Beijing

Mom: What are you doing? We can call now, I’m free. Me: Played basketball in the afternoon, then ran to meet friends to play soccer, then rushed to a tea party. It just ended. So busy… Busy indeed. It feels as though a day contains fewer than twenty-four hours. So often I am halfway through something when I realize how late it has become, and the whole thing trails off unfinished. (This entry, for example, was filled in the next day.) At the tea gathering, a friend went straight to the heart of it: “Could it be that you are interested in too many things?” ...

Living away from home makes spending money every day almost unavoidable, and I am increasingly convinced that I need to keep a budget. On one hand, I am forever buying things on impulse; on the other, I am forever discovering things I lack. I need a daily spending limit, or it will not be long before I have to hold out my hand and ask for money again (laugh). Ah? Didn’t get it? Humorous analysis: the first character of the items you must bring every day when going out: ID card (Shenfenzheng), Phone (Shouji), Keys (Yaoshi), Wallet (Qianbao)—Shou-Ji-Yao-Qian (literally sounds like “actively asking for money”) (who asked you anyway). ...

The cold wind sighed this morning; the world rocked east and west, and I alone came apart inside it. In plain language: THE WIND WAS SO STRONG ON MY RUN AAAAAAH I’M NOT COMING TOMORROW ( Stayed in the bookstore until closing and felt as though I had accomplished nothing, so I cycled like a maniac to restore my psychological balance. (What kind of emotional outlet is that?) Looked up and somehow found myself at Olympic Forest Park. Wow. How mysterious. (Monotone.) ...

I now face a conflict between finishing the diary and sleeping early enough to wake for a run. (Though over the past week I appear to have achieved neither.) After careful consideration, I have decided that I want both. I indeed had too many things going on in the past week, and subjectively it felt like one wave after another without pause. And right now, when there is nothing much to do (left a loose end on a paper, will rush out a draft tomorrow first) and other activities haven’t started yet, this might be our freest time. Coincidentally under the chilly spring wind of Beijing’s brief spring, it’s naturally time to go out for a stroll. ...

Come on, Zhuge Tian, how can you treat your diary this way? Huh? It’s already 23:00? Can’t be bothered to write.

Happy Lantern Festival! Ran over to collect my passport with its U.S. visa today and once again enjoyed the authentic embassy-queue experience. When my turn finally came, it took all of one minute: hand over a document, receive a document, then gallop straight to basketball. I am Timing Man ( Also, the solution video for the Golden Egg puzzle is out, while my write-up remains unwritten… That needs to reach the schedule immediately! The diary? Can’t be bothered to write. ...

Went to the Science and Technology Museum. Took lots of photos. Can’t be bothered to write.

Helped a classmate finish his university application this morning. (Meaning I filled in a form.) Forgot what happened in the afternoon. Can’t be bothered to write.

My classmate in the lower bunk woke me that morning. I looked at the time: after seven. My embassy interview was at nine! Every trace of sleep vanished. There was no time to wonder how many people’s peaceful dreams had survived the mysterious failure of my watch alarm—I still do not know what happened. I grabbed my documents and ran. On the way, I practiced potential Q&A with my dad. Along with the driver, the three of us agreed on the principle: “The visa officers are just doing a job for a living, they aren’t looking for complexity, so keep everything as simple as possible.” It was only when I arrived that I realized the biggest challenge might not be the conversation—there were suspiciously too many people on site. ...

Dragged myself up at 2:00 a.m. to solve the hunt meta and kept going until 6:30. Every variety of brute force failed, until I finally discovered that I had extracted the starting year incorrectly—because I had simply asked AI at that step. AI still cannot replace humanity after all ( At the time, I didn’t know the reason for the error, but the sun was already up, and it was time to go out and “refresh my mind.” Following the veteran Beijinger—my dad—we headed out to explore and eat! ...