2021 in numbers

2021 was to me, a year of primarily working from home, and unprecedented number of overtime. Covid-19 continues to threaten the lives of everyone in the world, and people adjusted to the new normal. Some simply do not care anymore.

Here are the 2021 numbers:

125 blog entries. Consistently 14th year in a row. This is something I am proud of, a testament to my self-discipline and persistence.

16 days of commute to work recorded, which covered 592.6 kilometres, giving an average of 37 kilometres per day.

2 petrol filling recorded. My three years old Civic is doing an average of 12.4 kilometre per litre of petrol. Significant drop in fuel consumption efficiency compared to last year, not sure if it's the small sample size or it's actual drop in car performance?

21 days of leave taken. 2.8 times the previous year's. This is a healthy trend. =)

162 days of worked till overtime-worthy late, a 31.7% increase from last year. This is horrible. Of these 162 days, I have duration record of the last 158 days, meaning I started recording after the 4th overtime. From the record, the average overtime duration is 2 hours 46 minutes and 5 seconds.

Putting the overtime count into perspective: 52 weeks of 5 working days = 260 working days. Take away 17 public and replacement holidays, and take away 21 days of leave I had 222 working days. Out of the 222 days I worked overtime 162 days, that's 73%. This is absolutely mortifying! >_<

0 days on business trip. =)

13 tabletop gaming sessions held. Thanks to an online platform, tabletop gaming with colleague friends is feasible again. ^_^ We played 5 board games this year, many more to explore and try.

25 novels read, a mixture of new books and rereads, average of 14.6 days for a book. Read rate is a bit slow, I am trying to maintain a two weeks per book rate.

1 patent filing. Decided to use the reward money as fund for charity, a birthday gift to myself and a motivation to continue innovating and inventing.

44, 17, 14, 12, 3 for my own reference.

Happy New Year dear reader, wish you a fulfilling 2022. Covid-19 is not over, don't let your guard down. Stay home, stay safe.

Other |hyped up heads up| category entries.

Rotten potato

Potato mode is going horribly bad.

Four days into my break as of today, and only one day out of four that I didn't work overtime.

Actually I did work overtime as well in that one day, just that it's under one hour so I will pretend that it didn't happen.

Potato mode is supposed to be for me to be, erm... potato. You know, like, couch potato, just chill and definitely not doing work.

I am suppose to grow mushroom and spider web and all that fun and relaxing stuff. Sleep, read book, play computer game, nap, watch movie, eat junk food and drink Coke.

But so far I am just being a rotten potato. Epic fail.

Other |wretched workaholic| category entries.

Potato mode on

Annual leave count at maximum allowable and will start to burn. Probably already burned...

Anyway, taking four days off next week, coupled with weekends and the replacement holidays for Christmas and New Year I will have ten days off.

So potato mode is officially on. =P

Though I still have to get some work done on the ongoing thermal simulation cases, and to complete and send out the draft of the innovation idea to other colleagues. So I still need to work overtime.

Hopefully can settle those tomorrow and limit the overtime to just a single day. One can hope.

Regardless, please do not disturb my leave, all work related stuff can wait until I resume work. I am not that important.

It has been a long and tired year, I need the break.

Let the chilling and relaxing begin!

Other |hyped up heads up| category entries.

