Mark Bittman a journalist, food writer, author and a personal favourite, asked his readers to send feel-good stories as we all could do with some kindness.
There were many simple yet heart-warming tales and only goes to show, we don’t always have to be negative – a lesson I sometimes forget (see my grumblings about an app below!)
Bittman’s efforts reminded me of many kind souls I’ve come across. Some of whom are in a Facebook group I ‘sort of’ belong to – ‘We Love, We Care, We Share’.
I say sort of, as I’m not an active member and only help when I can, especially when it comes to helping the needy buy school uniforms.
The group was formed to bring joy, relief and fun to old folks, orphans, the homeless, and needy.
There are others whom I met recently, like Chef On Wheels owner Seet Wai Song, Koppalai Kirnan @ Gopal of Spoonful of Hope and former high court judge Tan Sri Richard Malanjum.
There is also celebrity Daphne Iking and Twentytwo13’s Purwaiz Alam and Haresh Deol.
Recently, I also met two coaches from Global Oak Tree Scholars (GOTS) International School – Nicole Ng and Recine Wan Jasmine Jaafar – who are doing their part to raise awareness for good causes.
Ng released an online Christmas album with profits going to an Orang Asli community in Mantin.
Recine, meanwhile, went bald on Halloween and donated her hair to Locks of Hope for it to be turned into wigs for cancer patients.
Actually, there are too many to name so I will stop with one more, social worker Seetha Rajalingam.
After a successful Deepavali party a year ago, Seetha or Seeths to her friends organised another function for Rumah Hope this week.
Working with Rotary Club of Central Damansara and E-Rotary Club, she helped organise new clothes for 57 children with lunch served by two bars – Mandolin and Hangover.
“Many also stepped in to contribute cookies and books,” said Seetha.
“Rumah Hope was really affected by Covid-19 as people stopped helping or reduced their funding.
“Everyone has been hit hard by the disease so I can’t blame others for reducing their assistance.
“I try to do what I can. They still need funds to buy groceries and other stuff for the kids.
‘If others want to help, they can contact them directly.”
To assist, you can contact Amy D’Cruz at
Rumah Hope
No. 45, Jalan 20/2, Paramount Garden, 46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
03-7954 5523
Anyway, today is the 270th day of the Movement Control Order and this is the 26th weekly edition of ‘The MCO Diaries’.
80,000 AND COUNTING
Malaysia surpassed 80,000 Covid-19 cases on Friday when 1,810 infections took the number to 80,309. This was an increase of 10,073 from a week ago. If the current rate of infection continues, we will hit the 100,000 mark before the year is out.
There were 2,234 new cases on Thursday, a single-day record for Malaysia. The previous highest was 2,188 (Nov 24).
In the past week, there have been 26 fatalities, bringing the total to 402.
The good news is that 8,112 patients recovered in the past week, bringing the total cured to 67,173.
Worldwide, the number of cases reached 71.3 million. Fatalities stand at 1.6 million.
The United States recorded its most coronavirus-related deaths over a week-long period, as a brutal surge gathers speed across the country.
With a seven-day average of 2,249 deaths, the country broke the previous mark of 2,232 set on April 17 in the early weeks of the pandemic.
Seven-day averages can provide a more accurate picture of the virus’ progression than daily death counts, which can fluctuate and disguise the broader trend line.
TO JAB, OR NOT TO JAB … WE NOW HAVE THE ANSWER
FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS
On Thursday, while at a petrol station, I remembered receiving an e-mail from a pizza joint stating I had an e-coupon which was expiring soon.
Since there was an outlet near the station, I decided to go redeem the free pizza … and that’s when the long wait began.
After I logged in to the pizza company’s app, I couldn’t find the coupon, so I decided to enter the store and ask the staff.
They, too, couldn’t locate it. The store manager then suggested I try to log in via the e-mail message as “it happened to another customer before”.
She was right. After I entered the app via e-mail, I could finally ‘see’ the coupon but when I tried to redeem it, I received a message saying due to a technical error, the order couldn’t go through.
The manager was kind enough to phone the call centre and several minutes later they called back, asked for photographs of the e-mail and ‘error’ message from the app. It was only then that my order finally went through.
Don’t you miss the old days when you could just redeem something with a piece of paper? Who builds an app which doesn’t work properly?
What’s worse, I didn’t even want the pizza as I was actually thinking about the outlet’s garlic bread!
UNFORTUNATE NAME
40 CHRISTMAS CAKE IDEAS
Christmas is 13 days away and if you haven’t started baking your cakes, here are 40 ideas to help get you on your way.
CHRISTMAS DINNER, THIS YEAR
DONALD AND LYDIA
For the last two years, I’ve received an e-mail from Spotify about “Your year in music”.
It would come as no surprise to those who know me that John Prine features prominently on my list with the top five songs belonging to him.
To end this week’s ‘The MCO Diaries’ here is my No 1 played song of the year … which was also the top pick in 2019.
