Tony Law's Website

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!! 💪🏻

Good Friends

Jul 12, 2026

Finally had my flat tire fixed at a friend’s shop on Wednesday. Apparently, it was due to a leaky valve attached to the old rim and had nothing to do with the new tires I bought from a bball friend who recently started his venture of selling tires. The childhood friend who passed on the old car to me for free had already warned me that the old rims with summer tires were worn out, so I had my mechanic friend switch to new tires on the old rims, but I didn’t know that the valves needed to be inspected as well. Lesson learned.

The old car was immediately put to good use on Thursday after fixing the tire. Had to car pool a friend to lunch to meet up the friend who’s currently visiting town. It wasn’t easy to organize a meetup with all 4 high school friends together, the last time was about 10 years ago in HK! I had to leave lunch early to drive another friend to the hospital emergency. The church brother was advised by his optometrist to go to the hospital emergency after analyzing his eye exam report. I dropped my friend off the hospital and left shortly after because he didn’t how long he will need to stay there. I managed to meet and catch up with another friend who recently moved back from HK and drove many hours to TO for her artwork opening. I tagged along to see the opening in downtown and was already 8pm by the time she drove me back uptown. The church brother at the hospital waited all day for a 15min laser eye surgery to repair his retina. I went to the hospital and drove him back to his home sometime after 9pm.

On Saturday morning, I decided to go and shoot some hoops with the usual group of bball friends. The park was crazy busy. In fact, I had never seen the park that busy since joining the group of bball friends last summer. But I felt a strange sense of emptiness at the court that day. With the sudden passing away of one of the bball friends who had welcomed and encouraged me to play, the court felt less friendly and welcoming, almost cold on a hot summer day. It still haunts me to know that I will never see him play on the court ever again.

Thank God that I have been blessed with many good friends who had helped me settle back to this country one way or another. I shall cherish them and be a good friend myself as I continue to find my way in this vast country.

Hong Kong Visitors

Jul 5, 2026

Toronto seems to be a hotspot for HK visitors this summer. A good friend’s dad, another good friend’s in-laws, and a high school friend who just arrived last week with his wife and daughter. I was delighted to be spending time with them, catching up and introducing them to the country where I now call home. Hong Kong seems to have moved down to be my second home now that I’m settled in TO, this is inevitable.

One of my friend’s in-laws flew back to HK yesterday, so they no longer needed me as a chauffeur during their family outings. My old car seemed to know that it had accomplished its important mission of safely moving the HK visitors around for the past few weeks, one of its tires had suddenly gone flat yesterday. I didn’t notice it until a pedestrian pointed that out when I parked my car to buy takeouts. Two separate strangers told me about the flat tire shortly after. Canadians are in general nice and kind. I was concerned but still decided to drive the car carefully on flat tire to my friend’s place to catch the Canada game. Sadly, Canada lost the game.

With my chauffeur duty fulfilled and Canada’s soccer team out of the WC, I think it’s about time for me to pick up the slack and spend more time on my studio work. May God continue to guide me in doing meaningful and sustainable work in this country. 🙏🏻

A Week of Mourning

Jun 29, 2026

The weather was mostly cloudy and gloomy during weekdays this past week. After a tiring week at the studio and after knowing about the devastating news of a friend’s brother (also my friend) sudden passing away, I decided to take some time off work. The gloomy weather was good for me to watch World Cup at home during the day because I use a projector but I don’t have any proper projector screen nor any curtains to block off daylight. I figured this could help me from over watching too many videos during the day. Weather was cooperating and helped me mourn for a dear friend. There were a couple of days I would just lay on the couch all day watching whatever matches were being broadcasted. I was so unmotivated to the point that I didn’t even want to take a shower before going to bed and slept on the couch instead. I ended up sleeping on the couch Monday to Friday.

The lack of motivation didn’t stop me from engaging in some social activities however. A good friend’s dad was visiting from HK and I met up with the father and son again for wings and beer on Tuesday night. Another good friend’s relatives were visiting from HK, and after chauffeuring them to Niagara Falls last Sunday, I drove them to do some shopping on Thursday and treetop trekking on Saturday. On Friday, I met up with a couple of church brothers for lunch. One of them suffered from a major stroke a few years back and is still pushing hard on himself in rehabilitating, and the other lost his job recently and decided to take a little break for the summer.

After Sunday service today, my friend who had lost his dear brother opened up his house for some of us to visit and watch the Canada’s game together. He had been staying at his elderly mother’s home the whole week to care for her after his brother’s sudden passing away. We chatted calmly and casually about his brother and had a little whiskey in his name. Canada won the match over South Africa and made it to the round of 16 for the first time in World Cup. Watching the winning game and seeing my friend holding up okay seemed to be a good ending to the week of mourning. Life goes on.

Tiring Week

Jun 23, 2026

After a long tiring week of preparation for an event on Saturday, and a day of long hour driving chauffeuring a good friend’s relatives visiting from HK to see the Niagara Falls on Sunday, I was exhausted and slept relatively early (around midnight) on Sunday.

Had a refreshing sleep and woke up naturally at around 8am this morning and was ready to start and enjoy a less hectic week. When I was still in bed and switched off the sleeping mode of my phone, I received the shocking and saddening news that my friend’s brother (also my friend) suddenly passed away at home yesterday. I didn’t know how to process the sudden news. I decided to just stay in bed and try to make sense of it all. It felt surreal because I just met up with him last week when the close group of friends went out to watch the Knicks championship game at a sports bar. In fact, I had joined them to watch the last four games of the NBA Finals together and kidded that we had all seen each other too much and had to take a break before we arrange the next meet up for my post-bday celebration. How can a life be taken away so suddenly without any preemptive signs whatsoever?! I still owe him money for the sports bar meetup and he still owes me a Blue Jays game that he was trying to arrange! As I continued to try making sense of the sudden news, I dosed off and slept for a few more hours before waking up past noon.

I didn’t step out of my condo the whole day. The mood was dark and somber and I didn’t feel like doing anything that required a lot of effort. I don’t know how long this feeling will linger and how I can recover from it. But I know that if I’m feeling this way as a friend, it must be many times worse for my friend who had lost his dear brother. He will also need to take care of all the legal, financial, and funeral matters as well as taking care of his elderly mother. I don’t know how I can be of help, so I told my friend’s wife (who brought me the sudden news) to forward my condolences to him and to let me know if there’s anything at all I can be of help. My prayer goes to the lost soul of a dear friend and may God comfort his family and friends. 🙏🏻

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