Beijing

0:00-7:00 Sleeping, getting up, washing up, drinking coffee 7:00-8:00 Puzzle hunt (launch!) 8:00-9:00 Puzzle hunt 9:00-10:00 Puzzle hunt 10:00-11:00 Puzzle hunt 11:00-12:00 Puzzle hunt, eating lunch 12:00-13:00 Eating lunch, watching Kuuga 13:00-14:00 Puzzle hunt, buying a cake for David 14:00-15:00 Art History 15:00-16:00 Art History 16:00-17:00 Art History, puzzle hunt 17:00-18:00 Art History, performing magic (and then the accident happened), sharing the cake 18:00-19:00 Going out to buy chicken, returning home, eating dinner 19:00-20:00 Eating dinner, puzzle hunt 20:00-21:00 Puzzle hunt 21:00-22:00 Puzzle hunt 22:00-23:00 Solving Ji’s puzzles, puzzle hunt, washing up 23:00-24:00 Puzzle hunt (why is it cryptic?!), watching Kuuga Magic is fun. Magic going wrong while you are performing it is not fun (sad). ...

0:00-8:00 Sleeping 8:00-9:00 Getting up, washing up, downloading videos, making coffee, eating toast, calling a classmate to wake him up 9:00-10:00 Morning reading (2 Peter 3), clearing my desk, playing a little MC 10:00-11:00 Playing a little MC 11:00-12:00 Playing a little MC 12:00-13:00 Playing a little MC (can we still call this “a little”?! Hey!) 13:00-14:00 Watching Kuuga, eating roast chicken 14:00-15:00 Rushing to basketball 15:00-16:00 Playing basketball 16:00-17:00 Playing basketball, celebrating a classmate’s birthday 17:00-18:00 Rushing to PKU for a magic lecture, writing my diary, listening to an audiobook 18:00-19:00 Magic lecture 19:00-20:00 Magic lecture 20:00-21:00 Magic lecture, geocaching at PKU 21:00-22:00 Geocaching at PKU, catching the metro home 22:00-23:00 Solving Ji’s puzzles (another double first solve, hooray!), washing up, sleeping 23:00-24:00 Sleeping Honestly, magic is fascinating! And I really got to see all that for free? ...

0:00-8:00 Watching videos, buying milk, sleeping 8:00-9:00 Waking up, washing up, making coffee, checking in on websites, reading PH materials, calling classmate 9:00-10:00 Morning reading (2 Peter 2), preparing backpack 10:00-11:00 Playing MC for a bit 11:00-12:00 Playing MC for a bit 12:00-13:00 Playing MC for a bit, picking up packages, heading to bookstore 13:00-14:00 Cataloging books 14:00-15:00 Cataloging books, watching videos, playing MC for a bit 15:00-16:00 Playing MC for a bit, helping Dad contact the airport to find earphones 16:00-17:00 Playing MC for a bit, catching up on cataloging books 17:00-18:00 Playing MC for a bit, making dinner 18:00-19:00 Eating dinner, picking up packages 19:00-20:00 Rushing to the airport, listening to an audiobook, upgrading JD.com membership 20:00-21:00 Rushing to the airport, listening to an audiobook, retrieving earphones from lost and found, solving Ji’s puzzles (Double first-blood again, hooray!) 21:00-22:00 Rushing home, video chatting with Mom, writing diaries 22:00-23:00 Playing MC for a bit 23:00-24:00 Playing MC for a bit, washing up, sleeping The moment the message arrived, I raced to the airport for my earphones. Much easier than solving a puzzle… ...

0:00-8:00 Sleeping 8:00-9:00 Waking up, reserving PKU campus entry, writing diaries, washing up, making coffee, calling classmate 9:00-10:00 Morning reading (2 Peter 1), roasting mutton, preparing backpack 10:00-11:00 Eating lunch, heading to the bookstore, recording books 11:00-12:00 Recording books 12:00-13:00 Recording books 13:00-14:00 Resting, rushing to play basketball 14:00-15:00 Playing basketball 15:00-16:00 Playing basketball 16:00-17:00 Playing basketball, listening to classmate’s 5-minute share 17:00-18:00 Rushing back to the bookstore, buying dinner, buying lemonade, recording books 18:00-19:00 Recording books 19:00-20:00 Tea party (James 2:1-9), eating fruit, performing in a skit, watching classmate drink Douzhi 20:00-21:00 Group discussion (showing favoritism in the church?) 21:00-22:00 Group discussion (treating people differently?), sharing prayer requests 22:00-23:00 Solving Ji’s puzzles, going home, washing up, washing feet (got blisters from playing basketball today, ahhh), getting into bed 23:00-24:00 Lights out, watching videos (seriously, why are there so many eccentrics in Pingzi-kun’s Confession Radio) Recording books is so exhausting that I’m questioning my life… There are so, so many other things to do, and absolutely no time… ...

