Boredom

Feb 27, 2025

It took another week or so for me to fully recover from the cold/flu. Toronto had a week of heavy snow and cold weather. Report said that the total snowfall in just one week equaled that of the entire Winter last year! And because of the snow, I stayed home and had my first Sunday worship online.

Staying home for much of the week amidst the gloomy weather was rather depressing. It must have been more than 10 years since I last endured the Canadian winter. There wasn’t much to do at home. I applied for an address change for my driver’s license shortly after I moved into my new place, but I still hadn’t received the updated license in the mail after 2 weeks. Without the updated license I wouldn’t be able to renew my health card or apply for a library card, so I just waited. Staying in a little condo for so long with no important errands to run allowed me to experience an interesting sensation that I hadn’t experienced in years – boredom. It felt uneasy letting time just slip by, but at the same time, I couldn’t motivate myself to do anything at all. It was a strange and unfamiliar feeling. I tried to make sense of the feeling, it wasn’t too negative like someone experiencing chronic depression and yet I wasn’t feeling too positive and motivated either. At the end, after a week or so of feeling “melancholy”, I concluded that I should be grateful for experiencing boredom because not many people in this world have the luxury of this weird sensation.

A Little Pause

Feb 14, 2025

Not long after I messaged my mom that I have been staying healthy and never got sick in the past two or so months since returning to Canada, I started feeling unwell on Monday. Couldn’t remember the last time I got sick, but living alone and still hadn’t had my health card renewed with the new address made this experience felt especially vulnerable.

Good thing there was a drug store in the mall just across the street, but going out in the cold was still a drag. I tried the counter drugs I used to take when I was living in Canada. They seemed to be too strong for someone who hadn’t been taking any counter drugs for years. The side effects made my initial symptoms even worse. I felt so weak that I couldn’t exert a drop of energy to do any work other than sleep, drink plenty of fluid, and simply try to survive.

Eventually and thankfully, after 3 or more days, I’m now more or less recovered, although still not feeling 100%. This episode had forced me to put a pause in life for a few days. Grateful that this happened after I finished moving and was more or less settled at my new home. I now feel even more grateful that I am alive and breathing and not to take that for granted. And as an added bonus, I finally tried using a new rice cooker my friend helped me buy and successfully made congee in my first attempt! 😬

New Home & (Lunar) New Year

Feb 3, 2025

Took me about a week to move in to my new place after its closing. It could have been sooner, but I didn’t want to move in before installing internet at the new place. Though I have restrained myself from buying many things during the 2.5 months of living in the short-term rental, it still took me many rounds of driving back and forth from rental to the new place to completely move all my stuff! It was a bloody process, literally, as my hand had blisters shredding blood and staining my jacket sleeve. Many of my friends offered to help, and it probably would have made it easier, but I tried not to disturb others if I can do it myself (albeit with more effort and time).

I was hoping to finish moving before LNY (Wed), but it started snowing heavily on New Year’s Eve, so I ended up finishing everything on (Lunar) New Year’s Day. I probably wouldn’t do this if I were in HK due to family and cultural customs. There was no LNY celebrations to speak of here, which I actually prefer more than the ubiquitous LNY festivities vibe in HK. I hate to pretend to be happy and joyous during LNY, the festival and customs is not friendly to those who are not happy and are truthful to their inner feelings.

All in all, I am grateful and happy that I have finally found and moved to my new home and that I am in Canada where it’s ok not to be happy during the LNY festival.

2 Months

Jan 20, 2025

Passed the 2 months mark of my return to Canada. Having a little time to spare before the closing day of my permanent residence, I finally picked up my calligraphy hobby again. Rushed to write about 20 fai-chuns and had them sent off to my family in HK immediately. Hopefully they’ll receive them before LNY. While I was at it, I wrote about 20 more for my friends here and had some fun drawing with brush and ink. I hope the fai-chuns will bring a little joy to the Hongkongers here who would probably be missing their family and friends and the festive vibes in HK during the LNY.

Closing day for my condo unit will be on Wednesday. If everything goes well, I’ll be able to move in immediately. With a permanent address, I’ll be able to move forward with many more important tasks like renewing my health card, setting up my social insurance, renewing my expired credit card, and registering for a business and start looking for a good location to setup a design studio here!

Grateful for God’s guidance in the past 2 months. Life’s pace should pick up soon and should get more interesting after getting the keys to the new condo this week. It’s good to have something to look forward to!

Holiday Meetups

Jan 8, 2025

Had a few more meetups with friends in the first week of 2025. Happy to see everyone staying healthy and well.

