GAMD: 23-December-2022, Macau
Hello all! Today... was a journey... The Macau Government just implemented some new Covid-related policy three days ago. Essentially, it went from a total draconian control of must-quarantine-if-coming-in-from-overseas and daily itinerary reporting and check-ins for tracing possible contamination... to... a total laissez-faire "even if you got covid, if your symptoms are not the-you-are-dying-type then you better just stay home and not go anywhere not even the hospital" type of thing.
My alarm went off at 6:00am but I was feeling lazy, and hey, it was still dark out, so I just laid in bed until I heard the noises of my Sis getting up and start preparing for her day... only then I decided to stand up.
Even though now there's no need to report your covid status on the health app, I still do the home test because at my Sis' workplace, essentially everyone but like 3 or 4 people have already tested positive. My temperature seems fine, and I'm still negative, so okay....
First order of business is: Dog Walk! Every year in December, I take all Fridays off up till Christmas. Today is Friday, and I noticed whenever I'm off my walking steps are really low. Usually the dog walk entails driving the car out to somewhere with a bit of grass, then after the dogs are done, it's driving back home. I tried something new with Frankie, since he's still young and needs to walk more. We drove out to the usual place, but instead I walked home with him. That should be at least 2km with a hill... possibly 3km.
There's the "Light Up Macau" thing going on so there are new installations around everywhere. This is one of them. Supposedly at night those fake bushes light up and all that. I still haven't visited these yet as... after dinner I usually just go shower and decompress and don't feel like going out anymore...
They put up some stuff under this huge tent. It's going to be another Covid testing station, I think. It's fine in winter but come summer it's gonna be a roasting station. It was quite a nice walk along the perimiter of the lake.
And these geese peddling boats or whatsitcalled. Frankie looked interested but for safety reasons, it's no dogs allowed.
Found a spot that I could take this photo with Frankie, LOL!
Had my breakfast and my coffee! I'm usually not big of a coffee drinker, but I did buy a box of starbucks instant coffee so I have to eventually finish that...
Kitty says hi!
There was nothing else to prepare for Christmas, so today was a totally free day... I checked some of my Taobao orders to see the delivery status. There's 2 particular items I really hoped would arrive before Christmas, but by the looks of it, I don't think it's gonna happen. I also started to read a book on Libby, but the library I'm on is a UK one, and there's no option to "send book to Kindle." I read somewhere that only US libraries have this function. Does anyone know? I'm slightly tempted to sign up for the New York Queen's Library (they allow non-resident memberships, for a fee) but if it's the same and I have to read on the iPad then I'd rather just continue to use this UK one (it's a borrowed account). Currently reading Klara and Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Sai Lup was making some noise because he wanted to go lie in the sun, so I put him out there for a bit.
Dad needed to go to the hospital for an appointment. One of the new rules is you must do a home test max 2 hours before going to the hospital or other government department offices. So Dad did a home test and... he's tested positive. Ooops. Mom made me drive him to the hospital because of the parking situation (he would have to go a whole hour earlier in order to wait for a car park, but if I drove him then he can just show up 5 minutes before the appointment). I was feeling bored in the car waiting for him, so I looked at my crystal bracelets in the sun. The purple-ish garnets are really nice. And you cannot imagine how hot it gets in the car under the sun, even in winter. I had to switch the A/C on to cold.
After Dad's appointment, we actually went home first, then Mom pulled me out again and had me drive her around because her designated driver (i.e. Dad) is now indisposed. Alright, I'll be the Chauffeur. Look at that. Traffic rules are constantly being ignored. That's a yellow box, sir. Parked in the neighbourhood market public car park. We got some groceries and lunch then went home.
I forgot to shoot lunch, but I did the dishes after LOL.
