1 Feb 2022 Tuesday Chinese New Year Day; unusual times

Traditionally, this year is a year of mourning for my father who passed away less than one year ago (in April) which means that we do not celebrate the lunar new year. No visiting and since mom is living with Ni now, we will meet for a simple dinner tonight instead of the usual morning visits to relatives' homes.

So - I went for long run, I ran for more than an hour and it felt good - with less difficulty than expected. I will do it again soon. Of course it is unusual to go for a morning on the first day of the new year, and I got some looks but these are unusual times.

 

I came home and started cleaning the garden, including some chopping and leaf-burning - an unusual activity but  these are unusual times and we find ways to take our minds off the situation and get over the hump. In any case, I have been wanting to build planters for the dragon fruit along the fence, we have a surplus. Good to tick things off my list of things to do. 

70m run 7.2k

31 Jan 2022 Monday Chinese New Year Eve.

AS Honda showroom - a large shed to house showroom and offices, to collect rainwater and provide comfort with limited use of air-cond. I'll email this to the client on the second day of the new lunar year, not appropriate to talk shop on the first day.

Ni and family traveled up to Lachau this morning, at 6 a.m. so I trotted over before that for a day of baby-sitting mom. She slept till almost noon, so I spent the morning thinking about work and drawing up a recent project. SL had set the base for me, so my work was made easier. I realised of late that there are many people in my life who make things easier for me, the pessimistic might say that they have been paid to do that, but I think they go beyond the line of duty. That little bit of mindfulness and consideration - minutes printed on A3 paper so that I can scribble on the blank side of the page, drawings printed and tagged like 'things-to-do' on a long flight, a quiet 'would you like us to buy lunch for you?' and consistently carrying out tasks even before I think of reminding anyone.

If only all the people around did the same - well, they don't and they continue to test me so I am going to see this as an examination of my current responsibilities, and a way forward to improve myself. (so that I don't rest on my laurels as I am prone to do after people compliment me on my success at work. 

Time for family; our reunion dinner was small with only 5 of us (mom included), there was little conversation in view of the day's main talking point, and we were eating at my sister's house as they drove back from Lachau. It was not festive, memorable for the wrong reasons and I didn't get to exercise.  

WORK COMPLETED A FEW DAYS LATER

 

30 Jan 2022 Sunday Greeting cards

our second hospital for a small country town, we are getting better with the details.

have to re-start this one, get talking next week

it has been completed for years but continue to provide work and learning opportunities

starting construction in March; looking forward to this one.

have to submit fee proposal

 

29 Jan 2022 Saturday Planting

28 Jan 2022 Friday End of Year Review

 

27 Jan 2022 Thursday Just another work day - nothing to see, move along please

 

26 Jan 2022 Wednesday Segamat

 6 a.m. start to the day - wanting to explore the area around our hotel (The View) but finding nothing exciting; shops shut, neighbours asleep. Only the guard dogs were awake. 

9 a.m. getting ready for our briefing of the Yang DiPertua (Mayor) of Segamat about our new Hospital project; a formality but also serving as a record of the Council's support for this private development. It was also a good opportunity to see our clients at the site of our next joint endeavor; building relationships and reassuring them of our attention. 

As a Sarawakian more fluent in English, I was impressed with our clients' fluency in BM during the briefing.

A nice photo of a not-so-nice building; the Mayor's residence across the road was more interesting but we did not get a chance to visit.

A long 2.5 hour drive each way and a flight home - I did not feel tired with the traveling and thought that this is likely the testament to Sam's cooking and her supplements. Perhaps I am just happy with my own company

25 Jan 2022 Tuesday Walking about in Segamat

PengHui collected me from KLIA and drive 3 hours to Segamat, arriving after 5pm. While he rested, I took a grab car to the Dataran and sketched my way to the river side using some of the travel tips which Victor prepared of his hometown. 

Just as I ran out of daylight, Penghui rang and collected me from the riverside for dinner.

 

 

24 Jan 2022 Monday HJ sends wedding photos

 HJ kindly asked her own wedding photographer to take pictures of Sam and I after learning that we have never had our wedding photo taken. Not that we couldn't afford it at the time, we did not see the point of it; we had known each other for so long and had taken so many photos of each other already. 

But we consented, and sat down on a roll of reinforcement wire (they were fixing the pavement) and asked the photographer to shoot, just shoot and don't try to pose us (we won't listen to your instructions). And to everyone's surprise, this turned out really nice - an un-posed shot; spontaneous and capturing Sam's spirited nature, something which no amount of 'free-style' posing would be able to achieve. Personally, I felt that he should have kept the shutter going when shooting HJ and Tim, it is digital after all - to capture the spontaneous moments.

One of the drawbacks of accidental gardening, this is a good view of me

23 Jan 2022 Sunday Chicken floss spring rolls

630 a.m. departure from Summer Suite - children still drowsy, sad and happy at the same time; to leave them with their own struggles and happiness and coming home is always a journey I look forward to.  

