Borderline Journey

世界边上的广阔风景

  • Calibration

    Reaching out to people, knowing how they are and what they are doing, to me, now, is not a means for friend-seeking. To a large extent, it is for calibration. To calibrate my position in the world with regard to other people. I don’t mean I will compare myself with other people, such as their wealth and social status. I just want to know how other people are doing, so that I can better understand how to live with myself and how I can interact with the world (that includes all these other people I’m calibrating against). Going back to China has inevitably acted as a forcing function of calibration, though I was unaware of this aspect of the trip at that time. Because of this trip, I realized how much of a comfortable bubble I was when I lived in the U.S., and I also came to see how I had treated myself with insanely high standards. I learned how others are suffering yet still living, and how that means maybe I could hold some hope as well. Calibration is healthy, and I’ll remember to keep doing it.

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  • China Observation, Two

    Whether I’m a highly sensitive person is something I have been debating with myself. I used to think I wasn’t that sensitive. I can go out, I can handle talking with strangers, I don’t like traffic jams but I can put up with them if I must. I know that I tend to keep my surroundings super clean and organized, and I prefer to stay alone at a quiet place, but this doesn’t mean I am “highly sensitive,” am I? Yet China made me look like the princess in the Princess and the Pea. No matter where I went, no matter which way I turned to, I just couldn’t get rid of the uncomfortable feeling of the pea.

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  • Teacher or Tutor, 2.0

    Besides guiding students to write research proposals for applying to PhD programs, I’ve also started tutoring English, this time a girl in her last year of senior high.

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  • China Observation, One

    Long time no write. I thought I’d have to refill these fountain pens, but it turns out a little bit of hot water will do the trick. There’s still some in left, but the nib is slightly stuck. A dab in hot water and everything resumes fine.

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  • Bouldering Notes

    I get used to listing a bunch of things I should improve on after finishing a bouldering session. Today I went bouldering with him at our usual gym. Here’s the list I compiled after getting back home:

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  • 读书笔记：What an Owl Knows

    这本书已经看了一半多了，在书里面读到了好几个我觉得很有意思、很感动的故事，在这里稍微记一下：

    （下方有书中内容透露。）

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  • I’d Like to Have Less Sunshine

    I’d actually like it not to be so sunny. I’d in fact love to have some clouds. But looking at the sky high above, nowhere are any clouds to be seen. These days have been the hottest days we’ve experienced this summer, with the highest temperature reaching 34 C and the lowest 17 C.

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  • My Life Stays as Usual

    Apple’s weather app says today’s “partly cloudy.” It also says that for the entire following week, the highest daily temperature will consistently reach 30C. And it’s depressing to learn that things will only get worse year after year from now on, if we don’t stop burning fossil fuels right away.

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  • Ube Ice Cream

    The reason that I can’t read Raymond Carver’s stories continually is that I don’t know when I’ll be it by the horror in his stories. If I’m not hit by one story, then fine, I can keep going on to the next one; if I’m hit, however, I’ll need some time for a break, a break to gather myself together. Every story of his has some element of horror in it. Whether I’m hit or not depends on if I subjectively find what he describes is scary. He is this indifferent, cold-hearted storyteller. He doesn’t give a shit about if and when his readers will be scared.

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  • It’s Getting Warmer and Warmer

    It’s getting warmer and warmer these days.

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