Preface

Time spins like a wheel
History flows like a river
A full 365 days of wind and rain
2017 was anything but ordinary
Through spring, summer, autumn and winter; through rain, snow, wind and frost
Through mountains and valleys; through rises and falls

Another year has passed, and I have to hand in my year-end summary on schedule as a matter of routine. To avoid being unconventional, I’ll try not to waste words. (talk is cheap, show me the code!)

Looking Back at 2017

The key events of this year are mainly as follows:

• Technology
• Buying an apartment
• Work
• Calligraphy
• Reading
• Sports
• Driver’s license

Technology

The only thing that gave me a little sense of accomplishment this year was building my own tech blog, where I can record my technical growth and the bits and pieces of life.

Since I set up the blog at the beginning of the year, I’ve published 45 posts so far.

As my About page says, I don’t set too high a bar for its quality — I just try to record technical and life lessons that are easy to forget. Even though readers may not pay much attention, I myself treasure them like a collection of prized possessions, because after all, this is a fortune. When I look back at this year-end summary a few years from now, I hope I can say I didn’t regret wasting my years, nor feel ashamed of doing nothing.

I’m a 90s kid who doesn’t enjoy playing video games. Only by checking the stats dashboard every day do I get back a bit of motivation to work.

This year’s technical work was mostly centered on multimedia — every day I wrestled with audio and video. In the first half of the year I was developing a TCP-based chat app called 百度Hi for mac. Of course, to that CEO — obsessed with AI, bent on self-driving cars, whose products never landed well, and who could never retain core engineers — I handed in my resignation. In the second half of the year I devoted myself to short-video multimedia development: Open GL, GPUImage, AV Foundation…… grinding away (kengchi!). As of writing this post, I’ve just finished the last page of AV Foundation. After working on technology for so long, I’ve come to feel deeply that some fields need persistent cultivation — you can’t blindly follow trends; you have to stay grounded.

28 years old, a 90s kid. This year I felt no real sense of achievement in technology. Instead, I have this reflection:

Maybe the greats are all destined, and unfortunately, I wasn’t.

Buying an Apartment

This was the most unexpected major event I went through in 2017.

Looking at Houses

This story starts from the National Day holiday in 2016, when I went back to Harbin to look at houses.

From Harbin Wanda Plaza, I walked along Harbin Avenue to Qunli, then walked all the way back — together with a close high school roommate.

The route was roughly like this:

According to my later calculation, I walked at least 18 km every day.

So I came up with a list of house-hunting tips:

Note: Why do I recommend an e-bike plus running shoes? Because while house hunting I found that some areas are so spread out that a car is best, while in some compact areas there’s nowhere to park. Especially in unfinished plots — you go there and it’s dusty and muddy everywhere. If you drive, you’re either washing the car or wasting time; at high speed you can’t tell which place is which; stop-and-go driving is inconvenient in my view. A motorcycle is too big. Only an e-bike fits best — one person rides, one person looks, and you check wherever something is unclear. But you need an e-bike with a long battery range. As for running shoes — house hunting means a lot of walking, up and down stairs, from this unit to that compound. Without a comfortable pair of shoes, you’ll know what it feels like after a morning of walking.

Unfortunately, I had no car — just a pair of legs and a pair of new balance running shoes. Walking 18 km a day, maybe the insole was too comfortable: my feet got rubbed red but didn’t blister. I secretly praised my own cleverness for not wearing other shoes. But before I could be happy for long, I found the insole was nearly worn through. So my advice for house hunting: watch your mouth, bring enough water, move your legs — and don’t eat too much.

These are just my personal opinions.

Time reached January 2017; I went home for Chinese New Year.

I took that opportunity to visit a few more developments and found:

Housing prices rose from 8k to 1w, most notably at Evergrande Junting. During the National Day holiday there were still some good layouts; after the holiday they basically vanished. All that remained were crappy layouts — either blocking light or with cramped floor plans.

Harbin Hukou and Beijing Housing Fund

I’m a coder drifting in Beijing — I went straight to Beijing after graduating from university. My hukou isn’t registered in Harbin. Based on what I learned from asking around after visiting most of the sales offices, here’s how the housing fund works:

1. To use Beijing’s housing fund in Harbin, you must have a Harbin hukou.
2. To get a Harbin hukou, you must buy a house, or have a collective hukou through employer acceptance, etc.
3. To buy a house in Harbin with Beijing's housing fund, you must have a Harbin hukou — nowhere else will accept it.

