Longview

Mid-Autumn Festival today. I have been thoroughly consumed by the US-TC puzzles, but since this assignment is already written, I might as well post it here and pad the diary count ( A Different Mid-Autumn Festival It is the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month: Mid-Autumn Festival. I sit alone in my dorm, gazing through the window at the bright full moon. My family may be far away, but I am not truly alone. Around me are many brothers and sisters who have become family in the truest sense. ...

One night, my roommate and I were talking before bed, and somehow the conversation reached Grandpa. I told him I wanted to cook a dish Grandpa had taught me, to remember him, and share it with people I knew. My roommate immediately replied, “Isn’t tomorrow night’s pizza party the perfect opportunity?” In fact, the idea had been with me since I heard the news on Sunday night. Fortunately, because I did not trust my own memory, I had recorded the entire lesson when Grandpa taught me. Through a screen only a few inches wide, I could still see him, almost as though he were beside me. ...

Like I told the classmate who messaged me especially to offer comfort, “I’m really doing all right.” I just don’t want to look sad in front of other people, so I pull myself together and pretend nothing is wrong. I just don’t want to open WeChat. I’m afraid of seeing the three pinned profile pictures that have all changed to mushrooms. I just don’t want to think, “From now on, I don’t have a grandpa anymore.” But every so often the thought returns, and something inside me feels hollow. ...

I’m sorry, Grandpa. After reading what Mom and Dad wrote, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I didn’t want to disturb my roommate, so I hid alone in the dorm bathroom and cried quietly. Then I suddenly remembered that I still had the recording from when you told us your stories about the Vietnam War. I found it and started listening, but I couldn’t finish. Because I was talking to you from a bathroom that time too. And you clearly said you still had more stories to tell us. ...

Grandpa, I didn’t cry.

Career Fair, but I Forgot to Turn Off Auto-Loot LeTourneau is famous for its extraordinary employment rate. Supposedly you can come here and have nearly a 100 percent chance of finding a suitable job. Whether reality is quite as miraculous as the stories I have heard, today’s Career Fair certainly opened my eyes. Most companies came looking for interns for summer 2026. According to my roommate, their selections are generally settled before next spring, while next semester’s fair will already be preparing for the year after that. ...

Near the end of yesterday’s Cornerstones class, our professor gave us a little Puzzle Hunt. Can you imagine how I felt? Cornerstones, as the name implies, is the class you must take if you hope to survive at LETU. It is the foundation of everything. Fine, it is not actually that grave. Apart from doctrinal material such as the cheating and plagiarism policies, the class is basically one extended tea party. Our professor also chairs the writing section of the student center, so she gleefully assigns us a journal every week. Presumably she hopes we will take our drafts to the tutors there for help, although I have never once done that. My first thought was: perfect, I can lazily count these as entries in Sojourner’s Diary! My second thought was: perhaps exercises written with elementary-school vocabulary and grammar are better left unpublished. ( ...

Today’s entry number happens to equal the maximum completion percentage in Hollow Knight. I looked at Trial of the Fool, which I still have not beaten, and decided… No games today! Fine, it was not exactly a decision. In the morning I followed our PAs, Korbin and Amy, to church to make dumplings. After lunch we visited several board-game stores. In the afternoon I attended a Lake Day organized by a retired missionary to China. By the time I returned to the dorm, it was after nine. A little early to wash up and sleep, so I suppose I should write something. ...

Huh? How did I vanish for several days without warning? Diagnosis: too much Silksong. ( Quite a lot has happened over the past few days. As a brother far away, I cannot offer much practical help, but I should at least offer some encouragement. After all, I have weathered my share of great storms. (Have you really?) Today I joined a community-service event organized by the university. That sounds grand, but it amounted to everything from clearing shrubs and weeds to cutting down trees and operating a forklift. (All right, I was obviously not driving it.) Along the way, I met a student from one of LeTourneau’s Societies and learned roughly how these “alternative dorms” work. ...

Here is a simple, effective, and ridiculous way to make people on campus approach you and start conversations. (It really is simple!) Want to know how? Unlock our monthly charging plan for the low, low price of $7,999,999 and— (Gets punched.) Fine. What actually happened was that, after SI tonight—think of it as an after-class study session where a student instructor leads everyone through problems and reviews the material—I was about to leave when someone called me back. He invited me to play table tennis, so I stayed, and we began chatting on and off. ...