Preface#
This article is a record and reflection of my life from February 1st to February 6th, 2023.
It was my first week back at work. Since I had been doing some work during the Chinese New Year, I didn't have much trouble adjusting to the work rhythm. However, I often couldn't do my own things freely, and suddenly felt that time was running out.
I started reviewing Japanese and was pleasantly surprised to find that I still remembered a lot. I watched some new dramas over the weekend and went to the cinema for the first time in a year. I finally received the long-awaited Steam Deck and configured it. On Monday, I started trying to feed Nie Nie chicken wings (it is said to be good for fur), and she seems to have a good appetite and is not picky. After half a year, I finally organized the kitchen again and started cooking for myself. I have been sticking to it for three days. On Monday, I went out to eat Okonomiyaki, which I had been craving for a long time. There were many other interesting things as well.
Japanese Learning#
Because I plan to go to Japan, I made a resolution to review Japanese at the beginning of the year. The last time I studied was about six or seven years ago, but fortunately, I haven't forgotten the hiragana and some basic grammar. It didn't take me too long to pick it up again, but because I had the pressure of certification this time, I studied it seriously.
Course Resources#
I have been watching Mr. Yezi's "New Standard Japanese Elementary" on Hujiang Online School. It is a relatively classic textbook, and there are official recorded lessons on Bilibili.
Recently, I saw a thread about Japanese learning by a blogger named Yellow on Twitter. He uses "Japanese for Everyone" and also mentioned the accompanying YouTube tutorials. He is a teacher who teaches Japanese in Taiwan and I find it very interesting, so I want to give it a try.
Supplementary Materials#
For vocabulary and grammar learning, I remembered that when I was a freshman, I used to listen to a podcast channel on my way to class every day to memorize some grammar points. It was very effective (mainly because the voice was so nice).
Because I am used to the learning mode of books + courses, I didn't look for other supplementary resources in the early stage. I plan to lay a solid foundation first.
Input Method#
After solving the problem of learning materials, the next step is the input method. I use the native input method on iOS, so I won't bother with it.
On my daily macOS, I use the Rime input method because I need to use double pinyin. I have deleted the system's native ABC input method according to this article:
So I didn't want to add another native input method because of the Japanese input method. I found a Japanese tuning scheme suitable for Rime, and it works great so far:
Here is the effect:
But there is a problem. After using double pinyin for a long time, sometimes I accidentally use double pinyin when typing in Roman letters, and I am still trying to adapt...
Interesting Things and Objects#
Steam Deck#
The happiest thing this week was receiving the Steam Deck from my dear friend. Although it was actually delivered in December, it was not convenient to ship to Hong Kong, so I didn't receive it until after the New Year. It is much bigger than I imagined, but not heavy at all, and it feels very comfortable.
Although I bought a lot of Switch games like a squirrel, I rarely play them myself. It has always been difficult for me to consider gaming as a truly relaxing form of entertainment. Even after so many years, Ni has been urging me to play games, but with the switch to Mac, I rarely even open Steam. This time, I finally have no excuse for not having a device, haha. I plan to regularly experience some classic games in the future.
By the way, the exclusive skin that came with the Steam Deck is cool.
Recommendations#
Articles#
Although some interesting articles are automatically synchronized in the Telegram channel, I still want to list some of them here. It feels more like a newsletter.
- Summary of January 2023 Online Reading · Tianxianzi
- Introduction to Nostr | Gasolin
- Chatting about Nostr and Censorship | CoolShell
- DApp Building Guide —— 02 Requirement and Business Analysis - Caos
- Thoughts on Building an Image Hosting Service
- Video Game Economies
- Learn In Public
- My Story as a Logseq Contributor | pengx17
Podcasts#
Because I had fewer commutes this week, I didn't listen to many podcasts. The one that left a deep impression was:
Videos#
Similarly, I also want to list some interesting videos I watched:
Books#
- The End of the World and a Cold Paradise, currently reading. It's been a long time since I felt this kind of anticipation from a novel. Maybe it's because of the narrative style, or because I read a few short chapters on the way every time, it always makes me wonder what will happen next, but I don't want to rush through and miss the beautiful writing. The setting of this "another space" reminds me of an old but equally interesting game called "Fata Morgana no Yakata".