Writing this, I really want to curse, but to maintain the demeanor of a Confucian scholar, I held back. I have to say, this is a chicken-or-egg problem.

If rural hukou holders want to become Harbin citizens because each of us rural folk is allotted a piece of land, then I’d ask the government to take back my land and change my hukou to Harbin. If that lousy plot could make me rich, why would I have left home to drift in Beijing?

Planning to Buy During the Spring Festival

Clearer original image

Going home for the New Year, my mind wasn’t really on the holiday — my mood was conflicted. After the seventh day of the new year, I went back to work in Beijing. My hometown is Hailun, Suihua.

During the two months back in Beijing, I had no motivation to work at all. So I called my parents.

I said the most resolute words I’ve ever said.

On the phone I told my parents: “I’m in Beijing, more than 1,200 km from Harbin. Should I travel a thousand miles to look at houses, or should you go? I only have two days off on weekends — even if I go, I’d have at most half a day to look. You’re at home with nothing to do and so close to Harbin — why not go check out some houses for me?” (My parents went out to work every year.)

My parents really took these words to heart and felt the same way.

So the two of them got moving and made two trips to Harbin in a week. Since there were no relatives in Harbin, they had to go and come back to Hailun each time.

My words played a decisive role. On Friday they called and told me they’d taken a liking to Aida 88. Come back!

Right Time Right Place Right People

Buying a house is absolutely a matter of the right time, the right place, and the right people.

That week while my parents looked at houses for me, I basically had no mood to work either. My boss (manager) could see how I was feeling — I could tell. In the end, he gave me a week off to go home and buy the house.

Because that week I was preparing income certificates for various banks, printing bank statements for loan templates from various Harbin banks, housing fund documents, etc.

To take Beijing’s housing fund out for a down payment, I had to withdraw from the Beijing housing fund system. Which essentially means leaving Beijing. In plain terms, I had to quit my job.

This experience is unforgettable to this day. At the time, I was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Flying Home to Buy the House

One morning in March 2017 at 5 a.m., a Saturday. Weather: light smog. Location: on the way to Terminal 2 of Beijing Capital International Airport.

The Didi Chuxing car I’d booked the night before was already waiting downstairs. My better half and I did a final check: hukou booklet, ID card, income certificates from various banks issued by the company’s HR department, various bank cards, bank statements…… All confirmed. Let’s go.

The driver on the way was a chatterbox.

He asked, “Where are you headed!”
I said, “Going home to look at houses.”

…

He said, “The house our Beijing government allocated to us cost only 3,000-something per square meter, not too far from the subway.”
I said, “Beijing people are lucky… the country takes such good care of you.”

…

He said, “Alas, it’s these migrants who drove up housing prices. Otherwise ours could’ve been even cheaper!”
I said, “…What more do you want — count your blessings!”

He said: “&%&*#$#&#$#^#$^!”

…

I couldn’t even be bothered to argue with him.

Those self-important Beijingers — if you came to rent in Harbin with your Beijing hukou, I’d rent my place to you at double the price. Don’t like it? Go back to Beijing. The Ice City isn’t too fond of you Beijing natives who got your privileges and still aren’t satisfied.

Finally arrived at the airport. The smog seemed to have cleared quite a bit.

China Eastern’s plane was already waiting on the tarmac for check-in (check-in is where you pick your seat) and boarding.

Printed the ticket…

Waited a long time and realized I’d arrived too early. But arriving early was unavoidable — with Beijing’s traffic, I’d rather show up three hours early than trust a taxi. The subway detour is way too long.

I saw on the ticket that the plane would arrive in Harbin at 9:58.

…

Boarding pass check…
Boarding…

7:59

Takeoff (It took half an hour to take off — I was speechless. Don’t tell me it’s delayed. Trains are always late, and now even planes are late — I’m done.)

When the plane took off and rose over Beijing, the smog was gone. What appeared before my eyes was the Great Wall of our motherland (if they’d played “My Chinese Heart” at that moment, you’d recall the lyrics — the Yangtze River… the Great Wall…). If climbing the Great Wall felt boring, then when you look down at it from a plane, I think you’ll see it with a different heart — a feeling absolutely unprecedented. You can try it if you get the chance, but it has to be in great weather, just as the sun rises in the east. Later I realized: if you’re a returnee talent, imagine how you’d feel seeing the motherland’s Great Wall (your plane descending into the capital’s international airport, gazing at the long-awaited Great Wall).

