China DOS Union

A couple of days ago I took some time to take the keyboard apart and clean it, and only then did I get a bit of interest in typing again.
I had wanted to buy a new keyboard and mouse set, but money has been tight lately, and the set I wanted was too expensive. After thinking it over, I decided I might as well clean the old one myself and make do with it.

I had already gone to bed early, listening to a CD and getting ready to sleep. Then I suddenly remembered a disc a friend had mailed me—I still hadn't listened to Chai Jing's Gentle Night yet—so I got up and switched to that one.

When I was in college, I often listened to Chai Jing's program—Gentle Night. Changsha really did a great job with entertainment programs, whether on TV or radio. You can tell just by looking at how insanely popular Hunan TV is now. I think that when I was living in Changsha, the most pleasant thing was having so many radio stations to listen to. At night, lying in bed and listening to Chai Jing's soft, low voice coming from the radio was a kind of enjoyment.

It has been a very long time since I last heard Chai Jing's voice. When I listened to her program, I was still a rather immature young man; and tonight, listening to this edited recording of Gentle Night, I am already a middle-aged man with my youth gone. In the blink of an eye, the splendor of youth vanishes in an instant. I never understood how to spend my youth, and before I knew it, I had already squandered it all away.

I can no longer remember what I used to be like. I can't recall many things from before, either. Even many unforgettable things feel as if they happened to someone else. Only when I think carefully do I realize, oh, that foolish kid was me. In fact, there are many things whose details I can no longer grasp; and there are many things of which I remember only a few details. Life is like a dream, isn't it? So many situations in dreams are just like this. Gone in an instant, gone in an instant. Sometimes you can very clearly feel someone's presence, as if he or she were right beside you, but just when you want to step a little closer and see more clearly, that person disappears at once. Whether in films or novels, there is no shortage of characters with astonishingly good memories, who can clearly remember what the other person was wearing when they first met, the time and place of the meeting, every single sentence that was said. Do such people really exist? Besides admiration, I can't help feeling a bit doubtful.

I had meant to fall asleep listening to the CD, but instead I couldn't sleep. I checked the time—it was already 22:00. At that hour, work was still some distance away, there was still an hour left, but going to sleep felt too short to bother with. Since I couldn't sleep, and didn't dare keep listening to the CD, I turned on the computer, surfed the net a bit, and typed a bit. Just as I was lamenting what to do with such a long night and no wish for sleep, the alarm rang. That hour really did pass quickly. Looks like typing is a good method. All right, enough writing—time to go to work.

Hehe~~ this counts as chatter, right!

I finally went out and bought a new keyboard yesterday.
The old keyboard was really too hard to use, so I figured I'd better buy a new one.
The old mouse had already been replaced with a new one, and it's even optical. I'd wanted to buy an optical one for a long time, but always thought it was too expensive. This time a coworker helped me find a Heibao one for ¥40, and it's even Logitech—but not that foreign Logitech, rather Guangzhou Logitech in China. Crazy, right. What made me even dizzier was that I actually saw the same brand in the office too, except it was a mechanical mouse, also Guangzhou Logitech. I guess the network admin knew the bosses were all computer illiterates, so he used a Guangzhou Logitech to fool them. You have to know that before, they were all genuine Logitech mice.
But this Guangzhou Logitech isn't bad either. It even has a pretty decent-looking webpage online, and you can enter the serial number to check authenticity. I checked mine, and it really did seem to be the case—it showed my mouse was genuine. Then I refreshed the page, and wow, it still said genuine, but also said someone had already checked it once before, and this was the second check. Hehe... looks like they weren't trying to fool me.
I walked around the street twice and still couldn't decide what kind of keyboard to buy. I went to the shop that sold the Heibao mouse and took a look. They also had matching keyboards, but they weren't good-looking. As for feel, I couldn't really tell from trying them—it's winter and my hands were numb from the cold. There was a Samsung one, very nice, but too expensive. They wanted ¥70. Crazy. Back in 99, when my coworker got his machine assembled, he got a Samsung keyboard too, and I don't think it cost that much back then, right?! I don't remember, but it wasn't cheap either. I checked another place and they had an A4Tech Fast Typing King. It looked pretty nice too. They wanted ¥45. I haggled a bit, and they said ¥42. I asked if ¥30 would do. The result was that they ignored me. At the last shop at the very end, I saw the same A4Tech model again, and the boss said the lowest was ¥35. Any less and he wouldn't sell it. I thought it over and figured fine, I'll just buy this one. Saves me from walking around so much—buying a keyboard shouldn't be this troublesome. Just then a friend called and said she was treating me to a meal. I looked at my phone—wow, it was already 12. Food first. So I didn't buy it and went to eat first. While chatting before the meal, we got onto this topic. That friend said, was it the A4Tech one with those diamond-shaped keycaps? ¥35? Too expensive, the wholesale price is only a little over ¥20. Dizzy S... So in the end that friend called the computer shop where she used to work, and got one for me for ¥28. Today I went to her place to pay her back, and ended up getting extorted into buying snacks. Good grief—when it was all added up, this keyboard cost me ¥37. Hehe... but at least I saved enough money to buy snacks. So it wasn't a loss. The feel of this keyboard is actually pretty good. And it says it has a RMB symbol you can type directly. Unlike the $ symbol above the 4 key, which only becomes ￥ under Chinese input, this ¥ symbol can be typed directly no matter what mode you're in. The instructions even say a patent has been applied for it. After typing for a while, I really do feel it's quite good. A4Tech mice are pretty good, and I didn't expect their keyboards to be decent too, hehe...
Some day when I feel like it, I'll dig out Wubi Express and practice Wubi a bit. It's been a long time since I practiced, and now I type insanely slowly. When the keyboard feels bad, I have even less motivation. Maybe one day after I get good at it again, I'll be able to type away at top speed too...

