I finally finished an assignment for my Finite Element Method (FEM) course. However, I fell into the trap of tinkering with my editor and software again until 5 PM. It’s a habit I really need to break, as it consumes too much of my productive time.

In the evening, I braised some pork ribs with yam and lotus root for tomorrow’s lunch. Afterward, I spent about an hour scrolling on my phone before calling it a night.

Time is moving so fast. So far today, I’ve had a video call with Huan, spent some time lying in bed scrolling on my phone, and played Honor of Kings for an hour.

🕒 Afternoon | Tech Troubles

I spent the entire afternoon trying to get my ** #terminal to support image rendering**, but I failed.

Around 4 PM, I decided to do some laundry. Meanwhile, a DVD drive I ordered from Amazon a few days ago arrived. However, it’s unstable and keeps disconnecting, so I’ve already applied for a return.

The weekend is almost over. On the bright side, I didn’t let myself completely spiral into laziness today.

🕒 Evening | A Change of Plans

I originally planned to go to Canada Post to return the DVD drive, but by the time I got dressed, they were already closed. I also missed my chance to go to Safeway for groceries.

Instead of rushing out, I decided to stay in. The fried pork and potatoes I made for dinner were very tasty!

I spent some more time studying English, and around 10 PM, I messaged Alex to catch up and see how he was doing.

I didn’t sleep well, so I’ve been feeling under the weather all day. I planned to go to bed early, but somehow, I missed the chance again.

I barely got any studying done today. The noise in the room kept distracting me, and I’ve realized I’m becoming more and more sensitive to it. It’s a vicious cycle. I need to learn how to be at peace with my surroundings, focus on my inner self, and reclaim my attention.

I’ve come to realize I might be cut out to be a chef. Whenever I have free time, I love cooking a huge amount of food, but then I don’t even eat it—I just stockpile it. It’s a bad habit, as it usually ends up being not-so-fresh frozen leftovers.

Better luck tomorrow. Keep going!

I successfully created a very smooth iPad shortcut. This record was actually added using it!

🕒 01:01 | First Priority

The first thing I want to do is show this shortcut to Huan. I can now clip content from any app directly into Obsidian and record text manually via the notification bar. #shortcut

Today, I roasted a large turkey and four pork legs to prep for the coming days. They turned out pretty well!

🕒 02:00 | Manual Input

Congratulations to me! I’ve figured out how to insert content into Obsidian manually, just like the iPad shortcut.

🕒 03:11 | Good night 🌇

🕒 03:12 | Formatting

Don’t worry about the format for now!! I’ll leave that until the very end.

🕒 16:22 | Freezing Cold

Dr. Zhao messaged me to see if I wanted to go shopping at Southgate Mall. It is freezing today; the wind is so sharp it actually hurts my face.

Before he arrived, I stopped by Dollarama to pick up a spoon and some adhesive tape.

After shopping, we grabbed some drinks at Starbucks. Dr. Zhao recommended that I try the Pink Drink.

🕒 19:23 | Noise Issues

I woke up at 12 PM and then cooked some food for lunch. After that, I took a shower and took some time to relax. By the time it was approaching 4 PM, the sun had already set (or the sun was gone).

I spent some time studying my textbook, Writing Academic English. I recently discovered Zotero and found it to be a very good tool for taking notes and managing references. I plan to use it to take tons of notes going forward.

Later, I cooked a lot of food to prepare for the next few days.

I just want to sleep all day, but I can’t fall asleep.

16:31 Detroit: become human

I bought a game from Steam, and I heard that it is very amusing.

22:44 Watch K-POP: Demon Hunter

At first, I didn’t like this movie, especially the type and the style. But I found that the cover I saw knew its songs very popular. After watching, it’s really a nice movie.

22:48 Watch How to Train Dragons: The Hidden World

A nice movie, it made me calm down and feel relaxed.

And I found that I can understand a movie without Chinese; I am getting more and more familiar with English.

The information from cellphones always makes me feel dizzy and eye-hurt.

22:51 Bitter gourd stewed pork ribs

Not bad, I cooked it while watching movies, for tomorrow’s lunch.

And I had a KFC with a nice offer, and bought some groceries from Safeway.

We feel happy if our tummy is satisfied.

22:43 Take a shower

Felt more awake

23:40

andn

In the afternoon, I boiled a lamb leg and washed my dirty clothes.

Releasing too much energy is bad for health.

I still spent a whole day doing homework. It was still quite complicated, but I didn’t find it difficult.

I made some dumplings myself in the evening and they were quite delicious. I’ll freeze them and eat them later.

There is a big age gap and a generation gap between us, which always feels a bit awkward.

I am afraid of I don’t have enough time to eat, so I ate my lunch early.

In the morning, I pre-learned the content of today’s lecture, and I might feel better while in class.

15:02 Feel a little tired

Communication via Email is a very efficient way. Today I received a lot of Email about my roll-in, funding. I only see the school’s staff in person once, due to re-image my computer, otherwise we just sit in front of the computer, and then all things will be done.

Starving

Because I ate too less lunch, I felt hungry and sleepy. So I went home at 4:30 PM, and I cost $10 to buy a pan of India food.

I was still hungry, I quickly went to the University station, and then take the train to go to home. I cooked some pasta and double-cooked meat for dinner.

The oven had a some spots which was dirty after a long cooking. I do my best to clean it, and it just had a little effect. Whatever, I cooked the eggs with tomatoes for tomorrow’s lunch.

I’m so tired that I didn’t finish the journal in the office.

Since I received a $120 bill from Fido the day before yesterday, I was still feeling a bit upset about it. So today I think I should go ask Bell, because the people at Bell had promised me that no money would be charged.

The Bell staff spent an hour helping me, but still couldn’t get in touch with anyone from Fido-totally ridiculous. In the end, I asked the person who helped me open the account, and even the manager of Bell, who was already at work. The consistent answer I got was that no money would be deducted, which put my mind at ease.

At school, I started working on my coursework. Doing assignments in English is still quite difficult for me, and I don’t even know how to get a lot of resources I need.

By the afternoon, I had basically finished the homework, so I got ready to slip back home and cook. At home, I fried some rice and boiled some vegetables. Cooking for myself feels a lot more casual and free.