My intuition told me then: today is a good omen. Buying the house should be a sure thing.

The plane flew over Liaoning’s airspace. I spotted what looked like a J-15 fighter jet with a missile under its belly, flying straight south… probably on its daily mission. Right after that, the snow-covered plains stretched out in full view.

I deliberately observed the snow thickness: it started as a light dusting over the ground… increased gradually over Jilin… and by Harbin, it was really thick.

The flight itself was only about an hour…

If I said Harbin Airport was the shabbiest airport I’d ever seen, I’d be wrong. If I told you you’d see a patch of cornfield and a few utility poles, the runway’s concrete frozen solid, bruised-looking — and only after looking closely would you realize this is the runway planes land on — you might not believe me. But this plane could take off and land normally in such harsh conditions. Landing took half an hour. That pilot, who knows what he was doing — the descent speed was pathetically slow. The villages and hamlets around Harbin were all clearly visible. Oh, the feeling at that moment. I can only say it was my first time flying back to Harbin, and I didn’t know how desolate the area around Taiping Airport was.

After landing, I summed it up:

The total trip was two hours, but the actual flight was only an hour — half an hour taking off, half an hour landing. What can I say? Perfectly on time. For this flight, I give you 101 points.

Took a bus to Haxi…

Got off the bus, passed by the East Plaza of Haxi Station, and headed straight for the Aida sales office.

A miracle happened.

I spat — perfectly aimed. Along the marble with a drain gap in the plaza, the spittle went straight into the sewer. It landed right in, without even touching the edge. Just that accurate. I was stunned at the moment. Too bad I was in a hurry and didn’t take a photo.

This really happened. My intuition told me: how could this be so on point? Unbelievable. Looks like the house deal will go through today.

When I arrived at the Aida sales office, my parents were already waiting for me there.

My parents asked if I wanted to look around the area. I said no need — just pick a layout as quick as slicing vegetables and buy it.

So we paid the deposit cleanly and promptly, went home to handle the marriage formalities, and scraped together the money.

A reminder to everyone at this point: afterward I realized the layout I chose has no balcony — it has bay windows by the look of it.

Aida 88, Building 1, Unit 1, 12th floor — three bedrooms, two living rooms, one bathroom — 124.7 sqm, at a price of 10,800/sqm then.

Here’s a photo of the topping-out. Thanks to Sister Hong for providing it:

In the past few years, my route home was like this:

From Beijing by subway to Beijing Railway Station –> Harbin Station –> Hailun Station –> coach (bus) –> Second Seed Farm
The whole trip is about 1,455 km. To put it bleakly, the bus ride back to the village has no navigation on any map — the route simply doesn’t exist. To Hailun, about 40 km or so.

If we’re talking about after the apartment is delivered, my route should be like this:

From Beijing by subway to Beijing Railway Station –> Harbin West Station, and that’s it — a 5-minute walk and I’m home.

For these 265 km (Harbin minus the distance to rural Hailun), I’ve been striving for at least 4 years, and I’ll keep striving until the mortgage is paid off.

The Loan

After going home and handling everything, the most infuriating thing happened.

I paid a down payment of 610k+ and took a loan of 600k. Harbin Bank is the most [bleep] bank I’ve ever seen. My bank statements already exceeded two months of the monthly payment, but they still demanded that my girlfriend’s statements meet the same standard as mine. I was grinding my teeth at Harbin Bank in disgust. In the end, I got a commercial loan from China Merchants Bank to buy the house. At this point, I want to say: if you can meet this bank’s standards, you’re not far from the middle class — you’re already well-off among the well-off.

Here I’ll mention a few traps:

1. Bank statements for the loan must be printed on site. If your statements are fake, don’t go for the loan — you’ll gain nothing and lose everything.
2. If your repayment ability isn’t enough, you need a co-signer. They’re required to prepare the same materials as you. This basically means relying on relatives. Unfortunately, the relative in my family who could do it already had a loan.
3. When taking out a loan, the loan officer always recommends various wealth-management products. Don’t buy them, trust me.
4. The bank account for the loan must have a deposit covering at least three months of repayment.

