the lie of wireless convenience​

of course, I own wireless earbuds, they are truly convenient, allowing me to isolate myself from the noisy world within 5 seconds

but this convenience is the catch

it's important not to fill in every bit of your relaxation time with tittytainment, like listening to a podcast, watching a brainrot, repeating your favorite music, for the sole purpose of escaping from the hopeless world

it's just more distraction, yielding nothing internal, and making you even more anxious because the better noises are never enough, it's an endless loop

especially when there's people around, who really likes to be in a place full of soulless lifeless people, where everyone puts a plastic plug inside their ears, listens to ai generated voices, scrolls through ai generated selfies, and pretends to be enjoying their time?

let alone meeting with another cool person, or having a deep conversation with someone that shares the same interests with you

plugging your ears doesn't fix the problem, it doesn't create peace

don't use wireless earbuds, live in the environment, overcome the stupidity, embrace the boredom, use the time to introspect

then what do you do when you really wanna listen to something?

just take care of your wires​

it takes a bit more effort to get wired earbuds out and wear them, but that's great because

• there is no planned obsolescence
• it lasts
• there are no gimmicks
• no battery to charge
• no battery to explode
• they make you look professional
• they are cheap
• things like iems have detachable cable (moondrop chu 2 is under $700 ntd!)
• good audio is always guaranteed
• you are more focused
• you will be forced to enjoy your time
• when you want to use them, you really want to

this is the true use of wired earbuds, I reserve them for the 2 hour breaks, when I can go to the library, sit on the sofa, make an instant coffee, enjoy the real peace (in a library!), purposefully listen to my type of people talking about their life, brainstorm new blog ideas, or analyze the cool drum fills in another math rock music

this is how we truly reject convenience

---

have you ever thought about why you use earbuds?

I decided to fill in more of my free time with something I haven't done, baking it is, I shall start eating something different in the morning of college days

why tho?​

there is an uber eats deliverer I've been watching for a while

of course, he rides a fucking road bike, carries the delivery box on his back, is a vegetarian, is shy, was a professional baker, and loves making microwave cakes with flaxseeds and oats

thought it would be healthy and fun, had to try it myself, starting with microwave mug cakes

remember to sharpen your tools​

1st day

I tried to make the cake with chia seeds according to an online recipe, I couldn't find the measuring spoons though, so I used the scale thinking it would be fine to measure flours with it

a table spoon full of water is 15g, but a table spoon full of powders unsurprisingly does not equal 15g, no wonder it tasted so bad, bruh

I immediately went to buy the measuring spoons that night, rode as fast as I could at 40km/h

nothing is hard​

2nd day

I followed preppy kitchen's tutorial on mug cake, bought some slightly overpriced chocolate powders in store, made sure not to overcook it, and got a yummy chocolate mug cake

the flow​

3rd day

did it again, with less sugar, more baking powder, it's even extra yummy today

it was mixed slightly better, and tasted even better

in no time could I start doing the real baking! probably also have to convince my mom to make space for my shits...

one thing though, don't buy the niche baking ingredients in a supermarket, there aren't many choices, and it's gonna cost slightly more than what you would've imagined

finally a reason to go to the baking supply store again after nearly 10 years! also a good reason to cycle to Banqiao

eating cake in the morning?​

is it weird to bring my own breakfast to college? and drinking matcha latte here in the morning?

who the fuck cares? rather than binge watching retarded shorts, or seeing my friend showing off their new scooter on instagram, I tried a new thing, I learned a new thing, I did a fun thing in my precious time

just because other people don't do it, doesn't mean you can't

ingredients & cost​

ingredient	amount	weight (g)	price/kg (ntd)	cost (ntd)
all purpose flour	1/4 cup	40	56	2.24
granulated sugar	1 tbsp	10	36	0.36
caotina chocolate powder	2 tbsp	12	880	10.56
baking powder	1/4 tsp	1.5	1000	1.5
milk	1/4 cup	66	77	5.08
vegetable oil	2 tbsp	12.5	n/a	negligible
hershey's white chocolate with cookies	2 tbsp	25	880	22.00
salt	1 pinch	0.1	n/a	negligible

so apparently one serve costs $40 ntd to make... at least before the chocolate bar runs out

