Let me see who it is. When synchronizing the blog modification records, I uploaded an empty document again. It's just a summer with only three headings. How silly.
At the end of June, I moved back to the dormitory from my workstation for a week. It felt like a vacation, and I was extremely lazy.
I Heard the Cicadas Singing!#
Have you heard the cicadas singing? Have you had some delicious watermelon? Summer is really here!
But summer is really like a sauna as soon as you step out of the dormitory. During the week I moved back to the dormitory, the sun wanted to purify me when I went out for lunch at noon.
The first thing I did after finishing my meal and returning to the dormitory was, of course, turning on the air conditioner. I immediately felt refreshed!
BTW, I really like being in a small space, pulling the dormitory curtains halfway up, creating a dim and dark scene. It makes me feel great whether I'm studying or gaming, immersed in my own little world.
In the evening, as the sun gradually showed signs of ending the workday, it wasn't as scorching hot anymore. After dinner, I would go buy watermelon! To enjoy a delicious watermelon, I had to walk for ten minutes. I would buy my favorite melon and return to the air-conditioned room to savor it spoon by spoon.
On the way there, passing through the West Gate, I faintly heard the cicadas singing. It was a pleasant surprise. Oh, it's summer. (Their sound will become much louder in July.)
An Art Class Eight Years Later#
This semester, our branch participated in a volunteer activity. Last week, two classmates and I went to an event for children with Down syndrome organized by Alipay.
After arriving downstairs at Alipay, I sighed at how high the educational requirements have become for companies like Alibaba and miHoYo in order to quickly screen candidates. It will be difficult to get in in the future, but that's beside the point.
After wandering around for a while, we saw the children who came to participate in the event at 4:30. When I saw the children with Down syndrome, I was stunned.
The person in charge said that today we would be painting with them. Most of these children have difficulty concentrating, so it would be great if we could take good care of them during the two hours.
After distributing the paintbrushes and colors, a little boy sat in front of me. He was as dark-skinned as I was when I was young. It was clear that he was much more severe than the other children today.
After sitting down, he looked around anxiously, holding a photo tightly in his hand. "What's your name, little friend? Let's paint a picture together today," I said to him. He continued to look around and ignored me. I became speechless...
I looked at the girl next to me and the person in charge, desperately seeking help. Help, help...
The person in charge told me to draw an outline for them and help them with coloring. I looked at how easily he communicated with the children and admired his communication skills. The children must be familiar with him and willing to talk to him. Meanwhile, I felt extremely awkward.
After I drew an outline of a crane, I couldn't help but laugh and cry at myself. I looked at the girl from the art school next to me... She helped me draw an outline, which was a great help!
In the following hours, I comforted the children while holding the boy's hand to color. Today, it felt like I was taking an art class after eight years.
The two hours passed in awkwardness, but with the help of the girl from the art school, we finished coloring a painting. Here it is:
During this process, one parent stayed with their child the whole time, reminding the child to concentrate and listen to the volunteers. At first, the child happily sat down and painted quietly. From an observer's perspective, I felt that this child was quite normal. However, after a while, she walked away to play and couldn't settle down to do anything. The parent couldn't help but laugh and cry, but when he saw his daughter finish a painting, he smiled with satisfaction.
In contrast, there was another parent, the father of the child I was facing. When he came over, it was probably after work, and he was tired and impatient with his child. I stood far away, wanting to show him what his son had drawn today (although most of it was drawn by me), and wanted him to praise his own child... But this father, with his tired body, hurriedly took his child away...
Thinking about living in Shanghai and having a child with Down syndrome, it must be very helpless. On one hand, you have to face the pressures of life, and on the other hand, you have to raise your child. As I go through one stage after another, I really feel that adults seem invincible, yet they are like shelled oysters that can be pierced precisely at a certain moment.
It's not easy to spend time guiding children and hoping that they can live a normal life. It's also not easy for the father who rushed over with his tired body to pick up his child.
I consider myself a selfish person and dare not imagine the future.
Mundane Daily Life#
This month, I read two books, both of which I finished reading on the subway. They were both written by Qingshan Qihui: "Wind" and "Good Weather for a Person."
I brought my headphones with me when I went out and opened my cup of instant noodles on the subway. Maybe the books themselves weren't long, but I finished reading both of them during two trips. I secretly celebrated that I achieved my KPI for this month.
I have also read similar books written by other Japanese authors. If you mention the book titles, I might know them, but I may have forgotten most of the content. However, during the process of reading, I am always moved by the ordinary and mundane lives depicted in the books. It makes me quiet down while reading.
In addition, I recently watched "Re: Life," and I have only watched up to the fourth episode so far. The female protagonist learns that she can only be reborn as an anteater in her next life after a car accident. She goes through her life again to accumulate good karma and be a better person in her next life.
Clearly, many things can be foreseen and changed. The worldline will also remain unchanged due to some small details. In this process, the female protagonist tries to accumulate as much merit as possible...
Oh, I forgot to mention that it's a Japanese drama, just like the books. When the mundane aspects of daily life are projected in front of us, we feel how beautiful they are, but when we experience them ourselves, we tend to overlook many things. In anime, in books, in Japanese dramas, the Japanese aesthetics, the blue sky and sea, the sound of cicadas, wind chimes, and watermelons, all contribute to my longing for a beautiful summer.
In reality, going out without air conditioning and eating make me sweat profusely, which is a big slap in the face.
When I rarely go out, I prefer taking the subway. Of course, I enjoy my meal! A senior intern treated me to a shabu-shabu buffet.
Here's the report:
- 35 plates of beef for three people
- 40 peeled shrimp
- A stack of tripe
- Two plates of crayfish (my personal achievement)
- ...
The soup base was really, really sweet, to the point that even those who love sweets couldn't handle it. But when dipped in chicken broth, it had a pleasant surprise!
In June, I also went out with my roommates to watch "The Flash." Doing something special and putting off other things temporarily is a great way for me to relieve stress. Overall, as a cloud player, I am very satisfied.
That's all for my ramblings in June. Summer is here, so enjoy some icy watermelon and cold water~