I got screwed by rule 4. After paying the down payment, saying I was penniless would be an exaggeration, but I had at most 2,000+ yuan. After covering the travel costs for two people back to Beijing, we could barely afford food and lodging. And they still wanted me to deposit 30,000? Isn’t that ridiculous? In the end, I borrowed some money from a good friend and my sister and deposited it. Sigh, what absolute nonsense.

I’ve gone back to pre-liberation days. What more do they want from me?

At this point, I think a country where even the most basic housing for ordinary people is a problem is no longer a good country.

Note: After the bank disburses the loan, be sure to go to the sales office and ask for the invoices. Only the down-payment invoice + the balance invoice = the property title. If either of the two invoices is missing, you may not get the title deed. The annoying part is that the salespeople at the office don’t tell us owners about this. (Updated 2018/02/28)

Completing All the Purchase Procedures

There’s a feeling called “a weight lifted off one’s shoulders” — that’s what it’s like after buying a house and getting the loan. Waiting for approval and finally becoming a full-fledged mortgage slave — that passage describes me. A stone in my heart finally landed.

In April, I received the approval contract from China Merchants Bank. The bank required it to be picked up in person — or an agent could pick it up with the owner’s ID card and the agent’s ID card. So I asked a friend from elementary, middle, and high school to help me retrieve the loan contract from the Aijian branch and mail it to me in Beijing.

My parents didn’t contribute much to the house. It was all saved up over these years of hard drifting in Beijing after graduation, enduring the smog, saving with my life. So I don’t envy those parents who hand money to their kids to buy houses.

With that, buying the house came to a close.

If the house is registered under two names, six contracts are signed — one each for the developer, the bank, and each of the two owners.
The ownership is registered in the ratio of whoever signs 51% and whoever signs 49%.

Withdrawing Beijing’s Housing Fund

Withdrawing Beijing’s housing fund requires the following materials:

• Original and photocopy of the purchase contract
• Original and photocopy of the loan contract
• Printed proof of one continuous year or more of tax payments in Beijing
• Original purchase invoice and printed screenshot of the tax query
• Payment receipts for the purchase
• The company’s housing fund withdrawal form
• Department manager’s signed approval
• Personal signed statement affirming the authenticity of the provided materials

After all this is done, the housing fund can be withdrawn on a scheduled basis. Since Baidu, that lousy company, has poor credit, I could only withdraw once per quarter (every 3 months).

After completing the process, the Beijing Housing Fund will return a housing fund scheduled withdrawal record form to us, used as proof for others to withdraw. The next withdrawal must rely on this record form — for example, if my girlfriend wants to withdraw, she must have this record form. Remember, this is very important.

The first payment didn’t arrive until the end of June. The first thing I did was pay back all the money I’d borrowed for the house.

I just can’t figure out why my own housing fund money is so hard to withdraw. Even with all the meetings and paperwork reductions, I found that non-Beijingers are still stuck in the same old rut — only Beijingers can withdraw with ease. With a chest full of anger, I started despising that taxi driver again.

After such complicated procedures, I finally managed to buy an apartment. Thinking about it is truly bitter and helpless — sad and dispirited. Buying a house in China is just this troublesome. To those who’ll buy houses later: prepare for a protracted war, because we’re wrestling wits and guts with the Chinese system.

If you have any questions about my house-buying experience, please leave a comment at the bottom — I’ll answer them one by one.

That’s the end of the house-buying story. I believe my future neighbors are no ordinary people — they must have gone through at least part of what I did: income, status, and so on. Because those who can afford a place in the Aida plot are either rich or influential. I hope my experience and house-buying tips can serve as a reference so you can avoid the detours.

Work

Leaving the Summit of China’s Internet — Baidu

If you’re a young programmer in need of training, I’d recommend Baidu — there you’ll find the soil you need to grow.

The photo above is the office environment — honestly, it’s really nice.

There’s a kind of resignation called “I’ve really had enough”

Leaving Baidu wasn’t so much a loss as it was choosing matters more than effort.

I met many elite peers — people who are either good at everything or achievers on the world’s leaderboards in some field.

I started at Baidu Cloud devices, and later, when the product wasn’t doing well, I transferred to Baidu Netdisk. Yes — the iOS Baidu Netdisk or the macOS Baidu Netdisk you use today has a piece of my development story in it.