I think the bus drivers have been watching me the whole time

I, as before, wanted to take the 260 bus, there are very few 260, so I walked up yang ming shan to the yangmingshan bus terminal to get seats, bought a piece of bread, sat on the chair and ate it there until the 260 arrived

when the bus arrived I as always waited near the front seat until the person goes away, then enjoyed the view here until the moment arrived

the driver asked me if I was a student, of course I am, he said you do not look like a student

I don't like to joke, so I told him yeah I'm a little different, he nodded and said he got it, he admires at people that come back to school to study

the reason he talked to me was because I was eating a bread and stared at the other driver a while ago, and looked like the other people was trying to cut in line and... I don't know, they probably felt like I was going through something

so I still have no clue about what makes me not look like a student, the buzz cut? my face? what else?

but actually, I was kinda far away from the line, maybe I just stand out, who knows?

it was easy to stand out today though, because there were tons of noisy high school students at the first stop too, I did not know that so many of them go to the first stop to get seats early, by being the silent and calm guy, I easily stood out from the crowd

now the swimming class ended, today I've swum a few times without standing up

in fact, I didn't even stand up once, and had almost no trouble breating in freestyle

maybe it's because it's the last swimming class, or because there were less than 10 people in the pool, which equals less pressure

youtube videos are better than (swimming) classes​

there were only 5 swimming classes this semester, I'm starting to regret that I didn't practice more during the first few classes

but it's okay, I learned a lot during the only 5 classes through again, a youtube video

you don't need to kick​

this is my first time knowing you can swim smoother with more endurance, by not kicking that hard like how the taiwanese teachers taught us

by not trying to kick, messing up the whole body movement, consuming more energy, I can focus more on my arms and breathing

then finally learn to kick when I really wanna get fast, while already knowing how to pull with my arms and how to breath smoothly

teaching ways matter​

it's insane how me, as a logical and rational person (I for sure am, right?), didn't think of it this way until I've seen someone do it

wasting all my classes trying to hide in the corner trying to do everything at once, and refusing to try because I didn't think I will succeed

that means the ways of teaching matter

it would clearly be more effective if they tried the modern ways of teaching, teachers should question themselves first, since they hold half of the responsibility of education

---

is this really what the taiwanese education wants?

anyways, I shall start worrying about the basketball classes...

why did I choose pixel 9a over poco f7?​

as a replacement for my temp vivo y28s and the poco f5 pro that died in the rain :(

first of all​

• it's pink, I like the color, I want to break the gender stereotypes, and escape the boring black and white mentality that npcs have
• at first I liked the lighter pink on 9 and 9 pro more, but the more saturated 9a turned out to be fine, I'm not getting the flagships anyways
• it's full of hardware compromises, but the authentic pixel feel beats it all, and having an overkill phone that I have no use for feels way worse than this
• it's good to train your resistance of fomo
• I don't game on my phone, it's only used for information and gps tracking, so performance generally isn't an issue
• you just don't need the best processor for social media scrolling, that's it (not saying that phones don't need to improve)

software​

• stock android, with good apps and no bloat, every other ui feels worse to use
• android 15
• 7 major upgrades
• easy bootloader unlock (only needs to be done once though)
• rich custom rom support

cpu​

• tensor g4, is unique and feels cool
• performance is sufficient, comparable to f5's 8 gen 1 (socpk.com)
• efficiency is fine, at least better than 8 gen 1 (socpk.com)

camera​

• official astrophotography mode, a must have tech
• official gcam config
• likely a better sensor, which seems quite important after using the f5, slight downgrade from pixel 9, but still more than enough
• almost no camera bump, unbelievably nice