I’m now more or less settled in TO – got an old car from a childhood friend, made deposits to a condo unit that should be ready for me to move in in a few weeks, met and caught up with many of my friends. Pace of life is starting to slow down even further now that my main worry of finding a permanent residence is likely to clear up soon.

It’s not entirely easy to live a slow life, especially during the gloomy winter with little daylight hours. It feels like I’m simply letting time slip by and life toiled away. Hopefully, I’ll be more motivated to pick up my pace and spend my time more purposefully as the closing day for the new condo approaches.

I’m grateful for God’s guidance in helping me settle in this new (yet familiar) environment considerably quickly. May God continue to guide my steps forward, one step at a time, to settle in and to lead a new life that’s worthy of His praise. 🙏🏻

New Year 2025 🎉

Jan 1, 2025

Returned to TO for one and a half month now. Things are more or less settled now that I had finally found a permanent residence and made the deposit just before the start of the holidays. We had been to showings of about 40 condo units, it was a relief to finally found one with a convenient location, fitting size and budget, and meeting my parents’ requirements.

Having settled with a car and permanent housing, I began contacting friends more proactively to meet and catch up during the holidays. So far I had met up with a couple of families from my HK church, UW friends, ex-colleagues, high school friends, and a primary school friend. Grateful for the opportunities to meet and catch up with every single one of them.

On this New Year’s Eve as I write this post alone in this rental unit, I feel hopeful to starting a new life in this familiar and yet distant city for the year to come. 2024 had been too hectic and tiring, news (mostly bad) and changes happen at a rapid pace that it was almost impossible to think clearly and plan far ahead. And seeing the freedom, justice, and economy of the city continued to deteriorate turned the slightest hope I had into despair.

After retuning to this country for one and a half month, I feel more and more certain that I had made the correct decision to move back here. Many things have changed in TO – higher crime rate, poor economy, a disappointing government, etc. However, I honestly feel happier and less stressed, and more importantly, I can see hope for change in the year to come. And with that I’ll end this post with the wish that Everyone will have a Happy and Peaceful 2025 🎉

One Month

Dec 17, 2024

It has been just over a month since I returned to TO. So far I had settled in a temporary condo rental and quickly had a mini design studio set up, bought a very old car from a childhood friend, seen over 30 condo units and just nearly bought one last week!

Made considerable progress settling in and starting a new life here in TO. Highlights for last week included completing a 3DP project in HK (remotely from Canada), successfully transferring my friend’s old car to be under my name, and joining my friend’s fellowship Christmas party and baptism.

With the final 3DP project in HK completed, I can now shift my full attention to things here in Canada. The next big tasks for me now will be to renew my Health Card and to acquire a permanent housing according to my parents’ request and requirements. I’m grateful for friends and family (and God of course) for making my transition to a new life in TO considerably quick and smooth. May God continue to guide my steps forward, one step at a time. 🙏🏻

Sketch… Sunday Service

Dec 17, 2024

Got My Ride

Dec 9, 2024

One of my biggest accomplishments this past week was getting many issues related to my borrowed car resolved. Got the garage remote from my landlord on Monday morning. Got the car’s safety inspection done on Thursday. And it was only after completing the safety inspection and talking to the friend who lent me the car that I realized he didn’t just want to lend me his car, he actually wanted me to keep it! According to my friend, the car is very old (17 years) and of zero value even to the dealership. Even so, having access to a functioning car in this vast city will be of great help for me at this point, especially when the temperature continues to fall and snow starting to accumulate! I’m truly grateful to this childhood friend.

Over the weekend, I scrambled to buy auto insurance online, this was done so that I can complete the official vehicle transfer process in coming days.

It’s kinda funny that I actually “bought” a car before I have permanent housing and parking. This was unplanned, but worked out perfectly. My friend was happy that I can keep his old but cherished car alive, and I was happy that I didn’t need to pay expensive car rental until I’m settled with permanent housing, win-win!

With the access of a car, I started going to Sunday Service again this morning. Went back to my home church in TO and was happy to see many familiar and welcoming faces. And the happiest of all was to be able to meet and chat with an old fellowship brother who had a serious stroke early this year. I had been praying earnestly for him nearly everyday in HK since the incident, and I was quite relieved seeing him being able to walk (with a cane) and talk (legibly) today. Thank God!

Sketch… Sunday Service

Dec 9, 2024
  • MAR
    2025
    S M T W T F S
     1
    2345678
    9101112131415
    16171819202122
    23242526272829
    3031  
  • 723 Studio