I didn’t realize it’s already December before writing this journal—time has flown by.

Hamer woke up early wanting to exercise, but I was too tired, having not slept well. She watched her iPad until I got up around nine, and we decided to go play basketball. We planned for only thirty minutes since we needed to catch a special effects movie at the Science Center. However, we stayed longer, and things got rushed. At home, I reminded Hamer repeatedly that we were late, but she was slow getting ready, and I ended up being stern. We weren’t in the best mood as we left, but talked it out on the way.

We missed the movie but accepted it calmly. Hamer enjoyed learning about the scientists’ names and their birthdates. Afterward, we explored the main exhibit, which was interesting, and ate McDonald’s outside under the sun, like a picnic. Hamer was thrilled with her burger, fries, and Sprite.

In the afternoon, Hamer played at the children’s area while I napped. Afterward, we strolled around and caught a stunning sunset, with half the sky in dark hues and the other side glowing red. Back home, we cooked noodles, and Hamer put on a face mask, curious why kids have them.

On Monday morning, Hamer climbed into our bed early to keep sleeping. Both she and Xiaoyan were too tired to get up since yesterday had been exhausting. It was pretty cold when we left home, and Hamer mentioned that she’d wear her fleece-lined school uniform from now on.

While waiting at home before work, I happened to hear a song by The Carpenters. Xiaoyan said to me, “I taught you how to sing this song, remember?” She asked if I could still recall it. I replied, “Of course I do—it was at the track.” Xiaoyan was really surprised, thinking I wouldn’t remember that detail, and she was delighted. She taught me this song line by line when we were still in school, during one of our first walks on the track after we started dating.

I got to work a bit late today, and after a morning meeting, I didn’t get much done until the afternoon when I finally made some progress.

Later, during a chat with Hamer, she said the happiest part of her day was going to school. That was a big surprise but also made me really happy. School used to be something she dreaded and avoided. I asked her what made her most nervous, and her answer was also school—she still feels tense in class, but it seems she’s getting used to it.

Today was Sprint day, and in the morning, the team reviewed the list of issues needing resolution—most of which came from the external testing team. Though the list was quite long, it felt manageable. My main focus was on handling the mutual exclusivity between G and other functionalities.

As the workday was ending, I started tackling a S123 issue. While discussing with the PE, I realized that a logic error had been made. By 11 p.m., I thought I was close to untangling the issue, but the more I looked into it, the more complex it became. I knew I wouldn’t be able to solve it tonight. I let my colleague go home and decided to stay back and continue working on it until around 1:30 a.m., trying to get as far as I could before calling it a day.

I got home after 10 p.m. tonight, feeling quite satisfied. Most of the G features are complete, and the device connection issues, which had worried me, were mostly resolved thanks to a colleague’s help.

Throughout the morning, my biggest headache was the S123 reading and editing permissions issue. I kept experimenting with my idea of using the REST API to check edit permissions. By 10:30 a.m., I finally got the update and delete logic working, and took a break to relax. Later, I ran into another issue when editing geometry. Adding different layers created permission management problems, which made me anxious. I discussed it with the S123 team and kept thinking about it through lunch. By the afternoon, I managed to solve it, then quickly moved on to address the UI problems I had missed earlier, and finished off the G recording and data display. Without noticing, it was already night, and I worked until 10 p.m.

When I got home, Xiaoyan and Hamer were finishing a dance workout. Around 11 p.m., they went to get ready for bed, while I scrolled my phone aimlessly until I finally went to sleep at 1 a.m.

This morning, I looked for places near home where we could exercise and found some community centers and soccer fields. We got up late and rode to brunch, enjoying bagels, pasta, and fries. During brunch, I saw an open tennis court for the evening and booked it. Afterward, we picked up a tennis racket for Hamer, and she went to her dance class.

