29.1.2026 Thursday - safe harbour

The same sky

The settlers arrive by sea; they look for safe harbour.

An overhanging rock, clump of trees, a cave

to set up 'home'.

The settlers look for a refuge with a prospect;

high ground with a view of the water that carried them,

ripples of memories fading already.

This cave-like home is present but temporary.

It has a low door, for safety

and for heads to bow in gratitude.

and only then to look up at the same sky,

whose rain falls with voices from home.

28.1.2026 Wednesday - K2

27.1.2026 Tuesday - change of plans

 

26.1.2026 Monday - skis and villas

I meet Tay and Suan who just returned from a trip to Xian, they went skiing - prompting me to remind Sam about our plans to go skiing again. I am trying to finish our the Bali proposal, to keep our end of the promise, but SL tells me that the client has cold feet. 

I tell her that I'll finish my part of the bargain and send off the drawings, I follow up with a text to Lina - and leave the ball in her court. She offers us a weeks' stay in her Villa at Kaba Kaba Estate in Bali.

25.1.2026 Sunday - a rainy day but surprisingly productive

 

24.1.2026 Saturday - Gala Dinner

Henry arranged for a few of our former teachers to have a meal together, including some of our classmates. Unfortunately, I have no time for one of them, we were not in the same class and he is not a nice person. I thought about declining but then thought 'I would just go and enjoy what I could of the afternoon'. And I am glad that I did. Our teachers are getting older, with health problems though they seem to enjoy the chatter. I wish for a larger group with more people around the table

Today is a day of doing not much, except cooking at No. 40 for Bel and EH - Sean was telling stories during dinner time, entertaining us about the silly antics of the office interns. It is good - like Louise said 'your children seem happy, you have done a good job'.

23.1.2026 Friday - finalising some ideas

final sketches for our presentation for Eric's land art installation in July

These office meetings on Thursday are a good idea, we have one more day to sort out things, call people, send out confirmation emails, final drawings before the end of the week. Fiona and I have a discussion about the Precinct One housing, and arrived at a good conclusion. We asked GW if he would be interested in getting involved in TSSB's projects in the future, he said yes. And added that he enjoys drawing details, etc, as do I. OK, one thing settled (as per Freddie's suggestion). 

We also send out this little project in Taipei, keeping our promise to send out by Friday - not sure if the water people have sent theirs. I think that they are still busy with the gala dinner preps. 

George and I have a good solution for Kensington, only to be superceded by Freddie who gave an even better option - bringing the unit count to 286 from our 267. I look forward to marking out the drawings for the team to work on next week. 

We have drinks by the pool before having a hot pot dinner with the children, and Louise. Nice end to the week - we might  make this a routine.

This week's Friday dinner is at Sean's place, we have drinks by the pool followed by a steamboat dinner with Rudy, Valerie and Louise. I jokingly said that Sam and I would like Sean to cook dinner on Fridays, and we simply swan in after our swim and eat and drink.

 

22.1.2026 Thursday - two good meetings

He is a good mood, confessing that he was concerned about the planning approval of the Kensington project. But all good now, we have a plan to appeal for a few more units and a few more floors - the important thing is that we have a new project and an agreement for our payments. His sons take part in the design discussions, giving opinions and listening to ours - we agree that we will invite the Thai architects to design the interiors and landscape. 
We revert with new drawings in 2 weeks' and start consultants' meeting to move the project forward. 

Later in the afternoon, we have our office meeting; going through tasks and chatting about things to do and people to see. After which, we go for ice creams - I like how well these young people get on with each other.

21.1.2026 Wednesday - major project approved

Sam suggests that we should all go for a meal, since George and PH are in town - it would be a pre CNY gathering. So we decide to go for a nice Japanese lunch. During which, we chat about today's government planning meeting - Fiona ever alerted checks the office email and discovers that the Kensington project is approved.  Minutes later, T rings to inform me (he is a little disappointed that he is not the first one to tell me the news) and tells me that the approval is for 16 storeys and not the 26 we applied for - but we can appeal. I ring off and tell him that we will discuss in detail tomorrow. 

