Self-isolation countdown: 4 days to go

Sunday 

My lunch and dinner today.  Healthy lunch, not so healthy dinner.  Both involved frying which is messy and needs a bit of cleanup.  Needless to say I won't be frying stuff too often.

After today it/s four more days. Or is it 5?  OK just checked the official website. 4 more days.  So I am on Day 10 now.  Hmm... I am missing a day in my last entry.  So Day 8 should have been 9.  I guess nothing much happened on Day 8 - now I recall I was working on a paper for much of the day.

I will be free on Friday!  Back to the office. There is a split-team arrangement for the office in which we take turns working in the office. I am in Team B.  Actually it doesn't really affect me unless I need to print stuff or have access to things I need that are locked up in the office.  But it's good to be part of the team and be present.

I guess I will have to do my cleaning routine again.  6 months worth of dust.  I will also bring the Bengawan Solo pineapple tarts and kueh bangkit for colleagues.  And also the Adam Road soto paste.  Hope it will bring some cheer. I am guessing food and snacks from home are in short supply.  They usually have visitors who bring such stuff - or they may have work trips home and can resupply the office pantry then. Call it my care package.

After dinner I dozed off - that's what you get from an unhealthy dinner!  Then I decided I needed to compensate for it.  Did an hour's worth of pilates mat work following two YouTube videos by this French trainer Juliet Wooten.

It's actually fascinating thinking about what makes such videos popular among the millions out there.  And many more added daily.  Of course how the algorithms work, the level of difficulty etc play a part but beyond that, what makes one video more successful than another?  The key difference is of course the presenter - that much is obvious.

Maybe it's her charming French accent but as I thought about it, there's more to it than just looks and competence. After all, you aren't actually watching all the time while doing the routines (and even then most of them look OK) and you'd also assume most of these people know what they're doing.  A lot of it i think has to do with what I call relatability.

It's like someone you feel comfortable with, someone you could be friends with in real life.  Or as Jules (Samuel Jackson) says in Pulp Fiction, "Personality goes a long way."

Monday -day 11

Three more days to go after today.  Finally remembered to take my vitamin D.  Getting old means changing habits.  Never put off something important thinking that you'll get to it later.

Of course if it's really important and critical, it will come back to you...but it may be too late.

Rode my bike nearly two hours while watching Liverpool 3 Arsenal 1.  Oh well at least I got some exercise done.