pseudoyu

Preface#

Today is the last day of 2022, as mentioned in the previous weekly report:

There will be an annual summary, covering various events of the year, what was lost, what was gained, what I am grateful for, and the inevitable regrets. Although I hesitated about whether to mention some things again, I decided to face it more honestly. After all, everything has an expiration date, including canned pineapples, this year too. It is these joys and sorrows that made up my 2022 and formed a more complete version of myself.

I set the flag for the year-end summary early on, intending to spend a few days refining it, but (not surprisingly) procrastinated until the afternoon of the 31st.

During my gap year in 2019, I often had to travel for work, flying over thirty times in more than half a year. When the schedule was tight, I would sometimes wake up on a plane and feel disoriented for a few seconds, not knowing which city I was in or what I was doing. Most of this year's life was spent in my small room, yet I had the same feeling.

It seems that since graduating from university, many unexpected things happen every year, and some events can easily change one's life. Perhaps this is also the interesting part of life.

Maybe because my desire to share found a place in the people around me, I felt that life was already beautiful and self-sufficient in the previous years, so I didn't regard New Year's Eve as a significant milestone. However, this year, I wanted to record something, perhaps I have reached an age where I need to use words to combat forgetfulness. When I started writing the review, I realized that the past year was remarkably a turning point in various aspects of my life.

Although I couldn't return for the graduation ceremony, I received my graduation certificate and international student certification from HKU in January, officially leaving school; I also applied for a position change at the beginning of January, starting my first job in blockchain development; in April, my first project as a technical lead was successfully delivered; in May, I broke up; in June, I picked up my long-abandoned blog again, started writing weekly reports, and began using Twitter to document daily life; in July, I returned home and re-experienced some sense of belonging; in October, I regained my spirits and adopted a cat, a lovely silver tabby, which brightened my life considerably; in December, due to the pandemic, I spent time at home with "Nie Nie" and started working on some side projects, getting a bit closer to my dream of independent development.

It seems that this year I transitioned through many identities and experienced many changes in mindset, from the confusion of starting a new job to the lowest point in life, and then to regaining my spirits and making changes. Looking back from this point, I am surprised at how much can happen in just a few months. If I had to set a theme for this year, I would choose 'Change'.

People to Thank#

There are many people I am grateful for in this year's life.

Thank you to Tianzai for accompanying me through the most confused and anxious times in the first half of the year. Even if we couldn't continue together, I hope you can always be well; although we are in three different places, Ni and Zhan listened to my confessions during many late nights, shared my sadness, and my later reflections on life and relationships stemmed from their push; although Xiaoyu and I often disappear from each other's lives, it seems that we can chat all night with just a phone call, and every conversation rekindles my expectations for life. They also supported and witnessed the budding and outcome of a relationship, and I hope they continue to find happiness; my parents' daily care always warms my heart, and chatting with my sister Xuanxuan brings me much joy; every time I return to Hangzhou, I look forward to reuniting with my middle school homeroom teacher, Brother Chun. It seems that this mode of friendship over the years allows me to feel the stillness of time (although he always curiously asks about my romantic experiences and scolds me for being a bad boyfriend).

My daily interactions with Ledi and our somewhat literary discussions made me feel like I was back in college, and we strategized for each other's "relationships," even though they all ended in tragedy; Senior Xiaoyu and Xu Chong accompanied me for drinks during my lowest emotional moments, and of course, I gradually realized that alcohol couldn't solve problems, so I quit; the concern from Xiaoyu, Caomuhui, Jingru, and my disciples made me feel that I still deserve some friends; Senior Boyi's lifestyle made me believe that work and life can really be balanced, and I appreciate the times she hosted me for meals, making me feel that Beijing isn't so lonely; and many, many more.

I am grateful for everyone's companionship and kindness this year, and I hope that in the days to come, we can all be safe and happy, treated gently by life.

Relationships and Rebuilding Life#

In the days after the breakup, I spent a few months slowing down, carefully experiencing and feeling life itself, trying to regain the bits and pieces I lost while moving forward in confusion.

