I stayed up late last night just to tinker with my phone’s TTS and text-to-speech functions. Before I knew it, it was past 1 a.m., and I knew most of the morning would be wasted.

Around 8 a.m., the Emergency Management Bureau called for a qualification review, so I quickly cleared my throat and answered. After that, I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I got up, took a shower, did the laundry, and made breakfast.

Just as I was about to shower, the power went out. I went outside to check and found that the circuit breaker had failed—the wiring wasn’t properly connected before and had burned out. Luckily, the water was already hot, so I showered and then started figuring out how to replace the breaker.

I initially thought about doing it myself. A 2P63A circuit breaker costs less than 30 yuan on Meituan, but I was a bit nervous to handle it alone. I checked the price online through Meituan’s service, and they quoted 130 yuan, which felt overpriced. So, I went out to find a repair shop instead. I found a couple running a repair store, and they charged 80 yuan, including materials. I didn’t haggle and agreed right away.

At noon, I messed around with a JS script and missed my nap time. In the afternoon, I lay down for a while but couldn’t sleep, so I ended up playing on my phone.

Later, I tidied up my room, but my eyes were so tired that I went back to sleep.

A day without studying—just pure slacking.

By the way, last night I suddenly thought of my brother-in-law’s father. I’m not sure what the proper formal term is, so I’ll just call him Uncle. I often think of him inexplicably, so I jotted down a few notes.

02:16 An old phone suddenly beeped

My sister’s phone suddenly made a system notification sound, and my mind started wandering.
I thought about how her WeChat might still have chat logs with Uncle Chaoyang, which I never backed up. The thought made me miss him again, remembering how he looked when he passed away, how hardworking he was.

What kind of life should one live? He embodied so many admirable qualities—bravery, kindness, diligence, selflessness, intelligence, confidence, extroversion, optimism. It’s rare for someone to possess all these traits.

Just thinking about it brings me to tears.

Our interactions weren’t many, yet why has such a towering figure left such a deep impression on me? He helped my family in countless ways—arranging medical care for my mom, plowing fields, driving my dad to Shuicheng, assisting my brother with his wedding, even castrating pigs for our household. He was always energetic, never seeking comfort, never drinking alcohol, often rushing from one task to another.

I want to be like him.

When I woke up in the morning and checked my phone, I realized it was just a system notification from Find My Device.