Later, feeling the team atmosphere wasn’t great, I moved to Baidu Hi for chat. If you know QQ and WeChat, you might wonder: does Baidu have a chat tool like QQ or WeChat? It does — it’s called Baidu Hi.

In the Hi team, I met a fellow hometown native from Tsinghua University — Brother Tao.

If that sounds impressive, let me tell you the most authentic joke I heard in 2017.

According to Brother Tao:

In his college entrance exam, he scored 149 in math (out of 150). What Brother Tao couldn’t get over was that sometimes even while eating, he’d think about why it wasn’t 150. His paper was spotless, with no wrong answers. Finally, one day he found the answer. He said: “Maybe they deducted a point because the paper was too clean.”

This is the funniest and most authentic joke I heard in 2017. Recalling my own gaokao… forget it. That’s the gap.

Leaving Baidu Hi, I came to a new company — Kingsoft Cloud.

When I joined, ah — looking around, I saw many familiar faces. Turns out a good number of my colleagues were former Baidu colleagues.

Work is work — not much more to introduce.

Calligraphy

This year I bought two calligraphy brushes, spending about 200+ yuan.

But they work really well — a fine horse needs a fine saddle, a fine brush needs good felt.

I was lucky to meet a calligraphy master at Baidu — my fellow hometown native Pan Xu. This guy from Suiling is truly good at everything: he writes code at lightning speed and has excellent calligraphy. He really impresses me, a Hailun native.

This is the memorial to the emperor that Lin Zexu wrote back then about destroying opium at Humen. It’s my ultimate goal in learning calligraphy.

Reading

In literature, I’ve recorded all the books I read and listened to in 2017, and I recommend them to everyone.

• The Despicable Saint: Cao Cao, all parts 1–10 listened to

• The Unity of Knowledge and Action: Wang Yangming

• Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty — Chen Tingjing
  

• The Last Eighteen Years of the Late Qing, parts 1–3

• Learn AV Foundation

That’s about it.

The ones I’d especially recommend are Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty and The Last Eighteen Years of the Late Qing.

A Story Worth Learning from The Last Eighteen Years of the Late Qing

Fukushima Yasumasa (1852–1919), a native of Shinshu, Japan. Governor-General of the Kwantung Governor-General’s Office, Japan’s colonial organ. Army general. Known as the “father of Japanese intelligence warfare.” He was a schemer and strategist with far-sighted vision.

In 1887, Fukushima Yasumasa was appointed Japanese military attaché to Germany. During his five years in Germany, he conducted a detailed survey of the situation in European countries, and Russia’s movements drew his particular attention. Constrained by Britain’s check, Russia’s traditional southward policy was forced to slow down, and Fukushima correctly predicted that Russia would inevitably turn eastward. Sure enough, in January 1891, Russia announced the plan to build the Trans-Siberian Railway and began construction immediately. This railway — connecting the Russian capital St. Petersburg with Vladivostok (Haishenwai), crossing the Eurasian continent — could be called Russia’s greatest weapon for invading Asia. The Trans-Siberian Railway crosses northeast China; a branch extends south from Harbin straight to Lüshun and Dalian, allowing Russia to enter Asia with ease. Fukushima predicted the railway would take about ten years, and he believed those ten years would determine Japan’s survival — Japan absolutely could not stand by idly.

