I’ve been making slight modifications to the small aquarium in my studio since late August, and the latest addition is a batch of Cherry Shrimps acquired last week. Together with snails, tiny catfishes, and lots of vegetation, the aquarium is evolving into a small freshwater ecosystem!
The aquarium is my main source of visual entertainment as I’m spending more and more time in my studio these days.
Had my first weekend of lectures for this semester. It’s been a long time since I had to miss a Sunday Service. Didn’t sleep well for the last couple of nights. Tired, but tired in a good way. I’ve been spoiled with too long of a ‘vacation’ without meaningful work, it’s about time that I get busy with life…
November is shaping up to be one of my busiest months since May. Will push myself to work hard night and day before enjoying my Christmas & New Year break.
Experienced the drastic switch in density when I moved back from Canada more than a year ago. 40-stories seemed to be the minimum height of residential/commercial towers being erected here in the last decade or so. Living in high-density cities like HK is good in a lot of ways and will inevitably become the norm globally. But there’s also disadvantages and a definite limit yet to be determined. This book is a collection of insightful research papers concerning the many different aspects of designing high-density cities.
Just whetting my appetite for the coming course and research paper. After a much too long vacation, it looks like I’ll soon be buried with books/papers again…
Sat-in a public lecture titled ‘Urban Placemaking and the Role of Design Review’ today. The Canadian speaker presented many pictures of the beautiful Vancouver waterfront developments, proudly stating the city’s ranking as one of the most livable cities in the world. The truth is, as the speaker also acknowledged, a city like Vancouver needs at least 3-4 times its landmass to provide it with food, water, and energy. How is that sustainable?!
Took a roundabout route home and walked pass some abandoned building blocks, I realized that was the land sold at record price in a recent bidding. I bet they will soon be bulldozed and replaced with another one of those luxurious residences. Quite sad actually.
Took an excursion to the full-day annual HKGBC Conference today. It was rather boring most of the time, but I felt quite refreshing to be outside of my studio leaving my papers/books and computer behind. Perhaps I’ve spent way too much time at home recently. I really should go out more often.
Locked myself in my studio reading research papers today. In fact, this had been my 9-5 job since Monday! Still much to read before I can even begin to write my research paper…
Kind of miss my research days in the EcoLab, miss the occasional random chit-chat with my lab-mates in the windowless lab.
Hurricane Megi miraculously missed HK, but my original plan to join my fellowship camp this weekend was already canceled. The unexpected free time had given me a major headache rather than a relaxing time. My mind was cluttered with projects I wanted to start, but was afraid that they wouldn’t be finished and become major distractions when I begin my much needed isolation period next week to work on my paper and dissertation.
Ended up not doing much other than watching a RTHK series dedicated to the elderly (黃金歲月). The elders captured on camera spent their lives after retirement in a vast number of ways – teaching, painting, dancing, volunteering, …, and even triathlon! I couldn’t help noticing the genuine happiness shown on their faces, so full of life. In contrast, I see my parents daily sitting on the couch with their expressionless faces starring at the TV screen that is full of flickering stock quotes, life seem to be slowly and relentlessly sucking out from them. They should have more than enough savings to spend the rest of their lives worry-free, but they claimed that following and investing in stocks give them a sense of purpose, something to look forward to each day. But that’s not happiness, is it?!
Had been in search of a new bible after finished reading The Message, and unexpectedly, I found this peculiar version – The Green Bible! It is the New Revised Standard Version with scriptures concerning “Green” topics highlighted and discussed. What a wonderful idea!
“God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)
May God grant me the wisdom and patience to read His very words from cover to cover.
How great would it be if we Homosapiens can live in harmony with nature like the natives? We civilized non-natives tend to study nature from afar and regard it as nothing more than natural resources to be consumed. In stark contrast, early indigenous people were careful observant of nature, they dwell and lived off of it and saw it as sacred. They were truly living in harmony with nature!
Parents left home early for Mainland to pay respect to ancestors. I also congested my way through crowds who were heading to the cemetery, but I was just going for a friendly game of soccer nearby. It was rather awkward playing under the strong smell of burning incense, but I had a great time playing in the amazing field adorned with a wonderful backdrop of mountain scape.
This was my first time playing soccer with friends from church in HK. It reminded me of the ‘unplanned’ but often much anticipated annual soccer match during my Toronto church’s summer retreats. Those were good times.
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