Switching Over to Virtual Life in the Time of Coronavirus
Finding our balance when life as we know it changed
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Every member of our family has had to switch over to a virtual life in this altered universe in the time of Coronovirus.
Before COVID-19, morning rush hour in our household revolved around breakfasts to be eaten, lunches to be packed, and MRT rides to our respective destinations.
Not anymore.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, weekdays look a lot like Sundays, but with a twist.
Time normally spent binge watching Netflix is devoted to online classes for the kids and video calls for the working parents.
In our altered universe, family members with laptops in hand, and earphones plugged in, purposefully move around the house in search of bandwidth. With long charging cables that trip us up and short tempers that are quick to ignite, we all suffer from various degrees of cabin fever.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. We responded by finding new ways to cope.
Nerd alert
The husband’s weekly routine involves gym visits, squash games, and a trek up Bukit Timah Hill. Being stuck at home is hard for a trivia-loving, sports-obsessed extrovert. Being homebound with three women is outright punishment!
Once a month, the husband and I join a group of quiz enthusiasts (aptly named Qui-Sing) for a casual trivia night. Led by a different but enthusiastic quizmaster at each session, participants split into teams and compete good-naturedly to score points. There are no prizes. There’s an assortment of crowd-sourced desserts, however, and the opportunity to engage in some nerdy fun.
Unwilling to cancel the quiz planned for March, the team switched to a remote meeting via zoom using the breakout rooms function to maintain team integrity, proving that where there is a will, there is a way. Quiz aficionados agreed that it was a success, except for the desserts round. The virtual world lacks the ability to engage taste, one of our most important senses!