To learn the actual situation of Russia’s eastward policy, Fukushima decided to conduct an on-site reconnaissance along the Trans-Siberian Railway himself. This bold plan immediately received strong support from Vice Chief of General Staff Kawakami Soroku. Since Fukushima’s military identity would expose the purpose of the crossing plan, he publicly announced he would undertake an adventure of riding alone across Siberia during the bitter winter. Even native Russians wouldn’t dare casually claim they could cross Siberia in deep winter, let alone a foreigner with no experience living in freezing regions. The moment Fukushima made this announcement, the world was in an uproar. Western explorers scoffed at his “crossing” plan, and everyone waited to see this Japanese man make a fool of himself. But Fukushima Yasumasa was extremely resolute — he knew full well what this plan meant for Japan.
On February 11, 1892, Fukushima and his beloved horse “Kaisen” set off from Germany on the crossing journey, heading north in the bitter cold of minus 20 degrees Celsius. In late March, after arriving in St. Petersburg, Fukushima sent the Imperial General Headquarters his first intelligence report on the Russian army. By then, the Russian side had vaguely sensed that Fukushima’s “trip” was a case of “brandishing the sword at Xiangzhuang while aiming at the Duke of Pei” — his real intentions lay elsewhere. On April 9, Fukushima left St. Petersburg and arrived in Moscow in late April, where he was received and feasted by the Tsar and Tsarina. After careful investigation, Fukushima submitted a report on the Trans-Siberian Railway construction to the Imperial General Headquarters. In late September, Fukushima reached the border mountains between China and Russia — the Altai Mountains, over 3,000 meters above sea level. Looking far into the distance from the Altai Mountains, all he could see was white snow. At this point, Fukushima had traveled 7,000 km — half the journey done. Fukushima Yasumasa welcomed 1893 during the journey. Late January through February is the coldest period in Siberia, with temperatures reaching minus 50 degrees. Russians almost never went out in such harsh winter, but Fukushima pressed on through the uninhabited frozen wilderness with astonishing willpower. Ultimately, relying on his tenacious perseverance, Fukushima walked out of Siberia. Following the gradually warming Heilongjiang River southward into China, Fukushima Yasumasa spent another two-plus months gathering military intelligence in Aihui, Qiqihar, Jilin, and elsewhere. After more than a year of arduous trekking, Fukushima was exhausted in both body and mind. He finally reached the terminus — Vladivostok. In this crossing of Siberia, Fukushima Yasumasa changed horses at least eight times, spent 488 days, and covered 14,000 km — setting a miracle in the history of intelligence reconnaissance. The Japanese living in Vladivostok welcomed Fukushima’s arrival with wild joy. The whole world was reporting extensively on his solo crossing of Siberia. Fukushima Yasumasa became a world celebrity. Emperor Meiji specially awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class, and personally hosted a banquet in his honor. The first-hand intelligence Fukushima obtained during the crossing became a crucial information guarantee for Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War.

A country’s intelligence work cannot rely on the strength of a few individuals alone; only through long-term cultivation can a vast and effective intelligence network be formed. In this regard, Fukushima was also an old hand.

This Japanese man crossed the Russian Eurasian Far East railway — today’s Moscow » Manzhouli » Qiqihar » Daqing » Harbin » Mudanjiang » Vladivostok international train route for trade with Russia.

Just to gather strategic intelligence, he mapped all the mountains, terrain, landforms, and rivers along the railway (back then there was no Google satellite positioning map) — making full preparations for war.

This man’s will deeply inspired me. If a country wants to invade another, producing one or two talents like him is about all it takes.

The photo below shows the Northeast Army of the late Qing.

Most of these books were listened to as audiobooks, a few read on a Kindle. I’ll keep it up in 2018.

Sports

This year I kept playing badminton consistently.

I joined Kingsoft’s badminton tournament and took third place. Honestly, I was just there for the fun — laugh at me, go ahead.

The Kingsoft folks are a pretty good team.

Driver’s License

This is the thing I think was most worth doing in 2017 — I finally got my driver’s license. When I was in school, my family was too poor to afford it; after starting work, there was no time. Anyway, the result was good.

Here’s a photo of Haidian Driving School.

Let me share my thoughts on getting the license.

Subjects 1, 2, 3, and 4 in one go. Got the license smoothly in 2 months, making a total of 11 trips to the driving school.

That said, I have to admit the capital’s education is really good — the teaching facilities have everything. Indeed, you still have to look to the capital for development.

If you have strong self-esteem, I’d suggest signing up. But if you can’t take being yelled at a few times, then don’t.

2018 Goals

Now that I’ve covered the major events of 2017,

let me list this year’s goals:

• Finish reading Swift 4 Advanced
• Finish reading iOS Core Animation
• Write several blog posts continuing Learn AV Foundation from where I left off
• Learn Python and data mining to lay the groundwork for machine learning
• Venture into the field of AI
• Go deeper into multimedia-related technology
• Raise my English proficiency another level

Alright, that’s all the goals.

Summary

Many events this year happened before I even had time to think about them; some things I wanted to do were rarely accomplished. The blog accumulated quantity but didn’t make a qualitative leap. If I had to end the 2017 year-end summary with a few words, I can only say this:

The strong pass of the long road is truly like iron — yet now we stride across from the very start.