Tony Law's Website

Day By Day

Oct 5, 2026

I have the habit of reading my previous post before composing a new weekly one. Last week’s post about Mid-Autumn felt like it had happened months ago already, and when I realized we’re entering the last quarter of 2026, I started questioning where all that time had slipped away so easily.

Didn’t accomplish much at the studio this past week. My regular weekday schedule had been interrupted too much and I just couldn’t get a decent stretch of uninterrupted time to focus on doing anything meaningful, at least that’s the excuse I’m giving myself for a sluggish week. There was a day I waited at home for someone to assess the balcony pigeon issue that had been causing much havoc for many condo units this summer, but they ended up skipping my unit deeming it unnecessary. On that same day, I drove a friend to hospital emergency because he had unusually high blood pressure and waited to drive him back from hospital late at night. The next day was a semi-public holiday and I went back to the studio and did a little work while waiting for a friend to bring over an old 3D printer. My friend ended up coming in the evening and we caught up over coffee (and a light dinner for myself) and I called it a day. The day following that was an event organized by the well-known Japanese Paper Place (JPP). The visit was interesting but I lost so much time in traffic jam driving to and from the shop that I felt my daily energy capacity had depleted almost entirely afterwards. The JPP organized another event the next day (Friday) in downtown that I gladly attended and learned to appreciate the traditions and craftsmanship that goes into making every sheet of handmade Washi paper.

Saturday was a full day dedicated to art. I visited two exhibitions near my studio while picking up some free display boxes that I eyed on from the Artist Materials Fund. In the evening I debated about doing my second running practice of the week but the annual Nuit Blanche art event won me over and I just wandered a few hours in an unusually crowded downtown Toronto.

It doesn’t feel so good seeing so little I had accomplished while noticing how quickly time is slipping away. But I prefer not to dwell in the past and to live in the present. This is what the Blue Jays’ last stretch to contend for the playoffs had taught me – your previous season record is not important, the only thing that counts is you put in all your efforts to win the remaining few games, one game at a time. Sadly, Jays didn’t play well in the last few games and couldn’t make it to the playoffs. But the spirit of living in the present still holds true, we can only live our lives moving forward, one day at a time. Carpe Diem.

Mid-Autumn 2026

Sep 28, 2026

Pulled another all-nighter at the studio on Wednesday. I was troubleshooting the 3D printers and updating my studio model for an IG post on Mid-Autumn festival, time just slipped away. It wasn’t too tiring to recover this time though, I think me picking up my regular running routine helped.

On the Friday more than a week ago, some of my UW classmates met up to watch a Jays game while catching up at a restaurant. One of my old housemates whom I haven’t seen since returning to Canada more than a year ago finally made it to the meetup. He told us the reason of his busyness was needing to care for 3 kids, 3 cats, and an elderly mother with dementia. Another classmate also told us his dad had dementia and had started thinking about arranging an elderly home for him. And on the following week, I was told that another classmate’s dad had recently passed away in HK. I knew this friend since elementary school because I would occasionally have play dates with him and his brother while our parents play mahjong together. His parents were still relatively healthy when I asked about them during my HK trip in April. I was thus a little shocked and quite saddened for my friend’s loss.

On the night following my UW classmates meetup, some of my old colleagues organized a little dinner reunion. The meetup was scheduled after the funeral of my colleague’s brother in July when we saw each other for the first time in ages during the unfortunate sad occasion.

Seems like I’m at the age when attending funerals are more common than going to weddings. I thought about my elderly parents in HK during this Mid-Autumn festival. I called them and even though our conversations were more or less the usual one-way unresolvable ones, I was just glad knowing that they were considerably healthy and well at their age. And my heart and prayers also go out to the many people in HK who are unjustly imprisoned and couldn’t spend time with their families during the festival. May God help them endure the hardship, not losing hope nor faith, and that justice would ultimately prevail for their cases. 🙏🏻

First All Nighter At Studio

Sep 23, 2026

Was requested by the social media correspondent of Industrial Arts for an interview to introduce myself and some of the current projects I had been working on early last week. I was camera-shy and chose to convene via email instead of a proper videoconference interview. In addition to answering a couple of simple questions, I promised to send over a few studio photos of my recent projects. I felt this was a great opportunity to consolidate some of my many ideas and make prototypes of some of my upcoming “products”. Got into a frantic mode of making handcrafted paper, printmaking, and prototyping letterpress stamps so that I could take some decent photos to show my ideas. I ended up pulling my first all nighter at the studio on Wednesday to finish off everything. At my age, it takes a lot longer to recover from the lack of sleep. I slept past noon on Saturday and skipped the weekly morning bball and was barely staying awake during Sunday sermon.

The resulting IG post didn’t go viral, but it did garner a humble 50+ likes, all thanks to the social media correspondent who did a wonderful job picking out the photos and coming up with the proper words.