聚一聚（二）

今天，和前部门那几位同事朋友，又来了一次久违的下午茶时间。

犹如以往实体面对面下午茶时间的长度，这次也是半小时左右的网上聚会。

上次的网聚，已是三个月前的事了，真的光阴似箭…

同样的就是谈笑闲聊，保持工作和生活的平衡，和维持友情的经营。

大家都有各自的忙，能这样留出时间来聚一聚还真的很难得。

真的，到了这样的年龄，给予别人我们的时间是很珍贵的礼物。

感觉很好。

随兴随想 |系列|

酸痛

昨天情人老婆仔帮两个瓜理完发后匆匆外出去巴刹拿预购的蔬菜。

通常剪完孩子的头发都会冲洗下厕所的，清理掉那些头发嘛。

我想她应该是要出门回来后冲凉时才清洗厕所，但我趁她出去时就先清理了，呵呵。

那是家里主要的厕所，冲凉区也有点脏了，所以我决定做全套：洗浴室的墙和地，洗手区（剪头发的地方）的地，和马桶。

原本以为可以在情人老婆仔回来之前完成的，结果她回来了我连第一样浴室的墙和地都还没洗完…

应该是我很慢吧。因为我暂停让她冲完凉后继续清洗，但到她连午餐都煮好了我还是没有洗完。他们都吃饱了我才完成。

蹲着洗刷对我的老腰很伤，蹲着移动对我很久没有运动的腿也很伤。

所以今天我腰酸背痛，大腿的肌肉也酸痛。

就是洗了个厕所而已。唉，人就是不要老…

随兴随想 |系列|

慢

这星期工作效率低了不少，进展很慢。

总是很累，没有精神。

星期一下午需要我做分享的会议，我喝了罐「红牛」才撑过去。

应该是近来睡眠素质很差的缘故吧？

没什么动力，都不知道是因为忙了很长一段时间心累了，还是年尾了心散漫…

人感觉很散，步骤感觉很慢。

但其实，生活节奏慢点，也何尝不是件好事？

就是不喜欢那整天都觉得累、低能量的状况。

随兴随想 |系列|

I went out (13)

Since the previous entry of this series, I was out of the house twenty six times, so my total out of the house count stands at 100 as of today.

75th outing: went out on 24th of August to drive the car around for a bit to keep the battery healthy. Took the opportunity to buy dinner home.

76th outing: went out to takeaway food for dinner on 28th of August.

77th outing: went out on 11th of September to drive the car around for a bit to keep the battery healthy. Took the opportunity to buy lunch home.

78th outing: went out on 19th of September for mooncake delivery and to buy dinner home.

79th outing: went out on 24th of September to takeaway lunch and to collect road tax document.

80th outing: went to office on 29th of September to work.

81st outing: went out on 3rd of October to chauffer wifey and elder son for elder son's Covid-19 vaccination, first dose.

82nd outing: went to office on 5th of October to work.

83rd outing: went out on 8th of October to send Snowball to cremation. Goodbye Bally, I will miss you. =(

84th outing: went out to purchase a hamster as Young's birthday present on 10th of October. Took the opportunity to buy dinner home.

85th outing: sent car to service and repair on 22nd of October. Took the opportunity to buy lunch home.

86th outing: went out on 31st of October to takeaway dinner.

87th outing: went out on 4th of November to takeaway lunch, to make a cake out of chicken rice with chicken wings as topping.

88th outing: went out on 5th of November to chauffer wifey and younger son for younger son's Covid-19 vaccination, first dose. Took the opportunity to buy lunch home.

89th outing: went out on 14th of November to chauffer elder son for his archery training.

90th outing: went to office on 15th of November to work.

91st outing: went out on 21st of November to chauffer kids for their archery training. Took the opportunity to buy lunch home, as well as a rose for anniversary.

92nd outing: went to office on 22nd of November to work.

93rd outing: went to office on 24th of November to work.

94th outing: went out on 26th of November to the bank. Bought cake and lunch home.

95th outing: went out on 27th of November to show wifey and kids where to pick up and drop off for school. Took the opportunity to buy dinner home.

96th outing: went to office on 29th of November to work.

97th outing: went out on 3rd of December for my Covid-19 vaccination, booster dose. Also went to the clinic to check out my skin issue.

98th outing: went out on 5th of December to chauffer kids for their archery training.

99th outing: went to office on 9th of December to work.

100th outing: went out on 11th of December to chauffer wifey for passport renewal. 2.5 hours of weekend traffic.

As of 11th of December 2021, 633 days have past since the beginning of Movement Control Order on 18th of March in 2020. I have been out of the house 100 times in 90.4 weeks, so about 1.11 times per week on average, or about once every 6.33 days.

Here are the main reasons I went out:
- drive around to keep car battery healthy: 20
- work at office: 32
- bank: 2
- grocery: 1
- takeaway meal: 14
- dine in restaurant: 1
- clinic and vaccination: 3
- customer service: 1
- car service: 3
- pet shop and pet clinic: 3
- chauffeur duty: 18
- law firm: 2

I know people are out and about leisurely nowadays, all I can say is: stay home, stay safe.

