Hot, Busy, and Active Week

The hot weather warning seemed to be hoisted day and night nonstop for the entire week this past week. Read a news snippet about a pro-democracy member who’s still under detention (no air-con) and felt too drained to even pick up a pen to write letters. I empathize with the many ppl who are persecuted and are detained or imprisoned in non-AC chambers under this extreme hot weather.

As though trying to make myself feel less guilty, I packed myself with work and things to do. The first Q3 project I started was re-engineering my studio’s mascot to make it more sturdy yet flexible, customizable, and sustainable. It was good to pick up some 3D modeling work again after focusing on the KOKB.site calligraphy project for much of Q2.

Registered for a short term course about HK Comics. Started school and attended the first 2 of 6 classes already. The talks or sharing sessions turned out more interesting than I thought. It felt good to be back in an artsy environment and learning new things without the pressure of assignments or exams.

Despite the hot weather and a relatively packed week, I managed to complete two short running practices on Mon. and Thu. evening. The dopamine from exercising was important to help me stay sane in this hot and deteriorating city. Joined the UW group to play some badminton yesterday because the venue was just across the street. I haven’t played for years, and to my surprise, I could still find and hit the bird at a somewhat intermediate level. I was amazed by the power of muscle memory. But perhaps due to years of inactivity, the muscles in my arm, waist, and legs were very sore today, more so than after my running practices.

Sketch… Sunday Service

Hot Week

It was a hot and muggy week. My biggest accomplishment at work was reviving my studio’s old Etsy shop to make available some hand-drawn artworks for online order. Not really expecting to make many sales, but happy that I was able to check off a Q2 task and wrap up one of my biggest projects for Q2. Revised the Q2 project list and wrote out a new list for Q3, will start working on them next week.

The past week was full of depressing news for the pro-democracy camp. Eight of the exiled members were openly and disgracefully put on a government bounty list, but the move was disapproved by their current residing countries. A day or two after the bounty list was announced, a platform that offer reward programs for many pro-democracy shops (yellow shops) was closed down following the arrest of its owners. The news shook up the small community who had been trying to battle the ongoing political persecution and economic downturn together.

Living in this depressing and deteriorating city, I could do nothing to help other than trying my best to stay productive and healthy. After more than 3 months of weekly calligraphy classes, I’ve completed learning the 100 Chinese surnames in 3 different scripts. And after missing my running practices last week due to rain, I completed another 10k practice on a super hot and muggy Fri. evening. It was one of my biggest personal achievements this week. The dopamine from the run can hopefully help me stay sane in this suffocating city until my next run.

A Canadian friend and his wife was visiting town for a business trip, me and another couple of friends met them up for a dinner buffet at their hotel restaurant last night. Enjoyed seeing and catching up old friends in person. The social energy provided an extra boost of positivity to help me survive a city that seems to be draining my energy without end.

Sketch… Sunday Service

Bye-bye Q2

After writing out the last character from the book of 1000 Chinese character samples on Mon., a huge relief was immediately felt. The rest of the week was taken relatively lightly as I soak in my greatest achievement of the Q2 projects! Most other Q2 projects will carry on to Q3 untouched 😅.

Before getting started with Q3, I lavishly took some time off away from the studio to see some exhibitions and bidding farewell to a few “yellow” businesses. Managed to catch the Joan Miro exhibition just a couple of days before it was taken down. The Spanish artist’s playful and colorful sculptures seemed to have revived my inner child playing with Legos and plastic models. I now want to remodel my studio’s robot mascot (Dexter) as soon as I step back into the studio next week!

Visited a “yellow” clothing store on Thur. before it was closed down for good on Fri. I am not particularly a fan of the store nor do I have any fashion sense whatsoever, but still sad to see a 33 yr-old brand disappear due to political reasons. Visited a co-working space, another “yellow” business, near my home on Wed. as it was having a liquidation sale of its used furniture before closing down its business for good on Fri. I had no need to buy extra furniture, but managed to buy a couple of interesting postcards as souvenirs.

I seem to have a peculiar interest in visiting businesses before they close down for good. It’s not that I’m interested in buying cheap liquidation stuff, I’m more interested to reminisce about the aspirations of the founders in starting the businesses in the first place. Dreams and ambitions vanishing after years of sweat and tears poured into their founding businesses. It’s kinda like going to a funeral to remember someone and trying to fathom about their lost dreams and aspirations. It makes me think about my own dreams and aspirations, what is it that I really wanna do? And what is it that God wanted me to do?

Oh God, please continue to guide my steps ahead. 🙏🏻

Sketch… Sunday Service

Calligraphy and Meetups

Completed the last batch of commissioned handwritten calligraphy postcards. Thankful that the revenue from the commission was more than enough to cover the cost of the batch of expensive handmade recycled paper that I bought to show support for a local paper artisan. I even had extras to put back into my personal art fund to support further artistic endeavors! Grateful for this unplanned opportunity.

Aside from the unplanned commission, I had been working hard to catch up on my planned Q2 goals. Wrote more than a hundred characters from the book with a thousand character samples. Shouldn’t be a problem to finish off the remaining dozen or so characters this coming week before the quarter ends.

Thur. was a public holiday (Dragon Boat Festival), I ate the last of the Chiu Chow rice dumpling given by a neighborhood por por (friend’s mother-in-law) for lunch. In the evening, I met up with some high school friends as one of them was in town for a short visit and flying back to US in a couple of days. I also met up with other friends for dinner on Wed. and Fri. Frankly, I’m introverted and not too social, but I actually took a proactive role in initiating the 3 dinner meetups! I now cherish the time to meet up friends more and more, especially friends I’ve known since young. We never know when, or ever, we’ll be meeting again now that so many people are emigrating away from this deteriorating city. I myself could very well be the next one to fly out.

Sketch… Sunday Service

44th Birthday

Took a day off on Mon to give myself the gift of time to do whatever I want for my 44th bday. I finally took the time to organize and display my growing series of critically endangered animal caricature paintings in my private living-room gallery.

I’m not particularly fond of celebrating bdays, but I’m courteous enough to follow suit and offer my birthday greetings to friends whenever someone initiated the greetings in messaging groups. Likewise, when it was my turn, I was flooded with bday greetings as soon as I woke my phone that morning. Some friends didn’t remember the exact day of my bday, and I conveniently reminded them that it’s the 2019 protest anniversary. I’m grateful that friends remembered and took the time to type up the birthday greetings, especially those who privately messaged me. A fellowship brother even spontaneously treated me lunch at a restaurant where I stumbled upon my favorite sculpture to do a sketch! Another fellowship brother gave me a gift about a week ago and it turned out to be a wooden board with an “outstanding” cutout. I actually felt a bit ashamed by the gift, but didn’t tell the gift-giving friend of course. As I review my nearly 14 years of return from Canada, I felt I had been a letdown to both my family and God.

Birthdays are a good time to reflect on life. Having spent 44 years of life with much love from family, friends, and God, I couldn’t be more grateful. At the same time, I don’t have much to be proud of either. I felt like I had just wasted 44 years of time and love from others. Didn’t want to be left in a depressed state, I allotted my bday evening with nothing but a long running practice. Although it was slow, but I was proud that I pulled through a 10k run on a hot muggy evening. For a short period of time, possibly under the influence of endorphins, I felt good. The rest of the week was gloomy and rainy and didn’t allow more runs. I picked up more calligraphy work at the studio and completed another batch of hand-drawn postcards commissioned by my sister.

Another week has just passed by after my 44 years of time spent here on Earth. Can someone please put a pause on the cruel passage of time?

Sketch… Sunday Service

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