The SWord for freedom

The internet went out again this afternoon. I went downstairs to ask the landlord, and it turned out the system needed an update. Yes, the optical modem's system needed an update, and it had to be taken to the service station to have the system flashed. This is quite different from my previous experiences. The landlord said she was heading out to the Spectrum service station right away and would be back in about two hours. I said I couldn't work in the meantime, so I might as well go to Costco and stock up on 10 days food. The landlord said, "Great! I need to go to Costco too, let's go together! You can also try out my new car!" ==================== The landlord usually drives a Toyota Sienna , I've seen a lot of these at Google headquarters ---- they’re work vehicles, used for transporting people or goods, with a big number in circulation. It's a standard North American MPV. The landlord just bought a new model of the Sienna, a hybrid. I have to say, thi

N's mother was discharged from the hospital after about three weeks. During this time, his father, the tall, thin white man, did not appear again, and even N was seldom seen. About a week ago, I met N in the kitchen and asked about her condition. The doctor said she needed to stay in the hospital for three months for treatment. Since another friend of mine had a similar situation, I asked N for more details. If you’ve been a taxpayer in Los Angeles for over a year and the doctor determines that you need treatment at a community hospital, everything is free. If it's severe and requires treatment at a major hospital, it depends on your insurance. I didn't delve further, considering how N might be feeling. ==================== About three days ago, I met N again, and he said his mother could be discharged early. But seeing his expressionless face, I held back my congratulations. Then, the next day, I heard his mother’s screams again. It sounded like long, suppressed moaning, a

Today, I witnessed a love that is so great, it transcends life and death. It deeply moved me, making the heartbreak wounds I’ve experienced seem insignificant in comparison. It's Sunday. I had just prepared pork chops for lunch and was about to start eating when I noticed an ambulance come and stop in front of my house. I hurried downstairs and saw them carrying out a stretcher. That tall, thin man was signing some papers, and I started to feel uneasy. The medical personnel asked if there was anything they could help me with. I told them I saw their ambulance pull up here, so I came out to see if there was anything I could do. The neighborhood where I live. Halloween decorations. Since moving into this neighborhood, I’ve gotten to know a Chinese son and his mother. Unlike others, this mother always had a cold expression and never responded to greetings. She would even avoid people whenever she saw them. Her body is also very thin and weak, likely suffering from some sort of mental

I've been writing about the things I've seen and experienced in China, with the purpose of revealing a real China to the world, especially the parts that don't get reported. However, with less time available to me and my increasing tendency to write longer articles, along with the low profile I must keep for safety, there are infrequently updates on this blog. But recently I've had some new changes and ideas. It takes days to write a long article, but almost every day there are something new about China that I think it should be worth showing to the world. Maybe I can create a new channel dedicated to this type of short content. That I can take the time to write long articles, and do some timely, short daily content updates. If I post these contents here, I worry that it will dilute the style of this blog. Just as I didn't move the journal content from my old blog over. So my plan now is to create a new twitter account, perhaps under a different name, to post conten

My Life is Perfect. The flight attendant who was handing out drinks noticed that I like this milk. The taste of this milk is particularly rich, much more so than any of the whole milk I usually drink. So I kept refilling for it. Yesterday, she even showed me the packaging of the milk, hoping that I could find it in the U.S. Back to the main story. Just now, while she was handing out drinks, she smiled at me and said, "You probably want the milk, right?" "Yes, please, I really like it." As I took the cup, she said, "You’re so cool." (Ah? Is it because I’m the only one asking for milk....so that she thinks my unique style is cool?) Just as I was stunned and unsure how to respond, she added, "Your hands are a bit cool." Oh, so I misunderstood ---- it wasn't that she was saying I was cool, but that my hands were cool  ---- When I took the cup, our hands had touched. At this point, I really didn’t know how to respond. After I stunned there dazed f

