</2023>
<2024>
My childhood friend feels that this year has undergone tremendous changes, moving from Scotland to Singapore, from being single to married, and from a family of two to a family of three. However, I think it was all expected, so it feels quite stable.
The items around a person best reflect their state, so just like in 2022, I'll start with the annual best.
🏆 Annual Best#
🍿 Film and Television#
I watched 28 anime, 12 series, and 8 movies: https://movie.douban.com/people/62759792/collect?mode=list
Last year, it was 19 anime, 18 series, and 6 movies, so the content from the two-dimensional world has significantly increased.
DIY Annual Anime: “Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc”
#刀鍛冶の里編 真好看啊，不愧是 4 月霸权，善逸弥豆子真可爱，炭治郎，猪猪，又见面了，开头无限城运镜无敌，后面日常也好看，就是信息密度有点低，希望多来点打戏，可能又是低开高走，后期燃爆的风格
Despite some episodes having a slow pace, the emotional moments were impactful, and the tear-jerking scenes were heart-wrenching, especially the ending, which seemed like it would be tragic but turned into a sweet conclusion, stirring emotions and hard to contain.
Last year's best was “Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc,” and this year's is “Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc.” It's already predictable that next year will be “Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc,” and I hope it can continue.
In addition, I also really liked “Heavenly Delusion,” “Spy x Family,” “Oshi no Ko” (first episode), and “KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!”
DIY Annual Series: “The Last of Us Season 1”
It faithfully recreates the game and surpasses it; the main character fits the role perfectly. It was a perfect season; HBO is amazing.
📚 Books#
I read 22 books this year:
- “The Courage to Be Disliked”
- “Lychee in Chang'an”
- “Those Strange and Worrisome Questions”
- “Does God Play Dice?”
- “Human Extinction”
- “From the New World” (two volumes)
- “A Canticle for Leibowitz”
- “The Welfare of Humanity”
- “The Morning of the Way”
- “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future”
- “The Fall of Giants” (three volumes)
- “The Winter of the World” (three volumes)
- “Cutting Business” (in progress)
- “The Selfish Gene” (in progress)
- “Just thinking that 95% of the problems are left for humanity, I feel relieved” (in progress)
- “The Cat Family Medical Encyclopedia” (in progress)
- “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” (in progress)
Last year, I read 9 books. I didn't expect to have read so many this year, most of which is thanks to traveling and the Boox Leaf 3.
DIY Annual Book: “Human Extinction”
I almost missed it due to its strange title and cover. It is the most suspenseful, bloody, and mind-bending book I have read. The author unfolds three seemingly unrelated threads and then perfectly merges them, revealing a major conspiracy.
If one day Homo sapiens is no longer the smartest species on Earth, they will undoubtedly expose their cruel jungle nature without hesitation, not necessarily because of the emergence of a superhuman new species as hypothesized in the book; the explosion of AI technology might bring that day closer.
I look forward to the day it becomes a TV series.
The second-ranked book is “Does God Play Dice?”.
I learned a lot of unbelievable physics knowledge and conjectures, such as space and time cannot be infinitely divided; they are not continuous; all worlds where observers die are meaningless, so observers will always survive, cannot commit suicide, cannot die, everyone will have quantum immortality; the world is uncertain, the underlying nature of the world is not causality but probability, and God plays dice. It's even more magical than science fiction.
The third-ranked book is “The Fall of Giants”.
It's the first part of the Century Trilogy, a book that is difficult to get into at first but once you do, you can't put it down. I learned a lot about European history and witnessed the changes of the times.
🕹️ Good Stuff#
DIY Annual Good Stuff: Boox Leaf 3
It's my first time using an e-reader, and the battery life is long enough, the refresh speed is also fast, and it has a built-in ink screen version of WeChat Reading, which has allowed me to read many more books. The downside is that holding it for a long time can be a bit uncomfortable for my pinky finger, but luckily I bought a phone airbag stand recommended by Randy here.
There are also some other small things worth recommending.
You can pair it with an AirTag case to put an AirTag in to locate your cat, which not only prevents them from getting lost outside but also makes it easier to find them at home when they hide.
Doctor Glasses
Getting glasses offline costs thousands, which always made me feel that glasses are a precious item that needs to be carefully protected. However, I found that similar Zeiss lenses and frames online only cost over 200, which is a huge price difference, and I can't feel any difference in actual use.
I upgraded from the first-generation ZV1 to the second generation. Although the image quality hasn't upgraded much, it has solved many pain points, greatly improving the user experience, including a new menu that humans can use, an 18mm focal length more suitable for vlogging, a built-in directional microphone, a physical button to switch between video and photo modes, USB-C, etc.
👩🏻💻 Applications#
DIY Annual Application: Arc
The vertical tab bar and workspace are hard to go back from, and it's not just a simple vertical tab bar; many interaction details are quite thoughtful.
