Preface#
This article is a record and reflection of life from 2024-10-14 to 2024-10-20.
This week I returned to Hangzhou from Chiang Mai, but I was busy with project releases for the entire week. After several ups and downs, I felt somewhat exhausted, so I put off recording anything. Seeing Dayu's article "Bloggers, I want to interview you with these 9 questions!" made me want to say a lot, and it wasn't until tonight that I thought about writing a blog post to respond, like a pen pal conversation across the distance.
Answering Dayu's 9 Questions#
01. Briefly introduce yourself or your blog#
My blog is called "Pseudoyu," named after my own nickname, which is a word I created based on the "Yu" in my name. There is a more detailed introduction on my "About" page:
I took a prefix "pseudo," where pseudonym means "pen name, alias," and pseudocode, commonly used in programming, means "fake code." In the beloved Japanese anime Monogatari Series - Pseudomonogatari, there is also much exploration of "real things" and "fake things." So why can't there be a pseudo Yu (me)?
Initially, I really wanted to be a serious tech blogger, recording my experiences with tools and efficiency. Gradually, due to a series of tutorials on setting up blogs and related services, I attracted a group of readers. In the end, I seemed to be best known as a "weekly report blogger." It was a coincidence, but it turned out well, allowing me to convey some warmth to everyone across the internet.
Even though I now have quite a few reader friends, the significance of the blog to me is still more like a private space for thoughts and emotions. When I'm not in a good state, the writing can also be quite gloomy, and sometimes I don't update for a long time. During important stages of life, past writings often give me warmth and courage.
02. What prompted you to start blogging?#
I studied liberal arts in high school (maybe there are no divisions now?), and I was once involved in a literary club and had dreams of being a writer. I was more accustomed to expressing myself through words than other means. I had previously written for a personal WeChat account or submitted to various platforms. After gaining more understanding of technology, I built my first blog using WordPress. Later, I felt that my previous writings were quite immature, so I rebuilt the blog using Hugo and bought this domain, which I still use today.
This blog was actually started during my graduate studies when I published my notes as blog posts for easier review and sharing. I later wrote some technical tutorials and shared experiences with efficiency software, but overall it was sporadic. It wasn't until more than two years ago that I decided to document my life again with words and started writing weekly reports, and before I knew it, I've already written over seventy issues.
If I had to mention a prompt, I recalled a phrase I wrote in a notebook I bought recently in Chiang Mai:
When you read, you are reading the writer's words
But when you write, you are reading your soul
03. How do you complete your writing?#
For me, writing is indeed something that is not hard to start, but it takes courage to decide to sit down and write.
For technical articles, inspiration or motivation strikes, and even if it's late at night, I will get up to finish writing, often writing until dawn. Most of the weekly reports, except for a few travel compilations, often involve setting a deadline for myself and then writing it all in the last few hours, usually without prior planning or accumulation. I just sit down in front of the computer and write it all at once. As long as I have something to say, choosing words and constructing sentences does not become a barrier.
My overall writing style is quite rough; I read through it a few times after finishing and then publish it directly. In the two days before publication, I will repeatedly review it, modifying some small details, and then continue to the next cycle.
In terms of tools, I use VS Code to write markdown, CleanShot X for screenshots, and I have my own solution for images, "Building Your Free Image Hosting System from Scratch (Cloudflare R2 + WebP Cloud + PicGo)" to upload to Cloudflare R2 and optimize with WebP Cloud. The cover image is edited using Figma to create a custom template. After writing, I upload it to the repository and automatically publish it.
04. Have you ever lost motivation while running your blog? If so, what helped you recover? If not, how do you maintain your passion for writing?#
My blog has intermittent periods of inactivity, but usually not because I've lost motivation to run it, but rather because I've lost enthusiasm and the ability to engage with life or have a dialogue with myself. Fortunately, I have many weekly reports, year-end summaries, and birthday reflections. I often reread these writings during such times and find that what I once thought was important or unimportant, happy or sad, seems to have faded with time. The "me" within those writings has gradually become braver.
Rather than maintaining a passion for writing, it's more accurate to say that the words of my past often redeem my present self. I often think that perhaps a careless sentence now might become a light for my future self. I also frequently read comments on my blog, where many heartfelt words motivate me to continue creating.
Of course, there are times when I doubt the value of what I've written. I still refer to a previous statement from my blog to answer:
Even I, an ordinary person, often hesitate about whether my "daily accounts" have value to present to everyone. Until recently, I happened to see a video on Bilibili titled "What is Beautiful Color? After Five Years of Filming, What Have I Become?," which discusses color grading. One sentence deeply moved me:
When I first pointed the camera at myself, I realized that filming could be so enjoyable and pressure-free. At that moment, I discovered that what I envied before was not the image itself, but the romantic and passionate life behind it. This is the meaning of my love for tinkering; I want to show you the world through my eyes, and the most beautiful colors on my screen are the base colors of my life.
