Fire & Motion #5

What I've read

📕 Constant temperature luggage

Picking up the first edition book on the shelf again, in order to revisit the jerky and gentle in Lin Dayang's writing. Lin Dayang's words need to be pondered over and over again, so that all metaphors, philosophies, dust and ideas can be three-dimensional. When I reread this book six years later, the change in my mood is reflected in the words I read: I have read the long verses that I felt deeply in the past carelessly, but I have found a few passages that I can relate to, and I have added them here.

Wood cannot be eternal, but it is closer to the essence of promise than rock. Lovers' lives are all woody, gentle, dim, low, rough, but all wood grains are originally waves and splashes.

Faith always happens among people. Faith is the highest level of drunkenness. Faith is to do everything in your power to make things difficult for yourself, so that you can understand which is more important and which is less.

📕Taipei people

Reading Taipei people at different stages of life, one of the 14 short stories can be deeply shaken by the present. I like Mr. Ouyangzi's analysis of the ratio between the present and the past: those who completely live in the past sympathize with and sympathize with; the greatest luxury of those who can accept the reality is to have the emotion of accidentally reviewing the past; those who have completely left the past to blame, But there is some understanding in it. For me, being a Taipei native is to read out the past and present of each character, and read out the changes, displacements, and settlements that lead to this moment.

Yin Xueyan also went over as usual, using a tone full of sympathy to comfort them. At this time, Yin Xueyan's words were as awe-inspiring as an oracle. At the mahjong table, a person's fate is often out of control, and the guests ask Yin Xueyan's rhetoric to restore their confidence and strengthen their fighting spirit. Yin Xueyan stood aside, holding the golden-mouthed three nines in her mouth, slowly puffing out smoke rings, and looked at her group of proud, frustrated, old, prime-aged, once powerful, once peerless peers with compassion. Guests, fanatical killing each other, butchering each other.

📄 What I Miss About Working at Stripe

I'm all for creating healthy boundaries that keep us satisfied and emotionally healthy—inside and outside of work. And of course I believe you can love something without it having to hurt. But I've never truly loved anything that didn't move me to my core. I can't help but wonder if all this effort we're putting into keeping work at arm's length is actually holding us back from being our best selves.

Because what I've learned from having the privilege of working in a place that asks for my best and helps me get there is how much it can unlock in a life. The benefits extend far beyond the skills required to get great work done. The really, really good stuff comes from looking back on something you created and thinking, “I had no idea I could do that.” It comes from looking around and thinking “wow these people helped me, really helped me, get there.” It comes from looking inside and seeing how deep and enduring those feelings of pride, satisfaction, and gratitude really are. And what happens when you have so much it gets to spill over to the other aspects of and people in your life.

In reconsideration of work-life balance, maybe work can be a source of meaning of life, if only we put enough in it. Also, in the hope of finding the best way through, leaning all the way out may not be right, unless we are not afraid of not seeing one's best work again.

📕The same origin of medicine and Taoism: When Lao Zhuang met the Yellow Emperor 's Internal Classic

When I read this book on the same origin of medicine and Taoism, my original expectation was to be an introduction to Chinese medical practitioners. Unfortunately, the book contains too little ink on the Yellow Emperor's Internal Canon, so that it has become a review of Taoism. But it’s good, just to sort out the experience of reading Zhuangzi with teacher Cai Biming once again: it seems to be a summary, but also a conclusion.

So really remember, if all our pursuits today are to get happiness and no hardships, then when you invest more and you get hardships, you have to stop and think carefully about what your pursuits are for yourself. What to bring? What kind of pursuit is really important and valuable?

📕Drink friends, food friends

As a complete collector of late-night dining halls, it is reasonable to have a collection of essays by Yaro Abe (laughs). Like his cartoons, Abe Yaro's writing has simplicity and quietness in the dark of night. I like the OO's daughter in the second half of the book. Compared with the long characters, I prefer this intimate familiarity, short historical materials, and gentle short stories. I specially wrote down the Oden recipe that Mayumi loves so much, and I hope to have the opportunity to make it myself in the future!

In winter, I use the biggest pot in the house to make oden. My oden only has beef tendon, white radish and boiled egg. This is also the food that Mayumi, who keeps gaining weight, likes in my work "Late Night Cafeteria".

The practice is very simple.

Buy a piece of beef tendon of about 500 to 600 grams. The beef tendon will shrink after cooking, so cut it into larger pieces. Boil in boiling water for five minutes, then rinse with clean water. Use the largest pot in the house to fill the water, put in the white radish (a medium size, peeled and cut into pieces), boiled eggs and beef tendon, after the water boils, add a half pack of ready-made oden seasoning, and cook for three hours. That's it.

The soup made from beef tendon has a good taste, so the seasoning can be light. Remove scum during cooking, and add soy sauce and wine if the taste fades.

A more labor-intensive approach is to turn off the heat after two hours of cooking and let it sit for a few hours. Remove the solidified white oil on the surface, and the taste will be more refreshing. At this time, don't scoop the oil too clean, it is better to leave a little butter. Then cook for another hour and it's done. Soft and rotten beef tendon, delicious white radish and beautifully colored boiled eggs. How could it not be delicious?

Another delicacy was the tofu that was added at the end. Oden is almost done, add tofu. After the tofu has a little color, take it out and put it on the hot rice and eat it with the soup. Really nothing to say, please try this recipe.

📄At the end of the long night train

At the music and literature night , when I heard Yan Shuxia read this book in person, I felt goosebumps all over the floor, and secretly decided to bring a collection of her essays back to Canada! I don't know what I have in common with the article, maybe it's her succinct emotional communication; or maybe it's her precise inquiry, which falls on my current situation impartially; or maybe it's the line she quoted, Dissolved in the words without a trace; or, alternatively, it is the "end of the long night train" layer by layer.

Twenty years ago, I lost an earring for divination, and I regretted my death.

and what else?

🏫The History of Lu Shihao on Coursera