Cooking with my mom; making tiny chicken floss spring rolls - a point of contention for Sam and I, for not leaving enough for Sara. But everyone like them as well, so there were very few that returned with me. I ll make some more when Sara returns to KL in Feb.

22 Jan 2022 Saturday Concept Home 2030

As shortlisted entries, we were invited to the final presentation to the judges; a publicity exercise - I was a bit skeptical about the whole affair but thought that I had to keep my end of the deal. The young people had worked so long and hard (and consistently) on this. 

We didn't win of course - we were too practical and considered, we were not 'out there' enough. Of course it irked me that others won, and we were not considered for the mentions, but I explained (and consoled myself) to SL that this was an exercise in working together and developing ideas outside of work. (although one of our shortfalls was thinking of it too much like 'work' - too rational).

We have good people with initiative; so Sam and I thought to reward them and thank them for their time and effort. It was a small gesture but I felt better after doing it. (1k)

Drawn at the site of the presentation - the Sime Darby gallery.

 

Cheeky Ivan's portrait of me (at Gangga Vegetarian restaurant)

21 Jan 2022 Friday HJ got married

Earlier this year, HJ invited me to be her witness to her wedding registration. This came as a surprise to me, because though we have known each other for more than a decade, I have not really known her beyond our work editing the PAMSC newsletter. I accepted, flattered, and wondering what I had done to deserve such a honour.

Sometimes we touch people's lives without knowing, which is the best way - do good and move on. We sometimes reap the rewards of appreciation and praise, though I feel it is even better when they pay it forwards and do good elsewhere. 

as witness to their marriage

 

20 Jan 2022 Thursday renewing connections

 

It rained the whole night and the whole morning so work was from home. I rang the planner and we reminded ourselves that we had worked on a project before years ago. I felt that it was good to re-establish the tie and start this new project on some common ground, even though the former experience was not so fruitful. 

Later the day, we visited a built project to look at the flooring - the site coordinator was Ah San, I reminded him that we had met 2 decades ago when he called himself 'Sam' while working with a carpet supplier. Again, I felt that the re-establishment of familiar links would pave the way for easier conversations and coordination if we were to work on projects together. He immediately opened up and became quite chatty, speaking in Hokkien.

As we were touring the site, Sonnie rang me to ask if we were interested in a potential project in JB, he was working with Poh Hon, who trained with us in 2003 and now a senior design manager in a development company. She was making connections as well, we spoke later and she was very frank and warm as usual - though it is unlikely that we can take up the job; a bit too far and hard to monitor. PH wisely said it depends on how well we do on Saturday afternoon at the Sime Darby competition.

19 Jan 2022 Wednesday Cooking lunch

 Making it a habit to cook lunch on Wednesday for the folks in the office, it has become a habit for them as well because Sandra has stopped packing her Wednesday lunch. I asked her to time me cooking the tomato sauce (with cauliflower, leek, garlic and onions) - 30 minutes. This was a vegan sauce for Lance, for his quinoa - he didn't come to work so Melvin and Sandra went off and got half a kilo of roast belly pork which we stirred into the sauce and pasta. It was not vegetarian and definitely not Italian, but no one seemed to mind. 

During lunch time, I listened instead of talking (another habit I am trying to cultivate) to stories about waiting tables for RM 18 per night to earn pocket money. I was tempted to share stories about my similar experiences during uni, but they have heard it before , so I ate another bit of pork and listened instead. 

18 Jan 2022 Tuesday No tennis, all rained out

In recent weeks, several people asked me how I can manage so many different things at one time; the practice, the teaching, the newsletter and the regime of exercise and activity (cooking for colleagues each Wednesday and my mother on Sundays). It is primarily because I have good people in my team; Sam to tidy up the loose ends for projects and manage finances, colleagues who have initiative and ownership and HJ who runs the editorial team like a school mistress. It also helps that I enjoy a challenge and like our work products - whether it is a door detail or another newsletter published on time. 

 

18 Jan 2022 Monday - design competition

 

Counting our winnings. 1988.

Tim, Dianne and I just won a design competition for which the prize money was AUD 1000, which was given to us in 1-dollar coins in a tiny duffel bag stitched from sail canvas (the competition sponsor was a yacht builder). We counted only 997 dollars, so the next day, one of us (Di probably) rang them about the 3-dollar shortfall.

'The bag is 3 bucks' - was the reply

17 Jan 2022

The main body of work has ended but there are still smaller packages that continue - an office relocation, new Cath-Labs and clinics. More challenges but also opportunities to continue the conversations with the builder and the engineers, which I enjoy. Over the years, I have learned to tell the difference between the ones who are interested in doing a good job from those who have moved on, because the main bulk of the fees have been earned.