Today is a holiday for both of the countries that had my residence time split almost equally. It was particularly hot today with extreme UV alert, so I didn’t dare to go outdoors but rather spent much of my time at home reading “The Message”.
I’ve also spent some time creating my first colored artwork since returning to HK, it’s been a long time since I indulged myself with coloring.
It wasn’t difficult to notice the heightened materialism after moving back to HK, but I was surprised that it ranked no.2 in the world in terms of carbon emission due to imported consumptions (article here)!
I see local ads encouraging people to lead a low carbon lifestyle by switching to CFL bulbs, taking shorter showers, setting higher thermostat temperature… but I have yet to see ads encouraging people to buy less stuff, quite impossible in this consumption-driven economy. If only we can learn to “not getting what we want, but wanting what we’ve got”.
Love books that inspire me to think and re-think…
Not sure of the exact reason(s), but I became a bit of an environmentalist in recent years. Ever since I watched “The Story of Stuff“, I have this little guilty feeling whenever I buy or throw away stuff. Slowly, I also became a bit of an anti-consumerist, silently protesting against such proposals as to hand out cash coupons to stimulate the economy. Before I realize it, I became a bit of a pessimist towards the whole product design industry.
This book brought back hope upon my depressing views. Products don’t have to move linearly from the manufacturer to the consumer and to the landfill. If designed right, products can become nutrients and cycle back into the biosphere or “technosphere” when they are no longer needed – waste becomes food. Think cherry blossoms!
Is this really possible in real-life products designed in a world so obsessed with GDP growth?
Been back from Shanghai for a few weeks already, it’s about time I finish organizing the photos and archive this project before I move on to a new one.
Despite the crazy long line-ups and the rudeness of our mainland people (just a difference in culture I would say), the 3.5 days I spent at the Expo was still an enjoying once-in-a-lifetime experience. I didn’t see many of the popular pavilions because of long line-ups, but I think experiencing the China, UK, and Spain pavilions is enough to make my trip worthwhile. Besides, the interior of many pavilions are just imbued with large projected images and videos on blank surfaces, I was seriously getting more and more “multimedia-phobic” as the trip progressed. Frankly, I find the exterior of the architectures far more interesting than the interior.
I was 30 minutes late when I arrived at the main campus. Instead of walking in late to a seminar, I went the opposite way to drop off my book at the library. Then I took a long slow walk along the usual route in the very quiet campus. It was a hot and humid afternoon, but the sun was much welcomed after a week of rainy days.
It wasn’t that long ago that I first set foot on this campus, I still remember the excitement of exploring it to find the location for my first lecture… Time really does fly, I’ve finished my first year, and there’s just one more to go.
An interesting and imaginative narrative on what the world would be like if we as a specie suddenly vanishes. The planet’s ecosystem would probably be better off without us Homo Sapiens!
I’m reminded of people toiling their lives trying to leave behind a lasting legacy, is that worthwhile? Perhaps not according to the book, for nothing would last forever.
“… This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (Ecclesiastes)
Spent much of my last week designing and assembling a miniature stone garden for my studio’s window shelf. Due to my lack of care, a lot of the bonsai plants given during class already looks like they’re dying with much of their leaves lost. Hopefully, with more tender care, they’ll be revived and bud out new lush green leaves.
Turned a new page in life at the age of 30 when I decided to move back to the place of my birth. Now at 31, I wish to gain a more clear picture of my career path and take my very first step towards it.
Went to a mini Chinese bonsai hands-on class this afternoon. The tutor gave each of us about 10 unshaped infant plants to experiment with. I plan to use them to transform the window shelf in my studio into a miniature zen garden next week (hopefully)…
I knew I was getting old when I started to follow economic news, and even older now that I began to read about politics.
Today marks the 21st anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre. Not to speak of politics, I could barely do my multiplications table back then. But it shocked me when I watched a video of the news report recorded on June 4th, 1989, I just couldn’t understand why a government would kill thousands of its own citizens in any circumstances?
I wanted to stop by Victoria Park tonight to witness for the first time the annual candlelight vigil, but it was just too crowded to get in. Maybe next year…
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