(Unplanned) Long Vacation Begins…

July 15, 2018

Like the Little Prince who left his tiny B-612 planet to explore the universe, I’ll be leaving my little studio (S-723) to take a (unplanned) long vacation…

I must stress again that the vacation was “unplanned” and that I never thought about visiting Canada again in less than a year.  For reasons still unknown to our family, my mom suddenly decided she wanted to visit Canada after happily avoiding the dreaded long hour flight since 2003 when she flew over with my dad to attend my bachelor graduation.  Upon knowing my mother’s surprising idea, my sister swiftly took our passports and bought plane tickets for herself, me, and our parents the following week!

When planning for my 2nd co-op term (May – Aug), I was thinking about designing a website and start selling some of my brush-and-ink artworks online in July to celebrate the studio’s 4th anniversary. The plan will now be postponed.

I also planned to tell the girl-I-like how much I like her in July for her birthday. I managed to make her an inexpensive bday gift and had a very rush dinner with her, but the moment wasn’t right to tell her what I had in mind. Probably not wise to do this before the long vacation anyway. I guess I’ll just have to temporarily leave the girl-I-like just like the Little Prince leaving his beloved rose and hope that God will guide us to pick up where we left off after I come back 🙏🏻.

Sketch… Sunday Service

July 15, 2018

Sketch… Sunday Service

July 8, 2018

Sketch… Sunday Service

July 1, 2018

Weekly Update

July 1, 2018

This week flew by rather quickly, here are some highlights…  The weekly Monday afternoon volunteering with the elderly was canceled, I decided to go watch a movie (I Can Only Imagine) which turned out to be one of the most inspiring movies I’ve seen for quite some time! Had coffee roasting class in the evening.  On Wednesday evening, I had a baking class, went to the venue early to see a Hanzi exhibition nearby.  On Friday afternoon, my sister took my parents, me, my nephew, my aunt, cousin and her near 3-year-old boy to a buffet.  Though I don’t like buffets, the highlight that afternoon was seeing my aunt, cousin and her adorable and curious little kid.  It was my first time meeting the youngster, we hit it off nicely, and he insisted on holding my hand on our way home.  That totally made my day!  It’s good to know that aunt and cousins are doing ok after my uncle passed away more than a year ago.

In terms of work, I was happy to successfully reprint a 3D model for my friend.  It wasn’t a simple task actually because the print takes about 12 hours to complete and the print nozzle would shift unexpectedly at times forcing me to start over.  It was a good experience nonetheless because during the process I found out how to remotely control the 3d printer and also discovered a great place nearby to get 3d printing supplies.

Now there are only about 2 weeks left before my (unplanned) long summer vacation with my family, there are many things I wish to complete beforehand, and so my procrastination begins…

Sketch… Sunday Service

June 24, 2018

Geniuses

June 23, 2018

Finally finished reading the huge biography of Einstein, love the genius who famously said “imagination is more important than knowledge”!  On top of his unquestionable scientific achievements, I also admire his humility, creativity, ability to drift off or focus in all circumstances, courage of nonconformity to authorities, and above all else, his perseverance.  At the dying age of 76, Mr. Albert Einstein was still walking to his office day in and day pouring out mathematical formulas and trying to prove his unified field theory!  I truly honour people with such grit.

I recall another creative and dedicated genius – Charles Schulz.  The world renowned cartoonist famously described his profession as “doing the same thing everyday without repeating oneself”.  If I remembered correctly, Mr. Charles Schulz was still going to his studio day in and day out letting his imagination roam free in front of his drawing board at the dying age of 77.

Now if only I can also find a career that I can so passionately dedicate the rest of my life in like the geniuses.

Started reading the biography of another genius – Leonardo da Vinci.  Got it on e-book instead of borrowing it from the library because it looks like I’ll be doing a lot of traveling in July and August thanks to my mom’s sudden traveling plans that kinda caught our family off guard.

Sketch… Sunday Service

June 17, 2018

World Cup Craze

June 17, 2018

Every four years I transform myself into a soccer fan trying to catch the World Cup games at the most inconvenient times (I never seemed to be at the same time zone of the World Cup host countries).  I don’t usually watch soccer games, and it must be more than a year since I stopped playing my favourite sport, but I have a special fondness for World Cup.  I don’t think there’s anything else that can bring the world together peacefully with something as simple as a round ball!

Now halfway into reading Einstein’s biography, I didn’t know before that he hated nationalism and preferred to be an internationalist, a world citizen.  The world would be so much more peaceful if we all think that way, wouldn’t it?  In fact, I think the world would be a much happier place if we just keep our mouths shut and communicate using international languages like soccer, marathon, art, and coffee, etc.  And if you don’t like any of that, a little smile can often work magic.  😄

My BIG Day

June 13, 2018

Didn’t make a it a big fuss for my 39th birthday yesterday, but it was still rather memorable…

Had my usual weekly calligraphy class in the morning, it just so happened that the last letter of the Thousand Words (千字文) was covered.  It had been more than a year since I learnt the first letter!  Had dim sum with my calligraphy teacher and 89-yr-old elderly classmate afterwards, first time with only us three guys.  And just as I guessed, my elderly classmate paid the bill “secretly” while I went to the washroom, I thanked him and told him that I didn’t race him to the bill on purpose this time because it was my birthday. =)

To make the day even more memorable, I decided to plant some of the sunflower seeds I bought a few weeks ago.  Shortly after I finished planting, my parents and sister came over to have a birthday dinner with me near my studio.

Received many birthday greetings throughout the day.  I’m thankful for everyone who remembered my birthday or took the time to send in a simple greeting or both.  I was hoping that the girl-I-like would be among them, but was disappointed even though I already know the little likelihood of it happening.  Oh well.

p.s. my birthday celebration actually started on Sat. when I met up some good old friends for a pleasant dinner and some joyful conversations, thank you guys!