Other |temperamental thoughts| category entries.

Breaking the streak II

Six days. I kept the not working overtime streak for six straight days.

Then a four days working overtime streak.

Breaking the overtime streak again today. Even had time to go for a 30 minutes brisk walk.

Go me!

Other |temperamental thoughts| category entries.

生日礼物

今天看到银行过账新的数额了，才想起要记录这件事。

我有心无力，所以总是拒绝每年都会接到几次，那问我可不可以增加捐款数额的电话。

已经很多年了，我每月由银行自动过账捐款给 Makna 和 Unicef。

不喜欢外出或交际的我，这是我对社会的一点贡献。做人就应该在自己能力范围内行行善，积点功德。

今年生日的月份， Unicef 又来了通电话，我想想那笔专利权的奖励金，就当作为善的资金吧！所以答应了增加捐款的数额，当作是给自己的礼物。

当然说出来了就不再是阴德，但我真诚的就是要记录这件事而已（毕竟这部落格是我的记忆本，呵呵！），而且反正也没人会看到，所以不算是阳德吧？

行善是快乐的，所以这是一份很好的礼物，也激励自己每年都要努力得到至少一份专利，来确保一直有为善的资金。

心语细述 |系列|

Feeling rubbish

Went for my Covid-19 booster shot yesterday, also took the opportunity to go to the clinic to check out the skin issue on my right lower leg.

Tried a few times to go to the clinic prior to yesterday, but there's always something that made it not happened, like taking leave a day after Deepavali to go to the clinic, and found the clinic also took the day off; like taking a day off to celebrate wifey's birthday, to be out and about to get cake and meal and such and also squeeze in the clinic, only to have to cut the leave short to half day as there's teambuilding event in the second half, and the visit to the bank to sort out stuff took most of the morning.

So the clinic visit finally happened yesterday, but felt like a white mouse for the doctor to test out stuff and expense as much as she could since I am on company's medical insurance. I have no confidence on what's prescribed to me.

Oh well, this entry is supposed to be about the vaccination shot. I had Sinovac for my first two doses, the booster shot yesterday was Pfizer.

Either my health has deteriorated in the three months since my second dose, or the after effect of the Pfizer vaccine is stronger compared to Sinovac's. By the afternoon I was feeling tired and the muscle ache on the left arm where I was injected was uncomfortable when I tried to lift my arm above shoulder height.

Couldn't sleep well yesterday night, was not able to sleep on my left due to the muscle ache, but that's probably not the only reason. Had very poor quality sleep yesterday.

So today I woke up feeling rubbish. The muscle ache is still there, and I am tired.

Going to be another low battery day.

Other |hyped up heads up| category entries.

Breaking the streak

On the last day of November, I broke the continuous since 26th of October working overtime streak, success!

And so far I am maintaining a not working overtime streak, 3 days so far. This is a bigger success. ^_^

Hope I can maintain this streak. Hope December onwards this will be the norm.

It is good to have the life part of the work/life balance back.

*Fingers crossed*

Other |temperamental thoughts| category entries.

Messed up

I used to called November the slacker month. It's my birth month, and as the slacker extraordinaire, naturally November is the slacker month, hehe. =P

November is coming to an end, and continuously since 26th of October, I have not had a day without working overtime. So much for being slacker month...

I will have to check my record to see what's the streak prior to 26th of October, but the current streak of continuously working overtime, including the weekend, is since 26th of October, 34 days so far.

If I remember correctly, I exceeded my yesteryear's overtime count on my birthday, so much for being the slacker extraordinaire. I am ashamed of myself. Really I am.

The real messed up stuff is that when the server needed a reboot on Thursday night, and I got a relatively short overtime that evening because I couldn't set any simulation cases to run overnight, I felt... strange, unease, not used to not working till I drop.

And this weekend, also comparatively short overtime hours in this current streak, that I got time to do my own stuff, like watch a movie or two, like play some computer game. It's supposed to be normal weekend, yet I feel very weird.

My work/life balance is non-existent for so long that I am so messed up now.

Other |wretched workaholic| category entries.

