Throughout 2020, Taiwan had done an amazing job at keeping COVID out of the country. Daily cases were low and practically nonexistent. Unfortunately, all of it came crashing down some time around May 2021. It all started with pilots being infected and improper quarantining of the few travelers that were still coming in and out of the island. The outbreak quickly skyrocketed; the case numbers rose quickly from a mere ten to more than thousands a day.
Am I surprised that an outbreak still occurred? Both yes and no. Part of me felt this was inevitable and bound to happen at some point, and another part of me felt like the government had done such a brilliant job at keeping COVID out that I honestly was expecting all of this to blow over without much issue.
It’s been about two months since I’ve started working from home (WFH). Everything was great and refreshing at first. The nature of my job meant that I can basically work wherever I wanted with no issue, long as I have access to the tools I need for malware analysis and the typical threat-intelligence-related tooling. Now? I can’t wait for all of this to blow over and for us to return to the “normal” life (whatever the new normal is).
I miss seeing friends. I miss the physical entertainment that I had before the lockdown. I miss being able to dine in at restaurants given enjoying food is one of the greatest entertainments I’ve had over the last few years. Remember, this is the first lockdown we have ever experienced here in Taiwan. I know some countries have been having lockdown for far longer than we have, so I can’t possibly imagine how it must feel for them.
This lockdown has also made me realize just how lonely I feel and I am. I already don’t have many friends ever since moving up north for job seeking. I only get to see some of my friends every month or so when I do go back to my home city or really any other cities. Now with lockdown, it’s basically impossible to see any of them. Sure, texting and video calling is a thing, but it’s the physical interaction that I miss – it’s gotten so bad that I’ve started using dating apps again just to fill that void, and even then that still doesn’t do it. Every time this feeling crops up, I can’t help but think “I love my job, but I miss my friends even more.”
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