2 Months
Returned to HK for 2 months already. So many things have happened, mostly bad and immediate things that needed my attention but were beyond my control.
After the sprinkler disaster at the studio just before LNY, we scheduled the contractor to replace all sprinkler heads on Wednesday. I felt a little relief immediately after the job was done, it meant no more worrying of sprinklers suddenly break in the middle of the night. I also installed a new router and that greatly improved the wireless connection to the newly installed security cam at the entrance. Now started the long process of cleaning and reorganizing the studio.
My sister notified me about a Chinese calligraphy/seal shop that was closing down end of February, so I made an effort to visit it on Tuesday morning before returning to the studio. The old shop started business back in the 70s, though it was my first visit, it still felt sad seeing a small business close down after so many years.
Completed the first of four classes for a Gaungcai course on Wednesday evening. Though the course is a bit expensive, I really do enjoy the luxury of taking occasional art classes. Plus, the course should also help me with an art/calligraphy project that I really hope to do before I move back to Canada.
When will I move back to Canada? I was asked that question many times since returning to HK 2 months ago. I never had the time to sit down and properly plan this out, but after another sudden family issue yesterday that involved my elderly parents arguing over very little things, I was inevitably forced to make the decision to move back to Canada this summer. Decision was hastily made but at the same time, it felt right.
Funeral and Sickness
Went to the “funeral” of a dear elderly calligraphy classmate on Monday morning. We were classmates for 3 or 4 years before he stopped going to class prior to the pandemic due to deteriorating health and family matters. I still made an effort to visit him a couple of times during the pandemic and the last time was already back in Dec. 2021. I really admire his personality – joyful, genuine, generous, and never cease to learn. I will miss this dear classmate and all the joy he brought to our class. But knowing that we share the same faith, I am confident that I’ll have the opportunity to see him again someday!
Heard from my sister in Canada that a dear Christian brother suddenly collapsed while having a meal with his family with 2 young children. He was just a few years younger than me, talented and doing well as a computer scientist. The sudden brain stroke was a shock to the family and friends and the church community. This dear fellowship brother is still in critical condition now and I have been thinking and praying for him and his family daily. May God be with them during this challenging time. 🙏🏻
I myself started feeling sick on Friday when I woke up. I had been working till around 3am in the past 2 nights at home to help design a giant banner for my church. Started having stomach pain and diarrhea after lunch on Friday. I left work early to rest at home. Felt really weak and tired and never left home for the entire weekend. I was laying in bed half asleep while joining the Sunday service online this morning. Thankful that my sister and brother-in-law lived next door. They helped me get some over the counter medicine and a couple of meals of congee and I started feeling a lot better on Sunday evening. This short weekend “stomach-flu” episode actually came at the right time and has got me thinking a lot about the frailty of life and the brevity of time. May this be a lesson that brings about positive lasting changes to my life. 🙏🏻
Back to Work
Returned to work on Wed. after a much needed LNY holiday to rest. Slept a lot during the holidays and managed to complete drawing all 100 postcard fai-chuns for the year of the 🐉. Mailed out most of them to my friends in Canada.
Saw my fai-chuns displayed at a few small shops near the studio, happy that they appreciated my art. The owners of a small restaurant even gave me red packets when I had dinner there on Fri. Love the small shops and friendly community. Worked till around 10pm at the studio on Fri. to tend to the many plants (mostly succulents) I have grown there. Most of the plants seemed healthy even though this was the first time I watered them since returning from Canada about 1.5 months ago.
After caring for the plants at the studio, I spent most of my time during the weekend tending to my succulent collection at home. Again, most of them seemed healthy even though I haven’t watered them for 1.5 months. They’re super hardy plants!
Feeling happy and somewhat accomplished after my weekend of gardening.
LNY 2024
Completed my annual fai-chun writing exercise on Wednesday. Wrote more than 100 fai-chuns this year in total, a personal record. Worked till around 10pm on Thursday because I didn’t want to go back to the studio on Friday. Prepared and brought home all the things I needed to work on the annual 100 postcard fai-chun project. Was planning to start the project on Friday, but I was too tired after a long draining week from work.