17th anniversary

Happy 17th anniversary, my dearest wifey!

We have come a long way since that beach wedding seventeen years ago.

Ups and downs, the good and the bad. Still together, still holding hands, still going strong.

The rose is not much, but it's something I want to do every anniversary since it's a symbolic gesture that shows I still remember, that I don't take things for granted.

Here's hoping there are still many anniversaries to come.

Love you! ^_^

Other |hyped up heads up| category entries.

又成功！

十月二十六日开始至到昨天，十六天，每一天都加时工作。

没有一天间断过，周日或周末没有区别，连拿了一天假加上屠妖节公假凑成的四天长周末也不例外…

这星期周一开始，每一天晚餐后继续工作到凌晨十二点至一点左右，太累不能继续了才停止。

所以今天我能准时下班，我突然觉得很成功。

成功的定义因人而异，毕竟每个人不一样。

不同的层次、观点、经历、要求、处境、和时刻，造就不同的「成功」的概念。

今天我可以准时下班，我是真心觉得自己很成功的。感觉太好了！

随兴随想 |系列|

Scribble Pad is fourteen years old!

Happy 14th birthday, Scribble Pad!

As per custom, here are the accumulated number of views based on the counter. The one for 2021 is as of 19:55 hours.

2008: 4746
2009: 13300
2010: 23226
2011: 31677
2012: 37412
2013: 42469
2014: 46926
2015: 50532
2016: 53716
2017: 56798
2018: 59939
2019: 62732
2020: 65840
2021: 68205

View count broke record, a new low! *achievement unlocked* =P

Sure seems like if I do not post a link in social media, then people will not read the blog. Tried and tested.

Not a bookmark-worthy blog. I get it.

It's a personal online diary after all. My wicked sense of humour and sarcasm, plus the copious amount of whines and rants are not for all, only for those with exquisite taste. ;)

As usual, thank you for reading this blog, and I sincerely hope you get something out of it.

Other |hyped up heads up| category entries.

Worker's block

I think I am having worker's block.

It's like writer's block, only in my case it applies to my work.

After close to three hours working overtime and made insignificant progress while the frustration mounted up, I decided it's no good and I am better off having my weekend break.

How am I to deliver on Monday I do not know, I can only hope that I will fare better when I work overtime tomorrow.

Low time.

Other |wretched workaholic| category entries.

Let me work

After attending to the important emails, instant messages, and the numerous meetings, the normal working hours are over.

Actually, no thanks to the many overran meetings, by the time the last one was done, it's already one hour past the normal working hours.

And by that time I am already nursing a splitting headache.

Yet by that time I haven't even started with my work, I mean, the real work, not all these emails and meetings.

No, although it may seem like it with my packed calendar, I am not a meeting engineer! >_<

So it's already overtime before I even start on doing actual work, and it's only by doing more overtime that I can get some real work done.

Just let me work already! Someone gotta do the actual work you know?

I am a doer, so bollocks to all the talkers.

Other |runaway rants| category entries.

心的频道：纳闷·忧郁

几个星期了，没有工作的动力…

嗯，不是工作而已，整个人没有了动力，常常意志消沉的。

这周末两天，每天都做了几小时的工，但进展依旧很慢。因为人很消极？

总觉得很纳闷、无奈、乏力、无助，但又说不出什么具体的，就是… 感觉不好、不对，低能量。

是忧郁症吗？有点迷惘。通常忧郁症来袭自己会知道的啊…

应该是吧？觉得什么都没有意思。

就当作是吧，是时候进入洞穴。

心的频道 |系列|

「可可」公主

仓鼠「可可」还真不简单。

它的弹跳力和纸盒破坏力比「雪球」强多了。

而且好像蛮精明的，短短几天就已经把小窗口咬到它可以通得过的洞。还不是纸盒建筑物墙上的窗口，而是屋顶的，然后它再从屋顶爬出去“越狱”。

暂时它还是跨不过我发现它在制造“越狱”洞后新增加的、没有窗口的阻墙啦。如果它连那没有窗口的阻墙都能咬出一个洞就真的是很厉害的超级塞亚仓鼠了！

今天傍晚喂食时又发现一样新的东西。我把粮食放进它的喂食碗，它就在喂食碗里也不肯进食，跑来跑去不时只用后腿站立、前腿垂着，那我们称为“暴龙”的模式（就是要人喂食的举止）。

