RECAP2023: Nowhere is the Old Game Unbearable
Intro#
2023 has been the busiest and most complicated year for me since I was born. So this year, I plan to review what I have done month by month. I can't remember much, so I decided to look through my phone album. Since this is written like this, it may seem like a list of events. Thank you for understanding.
January#
After New Year's Day, I started preparing for final exams. In the meantime, I also participated in the FRC robotics competition and was happy to receive the news that my school agreed to send a team. During winter vacation, I worked on my research project, attended online classes, prepared for the FRC competition, and prepared for the IELTS exam (I was planning to study abroad, but I won't go into details here).
It snowed! I played in the snow and set off firecrackers with my younger brother.
Then came the Chinese New Year. My aunt and uncle came to Shanghai, and our whole family had a barbecue and a New Year's Eve dinner together. It's been a long time since I went back to my hometown, I must go back when I have the chance.
There were some small incidents in between. My Hackintosh computer suddenly became extremely slow, and later I found out that the SSD made by JD.com had a problem. I replaced it with a WD Black SN770 and it worked perfectly. Since then, my Hackintosh has been stable (except for updating macOS with OC). The EFI has been uploaded to GitHub, you can try it if you have a similar configuration here.
February#
The school group went on a team-building trip to the Bund. We walked along the river and then went to the Oriental Pearl Tower. We walked 30,000 steps in a day and cooked dinner when we got home...
PS: The Oriental Pearl Tower is so beautiful and comfortable, that's why I went there every day during summer vacation. I also had a great time at Heisei House!
Then I took the IELTS exam. I didn't do many practice questions, but I got a score of 7 on my first try. The topics were not bad, but the equipment in the test center was not good, so the experience was not great.
Before the new semester started, I met up with my middle school classmates again and had spicy Guizhou cuisine. Maybe it's because I haven't eaten spicy food for a long time, but I couldn't handle the spiciness as well as before.
Preparation for the FRC competition continued...
In the midst of all the busyness, I successfully applied for the GitHub Student Pack. Since then, I have been a proud GitHub Pro! I don't know if it's luck or some kind of magic, but none of the other people who applied with me got it, especially using Copilot really saves a lot of time.
Had dinner with my childhood friend and ate Sichuan cuisine, but it was too spicy for me, haha.
March#
In March, the new school principal made some unreasonable rules that caused some dissatisfaction among the students, but in the end, everything was resolved satisfactorily.
After intense preparation for the FRC competition (I could only sleep for two to three hours a day for several days), I prepared to go to Turkey for the competition. I got my visa and finished assembling and debugging the robot before the deadline, and then packed it up.
In Istanbul, we had dinner and stayed up all night to assemble the robot. Then we went to the competition venue for training matches. The pneumatic system of the robot kept leaking air, and the equipment was too old to pass inspection. After several hours of work, we couldn't fix it and couldn't test it, so the first day passed like that. The marketing team (which was actually just a few people) ran around and exchanged merchandise, while the scouting team observed the other teams.
Early the next morning, we finally solved the problem (not completely), and we qualified to compete. The competition went smoothly, but the pneumatic system kept leaking air during the later matches, and the lifting system often malfunctioned after increasing the intensity. We advanced to the qualification round and finished seventh, then formed an alliance and made it to the semifinals. (Interestingly, the top four teams in the Turkey competition were all Chinese teams). Congratulations to Team 8015 for winning the regional competition!
In the decisive match, there were problems with the referee's decisions. They deliberately ignored many obvious fouls, and we couldn't participate in the next round due to the opposing team's intentional fouls. Our alliance and the Indian team argued for our rights, and that scene is still fresh in my memory. Regardless of the outcome, this experience has really taught me a lot.
Although we didn't have fluent language skills, we made friends and exchanged WhatsApp or Instagram contacts. We also met some great partners. After the competition, we traveled around Istanbul. We visited many religious sites and got scammed by an expensive Turkish ice cream shop.
After returning to China, I spent a week or two catching up on missed classes and preparing for mid-term exams.
April#
Unfortunately, I contracted COVID-19, most likely when I was at the Dubai airport during a layover. By the way, when I was shopping at a grocery store there, I was pleasantly surprised to meet some foreign cashiers who could say "hello" and "thank you". It was interesting, and I also saw some Chinese signs at the Dubai and Istanbul airports.
During that week, I had a high fever for two consecutive days, with a temperature of 40 degrees. After I recovered, I had no memory of the days with a high fever.
And after returning to school, my classmates and I took turns getting infected with the virus. Maybe we brought the virus with us, haha.
May#
During the May Day holiday, I went to Taikoo Li to play. The design of the bookstore there is really beautiful! Afterwards, I went back to school with my middle school classmates to visit our teachers. We were amazed by the changes in the education system. In the evening, we had a dinner and had a great time at Citywalk.
I watched a short documentary called "The Shed At Dulwich" on YouTube and was amazed by it.
I went cycling with a good friend from Minhang to Pudong. It was the first time I cycled such a long distance, and we took turns breaking the wind, so the speed was not slow and the experience was great. Along the way, we took a ferry for the first time (in the evening, the golden light was really beautiful!) and revisited Heisei House.
