Preface#
This article is a record and reflection of my life from 2024-03-25 to 2024-03-31.
The happiest thing this week was meeting Randy. I successfully became a fan and had a great conversation with him. I woke up at around 5 am for four to five days in a row to go to the driving school for practical training, so as not to affect my work. It was painful, but I passed the second driving test on the first try, which was worth it. I continued with my fitness exercises, and my overall physical condition is still good. I am also preparing to move back to Hangzhou after the holiday, which means I can participate in "Crazy Thursday" more often. There were also many interesting things.
Meeting Randy#
I remember reading an article before that said if you like an article, an open-source project, or anything, don't hesitate to express your gratitude and thoughts. Just a few words may greatly encourage the author. So, I really like and cherish the opportunity to communicate face-to-face with people on the other side of the screen.
A long time ago, I saw Randy's tweet on Twitter saying that he was coming to Beijing and invited people to have coffee with him. I regretted not being in Hangzhou when he came to Liangzhu Yuni Collection for "Crazy Thursday" last time. But when I had the opportunity to meet my idol face-to-face, I hesitated. I felt both the nervousness of meeting for the first time and the worry that I wouldn't have much to talk about and would waste his time.
I first learned about Randy around 2021. In his article "Self-hosted, Free, Open-source Comment System Solution" on Frost, he mentioned the following sentence:
Finally, I would like to recommend the author's blog, which has high-quality content and is very thought-provoking.
At that time, I was just starting out in the tech field and didn't know any developers. I didn't have a specific concept of open-source either. I was just curious about the person behind this niche and high-quality comment system, so I clicked on the link.
Unknowingly, I read all of his articles. I can say that he met all my expectations for the group of programmers I was about to become at that time.
He had technical ideals and creativity. He could use technology to do what he wanted without being limited by technology. He had his own insights and pursuits in life, and he had more interests and hobbies beyond code. He was willing to share his thoughts, and his writing was sincere and infectious. He didn't conform to worldly standards and so-called halo. He dropped out of college and left a big company.
At that time, I had not yet graduated from Hong Kong and was about to start job hunting and interviews. I had expectations and confusion about the upcoming career in technology. I was worried about whether I could continue on this unknown path and whether I would lose my creativity and enthusiasm for technology under heavy work. I can say that he showed me the future I wanted to become and the possibilities. He made me truly start to think about the essence of open-source, sharing, and creation.
Afterwards, I used his Cusdis comment system and participated in some small development tasks when he recruited the v2 team. It was the first time I had private conversations and received code reviews and guidance. I followed his video to build my own personal project/knowledge management system using Logseq. I also got to experience and report some small bugs when he released notepal and epubkit. And now, I finally gathered the courage to meet him.
Before meeting, I wanted to choose a gift to express my gratitude for his inspiration and help along the way. In the end, I chose a Lego version of the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter and a book called "Reading is a Portable Refuge" by Maugham.
For me, who had just stepped into the "magic" world of coding, there were countless unknowns and choices ahead. And he, like the Sorting Hat, allowed me to listen to my inner voice and firmly choose my own path.
We had a great conversation for over three hours when we met. I was surprised and delighted to hear that he often reads my weekly reports. I learned about his life after leaving Microsoft and his thoughts. He consulted me about work planning and career direction, and we exchanged ideas about independent blogs, front-end learning, and self-media. We excitedly planned some interesting things and much more.
Three years ago, when I first clicked on Randy's blog homepage, I would never have thought that one day I would be able to have a face-to-face conversation with him in a coffee shop in Beijing. Besides the joy of successfully becoming a fan, I also felt the ups and downs and changes I have gone through along the way. Everything seems to be worth it.
Taking the Second Driving Test#
When I was a senior in college, I learned to drive at a driving school near my university and passed the second driving test. However, due to various reasons such as graduation, going to study in Hong Kong, and the pandemic, I kept postponing it until it expired. The unpleasant experience of practicing driving under the scorching sun made me lack enthusiasm for learning to drive and even have some resistance. It wasn't until this year that I made up my mind to start again.
After passing the first driving test before the Chinese New Year, I started practicing driving in mid-March. I registered for the second driving test on Thursday morning. After four sessions of VR simulation training, I woke up at around 5 am for three consecutive days to take the shuttle bus to the driving school for practical training. The pain of waking up early and the unpredictable positions made me extremely anxious on Wednesday. With a "go with the flow" mentality, I took the test early in the morning, but I passed with a perfect score on the first try. I'm happy!!! It has been over two years since I graduated, and I finally regained the pressure and sense of achievement that comes with an "exam" when taking a driver's license test.
However, due to practicing driving in the morning, working in the afternoon, and the devilish arrangement of having to wake up early the next day, it was difficult to manage my input and output this week. I hope I can pass the third driving test smoothly next week!
Interesting Things and Items#
Input#
Although most interesting inputs are automatically synchronized in the "Yu's Life" Telegram channel, I will list some of them here. It feels more like a newsletter.
Books#
- The Red and the Black: I saw a video explaining the description of Julien's self-esteem and the arrogance that comes with it. I'm currently reading it.
- Camus' Diary: Just started reading.
Collections#
Articles#
Videos#
- study vlog #49 | More Desire to Learn as Overtime Increases | Programmer's Learning Routine After Work | Must Record Life More | English Learning | Finished Reading "365 Days of Mindfulness Meditation" | Some Random Thoughts
- Let's Start Over at the End of the World!
TV Series#
- The Three-Body Problem Season 1: I'm not an original fan of the Three-Body Problem. I didn't have many complaints about the domestic version produced by Tencent when I watched it before. However, I still had high expectations for the Netflix version. I finished watching it in a few days as soon as it came out. Overall, the visuals, plot, and pacing were decent, but I didn't see any highlights. It's a qualified adaptation that makes people look forward to the second season.
Music#
- Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence by Ryuichi Sakamoto