when riding a bicycle, since we don't have automatic turn signals and mirrors, we usually rely on hand signals or shoulder checks to indicate direction change

in taiwan, (I think) not everyone knows hand signals, so even those who know might not do it, and doing it is just not comfortable for casual cyclists

but glancing back (shoulder check) can let you check the traffic, make you more noticeble, and indicate your direction, so most people do it before turning

while grabbing some formosa chang and jenjudan on yanping south road, I noticed a student carrying a backpack in pale pink jacket

she was riding a youbike and pulled onto the sidewalk to wait for the light

she got off the bike, looked like she might walk her bike to the cafe ahead, but I thought she was gonna go straight

light turned green, she hopped back on and pedaled across the crosswalk, glanced left a few times, I knew for sure she was actually going straight

I was behind her, hit the brake immediately and gave her space to merge left

I was right, she was going straight

her saddle was set quite high, not sure if she didn't like waiting for the light with the scooters and cars or was just mimicking what others do, also went onto the sidewalk to wait for the light

although I'd like to do it too, but that will immediately produce a merging conflict, and unlike in git, you can't undo it, so it's actually better to avoid it, unless you're going straight into a bike lane

on the road or on bike lanes, most people usually glance back (shoulder check) to signify a turn, so we become quite sensitive with the glancing

today's encounter was quite memorable, because I had been predicting her entire route since she pulled onto the sidewalk, xd

buzz it all out​

I had been living with a simple crew cut, when I was about to be drafted, I thought I would just get a buzz cut at my favorite barber shop before the army barber grinds my scalp

it took just a few days to get used to the cleanliness, you lose some handsomeness, but gain more coolness

with fewer external stuff needed to maintain for cheap external validation, I began to invest more in the inner me, thinking about what I actually value, what I needed more to be more independent, that quickly became one of the reasons why I'm writing this blog now

by choosing a look that others might judge, removing your safety blanket, something that most people would never do, you are forced to rely entirely on yourself, once you survived, you will become stronger than ever

soon after I started watching the slipper cyclist, I also started shaving my head to get more control over my own body, the fulfillment is real, it's just the maker philosophy, lol

starting on 27th oct 2025, it's been 13 weeks, and I've been giving myself haircuts every saturday to maintain the short length

I've never regretted it, and I've since collected a bunch of reasons for it:

• it is clean
• it is cool, even more in winter
• it is cheap and easy to maintain
• it is the easiest style to cut it yourself
• it will never get wet
• it makes you appreciate yourself even more
• it makes you value the right things
• it drives you to do even crazier things
• nothing will get on your face when the wind blows
• less hair to trap your skin oil
• you wouldn't look crazy after wearing a bicycle helmet
• you are less vulnerable because you have nothing to hide behind
• you gain more confidence in yourself

filter for the best people​

during my 4 month draft, the most energetic person I've met also had a buzz cut

he likes operating forklifts at airports (also earns a lot!), and was also very optimistic about his life

just like me, although we couldn't do anything useful during the draft (sigh...), we still enjoyed helping move the camp to a new site, while others were complaining about the sun, and how tiring it was to move a few chairs (were they even men?), we actually enjoyed the work and being able to live in the new camp

it's like riding a bicycle, it's like climbing stairs, and it's like walking up a mountain

although the 4 months were kinda chill in a way (I'm so weird), it certainly couldn't have been better without him

I think the buzz cut is a filter for the best people to become friends with

validation check​

how to know if you're chasing for external validation?

ask yourself:

if nobody is watching you, would you still do it?

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oh no, I think I'm running out of things to yap about since the winter break started, or am I?

writing animations for the led cube christmas gifts brought the joy of life back, so I set out on a mission to revamp the code for my old 8x8x8 cube

fireworks!​

unlike vr, which just tricks your brain with 2 shitty 2d screens, this cube is real math, real light, real 3d

whiz...bang!

that was mesmerizing!

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wait, there's more!

pwm coming soon...

uh oh​

christmas 2025 is coming, I'll be honest, I've never put real effort into gift exchanges, and now I've accidently voted to participate in the event

拖鞋騎士雷哥 - The Slipper Cyclist​

meeting another cyclist at nakayama pass

conquering the triple wuling in flip flops

I admire this guy's dedication and passion so much

it's so heartening to see him conquer the world with such gear

he's the perfect example of how you don't need fancy gear or a fancy haircut to be cool, or to prove yourself

each and every one of his videos is filled with deep drive and joy

no sponsoring, no marketing, no showing off new gear, just a typical human pursuing their goals

there are many other talented youtubers, but this is the one that focuses only on the spirit of the rider, not the act of cycling

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one day, just one day... I will learn japanese and cycle the length of japan...

