Weekly Review #18 - Companionship and Another Way of Life

Preface

This piece is a record and reflection of my life from 2022-11-01 to 2022-11-08.

This week marked the first week of living with my cat. Due to the Double 11 shopping festival, I bought many cat facilities and food. With numerous deliveries arriving, I spent about half of my time working from home and receiving packages, which allowed for more bonding time. The cat is incredibly well-behaved. Over the weekend, I took her for a health check-up. Overall, she’s healthy, though there are some concerning indicators regarding her eyes and digestive system. Medication was prescribed for treatment, and we’ll go back for a follow-up next week.

Work-wise, I made good progress this week. Two projects are running concurrently, both with some advancements. I wrote a contract that was deployed to the production environment and created some practical scripts for common daily activities, significantly reducing repetitive and tedious tasks. I’m quite pleased with the outcome.

Companionship

This was the first full week spent with the cat. Concerned about her state when I’m away, I worked from home half the time. When at the office, I frequently monitored her through a camera (though most of the time, it was a non-static image of her napping on a chair, I could still watch for hours). There’s an inexplicable sense of attachment.

I often thought of myself as someone who could handle solitude well, not requiring much companionship. Exploring interesting things or reading books and watching movies seemed sufficient to fill most of my leisure time. But gradually, I realized I was in a state of emotional isolation. Negative emotions slowly accumulated, yet they didn’t affect my normal life and work. Conversely, the joy derived from daily life or work couldn’t offset my negative feelings. Over time, I could sometimes clearly sense my emotional state.

During this week of cohabitation with the cat, I could feel myself relying on this feeling. Holding the cat while in a meeting or watching her play nearby made time flow slowly and beautifully. I slowly realized how long it had been since I last experienced such a feeling.

The bond between humans and cats is truly magical. Despite the language barrier and difficulty in empathizing emotionally, there seems to be a subtle understanding. One entrusts their sense of being needed, while the other quietly accompanies. I also plan to pick up my camera again to capture more of my daily life and the cat’s routines. It seems I have something to look forward to every day now.

Another Way of Life

This week, I had dinner with a senior schoolmate whom I met in Hong Kong and who is now also living in Beijing. We might only meet three or four times a year, but each time brings quite different insights. Perhaps it’s because each time I gain a new perspective on another way of life that I imagine and anticipate.

We are completely different people in terms of experiences and personalities. I have my own areas of focus, and I enjoy the work content itself and many things along this direction and field. It could be said that I’m fortunate in some ways, yet I often wonder what my life would be like if I hadn’t taken this path.

I was originally what you might call a “slash youth”, often learning and experiencing new things. Sometimes it was for the joy of mastering something new, sometimes simply for the immersion in the learning process. Later, I fell into a deep state of confusion, struggling with whether to pursue depth or breadth in knowledge and experience. In the end, I chose a more specialized field, and to some extent, gave up other possibilities.

My senior, on the other hand, is someone who can do her job well while also separating work from personal pursuits. On weekends and during leisure time, she goes rock climbing, dancing, swimming, surfing, boxing, and most importantly, painting. She explores her various interests and hobbies to the fullest, not caring too much about gains and losses, not pondering too much on meaning, but simply enjoying the process while simultaneously enjoying self-completion.

Despite being at an enviable stage in her career and personal development, she enthusiastically told me about her plan to take a gap year next year to attend a one-year full-time program at an art academy to study painting. It’s not for any career change or direction adjustment, but simply because she likes it. For a moment, I couldn’t tell if I was envying her ability to pursue something she “simply likes” to such an extent, or her ability to find such a passion.

Perhaps I’ve also made some transitions at certain stages, whether in academics or career direction. It seems to require a certain kind of courage, but deep down I know I’ve already balanced the costs and gains. It seems I haven’t done anything for my inner pursuit and pure liking for a long, long time. The life my senior is experiencing and practicing is the other kind of life I once aspired to, and it shows me the possibility of another way of living.

Miscellaneous

This section will record some of my inputs and outputs, as well as other things I find interesting.

Input

Books

I received a comment from a reader named seyee:

I’m curious if you actually finish all these books (I don’t mean to question you, it’s just that as a working-class person, I find it amazing to read so many books in a week)

Of course, it’s impossible to read so many books in a week. I have a habit of reading multiple books in parallel, especially for non-fiction books. I might read certain chapters every day, choosing different books based on the time of day and my mood. On average, it takes about two weeks to finish a complete book. However, if I come across an interesting fiction book, I might finish it in an afternoon or evening, or in two or three commuting periods. Most of the books listed are either just finished this week or have had some chapters read.

Regarding reading, I don’t want to pressure or restrict myself with quantity or output. Instead, it serves more as an input channel and, to some extent, a means of relaxation (although I did feel emotional for several days after reading “The Stolen Bicycle”). I try to achieve a kind of emotional balance. It’s also because of the pressure from work and various aspects that I take refuge in books, movies, and other media. It’s more like my own pure land.

• My Profession is a Novelist, currently reading.
• Common Sense, currently reading.
• The Art of Self-Learning, I don’t particularly like books that focus on tools and techniques, like “How to Read a Book”, but there are indeed many useful experiences to draw from. This book has been popular recently, so I’ve just started reading it, hoping to find some methodological references.
• What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, I discovered it’s by the author of those stick figure comics. It really addresses many questions I was curious about as a child.

TV Series

• Hacking Google, surprisingly good pacing. Although it doesn’t delve into technical details, it clearly presents various links in the security chain. Very inspiring.
• Peripheral, currently watching, but the pace seems to have slowed down from the third episode. However, I’ll probably finish it.