0:00-6:00 Sleeping 6:00-7:00 Waking up, washing up, downloading software, checking games on HeyBox 7:00-8:00 Making coffee, checking QQ chat history, downloading software/music, organizing computer files 8:00-9:00 Downloading software/music, doing push-ups/listening to an audiobook, preparing snacks, reading “Byzantium”, calling classmate 9:00-10:00 Morning reading (1 Peter 5), setting off to catch the subway 10:00-11:00 Riding the subway, reading “Byzantium” 11:00-12:00 Queueing at the museum, searching for guides on Xiaohongshu, writing diaries 12:00-13:00 Visiting the Military Museum 13:00-14:00 Visiting the Military Museum, listening to the commentary 14:00-15:00 Visiting the Military Museum 15:00-16:00 Visiting the Military Museum 16:00-17:00 Activating bank card at Industrial Bank, finishing “Byzantium”, cycling to Yuetan 17:00-18:00 Visiting Yuetan, eating dinner 18:00-19:00 Eating dinner, rushing to Art History 19:00-20:00 Art History 20:00-21:00 Art History, catching the subway, cycling home 21:00-22:00 Washing up, packing winter clothes 22:00-23:00 Watching videos, writing diaries 23:00-24:00 Watching videos, lights out, sleeping Military Museum fun! Industrial Bank awful! Yuetan beautiful! Identifying paintings impossible! ...

0:00-8:00 Buying toast, sleeping 8:00-9:00 Waking up, washing up, making coffee, organizing parenting class notes 9:00-10:00 Morning reading (1 Peter 4), pooping, attending Sisters’ Meeting 10:00-11:00 Attending Sisters’ Meeting, playing MC for a bit 11:00-12:00 Attending Sisters’ Meeting, answering questions, playing MC for a bit 12:00-13:00 Playing MC for a bit 13:00-14:00 Playing MC for a bit 14:00-15:00 Playing MC for a bit 15:00-16:00 Playing MC for a bit 16:00-17:00 (Ah, why did I play for so long, get to work!) eating smoked chicken, watching videos 17:00-18:00 Watching videos, communicating editing tasks, logging into Baidu Netdisk with premium subscription 18:00-19:00 Going to Starbucks, writing diary entries, writing a write-up, listening to an audiobook, downloading editing assets 19:00-20:00 Watching Gavv, watching videos, editing 20:00-21:00 Watching videos, going home 21:00-22:00 Watching videos, eating midnight snack, editing 22:00-23:00 Solving Ji’s puzzles (couldn’t solve them…), lights out, sleeping 23:00-24:00 Sleeping Why did I play MC for so long??? Why did I watch videos for so long??? ...

0:00-8:00 Buying milk (yep, bought in the early morning), urging classmate to sleep, sleeping 8:00-9:00 Waking up, washing up, making coffee, packing backpack, cycling to bookstore 9:00-10:00 Meeting 10:00-11:00 Meeting 11:00-12:00 Meeting, group discussion 13:00-14:00 Group discussion, chatting with a friend (time management, recommended recording the day’s time), eating Zha Jiang Mian (noodles with soybean paste), listening to an audiobook, cycling to PBD 14:00-15:00 Parenting Class: teaching children, taking notes (sense of security, autonomy, responsibility; act the way you want your children to be; intervene less in interpersonal relationships, discuss more) 15:00-16:00 Parenting Class: being a father, taking notes (spiritual protector, emotional outlet, provider; friend, spiritual support, role model) 16:00-17:00 Parenting Class (What goal do I want to achieve by saying this? How will the other person feel when I say this? How should I say this so they can listen to it?) 17:00-18:00 Going home, picking up packages, cleaning the room, listening to an audiobook 18:00-19:00 Roasting mutton, eating “Pin Hao Fan” (group-buying food delivery) with classmate (he provided noodles, I provided meat) 20:00-21:00 Washing dishes, playing MC for a bit (start!) 21:00-22:00 Playing MC for a bit 22:00-23:00 Solving Ji’s puzzles (Double first-blood, hooray!), washing up, shaving (how did my beard get so long), cleaning the toilet, calling classmate to go home 23:00-24:00 Writing diaries, editing diary status/posts, lights out, sleeping Following a friend’s advice, I reconstructed the day’s schedule after the fact. Strictly speaking, it is a log rather than a plan, but either way: timeline. ...

I want story to sit at the heart of my diary. So when a story I poured myself into is met with “I couldn’t understand it,” it is hard not to feel disappointed. Today, I went to Olympic Forest Park with brothers and sisters to play Frisbee. Everyone was so easygoing, and Frisbee was super fun! I searched for a few caches along the way, only to discover that one lay precisely within a sprinkler’s firing range. After several rounds of matching wits with it (meaning: walking in circles), I received my prize—a pair of shoes completely caked in mud. ...

Congratulations on completing a set of diary entries! Right now I am racing toward the Beijing Exhibition Theater to see Lu Chen’s magic tour, and I am extremely excited. I did wonder whether one show could possibly be worth almost half my paycheck. But first, I already bought the ticket (nonrefundable, sob), and second, I trust Mr. Lu not to disappoint his audience. The first time I saw magic as a child was in a small shop on Hefang Street. After school, while running wildly with my friends, I caught a glimpse of a flashy shop from the corner of my eye and approached curiously. The owner was an old grandma. When she saw us kids, she smiled mysteriously and said she was willing to perform a magic trick for us. I remember she took a banknote (did we kids even have money back then? It was probably hers?) and a pen, and then suddenly pierced the banknote with the pen! ...

And so I finished these two entries with the timing calibrated precisely to bedtime. Today, I went to grab skewers with a friend. After eating, I returned home and met up with my dad. Then I realized I had left my earphones at the skewer shop, so I took a cab back to retrieve them. After that, I ran to a nearby park to look for geocaches. Then, forced by my low phone battery, I had to head home. In the end, the number on the red battery icon dropped to zero (meaning my phone shut down) precisely right after I returned the shared bike. ...