind them and 20,000 medical staff were sent from all around the country to help the city out. Medical supplies were being delivered into the city, with everyone trying to do their bit for the city.

And today, they actually had a national three-minute silence at 10am in memory of all the people who had passeed away due to Covid-19. Their social media apps are full of well wishes for Wuhan. It’s really heartwarming to see a whole country get together like this to support their fellow countrymen and women, especially when the current news around the world is still so depressing right now 😔

A few things to distract me

We went to Shake Shack for lunch today. The place was virtually empty, and we had to get our temperature checked at the door, which is so common in HK now whenever you enter a restaurant or a store. We sat outside in the general public seating area, but there was next to no one there either. Not that I’m complaining, especially during these current times!

Absolutely no one in this shot 👍

Oh and btw, FYI, I don’t think I have ever explicitly said it, but HK is not in lockdown. We never have been. So I’m not openly flouting any lockdown laws or anything, in case you’re wondering! 😆 I am voluntarily exercising self-quarantine as much as possible, as I mentioned a few weeks ago when I was anticipating this second surge in cases here 😒

And then in the evening, we watched another episode of Dirk Gently and an episode of How I Met Your Mother when Ralph Macchio, the Karate Kid, guest starred. It was actually quite a good episode!

TV took my mind off the fact that the numbers are still increasing in HK and around the world, sighhh 😔 Even if just for a little while.

We’re now at over 800K cases and almost 40K deaths. I still remember about a month ago when I was wondering how long the overnight increases of 10,000 would last. Now that number looks small. What the hell, man. It’s just all so surreal.

Relaxing on Boxing Day

Lazy day today. I didn’t do much at all, just watched more YouTube videos to help me make better videos 😊

We went out for a quick dinner and then watched The Game Changers when we got back, which was very interesting. And then we watched some other stuff that basically took the opposite side of the debate 🤷‍♀️ So basically what I got out of what we watched tonight is that I should just add more vegetables to my diet! Not a bad result, if you ask me 😊

I think I’m going to include that in my goals for 2020. I need to have a think about what I want to focus on in the coming year and then to write them down. I only have a few days left before the New Year comes around. December hasn’t slowed down one bit! 😱

Building back up and starting to wind down

I decided to go to Din Tai Fung today. I haven’t been there in a while, and so I thought I’d go back today. I’m never disappointed whenever I go there. Their standard is sooo consistent it’s unbelievable. The place runs like a machine 👍

I then just wandered around the shopping district that is Causeway Bay. The last few times we’ve gone there on the weekend it’s been eerily quiet. But today, it felt like the buzz is on its way back, with the crowds already building back up again, and it was getting harder to walk through the shops and on the footpaths. Maybe things are slowly getting back to normal in this city. Maybe… 🤷‍♀️

And then in the evening, I watched a holiday movie The Princess Switch, feeling like getting into the Christmas spirit 🎄 They had some actors from the UK in the movie, which of course reminded me of Downton Abbey 😊 So now I’m thinking of watching Downton Abbey the movie tomorrow. Maybe I can watch a few more movies over the next few weeks, as we start winding down to Christmas and New Year 😌

Resting

It had finally tuned into a full-blown cold today 🤧 I spent more of the day sleeping than awake, so with all this rest, I hope I start feeling a little better tomorrow. Sighhh… I hate being sick 😔

I managed to watch Avengers: Endgame, though, all three hours of it. Despite the length, I still enjoyed it, and I thought it was a nice way to end the series, if it is indeed the end of the series. I assume it’s the end, but I thought they were in the middle of filming another Thor movie, so maybe there’s still a few more to go… Maybe it’s the end of the Avengers movies, but maybe they’re still making more for each of the individual characters 🤷‍♀️

And then after a lonnnggg nap – N managed to sneak in a gym session while I continued to rest – we then watched the first episode of The Umbrella Academy, which looks quite promising. It’s a little different, and a bit dark, so it’s piquing our interest… They’ve finished the first season and now working on a second, so hopefully we enjoy this first season, at least 🤞