Additionally, here are some of my favorite applications that I use:
- Email Client: Mimestream
- Browser: Arc
- Command Line: Warp
- Docker Management: OrbStack
- Time Tracking: Toggl Track
- Notes: Obsidian
- RSS Reading: RSSHub, Reeder, Miniflux, RSS to Telegram Bot, RSSHub Radar
- To-Do List: TickTick
- Image Management: Eagle
- Accounting: MoneyWiz
- Audio and Video: Plex, Alist, AutoBangumi, UnblockNeteaseMusic, Xiaoya
- Automation: n8n
- Website Statistics: Umami
- Crypto Wallet: OneKey, MetaMask
- Translation: Bob, Immersive Translation
- Ad Blocking: AdGuard Home, AdGuard for Mac
- Screenshot: Snip
- Break Reminder: BreakTimer
- Footprint: World Fog
- Sleep Tracking: Pokemon Sleep
- Application Management: Homebrew Cask
🎮 Games#
DIY Annual Game: “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”
The only game I played this year.
🧸 Life#
🏡 Food and Living#
Hello Singapore
In November, I moved from the barren Scotland to the conveniently living Singapore, and the quality of life has greatly improved.
- Food: Compared to the UK, Singapore is simply paradise, finally having cheap and delicious takeout and restaurants.
- Living: Renting is more expensive and smaller, but there are swimming pools and gyms, and the location is also great, which is a small consolation.
🛫 Travel#
My childhood friend injured their leg while skiing last December, so they didn't go anywhere for the first few months.
- In May, I went hiking in Lochgelly with Harry Twitter.
Harry and I were exhausted crawling on the ground with three big barrels of water, while my childhood friend was walking briskly.
There were many fun things to do in the scenic area, including driving on mountain roads, swimming, cliff diving, skydiving, horseback riding, hot air ballooning, sunbathing, and the views of the sea and hot air balloons were also stunning. However, the prices were shocking; the tourist spots were very expensive, and they would rip off tourists, while outside the tourist areas, it was quite barren.
I spent a few days floating in the water with a swimming ring and almost learned how to swim.
- In August, I went to London, Cambridge, Leeds, York Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter.
I took my childhood friend's mom around the UK.
I watched the musical Les Misérables, “Do You Hear the People Sing” Twitter.
Cosplaying in Downton Abbey Twitter.
- I was taken by Harry to visit a fascinating fossil shop and a surgical museum in Edinburgh.
The surgical museum displayed piles of bodies soaked in formalin and various limbs, which my childhood friend found fascinating.
生理和精神双重满足，多谢款待@harrywang9917
爱丁堡有一家很神奇的化石店，卖各种几亿年的奇怪海洋生物，小恐龙，猛犸象肢体，古鲨鱼什么的，还很便宜，5 磅就能买到恐龙牙齿，10 几磅就能买到完整立体三叶虫
Harry and I roasted marshmallows by the seaside in Edinburgh Twitter Twitter.
Roasting marshmallows is wonderful; they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Harry's crispy meat was also super delicious.
- In September, I went to France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic.
I did everything I wanted, but time was tight, just a quick visit.
- In October, I went to Chengdu, Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Urumqi, Shanghai.
I met Tyzual and Qixia Qianxiao in Chengdu, went to see giant pandas, ate a lot in Chongqing, and had lamb with skin in Urumqi.
Chengdu Giant Panda Base
The grassland in Urumqi
- In November, I went to Hong Kong.
I met many colleagues at Hong Kong FinTech Week, gained a lot of knowledge, and it was also the first reunion of the co-founders of a company that has been established for more than two years.
🤼♀️ Socializing#
This year, I not only traveled to many places but also met many friends.
Harry, CuBu, Tyzual, Qixia Qianxiao, Peanut, ch, Tony, Bruce, Anni, Atlas, birdring, Dmoo, Jeff, Joshua, Kate, Maggie, Usagi, Yingzi, birdring, yingzi; most of them are colleagues, and it's really not easy to meet in person while working remotely.
🐱 Family#
I returned home to get married. The process was exhausting, but seeing my childhood friend in a wedding dress made it all worth it Twitter.
As soon as I returned to the country, I reunited with Yogurt, and we also came to Singapore together Twitter.
The most frequently asked question was, “After being apart for more than two years, does Yogurt still recognize you?” Although I will never know the answer, based on the clinginess, I tend to think she does.
🏊 Skills#
Swimming
I swam a few times in elementary school and took swimming classes in college, but I never learned how to swim.
As mentioned above, this year during my trip to Turkey, I spent a few days floating in the sea with a swimming ring, overcoming my fear of swimming. I roughly learned the freestyle position but couldn't breathe properly.
After arriving in Singapore, I spent a few weeks floating in the community pool and completely learned how to swim. Now I go swimming with my childhood friend every day; the intensity of the exercise is sufficient, and the water cools me down. It has become my favorite sport, and I feel like I missed out on a lot of fun before.
