Back to Work
Still haven’t fully unpacked my luggage from the 3-month co-op term. And I caught a flu not long after returning. With a bit of reluctance, I made my way back to the studio on Monday as planned prior to the trip.
Almost every thing at the studio seemed exactly the same as when I left it 3 months ago. I was able to pick up my ongoing 3D design work smoothly without any hiccups and without wasting time looking for things around the studio. Everything was just the way I left it. Felt a little surreal, it was almost as though I had never left the studio for a whole 3 months.
My studio neighbor came looking for me to follow up on a project I helped him with just before I left, looked like more work was ensured. I also met up with a couple of friends outside the studio to discuss upcoming workshops and events. A sister from church also contacted me out of the blue about designing a giant banner even though I haven’t done graphics design work for many years.
I feel a lack of energy and motivation to find work to do in this deteriorating city, but work seems to find its way to me without my request. God seems to be telling me that I’m still “needed” here?
Oh God, pls guide my steps in this somewhat suffocating city, help me shine and spread hope through the work You’re aligning me to do and the people You’re letting me cross paths with. 🙏🏻
Last 2 Weeks
The last two weeks in Toronto was a bit hectic as expected. I rushed to finish up prototyping and delivering them to friends for testing. There were also some last minute meetups to see friends before I go. On top of all that, I needed to allocate time to cleanup the basement I rented back to the original state when I moved in 3 months ago.
In midst of the chaotic scheduling, I kinda given up planning altogether. I only had a rough plan of things to do the night before, and many spontaneous change of plans occurred during the day. There were a couple of gatherings that were changed. The Boxing Day gathering of uni classmates was cancelled the day before because the host family was sick. I ended up seeing the friends separately on different meetups. Another gathering of past fellowship was postponed for one week and that actually accommodated more b&s to join. And on the night before my flight, when I was still procrastinating about cleaning up and packing and returning stuff to my sister, I joined a last minute meetup of friends I had yet to see during the trip.
The last day was super chaotic. I was still printing prototypes during the day while cleaning up the rented basement. After loading my last batch of laundry into the dryer, I drove out for a quick bite and passed a few bags of stuff to my friend to help me take care of. Before I drove back home, I spontaneously decided to buy a bday cake for my sister and grabbing a quick dinner on the way. Drove home to pick up the stuff to return to my sister together with the bday cake. After dropping them off to my sister, I returned home again to pack the 3D printer and accessories to bring it to my friend’s place. Helped him setup the printer and made a successful print before returning home to finally begin my packing. It was already around 9pm and a friend was coming to drive me to the airport at around midnight. I was cleaning and packing till the very last minute before saying goodbye to my landlord friend and leaving for the airport. Took my time to check-in at the airport as my flight wasn’t departing until 6:30am.
I’ve learnt that sometimes having no solid plans can be a good plan, it allows room for spontaneity and God‘s plan to reveal. I don’t think I would be able to see as many friends and finish off all the errands in the last two weeks even if I had tried my hardest to plan it all through!
Gatherings…
It was another week of prototyping on weekdays and gatherings on weekend. Joined my friend’s fellowship Christmas party on Friday evening, around 100 b&s attended, felt a bit overwhelmed. Had a gathering with uni friends on Sat. afternoon. I started giving out some of the geometric STEAM kit prototypes to friends’ kids to test them out. iPad and phone games seemed to be the more attractive choice of entertainment for them. But when they got home and assembled the kits, they seemed to enjoy the brief moment of discovery outside of the screens, at least that’s what it seemed from the photos and video my friends shared.
I left the gathering early because I bought ticket to a private dinner and show at a nearby restaurant. I had been to the cozy venue numerous times during this trip and had gotten to know the owner and his wife. Felt a bit awkward during the dinner and show without any friends around me, but at the same time, it felt good to be surrounded by Cantonese speaking Hongkongers in Canada.
Another accomplishment this past week was sorting out my finances at the bank. Had been procrastinating over this throughout the trip, glad to finally had that task checked off the list!
Prototyping…
Didn’t have much social meetups on weekdays this past week. I decided to finish up the Chinese calligraphy homework I brought over to do. Wrote a few hundred characters to complete the “hundred surnames” (百家姓), this will be further developed into products and teaching materials later.
The 3D printer I bought during Black Friday sale arrived on Friday. I quickly got to work and ramped up my prototyping speed. Finished redrawing and making a dodecahedron and a buckyball structure in just a bit over a day. Will continue prototyping new products this coming week to demonstrate to friends here before I go back to HK.
Having spent my weekdays in the basement, I felt an urge to go out on the weekend. I initiated some meetups and had some satisfying social gatherings every day starting from Friday night. Grateful for friends willing to give me a ride.