Oh, and since I bricked my old phone yesterday, today I secretly took a break and flashed Lineage OS on it. With the school’s network, it should work pretty well, and all the Google apps are connecting normally.

Near noon, I cooked some pasta, added my twice-cooked pork ,and brought it to school to study for a while. Reviewed the class PPT again, tried to guess the teacher’s intentions for the assignment questions, and wrote a rough outline.

In the afternoon, I came back and made beef fried rice. It was really delicious. Then I took a shower and washed my dirty socks and clothes.

I thought about going to the gym to have a look. I kind of wanted to go swimming, but I didn’t have the gear. While chat with Huan, it turned out she was just about to buy it for me.

That’s great!

We ate too much bread and hamburgers last week, so we decided to go to Walmart to buy some food and household items.

ZJ emptied his travel box to carry the goods. He wanted to walk to the mall, but I was a bit reluctant. In the end, I agreed with his idea.

We bought a lot of items, including vegetables, a pot, bowls, and so on.

First Home-Cooked Rice Meal

I bought 2kg of rice myself in the afternoon, so I decided to make Chinese food for dinner.

This was my first rice meal since arriving in Edmonton, and it was delicious. ZJ ate a lot, and I also enjoyed it, though I only had one bowl.

Collecting Second-Hand Furniture

After dinner, ZJ asked me to post an ad to buy some second-hand furniture like desks and lamps. I left both of our phone numbers, with ZJ’s listed first. Jenny was very helpful—I was worried about getting nonstop calls, so having two numbers seemed better.

Soon enough, someone contacted us about selling furniture. They lived nearby and even picked us up to choose the items at their place.

I picked out a desk, a mattress, chairs, and more. It cost quite a bit, but we probably won’t need to buy much more furniture after this.

The seller gave us a mirror for free. At first, I thought it was nice, but after bringing it home, it felt eerie, so we threw it away. It’s better not to casually accept things from others.

Tidying Up My Little Room

I cleaned the desk and chairs and rearranged the layout of the room, making it much cozier. The mattress is also very comfortable—it’s great!

PS: My English writing is still quite poor, so I used translation software for help and manually copied it over. I’ll improve gradually.

白天一开始想着去水库逛逛，后面发现太热了，在公园里面躺了好久。然后就准备回来了。

晚上去买了两个大鱼头，叫老板多给了我们一些汤。我们拿回来煮上素菜，超级好吃。

现在妈妈可能也要去买菜，于是打电话问她要不要一起去，结果她说她已经到了。我们起床洗漱，然后就出门了，去菜市场买了好多东西，但是没有看到有卖菌子的。

中午回来欢欢炒了空心菜，然后我们煮了小瓜，还有昨天没吃完的鱼，继续炖了个汤，美好的午餐就完成了。

吃完午餐照例休息会儿就开始睡午觉，下午小欢欢就要走了，难过。

然后开始打游戏，证明自己，准备像飞哥一样把王者荣耀卸载了。

然后我们就开始去买菜，准备晚饭。欢欢说的想吃鱼了，我也有点想吃鱼，然后我们就去后面的菜市场去买了鱼。本来想买黑鱼的，但是没有卖的这一家。然后我们就买了草鱼，最小的草鱼都有 3 斤 6 两，13块钱 1 斤。

我们尝试把鱼刺剔除，我们把鱼分成了两份，一份用来煮酸菜鱼，另外一份用来炸。都非常的好吃，就是油炸的那份有点过于油腻了。

吃饭的时候我突然想起，我们两个基本上已经掌握了生活的基本技能，至少以后不会饿肚子了。

想着飞哥第一次来水城，叫小胖和姚律一起吃个饭。在外面吃饭太贵了，而且不太好好吃。就叫他们到出租屋里面来。

下午和飞哥去买了虾子和花甲，煮了米饭，早上妈妈给买了些排骨。地方实在是太狭小了，吃饭中途在酒小二上面点了两瓶酒，一直喝到半夜才结束。

Lately, I’ve been struggling with insomnia—thinking about my visa, about Xiaohuanhuan, about family, about friends. I just can’t seem to control my mind.

02:35 Got Up to Cook Instant Noodles

Couldn’t sleep at all, so I thought about taking a melatonin pill. But I could clearly feel my stomach growling, and after watching Wu Banbao’s video, I decided to get up and cook a pack of instant noodles. Eating a bit more might help me sleep better anyway. Took the pill afterward and got ready to sleep.

10:08 Went to Bank of China for Business

Worried that CSC might fail to re-export my documents, I woke up early and rushed to Bank of China to update my personal information. After that, I activated the card issued by my undergrad school and also applied for a new BOC Global Elite Mastercard in Canadian dollars.

After finishing at the bank, I went to the supermarket and bought some beef and other vegetables. When I saw the sweet corn, I remembered the huge corn Xiaohuanhuan and I ate in Baiyun District, so I grabbed three more.

When I got back, I emailed CSC to ask them to re-export my documents, but it doesn’t seem to have made much difference.

17:07 Tidied Up My Room

Having lived here for a few months, I realized this little nest of mine has gotten messier and messier. It was so messy I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I spent some time cleaning up today. It’s slightly better now.

17:21 Optimized Obsidian Layout

Using the Commander plugin, I integrated frequently used commands into the sidebar and status bar. Now, adding notes or translating articles is much more convenient.

22:40 Overate

First time trying to cook beef with jumbo shrimp—it turned out incredibly delicious, so much so that I couldn’t stop eating. But there’s still room for improvement: the beef should have been lightly stir-fried at low heat first instead of being tossed directly into the wok after sautéing the aromatics.

I also had a big bowl of rice in the afternoon…

My mom had breakfast with me, and afterward, I took her to the hospital for an ultrasound. The results were quite good—there was no further growth or enlargement. When we arrived at the doctor’s office, we could hear a patient arguing with the doctor, who was recommending surgery.

After the argument finally subsided, it was our turn. The doctor, despite knowing it was benign, still said, “If you’re the nervous type, you might as well remove the thyroid.” That’s clearly not something a doctor should say. No wonder the previous patient was arguing with her—she always seems to push for surgery.

