My Movement Control Order diary.

Hello everyone, and Happy Sunday!

Malaysia is going into her XXth day of the Movement Control Order (I lost track of the days already). The end of this MCO is nowhere in sight, but we know that it’s for the best of the community. Wherever you guys are, I hope you are all in good health!

Taking a page from a friend, Baobey, and her recent MCO diary blog post, I wanted to jot this down on the blog for future reference. After all, this is my first (and hopefully last!) experience with a Movement Control Order, so it’d be a good idea to document this experience.

So, here you go – my own personal MCO diary.

Working from home – obviously.

Due to the Movement Control Order, my school has transitioned into online learning. As an administrative staff, this meant that I have to be on standby during the day in case my manager and/or the Sixth Form leadership team needs anything from my end. This includes updating and managing our students’ spreadsheets and databases, chasing up students about university admissions offers, reaching out to alumni for videos/comments, and scheduling meetings for students.

As we’re going into a new school term (which just started last week!), it’s been a little bit busier with planning resources for online lessons and trialing out a new platform for college advising and searching. It’s definitely a new experience to be able to work from home, but it’s been interesting. Considering how I’m only in my third month in the job, it’s definitely a ‘fun’ time to WFH. I’ve been trying to catch up with a lot of things on my own, but my team has been super supportive.

As I am generally not a morning person (unless I have to, such as physically going to work or waking up early for a morning meeting), my manager’s OK with me working out my own work hours during the day. As a night owl, this means that I’m mostly doing a lot of my work in the evenings. I am definitely super grateful to have an understanding and flexible manager!

Unleashing the creative in me.

In early April, I bought two Art-and-Bonding home kits. I have always wanted to bring Aiman to a painting class but never had the chance to do so. Since we’re stuck at home together, I figured, why not order the home kits to do at home? It was a good way for us to bond and celebrate our 7th year anniversary.

I like the Art-and-Bonding home kits because…

1. They provide you EVERYthing you would need, from the canvas, the brushes and the paint. There are even aprons and a tablecloth for you to protect your clothes and table!
2. They have an easy step-by-step tutorial video for you to follow,
3. The design options are all beautiful and cute, you just need to choose one (if you can!)
4. Delivery is quick and easy!

All you need is a space to paint, an open mind to learn, and perhaps some music to enjoy in the background.

Since I enjoyed the painting process (maybe a little too much!), I decided to buy more painting supplies. I went on Shopee and bought painting papers, a set of acrylic paints and some paintbrushes. I’ve been trying to recreate some paintings from Google Images, doing things in an impromptu way instead of following any tutorials. So, granted, the end products are not that great, but I’m happy all the same with what I’ve done.

Taking that side hustle to the next level.

So, as some of you may know, I have my career services for university students and fresh graduates. It’s a small side hustle that I started in early February, just for fun. I don’t actively promote it, except for the occasional RT or reshare every other week or so. I didn’t want to take on more than I could handle, so I purposely didn’t take an aggressive approach to market it.

Alhamdulillah, despite the low promotion, I’ve had quite a number of ‘clients’ during the Movement Control Order. I’m actually pretty happy with how the side hustle has turned out to be in the past three months. I never expected it to turn out this way, but I am definitely enjoying it.

A few weeks ago, I went on Facebook Live to do a session on LinkedIn. It was my first time going Live on Facebook on my own, so it was daunting as hell. It was definitely a little awkward talking to myself like that, but I enjoyed it tremendously. Before doing the Facebook Live, I also did a few Instagram Live sessions, but those were more informal and casual.

Also! I am officially registered as a business with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia, SSM)! I will write more about how I registered my business with SSM in a different post. This was definitely taking it a step further. But it’s something that I’ve been thinking about doing for a while now, so I’m happy that I made the leap.

Spending the Movement Control Order the best way I can – more time with the husband, sleep, and Netflix.

Being stuck in a new place alone with my husband has definitely given us more opportunity to bond. I’ve also caught up on a LOT of sleep and binge-watched a lot of Netflix. I’m just a little sad that there are only two seasons of Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix right now. There are tons more series on my to-watch list, but I’m just waiting for my mind to be in the right mood to start a new series.

I also have a number of things I wanted to do, but have not completed them yet. This includes working out consistently (I only did a couple of home workouts so far), finish reading a book, completing my online Udemy classes, and working on my writing project. So, hopefully, I’d be able to stay disciplined in the next few weeks of this MCO and tick a few more off my list.

So, what have you done at home during MCO? Did you baked or cooked anything special? Watched any fun new show or movie? Read any good books? Donated to any charity or volunteered your time/energy somewhere? Share with me in the comments section – I want to know how you’ve been spending your MCO at home!

Until I see you again (hopefully soon), stay safe, and practice social distancing! Take care and stay awesome! <3