Starting from the article "A Confession at 25: A Bouquet-like Love," which I wrote with great emotional ups and downs but later seemed somewhat extravagant in retrospect, I reflected on "Emotions, Security, and Living Seriously," attempting to find back my "Health, Goals, and the Rhythm of Life."

Taking advantage of a short holiday after a project ended, I returned to Hangzhou and contemplated "Family Ties and Sense of Belonging to a City." Occasionally, emotions would surge due to the traces of the past being quietly erased. When I discovered the past life and connections in "404 Not Found," I also began planning to adopt another cat to have something to look forward to.

Inspired by a book from Murakami, I started reflecting on my "Personality and the Essence of Life," and after a few sleepless nights chatting with old friends, I recalled even more distant memories, reflecting on "The Past, Regrets, and the Present."

During an unexpected business trip to Qingdao, I designed an "Unexpected Journey" for myself, experiencing beauty during the trip and reconciling with some of my inner obsessions. During the National Day holiday, due to sudden emotional fluctuations, my recently improving life took a noticeable downturn, and I went through a difficult time, "Putting Life and Self on Hold."

I increasingly realized the weight of accumulated emotions, so shortly after returning to Beijing, I visited a cat shelter. After finding a good match, I adopted a lovely silver tabby that week, and resumed living a life of "Him and His Cat."

The days spent with my cat were quiet and beautiful, and I felt the "Companionship and Another Kind of Life," slowly starting to pick up my phone and camera again to casually document some beautiful moments in life. I never imagined that a cat could bring such a significant change to my life, just as I "Picked Up Life Again," and on Christmas night, I watched "Love Actually | Love Actually" and rethought love and life.

I am somewhat fortunate that I decided to start recording everything in the form of weekly reports. In reviewing, I could string together the fragmented thoughts and feelings I recorded over the past six months, seeing my changes and the flow of life. I don't know what feelings the new year will bring or how things will change, but I will continue to document these fragments of my growth.

Personality and Change#

Last night, I suddenly thought that I hadn't done a personality test in a long time, and I might have changed quite a bit, so I took one. I remember that I was an ENTJ in college, then briefly became an INTJ, but after going through various experiences in the past year or two, I am now an INFJ, which surprised me.

Perhaps it is because I have turned more of my self-exploration inward, focusing on "Introspection Rather Than Seeking Externally," and my weekly reports have also leaned more towards inner thoughts and emotions, making my introversion and tendency to prioritize feelings increasingly apparent.

I used to be someone who excessively pursued self-fulfillment and was sometimes rational to the point of being cold, giving only polite concern for others' lives, even for those closest to me, often prioritizing myself. This may have helped me when moving forward alone, but life is complex and fluid, and relationships between people are often not just one-sided compromises. It's a simple truth, yet difficult to practice when immersed in it.

The Three Biggest Changes#

I often see people summarizing their changes at the end of the year, and I also want to list three items. These are not major events after deep contemplation, just some memorable moments upon reflection. Of course, I have mentioned quite a bit above, so I won't elaborate too much on relationships.

Raising Nie Nie#

"Nie Nie" is my cat, and we have been together for two months since I brought her home on October 30.

Raising a cat alone is quite a challenge for me (after all, I can really go two or three days without eating or sleeping while immersed in my own world in front of the computer, living a very rough life), and I hesitated a lot, but the moment I saw her, I almost made up my mind.

Everything seemed to start from scratch, and these two months have changed me a lot. I hope to continue living healthily in the new year.

The Christmas outfit was delayed due to shipping issues, so I haven't posted it yet. Tomorrow I will update a set of photos from the "Cat In the Box" series. If you only want to see Nie Nie, you can exit now.

Using Double Pinyin Input Method#

Since I started using computers in elementary school, I have been using the Pinyin input method (full Pinyin), which is the common 9-grid and 26-key type, a habit maintained for over a decade. In May, I suddenly wanted to make a change. It wasn't purely about improving typing speed; I just wanted to try and see how difficult it is to change a habit that has become second nature (this person never mentions relationships, yet they are always present).