Instagram had been inundating me with ads recently, I would click on the “following” tab and immediately after the first post would show an annoying ad that I would never want to “follow”. If this keeps on, I may likely abandon the last of the social media platforms that I still actively use. This may actually be beneficial for my own wellbeing, will see.

Goodbye Summer 2026

Sep 14, 2026

Summer had officially ended as kids (not mine) returned to school this past week. I bid farewell to my friend’s mother-in-law over dinner before she flew back to HK after the summer trip. Also had siu yeah with another HK friend who was visiting CanTO for only 10 days to accompany his 3 kids to start school here. He was the 11th friend visiting town this summer whom I got to meet and catch up with.

As kids go back to school and adults return to their more regular work routine, I decided to finally start my regular running routine again after the marathon almost a year ago. Did a couple of easy 30min runs on my condo’s treadmill, and I felt my energy level had immediately picked up throughout the week. Will try to keep up with my regular running practice until the Marathon in May next year.

Work had been somewhat productive, I helped a friend fix a tiny camera strap clip and also fixed a tent for my church that was destined to the landfill only because of a faulty joint. Felt good to be able to utilize my CAD and 3D printing skill set to divert waste from the landfill. The site of my studio also started hosting for Artist Materials Fund in which artists can find and pick up many miscellaneous items thrown away after exhibitions and art installations. I went there with my studio neighbor and picked up a heavy box of offcut woods and thin metal bars which I thought could be repurposed into something functional and delightful. I am happy that my studio’s landlord and site facility are very much aligned with my sustainability goals.

I have been arranging my studio hours to coincide with the Blue Jays games. I even went back after church on Sundays just to watch the games. Enjoy cheering for the underdogs and seeing them put in their 110% effort. I think there are about 12 games left in the regular season, really hope they can clinch the last playoff spot, go Jays go!!

Before Summer Ends…

Aug 31, 2026

The summer is ending very quickly. After meeting up with the 10th friend visiting CanTO the week before, I decided to message some old friends to meet and catch up before the summer ends. Met up with some bball friends on Wednesday evening, showed them my new studio before having dinner and watching a Jays game together. The Jays won and that was a good memory for the sports-watching group since our dear friend and brother’s sudden passing recently.

Met up with a couple of primary school friends for dinner on Friday, then gave them a little tour of my studio afterwards. My friend’s kid who’s starting grade 4 soon seemed very excited after stepping into the studio, he explored my desk and played with the fidget toys and other models I had been working on lately and watched the 3D printer at work and telling his dad the printing progress. He couldn’t hide his curiosity and had the most infectious smile on his face, that really made my day.

On Saturday evening I welcomed a couple of high school friends and their families to my tiny condo for dinner. I thought about making sushi but wasn’t brave enough to let others try my cooking yet. They brought takeouts over instead. While we adults enjoyed some laughters over food and tea, the kids seemed bored and just played with their phones. I should’ve planned some kids activities beforehand.

This afternoon after church I met and caught up with yet another couple of high school friends over lunch. Though we have different religious beliefs we shared many common values and opinions and our conversations involving politics and economics was serious but yet enjoyable.

Besides meeting and catching up with friends this past week, life seems to be returning to more regularity with the majority of time spent at the studio. Some highlights include seeing a big insect with wings that can easily be mistaken as leaves on my balcony screen door and catching a glimpse of the lunar eclipse as I left the studio late at night on Thursday.

Transitioning…

Aug 24, 2026

Made considerable progress in shifting my focus away from my financial investments this past week. The trick I used to ease my addiction of constantly checking my investments during market hours was simply to leave the laptop at the studio. I can still check my investments and trade stocks via the tablet at home, but it seemed not as convenient and addictive. Will continue monitoring the addictive behavior this week.

Spent considerably more time at the studio this past week. Refined the personalized clicky fidget toy prototype and started gifting to friends (mostly their kids) to test and give me feedbacks. This was a fun little side project initiated by my friends and completing this initial design is probably as far as I wanted to go at this point. There are other more interesting projects that I wish to pursue next.

Finally met up with a friend visiting town with her family on Thursday before she flew back to HK with her parents the next day. This friend and I have very similar family and academic backgrounds, and our personalities also seemed pretty similar, maybe that’s why I feel very comfortable telling her many things without needing to do a lot of explanations. I hope the feeling is mutual. Enjoyed chatting and catching up with her as always, just wished we could have more time to spend together without her needing to rush back to work or running other errands. Oh well, at least we had a chance to meet and catch up before she returned to HK. If I remembered correctly, she was the 10th friend visiting CanTO (CANada TOronto) whom I got to meet and catch up with this summer, will there be more before the summer ends?

