Things to Do in the (Unconfirmed) Final Week of MCO

By Syakir Roslan  •  24 Mar 2020 in Features

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Well, fellow readers, I’ve lost count of how many days our country’s been under MCO and I’m pretty sure many of you have too. The whole idea of working from home until the end of the month seemed pretty cool at first and still kinda is but I think it’s safe to say that being shacked up indoors all day is slowly beginning to grow tiresome.

At this point, most of us have run out of things to do or at least have gotten bored of doing the same things over and over again. Thankfully, or unfortunately depending on how you choose to look at it, the government-issued MCO is set to end very soon (possibly). Knowing that has given me a moment to reflect on how I’ve spent my days in self-quarantine.

To say that I’ve been unproductive would be a major understatement – I’m a lot more productive working from home when it comes to my day job, but besides that, nothing’s been going on. I’ve spent countless hours playing video games to the point that it’s not even enjoyable anymore. This lack of enjoyment has led me to come up with a list of things to do in what might (or might not) be the final week of the MCO. And yes, I plan on following through this list myself… seriously…

1) Follow through with workout plans

I felt the need to mention this first because even before the MCO was issued, I kept telling myself that I had to workout.. to no avail. Since the MCO began, I’ve done very little exercise with the free time I’ve been given. Maybe it’s time to actually GO HARD RARGHH and pump that iron to get my swole on as well as do some much needed cardio to burn off some fat and keep my heart in good shape.

Sadly, my current dumb bells are made of plastic and the treadmill in my house has been collecting dust despite being just a few feet away from my bedroom. But it is the planned last week, so who knows?

2) Pick up a new skill and/or improve the ones you already have

This might be a tad bit hypocritical for me to suggest after exposing myself on how I’ve been using my free time. Nonetheless, it’s never a bad thing to learn something new or master something you’re already familiar with be it drawing, playing an instrument or making TikToks (kidding on that last one, but if that makes you happy, do it).

I’ve seen many of my friends perfecting their culinary talents by cooking various dishes every day as well as making those oh so ‘grammable and mouth-watering ‘dalgona coffees’ that’s been popping up everywhere (some way better than others but it’s the effort that counts).

Thought that was peanut butter that they put on top, but I was mistaken. It looks delicious and honestly, I might just give a shot at making one of those.. Nah, who am I kidding (Nescafe 3-in-1 sudah).

3) Clean/re-organise your bedroom

I would have agreed with Buttercup in my schooling days (still kinda do even now), but there’s something really zen about cleaning up a bedroom, at least for me. Having a dust-riddled, plate-filled mess of a habitat to sleep in is just unsavoury to me at this point in my life. While my bedroom in its current state might not get an ‘A’ sijil of cleanliness, I’d say it’s fairly neat for now.

Maintaining that state of cleanliness is another whole challenge by itself, but do your best or at least try to keep it somewhat clean and neat because I assure you that it’ll bring you an unexplainable peace of mind that soothes the soul. In the meantime, if you’re feeling extra motivated, why not change the layout of your room or remodel it entirely like this dude did to his bedroom.

4) Read something

Now we’re getting slightly more basic but sometimes simplicity is key. There’s a ton of reading material just waiting to be absorbed and who cares if it’s a story book, a research paper, a cleverly thought out listicle suggesting what to do within the span of a week or anything readable for that matter.

I’m not gonna pretend and say something like “Oh how I do enjoy the writings of Jane Austen, her works are simply unparalleled blah blah blah” (hope you read that in the voice of a snooty old British man who enjoys fox-hunting.. see, you’re already reading!), though there’s been an autobiography of Muhammad Ali just sitting in one of my cabinets I’ve been meaning to read up for a while now.

Just spare a couple minutes out of your day to read something, and who knows, those minutes might just turn into hours. Knowledge is power. Damn it, I just had to add another cheesy old saying. Now it’s a stuffed-crust listicle.

5) Binge watch every series you’ve wanted to but haven’t yet

Perhaps the laziest entry in this list of things to do but with so many great shows out on Netflix and other streaming platforms right now, in addition to the ones that’ve already concluded (i.e. Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, Power) you have more than enough content to keep you busy for an entire week – if binge-watching shows is all that you’re planning to do.

As for myself, I’ve been watching this show called The Man in the High Castle on Amazon Prime which tells of an alternate reality where the axis powers (Nazi Germany and Japan – no mention of Italy yet in S1) won World War 2 and how different life would’ve been in comparison to the reality we live in now. Aside from that, just old WWE reruns which I honestly don’t know what drove me to revisit, but it reminded how entertaining rasslin’ was growing up.

Now that you’ve gone through this listicle (if you stuck til’ the end), I hope you’ve gotten some sort of idea on how to spend this last week indoors before returning to the real world and remembering what fresh air smells like again.. unless of course the MCO is extended, but until then:

Go forth and enjoy the rest of your week, but grab some JUICE on the way out.