引导它回去喂食碗它依旧不肯进食，还是做小“暴龙”，期待食物的样子。

情人老婆仔从喂食碗把一颗粮食放在手心，再把手掌放在地上，「可可」马上就很开心的爬上她手心去进食了。

吃完那一颗，老婆仔把它放回喂食碗旁，它又不进食了。等老婆仔又把一颗粮食放在手掌，它才又爬上她手心去进食。第三颗也是这样。

「哦麦古呢斯」！我们家「可可」是只有公主病的仓鼠！进食时要被捧在手掌心，还要有人抚摸它。

所以今天它多了一个称号: 「可可」公主 （Princess Cocoa）。 =P

随兴随想 |系列|

Prick struck again

Spoiler prick struck again, this time is about the Squid Game drama.

Despite knowing I haven't finished watching the series, and my gentle reminder of "Say no to spoiler" when they started discussing the drama storyline, the prick continued to disclose more spoilers when the others courteously stopped.

Prick will be prick. This particular one is especially egotistic and self-centred.

When he started to harp on the same old lines about it's okay to post spoiler after a certain period of time or after a certain percentage of people have watched the movie/drama, whichever suits his purpose really, and totally missed the crucial point that it's perfectly fine to do so with those who want to, and not with those who don't, I knew it's time to pull the plug on this toxic person.

He can give whatever lame excuse he has for his behaviour, but shoving something down someone's throat when that someone explicitly said no is an act of bullying, an intentional transgression.

The others in the chat group said nothing about his behaviour so I guess it's just me having issue with this. Perhaps it's because I am pretty much always the slowest to watch a movie or drama, but whatever, I do not condone this kind of behaviour, and I don't want to be part of it.

Two strikes and every signs indicating the prick will continue to be a jerk, I am old enough to know that life is too short to be wasted on incompatible, toxic people. I am out.

Other |runaway rants| category entries.

Caveman has a new phone

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Caveman vs mobile phone series: |1| |2| |3| |4| |5| |6| |7| |8| |9| |10|
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Disclaimer: Samsung brand and logo are trademark and copyright of Samsung. I am not affiliated, nor am I sponsored by Samsung but I think they should seriously consider paying me for the free advertisement. =P

According to the most recent entry of the 'caveman versus mobile phone' series I managed to locate, the then latest smartphone I changed to was the Samsung Duos, but the smartphone I just changed out of is actually a hand-me-down Samsung Galaxy S5.

So either I didn't post an entry as a record of all my mobile phone changes, or perhaps I did but didn't manage to identify the entry in my quick glance through the blog earlier.

Anyway, wifey gave me a brand new smartphone last week, a Samsung Galaxy A32. She said it's for my birthday, so it's like birthday came almost a month early. =)

The Galaxy S5 I was using is still working fine really, the power button cap has fallen off but the actual button on the motherboard is working fine so I just used an expired credit card to turn the phone on and off. Wifey could do it with her fingernail.

To be honest I don't really need a new phone, I am not a phone person after all. The Galaxy S5 serves all I need and more from a smartphone. Smartphones simply have more gimmicks than I need and are almost always too jacked up in price for me to consider value for money.

But it's a birthday gift! Thank you so much my dear wifey, I got a new toy, yippie! =D

Although it took me most of yesterday, all in all I think I handled the transition from old phone to new phone rather well, so...

Smartphone 4 : Caveman: 3

Other |hyped up heads up| category entries.

Jabbed

Despite having over 101000 active Covid-19 cases and around 8000 new infection cases every day, the government has decided to lift the movement control order, claiming the 90% vaccination rate will suffice.

Children who are not yet vaccinated or too young to be vaccinated, and those who cannot be vaccinated due to medical reason or personal choice are now the vulnerable group.

Younger son just turned twelve so wifey sent him for walk-in vaccination today, at least he got his first dose now. I will breathe easier when both sons have had their second dose.

