Overall Review#
2021 passed by very quickly, and the whole year was shrouded in the pandemic, always feeling mentally uncomfortable.
This year was a relatively “muddled” year for me, with no clear goals, no direction to strive for, and I was in a somewhat confused state. On the other hand, I was relatively more relaxed and had time to think about some things. At the same time, I also visited some places, read some books, and had some insights.
Places I Visited#
Although there was a pandemic this year, I still managed to take three long trips, going to Qingdao, Xi’an, and Gannan (southern Gansu region).
Qingdao#
I bought China Eastern Airlines’ “Fly Freely” pass at the end of 2020, which was only valid for half a year. I mostly used it to go back to Zhengzhou to see my girlfriend. The first time I used it for travel was in April when I went to Qingdao.
Walking along the coastline, the beautiful scenery of sea and sky was very healing.
I saw someone sitting on a picnic mat by the sea reading a book, which felt very pleasant.
Sunset shot at Xiaomai Island, with many young students having weekend picnics nearby.
Olympic Sailing Center, still very beautiful.
A small shop at the Olympic Sailing Center with an “I Love Qingdao” sign at the door.
Qingdao gives me the feeling of being a very romantic city. Working in the city on weekdays and walking by the sea on weekends to relax is so pleasant. However, I heard that Qingdao is quite cold in winter and has heavy humidity. Since I haven’t experienced it, I won’t comment.
Xi’an#
I went to Xi’an with my girlfriend during the May Day Labor Day holiday. Since we’re in a long-distance relationship and don’t have much time to go out together normally, we chose this holiday to travel. But as expected, there were many people, and it rained heavily on the first day.
Xi’an Drum Tower.
Xi’an’s Muslim Street, where we went to eat biangbiang noodles. The taste was quite good, but a bit oily.
Near the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, also crowded with people. We originally wanted to watch a performance, but it was suspended due to the pandemic, which was very unfortunate.
Tang Dynasty Ever-Bright City, also too crowded to see any performances, so we hurried through.
In short, the Xi’an trip experience was average, and the timing wasn’t great. I’ll come back next time if I have the chance. It’s better to avoid holidays when traveling - high expenses but poor experience.
Gannan#
I went to Gannan in June with the company team building. I had been to western Sichuan before but never here. It felt like the best trip of the year because it was really beautiful, but because Gannan is at a relatively high altitude, I had some altitude sickness symptoms.
As soon as we arrived in Lanzhou, we found a place to eat, of course trying the local grilled lamb skewers.
We stayed at a folk house near Labrang Monastery. Our team rented the entire two-story building, and everyone chatted and played games together at night, which was quite lively.
Driving on the road, looking at the scenery along the way, with music playing in the car.
A viewing platform on the road in Luqu County. There were people selling beef jerky at the entrance, and we bought a lot to take back, bargaining for a long time.
Taken from the Zhagana homestay, it felt incredibly beautiful, as if we had arrived in Switzerland. By the way, China’s western regions still have many beautiful natural landscapes that are no worse than European or other countries’ scenery, they’re just not developed or promoted much.
Huahu Ecological Area. I had never heard of this scenic spot before, but it was really beautiful, like entering a painting. We took many photos here.
The First Bend of the Yellow River. We took a very long escalator up, and the beautiful scenery was all in view. The Yellow River here is really calm and spectacular.
In short, Gannan is a great place. A colleague recommended it in 2017, but I didn’t have the opportunity to go then. It’s very pristine and is a holy place for busy city workers to relax, and there aren’t many people. I’ll bring my girlfriend here to see it in the future.
Books I Read#
In 2021, I had some free time with nothing particularly important to do, so I read some miscellaneous books on weekends.
“Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future”#
A book about Musk’s family background and the journey of founding tech companies, as well as his future ideals. After reading the entire book, I saw that Musk’s success was not accidental. Adventure, never giving up, innovation, sincerity, goals, hard work, connections, family background, intelligence, and a series of other factors contributed to his success.
“In fact, the only meaningful thing to do is to work hard to improve the wisdom of all mankind and strive for a higher level of collective civilization throughout life. This is the meaning of my existence.”
“Upward Growth”#
A book by Jiubian about life issues. There are many useful things, but they need to be digested slowly. After reading it, I felt like I couldn’t remember much. However, there were many words I resonated with. Later, I followed him on Weibo and Toutiao, and the article quality is very high. I’m quite impressed.
“We Three”#
This book is about the life of Mr. Yang Jiang’s family. Although it felt a bit confusing at first, I became more and more interested as I read on and finished it in one go. The background is the complex and chaotic era of the last century, narrating the separations and reunions of a family of three from a micro perspective. It’s very warm and thought-provoking.
“Let Time Accompany You to Get Rich Slowly”#
A book by Li Xiaolai about dollar-cost averaging. After reading it, the conclusion is: whether it’s micro finance or macro life, we can’t see the trends clearly, so what we can do is to dollar-cost average. Dollar-cost averaging here is not just about investment products like stocks and funds, but also includes our lives. Continuous learning is also dollar-cost averaging. Dollar-cost averaging is the best practice strategy for “active passivity.”
“The Metaverse”#
A book that chases trends. The author wrote it quickly, and I read it relatively quickly. Basically, it’s about understanding what the metaverse is.
The eight basic characteristics of the metaverse: Identity, Friends, Immersive, Low Friction, Variety, Anywhere, Economy, and Civility. Based on Baszucki’s standards, “metaverse” = creation + entertainment + display + social + transaction, where people can achieve deep experiences in the “metaverse.”
“Understanding Funds - My Investment Philosophy and Practice (Revised Edition)”#
I bought some funds this year and always felt like I had a half-understanding of fund investment. I wanted to find a book to learn systematically. This book was written relatively early by the author, but the basic knowledge of funds doesn’t change, so it still has reference value.
Rank funds of the same type according to risk-adjusted returns, with the highest returns ranked first. The top 10% of funds are awarded five stars, the next 22.5% are awarded four stars, the next 35% are awarded three stars, the next 22.5% are two stars, and the last 10% are one star.
Investing in funds is financial management, not getting rich.
In the long run, the market is upward, and we make money by investing in enterprises.
Investment philosophy: I will repeatedly emphasize risk and long-term investment. Risk is inevitable, and only long-term investment can reduce these risks. Predicting the market is definitely not a good idea.
Work and Learning#
At work, I felt very busy throughout 2021, with many overtime days. Overall, I felt like this year was focused on company business, with much less attention to technology. This is also a question I’ve been thinking about recently: what is the future direction of technical growth? This is also a manifestation of my confusion about technology in 2021. Maybe I’ve reached a bottleneck period, feeling uninterested in any technology and thinking there’s nothing to study. It could also be that I’m too immersed in work and haven’t paid attention to community technology updates for too long, leading to losing enthusiasm for pursuing technology.
In short, I need to adjust my mindset in 2022. Find new directions to study and strive to output something.
Besides technology, English learning is also progressing gradually. I bought New Concept English 3 to review and consolidate my English listening and reading. Although the learning progress is a bit slow, I still hope I can persist.
Finally#
The above is my 2021 summary. I originally felt that 2021 was relatively mediocre, but this year felt neither fast nor slow. I visited some places and read some books. Overall, it was still a relatively fulfilling year.
That’s all.