While she danced, I explored a nearby community center. The basement gym felt eerie, but once I got familiar with the place, it was better. I ended up in the library and read Scarcity Brain until it was time to get Hamer, who was eager to check out the gym.

Afterward, Hamer did some homework, knowing we planned to hike tomorrow and play tennis later. We struggled a bit with tennis, using an automatic launcher, but Hamer enjoyed using cones to catch the balls. Compared to badminton, tennis felt more challenging, and I considered getting a coach eventually.

After tennis, we went out for dinner, and when we got home, Hamer finished more homework. She then did a dance workout with Xiaoyan while I, exhausted, went to bed early.

Last night, I dreamt about Mr. Zheng. He invited me to join him for dinner.

This morning, as we were heading out, Hamer asked, “Are we late?” It was already 7:45, and she was worried about being scolded by her teacher. She also asked about not eating lunch at school anymore. At the gate, she started crying, saying she didn’t want to arrive that late again.

At lunch, I went out for some testing, taking a walk around the office building. I found several issues and potential improvements. In the afternoon, I revised my work and did more testing on the way home, uncovering even more problems. Testing always seems to reveal something new.

I woke up around 5 a.m., eager to solve the device connection monitoring issue. After searching, I found a useful reference in an old sample, which got me excited to try it out. This issue had been on my mind since my testing yesterday showed I couldn’t properly handle device connections, making the G feature frustrating.

Once at work, instead of diving into the issue, I focused on drafting my 1-on-1 notes for an afternoon meeting with my boss. I ended up writing too much detail, even though I knew it would have been better to just list key points. This slowed me down and kept me locked into a rigid structure. The meeting didn’t go well—I felt like my explanations fell flat. Luckily, my boss was patient and provided feedback, mainly on AI, people, overtime, and leadership.

Afterward, I returned to device management but kept running into issues. Debugging became impossible as the app wouldn’t start, citing a .NET version problem. Despite troubleshooting until the end of the day, I couldn’t solve it. Later, I picked up Hamer, met Xiaoyan at the mall, and treated ourselves to a nice dinner out.

This morning, I took Hamer to try out our new tennis rebound trainer. We changed plans to go to a spacious park near her old kindergarten instead. After warming up with badminton, we started practicing tennis, but the rebound ball was too heavy for her. Switching to a softer ball, Hamer struggled at first to dribble or bounce it. So we decided to use our hands and worked on getting comfortable with the ball and racket, eventually managing to make it fun. By the end, Hamer could bounce the ball five or six times!

On the way back, we ran into Xiaoyan, who was heading out for a facial. Hamer couldn’t decide whether to join her, even as we got home, which made me impatient. She ended up crying, and we called Xiaoyan to pick her up.

Back at home, I got engrossed in the Korean drama “18 Again,” watching until they returned for lunch. In the afternoon, I took Hamer to her dance class, where she handled everything herself—changing clothes and packing up afterward. Later, Xiaoyan and Hamer went out for dinner with a coworker leaving Beijing, while I stayed home, watching the Korean drama.

Our family finally went on a hike today, choosing Baiwang Mountain over the Fragrant Hills, where Hamer and me had gone the previous week. We left around 9 a.m., taking the subway. The hike began with a quick ascent to the top before noon, leaving me initially disappointed by the lack of challenge. However, the day grew more interesting as we descended the northern slope.

There were lots of fun moments: Hamer and Xiaoyan held hands down long stairs, the three of us ran around like kids in an open field, and Hamer attempted a steep slope but got scared midway. We also visited a small pond where Xiaoyan reluctantly fed fish with dropped bread and explored a canyon full of gravel. We even stumbled across a group filming a cheesy but amusing skit.

After the hike, we ate a meal, where I surprisingly ended up eating the most despite snacking all day. Exhausted, we took a cab home, and everyone dozed off. Hamer completed her homework and went to bed, while I lounged on the couch, watching “18 Again” until I fell asleep, eventually deciding to stay there for the night.