The dogs outside are barking fiercely. It's making me restless. It's already so late, my body is tired, yet my mind is unusually clear.
I know that "today's sleep is, like Tang Xiaofu, unattainable. Thinking of this hard, long night, I feel the fear of a lone traveler in the vast wilderness at deep midnight." (Fortress Besieged · words by Qian Zhongshu) Since I can't sleep no matter how I toss and turn in bed, I might as well get up and type for fun.

Now that I've really gotten up, I don't know what to do. First I went and fried myself a small bowl of egg fried rice, and poured a cup of plain boiled water. Before going to bed I finished reading Fortress Besieged, so inevitably there are fresh feelings to sigh over again. But if I really try to talk about them, I don't know where to begin. I sigh over how Fang Hongjian and Tang Xiaofu let a romance they both wanted be ruined because of misunderstandings and pride; I also sigh over how Fang Hongjian and Sun Roujia ended badly for all sorts of reasons. Those were thoughts I already had the previous times I read it. But this time, I discovered something new too. In dealing with the matter of "contradicting Liu Dongfang's lecture mistakes in front of the students," Fang Hongjian appeared remarkably clever and flexible. Given his character, he actually dared to turn the tables, strike first, and turn passivity into initiative—truly a major victory in his diplomatic history. No wonder "the expression on Miss Sun's face became even more all-encompassing; she even forgot to keep pretending to read." Really formidable. In fact, Fang Hongjian's skill at lying wasn't developed in just a day or two. He had already shown his talent back when he was sparring with Miss Su. Fang Hongjian said that the old poem Wang Erkai copied down for Miss Wen Wan was stolen, "or at least borrowed, a borrowed foreign debt." Only the next day did he learn from Tang Xiaofu that the old poem was actually Miss Wen Wan's own old piece, not Wang Erkai's. He immediately came up with a plan, relying on the fact that "my eloquence is good; a few words will explain it away," and wrote a letter to wriggle out of it. "Yesterday you kindly showed me the poem on the fan. Just as I was stirred by certain feelings, I saw fine lines and elegant phrases, yet they had come from the hand of a vulgar common official; I was shocked and indignant, and so wronged it heavily by insisting there must be an original source. It was a moment's spite, but inwardly I have felt uneasy. Favored as I am by your kindness, perhaps you will not blame me too deeply," and then he added two more lines: "Only after this letter was finished did I dare present it after a day and night. To lose my footing and suffer defeat in front of Mr. Cao is truly something I cannot accept. Regret! Also this." Later, on the phone, he played dumb again: "I only hate that such a good poem happened to be written by Wang Erkai. It's too unfair!" (Su replied "I'm telling you, this poem wasn't written by Wang Erkai." (Fang asked "Then who wrote it?" (Su replied "I wrote it just for fun." (Fang said in surprise "Ah! You wrote it? I really deserve to die!" When Miss Su said, "You saying this poem had an original source wasn't exactly unjust," Fang Hongjian immediately flattered her: "You wrote it more flexibly than that German poem," and even said, "That isn't flattery." So it can be seen that Fang Hongjian really did have his ways.

Forget it, I won't keep typing. My body no longer wants to move, but my mind is still as clear as ever. I'll just let this insomnia gnaw away at my heart, with no resistance and no rescue.

A bit thought-provoking!

Typing = chatter

KO, you really are pretty leisurely. Such elegant leisure—I, on the other hand, am busy to death, writing code day and night. Maybe someday I'll have a day like that too, a cup of coffee in hand, enjoying the pleasures of Fortress Besieged.

Is it really that bad, senior? Your today is our tomorrow...