Original Intention#
Recently, I haven't been very enthusiastic about writing weekly journals. Work has taken up most of my life and there's nothing interesting to write about. However, following the belief that "if it's not recorded, it's as if it never happened," I still want to maintain the habit of writing.
Why Write#
First of all, I need to clarify why I want to write a blog, or what kind of blog I want. It all started when I used to upload videos on Youku (a Chinese video-sharing platform). I realized that the platform would have partial ownership of the video content once I published it, which I found hard to accept. It was my content, but others had the right to delete or modify my work (I guess this is why I still have a slight expectation for web3). So I secretly thought that I should create my own website to showcase my own things (I definitely couldn't afford to host videos, but I could write).
However, during the process of building the website, the fun of building the website outweighed the purpose of building it. I was using WordPress at the time, tinkering with themes and learning frontend knowledge. My blog has been established since 2015, and I have been writing intermittently. It has always been focused on life and I have never written about technology (because I don't have the skills). At first, it was just some random thoughts, book reviews, and melancholic musings... Later, I wanted to write some deeper thoughts. Now, I laugh at myself. Of course, there are some benefits to writing what I consider to be "valuable" thoughts.
The first article on my blog made me believe that writing is a form of "settling down." When I write, it feels like I'm having a conversation with myself, which brings me peace. I really like a quote from the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges:
"I write, not for fame or for specific readers, but to find peace as time passes."
No one cares about my blog#
Although I seem to have started writing blogs early on, I have always done it for my own entertainment. Except for the first year when I bought a domain name and tried to do SEO and indexing, I have been self-sufficient.
Honestly speaking, my blog is just a way for me to showcase my foolishness to the world. I have always warned myself that "if you don't speak, no one will treat you as a mute, but if you speak, you'll appear foolish." So I have always kept to myself. Even if I show my blog to friends around me, most of them just politely take a look and inwardly mock the blog: "It's written so poorly, yet you have the audacity to write a blog."
As a result, I have never wanted or dared to make my blog public. The consequence of not making it public is that even if I set a goal for myself to write weekly journals, I still easily stop updating. A one-week or two-week break can turn into a month or even a year.
Now that I'm older, I no longer care about these things. When I read my journals in a few years, they will be a memoir of the emotional journey of these years, just like what I mentioned earlier, "if it's not recorded, it's as if it never happened." Writing now is a conversation with myself, and rereading old articles is a conversation with my past self (a more foolish version of myself).
Learning to write is difficult, and I have no intention of becoming a famous blogger. It's also unlikely that I can make money through writing. Writing is just a process of catharsis for me.
Maintaining a blog used to be quite costly: domain names and servers were needed; I didn't know how to roll back when I made coding mistakes; I didn't know what to do when facing DDoS attacks... Now, static blog solutions are much better, and I can focus almost solely on writing.
Whether or not my blog is made public is no longer that important. What's important is that I am writing.
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate#
I received this game as a gift from Ubisoft during Black Friday, and I haven't played it before. I didn't buy it because it was free, and I stopped playing Monster Hunter because I found canned food delicious.
I didn't pay much attention to the storyline, as it follows the typical Ubisoft formula of having numerous points on the map for you to clear. However, this installment does have stealth gameplay, which I really enjoy. The game enhances the performance of the grappling hook, and if it's nighttime and raining, it feels like playing as Batman. The game claims to be about building a gang, but this aspect of gameplay is not very prominent. Since it's a gang, there's no need to hide it like the Brotherhood in previous games.
There are many bugs, and the game often becomes glitchy while playing. The main storyline is not long, so I spend most of my time playing side missions to extend the game's lifespan. Of course, this is a characteristic of Ubisoft games and not worth mentioning.
Here are a few points I want to mention. The game is set in the Industrial Era, the Victorian Era, around 1868 if I remember correctly. I'm not very familiar with the history of this period, but I remember that the air quality in London during the Industrial Era was very poor. However, in the game, the weather is always sunny and there's no indication of air pollution (although it's possible that the pollution hadn't reached a severe level where visibility was affected). The game features horse-drawn carriages as the mode of transportation, and I remember seeing a detail in a British TV series where the streets were filled with horse manure due to the prevalence of horse-drawn carriages, resulting in poor road conditions. However, in the game, you can race carriages (indicating good road conditions).
The game also has interesting elements. One of them is the frequent rescue missions for child laborers. At that time, the salary of an adult could hire six or seven child laborers. Even though there were regulations prohibiting the employment of child labor, there were still many missions to rescue child laborers, highlighting the nature of a long-established capitalist country. When the game starts, it is set in the Whitechapel district in the north, where the infamous Jack the Ripper case occurred. This area was chaotic, and most of the poor people lived there, right by the street. On the western side of the map is Buckingham Palace, with an elegant living environment, parks, ponds, singing and dancing. The industrial area and the wealthy area are divided by the River Thames, with the affluent area on the left and the harsh living conditions of the workers on the right. The game also has a Karl Marx side mission, leading the proletariat in resistance. However, it feels like blowing up factories, preventing workers from blowing up factories, giving speeches... It's quite confusing.
Overall, it's quite fun, better than the later canned Assassin's Creed games, but there's not much joy in climbing buildings because I often use the grappling hook. At the beginning, Bell took me to climb Big Ben, but because I used the grappling hook, there were hardly any memorable moments. It's not as enjoyable as when Ezio climbed buildings in Florence and Venice.
Peaky Blinders Season 1#
I heard a lot of good reviews about this show, but I couldn't get through the first episode no matter how many times I tried, maybe it wasn't the right time. This time, I watched it while eating with Syndicate, and I finished the first season in just a few days.
The clothes are quite stylish, and the gang fights are more ruthless and treacherous. The Peaky Blinders at this stage are still not that impressive, their methods are not yet sophisticated enough, but there's a feeling of playing hard during the early stages of development. The American empire across the Atlantic Ocean no longer plays these games, they play political corruption.
The time period here is around 1920, almost 60 years apart from Syndicate, and the biggest change is that the transportation in Syndicate is horse-drawn carriages, while in Peaky Blinders, it's cars.
Another change is the clothing style for women: Victorian-style clothing extensively uses lace, chiffon, ruffles, ribbons, bows, multi-layered cake-cutting, pleats, etc., as well as palace-style designs such as standing collars, high waists, princess sleeves, leg-of-mutton sleeves, etc. (according to Baidu). These clothes emphasize romance, elegance, and delicacy, highlighting women's curves and waistlines. They require a lot of time, manpower, and maintenance. In Peaky Blinders, due to the aftermath of World War I, there was a shortage of resources, and women began to pursue more simple and practical clothing. Victorian-style dresses were abandoned in favor of looser and more comfortable clothes, with softer and simpler colors.
This change in clothing style also reflects the changes in society and the advancement of women's status at that time. Due to the large number of men participating in World War I, women had the opportunity to enter factories and work in fields that were previously exclusive to men. This made women more economically independent and laid the foundation for later struggles for equal political rights. In Peaky Blinders, Aunt Polly can always confront Thomas by reminding him that it was her who held the family together during the war, preventing it from collapsing, while Thomas can only helplessly say, "Now we're back."
What hasn't changed is the widening wealth gap. In the early 20th century, the average weekly wage of an ordinary British worker was usually around £10-12, while after the Peaky Blinders took control of the horse racing business, they could earn £150 in a day. At this time, the Peaky Blinders couldn't even be considered a fingernail in front of capitalists.
I wrote this while working, and there are still things I want to write down, but I don't have time to organize my thoughts. I'll see if I remember these things next week and write them down.