Double Pinyin is a different keyboard layout where typing any character only requires pressing two keys (initial + final). So, there were many adjustments at first. Although I memorized the key positions in just one afternoon, it took about half a month to switch habits, and I wanted to revert many times. However, after the initial pain, it turned out to be not that difficult.

Right? It really isn't that hard.

Changed Hair Color#

I rarely have photos of myself, and I only realized after taking this one that the mirror was so dirty that it didn't need to be blurred.

Although this isn't a significant change, I don't often try such things. In July, I changed my hair color to green, and after it faded, I changed it to blue in October. The latter made me feel more like an anime nerd, fulfilling a bit of my two-dimensional dream, but since my hair is still healthy, I can still experiment. For now, I will keep the blue color.

It's also a way to change my mood.

Learning, Input, and Output#

Work#

This year, I had less contact with my leader, Tao, on projects, but his thoughts and attitudes towards technology still deeply influenced me. I probably improved my Go development skills significantly through various projects, and I also gained a solid foundation in Docker, Kubernetes, and various CI/CD processes, along with doing quite a bit of exploration on my own.

I systematically learned some knowledge about Solidity smart contract development and published a related introductory series tutorial - "Blockchain Introduction Guide." In the second half of the year, I also worked on contract development and tasks related to chain interaction, making it a happy and growth-filled year overall.

Although the work atmosphere and methods have become quite free, I often feel some exhaustion from work. I am considering some forms of remote work in Web3 or new opportunities, and I might return to Hong Kong. The new year may also be suitable for some changes.

Technology#

Outside of work, I also did some fun explorations, unlocking some basic skills in front-end development, allowing me to combine my existing tech stack to create small projects and tools. In the future, I can add "a backend developer who can dabble in front-end" to my introduction, or shamelessly add a pseudo full-stack label.

It's not that learning front-end technology itself is particularly exciting, but it allows me to independently create some of my products and better solve problems, bringing me closer to my original intention of doing technology.

I learned the basics of Rust but haven't used it in practice yet. I hope to make progress in the new year; however, the planned LeetCode algorithm practice has been set aside, which will be a key focus for the new year, although it's indeed hard to stick to.

In the GoCN translation team, I contributed nearly 10 articles and participated in two books, handling various CI/CD tasks. I also joined the English translation team for SlowMist's "Blockchain Dark Forest Self-Rescue Manual," making a small contribution to Web3.

Language#

This year, I focused a lot on improving my English listening, reading, and writing skills, making some progress. I can watch English tutorials and podcasts at 1.5x speed, binge-watch "Silicon Valley" without subtitles, and handle some technical translations and writing quite smoothly. However, my speaking skills are still lacking, and coupled with infrequent practice, it's a relatively weak area for me. Improving without an English-speaking environment relies heavily on willpower.

The planned review of Japanese (which is basically equivalent to previewing) has also been shelved, and I will start tracking my learning progress in the weekly reports in the new year.

I only reviewed some basic vocabulary and phrases in German. I wish I had been more serious when learning a second language back then, now I really regret it, so I won't set a flag for this, just go with the flow.

Reading and Media#

To synchronize with my Telegram channel, I started using Douban to record some of my reading, media, and gaming this year. Since part of the media was supplementary tagging, the data isn't very reliable, so I won't include it.

In the second half of this year, I read quite a few books, mostly during commutes and lunch breaks. I didn't deliberately pursue a specific quantity, but while organizing, I suddenly realized that I had read over 30 books, feeling that I was slowly regaining some of the mindset and joy of reading and writing. My favorite author is Maugham, who has a line in one of his essays that says, "Reading is a portable refuge." I deeply resonate with this; in books, one can see many different worlds and lives, which is wonderful.

I also watched quite a few shows, with various movies, series, and anime totaling over 100. I tried to engage with them seriously. I guess my persona as a Douban literati is now firmly established, as I received a Douban movie calendar and a film screening calendar from two friends. In the coming year, I will continue to watch more.

Wanting to document these traces, I also started adding my thoughts after finishing books and media on Douban. I feel that this way makes me more attentive while watching, and although they are all short reviews, I have unknowingly accumulated 8,932 words.

