In April I wished for a quiet and manageable May. Well, quiet it was because Malaysia went into lockdown on 6 May. Be careful what you wish for.
Just before the lockdown, a cousin of mine came to town and I visited the Japanese restaurant he was working at. Other than that one social outing, there was quite alot of work to be done in May, and I even took an extra client who needed website copywriting help for his health food company. Amen to extra income. May was also adulting month for me as I renewed my car insurance and went to the lawyer’s office.
In May I watched a lot of shows online, including re-runs of The IT Crowd (2006) Seasons 1 and 2, silly Matt Berry comedies Snuff Box (2006) and Year of the Rabbit (2019), British sci-fi Humans (2015), The Mosquito Coast (1986) and the latest shows like The Beast Must Die (2021) and Friends Reunion (2021). I see myself going down the River Phoenix rabbit hole in this, as well as watching Friends (1994) right from the very beginning.
In May I read five books – one was a short story collection and the other was a four-act play. They were ‘The Refugees’ by Viet Thanh Nguyen, ‘Uncle Vanya’ by Anton Chekhov, ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ by Kevin Kwan and two very very dark British novels, ‘The Children of Men’ by P. D. James and ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Bronte – both written by women! I liked that Crazy Rich Asians was the palate cleanser in this very brooding ensemble.
In May, I also ordered a Mother’s Day delivery from La Vie En Rose Patisserie, a French bakery in Georgetown, Penang. Got my sister to pick up the mouth-watering beignets, madeleines, croissants and pain au chocolats that I wish I got to eat too. There were many public holidays in May, like Labour Day, Hari Raya and Wesak Day, but they were all pretty much wasted in the lockdown. Either way, I must keep calm and carry on. Till next month.
Wan Phing Lim 