Ended my Netflix subscription, this should further eliminate the distractions that’s hindering me from transitioning to doing sustainable design work at the studio full time. Really need to start picking up pace with my work. Add oil!! 💪🏻

Shifting Focus

Aug 16, 2026

Last weekend marks the first anniversary of my investment journey. With my parents’ many years of constant nagging, I finally took the time to learn some of the basics of economics and stocks investment and bought my very first stocks on August 8th of last year. In the course of the year, I had invested in much of my time during market hours staring at the screen aimlessly looking at the stock prices going up and down, and in return I managed to make a decent profit that’s enough to cover my monthly expenses and more. I still don’t really understand economics and stocks investment all that much after a full year.

Even though I was able to make a decent living via stocks investment, I didn’t really enjoy the process and how it consumed so much of my attention during the day. It felt a bit like an addiction that’s eating up my time. I decided this past week to start the process of lessening my time spent checking up my investment portfolio during market hours. There was a day I made zero trade transactions, that’s very rare for me in the past few months. That afternoon my attention was directed towards building the Lego sets I bought for my birthday, I even smuggled the Mona Lisa set to finish it at the studio at night after a spontaneous dinner meet up with a friend! Building Lego sets is definitely more enjoyable and addictive than stocks investment.

I hope to shift focus back to my sustainable design work at the studio. I finally made the first batch of business cards after much procrastination. It’s easier to explain what I do and my studio’s capabilities with that prop. I also started designing and prototyping some fidget toys that my friends told me are one of the most trendy things their kids love playing with these days. Spent many hours at the studio alone this past week and did some productive work, hope to eventually shift my focus away from stock investing to doing sustainable design work full time. May God continue to guide my new career in Canada.

The summer of meetups continued as I finally met up with a UW classmate visiting from Shanghai yesterday. Always happy meeting and catching up with old friends.

Back To Regularity

Jul 27, 2026

With the World Cup event finally over, life this past week had resumed to a more regular fashion. I went back to the studio every single day, usually starting from late afternoons till evenings (7-ish). There were one or two nights I stayed past midnight waiting for 3D print jobs to finish. One of the first projects I worked on is the little gardening design at the entrance of the studio. There’s a small East-facing window above the entrance in which natural light can shine through, I’m hoping that scarce natural light source complimented by an artificial grow light would be sufficient for the hardy plants I had chosen to thrive in the studio. Still need to figure out what to do with the fish tank I bought second-hand from a friend. Will try to complete this studio gardening project this week.

There were a couple of days I returned to the studio relatively early this past week. One morning in the middle of the week I met up with a church brother visiting from HK. We had breakfast to catch up on the many changes in our lives in the past few years, then I gave him a little tour of my newly rented studio nearby. On Friday, I went back to the studio a little past 2pm, slightly late for an appointment to meet the curator on site. Showed her some of the projects I had been working on, it seemed like a lot and she seemed quite fascinated with what I do, but most of the projects were simply a continuation from what I had been doing in HK that never really materialized. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find a way to sustain my many projects and ideas economically within this year of artist residency, would be content if I could at least make enough money to cover the monthly rent of the studio.

There are still 3 separate friends visiting town whom I’ve yet to meet and catch up with. One I’m waiting for her to settle in first, another I’m waiting for the group to agree on the date and time to meet, and yet another I just missed seeing this afternoon because the message was silenced in one of the many old WhatsApp groups I archived recently to save storage space on my old phone. I really do enjoy meeting and catching up with friends, especially so when I’m in Canada where time seems more abundant, but admittedly I’m really bad at organizing meetups. Hopefully, I’ll get to meet and catch up with these friends before they return to HK, Shanghai, and San Francisco respectively.

Saying Goodbyes

Jul 20, 2026

Attended a good friend’s funeral on Friday to say my final goodbye through prayers. If I’m not forgetting, I think he was the first among my friends to pass away, he’s only 10 years older than me. I attempted to draw a portrait of him in remembrance of his kindness and encouragement and gifted it to his brother, him and his wife liked the artwork and framed it among their booze collection in remembrance of their brother. At the funeral, I had the opportunity to reconnect with some of my old colleagues since returning to the country more than 1.5 years ago.

In the evening following the funeral, I met up with my visiting HK friend one last time. This was the first time the 4 high school classmates together with their families met up (albeit I only had myself to bring). We enjoyed our little catching up after all these years and said our goodbyes before the visiting friend and his family return to HK tomorrow.

The main purpose of the friend’s visit this summer was to relax and enjoy watching the World Cup in a convenient time zone. He planned his trip perfectly to enjoy the final match today before his flight tomorrow morning. Despite the WC becoming more political and commercial with the very controversial hydration breaks and halftime show for the final match, I did enjoy watching most of the games at home on my tiny Chromebook screen. I still think that football/soccer is the most popular sport in the world that can help unite all nations, from big countries like the US to tiny nations like Cape Verde. It’s a beautiful thing to see nations with different languages and cultures coming together to enjoy a simple and primitive game. Isn’t this much better than going to war against each other?!

With the final match over, it’s time to say goodbye to the more than a month of WC games and get back to a more regular routine of studio work starting tomorrow. Add oil Tony!! 💪🏻