20.1.2026 Tuesday - doing Sketchup

 

19.1.2026 Monday - school project

 

18.1.2026 Sunday - Sean buys some bowls

 

17.1.2026 Saturday - Khoon returns home

 

16.1.2026 Friday - land art idea sorted

 

15.1.2026 Thursday - working lunch

The workers did not come to work today - so Sam picks me up for a swim and lunch

 

14.1.2026 Wednesday - Lukas Roth

 

13.1.2026 Tuesday - Sam returns from KL and makes an assessment

We think we are in a poor situation util we experience what others go through; rude nieces, undecisive siblings, irresponsible adults. And then we realise that we are doing ok. This should NOT be the way to deal with our own happiness, but it is a good gauge to see where we stand in the general scheme of things.

We talk about cars and Sean tells me that the gauge of the car one should buy is our annual income, which means that his upgrade is not a much bigger car. Sara thought she would like Sean's Iris while he gets himself a new one. A change in our normal dinner time conversations - children are growing up. 

 

12.1.2026 Monday - Taiwan connection re-established

 

settling layouts with Henry

This evening, we re-connected with Eric who wanted us to visit Taiwan and take part in a design and construction on some installation in July. He also confirmed my attendance at the design review in May, Sam and I might take this opportunity to re-visit Japan (perhaps no Australia trip this year)

11.1.2026 Sunday - a mixture of young and old

 

10.1.2026 Saturday - meeting a fellow mentor

 

9.1.2026 Friday - small sense of achievement

 Sam is going to KL tomorrow, to attend a dinner hosted by the Malaysian Nature Society to honour dad's contributions - she and the kids feel that this is an important occasion for him and should be attended by kin. The other kin are kinda quiet, so the Sarawakians are stepping up. Means that I will be home alone for 3 nights - which I will use to clear up around the house and tidy up my mind. Looks like I will try and paint as well, decide which room to take over, which one has better light. I think it will be Sean's room.

SY and HJ came by to drink the rest of the beers in the office fridge, we talked about doing things, finishing tasks and feeling a sense of small achievements, which drives one onto the next series of small tasks and assignments. While I think it is fun to reflect on how well we did as a team publishing the local newsletter - it is time to move on. Which most of us have, her with her building projects with SL and IJ, and him doing BES and BAJ with me who is editing The Borneo Architecture Journal.

8.1.2026 Thursday - why is he always walking so fast?

some of the young ones briefing on their projects, Thursday seems like a good time of the week to do this you have Friday to tidy things up if needed.

What's the hurry? Perhaps if one slows down and take in the view, you might say there isn't much of a view. But what if it is not a view but an interaction with some old men having an early morning coffee - remarking on my bike: how small it folds, how long I have had it, how much it costs.. A few smiles, a few words exchanged - it's a good encounter allowing them a new subject to continue their morning's chat.

The RM1 kopi is now RM 2.20 - reason to make it last longer. 

7.1.2026 Wednesday - a good idea from Fiona

 We talked about the office meetings, whether our former method of sitting down on Monday mornings work better than my recent way of speaking to individuals or small groups. Fiona is diplomatic, and says both work but suggests that letting the others know what their colleagues are working on is more informative and provides better learning. She recounts how sorting her internship the studio gets together on Friday to share news about projects, and report on progress.

So we're trying it out tomorrow, let's see how we go. 

6.1.2026 Tuesday - a small hotel in Bali

 

The construction costs for our little hotel in Bali is about twice the allocated budget, so Ricco and I are looking at ways to reduce the floor area. 

Suen Ling and I chat about how to reduce the cost of construction (400SGD for the building and basic finishes, plus potential another 60SGD) at the moment. I mark out our thinking which:

1. omits the mezzanine within the rooms (reduce costs of slab and staircases)

2. instead the communal areas (dining, lounge, check-in) will be large and will have a mezzanine so that guests can enjoy views of the padi) - this is accessed via one staircase, close the the kitchen at the rear.

3. the number of the rooms remain at 20, their width have been reduced to 3250mm (construction grid reduced from 7m to 6.5m)

The roof form will still be quite interesting though modular in nature, I will brief the client soon, so that they don't worry and start chasing us for results. Usually when they start to do that, it takes away some of my enthusiasm for the project. 

5.1.2026 Monday - drawing in sheets of recycled print outs

 

4.1.2026 Sunday