Jason | A Letter from 30 Years Ago
Rediscovering a letter from a former intern that shaped my thinking about life and work.
Late at night, I sorted through old photos and letters, burning what wasn't worth keeping. Near the end, I found a letter from S, written almost 30 years ago. She had interned at our factory in 1995, studying Japanese at Shanghai International Studies University. I was a cashier, just happy to have a job at 800 yuan/month. Her letter was about how to live and work meaningfully—things I'd never considered. It shocked me.
Later, she wrote again, noticing my growth after I learned Excel, which felt like a revolution compared to abacuses. Rereading now, I see her ideas align with my later explorations. I searched for her online and found her at a law firm. I called, and she called back. We exchanged messages about the letter. She said it felt like meeting her past. I told her she was myfirst teacher (enlightener) on how to live. She was touched I kept the letter.
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Jason | Using AI to Create Your Own Mini Program/Website
Two months ago in Chiang Mai, I stumbled upon the chance to start learning how to build mini programs. My AI programming mentor, Wangshen, told me, 'Once you finish your mini program, write a summary report.' Now I've completed the new mini program for Cangshan Hiking Home, and it's already being tested. It not only solves problems I've wanted to address for a while, like adding age tags to filter activities and providing an English version, but it has also introduced new features, such as browsing restaurants, guesthouses, and meeting points on a map for a more intuitive experience, and using AI to provide quite intelligent responses.
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Celebrate the Torch Festival in a Nanzhao Royal Clan Village
Over the past two years, we have taken guests to celebrate the Torch Festival in Songhe Village, Eryuan. Together we slaughtered a sheep, and with the whole village, erected a huge torch in the center of the village square. Everyone made their own torches from hemp stalks, and together with the older and younger villagers, we rushed to grab the blessing baba (cakes) from the big torch, passing blessings to each other with fire. Even for me, a native Bai person, these are rare and precious traditional festival experiences. Dali has endless festivals, and I want to experience them more before they fade away. I remember the Torch Festival of my childhood: torches were no longer enough for me. Before the festival, I would tell my dad to prepare a bucket of waste engine oil and diesel, mix them together, and then I would tightly bind cotton and old cloth with rope into a ball (some kids would secretly take cotton from their quilts at home to make it). Finally, I would make an iron wire ball, soak it in the bucket of oil, and secretly take it out every day to look at it, looking forward to having a great time on the day of the Torch Festival. We would compete in the village and by the rice fields to see whose fireball or torch was more impressive. When the torches and fireballs were almost burned out, we would rush home, walk around the potted fruit trees in circles, and say blessing words, hoping they would grow even better in the coming year.