diff --git a/src/content/places.json b/public/places.json similarity index 100% rename from src/content/places.json rename to public/places.json diff --git a/src/content/blog/0ea1b06f-9357-49db-9d09-371a4192c437.mdx b/src/content/blog/0ea1b06f-9357-49db-9d09-371a4192c437.mdx new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c448e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/content/blog/0ea1b06f-9357-49db-9d09-371a4192c437.mdx @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +--- +lastEditedTime: '2024-12-20T07:51:00.000Z' +published: '2024-05-21' +Last edited time: '2024-12-20T07:51:00.000Z' +description: '' +path: '/blog/china-2024' +tags: '' +public: 'true' +slug: 'china-2024' +title: 'China is funny' +--- +import { Image } from 'astro:assets'; + + +Last month, I visited China for the first time in eight years. + +For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about how funny everything was. Maybe there’s another word, but that’s the term that kept coming back to me. + +Maybe it was the fact that the architecture and planning just seems so random. It seems like they just parodied American suburbanism with tons of cars and ten-lane roads with massive crosswalks. + +Or, maybe it was hearing the conspiracy theories that my uncle learned about on Douyin (Chinese TikTok). Ideas that echoed white supremacy ideas, but for Chinese people, like humans originated in China and that Chinese people are inherently smarter than other races. + +Or, maybe it was watching my cousin roast the hell out of my uncle for believing the grifter on Douyin that spewed these ideas. My cousin also talked about some of the weaknesses of the Chinese government, which caused great disappointment to my uncle (which he admitted to me as we bought some lottery tickets). + +It was definitely the massive plaza (guang chang) that you could only access via underpasses where a bunch of old men were spaced out playing saxophones and other wind instruments. (When we asked a man why there were so many out there, he hypothesized that it was too stuffy inside their apartments.) + +
+ + +I think the humor of my time in China came from the idea that humor is the “subversion of expectations.” I think I was surprised at how developed China had become—it’s now extremely clean, perception of safety is super high, half the cars on the road seem to be electrical vehicles, public transit is clean and reliable, and they are building literally everywhere. It’s honestly impressive what can be done when labor is cheap, there’s a desire to make places better, and there’s a lot of people to actually do the work. I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that Chinese people aren’t as brainwashed as I thought they were. + +Yet, I was also surprised how stagnant the culture was. I think China is still pretty poor. I saw some habits that really annoyed me like: tons of smoking, shitty air quality (it’s improved but even NYC air feels fresh compared to some smaller Chinese cities near mountains), and people just pushing to get places (lining up seems to be a foreign concept). Most of the music and cultural references seemed to be based on Western media (a lot of ringtones are still American songs, heard some Taylor Swift blasting in a park). + +
+ + +Of course, there were parts that weren’t as funny. My grandparents are aging, and I felt like the language gap hindered me from having real conversations with my relatives. Many times, I could just sit there passively and smile and nod when I couldn’t understand things. + +
+ + +This has probably been one of the most exciting trips I’ve been on in a while. I can’t wait to go back. + +
+ diff --git a/src/content/blog/2e5865fd-933a-42a3-bb5c-8bf51682c998.mdx b/src/content/blog/2e5865fd-933a-42a3-bb5c-8bf51682c998.mdx index 8475a7e..81c6b64 100644 --- a/src/content/blog/2e5865fd-933a-42a3-bb5c-8bf51682c998.mdx +++ b/src/content/blog/2e5865fd-933a-42a3-bb5c-8bf51682c998.mdx @@ -1,6 +1,7 @@ --- -lastEditedTime: '2023-02-01T06:24:00.000Z' +lastEditedTime: '2024-12-29T04:27:00.000Z' published: '2023-01-31' +Last edited time: '2024-12-29T04:27:00.000Z' description: '' path: '/blog/software-eng' tags: '' @@ -11,6 +12,41 @@ title: 'How I got into software engineering' import { Image } from 'astro:assets'; +From as early as I could remember, I always enjoyed tinkering with things. I loved unscrewing my toys to discover how they worked and attempting to put them back together (most of them didn’t work after). + +
+ + +In middle school, computers started to become much more available. We had classes that introduced us to Scratch and HTML. Many of my friends had game consoles, some had access to decent family computers, while others were already building their own PCs. Most importantly, they all had access to video games like Minecraft and Call of Duty. And, I did not. + +
+ + +That all seemed to change when my dad brought home a used Lenovo ThinkPad T500 laptop. Finally, with access to my own machine, I was ready to play with my friends and become the greatest Minecraft “Let’s Play” YouTuber. But after downloading the game, my dreams were quickly shattered. My shitty laptop simply couldn’t run the game. + +
+ + +However, not all hope was lost. Around the same time, my dad also bought a Lenovo IdeaPad K1 tablet for family use. I had never used a device like this with a large touch screen and a weird thing called Android. But it didn’t matter, because I could finally access Minecraft… Pocket Edition… Free trial. Close enough. + +
+ + +I remember weekend ski trips where I would make sure to keep the app open at all times so that my world wouldn’t get deleted. + +Eventually, either through Google Play Rewards or some very nice asking, I was able to get the full edition of MC:PE. But it wasn’t enough. Through the magic of the internet, I found myself on Minecraft Forums, Twitter, and YouTube, where people were editing in items that weren’t officially released yet. + +
+ + +
+ + +BEFORE + +
+ + It all started around when my dad brought home a Lenovo IdeaPad K1 tablet and a used ThinkPad T500. I fell in love with the mobile game Minecraft: Pocket Edition (MC:PE). My obsession with the game resulted in me creating a Twitter account to tweet at an MC:PE developer.
diff --git a/src/content/blog/acf4f09e-a675-451c-84df-e3dfd7233533.mdx b/src/content/blog/acf4f09e-a675-451c-84df-e3dfd7233533.mdx index 262c4b6..2a5dd65 100644 --- a/src/content/blog/acf4f09e-a675-451c-84df-e3dfd7233533.mdx +++ b/src/content/blog/acf4f09e-a675-451c-84df-e3dfd7233533.mdx @@ -1,6 +1,7 @@ --- -lastEditedTime: '2024-02-26T05:59:00.000Z' +lastEditedTime: '2024-07-29T01:36:00.000Z' published: '2024-02-19' +Last edited time: '2024-07-29T01:36:00.000Z' description: 'My personal opinions on boba shops' path: '/blog/boba' tags: 'opinion' @@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ for reference, my go to orders at most places are: - gong cha - biao sugar - teazzi - tbd + - mung bean smoothie was really good - onezo - tbd - alley - tenren