I heard a great line from 雷哥's hokkaido bike tour day 17

he met a great guy from america who's cycling from kyushu to hokkaido, talked about their journeys, gave him a better pair of ski gloves

and the guy's response?

coffee on me

I hope to be able to say this one day!

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btw, if you haven't seen his videos, definitely go give him a watch!

his dedication and love of cycling are out of this world!

The Slipper Cyclist

climbing stairs is one of the most simple ways to achieve deep, everyday pleasure

not much effort is needed to climb up a few floors, and every time you do it instead of using an elevator, the long lasting sense of accomplishment and the endorphins cheer you up so much, why do people even use elevators?

it's like riding a bicycle and carrying it up and down 5 floors every day

and it's like walking up a mountain to get bus seats at the first stop

but honestly, the fact that I liked it my whole life is probably due to my apartment not having elevators, lol

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do you find climbing stairs fun?

do you enjoy putting in actual effort to get to somewhere?

people always ask me how I learned english, even those whose first language is english

I've finally got a place to write it down!

passion of exploring minecraft​

I shouldn't have to explain what minecraft is, right?

first, I'll admit that I was a very fortunate child, being able to find the passion for things at a young age

passion is basically a luxury these days, since people get smartphones when they're very young, and often get addicted to consuming low quality content endlessly, without outputting and thinking

I was not one of them

since the days I was using the library computers because we didn't have internet at home, I've been fascinated by the infinite coolness of minecraft, thanks to youtube, and the internet

I would watch chinese minecraft youtubers play puzzle maps and modded adventures, dig through the minecraft wiki to find out how it works, day after day, nonstop

one day, I stumbled upon the modded mcpe playthroughs in the english world

had to find a download link, right? 😉

that's when I started remembering and combining different keywords, to find the download links hidden inside google and youtube

it was running way better on my zte phone than on the shitty pc, so that kept me motivated to learn and play it even more

I had no idea what each keywords meant exactly in chinese, but I knew what kind of data and chinese words I would get by typing those keywords inside the search box, and pressing enter, don't forget to press enter!

over time, I've developed associations of those snaky letters, a, b, and c's, with their chinese meanings, with the help of google translate, google search, and youtube

furthermore, after learning to use the BlockLauncher which supported running javascript in the game for extra features

I would find mcpe script tutorials in both languages, following them absolutely blindly, making simple scripts that added tools, foods, and simple blocks to the game, and making chinese translations of some cooler scripts

through the passion of learning new things, exploring the infinite block game, and the endless help from google search and youtube, and most importantly, the internet, I've learned to write and read it

that's basically how I've always been learning english exactly through this day

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I for sure used my dad's work pc before starting to use the library's, but I can't remember exactly if we had internet when I started using his pc, maybe we did have, but it was cancelled because we didn't need it, otherwise I wouldn't even know the internet existed

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I used to pirate, but now I've supported mojang by buying the android version and 3 java accounts

Just pirate it. If you still like it when you can afford it in the future, buy it then. Also don't forget to feel bad. ;)

- the creator of minecraft, notch

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continuous improvement​

after begging for getting a better pc with gtx 1060, I've started playing real modded minecraft in full english

悟訢's 1.4.7 modded playthrough helped me tremendously in understanding some of the most common words inside modded minecraft

our middle school science teacher loved me so much because I was funny and was the only person in the class that knew those common english element names, like iron, gold, carbon, magnesium, tin, lead, etc...

of course, every modded minecraft player knows them 😂

then I started playing chinese smp servers, I would write simple farming scripts in a new scripting language

don't cheat! unless you're learning to code!

eventually, I joined an english smp, because I just loved meeting and talking to people on the other side of the world so much, yeah, and I built giant farms here

being able to talk to people in real english opened up a whole new world for me, it wasn't easy, I took minutes to make up a sentence, scrambling the only few words in my brain back and forth from and to google translate, it was very rewarding though, no words can describe how much I loved doing it

hell, I've only gotten the hang of the difference between then and than, after like 2 years of english immersion, probably even longer!

