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From Maomihz's Blog. Original post: http://maomihz.com/archives/225
Prologue
1. Looking back on three busy years, there were originally 44 classmates studying together, but now only 32 remain. One by one, they left, and in the end, I had to leave too. Over these three years, I feel like I never even spoke a word with some people. Even though we studied in the same classroom, we were like strangers to each other. What a pity.-
Many things couldn't be spoken about before the high school entrance exam, but everyone was doing them. If one could reach the state that Teacher Wu described, then they would truly be a good student.
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One month before the high school entrance exam, my performance started to decline. Teacher Wu called me out to talk several times. In the end, although it was hard to leave, for the sake of not affecting everyone and for my own path, I decided to go back.
One
wjt, believe in yourself. You'll surely thrive in another land.When wjt left, he only sent me an iMessage the weekend before, telling me he was leaving. He was the only one who never used QQ or WeChat, always chatting with me through iMessage. I admit iMessage is great, but it's extremely unpopular in China. When I heard the news, my first thought was: who will walk with me to the cafeteria at noon now, listening to me talk about Infinity Blade? One summer, wjt came to my place to play Spore and loved it. Back then, he had no home internet, only a limited 3G wireless plan. I always thought 3G was fast—up to 300kb/s—but his connection was painfully slow. For Spore (a 3GB game), he broke his usual habits and left his computer on overnight, even waking up to check the download progress. It took a full day to finish. But after installing it, he couldn't open it—the graphics driver was missing. I told him the driver was in the game folder, but he couldn't install it properly. A semester later, I went to his place and installed it with one click. He cheered, "Finally I can play Spore!!"
Later, wjt got an iPhone 4s. I didn't have one yet and was thrilled when I heard. During the holidays, he brought it to my place to jailbreak. It was the iOS 5.0.1 era. After jailbreaking and installing Cydia plugins, I'd never seen such speed! My little iPod 4 was completely outmatched by the Apple A5 chip.
Earlier, wjt had an iPad 1, but oddly, his home had no Wi-Fi. After buying it, the store staff installed some apps, and he never updated them. I repeatedly explained how to install iTunes or sync assistants on his computer, but due to slow internet, he never did it. Whenever he wanted new apps, he'd come to my place. Each time he'd say, "Such a huge haul!" I wondered why he didn't just download them from the App Store himself. His favorite game was Infinity Blade. When he played Infinity Blade 1 and 2, he'd constantly explain the storyline to me. I was reluctant to start such a massive new game, but his persistence wore me down. Eventually, I downloaded it. After much delay, I finally tried it. To my surprise, I was completely hooked. From then until now, wjt lost interest due to repetitive gameplay, but my passion never faded—even after replaying the same scenes at least 200 times (something most people couldn't endure). When I tried discussing it with him, he'd reluctantly say he didn't want to play.
There was also a time when wjt played Final Fantasy III on iPad. He progressed much faster than me. Every weekend night, I'd iMessage him questions: "How do I get past this level?" Gradually, I fell for Final Fantasy III's classic style. During one holiday, I immersed myself and nearly finished the game. But when I looked at wjt, he'd already lost interest. To this day, I haven't beaten Final Fantasy III. I wanted wjt to watch me finish it, but now... no chance.
Now, wjt is immersed in TOEFL prep, heading overseas this August. I miss all this deeply. Even if he wasn't hugely into tech, he always accompanied me, never refusing.
Two
I'm gone, but the high school entrance exam remains. Keep striving, jn—give it your all!I have to mention wjt again. During our class duty week, wjt was assigned to guard the second floor, preventing junior students from entering the building during senior breaks. Worried about running into his younger sister there, he asked to switch posts with jn, who was assigned to the third floor. jn wouldn't agree easily and demanded wjt treat her to snacks. Back then, my meal card wasn't as loaded as now... As a dorm leader, I didn't buy things for myself but treated my dormmates. wjt asked to use my card. I said, "Why use my card for your business? Trying to scam me?" I tracked down jn and persuaded her after much effort to switch posts with wjt for free. jn asked puzzledly why I was so close to wjt. I thought and replied, "wjt discusses Apple stuff with me." She said if she did well on the midterms, she might get an iPad too, and we could talk about Apple. That night, when I told wjt, he grinned and said if jn and I walked to the cafeteria together at noon like we did, a crowd would gather and shout, "Wow!"... That ended the matter. Did jn ever get an iPad? I couldn't tell. I never imagined jn and I would have much to talk about.