She rambled on with an illogical explanation, leaving my mom confused. I quickly stepped in to clarify: “This is benign. What the doctor means is that we don’t need to do anything about it—just monitor it with regular check-ups. But if you’re going to worry every day about it growing or turning bad, causing constant anxiety, then it might be better to remove it.” That made things a bit clearer.

For conditions that might require surgery, it’s always best to consult multiple doctors. Some really don’t have the best medical ethics.

After returning home, I went to the supermarket to buy some eggs, vermicelli, and clams. I also stopped by the seafood street to get some oysters, planning to cook them and share them with my mom. Unfortunately, the quality this time wasn’t great, and they didn’t taste very good. As usual, my mom started criticizing everything, and I had to scold her again.

In the evening, I played a few rounds of games with Huanhuan and Xiaoxue. Then, as drowsiness set in, I got ready to hit the sack.

Yesterday, I scheduled a medical check-up for this morning to assess my health condition in advance and avoid any issues with the upcoming pre-employment physical. So I got up early this morning and quickly finished the check-up at the hospital. The main focus was on blood and urine-related indicators, which were conveniently covered by the free check-up offered by JD.com.

After the check-up, I was both thirsty and hungry, and since the free check-up didn’t include a breakfast voucher, I went to Kaihui convenient store across from the medical center and bought a bottle of water and a grilled sausage. Back at my place, I boiled an ear of corn my mom gave me yesterday. The corn lately hasn’t been very sweet—fruit corn seems to taste better.

After eating, I felt a bit drowsy, so I simply lay down in bed to sleep. There’s a contradictory feeling here: I want to sleep, but I’m also afraid of falling asleep because someone always seems to contact me while I’m asleep. Then I end up answering with a groggy voice, which I feel leaves a bad impression. This feeling is definitely not great, and if I don’t fall asleep, my mind starts wandering, leading me to pick up my phone.

In the afternoon, I stir-fried some dried tofu, which turned out quite tasty. Then I went out for a walk. When I reached Minghu Lake, I called my mom and asked if she wanted to come out for a stroll. She said she was downstairs and came to meet me.

Just as she found me, my sister-in-law called and asked her to take my little nephew back home. I could tell my mom really wanted to stay and walk around, but I quickly urged her to go back for dinner.

Today, I also played a couple of rounds of Honor of Kings. This game is really boring without friends. Then I saw that Dwarf Fortress was on sale, discounted by about 10 yuan. I thought about looking into it, and it was quite impressive. Developed over 20 years, it’s extremely challenging and seems fun, but it’s still a bit pricey—even after the discount, it’s 86 yuan, so it requires a bit of resolve. Although there’s a free version, the learning curve is quite steep, and I feel like I might not be able to get into it.

My mom also called me early in the morning, asking if I was coming over to pick up some rice. I hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet.

After getting up, I did laundry and took a shower. Then I lay in bed and finished reading Animal Farm—it was incredibly satirical and blunt. I bought the English original to keep at home, so I can read it again next time I’m back.

In the afternoon, I played video games for nearly an hour, mostly out of boredom and anxiety. Later, I went to see my mom. She gave me some meat and a few ears of corn. On my way back, I bought some waxberries and peaches, then stopped by the supermarket to pick up groceries. That should last me about a week.

I’m a bit worried that I might not pass the pre-employment physical exam, so I scheduled a check-up for tomorrow to see how things look first. The free health check-up from JD.com finally came in handy.

Today’s fried peanuts turned out perfectly—the heat control was just right. As soon as I smelled the aroma, I knew it was time to turn off the stove.

Timing for Scooping Out Peanuts

When just 3-5 peanuts start turning golden, immediately turn off the heat, move the pan, and scoop them out. Any delay of a few seconds in these steps will result in overcooking.

In the morning, I finished watching Wang Defeng’s lecture on The Great Learning. In the afternoon, I watched Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

In the evening, I watched Wang Defeng’s lecture on The Platform Sutra. Though I felt like I gained nothing, I came to understand the spiritual worlds of others and realized my own shallowness.

This morning, after getting up, I stir-fried some clams and saved some of them to make clam noodles with the leftover vermicelli from yesterday. The stir-fry turned out pretty good—I’ll definitely make it again in the future.

The quality of ingredients is the key to whether a dish tastes good or not. I looked it up online and learned that clams can simply be steamed with a bit of cilantro and sesame oil, and they’ll already be delicious. Next time I get fresh clams, I’ll give that a try.

In the afternoon, I sent Huanhuan home.

My eyes have been hurting a lot these past few days—I need to cut down on my phone time. I’ve noticed that looking at this phone for even a short while makes me feel really uncomfortable.

After a short nap in the afternoon, we went to the seafood street and bought some oysters (¥3 each, opened on the spot) and clams (¥7 per pound—the vendor even threw out the bad ones). It was quite a good deal. Then we headed to the supermarket to pick up some side ingredients and seasonings.

It was my first time cooking oysters myself, and they turned out incredibly delicious—especially the quality, which was completely different from the ones at barbecue restaurants. Last week, we had oysters at a restaurant, but they were very fishy and not tasty at all. The ones we made today were exceptionally fresh and sweet, truly delightful. The only downside was that the garlic wasn’t stir-fried beforehand, so the raw spiciness was a bit overpowering.

We couldn’t finish all the clams, so we saved them for tomorrow.

After finishing the review around noon, I took her to try some xiaoguojuan (a local rolled snack) and Yuan Kun’s mutton rice noodles. After that, she returned to Guiyang. On my way home, I bought some waxberries and, upon seeing a vendor selling bamboo shoots, picked up two as well.

For dinner, I tried making bamboo shoot rice—it was incredibly fragrant!

In the afternoon, I finally finished reviewing the second round of Teacher Zhengdao’s material analysis. Since I have an interview coming up in a few days, I asked Huanhuan to play the role of the interviewer to help me practice. This exercise revealed many issues: my speech was not smooth due to nervousness, and the nervousness stemmed from a lack of confidence in my own logical thinking. I could come up with ideas, but I wasn’t entirely sure about them, leading to hesitant descriptions, physical tension, and verbal stumbling.