body​

• smaller size and screen, nicer to hold, more compact
• sleeker design, don't know where poco is going
• high quality buttons, f5's buttons were shit, way too loose and thin, doubt they will change it
• ip68 that actually feels trustworthy, best I've owned
• plastic back! glass is pointless
• supports esim, will come in handy overseas
• google haptics, I realized how important good haptics is, especially after using the f5 of course
• way better accessory choices, nice official case, proper screen protectors, I'd like to have a fabric case but it's impossible to find

display​

• 1080x2424, lower resolution is great for saving performance
• gorilla glass 3, cheap shit, but I'm gonna use a screen protector anyways
• low pwm frequency, fine for me
• I'd like to have some bezels for obvious reasons, durability, less ghost touches, and screen protector support

memory/storage​

• 8GB, should be fine, android has zRAM whatsoever, what could I even do on my phone to fill it up?
• 128GB, is small, but should also be fine if I regularly transfer shits to pc
• ufs 3.1, isn't the random read/write that matters? doubt I will need 4.0 based on my usage

comms​

• bluetooth 5.3, is fine, 6.0 doesn't seem to have anything worth having (wikipedia)
• double band gps, I need it for cycling, they both have it
• usb 3.2 is awesome!!! f7 still only got 2.0

battery​

• 5100 mAh, sounds fine to me, it's gonna age, sooner or later
• 23w wired, I don't use my phone much so not an issue, plus I'd like a lower charging temp than whatever 90w will give
• 7.5w wireless, I will always wirelessly charge at my desk, lower temps are great, and f7 doesn't even have it

what about ai?​

• shut up

first impression​

• HOLY SHIT PEONY IS GORGEOUS, I'M IN LOVE WITH IT!!!
• SOLID buttons and haptics as always
• design is modern, beautiful, and minimalistic
• tensor g4 performance is great
• the plastic back feels premium, but it's not completely flush with the frame, and the center of it sounds a bit hollow, the 3a plastic back felt more solid
• status bar is a bit thick due to the front camera being farther from the top, I can get used to it, but seriously though, how much did they cost down?
• I like the bezels, ghost touches won't happen on this phone
• coming from vivo, the native android ui feels too great
• the optical fingerprint sensor is kinda slow
• battery life, as always, could be improved, but it's enough for me

updates​

2025/11/23​

• cycled to qingtiangang with my 9a mounted on the bike computer mount, screen on the lowest brightness for 6 hours, with gps tracking always on, used about 50% battery
• upon further inspections, my 9a actually got 2 tiny dents on the bottom side of the frame, possibly came from bumping into the bike stem...
• there it is, I've ordered the official case and 2 cheap gor screen protectors, gonna keep the phone in the bike bag before it arrives

2025/11/24​

• the case arrived at senao within a day, silicone on the outside, pc on the inside, no solid plastic buttons, it pretty much looks like an iphone silicone case
• it's a bit slippery
• people say it's thinner than 3rd party cases, not sure about that
• the build quality is great, but the silicone makes the phone too bulky, tasteless, and bland
• doesn't matter too much honestly, since they don't make fabric cases anymore, I don't even have better choices, and I'll only put the case on when mounted on my bike

2025/11/25​

• the gor screen protectors arrived, costing only $185 ntd for a set of 2
• the quality feels awesome for this price, it fits the screen perfectly, and the smoothness is on par with the bare screen
• the black border doesn't intersect with the display since 9a has some medium thick bezels, which honestly still looks very nice, and is also more practical

2025/11/26​

• I've been loving it, the pure and clean pixel feel, the vibrant peony color, the components I need, the phone I actually like, I can embrace the pink without being afraid of the gay label (no, I'm not)
• battery life and ram could be improved, but it is perfectly fluid enough for my light use, don't just compare the phones on paper, pick what you need, not what you don't need
• none of the coolest cutting edge tech I'd have fear of missing out about not fully utilizing