June#
At the beginning of June, the school organized a three-day social practice trip to Nanjing. Before setting off, I stayed up all night (almost all night) to watch WWDC. The Vision Pro presentation made staying up worth it. (The other parts were really dragging...) Ah, in Nanjing, I can't remember the names of the places we visited, but we had a fulfilling three days! The group members were also very nice.
On the third day, we got up early to sneak out of the hotel and watch the sunrise by the Yangtze River. Unfortunately, it was blocked by buildings, but those who went up the Yangtze River Bridge could see it clearly.
In mid-June, the geography group went on a social practice trip to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center.
Then I had a gathering with relatives and went to the Bund. I designed merchandise for the school's open day and prepared for the FRC China Regional Championship at the end of July.
The final exams were okay, no need to go into details.
July#
July was a month of studying. Every other day, I would preview the content of the next semester, and the rest of the time, I would meet up with my middle school classmates to study and do homework at the Oriental Pearl Tower. Thanks to my good friend's recommendation, I went to the Shanghai Library a few times. I felt that the design there didn't resonate with me as much as the Oriental Pearl Tower, and the cafeteria was really delicious but expensive!
Another gathering with my middle school classmates.
My grandparents came to Shanghai to visit, and we ate Japanese, French, and Western cuisine (I gained weight, haha).
August#
The playoffs for the FRC competition were held. Due to the short preparation time, we didn't have much time to debug the robot before the competition, so the results were not ideal, but we will strive to do better next time. After the competition, my grandparents went back to their hometown, and I started cooking for myself. The competition ended, and after spending a few days at the Oriental Pearl Tower, I flew to Singapore. I obtained a Dependent Pass and spent the remaining time of the summer vacation in Singapore.
I watched the National Day Parade at the Marina Bay Sands hotel during Singapore's National Day, but I didn't see much because I didn't have experience. Then I went to Sentosa Island, originally planning to go to Universal Studios, but I didn't have time.
After my mom and younger brother returned to China and my dad went on a business trip, I started cooking for myself again. In between, I took a trip to Orchard Road, ate expensive Japanese food, and got my first foreign currency card at DBS. The rest of the time was relatively monotonous, mainly focused on catching up on homework.
September#
I spent a week doing some practice tests and then flew to Singapore to take the SAT. I got a score of 1530 on my first try. After that, I can temporarily put it aside until I finish the TOEFL. Because I had already visited most of Singapore during the summer vacation, I went cycling by the seaside. Along the way, I saw monkeys, wild chickens, and more. The ecological environment is really good.
I went to watch the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" at the school's invitation. The first part of the dialogue was not well adapted, and Zhang Qi seemed a bit out of character, but overall, it was amazing, especially the stage design. This was my first time watching a musical seriously.
Then I prepared for the mid-term exams. Except for Chinese and AP Physics, all the other subjects went well. English was better than I expected, maybe because there was no listening or speaking section. At first, I had a hard time adjusting to the new schedule with a lot of free time, but I quickly adapted.
The school arranged for us to visit Jinshan for agricultural learning. Although there were some conflicts with the instructor in the first two days and some small incidents occurred, overall, it was a good experience. I have to complain about the cooking area though, there was no onion, ginger, garlic, or seasonings. The stove was so black that you couldn't tell how much oil you added... The most fun part was making ceramic cups. The base said they would deliver them to the school after firing, but I haven't received them yet. Looking forward to it.
After returning to my original class, I joined in a collective birthday celebration. The ice cream cake was really delicious, thanks to the class committee.
October#
During the National Day holiday, our homeroom teacher invited us to have a meal together at a hot pot restaurant.
Then the new semester started with the sports meet and mid-term exams. There were no major events. I made it to the top 100 in the grade for the mid-term exams, which was a small breakthrough. I looked back at my previous exam scores and was pleasantly surprised to find that my grade ranking in each exam was decreasing, at least the trend was good.
However, during those days, I decided to transfer from the public school system to the private school system. Thanks to the help of the school leaders, I completed the procedures in just one week. I really miss my old classmates, and I am grateful for everything I learned from them during this year. I didn't tell them until the end, so it felt like leaving without saying goodbye. In the new class, I also met a group of good friends. I was lucky to catch the registration time for AP exams and registered for several AP courses, hoping to make up for the regrets of not taking them in the first year. Because the exams in the public school system were difficult, my GPA in the first year was not good, so I hope to improve my GPA in the new year.
I took passport photos at the end of October and applied for a US visa to prepare for the FRC competition in the US in March next year.
November#
I took the IELTS exam again in my spare time. When choosing the answers for the listening section, I didn't pay attention and missed several questions. My overall score didn't improve, so I decided to switch to TOEFL.
Then I prepared for the mid-term exams. Except for Chinese and physics, the other subjects improved, and I started preparing for the school's art festival and carnival. By the way, there are so many xql (a term used to describe something cute or lovely) in winter.
I watched "Matchstick Men vs. Physics" and felt that it had more depth than mathematics. The explanations of physical quantities were more accurate, while the mathematics part seemed a bit vague. The theories of superstring and parallel worlds of black holes were fascinating!
Summary#
I wrote this in two days and realized that there were indeed many twists and turns compared to previous years. I have grown amidst internal conflicts and competition, little by little.
On the journey of life, the road ahead is long and dark. But don't be afraid, only those who are not afraid have a path ahead. - Lu Xun