coriander in pho

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  • Eid 2021 and the Vaccination Program

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    It has been quite some time from my last post, and this blog has been pretty quiet — although things have been pretty far from quiet in real life.

    First, we celebrated Eid al-Fitr on May 12. I filed for AFK (Away From Keyboard) — day offs — for two weeks to celebrate Eid. We usually go back to Indonesia to celebrate Eid with our families, but due to the raging pandemic, we haven’t set our feet in Indonesia soil since late 2019.

    But I asked for 2-weeks AFK anyway. I feel I need a good break and rest from work. Also, I’ve been planning to tidy some stuffs in the house. I’ve been watching cozy lifestyle videos on Youtube recently, and it motivates me to tidy up the house (and maintain it.)

    I also continued rebuilding my Animal Crossing island. There are times I wonder WTH am I doing, but I decided to just go with the flow and design the island using forestcore-style.

    Second news is vaccination. Yes! We finally got our first dose of vaccine! My husband and I are using AstraZeneca vaccine and we had our appointment on May 15.

    This is the reason why I also glad I took my 2-week AFK. The vaccine side-effects hit us for 2-3 days. It was started with dizziness and muscle cramp, then followed by mild fever — that type of annoying 37°C-ish fever where you feel you are not feverish enough, but you know you are unwell.

    We didn’t took any specific medications; only paracetamol, vitamin C, vitamin B12, and tons of water. On the third day after the vaccination (H+3), I found myself sweating. a. lot. Like, seriously a lot, as if I’m a sinner in the Vatican or in Mecca. It felt like my body flushed itself out and getting rid of God-knows-what that have been sitting for God-knows-when.

    Now, the last — but not the least — news is, Malaysia is back to total lockdown nationwide on June 1 to June 14. The responses from the public have been quite a mix (as expected,) but the general sense is relief. We hit > 9000 cases on Saturday (May 29) — and it’s only for one day — and a decision was made: Nationwide lockdown to ensure we can bring the numbers down and to speed up the vaccination rate.

    Lets hope for the best. It has been a really long year, and 2021 still feels like 2020 ver. 0.2. Lets do our best to ensure we can help each other. Stay safe and stay healthy, friends!

  • Lofi Raya Beats

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    “Raya” means Eid al-Fitr. In Indonesia, it’s commonly known as “Idul Fitri” while in Malaysia and Singapore, it’s usually called as “Raya” (with the greetings “Selamat Hari Raya”.)

    Eid al-Fitr/Raya is Islamic two-days celebration after a month-long Ramadan fasting which celebrated publicly/nationwide (not restricted to moslems only because, hey, festivities!) The word “fitr” means “oneself/one’s original soul.” During Raya, folks ask for forgiveness and forgive each other. After 30 days of fasting, one can finally celebrate it together with friends and families. This is the time when families and friends gather — and the main theme of Raya is balik kampung or mudik (in Indonesian); means, homecoming.

    Raya started early morning when the moslems are going to a public field or the biggest mosque in the area to have Eid shalat/prayers. After the shalat, folks usually hanging around at the mosque while greeting each other — even strangers. Then, we all come home and prepare for Eid meal. Neighbors, friends, and families usually visit each other too.

    Raya songs usually really cheerful, upbeat, and pretty loud. I feel the Lofi Raya Beats do a really good job on giving the ?aesthetic? vibe.

    We are halfway through Ramadan! Lets do our best!

  • Animal Crossing Rebooted (a couple of times)

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    A couple of days ago — last week, I guess? — I decided to restart my Animal Crossing game. I’ve been working on redesigning my island but I got stuck (mostly on the villagers’ houses and buildings) and it’s really expensive to relocate them. I refuse to use time traveling (you can set the date and time on your Nintendo Switch to do “time travel” so everything can go as fast as you want or you can turn back in time) because it’s too much of efforts for me.

    So I deleted the saved files from Animal Crossing game and it whirred everything back to the moment we meet Timmy and Tommy on the airport as we embarked on our Deserted Island Getaway Package.

    Other than the design-block, I also would like to replay the game in a more relaxed manner. I used to hunt bugs and fishes obsessively, I ended up wondered what should I do next. “This time,” I promised, “I will just go with the flow and not running around the island with bug nets and fishing pole.”

    Ha.

    I ended up checking this site first: https://eugeneration.github.io/HappyIslandDesigner/

    It’s a website where you can design your island and use it as your layout plan/blueprint. I spent a good 45 minutes to check which island with the most optimum potential (land coverage, amount of bridges and inclines needed, and the distance between the island plaza to the airport.) Then, I restarted the game twice because I just feel the island was not it.

    I ended up not using the website because they don’t have my island’s map. Well, they do, buuuut the beach rocks locations are tad incorrect.

    So I screenshot-ed my island by opening Maps feature and transferred the image to my iPad.

    I opened the image and clicked Edit so I can scribble on it to mark the areas I would like to put the shops, bridges, inclines, houses — and most importantly, landscape planning for easier access to the northern part of the island.

    “Play it in relaxed manner,” yeah right.

Nindya’s quick blurbs

  • A month too late, but I just stumbled upon IKEA France’s Tiktok video, hinting a possible collab with Animal Crossing. Unfortunately, no further information about this other than IGN picked up this news when the video was posted.

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