告诉老师们我的机票行程，想着走之前请老师们吃个饭。老师们纷纷表示他们来安排就好。

时间差不多就来到了八点，和小欢欢分别，我和欢欢爸爸去买排烟管，一直折腾到早上十点半才弄好，算是勉强能用。

然后欢欢爸爸送我来坐车，我们还加了微信。还是那个美女司机，还是一样的晕车。

中午直接回住的地方了，准备休息一下。

18:12 来到哥哥家

爸爸今天来水城了，一直想叫我来吃饭。我并不想来，不喜欢这种带熟不熟的社交。

来了之后发现也还好，吃完饭，妈妈洗好碗。带他们去人民广场逛了逛。

虽然言语不多，但是能够明显感觉到挺好的。

Yesterday, I only added the attributes but didn’t have time to implement them. Today, I spent some time making it work and also optimized the style and layout.

09:52 Drew Number 27 for the Interview

For the interview at the Energy Bureau, I drew number 27. Being at the very end is quite annoying.

10:13 Studying After a Shower

On the Himalaya App, there’s a program called National Centre for the Performing Arts | Listening to Classical Music. The host prepares each episode exceptionally well, even expanding on some stories and knowledge. It’s much better than randomly listening to songs or radio programs—no weird lyrics to make me feel agitated. It also allows me to appreciate the variations in music, preventing me from getting tired of the same genre too quickly.

19:45 Repairing an Old Phone

I managed to fix the broken phone at home earlier, but the back cover was still damaged. So, I bought a replacement online.

It’s been quite a saga—I initially bought the wrong model and had to exchange it, and it just arrived today. After carefully cleaning off the residual adhesive and attaching the new back cover, I noticed it didn’t fit perfectly. I lightly tapped the edges that were sticking up, and… the newly replaced back cover shattered. Ugh. I ended up covering the broken part with a sticker to prevent glass shards from falling out.

21:36 Reflecting on Today

This afternoon, I tested whether the interview setup was working properly. After finishing the test, I went to the supermarket to buy groceries.

Every time I go to the supermarket, I end up buying way too much food. Tonight, I planned to eat glass noodles, so I bought some. Huanhuan mentioned they had fish for lunch, so I bought a fish too. When I got home, I realized there was still some sliced cured meat from the day before yesterday that needed to be cooked soon. As a result, I now have more food than I can finish.

This seems to clash with my fasting day plan. Oh well, I’ll figure it out later.

I stayed up very late last night. While washing up, I noticed a thin layer of water stains on the counter where I placed the basin. I propped up my Xiaomi 15 against the basin to make a video call. Then I saw the water stains seeping into the phone through the case, so I quickly grabbed it, shook it off, and moved it elsewhere.

A while later, I noticed the speaker was distorting—oddly, it was the top speaker. Ever since I got this phone, I’d felt the top speaker’s sound quality was subpar, but I never expected it to start distorting outright. I began searching forums and communities for similar issues and found that this wasn’t an isolated case. The speakers clearly have a problem. Strangely, water stains entering the charging port or audio jack could actually affect the distortion in the other speaker. Later, I used a hairdryer to blow air into the bottom speaker grille for a while, and the distortion improved somewhat.

Though this is a minor issue, given the phone’s price, I don’t think such problems should exist. It made me consider returning or exchanging it. I kept browsing the community for possible solutions and before I knew it, it was already 2 a.m.

15:10 Heading Out

Went to Hongguo to find Huanhuan.

While waiting for the bus at noon, I got hungry and casually ate a bowl of beef noodles by the roadside. As a result, I wasn’t very hungry when we arrived in Shuicheng and had little appetite.

During this trip home, I noticed an old broken phone that my sister used to have. I also observed that Manman and Ningning would become very eager to use phones when they had no playmates. So, I thought of taking this broken phone with me to see if I could fix it.

After picking up the package (parts for repairing the phone) and returning to our accommodation, I immediately started working on the phone. Thinking I hadn’t fixed it, I reassembled it casually, only to find that the battery was slowly charging. Now I have another backup phone to bring home next time. I also asked Huanhuan:

Question

Are phones more harmful or beneficial for kids?

Huanhuan said they’re more harmful, and I agreed. But it seems there aren’t many beneficial alternatives.

In the evening, neither of us felt like eating. After browsing on our phones for a while, we decided we wanted either boiled dishes (清水烫) or sour soup fish (酸汤鱼). We took a taxi to Fenghuang Mountain, only to find it closed. So, we started walking around while looking for food. Eventually, we found a sour soup fish place near People’s Square—it was incredibly cheap, just 29.9 yuan for two people. Though the fish seemed like it had been soaked in water, the vegetables were quite tasty.

17:39 Finished reading Flowers for Algernon

Yesterday, I read about two-thirds of the book and wrote a letter to Huanhuan: Seeing True Love Is a Difficult Thing.

But after finishing the book, I had more thoughts. I pondered the differences between the same person named Charlie at an IQ of 185 versus 68. I reflected on how society overlooks individual lives and existence, from small things like the purpose of brain surgery to larger issues like various experiments, policies, and wars in society. This world is full of selfish people, and harm caused by selfishness is everywhere. On different scales, each of us could be a victim like Charlie, or we might inadvertently become perpetrators.

As for love, it seems like an elusive thing. Was the love between Charlie and Alice real and eternal? Clearly not. Love requires conditions and capability; otherwise, Charlie wouldn’t have pushed Alice away as he rapidly deteriorated. But perhaps choosing not to love is also a deeper form of love.

And what about Fay? Couldn’t the connection between her and Charlie be called love? Fay saw the charming qualities in Charlie and harbored no ill intentions. Her departure was only because Charlie wanted her to leave. Could it be that the foolish Charlie always adored Alice, while Fay was the partner the intelligent Charlie chose and desired? To answer this, perhaps we need to reverse the question and define precisely what is not love.

19:46 After dinner

I love potatoes stir-fried until golden, with a bit of salt and chili, paired with freshly steamed hot rice and a pot of vegetables. Delicious.

There are too many slapdash operations. Suddenly, many institutions and official sources announced the release of provincial exam rankings, and everyone thought they were really out—but they weren’t. Is it so hard to release the results, or does someone have other ideas?

22:17 Back from a walk with Mom

After dinner today, I called Mom again, and she still wanted to come out for a walk to get familiar with the route. I was feeling particularly lazy, so I called Mom and asked her to come find me along Xiangyang Road, giving her a chance to get more familiar with the area.

Tomorrow, I need to focus on practicing some questions—I have an exam to take this weekend.

Fix

Additionally, a few days ago, I noticed that the back cover of my phone was cracked, so I ordered a new one from Taobao. It arrived today. I couldn’t wait to pick it up from the delivery station. After using a hairdryer to soften the adhesive and cleaning off the residual glue, I replaced it with the new back cover. The result is relatively perfect, though not an absolutely seamless fit.