I need to build more confidence—first, I must believe that what I say is correct. Only then can I convince others. Additionally, this practice highlighted many detailed problems, mainly in the following areas:

1. Speak clearly: Believe in yourself first, so others can believe in you. It’s helpful to provide appropriate examples.
2. Be people-oriented: This is the core and foundation of the entire process. Always remember where your authority and livelihood come from.
3. Stay grounded in reality: People want to feel understood and seen.
4. Accumulate professional terminology: This will help when dealing with more abstract questions.
5. When describing events, you can apply the STAR principle (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

From morning until noon, I had an online interview with the Energy Bureau. I had prepared my self-introduction for a long time, but as soon as it started, they went straight to asking me questions, which caught me off guard. It took me a full minute to regain my composure.

I feel like interviews require practice to handle various situations calmly. Still, it was a good experience for me because it highlighted areas where I need improvement.

After the interview, I wanted to lie in bed and rest for a while. Earlier, my dad had asked me to buy a phone for my mom. The delivery driver called around 2 p.m., and since it was a government-subsidized order, I had to go to the Finance Bureau to sign for it in person.

The Redmi Turbo 4 Pro actually feels more premium than my Xiaomi 15, and I ended up playing with it for way too long. I really shouldn’t have…

The carp I bought yesterday turned out terribly cooked, and I felt a bit guilty about it—I had specifically picked the liveliest fish at the store. The tofu from the supermarket was also awful, completely ruining my dish. I ended up separating them, barely managing to finish the fish, and then re-frying the tofu in oil to make it somewhat edible.

After dinner, I took the phone to my mom and spent about an hour setting it up for her before heading back.

It’s already 9:45 p.m. I watched a video by Bi Dao today, which talked about how our lives follow a logarithmic scale. The further we go, the faster time seems to pass. According to the calculations, by the time we’re 18, we’ve already lived half of our perceived lifetime.

Suddenly, I felt a bit panicked—life is already slipping away. How to truly experience and hold onto time might be a topic worth exploring.

I used too little oil for frying the chicken, so the meat didn’t dry out enough. I overlooked the saltiness of the fermented bean paste, which led to oversalting.

I accidentally set the rice cooker to “keep warm” instead of “cook,” so I took the opportunity to fry a potato and mix it in. I continued stir-frying the chicken over low heat, and by adding the potato, the spicy chicken dish turned into a dry pot chicken with potatoes.

The potato helped balance out the saltiness, so it turned out fairly successful.

18:34 Taking Notes Can Improve Focus

Clear and logical notes have a creative aspect to them, providing a certain level of positive feedback that helps enhance concentration.

Sometimes, impatience makes the process feel slow, but remember: slow is fast.

22:36 Learning to Use GeoGebra

Today, I had a need for drawing graphs. I had always used matplotlib before, but today I realized that for simple calculations and plotting, GeoGebra is incredibly convenient. No need to write extra code—just input the function directly.

22:40 Mom Feels Like She’s Good at Nothing

Mom came to Shuicheng to help my brother and sister-in-law take care of their child. Differences in opinions often arise over small things, like what the child should eat or whether they should wear more or less clothing. Mom has always been the type to endure in silence, and it seems she can’t assert any of her own opinions here. This has led her to feel unacknowledged. During the day, when the child’s parents are at work, she feels heartbroken seeing the child uncomfortable.

Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts often stem from these trivial matters, with one side usually feeling wronged. I believe people should be on equal footing. Mom isn’t just a machine that follows orders—she’s a woman with rich experience as an elder. I want to encourage her to fight for her right to speak, even if it leads to unpleasant consequences.

I want her to communicate with my brother and sister-in-law: their roles are the same—they are both caregivers and guardians of the baby. They should have equal authority and be able to make decisions based on their own judgment during their respective caregiving times. Others, when not in a position to supervise, should also trust the person currently responsible for caregiving.

After discussing it with Huanhuan, I realized communication is quite difficult, especially when people are biased or unwilling to engage. Facing the conflict head-on and standing up for one’s rights is actually the easier approach. Focus more on your own feelings and don’t fear conflict.

23:31 If It’s All Love, Why Does Conflict Arise?

My brother and sister-in-law’s love for Xiaoyu is real, and Mom’s love for Xiaoyu is real too. So why do conflicts arise when it comes to practical matters? The key lies in people’s biases and lack of trust in each other—both of which are foolish.

I believe raising a child isn’t all that difficult. Occasionally eating a little more or less, or wearing a little more or less, won’t affect the child’s growth.

On the contrary, the conflicts that arise from these disagreements may end up hurting the very people who should be close.

Last night, I spent some time tinkering with my phone again, but luckily, I went to bed relatively early.

Maintaining a slight sense of hunger and fatigue can help foster a more disciplined and proactive lifestyle.

11:49 Lemon + Cured Meat

Adding two slices of lemon when blanching cured meat can bring out a unique aroma while also reducing the oxidized taste of the meat.

The main reason eggs stick to the pan is that the pan and oil aren’t hot enough. On an induction stove, try to crack the egg closer to the center of the pan.

15:50 Considering Root Access from a Consumer’s Perspective

The purpose of rooting is to gain control over the system. I suddenly realized that the notification importance settings were missing. Upon closer inspection, I discovered it was because I had restored the native notification importance settings using Cemiuiler. My new phone isn’t rooted, so I couldn’t adjust the settings.

19:48 Tweaking the Equalizer on the Xiaomi 15

I noticed that the Xiaomi 15’s external speakers don’t sound as good as the Xiaomi 10’s—they’re particularly harsh and lack fullness. After checking online to see how others adjusted their equalizers, I learned a bit about the principles behind equalizer tuning. It improved slightly, but only by a tiny bit.

