Christmas 2021
Received 2 sweet Christmas greetings in the mail from Canada and US this year. Technology advanced from mail to e-mail and to the more common instant message greetings nowadays, but getting a mail in the post from friends who cared enough to go through the trouble of mailing me a physical greeting beats 1000 instant messages! I wanted to return the favor, but missed the international mail deadline again, will try to make up for it with a CNY greeting.
Frankly not in a joyous holiday mood this Christmas, actually I have been feeling rather gloomy for most of the year due to the never ending pandemic and the helplessness of witnessing the rapid deterioration of the city. Countless people from the pro-democracy camp are detained or imprisoned or had fled the city and are separated from their family and friends this holiday season. As though that wasn’t enough to kill the holiday mood, the government secretly dismantled the many Tiannamen Square Massacre related sculptures across universities, just before Christmas! How could one feel joyous in such an atmosphere?
Regardless, the joy of receiving the 2 greetings from faraway friends had inspired me to spread some toxic positivity this year. I decided to bring back my studio’s annual tradition of crafting Christmas trees. The design, prototype, refine, and production process took just about a week. Made 2 dozens “Christmas trees” and delivered more than a dozen to friends. Hopefully they’ll find a little joy in knowing that a friend cared enough to go through the trouble of delivering a physical greeting to them this holiday season, just like the joy I experienced when receiving my friends’ greetings in the mail.
A Productive Week
Without much social activities this past week, my studio work became a lot more productive. Decided to bring back the studio’s annual tradition of crafting Christmas trees this year. It took a mere 2 days to design and prototype the Christmas tree phone stand, the high efficiency in bringing imagination to life kinda surprised myself! I made some extras as last minute Christmas gifts to send out to friends. Hopefully, my friends will be delighted when they receive the gift in the mail, just like the way I was delighted to receive my friends’ Christmas cards in the mail. I’m learning and trying my best to spread some much needed joy and peace this year. After all, Christmas is a time for giving, besides remembering the birth of Jesus of course.
Also managed to pick up some cartooning this week. Trying to catch up on Inktober52. Made 5 cartoons and still have 11 more to finish up before the end of 2021. Looks like I’ll have to do a cartoon a day for the rest of the year!
And there are still a few projects I had wished to complete before the year ends, may need to extend them to January, will see.
Prepping For Social-Distancing
The city did not enter lockdown. In fact, for months our city had zero COVID cases recorded in the community thanks to one of the most stringent border quarantine controls and the mask-wearing norm of people in public. Despite ceasing the COVID spread in the community, the government continued to tighten the pandemic measures and made their tracing app mandatory across all eateries on Thursday.
As a way of storing up some social energy before transitioning to my social-distancing mode, I actively organized some meetup with friends before Thursday. One of the greatest meetup was another surprise early morning dim sum with my 93 y/o ex-classmate from calligraphy class. Seemingly touched by my second surprise visit in months, my still very smart elderly ex-classmate agreed to meet up the entire class for a buffet later in this holiday season!
With the tracing app being mandatory, I’ll likely dine out a lot less. It’s not all bad. It’ll likely help push me to learn and practice more culinary arts. I’ll also likely be more focused on my studio work. There are still a few projects I wish to complete before 2021 ends. One project includes designing and making paper products and a milestone was crossed this past week when I (with the help of an experienced paper-making friend) successfully made a simple box from upcycling paper pulp using a 3D-printed mold!
Just a few weeks left before 2021 ends, it’s time to get busy!
Social Week
Received a very thoughtful Christmas mail from a very sweet friend in Canada early this past week. Another friend in US asked for my updated address to send his yearly greetings. I’m truly grateful to be in the mind of friends during the holiday seasons. Without them, I may have forgotten it was already December!! Asked my colleague to check the post office for the last day to send off Christmas cards to Canada and US, she found out it was mid-Nov. and added that I had asked that same unpunctual question last year.
My mood had been rather low these days. There just weren’t much to be happy about seeing how the marathon pandemic was evolving and persisting and how our city was deteriorating from a once prosperous, free, just, and relatively democratic metropolis. Greetings from distant friends certainly lifted my spirit somewhat. I was reminded once again to live so that others would see the Christian hope in me. It’s not easy to shine in our darkening city, but at the same time, true stars shine the brightest in the darkest of nights.
With the little positive energy that I gained, I managed to arrange and meet up some old friends on Tue, Wed, and Thur. The positive energy was pretty much used up by the time my family gathering tonight was over.
Planned to meet a few more friends on Mon and Tue to store up some additional social energy before re-entering my social-distancing mode. Will likely dine out a lot less after Wed when the city enforces the mandatory use of a tracing app across all eateries.
