Paul's Fulfilling Life

  COVID-19 restrictions set by the Government meant that Chinese New Year was a muted affair for me. Not that I do not enjoy it, I actually liked it as this meant that it was a good excuse to avoid pesky and inquisitive relatives asking when are you getting settled down.  It gave me an opportunity to step up on my preparation of my volunteer community tax e-filing programme for self-employed individuals. I managed to recruit a few volunteers during my enforced break for Chinese New Year. I was asked to work from home by my boss after issues occurred in office again. To me, working from home is about the same as working in office, just that my boss will continuously doubt that if I am working while I am home or busy with my own personal stuff. Since the pandemic, I had worked from home for about 7 months. The good side about working from home, is being able to sleep in later, saving travelling time, do not need to navigate the two high step entrance at my office building, which...

  I was hesitating if I should get my flu vaccination done for a while. A bout of flu in the past week and the need to go back to the office everyday since Phase 3 hastened the need to get myself vaccinated with the flu vaccine. Even though the COVID-19 vaccine has not been rolled out to the public yet, I thought a normal flu jab shot would help in protecting myself and others in this pandemic. I would like to thank my doctor, Dr T H Chia for his fast and efficient service in helping me to get myself jabbed. Thanks for the discounted price for the vaccination and your advice on getting the COVID-19 vaccine once it is available.

  I certainly did not expect myself to fall sick during this pandemic, as ever since I had a bad experience of dealing with a fractured hand and shingles about 2 years back, which left me out of action for quite a while. Perhaps, I had caught the flu bug due to the recent cold spell or due to the lack of rest. When I reached home from work on Thursday, I felt my nose being blocked and my throat felt strange. I thought I could sleep it away, but it got worse on Friday, the day I took leave to attend a work webinar. I dragged myself to the clinic, knowing that I will be sent for swab test. My regular doctor had a special outdoor area for patients who visited him for flu symptoms. Upon his assessment, he arranged for me a swab test at Ang Mo Kio. As he is a PDPC doctor, I only paid $10 for the consultation and medication. I was issued with a MC for 3 days, which also states that I am required to stay home during the course of the MC or when my COVID-19 swab test result is negative. ...

  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 meet...

  It has been a while since I last blogged. Although I am currently working from home, the work seems to be never ending and the frustrating part is my boss always felt that my manager and I who are working from home, have not been working hard enough as we have been only going back to office once a week to drop off documents for my bosses to check.   I have my reasons to justify this. 1.        My fellow colleagues are aware that the disabled friendly side entrance is closed as the Safe Entry check in and temperature checks are shifted to the main entrance, which has two high steps, which can be difficult for me to access, even with walking aid if it rains heavily. The bad experience of being on long MC and getting into a dispute with her over entitlements is not something I would want to go through again. 2.        I have done my work at home and printing it out from home at the same time. In this way, it is bet...

It has been a while since I last blogged. Nothing much has been happening for me since I have been asked to work from home since the start of the circuit breaker due to the COVID-19 situation. All my volunteering activities have been suspended. I am looking forward to the reopening of KTV outlets and resumption of volunteer activities, although it will be done through the phone or other virtual means. Been at home most of the time for me is not a joke as I am a person who enjoys building friendships and relationships. The good thing that has arisen from all these is that I have learnt the following: - 1.        Establishing work from home based on the limited resources that I have at the office 2.        Learning how to use zoom/ Webex for lessons, webinar, virtual gatherings 3.        Using GrabFood to send food to friends for their birthday 4.        Assi...

It has been a while since I posted my last post. The unintended break from the circuit breaker from the fallout of the COVID-19. Now with more time on my hands as I need not work from home as boss did not wish to, as she felt cumbersome to do so. A good break for me too, since I did not have a proper break since my shingles & fractured hand recovery since returning to work last year as my leave was deducted till zero. When the outbreak came about in late January, I had been going on with my singing interest group activities and planning for the community e-filing project, with the help of my fellow volunteer friends, which has since been cancelled. I have started my vocal training class, after my friend, who is also the co-organiser of the ktv interest group, recommended her teacher to me to start the vocal training class. This has been going on for the past 2 months. I am glad to hear from friends that my singing has improved in the 2 months since I had the lessons. I would ...