Last weekend, I had a small gathering with two friends at a KTV we frequented during our later university years. Since there were few people, I ended up singing from 8:30 PM until past 1:00 AM. Afterward, I took a taxi back to my dorm, showered, and collapsed into bed, exhausted.

The next morning, the noise from ongoing construction outside was still loud, so I went to the office to study. During the day, amidst various environmental sounds, I didn’t notice anything unusual. However, by evening, especially after 8 or 9 PM, as the outside noise gradually subsided, I began to sense an abnormal ringing in my ears. By around 11 PM, this sound became unbearable in the quiet, empty office.

I rarely stay in the dormitory, so having an Ethernet cable isn’t a big necessity for me at the moment. Occasionally, when I need temporary internet access, I use my BlackBerry.

However, using a mobile phone for internet access has its limitations. For example, when I bring my laptop back to the dorm at night and feel like singing along with Foobar2000, I find that I can’t download lyrics because there’s no internet connection, which is quite disappointing. So, I connect my phone to the computer via USB, open BlackBerry Desktop Software (previously known as DM), and enable the mobile network to easily allow the computer to use the phone’s internet connection.

During my time at school, I lived day by day, and since the school itself had a timetable that enforced various time regulations, I didn’t pay much attention to how I used my time. Now that I’m out in society, I’ve realized that there are only two fixed time points: 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM from Monday to Friday. The rest of the time is unstructured, which severely limits the quality and regularity of my study and life.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about buying a computer, as it’s a reliable way to kill time most of the time.

My requirements are actually quite simple: the appearance should be decent, and it should be able to run several resource-intensive browsers simultaneously without issues. Sounds simple, but meeting these requirements is quite challenging.

The appearance of the laptop is one aspect I care about. Firstly, I personally dislike brushed and glossy finishes, which are standard on most computers today. Secondly, if the colors of the A, B, and C surfaces of the laptop don’t match, it bothers me, and many laptops are like this. Historically, I am most satisfied with the design of Thinkpad and Fujitsu laptops.

Originally, I was supposed to manage the office software system at work, but somehow, many people thought my job was similar to that of an internet cafe manager, and they kept dragging me to fix computers. Sigh… Being the new guy, I had no choice but to comply.

At first glance, the phrase “fixing computers” seems simple, but it turns out to be quite challenging. For instance, I recently encountered a series of baffling issues that left me completely clueless. In front of my superiors, I ended up looking quite inexperienced!

When awake, it’s almost impossible to recall the dreams from days before yesterday. Only in the subconscious do we get a chance to remember that “a certain dream once had” indeed occurred.

Previously, I always believed that memories while awake were the most reliable, because upon waking, I could often reconstruct a part of the dream I just had. Moreover, frequently, my dreams could be interrupted and then continued: for example, the time I could remember entering the dream was usually after four or five in the morning, and around seven, I would often be interrupted by my phone alarm. After turning off the phone (in a state of incomplete wakefulness, but able to see the exact time and clearly know whether I should get up at that time), I could continue the unfinished dream.

Today, five professors from Xi’an jointly called for the commutation of Yao Jiaxin’s death sentence. Since the publication of their statement, netizens’ comments have been in an uproar. I understand the professors’ perspective, but I can only say that they might be more suited to living in the United States rather than advocating for the abolition of the death penalty in China.

China does not have the soil for abolishing the death penalty. After all, for thousands of years, the principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” has been considered a natural law, and it remains one of the fundamental principles of Chinese criminal law.

Last Saturday night, around 9 PM, Brother Sheng and I rushed to the Golden Horse Theater and managed to buy the last two returned tickets for “Fast & Furious 5,” and coincidentally, they were in the very center of the theater.

I had only heard of the fame of the “Fast & Furious” series before, but actually watching it might have been something I did after my freshman year. During my freshman year, aside from playing CS, I mainly focused on one game: TMNF (TrackMania Nations Forever), which translates to “TrackMania Nations Forever” in Chinese.

During my spare time at work, I read a book titled “The Character of the Chinese.” If it weren’t for the mention of “strongly recommended by Lu Xun before his death” in the recommendation, I might not have noticed this book.

The original English version can be read on Google Books (the copyright of the original work is now open). If I have time, I plan to read an English original book, not necessarily this one, but I need to find one to practice my English comprehension. Otherwise, I really don’t know what my level of English understanding is. Previously, I only bought an English translation of Plato’s work: “The Republic,” but the ancient English words were too abstract, and I couldn’t understand it.