During the New Year holiday, we took a three-day self-driving trip.

It began with a short getaway to Shijingshan with just Hamer and me. After Xiaoyan was discharged from the hospital in time, the trip continued as a family journey to the hot springs in Changping—relaxed and joyful.

While Hamer and I were debating whether she should brush her teeth and getting ready for bed, we suddenly thought about going down to the river. So we went out after all, set off a few small fireworks, and welcomed the New Year in that simple way.

Happy New Year

It was much colder this morning than in the past few days. While riding the electric scooter, the wind hit my face head-on, leaving it aching from the cold.

Xiaoyan had surgery yesterday, and at first we both treated it lightly, thinking it was no different from a previous endoscopy. Even so, it was still surgery, with anesthesia, risks, and recovery. The seriousness only really settled in when she entered the operating room and I waited outside. She stayed calm the whole time, which helped. After weeks of intense work, this felt like an unexpected pause—a chance, at year’s end, for her to rest in a different way.

Recent personal best: A marathon-length journey across Beijing!

Hamer woke up a little earlier than usual this morning. After tossing and turning for a while, she said she wanted to check for presents. She padded into the living room and returned a moment later, announcing with quiet certainty that Santa had really brought her a Little Genius watch.

Merry Christmas

It’s too cold to take an e-bike ride in the winter in Beijing if you forget to bring a pair of gloves.

Before going to the bathroom in the morning, Hamer deliberately ran to the windowsill to check whether it had snowed. Seeing nothing. When we were ready to leave for school and stepped outside, we noticed snow resting on the electric scooter. It turned out the snow had fallen quietly overnight.

This morning, I tried to do Hamer’s bun hairstyle. At first, I wasn’t sure how to make it work. Then I tried putting on a hair net first, and to my surprise, it worked—though it was a bit loose. I had failed many times before and could never get the hair to stay up.

The weather was great today, and I made a spontaneous decision to go for a run in the afternoon. I ran along the eastern side of the Second Ring greenway all the way to the Temple of Heaven to meet Xiaoyan and Hamer, who were watching a ballet performance.

Beijing saw its first snowfall of the year today. What began as light snow around noon continued through the evening and slowly built up. By nighttime, the city was covered in white, thick enough to make a snowball fight possible.

Winter’s limited-edition magic: rub back to back, then share a face-to-face kiss — and sparks will fly.

I’m so glad that I went to the gym, even if it was only for 10 minutes, after spending two hours debugging on the Prism module issue without making any progress.

Hamer can also sing a little bit of the “ee…” part.

During these days, I’ve found that ChatGPT feels like my work partner, helping me handle daily tasks, while Claude is more like my personal assistant, helping me reflect on my thoughts about life.

Spotify 2025 Wrapped, 50,314 minutes listened with BIRDS OF A FEATHER as the top song, Messy as the top Album, Taylor Swift as the top Artist.

YouTube 2025 RECAP, The Wonder Seeker with Sporty, Tech-savvy, and Entertained.

Nice catch! I just got the frisbee back from my former teammate, who helped me get it signed two years ago. Time really flies, and I realize how much I miss those frisbee days. 🥏

Hamer is working so hard to finish her homework.

Today is really cold. It’s -6, but feels like -9.🥶

🍿 We watched Zootopia 2 at the cinema this afternoon. Hamer was free. I loved the “A zoo, ooh, ooh” part of the main song, “Zoo.”