This perfectly describes my mindset when writing weekly reports now.
05. How to set up a blog, and what is the annual financial investment required to operate it?#
(Setting up a blog is my specialty 🤣. I feel like I spend half my time writing blogs and half my time researching how to set up blogs.)
You can refer to this article — "In 2024, What Changes Have Happened to My Blog."
The domain itself costs $10.44 per year, the Lite Plan of WebP Cloud is $3 per month, and other services are either free or have negligible costs on serverless platforms, so there isn't much expense.
06. Recommend one article from your blog and one blog you enjoy reading, and discuss why.#
One of my favorite articles in the past year is — "A Confession at 27: Growing Up is a Disappointing Thing." Although it's my own writing, rereading it multiple times still stirs my emotions. It marks the first time in these years, whether in terms of experience or writing ability, that I truly feel I've managed to depict what I wanted to express with words in a concrete shape.
A blog I really enjoy reading is "Salted Bean Paste." Reading her words sometimes feels like experiencing another kind of life, and at times, I find myself unknowingly engaging in deep thought. It's hard to describe; it's not a trap of words, but rather the magic emanating from genuinely interesting souls.
07. Recommend one recent favorite thing? (For example, a book, movie, music, tool, or software.)#
Recently, I've been tinkering with a Pixelbook Go Chromebook that Google has discontinued. It's a very light and interesting device. What I'm doing is trying to make this device meet most of my work needs without meeting them too well.
I actually have many high-performance devices, such as my daily-use M2 Max MacBook Pro, which achieves a great balance between performance and battery life. This allows me to easily open it and enter work mode even when I'm out, and I sometimes carry it while hiking or walking. However, I can't always relax when I'm out or accompany those around me, but I also have "computer separation anxiety." When it's not nearby, I always worry about urgent matters that need handling, which makes me anxious.
This Chromebook is a perfect solution. It has a full-fledged Chrome, Debian, and Android system. Its performance is not strong, but it's lightweight and good-looking. It can handle all browser-dependent work perfectly. It does lag a bit when debugging project code, but it's usable. While alleviating my anxiety, it also adds a step of consideration: is it really urgent enough that I need to complete it right now, even if it requires more effort to debug? In most cases, I choose to wait until I'm home to handle it on my main device.
This is quite interesting; in fact, the device's performance has become so surplus that it doesn't restrict my efficiency. Instead, I need intentional constraints to shift my focus more towards my surroundings.
08. What do you want to do but haven't done yet, or what themes do you want to try but haven't tried?#
I want to shoot lifestyle vlogs and some videos on tool efficiency. I actually don't lack content or expression; I just lack the motivation to start.
09. Write here, close your eyes, take a deep breath for a few minutes, or go for a walk, then come back and write anything you want.#
Every time I delay updating my weekly report, I feel a lot of psychological pressure. I will continue to find my writing state with this article. Thank you, Dayu. I hope I can update more regularly.
About RSS and Information Acquisition#
Recently, I've been writing code for RSSHub and have had some interesting feelings.
A few days ago, I looked at an Issue sent to me by DIYgod to solve the Bilibili scraping problem. I saw the complex risk control encryption algorithms of Bilibili and the developers' countermeasures, which felt like a duel between the two sides. I modified the code based on some logic in it, and it worked for a while, but today I saw it failed again 😶🌫️. Today, I found that I couldn't scrape data from my Mastodon instance in my Follow list anymore; it was still working a few days ago. After local debugging, I discovered a 401 Request not signed error during scraping. After analyzing the Header content and debugging for a long time, I finally realized that the admin of that instance had added some permission restrictions for non-logged-in users. Many other platforms are similar.
It feels like when making web data sources into RSS feeds, I often end up doing a lot of "useless work." An afternoon or even several days of results can easily be wasted due to slight changes in platform policies. The struggle against platform anti-scraping measures seems to be endless.
On a larger scale, it's about Open Information; on a smaller scale, I just want to have the right to choose the information I want to see. It seems that in today's centralized mainstream, a lot of extra effort is required.
Work-Life Snapshot#
This week, I had to release a major version in my work project. After several ups and downs, I was entangled in the daze after staying up late and the discomfort from just having two wisdom teeth removed.
At the moment I finished the release early this morning, I felt a literal sense of "enlightenment," reminiscent of the feeling I had a week ago when I woke up early to wait for and see the sunrise on Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai.
Interesting Things and Objects#
Inputs#
Although most interesting inputs are automatically synced in the "Yu's Life" Telegram channel, I still selected a portion to list here, making it feel more like a newsletter. I also built a microblog using Telegram Channel messages as content sources — "daily.pseudoyu.com," which makes browsing more convenient.