Cleanups and Meetups

As preluded in last week’s post, I had spent much of my time last week cleaning up the studio. Made some decent progress. Will continue the seemingly never ending chore this week! I continued to experiment with multicolor 3D printing while cleaning up the studio. The milestone this past week was being able to incorporate my ink art into the prints, this opened up a world of possibilities in future product designs!

Also had a number of meetups in the past week. Had dinner with my calligraphy class on Thursday night, one of my classmates insisted on paying to farewell me even though I explained that my return to Canada had been postponed. Had lunch with the class again the next day, this time the classmate who treated us earlier couldn’t make it, and my teacher’s wife and an ex-classmate joined. My classmates paid the bill saying to farewell me even though I explained many times that I had postponed my trip and the exact date is yet to be determined. A uni friend from Canada was visiting town, me and another couple of friends had lunch with him and his wife on Sunday. We were planning to treat the couple of visiting friends, I ended up being treated as well, also partly due to “farewell”.

Even though I had told friends about postponing my return to Canada and that the exact date was still not set, many of them still want to know when I’ll be leaving. Maybe they think I’ll just be gone suddenly without properly saying goodbye? It’s not like I’ll never come back again, right? Regardless, I’m very grateful for friends who cared and wished to offer their farewell blessings, I’ll try my best to meetup everyone after I have the date set.

Sketch… Sunday Service

Drenching Heat

The scorching heat last week had drenched out much of my energy. It was unbearably hot here in HK last summer too, but this year seemed worse. Monday was a public holiday, I turned down my fellowship b&s’ invitation to visit Macau and instead stayed home drenched in sweat and simply wasted the day away. Stayed home on Tuesday as well to finish up the final piece of calligraphy work – the hundred surnames in seal script.

After getting all the calligraphy work over with, I immediately shifted my focus to cleaning up the studio. Made considerable progress, but the work was interrupted by a couple of meetup with friends on Thursday and Friday evenings. This long overdue studio cleanup project will be my main focus next week!

Still don’t wanna turn on the ac in my living room at home during the day in this drenching heat, so I had been, and will likely continue to be, spending much of my time in the studio in the next week or so!

Sketch… Sunday Service

End of Q2

Finished the 4th and last class of the paper-making course on Monday. I can now resume my regular routines on Mondays. I started going to work at the studio early in the morning because I desperately needed AC during the day in this extremely hot weather. Started the long process of cleaning up the messy studio. Started with the neglected Garden of Eden project. Dusted off the table and added automated lighting. The abandoned piece of land had now been turned into a land flowing with milk and honey. It’s now ready for the addition of new plants.

There’s an agave plant at a park near my studio that is blooming. The rare 2-3 storey high flower got me visiting nearly everyday for the past few weeks. This is one of the most exciting occasions for a succulent lover!

Finally read the “Loss Adjustment Report” from our studio neighbor who is seeking compensations from the disastrous sprinkler incident that happened in our unit back in January. I deterred reading the report last week after seeing the crazy large amount of compensations that the neighbour is seeking from us. But after spending some time to read the report in more details this week, I felt utter relief! The report was one of the most unprofessional reports I have ever read, and most of the items that they’re claiming compensations from us had no proof of damages and were obviously fraudulent claims. If they decide to go ahead with their legal prosecutions on us, they might end up needing to explain to the judge how this wasn’t a case of extortion instead!

Q2 had gone by in a whiff. Q3 will be a quarter of thorough cleanup for both my studio and my home. Hopefully it wouldn’t take up the whole quarter, will see.

Sketch… Sunday Service

Cleanup Started

Helped my friend move his new giant 3D printer up into his workshop on Wednesday. It required the effort of 5 ppl (including 1 stranger) to move it up a ramp. It was my first time visiting the spacious workshop my friend started renting earlier this year together with an artist friend and another company. I couldn’t help but reminisce the time I moved into my current studio about 10 years ago. So full of hope and dreams back then, and now after many years of effort and little accomplishments, and with my upcoming plans to return to Canada, it felt a bit like I had just been wasting my time.

Nonetheless, I did reach a milestone this week at the studio when I finally had time to experiment with multi-color 3D printing. The result was much better than I thought! The little breakthrough opened up some product ideas that I hope to roll out before returning to Canada.

I finally started the long overdue project of clearing out my apt yesterday. Will probably continue doing this for both my apt and studio for at least a couple more weeks.

Since picking up my cartooning hobby again on my bday a couple weeks ago, I kept up with drawing and posting a single panel each week. Drew up the latest one this afternoon. Happy to be infusing art into my depressiing life again.

Sketch… Sunday Service

4X-th Birthday

It was my 4X-th birthday last Wednesday. I took a day off from work. Declined to celebrate with my parents, and I didn’t wanna ask friends out either. I decided to spend the day doing what I enjoy doing – Art! I revived an IG account dedicated to my ink art and started a new series of cartoons about the (sad) story of KOKB (King of Kowloon Bay), It’s something I had been wanting to do for a long time, but I had put the project aside for nearly a year. Guess it’s better late than never, it felt good to once again infuse my depressing life here in this deteriorating city with a little bit of creativity and art exploration.

Also managed to finally get a much needed haircut, it will certainly help me survive the anticipated hot summer here now that I had decided to postpone my return to Canada.

Though I didn’t get to celebrate my birthday with family and friends, it was a day well spent. The positive mood was set as soon as I woke up and did my daily devotions. The scripture that day was Psalm 139:14 “I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made… “. I was reminded once again that I’m a precious creation from God despite the countless times I had sinned and the unaccomplished life I have been living in the past 4X years. It’s not too late to change the course and return to the path that God had initially planned for me. I was also reminded that I wasn’t alone as many good friends remembered and cared to message me with bday greetings, The good friends are also proof that my 4X years of life is not entirely meaningless. I am genuinely grateful. I also had a thoughtful colleague who surprised me with a couple of small bday cakes when I returned to the studio the next day.

May God continue to pour His grace and mercy on me as I enter the second half of the life He had created me for. 🙏🏻

Plan Postponed

Today is a “sensitive day” according to the local government officials. It’s sad to witness the city deteriorate to a point where people are afraid of merely saying the two numerical digits “64” and commemorating publicly what happened on this day 35 years ago.

It feels suffocating to live in a city where we’re constantly being lied of the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly when the contrary was being witnessed. Countless people are still currently imprisoned or detained for saying what authorities don’t like to hear. That includes Chow Hung Tung, who was accused of organizing an illegal candlelight vigil on this day in 2021.

I made plans to move back to the country where I will be granted genuine freedom in late June or early July. However, the plan has to be delayed because there are still some projects I wish to finish up here before I can leave in peace and without regrets.

Oh God, please continue to pour Your grace and mercy on me and guide my steps forward.

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