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.
One Month Left
Been back to Canada for 2 months, now left with just 1 month before returning to HK.
In the past week or so, I had been experimenting with a few materials (bamboo skewers, straws, etc.) to prototype some products I had been dreaming up for a long time. Found the perfect sustainable material for my purpose. Will be busy prototyping and passing them to some friends here to test it out. Also bought a 3D printer during the Black Friday sale after confirming that my friend’s place has room for it. Now I can teleport new products to my friends here after I return to HK!
Weather is getting cold in Canada. I had to borrow a big jacket from my brother-in-law for the remaining month. Finally started messaging friends to meet and catch up today, hope to see them (again) in December before I go back to HK early January.
Friends
A good friend entrusted me with his precious and super fun car to drive for a week while he was out of town for his business trip. Other than Monday which I forced myself to stay home to work on my business proposal, I seized the opportunity to go out everyday to meet up friends. Also spent an afternoon doing some shopping, I should now have enough food to survive in the basement for a couple of weeks!
Returned the car to my friend on Friday after lunch with a common uni friend. On Sat, I managed to meet up yet another friend and his son for lunch at one of my usual brunch venue that’s about 15 min walk from my rented basement. In the evening, my friend (also my landlord) drove me to a nearby market that’s filled with a warm Christmas atmosphere.
Today, a brother from church who lived nearby gave me a ride to Sunday Service.
I’m super grateful for my friends here who have been very kind and eager to lend me a helping hand after knowing I was visiting town. Without them, I would be struggling to find a place to rent and to survive in this basement without renting a car.
Business Plan… WIP
Set off the week being determined to write up a business plan. Other than heading out for lunch on Monday, I stayed in the rented basement until a friend tagged me to play table tennis on Friday evening.
Read an example business plan and downloaded a template to help me write one for the very first time. But it felt daunting looking at the word document. I spent much of the time researching and gathering information instead. The process helped me crystallize the business idea I had in mind.
Still haven’t quite transcribed the crystallized idea into words for the business plan yet, will likely just take 2-3 more days (hopefully). I had a lot of 3D printing done while working on the business plan. My ideas seemed to be quicker to turn into real physical objects than to be transcribed into a business plan. Wished I could simply bypass the writing altogether!
