This text is simultaneously published on Candinya Blog
Work#
Speaking of work, to be honest, I feel a bit confused. Just when I was most enthusiastic, I encountered RSS3, a company full of youthful energy. I even doubted what I was doing, whether it was a dream in a wuxia novel. With the team growing step by step, from obscurity to ups and downs, we have carved out our own little world in the chaotic world of Web3. Some people came and some people left; some people had a brief encounter, sometimes even had a pleasant conversation, but for various reasons became passing guests; there are also people who are willing to settle down and work with us to plan for the ideal. Naturally, we also see the doubts of outsiders, but with an attitude of improvement and perseverance, we correct every deficiency we encounter, step by step, and make progress.
2022 is a year full of stories: the brutality of politics and the cruelty of war have damaged the confidence in the world's economic development, and the economic downturn has brought about a long bear market, with companies of all sizes going bankrupt or running away with money. The price of the tokens we issued this year seems to have not improved much, which has attracted criticism and rumors from some malicious traders, or public humiliation in community groups. However, we can still see the flickering light, the wholehearted contributions from community developers, the encouragement from industry peers and predecessors, and the continuous support from our supporters. We have persisted, we have built a Ethereum-compatible chain with a focus on social attributes called Crossbell, developed a series of user-friendly and fun peripheral ecosystem products (such as xLog where this article is located), and created perhaps the first truly comprehensive Web3 aggregation search engine. We have achieved many things that we want to say, but still want to wait for the right time to reveal.
We held the first internal hackathon, and each team developed creative or interesting works, many of which have become part of our daily lives: the WLB bot's warm reminders every evening; ecological projects originating from xCharacter; or the background music for the annual data summary, presenting a valuable answer to the drip life of Web3 with retro-pop visual effects.
Learning#
In terms of education, after completing the basic coursework, with only one graduation project left, I applied to complete it at home in the second half of my senior year. Thanks to the help and encouragement of my advisor, time passed quickly, and the project was completed successfully. Although it did not meet the criteria for an excellent evaluation in the end, it still marked a satisfactory end to my four years of university study with a good grade. Saying goodbye to the course groups that used to be filled with joy or laughter, and cleaning up some friends who may never meet again, I opened a new window and signed up for an online music course to explore the mysteries related to sound.
The basic course was scheduled for the summer vacation. As soon as I entered the classroom, the teacher's approachable attitude and innovative teaching methods made me feel that it was worth it. The process of learning music is difficult and boring, but it is through memorizing and cramming knowledge into the brain that unforgettable melodies are created. From a simple exploration of classical music theory to the initial attempt at modern electronic music, and gradually feeling the hidden bass, in less than two months, I have gained a completely different understanding of music. With the arrival of the winter vacation, the advanced course began. This is another challenge I have launched on myself, a battle to overcome laziness, evasion, and giving up, a lifelong journey that will never end but always progresses.
Life#
Since cotton swabs and seals issued the order to kill the soul's desire for freedom, the city has been filled with the smell of disinfectant, and the bullets have been constantly whistling, forcing everyone to go downstairs for nucleic acid testing. We have become our own weakness. Although I am a home-loving otaku and the impact is not significant because I don't go out much, when the news on the non-existent platform repeatedly shocks the eyeballs, I deeply feel the distortion of the real world. Some people take dirty money and tell lies with their eyes open, and some people force their already tortured throats to utter the last word. Masks and citizen cards have become necessities for human-shaped creatures to go out in the new economic era. Even in magical realism novels, I'm afraid they dare not describe the despair of being locked in a room and turned into charcoal during a fire; even in dystopian works, they probably won't arrange for an ambulance to be blocked outside the isolation barrier, causing the wounded to die early. It feels like living in a absurd drama, everything I see is so real, yet so fake. The cries in the voice of April are truly heartbreaking, and even a neutral year-end video from Netease News cannot accommodate them.
Then, this seemingly unbreakable and pitiful thick barrier was reversed overnight. The strategy of letting go and guiding public opinion, which caused engineers to leave after Musk acquired Twitter, scared away many users, and frightened a bunch of advertisers, drove a large number of Twitter users to move to the Fediverse (note: the Fediverse network is not Mastodon). But unfortunately, as with every wave of cyber immigration in history, as time goes by, the few gold left by the new wave of users who are willing to stay are still a minority.
A few days ago, elk officially announced its open-source, and today Misskey released version 13.0.0. These memorable moments have brought more memorable moments to our social life. I also hope that users who find Mastodon uncomfortable can try more alternative products, find ways that suit their usage habits, and find their favorite little world.
In June of this year, Meow Nest celebrated its second birthday. Since the first line of code was written two and a half years ago, it has witnessed the rise and disappearance of various instances, and accompanied everyone through sleepless nights and unforgettable moments, sharing the joy unique to this quiet little world. About a month ago, Meow Nest migrated to a dedicated server with stronger performance and more sufficient space, hoping to help her support more companions seeking companionship.
Development#
As my own project, the most challenging milestone this year was writing NyaTrace, fulfilling a long-standing wish that had troubled me for many years. I started from scratch to understand the working principle of ICMP tracing, learned the encapsulation of low-level sockets in C++ under Windows, learned the calling and processing solutions for dual-stack functions, reviewed the use of Qt's graphical interface, and gained a preliminary understanding of QML.
Another memorable project this year was the development of an invitation management system for Misskey, which finally solved the difficulties in distributing and managing invitation codes. Taking this opportunity, I also familiarized myself with Misskey's authorization callback interface. In the near future, I will write an OAuth2 conversion-compatible server to completely solve the problem of other services not being able to use SSO login.
Travel#
Thanks to the travel restrictions, I hardly went out this year. The only thing worth mentioning is that during the National Day holiday, I stayed in a vacation home with my family for a few days, slightly away from the hustle and bustle of the city, feeling the touch of nature and experiencing the beauty of tranquility. Maybe I will take another break during the Spring Festival holiday and feel the long-lost atmosphere.
Entertainment#
It seems that this year I only seriously played the game "Stray" and realized that cats are better than humans.
Conclusion#
I don't know how to conclude this year. A year is too long, and the seasons are too short. So much has happened this year that I have even forgotten when it all started. All I know is that I am still thinking, still learning, still working, and still striving for a better tomorrow.
Never drown the flame of hope.