My heart goes out to those who have children younger than twelve, who are still not eligible for vaccination.

Never let your guard down, even when fully vaccinated, as we can still be infected.

Have no delusion, Covid-19 is not over, don't be fooled into a false sense of security.

Other |temperamental thoughts| category entries.

心的频道：替代

上星期四夜晚、星期五凌晨，目睹「雪球」过世后彻夜难眠。

星期五起身后精神萎靡，整个人颓丧消沉的。

情人老婆仔找到一家动物医院有火化尸体的服务，我索性拿了半天假去处理「雪球」的生后事。

也给自己一些时间哀悼。

送走「雪球」后，每次看那空荡荡的、我们给它居住的容器，心情就很复杂难受。

星期六孩子和老婆仔把容器彻底清理了。午餐后我开始制造前个周末已构思，但还没实行，打算为「雪球」做的新楼梯。

虽然「雪球」突然就走了，但我就是想要完成那楼梯。我不知道为什么，但就是觉得我必须完成它…

我做了两天，星期日下午四点多才终于完成那新楼梯。我很满意，因为它综合了许多功用，而且占很少容器的范围。

「雪球」过世后，小瓜就说他生日礼物要一只新的仓鼠，连仓鼠的品种和哪里买都决定好了。

小瓜的生日在这星期的周日，周日不一定会有时间去宠物店买仓鼠，来着的周末才去买又已过了小瓜的生日。虽然小瓜不在意，但我觉得早好过迟，所以星期日做完那新楼梯就去买了。

新的仓鼠叫「可可」，就是英文可可豆（巧克力主要原料）那个字。「可可」是雌的，听觉没有问题，也不咬人。

带着「可可」回家路上，我心情很复杂，我问情人老婆仔，「雪球」才过世两天我们就用「可可」来代替它，是不是很冷血无情啊？

她反问我要哀悼多久才算合适呢？

我不知道，但就是觉得怪怪的，觉得内疚。

无可否认「可可」已经为我们带来欢乐，弥补心里的那个空缺，但我还是会想起「雪球」…

心的频道 |系列|

Rest in peace, Snowball

Rest in peace, Snowball (15th August 2020 to 8th of October 2021), you were a wonderful ball of cuteness.

We don't know when you were born, but you became part of our family on the 15th of August 2020, and that's all that matters.

My adorable Snowball, Ball Ball, Bally, Stinky, El Stinky de Ball, Le Stinky Balle...

The many names we gave you, which didn't meant a thing to you, since you were deaf.

Plus you had poor eyesight, but you were a resilient survivor, a fiery fighter, and we adapted to your disabilities.

We would blow lightly on you to wake you instead of spooking you with a touch. We would let you smell the scent of our hand and let you be aware of us before we touched you. We would guide you to your food using our finger, or we would simply transport you over and told you it's magic, it's teleportation!

Thank you for all the joy and merriment you brought us. Thank you for the companionship. Thank you for putting a smile on my face just standing there looking at you, even when you were asleep.

Thank you for teaching the kids compassion, responsibility, and how to take care of other living thing. Thank you for enriching our lives.

Even though it's traumatic and with profound helplessness witnessing your death throes, I am glad I was with you through the last moments of your life. I am sorry that I couldn't do more.

My heart broke when you finally stopped breathing and became still. Deep down the extremely heavy heart I knew that you suffered no more, I find solace in that.

I hope you had a good and happy life with us. I hope we had given you a better life.

I hope you are energetically running wheel in hamster heaven now. Make friends, my dear Bally, and don't bite your friends.

I am in all black today, for I mourn your passing. I will miss you.

Other |sane side| category entries.

Say a prayer

Snowball is not itself today.

Didn't eat, not even the dried worms that it usually went crazy for.

Kept its eyes shut.

Don't know what's wrong with it, but this is definitely not normal.

Unfortunately we only noticed the odd behaviour after dinner, when the dried worms were found not eaten.

Called the 24 hours animal clinics, the first one said the veterinarian has already gone home, made an appoitment for tomorrow.

The second clinic said the vet is busy at the moment and will call back. Haven't heard back.

Don't know what else we can do, so I will say a prayer for Snowball.

Other |sane side| category entries.