It’s been almost a month since I’ve written an entry.
I have been writing! But mostly on IG and IG stories. Only because I only have headspace for quick updates or middle-of-the-night reflection.
It’s been a challenging four weeks of working from home, especially in the past two weeks when schools were closed and we had to switch to “home-based learning” or HBL in short.
The girls have 20 minutes each of zoom sessions with their teachers and classmates, and I try my best to keep up with the assignments for each day.
Clarissa does some homework here and there, and Allie does almost no homework except for doodling here and there.
We’ve been quite consistent with the daily schedule I’ve set up for them. We start the day with the girls washing up on their own and getting changed. I put on a YouTube yoga or dance video for them/us for a 30-minute exercise. We have breakfast. I prepare their homework for the day, take a shower and start my day at work.
The girls have their zoom sessions from 10, watch some TV and then have their lunch, shower and nap. 11am to 3pm is the time I get to do my work and attend meetings without much disruption except for helping to shower the girls or assuring them we’ll be in the studyroom when they wake up from their nap.
Post-nap is the tough part. There are days when they sit beside us to play while we worked, and days we put on the TV, and at least Clarissa stays put in the living room while Allie zooms in and out of the room, asking to join my calls or sit on my lap to watch me work.
Some days the TV is on for 3 hours straight and Clarissa would tell me she hasn’t seen me the entire day.
Some days the calls go on back to back to back to back to back.. forever.
Some days are frustrating. It’s hard to work with people with no substance and yet try to mask the lack of substance with bombastic words that hold no meaning, no intelligence, no nothing.
Still, I’m trying my best not to turn into a bitter old lady who is triggered by every little thing.
I’m thankful for awesome colleagues, and thankful for a mostly awesome team.
When I first started working, many years ago, I tried my best to keep my work life and personal life separate. But I soon realised it’s not possible to not make friends with the ones who genuinely care about you as a person.
Still I tried to keep the rest out, no adding to FB, no posting on FB.
But all these have become irrelevant today.
I have some of my bosses on FB, my colleagues respond to my IG stories and I share updates of the girls on FB/IG.
I’m heartened to know that the snippets I share not only helps me sort out or dump my overflowing thoughts somewhere, but also provides some cheer to others.
Some of my colleagues told me the girls have a FC. They read my posts about the girls and share them among one another. They ask me to post frequently because it makes them happy, especially in depressing times like this.
My current team is indeed one of the best I’ve worked with. The calibre of the people in my company might be about the same, but the heart might not be.
This team has heart.
We even call ourselves the #quaranteam. What’s not to love?
While I’m not sure where my career is headed, I know I genuinely wish that all these good people come out of this situation stronger, “new normal” or not.
And this is my hope for us too.
weeirdism 