Year-End Data#

Perhaps influenced by her, my previously casual and disorganized self seems to want to present some small growth in a data-driven way this year.

Revived Blog#

I started writing public accounts and blog posts a long time ago, but based on my previous update frequency and content, it was hard to call it an independent blog. Starting from a post in May titled "It's 2022, Let's Talk About Why I'm Still Writing a Blog," I revived my blog, updating 48 posts this year, although almost all were in the second half of the year, but rounding up, I posted weekly. Among them, the weekly reports and some emotionally related articles were roughly half and half with technical and productivity-related articles, aligning well with my positioning for content output and sharing desire, a good start.

With the continuous updates of my blog posts, I gained some reader attention. Since mid-June, I set up a data statistics system through Umami, and with more dedicated output each month, the monthly page views (PV) have reached over 12k, and the monthly unique visitors (UV) have also reached over 4k, maintaining a good growth trend. I can see that my output has gained some recognition, and I often smile when I see notifications like "Currently online: 5 people" when I open the statistics page late at night.

I often receive some thank-you or encouraging comments, and unknowingly, I have accumulated many pages. I am very grateful for these heartfelt messages and comments from strangers, and I am happy that my words can change or inspire some people. I also appreciate that in this era when blogging is declining, they are still willing to "waste" some of their time to convey their thoughts to me in this way, even if it's just a simple blessing or thank you. I have selected some to share at the end of this article, hoping to have your company in the coming year.

Twitter#

Perhaps because I gradually got used to the blog as a means of external output, or perhaps because my desire to share had nowhere to go with the changes in life, I activated my Twitter account in the middle of the year. Initially, I just wanted it to be like a private Weibo, and at first, I only posted some late-night emotions.

Later, as I shared my weekly reports and chatted with friends like STRRL, Homura, Manjusaka, Xinyi, and Xuanwo, I felt their friendliness and began to share more of my daily life. Unknowingly, I posted 514 tweets (this person talks quite a bit) and gained over 600 followers, surprisingly connecting with tech bloggers like yihong and GeekPlux who were once only on my admiration list, occasionally having some interesting interactions.

Thank you to these friends for not minding me.

Telegram Channel#

In a previous weekly report titled "Weekly Report #12 - Cyberspace, Self-Definition, and Boundaries," I mentioned setting up my own Telegram channel to synchronize my various Twitter posts, comments, likes, etc. Initially, it was just an archive for myself to find materials for my weekly reports, but unknowingly, I now have 251 subscribers. I have also received some thanks from them for my channel, which is surprising to see that some things I did unintentionally have created value for others. I will continue to output.

GitHub#

I only started using GitHub properly in the middle of the year. In 2022, I made 1.1k code commits, contributed 36 PRs to 12 projects, and gained 260 followers. The happiest moment was when I made some optimizations and added features to a Hugo theme project I had used for several years. After communicating with the developer, my contributions were merged into the main branch, giving me a wonderful sense of participation. Perhaps this is the charm of open source.

My toolbox project "GitHub - yu-tools" also received over 400 stars (please don't scold me, it's a markdown project). Along with some blockchain-related projects I worked on, my total stars finally broke 500, which made me quite happy. In the new year, I plan to write a website for this toolbox project to showcase more tools and usage experiences.

Minority#

Minority is a platform I have been following for several years, featuring many quality articles on productivity tools. I didn't expect to become a resident author there. This year, I wrote 12 articles (including a few that were moved from my blog), totaling 38,660 words, receiving 7 recommendations, including 4 on the homepage, 1 for members only, and a total reading volume of over 200,000, gaining around 150 followers and several thousand in 稿费. In the new year, I will continue to produce some articles, and the cat food cans are already in the works (to support my cat, I have truly become a working warrior). I am very grateful to the editor of Minority, "Beishao," who is very patient and friendly, and I learned some double Pinyin input method tips from him.

Conclusion#

In 2022, I experienced a lot, and even with these records and data, I still feel somewhat surreal when reflecting on it.

The new year is about to begin, and I wish my future self in 2023 happiness.

Appendix#

Blog Comment Showcase#