23:16 How to improve concentration

The inertia of laziness is still quite hard to overcome, which makes creating a conducive learning or working environment especially important. But how do you create one? Generally, there are four main influencing factors:

1. Establishing Rules. Setting rules helps maintain high focus. The most critical aspects are enforceability and unavoidable consequences—the former ensures practicality, while the latter serves as a negative feedback mechanism. For example, in libraries or classrooms, loud noise will draw disapproval from others, an unavoidable consequence that encourages focus in such spaces.
2. Group Effect. This leverages human psychology—people tend to mimic others to fit in. Additionally, people usually care about how others perceive them. To shape their image, individuals in groups consciously imitate productive behaviors. Combined with personal motivation, this makes people more focused in specific group settings.
3. Eliminating Distractions. By keeping potential distractions—whether objects or people—out of sight or reach, external interruptions are minimized, helping sustain focus.
4. Choosing the Right Task. The nature of the work or study material significantly impacts focus. For instance, we often concentrate intensely while gaming, competing, or watching TV shows. Tasks that provide immediate positive feedback are more likely to hold our attention, even to the point of addiction. Conversely, activities requiring long-term effort with unpredictable setbacks—like preparing for grad school or civil service exams—often trigger subconscious resistance, undermining focus.

In summary, maintaining focus while working alone on long-term, low-reward tasks is extremely challenging. Forcing yourself to concentrate might backfire. Instead, try creating enforceable personal rules with unavoidable consequences, joining online communities of like-minded individuals, and using tools like screen locks or Pomodoro timers. Overcoming subconscious resistance by adopting a broader perspective is key to improving focus—but this requires extensive exploration and practice.

After waking up in the morning, I played with my phone in bed for a while. Huanhuan suggested maybe getting up to study today, but I suddenly remembered that we had brought the game controllers back with us this time. A rare holiday is probably better spent relaxing.

We bought It Takes Two a long time ago but never finished it, so today was the perfect opportunity to continue playing. By noon, we were hungry but too lazy to cook. So we decided to go out and grab some food—fried spring rolls, sweet wine with eggs, and some zhajiang noodles.

After leaving the supermarket, we saw massage chairs by the roadside and thought about sitting down for a break. To our surprise, this annoying thing kept using a microphone to prompt us to pay. Out of curiosity, we spent 15 yuan for 20 minutes.

The massage didn’t feel comfortable at all, so we decided to try a real massage at a blind masseur’s place. This experience corrected a major misconception I had—blind people aren’t just people with their eyes closed. Their lives aren’t as clumsy as I imagined; instead, they are highly skilled. Whether grabbing things, walking, or making a living through massage, they demonstrate that they are complete, capable individuals.

For dinner, we planned to make clam vermicelli soup. We bought vermicelli, clams, shrimp, lemon, baby bok choy, and cilantro from the supermarket. Following a video tutorial while incorporating our own ideas and adapting to reality, we ended up with a dish that didn’t taste great at first. I thought, “Oh no, this is a disaster!” Haha. But after adding a bit more salt, it transformed completely—so delicious!

Oh, and the phone Huanhuan helped me buy arrived safely today. I even took some really nice photos of her, haha. But then I accidentally deleted them all while setting things up.

After dinner, we washed the dishes, took showers, and then went back to gaming. We didn’t go to bed until 1 a.m.

Today, my second uncle, second aunt, fourth aunt, fourth uncle, youngest aunt, and even Huanhuan are all planning to come to my house for a visit.

I remember bringing a bag of wheat gluten powder home earlier and have been thinking about improving my homemade gluten skewers. Taking advantage of my parents going out to buy food for the afternoon and evening, I poured out half the bag of wheat gluten powder to give it another try.

Noon

When the relatives arrived at noon, little Huanhuan came too. I drove fourth uncle’s car, taking Manman and Ningning to pick up Huanhuan. The streets were so crowded that I couldn’t find a single parking spot, so I had no choice but to turn back and park in the parking lot.

Right next to the parking lot was a supermarket, so I decided to take Manman and Ningning shopping. And that’s where the nightmare began. After Manman and Ningning took forever to finally pick out what they wanted, it was time to check out. Manman cheerfully said, “My uncle will pay for me!” Like an idiot, I replied, “So how are you going to repay me?” What I actually had in mind was tricking Manman into helping me grill the gluten skewers later.

Unexpectedly, Manman got angry right away. She ran over, put the items back, and started crying. Nothing I said worked. Thankfully, I’ve dealt with situations like this before, though I was still a bit flustered. I said everything I could think of, then decided to just stand by and wait for her emotions to settle on their own. Meanwhile, Huanhuan was patiently comforting and coaxing her the whole time. Ningning, on the other hand, stayed very calm—she didn’t join the tantrum, didn’t say anything, and didn’t run around, just waited quietly beside us.

After about thirty or forty minutes, when Manman realized this wasn’t getting her anywhere, she started asking for Huanhuan to hold her. Seeing this, I figured things were okay now, so I handed her the stuff I’d just bought and went to get the car. Manman took the things from me, and that was that. In a way, Manman gave Huanhuan a little lesson too.

Evening

In the evening, I saw some mulberry leaves and suddenly remembered a video I’d watched about frying them. So I took the kids to pick some leaves, then made a batter with eggs, flour, and salt to fry them. Personally, I found them a bit greasy—probably because the batter wasn’t prepared well and absorbed too much oil—but everyone else thought they were delicious, and we finished every last piece.

After dinner, Huanhuan and I took Manman and Ningning for a walk before sunset. The laughter along the way and the feeling of being close to nature were wonderful.

When we got back, I prepared to grill my gluten skewers. I gathered whatever ingredients we had at home and made a simple version of chili oil. Using a portable gas canister, I lit the remaining charcoal and started grilling slowly. This time, the gluten skewers were a hit with everyone, and even I thought they tasted great—much better than the deep-fried version I’d made before.

Night

My dad, mom, and sister all have birthdays in late March. After finishing the grilled gluten skewers, I asked Manman to bring over the cake Huanhuan had ordered from Shenggu Cake. Manman made three birthday cake hats for them, and I handed the cake-cutting knife to Dad. It was his first time cutting a cake, and he didn’t seem awkward at all—it was perfect.

Everyone chatted away, each person happy in their own way. Today was a truly wonderful day.

Earlier, she mentioned she wanted to eat crayfish. In the morning, while she went to the competition, I went to Jiahui Supermarket and bought 3.6 jin (approx. 1.8 kg) of crayfish. On the way back, I saw an uncle selling local strawberries and bought some as well.