After lunch, I decided to make a mad last dash to a thing I had wanted to go the past few days already. The Crunch and Munch Fair Macau 2022. They've congregated cuisine from 5 major cities in China (Macau included) and have this outdoor thing. I went there because I really wanted to refill my supply of the 順德牛乳 Shunde Dairy, it's a kind of cheese that's really salty. I like to eat that with toast bread. I arrived too early though, not all stalls were open, but at least the stall that had the thing I wanted was opened, so I got that and left.
Just making fun, this fair thing is being held in the "Parisian Gardens." It's basically part of the mega complex of this US-based casino company that has copies of the world... Here, at this one spot, I used the Panorama function on the phone, so ignore the weird cut out cars LOL, at around roughly 180º or so... are the Parisian (with the fake Eiffel Tower), the Venetian (complete with the rivers and gondolas indoors), and the newest Londoner.
I thought this piece of wall artwork was pretty cool with these London sights.
I swung by M&S (yes, the Londoner comes with an M&S) originally in search of plain scones, but it only had the sultana ones... so I gave up on the food items. I saw this jacket and thought pretty cool. I had actually left M&S and reached the elevators when I decided I should just go get it. So I went back for it.
Got back home after that. I unpack the cheese and then plan to continue to read but Nutmeg comes by to sit on my lap.
I forget to shoot dinner as well, but here Mom made us have this weird thing... Coconut water, teaspoon of salt, and juice from 1 whole lime... mix it all up and drink it. Weird taste. Tasted like the sea. Apparently it can drive Covid away (so she says LOL). I don't really believe it, but I humour her and drink it.
Night time dog walk was too dark for any photos. When we returned, I played on some game on the phone while looking at the dogs-dinner situation. Frankie is the fastest eater, and once he finishes, he'll sit by Menina's bed and just look at her and wait until she walks away (she usually doesn't eat much) and gobbles up her food. Today, Menina has deigned to finish everything.
I shower and decide to pamper myself for a bit.
Miraculously keeping up with the 5-year Hobonichi Techo (hoping I can continue and make that a 10-year)
And... look at this angry face. He wants to lights off. So I have to stop here and go. See you! Hope you enjoyed my day!
Happy Holidays, whatever you celebrate! My Christmas will most likely be cancelled (I might be Covid positive tomorrow), will wait and see!
My alarm went off at 6:00am but I was feeling lazy, and hey, it was still dark out, so I just laid in bed until I heard the noises of my Sis getting up and start preparing for her day... only then I decided to stand up.
Even though now there's no need to report your covid status on the health app, I still do the home test because at my Sis' workplace, essentially everyone but like 3 or 4 people have already tested positive. My temperature seems fine, and I'm still negative, so okay....
First order of business is: Dog Walk! Every year in December, I take all Fridays off up till Christmas. Today is Friday, and I noticed whenever I'm off my walking steps are really low. Usually the dog walk entails driving the car out to somewhere with a bit of grass, then after the dogs are done, it's driving back home. I tried something new with Frankie, since he's still young and needs to walk more. We drove out to the usual place, but instead I walked home with him. That should be at least 2km with a hill... possibly 3km.
There's the "Light Up Macau" thing going on so there are new installations around everywhere. This is one of them. Supposedly at night those fake bushes light up and all that. I still haven't visited these yet as... after dinner I usually just go shower and decompress and don't feel like going out anymore...
They put up some stuff under this huge tent. It's going to be another Covid testing station, I think. It's fine in winter but come summer it's gonna be a roasting station. It was quite a nice walk along the perimiter of the lake.
And these geese peddling boats or whatsitcalled. Frankie looked interested but for safety reasons, it's no dogs allowed.
Found a spot that I could take this photo with Frankie, LOL!
Had my breakfast and my coffee! I'm usually not big of a coffee drinker, but I did buy a box of starbucks instant coffee so I have to eventually finish that...
Kitty says hi!
