Needed a new point & shoot camera because the old one got stolen and my parents wanted to bring one along their upcoming cruise trip. Was thinking about getting a depreciated Canon S110, but the sales directed me to the Nikon P330 for the same price and with specs comparable to the newly released S120. Good advice, this is my first foray into Nikon cameras, liking it so far.
Slept for probably just about 4 hours last night, and was hard at work in front of my computer most of the day without the slightest nap. Finally got my design submitted to a competition just before midnight, hours before the deadline! I would never get things done if not for deadlines, the power of procrastination is well nurtured within me.
Got a fair bit of work accomplished in October – renovated my studio, designed 2 posters (plus an invitation card) for my church, and completed a competition design. But none of those are paid jobs (unless I win that design competition out of surprise), it’s probably a good idea to get some sleep (now ~2am), and spend the next few days cleaning up my messed up home studio, and then think seriously about my career to win some bread…
Got back from a 3-day fellowship retreat in a lovely site in Lantau Island. I’m thankful for all the committee’s arrangement, without which I wouldn’t be able to enjoy a relaxing time away from the city. Retreat is a great opportunity to get to know fellow b/s more, and being at a remote area, I also got to do a little stargazing at night. Spent a rather long time on the green roof to view stars on the first night, I realized stars are best seen lying down. On the second night I borrowed a friend’s camera and made my first attempt shooting stars, wasn’t too successful, a good tripod and a camera with a small F value, slow shutter speed, and remote should help.
There’s something captivating and romantic about stargazing. It’s a shame that light pollution is so severe in HK, what I saw in Lantau Island was nothing compared to that in Hawaii. Will I ever get to see a magical starry night like that again?
Decided to do some running in the afternoon after unpacking and watering my plants. The weather was dry, cool, and breezy, perfect for a little jog. It feels good to be able to once again complete a 10k run.
The ex-designer at my brother’s office had left behind a whole bookshelf of design magazines, I decided to browse through them today in search of some inspiration for the upcoming design competition. Indeed, there were a lot of inspiring designs in the archive of AXIS – a Japanese design magazine. There is something irresistible about Japanese designs – its simplicity, its observance to established traditions, its obsessiveness in perfection, and its sometimes pure ingeniousness.
I have a couple of ideas for the design competition that’s ending next week, hopefully I’ll have time to properly illustrate and submit my ideas before the deadline. There’s actually not much time left since I’ll be joining my fellowship for a 3 day retreat this weekend.
Had the privilege to visit the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) this afternoon to sit in on a talk about “Sustainable Design for Community Projects”. ArchSD had won numerous design awards on their projects, and I often imagined their offices to be clean, airy, and stylish like the typical architectural offices. It was nothing like that, it looked like a typical old, crowded, and rather messy (busy) office, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell that it’s an architectural office aside from the few architectural models scattered in it. But who cares about what the office looks like as long as good works come out from it?!
Took a quick stroll at the Mega Show (for sourcing of gifts and premium products) before the ArchSD visit. Happy that my friend was able to get me in for free, I probably wouldn’t have gone in if I had to pay. Didn’t get much inspiration from the show as I hoped, the millions of products on display seemed cheap, boring, and largely unnecessary. I worried about the environmental implications on the production of all those goods.
Hardly did anything creative today other than stroll around furniture and design stores looking for inspirations for a design competition I plan to participate in. During my regular weekly oil painting class tonight, we started a new painting.
One of my best friends initiated a conversation today about starting a little business together, this isn’t our first time, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the limitless possibilities all day. Maybe it’s about time to start a new career, just like starting a new painting…
In fact, a lot of my old friends initiated email conversations last week as if there was some kind of friendship movement going on. It started with one of my primary school friends telling us about his current 2-month trip with his gf to explore the exotic places in South America. I’m now following his travel blog with a slight taste of envy, envy not just because of the extended excursion, but also for him having a loving companion to share the travel experience with. One of my friends pointed out earlier how it’s important that your other half enjoy traveling with you in similar manner (e.g. types of accommodation, budget, etc.). I’m recently starting to realize the truth in that statement. Hopefully, I’ll find someone whom I wish to travel to the ends of the world with, just like my old pal.
I’m honestly not good in keeping up with friends, so I’m especially thankful when friends remembered me and cared to spare a little bit of their time to catch up with me. And being slightly introverted, I’m not too good in opening up myself to meet new friends, so I’m forever thankful to have good friends whom I have known for many years.
The last time I went running was back on Sept. 8th! Couldn’t push myself to finish an entire 10k without taking a break. Questioned why I kept forcing myself to run when there’s other more enjoyable exercise (soccer / badminton / bball) I can do. There are a few things I like about running – its solitude, simplicity, and fairness. It’s also one of the most popular sports done everywhere around the world.
I imagined one day I’ll be trained up well enough to do a full marathon, occasionally traveling to different cities to run with thousands of athletes from all over the world. What a world peace experience that would be! Dream on, man, dream on…
Day 6 – All cleaned up! This concludes my week-long studio renovation project. Will rest tomorrow (Day 7).
Looking at the before & after shot, I’m very happy with the transformation of the studio. Thankful to be given such a great place to explore art and design, may good works come out from this wonderful space in the future!
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)
Day 5 – Set up my art supplies, planted a row of plants (mainly succulents brought from home), and started cleaning up. Hope to finish this little renovation project tomorrow.
Before renovating my studio, I sat in on a public forum at my Alma Mater in the morning. It was about climate change from HK’s perspective, the speakers spent a lot of time talking about IPCC’s latest AR5 report. With the 5th report, we’re more and more confident on the forecasted negative impacts of climate change caused by human activities, but so what? People seems to be carrying on their lives the same way as 5 or 6 years ago when the 4th report came out. Will we ever realize that our current style of living is not sustainable?
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