I’ve never cooked crayfish completely on my own before, but it didn’t seem too difficult. However, handling the crayfish was a bit troublesome. When I bought them, I specifically picked live ones, but processing them felt somewhat cruel.

The crayfish turned out quite tasty, though toward the end, the flavor became too intense, making it a bit hard to enjoy.

Tip

Once the crayfish are braised to the desired taste, they should be removed promptly to prevent the flavor from becoming too strong.

Haha, currently teaching Xiaohuanhuan about Git and GitHub.

10:16 Teaching Xiaohuanhuan markdown syntax

Haha, she seemed quite amazed and curious. But it’s indeed very useful—taking just a few minutes to learn it is definitely worth it.

Noon

At noon, we fried mushrooms again. Using only potato starch didn’t taste very good. The potato starch was sticky, and after frying, it turned out quite tough. The texture wasn’t great, so we can improve on that later.

Nap

When the two of us are together, we just get so sleepy—once we fall asleep, we don’t want to get up at all.
After 3 PM, we took the leftover mushrooms to share with my brother and his family. Then, Xiaohuanhuan and I strolled along the Shuicheng River and admired the cherry blossoms by the riverside.

My hair was greasy and messy, so I could only take some sloppy, unflattering photos. In the future, I’ll have to specifically train Xiaohuanhuan in managing her expressions, haha.

Return

After seeing Xiaohuanhuan off on the bus, I took the K1 route back. It was 1 yuan more expensive, but there were far fewer people. Definitely worth it in this scorching summer heat.

Then I went to get a 15-yuan haircut, which turned out quite satisfying, and the barber was very nice. Since lunch was a bit greasy, I didn’t feel like eating much, so I bought some jelly noodles and cold skin noodles, along with 5-yuan crispy beans. Back home, I mixed them together myself, and it tasted pretty good.

Started tinkering with code again—sometimes it’s hard to resist the temptation. Especially when I see someone else’s great implementation or when a novel idea suddenly pops into my head.

10:14 Ported the Chat Bubble Shortcode

Inspired by Some Hugo Shortcodes | Naive Koala, the effect is as follows:

From now on, meaningful conversations can be preserved in this format, like the one I had with Manman before: Is Our Earth Real?

10:55 Hidden Posts

Some draft-like posts that won’t be edited later, so I added a hidden attribute to the site to hide them. Unlike the draft attribute, these posts will still be rendered and accessible via direct links. Reference: Hugo | Adding Hidden Posts Functionality to the Cactus Theme | Little Flying Fish.

12:19 Introduced Heti

Heti (hè tí) is an open-source project for enhancing Chinese typography, making page layouts more aesthetically pleasing. Project address: Heti - A Simple and Minimalist Web Chinese Typography Enhancement

13:14 CSC Has Reached the Review Stage at the China Scholarship Council

Suddenly realized I hadn’t checked the CSC application status in a while—it had been stuck at “Pending Acceptance by the Unit.” Just logged in and saw that the provincial education department has approved it, and now it’s under review by the China Scholarship Council.

One step closer to a successful application. Feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness.

14:18 Why Can’t I Keep Things to Myself?

Couldn’t fall asleep. Kept worrying about my passport still being at my former workplace—it might become an issue.

15:51 Tidied Up the Room

Living alone really makes me lazy. Huanhuan is coming over this afternoon, so I cleaned up the room a bit—it looks slightly more presentable now.

17:24 Eyes Feeling Sore

Synced recent diary entries to a notebook.
Tried adding an info stats page inspired by Big Little Snail, but rendering took too long, so I gave up.

Time to read for a while.

19:36 2024 Guizhou Provincial Exam Results Are Out

Saw the results on WeChat—they’re out. I applied for the Guiyang Disabled Persons’ Federation position, and this score basically means no chance for an interview.

23:35 Happiness

For the past four days, I’ve been guiding my mom around the main streets of Shuicheng. Today, to help her practice exploring the city on her own, I asked her to walk along Gongyuan Road to find me. She successfully followed the path and made it to me. We took a short stroll, and she got to know the surrounding streets a little better.

After dropping my mom off, I walked along the Shuicheng River to pick up Huanhuan.
Winter is truly over—the cherry blossoms along the riverbank are in full bloom, clustered in thick bunches. Crowds of people gathered beneath them: girls in all kinds of dresses, middle-aged men and women, elderly folks, and children. Shuicheng is coming alive again.

After meeting Huanhuan, we walked the cherry blossom-lined path once more. It had been a long time since we were alone together, and we both felt relaxed and at ease. The only downside was that I’d walked too much—my lower back was aching terribly.

We took a taxi back from Minghu Road and cooked a bowl of Buldak ramen with crayfish flavor, along with some leftover vegetarian dishes from the morning. It was absolutely delicious—everything was just perfect, even the chilled broth from the vegetables.

It’s time to sleep again. Need to go to bed early, or else I won’t be able to fall asleep.

Submitted all the code I wrote today.

10:34 Swelling and Pain Around My Eyes

Not sure if it’s because I slept face down, but this morning I woke up with a painful swelling around my eyes. Nothing seems to help—lying still in bed, applying a cold towel, sitting in meditation, or even DIY remedies—nothing works.

Might as well get up and take a shower. Even if I’m uncomfortable, life has to go on.

Tip

I learned that mom also feels dizzy at the middle of last night and this morning, so I guess that this may be food poisoning.
I rarely get dizzy.

11:17 Still a Headache

Did some coding, but now it’s not just my eyes—I feel terrible all over.

Warning

From now on, focus more on content creation and output, and open VSCode less!

16:05 Cooking

Today I’m making a stew with minced meat, potatoes, and tea tree mushrooms. Sounds absolutely delicious!
It’s already simmering. By evening, I’ll just add some veggies, and it’ll be ready to eat.

18:02 Headache Finally Eases Up

Did some more coding—added a heatmap to the About page. Realized that shortcodes can achieve endless functionalities, and treating them merely as div containers isn’t ideal for website development. So, I refactored the shortcodes for frequently used websites and blog links, separating data from the page structure for easier maintenance.

22:18 Back from a Walk with Mom

Lately, my exercise routine has been excessive—walking five or six kilometers every day. It’s a bit much for me, but Mom seems to enjoy it, probably because she gets bored at home.