There was nothing else to prepare for Christmas, so today was a totally free day... I checked some of my Taobao orders to see the delivery status. There's 2 particular items I really hoped would arrive before Christmas, but by the looks of it, I don't think it's gonna happen. I also started to read a book on Libby, but the library I'm on is a UK one, and there's no option to "send book to Kindle." I read somewhere that only US libraries have this function. Does anyone know? I'm slightly tempted to sign up for the New York Queen's Library (they allow non-resident memberships, for a fee) but if it's the same and I have to read on the iPad then I'd rather just continue to use this UK one (it's a borrowed account). Currently reading Klara and Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Sai Lup was making some noise because he wanted to go lie in the sun, so I put him out there for a bit.
Dad needed to go to the hospital for an appointment. One of the new rules is you must do a home test max 2 hours before going to the hospital or other government department offices. So Dad did a home test and... he's tested positive. Ooops. Mom made me drive him to the hospital because of the parking situation (he would have to go a whole hour earlier in order to wait for a car park, but if I drove him then he can just show up 5 minutes before the appointment). I was feeling bored in the car waiting for him, so I looked at my crystal bracelets in the sun. The purple-ish garnets are really nice. And you cannot imagine how hot it gets in the car under the sun, even in winter. I had to switch the A/C on to cold.
After Dad's appointment, we actually went home first, then Mom pulled me out again and had me drive her around because her designated driver (i.e. Dad) is now indisposed. Alright, I'll be the Chauffeur. Look at that. Traffic rules are constantly being ignored. That's a yellow box, sir. Parked in the neighbourhood market public car park. We got some groceries and lunch then went home.
I forgot to shoot lunch, but I did the dishes after LOL.
After lunch, I decided to make a mad last dash to a thing I had wanted to go the past few days already. The Crunch and Munch Fair Macau 2022. They've congregated cuisine from 5 major cities in China (Macau included) and have this outdoor thing. I went there because I really wanted to refill my supply of the 順德牛乳 Shunde Dairy, it's a kind of cheese that's really salty. I like to eat that with toast bread. I arrived too early though, not all stalls were open, but at least the stall that had the thing I wanted was opened, so I got that and left.
Just making fun, this fair thing is being held in the "Parisian Gardens." It's basically part of the mega complex of this US-based casino company that has copies of the world... Here, at this one spot, I used the Panorama function on the phone, so ignore the weird cut out cars LOL, at around roughly 180º or so... are the Parisian (with the fake Eiffel Tower), the Venetian (complete with the rivers and gondolas indoors), and the newest Londoner.
I thought this piece of wall artwork was pretty cool with these London sights.
I swung by M&S (yes, the Londoner comes with an M&S) originally in search of plain scones, but it only had the sultana ones... so I gave up on the food items. I saw this jacket and thought pretty cool. I had actually left M&S and reached the elevators when I decided I should just go get it. So I went back for it.
Got back home after that. I unpack the cheese and then plan to continue to read but Nutmeg comes by to sit on my lap.
I forget to shoot dinner as well, but here Mom made us have this weird thing... Coconut water, teaspoon of salt, and juice from 1 whole lime... mix it all up and drink it. Weird taste. Tasted like the sea. Apparently it can drive Covid away (so she says LOL). I don't really believe it, but I humour her and drink it.
Night time dog walk was too dark for any photos. When we returned, I played on some game on the phone while looking at the dogs-dinner situation. Frankie is the fastest eater, and once he finishes, he'll sit by Menina's bed and just look at her and wait until she walks away (she usually doesn't eat much) and gobbles up her food. Today, Menina has deigned to finish everything.
I shower and decide to pamper myself for a bit.
Miraculously keeping up with the 5-year Hobonichi Techo (hoping I can continue and make that a 10-year)
And... look at this angry face. He wants to lights off. So I have to stop here and go. See you! Hope you enjoyed my day!
Happy Holidays, whatever you celebrate! My Christmas will most likely be cancelled (I might be Covid positive tomorrow), will wait and see!