The Year 2020 In Review
It has been a while since I blogged. Usually at this time of
the year, I would review things that has happened to me in the year. However, this
year, our lives came to an almost standstill state due to the pandemic, and I
had to embrace a few new things due to the circumstances.
Virtual meetings, Virtual celebrations, Virtual KTV,
Virtual music lessons
This was a year where most things had to be done virtually
since the Government imposed a “circuit breaker” between April to June 2020. As
of today, we are in Phase 2 of the reopening, transiting to Phase 3 from 28
December.
This year, I had virtual RC meetings since Phase 2 of the
circuit breaker. I also managed to do a Zoom birthday celebration for one of my
volunteer friends as her birthday was during the circuit breaker period. The
feeling was very different, although we still got to see one another, albeit
virtually. The 3 of us bought 2 slices of cake and it was delivered to her
house by Foodpanda and we did a zoom meeting to celebrate for her. It was a
nice experience as it was everyone’s first time doing this. It was fortunate that
Zoom extended the time limit of 40 minutes as we had a lot to catch up then,
after not meeting for 5 months then.
This year marked the 12th year of the ktv
interest group that I was helming. We
had managed to host 4 physical ktv sessions before being asked by the
authorities to stop as ktv outlets were ordered to close. It was fun hosting
the 4 physical sessions, although it meant more work for me and my co-host as
we had to prepare travel declarations, thermometer for temperature checks,
refund processing for participants who are ill or do not wish to attend due to the
fear of contracting COVID-19.
My co-host and I hosted the ktv on the virtual app platform
from April. We were a little apprehensive initially as this meant that we
sounded like we are talking or singing to ourselves. But as time went by, we
found ourselves getting used to hosting on the app. For me, it was certainly a
childhood dream fulfilled, as I had wanted to be a radio DJ but was stopped by
my mum as she felt that the line of work was not suitable for me.
We have since moved from hosting 2 sessions per day to a
night session per day, on top of our usual monthly sessions. The drawback of
the app, was we could not sing duets together, but I guess this will be the way
to go till everyone who has a chance to be vaccinated gets it done.
I started going for vocal class in February this year, where
I learnt to project my voice better and sing better. I would like to thank Annie
for recommending my teacher, Leonard to me. Friends have shared that they felt
that my singing has improved. This means that my hard work has paid off. I had physical
lessons before the circuit breaker, before moving on to the virtual platforms and
a hybrid model. I must say singing in the studio is different from singing on
Zoom or the app. This is the closest as to KTV can get.
WFH
I never thought that I would be able to work from home but
thanks to COVID-19, we were forced to do so since the circuit breaker. My boss
had initially wanted to cut our pay because she felt that we were not able to
work from home. I was thankful for the announcement on the Jobs Support Scheme,
otherwise I could have suffered a pay cut. I must say I have enjoyed working
from home as there was no need to be up so early, rushing for the crowded
public transport, going to work in working wear. The drawbacks were: -
1.
You had to be on call on your handphone, even
after office hours.
2.
Initial setup to start working from home can be
time consuming. My 7-year-old PC, 9-year-old printer and my Samsung Galaxy S10+
smartphone waved goodbye to me in this year, during this period.
Let’s hope for a better year in 2021 ahead, and the
vaccination process can proceed smoothly, so that we can resume our lives better
in the new normal.
Comments