Diary

Today marked the start of the winter semester, and with it, the return to a tense and busy academic life. We had a small group meeting at noon with Dr. Liu serving as today’s chair. We shared stories about our holidays and discussed our resolutions for the new year. I shared my four main goals for the year: To continue improving my English and become a more confident speaker. To learn the ropes of academic research and strive to complete one or two first drafts by the end of the year. To travel to another Canadian province. To save up enough money to buy a new laptop. In the afternoon, Dr. Zhao invited me to his office to discuss my future plans. He suggested two research directions: RFID technology and concrete energy storage. Both sound fascinating to me. I need to start carving out time to read the literature and learn as much as possible from the senior students (my shixiong) while they are still here. ...

00:21 Getting ready for bed I feel a muscle twitching or something moving in my stomach every now and then; it’s distracting and making it hard to fall asleep. Opened Pinduoduo to help my dad look for the Amur Cork Tree (Phellodendron amurense) he wants to buy. 00:24 Perfect Using my phone for daily snippets; my computer or tablet for the end-of-day review; and my computer for note-taking or articles. ...

I slept in again this morning. Fortunately, I studied two chapters of Writing Academic English. Because my bed and desk are not suitable, my shoulders get sore when I sit in front of them for a long time.

I slept in this morning again. I went to school for studying After I finished my lunch. I made a eggplant with pork for dinner, and called my family this evening. After that, I teach Huan to use Mastodon.

Slept in and watched TV (Ted Lasso) all day again! 🔒 Content Here is Encrypted Unlock

Slept in and watched TV (Ted Lasso) all day

I spent the whole day binge-watching Ted Lasso. In the afternoon, I decided to wash my bedsheets and small blanket to freshen them up and get rid of the dust. The dry weather in Edmonton makes everything get dusty so quickly! However, the washing machine was completely useless with my small blanket. When the cycle finished, it was still sopping wet. I naively thought the dryer might still be able to handle it, even in that state. ...