One day in junior year, something shocking happened. I clearly remember bringing my iPod to school starting October 26, 2012. That week, zyy brought her new iPod touch 5. I'd longed for an iPod 5! If I had one, I wouldn't even regret not having an iPhone 5 (though I still have neither). Back then, lyz and zyy were Chinese class representatives. lyz told me zyy wanted to jailbreak her iPod and asked for advice. That night, I was ecstatic—I desperately wanted to borrow zyy's iPod! (I even rewrote "Born in Worry, Die in Comfort" to express my feelings... you get it.) The latest firmware couldn't be jailbroken yet, so I told lyz to back up SHSH (useless but a precaution) and prepare to update for future jailbreaking. When the jailbreak released, I immediately shared the tutorial. Since this was my expertise, I worried lyz couldn't explain it clearly and asked to talk directly to zyy. But lyz refused. This incident provoked me. I tend to imitate others, so the next day I chatted with jn about it. That Friday, I witnessed the iPod 5's magic... From then on, somehow jn and I grew close.
Interlude to finish the story: Around Tuesday the next week, after morning exercises, lyz mysteriously approached me: "I'll tell you something—you absolutely can't tell anyone! zyy's iPod got confiscated by the teacher." I was stunned again—so soon?! I'd only glimpsed it! Now this amazing iPod was gone. Back in class, Teacher Wu delayed briefly, then walked to the podium with a slip and announced: "zyy used an electronic player in the dorm... 3-point deduction!" Then she threw the iPod 5 on the floor. I thought Teacher Wu was so angry she'd storm out without a word, so I could grab and hide it to play with awhile. Instead, she yelled: "zy, pick that thing up and give it to me!"......
In the latter half of junior year, jn supported me greatly. First guessing abbreviations ("API"), then bypassing internet restrictions, supporting Chinese email services, building websites, surveying Saturday bedtimes, setting up Dalton offline downloads (©Pomelo Technology. All rights reserved.), studying Unicode, and dabbling in computer tech. Without jn, I don't know how I'd have survived those months with my niche interests. [When Fu Yuanqi was in our dorm, jn sat diagonally in front of me. Only he quietly reminded me to cherish these moments—if I didn't, like him, I'd regret it later.] I most looked forward to jn's seat moving by the right window. Then I could lean there, stand beside jn, and chat whenever thoughts arose, or just do homework. When Fu Yuanqi was still here, he'd see me by the window, grab my head, and say, "Dummy, not bad!" But later he left too. I remember days before he left, he asked me about bypassing restrictions. I gave him a puzzled look, asking why. Then suddenly, he was gone. Honestly, Fu Yuanqi was the only one who constantly teased me about liking jn... Why bully Zhang Zhenwei like that? sc did it too—what did he ever do to you all?!
Even now, when I discuss iOS with jn, she says she dislikes it. Wasn't it jn who suggested talking about Apple? Anyone supporting bypassing restrictions contributes to China's progress! And thank you, zyy—you might not realize it, but you gave me this opportunity!
Others
1. mcr, you still owe me 20 correction tapes.-
jn, I still owe you 15 yuan. You forgot, right?
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If this year's high school essay prompt is "The Faint Fragrance of ______", I'd write "The Faint Fragrance of Eggs" without hesitation. Since the first day of seventh grade, I've eaten two eggs for breakfast daily—it feels off otherwise. To accommodate everyone, the school rotated egg types: boiled eggs on Mon/Wed/Fri, tea-leaf eggs on Tue/Thu. Thursday breakfasts were the grandest, with fried dough sticks too. From seventh to ninth grade, my breakfast portions grew—I even had "Soy Milk VIP" status, getting two bowls daily. But recently, the ever-present eggs vanished mysteriously (probably bird flu). How do I cope? I miss them so. If the essay prompt is "The Faint Fragrance of ______", I'd be stumped.
May 11, 2013 - Last update: May 14 ```