  Last night, the hotel sent me a yummy mooncake with a cherry blossom flavor for the Mid-Autumn Festival. I forgot to ask them where I could buy it, but it's very likely that it's not for sale. Today, I’m leaving Singapore and flying to Los Angeles with ANA . Why didn’t I choose a direct flight and instead opted for a more cost ANA flight with a layover in Tokyo? Of course, it's because I wanted to buy Shiseido at Narita Airport, and check out if they have the local Oceanus store(Casio's watch brand). Though I’m not getting my hopes up too much. Also, I’ve always had a good impression of ANA and Japan, and now that I have the chance, I decided to give it a try. At 3am, the driver took me to the airport. Singapore's Changi Airport is said to be the best airport in the world, but it's still pretty quiet in the early morning. I suppose this is because of the epidemc. I spent some time with a girl from the Philippines, looking for something to eat and so on. The AN

Last night, on my final night in Tianjin , I only slept for two and a half hours due to an unexpected event. I was cleaning the room because I need to return the key to the landlord and leave China the next morning. When I went downstairs to take out the garbage for the second time, I saw a girl coming towards me in a hurry. She was probably in her early 20s, with heavy makeup, which reminded me of something in that moment. She said,  "Could you please help me call the police?" Her words immediately put me on alert, and I looked around and saw that there was no one else nearby. (of course, it was 2:30am.) My first question was, "Are you injured?" "No, but I was cheated out of my cell phone, so please call police for me."  But I just went downstairs to take out the garbage and didn't bring my phone. So I said I would go with her to the security guard, who should have a phone. However, she didn't know where the security guard was located, so it seems

After having this dream, I finally decided to start a new blog category for writing down my dreams. Probably due to my love of sci-fiction and console video games, my dreams are rarely boring. There are often wonderful and imaginative dreams that I feel I should write down. Early this morning I dreamed I was eating the solar system. I had some sense of fear of the beautiful deep space, and it's the second time recently that I dreamed I was in deep space. Jupiter , which is the giant planet, can be played with in my hands. Am I a giant, or am I the Creator? I took a bite of Jupiter and chewed it in my mouth, the texture was like a boiled egg with little taste, although theoretically it shouldn't be like that---- it wasn't even solid.  After swallowing Jupiter I ate another planet, I think I remember it was Saturn . I'm such a big eater of cold drinks. 😆 This experience was so unique that I soon woke up, briefly recorded it in Telegram, and went back to sleep. I recorded

What I am about to write below is a magical story in my life. It has always encouraged me. Occasionally I think of it, and now I record it in detail here. In 2004, I started living in Tianjin , a city in northern China. My ex-girlfriend at the time was a kindergarten teacher. One evening she came to me in a big anxious, saying that their kindergarten was going to hold a sports event the next day, and there was some sewing work left to do, but she didn't have a sewing kit on hand, so she came to me to figure out what we can do. A common sewing kit in China,  not easy to bought because it is too inconspicuous At that era, shopping was not as convenient as it is today. There was no sewing kits in the small stores nearby. Finally I decided to take her to the largest Carrefour  supermarket in Tianjin, thinking that there would be sewing kits for sale. It was a slightly longer cab ride, and by the time we arrived at Carrefour it was about 9:30 p.m. The lights were half out at the superma

A few days ago I talked to an US friend Jeff about the history of piracy in China, so I wrote this article. I would like to show the era of piracy of video games and computer software that I saw, from about 1990 to the present. 1990-1995 China's folk computer technology originated around 1990. Before that era, the most pirated was NES (the American version of Famicom). I went through the Atari 2600 period but I was too young. Now it is speculated that the 2600s are original because the market is too small. Piracy of the NES has continued to today. Yes, you can still buy various NES copycats and games in China today. My parents bought me a pirated NES in the mall, made in Taiwan. At the time, such a machine with a cartridge would require a monthly salary of 2 adults. Compared with the massive pirated NES, Genesis as the main competitor of NES, there are fewer pirated cartridge. Because Genesis's market share in China is too small. These early pirated NESes a