My patience always wears thin when I’m with my parents—not sure if that’s good or bad. Maybe I should encourage them more instead of feeling impatient.

Got home and immediately felt hungry. Even though I’d already eaten dinner (and hadn’t even cleared the dishes yet), I had another meal. Eating made me feel much better.

23:13 Writing a Diary

After resting for a while, I got up to complete my diary entry and then submitted today’s code changes.

Continuing from the previous diary entry, a few days ago, I received a training assignment for an adult education program (upgrading from college to university)…

21:17 Arrived Guiyang

After arriving in Guiyang, I didn’t want the teacher who was supposed to meet me to stay up too late, so I quickly hailed a ride to the training location—behind the West Campus of Guizhou University.

22:01 Reach the training institution positioning point

But when I got out of the car, they told me it wasn’t the right spot and that I still had to walk a bit further. At this point, I started feeling a bit uneasy—about 1% discomfort.

Then, I added another teacher, Ms. Wu, on WeChat. Carrying my heavy suitcase, I followed her directions and met her after about five minutes. Ms. Wu gave me a meal card and a blanket, told me to go upstairs by myself, and said the room number was 1805.

I took the elevator up to the 18th floor—this was the last time I’d go up.

22:20 Start to scramble

When I reached 1805, I saw two students smoking in the dorm (discomfort level: 10%). I greeted them and prepared to settle in, tidy up my bed, and start preparing for class.

After one of the students left, the remaining one came over to chat with me. He mentioned that he snores heavily at night and had moved out of his previous dorm because of it. Oh no! I’m an extremely light sleeper, and I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time. I was really hoping to sleep well tonight so I’d have energy for class the next day. So, I started messaging Ms. Wu and Ms. Zhang, asking if they could switch me to another room (discomfort level: 50%).

Aside from snoring, talking a lot, and smoking, this guy was actually really nice—kind and helpful. I didn’t dislike him; I was just worried I wouldn’t sleep at all. Meanwhile, I noticed teachers in the hallway trying to coordinate a room change. It was already 10 p.m., and I knew it might not be easy, so I mentally prepared myself.

Sure enough, no room was available. They asked me to tough it out for the night, and I replied, “Alright then” (discomfort level now at 60%).

Since it was late, Huanhuan and I brushed our teeth together. I went to the bathroom (to pee) and found the toilet was clogged (discomfort level: 65%).

After complaining a bit, I started preparing for class. I figured I should be thorough since the new textbooks hadn’t arrived yet.

Since it was material I’d studied before, I quickly reviewed it with my own book and got a general idea of how to teach the next day. Feeling drowsy, I decided to sleep.

Around 1 a.m., I took a melatonin pill, turned off my phone, and tried to sleep. As usual, I couldn’t fall asleep, though I didn’t have any obsessive thoughts. But I knew if I stayed up all night, I wouldn’t be able to teach the next day.

03:17 Decide to back

Sweet dreams didn’t come—but the snoring did. Around 2 a.m., my roommate fell asleep, and the snoring began, relentless and powerful, just as he’d described. I tried forcing myself to get used to it, but it was no use. By 3:30 a.m. (discomfort level: 100%), I decided I couldn’t handle this assignment anymore. I didn’t care about the pay or anything else—I just wanted to sleep. So, I sent them a message saying they should find someone else.

I quickly got up, packed my laptop and other belongings, and quietly left the room and the building. Downstairs, I couldn’t find an exit. I ran into a boy and a girl in shorts taking out the trash and asked them. They said it seemed locked.

No way—I had to get out! So, I took the stairs down to the basement. I could see the street outside, but it was blocked by a metal fence. After looking around, I noticed a section where the wall extended about 10 cm beyond the fence, and there was a small gap. I figured I could climb over.

Without hesitation, I lifted my suitcase over my head, pushed it outside, and stood it up. Then, carefully gripping the wall, I hoisted myself up with a push from my butt. The ledge was too narrow for me to pivot or jump, so after some awkward shuffling, I stepped onto my unsteady suitcase and wobbled my way down.

Then, I hailed a ride to go somewhere else. I thought about going to a massage parlor for a few hours but worried Huanhuan might overthink it.

Next, I considered a internet café, but when I got there, it was too noisy, so I left without going in.

03:49 Good night

A light rain fell indifferently as I stood there for a moment. Eventually, I booked a place to stay. After lying awake for a while, I listened to Flowers for Algernon and finally fell asleep. I don’t know when I drifted off, but I was later woken up by the same audiobook—I hadn’t set a timer or turned it off, so it suddenly started playing again around 6 a.m.

I muted my phone and went back to sleep…

After 9 a.m., I replied to their messages, saying I’d already left Guiyang. I also offered to ask my juniors if they’d take the assignment, but they were too busy with graduation stuff. Oh well.

09:38 Wake up and go back

I got up quickly, washed up, and took a cab to the train station. I bought a ticket for 11 a.m. and just made it. At the station convenience store, I grabbed a cup of instant noodles—breakfast and lunch sorted.

The train was nearly empty, so everyone could sprawl across multiple seats. I just lay down.

I got off the train at 3 p.m., feeling utterly exhausted. I ignored all the offers for lodging, taxis, and food nearby and headed straight for the bus stop, taking the bus back to Huayudong.

After getting off the bus, I saw a lamb noodle shop. My brother had said it was good, but then I remembered I hadn’t earned a single cent these past two days and had already spent over 300 yuan. I couldn’t bring myself to splurge.

So, I decided to go home and cook noodles instead. Maybe because I was hungry, I ate a sausage raw, fried another sausage and two eggs, boiled some noodles and potato skins, and had a delicious meal while on the phone with Huanhuan.

19:10 Hang out with mom

I rested for about an hour. As dusk fell, I called my mom and asked if she wanted to go for a walk. She’d just come to Shuicheng from our hometown and wasn’t familiar with the area, so I thought I’d show her around. We walked from Minghu Market along the Shuicheng River all the way to People’s Square, stopping to buy two ice cream cones along the way. Mom said she’d seen on TikTok that people with thyroid nodules shouldn’t eat them, but I told her not to worry—it’s just sugar and water, and she shouldn’t believe everything online. Reluctantly, she started eating, and I taught her to lick from the edges so it wouldn’t melt and drip on her hands.

