0xc1's Crew Logs

Photo selections from the past year (2/2)

10. September; after a month of painful struggle and practice, with the help of online friend lunar, this bow-and-arrow player finally defeated the Black Dragon.

11. September; went out to admire the moon during Mid-Autumn Festival. The moon is always brighter in one’s hometown.

12. October; after a panic attack, I went hiking in Hangzhou with playground. I shamelessly included this photo of us without asking his permission—it was taken by his mother, who cooks amazing food. The hills in Hangzhou were also great for hiking. That trip to Hangzhou healed me.

13. November; a random living room shot. On a random afternoon, Grape, who was taking a nap, was woken up by my photography.

14. December; my college roommate Di (first from left) finally visited Shanghai after ghosting us for three years. The other is lxyl (first from right), a regular guest on my blog (meaning I often ramble about him). That night we hit four places and had three big rounds of drinks. It seems my drinking capacity has doubled since graduating…

15. January; went on a business trip back to Xi’an with Zhengzheng. On our last day, we had some free time, so I took him to have Ma Kui Meatball Spicy Soup (Hu La Tang). Ma Kui’s is the best meatball spicy soup. Their shop faces the Mausoleum of King Zhuangxiang of Qin (father of Qin Shi Huang), so you can eat while paying respects.

16. January; got a haircut and became a sharp young man.

17. January; business trip to Shenzhen, caught a beautiful sunrise. Deeply felt that the most important thing is not technology but human connection. The frequency of business trips may increase from now on.

18. February; Dragon Year New Year’s Eve dinner, marking the end of the Rabbit Year and the beginning of the Dragon Year.

• 📓 My Year in Review

Went to a friend’s place today and drank Jack Daniel’s until I blacked out. How am I supposed to tell people I can hold seven and a half liangs now? Damn it.

# Pictured: his little dog, who has a special fondness for my arm.

• 🧩 A Fragment of Life

I’m, I’m so twisted😣😖😞😟☹️🙁😕🙂☺️

• 🧩 A Fragment of Life

Demonstrating some large model PUA techniques

• 🧩 A Fragment of Life

Fantasy

I’ve always loved listening to music while showering. Bringing a laptop in to play music feels awkward, and I never had a suitable device, so I just went without—until recently, when I picked up a small speaker from a friend’s castoffs.

I played a battle BGM from Baldur’s Gate 3, and while swaying and gesticulating blissfully, I recalled some joyful gaming moments.

Then even older memories came knocking.

As I mentioned before, when I was a kid, I had a treasured MP3 player that I secretly bought with my New Year’s money. Every night I would hide it under my pillow, cherishing it while worrying about getting caught, yet unable to resist sneaking a listen. Today, I want to talk about a special album.

In 2009, I played StarCraft II before it launched in China. Maybe every kid is captivated by some sci-fi epic, but for me, that sci-fi epic was the story of StarCraft. Back then, sitting in the classroom daydreaming during English class, I would imagine myself as a Protoss (commonly known as the “Shenzu”), and savor the stories of Zeratul and Tassadar in my mind. (Sometimes I would also channel Jim Raynor and long for Kerrigan.)

At night, after pretending to fall asleep, I would take out my MP3 and listen to “Firstborn.” It felt like an epic poem, recounting the legends of the “Firstborn”—their mysterious origins, the development of their civilization, the kin strife among their brethren, the golden age after unification, the subsequent schism, and their lonely vigil spanning what seemed like an eternity. Finally, the dissonant note when Tassadar’s probe first discovers the Swarm—the final war has begun. What fate awaits the unknown future of the Koprulu Sector? It all seemed to end in the solemn atmosphere of the Golden Fleet’s final preparations.

Fantasy. Back then, without knowing the complete story, all I had was fantasy. Every time, I listened to the same unassuming song, imagining how that epic would conclude. I had no idea that the real conclusion would come only seven years later in reality. But my boundless imagination kept me company every night, conjuring one wonderful development after another, filling me with endless exhilaration. If thoughts could be seen, perhaps during that time my room would have been filled with infinite light and shadow, like gazing into the cosmos. That light and shadow echoed tirelessly through the universe, even twisting a thread of time into a small loop.

Standing under the showerhead, hot water streaming down, I was struck by a sudden surge of that very exhilaration—a remnant racing along the loop of time—and caught a glimpse of the magnificent scene inside my head from over a decade ago.

# Most of those fantasy-filled nights also involved listening to “Heaven’s Devil” from the same album. It’s captivating from start to finish—highly recommended.

• 🧩A Slice of Life

Suddenly in Shenzhen!

• 🧩 A Slice of Life

☺️

• 🏆 My Top 5 Favorite Games of 2023

Even now, it still leaves a deep impression on me. Metroplex is so fierce!

• 🎮 Thoughts on this game