It wasn’t until yesterday, LNY‘s Day, that I finally started working on the 100 postcard fai-chun project at home. Managed to finish about half of them this holiday weekend. Will try to finish drawing all 100 postcards before returning to the studio on Wednesday.
Desperately needed to rest more at home during this LNY holidays before returning to work.
Another Tiring Week
I was hoping to start the week fresh with the worst of the studio’s sprinkler disaster put behind me, but the incident was actually more difficult to handle than I thought. When I returned to the studio on Monday, my colleague told me that one of the younger neighboring landlord barged in earlier yelling and wanting to see the boss (landlord), my colleague yelled back in response to his rudeness. Later in the afternoon when my brother’s friend (also a tenant) and his colleagues came over to cleanup their previously flooded room, the two landlords of the neighboring units were giving them a hard time when they tried to walk pass them in the corridor to get to the washroom. My brother’s friend tried to reason with them, but that almost turned into a fight, and I had no choice but to call the police.
After the police came to talk to each of the parties separately, I immediately did some research at night and bought a security camera the next morning before returning to the studio. Things turned a lot quieter in the corridor after we reported the conflict to the police and installed (regrettably) the security camera outside the entrance.
More bad news happened, not to me, but to my calligraphy teacher. When I arrived to the classroom on Thursday evening, water was dripping from the ceiling and my classmates were mopping the floors. The water pump above my teacher’s unit was malfunctioning, and this wasn’t the first time it happened. In the middle of the class, my teacher received a call saying that his brother, who is in his nineties and living alone, was found lying on the floor of his apartment. My classmate and I rushed to the hospital with my teacher. His brother was pronounced dead.
Some happier times this week was meeting up with a couple of artist friends on Wednesday and Saturday respectively. Was actually hoping to introduce them to meet each other on Saturday, but one of them cancelled the last minute due to sickness.
I’m now left with less than one week to finish my annual fai-chun writing exercise and the 100 CNY postcards project. 😖
Tiring Week
Missed my weekly journal entry last week because I was super exhausted after a fai-chun writing event in Tai Po last Sunday. Apparently, that was just a prelude to a crazy week filled with meetups and bad news.
It started from Monday early afternoon when I had a meet up with a couple of friends in Tsuen Wan to talk about plastic recycling for 3D printing. Met up with my paper making friend in SPK afterwards to drop off my years of collected red packets for recycling. Went to TST afterwards to have dinner with a couple of old drinking friends.
On Tuesday early afternoon, one of the plastic recycling friend came by the studio to pick up a couple boxes of 3D printing scraps and 20+ empty spools for recycling. After that, I got busy with finishing up my weekly calligraphy homework before class in the afternoon. After class, we received the bad news that one of our long beloved elderly classmate (90+ y/o) just passed away.
On Wednesday, I completed a 3D printing order that I had been working on for a couple of weeks. I left the studio in the early evening on a satisfying state. But the nightmare began not long after I returned home from dinner at round 9:30pm when I received a call from my brother saying my studio may be on fire and firefighters were on their way. When I rushed back to the studio, firefighters were already finishing their work at the scene. It turned out that there was no fire, but an aging sprinkler head in the room that my brother rented to his friend suddenly broke. The whole studio was flooded, so did the couple of units next to us. I vacuumed and mopped as much water out as I could in the dark all night before heading home to take a shower at around 6:30am. Damages on our side was not too bad (luckily) because the sprinkler that broke was in a separate room that doesn’t have live electronics and open documents. However, the damages for our neighboring units seemed more worrying, and my brother (landlord) will unfortunately need to negotiate with them regarding compensations.
Went to the funeral of my friend’s mother on Friday afternoon, that was followed by the cremation ceremony and a meal. Went for a dinner meetup with a couple of old UW friends in CWB afterwards.
Had lunch with parents and sister on Saturday before returning to the studio briefly to do some work. Left the studio at around 4:30pm to pick up the recycled paper made from the red packets I dropped off on Monday.
It was a crazy tiring week filled with meetups and bad news. Hopefully, I will see better days ahead in the weeks to come.
