My Covid Years

This is a short story on what happened to me during the Covid years (2020–2021). I wanted to write about my Covid experience not because I want to simply share with others what I have experienced, but also to create an archive so that I could re-visit this major event in my life years later. Covid kind of put on hold everybody’s life but most of us weather through it. But for me, a lot of changes in my life happened in these 2 years.

I started to take note of Covid in January 2020 (about the outbreak in Wuhan). There were lots of misinformation, partly due to lack of trust with China and what they claim, most people simply rely on public news (from WHO and other nations) to determine their actions ahead (eg. use of mask). However, having been to China a number of times on tours, and having recently visited Hang Zhou in December 2019, I decided to trust the Chinese (China) YouTubers I have observed sharing their plights and how they were handling the covid situation at home (eg. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4LNQSJOtK8Yl9ScWae31bGb-r1ebC7JA). The virus could pass from one to another easily, probably through air, and you would need to wear mask for protection (from inhaling the virus). I asked my wife to order mask early and avoided those months where mask supply was limited (note that this was in February 2019). The Western world were still arguing about how the virus started in Wuhan, and how selfish one is to use mask (the medical industry still needs them as they were in constant contact with Covid patients). Then the story of mask changed to preventing spreading and everyone starts to wear it for protection.

It is from this incident that I have totally changed my opinion of China and formed my strategy for the future. I believe we are entering a new era of world politics and economy. The Western viewpoints have gotten biased and we should decide on our own how information should be used.

Around February 2020, my company started to follow government mandates on safe management due to Covid. The whole company needs to be divided into two teams and members from the two teams cannot work in the same location. As my company is a IT systems integrator, most folks do not need to be in office every day. Hence work from home is started and eventually everyone that is not operational (to support customer escalations or repairs) work from home.

It was also around this time that I have decided to seriously look for another job. My role has no growth and my previous manager has retired recently and I was moved to report to someone whom does not really work well with me. Fortunately, it did not take me very long to find another job. There are still companies who are doing well in the Covid times and I left my company in the middle of 2000. This is my first virtual off-boarding from work during Covid times and I felt very lonely throughout the exercise. I went to office with almost nobody around, collect my old stuff in the locker (see picture below), return employee pass and laptop, and left (with the help of someone stationed in office to unlock the door to let me exit the office).

I joined a cloud company in August 2020 and my on-boarding is also virtual. Company laptop was sent to my home, and I started work entirely at home for the first few weeks. At that time (around last quarter in 2020), employees were allowed to go back to office and I took the chance to visit the office to experience the feel of normal working. Got to meet many colleagues (and customers) and life was good.

Unfortunately, good times doesn’t last and I was faced with some internal struggles. After serious thinking, rather than to stay on and fight the internal battles (with some individuals in my team), I do not think it is worth my effort to be in constant battle with them (due to differences in the approach to customers). I decided to leave the company and take a break. More about this in this article.

The off-boarding is also virtual and I only need to return my company badge and laptop to the reception in the office. No hand shakes, no good byes, and off I go.

At this time, around April in 2021, we all started the vaccination for Covid. I got the Moderna shot and my wife also got the same shot a little later. Since I am free (no work and my wife is a housewife), I’ve decided to have some activities to occupy my time and one of that is to visit the nature parks in Singapore with my wife once every week. Our first trip was to Coney Island, then to Rail Corridor, then to Dairy Farm, and so on (my pictures are posted on Facebook). We began to appreciate nature much better and I even morphed to a bird photographer. That story merits another article.

Although I am having a good time in nature walks, playing PS4 games (see article here), playing my old hobby (harmonica, see article here), I would still eventually need to get a job. And so after resting for about 6 months, I finally got another job offer and went for another on-boarding. It’s around November 2021 now, and most people can go back to their office (although not for 100% of the work force). I get to meet phsically my new boss and spent my first day in office. This signals the end of Covid approaching, as life is going to be back to normal pretty soon. At least that is what I thought, but no …

I got infected with Covid in March 2022. It was with the Omicron variant and it is so invisible that you can hardly recall how you could possibly get infected. After about 7 days, I finally tested negative with the ART test (did not test every day). My wife isolated me in our bedroom (24 hours) while she and the kids sleep in the living room and their bed rooms (respectively) at night. So getting out of isolation is a happy occasion for all of us.

All of us have been vaccinated (2 shots), and even then, my elder son also got infected with Covid about 6 weeks later (not from me). By June 2022, most of us are having normal lives (except minor irritant like the need to wear mask while indoors and in certain designated places). My life during Covid days have not been too bad, even though I have been through 2 job changes and 2 new-found hobbies (bird photography and PlayStation gaming). It is a memorable period of life with both positives and negatives, but generally not a bad experience.

I know others may not have as good an experience as they may have lost friends or loved ones from Covid or lost their job. But whatever it is, Covid-19 is certainly going to mark our lives in some way or other.