In the end, she said the cone was pretty tasty.

Then I walked back on my own, and just like that, the day came to an end.

Naturally, waking up this morning felt exhausting, and I had zero desire to get out of bed. Yet, my biological clock rudely dragged me awake early anyway.

The main reason for the insomnia is my irregular sleep schedule. Deviating from my usual bedtime often leads to sleeplessness. Both the night before last and last night were like this. So far, I’ve found two effective solutions:

1. Indulge my desires to exhaustion: By physically tiring myself out, I can trigger hormone release that helps me fall asleep faster.
2. Don’t even try to sleep: Instead, learn something new—especially by listening to lectures, like math or English. The more attentively I listen, the quicker I drift off. The catch? As a lazy person, forcing myself to study is tough. It takes practice.

11:34 Cooking Lunch and Taking a Shower

Stir-fried some cabbage, fried two eggs, and tossed in yesterday’s leftover fried potatoes and sausages. Mixed it all with rice in the pan, along with the boiled veggies from yesterday—delicious!

Showering is such a refreshing experience. It washes away the grimy aura that seems to cling to us after waking up, leaving me feeling clear-headed and revitalized.

12:08 Explaining Tuihēng

In the Whale group chat, someone mentioned Xiao Kun drinking, and I described him with the term tuihēng. It dawned on me that others don’t usually use this word—it’s probably a local dialect. Here’s my definition:

Note

Tuī Hēng
To put it vividly: When someone is unwilling, reluctant, or afraid to face a situation or person, they bury their head in their belly button or armpit. If someone calls their name or nudges them, they respond with vague grunts or deflect the topic, hoping the moment will just pass.

12:55 Finished Debugging Code

Fixed the rating display to show the day of the week when no rating is set. Debugging is always a hassle, especially when I’m unfamiliar with the code. The most effective approach? Stay calm and methodically log outputs to diagnose the issue.

17:52 Getting Ready to Head Out

After finishing a set of exam papers, having dinner, and washing the dishes, I set off for the train station. I’ll get to see little Huanhuan soon.

My habits have been quite poor lately—I often find myself mindlessly picking up my phone to scroll through videos on Bilibili or Douyin. This behavior wastes a lot of time and significantly harms both my eye health and my normal routine. I need to be more mindful. I believe this is achievable because I didn’t used to have this habit, and I’ve also realized that most of the time I spend watching these videos, I’m not even happy.

I need to cultivate awareness!

15:34 Finished Reviewing Mistakes

Sometimes I wonder whether recording these trivial daily details and mundane accounts is meaningless. But then I think again—these words are all traces of my existence, no matter how small or ordinary. Without them, I wouldn’t even remember what I did last Monday, what happened to me, or what emotional journey I went through. Perhaps one day, all of this will become my precious treasure, even if only I think so.

17:33 Played 3 Rounds of Plants vs. Zombies Hybrid Edition—Quite Stress-Relieving

Feeling a bit physically tired.

21:03 Back from a Walk

Sleep is the most important thing in life. Eating is too, but when you’re hungry, you can’t help but eat.

Today, I said to Huanhuan:

I was thinking—if we don’t have children in the future, what could replace the role of a child and become as strong a bond, something we’d strive for our entire lives?

I think shared ideals, building a career together, or pursuing interests could work.
Jeapo

Coincidentally, I came across an article titled Advice: Cultivate an “Output-Oriented” Hobby as Early as Possible, which further strengthened my thoughts.

22:35 Finished a Comprehensive Aptitude Test

Compared to the essay section, this really is just about copying from the material. The answers are all in the text—you just need to find them and reorganize them in the required format.

22:46 Added a rating Attribute

I added a rating attribute to my diary template to evaluate the importance and significance of each day. Unlike mood, sadness, pain, or happiness won’t affect the score—it’s solely meant to highlight the insights and reflections I’ve gained.

The rating ranges from 0 to 5, with rough numbers to avoid overthinking when filling it out. The rating is converted into icons before the day of the week—the higher the score, the darker the shading.

In short, growth earns a high score.

00:46 Finally Finished Debugging

Now I can use this data to analyze my long-term state. The later it gets, the more energetic I feel. Time to sleep.

Just finished debugging the code. There are always so many things to do in my own room—thinking about folding laundry, taking out the trash, what to eat for lunch… Before I knew it, a lot of time was wasted on these little tasks.

21:41 Finished a Vocational Aptitude Test

Scored in the top 35%. It was okay—still plenty of room for improvement.

This afternoon, I completed a set of “Comprehensive Application Ability” exercises, then cooked some rice and went grocery shopping in my pajama pants. Bought a lot of stuff: strawberries, choy sum, cabbage, tofu, and pork belly. Originally planned to make it last two days, but I got greedy and wanted to eat everything. Ended up not being able to finish it all by myself, so I called my brother over to share the meal.

My brother had to work overtime at noon and didn’t come over until 1 PM. I ate two bowls of rice at lunch and then three more bowls in the evening. Cooking for myself is terrifying—I always end up eating too much.

I was sluggish in the morning, fiddling with this and that, and before I knew it, the morning was gone. The printer keeps acting up a little—I’ll send it back and try a replacement.

Today, I worked through a set of practice tests. The Administrative Aptitude Test was manageable, but I still need more practice with summarization and synthesis for the Comprehensive Application Ability section. I should also familiarize myself with the basic formats of various writing styles. Tomorrow, I’ll tackle a few more test papers specifically to sharpen those skills.

I called home today to ask Mom how things were going. She said the land has been leased out, the cows have been sold, and the pigs are still a bit underpriced. Then my sister took Mom’s phone to talk to me—Ningning and Manman were as cheerful as ever. I noticed tears welling up in my sister’s eyes but didn’t press her about it at the time. Only after hanging up did I realize why. So, I wrote her a letter (letter_20250325201618.en), hoping it might bring her some comfort.

This noon, I stir-fried some Chinese toon, but it wasn’t particularly tasty. Instead, the toon aroma filled the entire room. After stir-frying it again, it turned out somewhat better.