Podcast
To promote xLog, I accepted an invitation from Web Worker to record my first podcast. The hosts Xin Bao, Liu Wei, and Xiao Bai Cai were very professional, and the process went surprisingly smoothly without any awkward pauses.
However, as a seasoned social anxiety sufferer, even though the first time went smoothly, it should still be difficult to muster the courage for the next time.
Playing Mahjong and Dou Di Zhu
I went to play Mahjong and Dou Di Zhu with my childhood friend once each. I learned these two games, but since they require talking, I didn't play a second time.
🌌 Memorable Daily Life#
My childhood friend's carefully designed DIY trap for my birthday.
The black brother's blessing sent by st for my birthday.
Wearing a Scottish skirt to take wedding photos at my childhood friend's school.
Attending my childhood friend's graduation ceremony in Glasgow.
Celebrating Christmas in Singapore.
Watching the New Year's Eve fireworks show in Singapore; it seems to be the first time I've seen such a grand fireworks display. The biggest one I saw before was Disney.
Also accompanying my childhood friend to their first concert and their first time playing claw machines.
🪄 Life Management#
Similar to last year, I'm mainly using this Obsidian-based life recording system. My diary is now structured like this:
Events of the day, ongoing matters, schedule, Franklin virtues table.
Additionally, I use TickTick's Habit to record how each daily and weekly OKR goal is progressing and Toggl Track to record the time spent on various tasks, which is much more convenient than my previous all-in-one approach in Obsidian.
🌿 Output#
👩🏻💻 Code#
Contributions are nearing the peak level of 2019.
It was another year without new projects. In the first half of the year, I focused on xLog, and in the latter half, I also worked on some tasks for RSSHub and RSSHub Radar, preparing for some changes in the company in 2024.
xLog development is in full swing (related Twitter list), successfully hosting a $10,000 creator incentive event, attracting a large number of excellent creators. At its peak, there were even more than a dozen community developers contributing code every week to improve xLog, completing countless features. Now, over 3,000 creators have published more than 26,000 high-quality contents on it.
RSSHub has restructured its documentation to make it easier to maintain, and it has been transformed to prioritize English as the primary language; RSSHub Radar has been completely rewritten with a more modern architecture, Plasmo, making it more visually appealing, stable, and easier to maintain, and it can automatically publish to major app stores. Now, the official instance of RSSHub handles over 300 million requests per month, with over 15 million downloads on Docker, and RSSHub Radar has nearly 90,000 weekly active users.
📙 Writing#
This year, I was also very productive in writing.
I seriously wrote 9 blog posts:
- 2022 Year-End Summary
- Do You Want to Dance?
- Three Dystopian Anime That Break My Heart
- I Have Software Update Obsession
- April New Anime Is Amazing! Blowing Up!
- Saying No to Newsletters
- Integrating a Cross-Platform Portfolio into the Blog
- Using Cloudflare WARP Elegantly to Tackle RSSHub Anti-Scraping Challenges
- Easily Create Ten Thousand Twitter Accounts
I posted 243 tweets on Twitter.
🎥 Audio and Video#
This year, I released two vlogs on Bilibili, and I accumulated a lot of material while traveling. At least six videos are still unedited, which is quite embarrassing.
“Girlfriend's Bathroom Contemplation, Abnormal Recording”
“UK Travel VLOG | Edinburgh Christmas”
I recorded a podcast titled “Talking with DIYgod, the Author of xlog.app, about Blockchain, Blogging Platforms, Frontend Learning, and Life Insights.”
https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/episode/645a76f67d934b85051081c8
🎊 2024#
⭐️ OKR#
-
O1: In excellent health
- KR1: Body control, body weight 70kg and body fat 17%
- KR2: Early to bed and early to rise, 12:00-8:00
- KR3: Healthy Eating, light and less, increase the proportion of white meat and reduce the sugar
- KR4: More exercise, at least 3 times per week
-
O2: Highly productive like a sow
- KR1: Blog, at least 1 blog per month
- KR2: Vlog, publish the 6 vlogs from last year
-
O3: Knowledge overflows my brain
- KR1: Reading, at least 7 hours per week
- KR2: Professional learning, at least 5 hours per week
- KR3: English learning, at least 5 hours per week
-
O4: I am Franklin
- KR1: Guarantee 1 virtue per week
- KR2: Record virtue status daily
-
O5: Run like clockwork
- KR1: Write bullet journal daily
- KR2: Bookkeep weekly and monthly
- KR3: Do things on a daily schedule
-
O6: Writing code is like writing the poem of life
- KR1: Focused work for at least 7 hours per day
- KR2: Actively maintain and contribute to open source projects for at least 3 hours per week
- KR3: Develop a new RSS reader using Tauri, with comprehensive support for RSSHub and AI
-
O7: Combat inflation
- KR1: Achieve a 10% annual return through simple and healthy financial management strategies