the compromises of self learning​

undoubtedly, self learning has its trade offs, depending on the way you learn

my way was called language immersion, I wasn't focused on remembering the parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective...), and the sentence structures, or so called, the grammar

to this day, I still can't correctly explain them, nor can I translate english to chinese with ease like other people do, and I constantly make mistakes when coming up with more complicated sentences

it was completely unsystematic, and I can really only recall the most common words I've used when I write or speak

as for speaking? I've had zero practice, I'm terrible at it, I'm not even good at pronouncing my native language at a decent enough speed

I really only learned because I had tons of input and output

but the reason it gave me the infinite joy and kept me motivated was because, I was only focused on mimicking how people speak, how people combine words, what certain combination of words feels like, while only understanding the bare minimum of their meanings in my native language

not having to memorize the meanings, memorize the grammar, or get high grades, made it so much fun to learn

everyone should try it, schools should teach it

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lots of my early journey with arduino and c++ programming were omitted, this post only serves to document the way I learned english

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what were the most rewarding parts of your language learning journey?

do you prefer the structured education? or passion driven self learning?

I ride a bicycle because

• it fits my needs perfectly
• it carries less responsibility than a scooter, motorcycle, or car
• it doesn't require a license
• it doesn't pollute the world
• it doesn't suffer from traffic jams
• it is quiet
• it is the simplest form of transportation, yet it's sufficient to climb a mountain
• it is the cheapest form of transportation (not so cheap though)
• it is one of the simplest sports
• I admire those who commute by bicycle, and those who don't own a car
• it is a personal rule of mine to seek deep pleasures

why not get a scooter?​

I've always had the idea of getting a scooter since high school, for the one and only reason:

it signifies that I'm an adult, and I can finally do what adults do, I'm gonna be so cool!

that might just be me, I'm not saying that everyone thinks the same, but it's safe to say that many people are influenced by status, identity, ownership, and control, me too, that's just not for me

there are 5 convenience stores and 4 supermarkets near my home, all within 5 mins of walking, I don't need a scooter to buy household goods

and after my parents stopped going to costco, I realized there isn't even a need to buy things in bulk, whenever I do, I can just use whatever delivery service available

I'm also afraid to get a scooter because I don't wanna get addicted to it, I'd rather stay with my bicycle, it's where my heart lives

I'm grateful that I live in taipei, public transportation is awesome here, so that's one less reason for it

so, what got me into it? and how?​

sometime in 2024, I started looking for a more efficient way to get around, so I could get my boba tea even faster, of course it won't be a car, neither do I want a scooter, so a bicycle it is

I was terrified to start learning, and I'm a zoomer, so naturally, before I really started to learn, I kept searching for the best cycling tutorial, and how people learned to ride it, so I could minimize my chance of falling, as you might've guessed, those don't help at all if you don't even start doing the damn thing

however, I didn't go on social media to ask how to learn it before starting, that's a plus!

after being depressed for a while, I asked my dad to give me a hand, we rented a youbike, went to an open space near my middle school, and he held the bike while I'm gliding on it

eventually I found that it's best to glide on your own, you don't even need another person to help, similar to training wheels, those don't help

it's better to be independent!

just lower the saddle, push off and glide, lift both feet slightly off the ground, you can't even fall this way, I don't know how people fall off learning to cycle...

for about 4~6 hours over 2 days, I could finally cycle forward and turn without falling off, albeit wobbling a little bit

that's it, the hardest thing was overcoming the unknown fear of learning a new thing

I actually like cycling​

I actually like swimming, too

the moment I learned to cycle, I fell in love with it

after a couple of months, I bought a road bike as my main sport and commuting tool

I didn't know a bicycle could cost more than a couple thousand ntd...

since then, I've been using it to get around the traffic, and cycling up yang ming shan to take pictures of the stars, all without the stink and noise of scooters 🤮

everytime I ride it, I carry it down and up 5 floors, and I mean every time, I don't even want to put it downstairs, it's really fun to see how fast your strength improves when you put effort into the things you actually love without even noticing

I like getting to places with my own effort, taking things at my own pace, having full control of the experience

moreover, the sense of accomplishment that you'll get endlessly during cycling, is priceless

I don't know what riding a scooter or driving feels like, nor do I care to find out at this moment

I will continue to refuse riding a scooter, until it is absolutely needed

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I wrote worthless before gemini corrected it to priceless, so I guess it helped

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YouBike - the most successful thing taiwan has ever created, it's better and more polished than the bike share services in japan

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have you ever thought about learning to ride a bicycle?

how much fear did you have before you started?

or did you not choose it? why?