What I ended up playing at home
Being stuck at home got so boring that I reopened RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic, which I had downloaded half a year ago.
After downloading it, I only opened it once. The game is entirely in English, and the interface feels very old-school, so I hadn't really put much effort into figuring it out back then. Now I can at least play it properly, though manually laying out the tracks is still awkward.
My temporary separation from the cat
Two months ago, I got this 12-jin little cat from a friend. His name is Kangkang. We haven't been together for that long, but spending nearly 20 days apart during the Spring Festival still made me uneasy.
I installed a camera and an automatic feeder at home in advance, bought a large storage box to use as a giant litter box, filled two big basins with water, and arranged for someone to come by once a week to feed him. I just hoped he could get through the holiday safely.
I bought an Ezviz camera for around 200 yuan and connected it to QNAP's QVR Pro surveillance system. The camera is only really good enough to get the job done. It can only be added to QVR Pro as a generic camera, so there was no way to control its direction directly from there, which means replacing Ezviz's own app entirely still isn't very realistic.
QNAP's software always feels like it is missing a little something. For example, in the client you can draw several small boxes on the screen to mark areas you want to watch closely. I marked Kangkang's eating spot, sleeping spot, and litter box, but I obviously couldn't sit there watching him 24 hours a day. QVR Pro also can't send an alert when motion appears in those specific areas; it can only notify me when the whole frame changes.
I got back to Shenzhen on the fourth day of the lunar new year, and the cat was perfectly fine. The only difference was that he had become much more affectionate. He kept meowing nonstop and kneading wildly on me. I guess he really missed me, which made me very happy.
A surprise back in my hometown
On the third day after I got home, I asked my dad whether we were going to set off fireworks for the New Year. My mom told me that there would be a fireworks show in the suburbs on the first day of the lunar new year. I was stunned. Since when had my hometown put on such a huge entertainment event? I decided then and there that I had to go.
For something this epic in my hometown, an equally epic traffic jam was basically guaranteed. Luckily, I eventually found the perfect viewing spot and spent the most surprising half hour of the entire New Year.
To be honest, there isn't much in my hometown that I love, or even feel deeply drawn to. But this fireworks show was beautiful enough to move me. All I could keep thinking was: this is so nice.
Buddhism as a place to land
Because my mom volunteers at a temple on the mountain, we could go meet the abbot and pray for blessings on the second day of the lunar new year, and she took me along.
The streets back home may be a little rough around the edges, but the scenic area inside the temple is still beautiful.
Since we were already there, we naturally started by burning incense and bowing. During the holiday period, many people came to see the abbot, and we waited about 20 minutes before being shown into his reception room.
At first I thought the whole thing would be very strict, but it wasn't. The old abbot also felt the atmosphere was a bit tense; everyone had made it sound too formal, so he took the initiative to chat for a while. After that, he blessed the things we had brought and gave each of us a brief blessing, and that was the end of it.
To be honest, I don't feel especially religious. I've grown up around this kind of thing, so for me it's just part of how I understand the world, more like a little bit of spiritual encouragement.
Whether it's the New Year or not, going back home always leaves me conflicted. On the one hand, I do want to spend some time with my family. On the other, being around them makes me anxious; every word and action from my parents feels amplified, and my mood ends up swinging like a roller coaster every day.
Still, this trip home gave me a lot of different experiences. The wish I made at the temple was simple: I hope the new year gives me more courage to make changes, and that someday I can face my family, and the future, with more calm.
Happy New Year to everyone, and a smooth start back at work.