TV Shows#
- The Last Survivor, I have heard about the game for a long time, and recently the TV series came out. I watched the first two episodes and it's pretty good. I will continue to follow it.
- The Three-Body Problem, I started watching the TV series because I was disappointed with the animation. Surprisingly, it's very good, and I really like Yu Hewei. The pace of the series is a bit slow, and the parts about the Three-Body game are sometimes hard to endure, but overall, it's worth watching. I'm also looking forward to the Netflix version.
- Kuang Biao, in recent years, I haven't watched many new dramas of this genre except for "The Fog Theater", but because there was so much discussion about it, I watched it. It turned out to be quite surprising. Even though there are some compromises in terms of political correctness, it is still bold. The portrayal of ordinary people is also well done, but the ending is a bit abstract. I still recommend "The Silent Truth" in the same genre.
Movies#
- Deep Sea, I heard some not-so-good reviews, but maybe because it was the first time I went to the cinema in half a year, there was a certain mood enhancement, and I thought it was pretty good. It's a little girl's dream, a fairy tale world like "Spirited Away," with a slightly exaggerated performance and suitable background music (except for the little white boat, which reminded me of "The Bad Kids"). At least, it's good to see Chinese animated movies exploring smaller and more delicate perspectives, rather than just various myths and legends.
Personal Life Highlights#
Life#
This week felt magical and passed by. I took three days off after the New Year. On the first day back to work, I came back early because I was worried about Nie Nie, and I bought a mobile camera. On the third day, there was a fire in the building where my company is located, so I went home early. On the fourth day, the project manager and the tester went skiing and hot spring bathing, so I stayed at home. I worked for two days in total, but I still completed my work.
Although there were no casualties in the fire, it was quite scary because it happened in the city center. However, it was at times like this that I realized that everyone around me, from family to friends, had a bit of a comedic side.
Our office building caught fire at noon🔥, and there was thick smoke everywhere. Nine fire trucks came.
Project Manager Sister: I risked my life to bring your computer down (remember to work overtime when you go back).
My family: Fortunately, the computer was brought down.Isn't the computer my true self? 🙃
On Sunday night, a friend happened to be watching a movie near my house and invited me to join. Instead of choosing the popular "The Wandering Earth 2" or "Manjianghong," we watched "Deep Sea." It was only when I entered the cinema that I realized it had been a long time since I watched a movie offline. It really had a certain mood enhancement. I will try to go to the cinema more often.
On Monday night, I finally ate Okonomiyaki, which I had been craving for months.
The reason was that when I was watching "Silent Snow," I saw them eating various things, especially Okonomiyaki on an iron plate, which looked very appetizing. I even complained to my friend:
But because of my workaholic physique, I haven't been able to go out due to the pandemic until now. I finally let go and enjoyed eating, drinking, and having fun.
"Hey, Okonomiyaki?"
Finally, I had Okonomiyaki that I had been craving for a long time because of a scene in a Japanese drama. The combination of Monday for the workaholic and draft beer is perfect!
Thanks to my friend, who is a professional translator, I was able to avoid the pitiful moment of drinking two glasses of draft beer alone. My happy time of playing in Beijing has increased again.
Nie Nie#
Through the Lens#
Because I couldn't find Nie Nie in the camera and was worried, I bought a mobile surveillance robot. While debugging, I accidentally took several photos and found them very cute. I feel much more at ease now that I have a camera.
Nie Nie's MBTI#
This week, I had a very interesting discussion with a friend. I was asked what personality I think Nie Nie has, a question I had never thought about but found very interesting.
This is a very interesting proposition because Nie Nie can't take the test herself, and the personality we see in her is often based on observations from daily interactions and the shaping of our own desires. To some extent, it may also reflect our various concepts. It's a novel perspective, and I haven't had such a relaxed and thought-provoking conversation with a friend for a long time. I cherish it.