We had missed TK's opening of his KALBO Gift Shop at the VMeme Contemporary Art Gallery, given the lead-up to my Christmas trip, so I was on the lookout for another chance to catch up with him. Thankfully, he confirmed that he'd be signing at the studio again today, so we rushed over right after work and managed to catch him right before closing. It's funny how our interactions started in a very limited capacity after I started publishing reviews of his comic compilations on Goodreads, but over the course of a fair number of Komiket interactions (mainly thanks to Tobie also having a booth at many events), we've definitely gotten a lot more familiar. And given what happened to him right after the last time we had been at a Komiket event together, I was pretty eager to confirm for myself how he's doing now.
I'm glad that we managed to bring him a Christmas gift as well - 2025 has been quite an adventure, and I think we all need little celebrations here and there. In turn, we made sure to pick up some of the exclusive merchandise because (1) his stuff is always cool and (2) it's still a bit of a fundraising effort as well. 2026 is going to be very different, but no less fulfilling, I think.
As this is also the last local working day of the year, I tried to settle a few pending items that were left unresolved when I flew to Singapore:
- Washing Machine - I had received a parts quote right before I flew out, and I had questions about some of the recommendations. In the end, we've agreed to get them to come in and do the work, then see if they don't need a particular component that I feel is rather overboard from my perspective. They'll have a tech over on the 5th, so that'll be a fun start to the new year.
- Unionbank - The last rep I had spoken to had promised that she'd email to confirm once the change of address for my credit card delivery had been processed, but never did so. I tried calling into the fraud queue again to talk to an agent, but today's rep stressed that I really needed to get to the credit card queue. She transferred me, but no one picked up at the other end, and so I was just dropped. This happened the last time a rep had tried to transfer me, so that sucks. I've tried filing a ticket via the mobile app to see if that helps things along. Otherwise, I'll keep calling in to bother their fraud team until I get this resolved.
- Sietch Plumbing - while I was out, Tobie experienced a number of plumbing-related issues, including a leaky kitchen faucet and a blown pipe for our pressure tank. Then the day I got back, I managed to mangle our bathroom drain because I had to take it apart to recover an earring I had dropped. That was resolved over the weekend, but we're monitoring everything for now, so I figured I'd add it to the list. Things are better in threes.
I still have work tomorrow, but I expect things will remain relatively light since most of our clients seem to be out for the holidays already. Small blessings.
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