2023 Outlook and 2022 Review

I originally had no intention of writing these things, as I’m not someone who places much emphasis on rituals. However, 2022 was destined to be an extraordinary year in every sense, so as 2023 approaches, I want to take this moment to reflect on my 2022—a farewell to the pandemic era. Of course, with farewell comes welcome, so this article will also include plans and outlooks for 2023.

It might come off as a bit of a timeline narrative or a mundane chronicle, but read it as you will.

2022 Q1: Out with the Old, In with the New

On New Year’s Day 2022, I visited the Natural History Museum to ponder the existential question: “Who are we, and where do we come from?”

Welcoming the New

Moving to a New Home

Of course, moving into a new home is the top priority at the beginning of the year. After more than three months of renovation and about two months of airing out the space, we finally moved into this little home of our own in Beijing. There were quite a few unpleasant incidents during the renovation, such as:

• We discovered a “potential” water leakage issue above the bathroom radiator and wanted to contact the upstairs neighbor to pay for the heating company to replace the pipes, but it didn’t work out. It even led to an argument, and we eventually gave up.

• The custom-made kitchen cabinets and living room cabinets had some issues, with the smoothness of operation noticeably different from what we experienced in the store.

• The masonry work had some sloppy spots, which caused minor troubles later.

• Some small details.

Regarding the renovation—finalizing plans, browsing Xiaohongshu for tips, researching precautions, selecting building materials, and buying furniture—she handled almost everything alone. My role was limited to making morning site visits to check if the workers were slacking off, monitor progress, and design the home network setup. Here, I want to express my gratitude to my wife for her patience, attentiveness, dedication, and determination.

Purchasing a PS5

For reasons not widely known, my wife lost a bet, and the forfeit was a mainland China version PS5. After a friend bravely tested and confirmed that foreign region accounts could be logged in, we promptly ordered one. Along with the console, we also bought “It Takes Two,” but for some inexplicable reason I still don’t understand, my wife refused to play the PS5 with me—no explanation given. Later, we subscribed to PS Plus, happily joining the ranks of console gamers.

Out with the Old

Saying Goodbye to Sticky Rice

As my wife’s sinusitis worsened to the point of requiring surgery (adenoidectomy), we made the difficult decision to rehome Sticky Rice.

At first, we reached out to a colleague who owned a large orange tabby and wanted a companion—partly my idea too, since a lone cat at home seemed too lonely. Initially, things went fine; it’s normal for cats to keep their distance when first meeting. But after a week, they still fought, and the larger tabby somehow lost to our cat… So, Sticky Rice was eventually “returned.”

In the end, we temporarily placed Sticky Rice with one of my wife’s friends, though we’ll still need to find a permanent home for the poor thing. Ah, the unlucky Sticky Rice.

Q2 2022: Revival of All Things

Off for a spring outing!

Time for delicious food!

Time for surgery! (Adenoidectomy)

Out for a countryside stroll!

Time to cook!

Time for formaldehyde testing!

Time for overtime work!

Time for shopping!

Q3 2022: Happy Summer Break

Visiting the Astronomy Museum

My nephew is about to enter the second year of junior high after summer vacation. Since my mother-in-law was accompanying him to the provincial capital for a minor oral fluid surgery, they decided to stop by Beijing to visit Xiao Wang and have me tutor my nephew in physics. In their free time, they also visited museums and played games. I often think: if I had had an uncle who took me to the astronomy museum when I was a kid, I would have been over the moon.

During this time, my wife and I also reached a consensus: our nephew will definitely pursue humanities in the future (as if he were our own child). This is because he shows no real interest in physical phenomena or the laws of celestial bodies—or, to put it bluntly, the fundamental principles governing how the world works. At best, he just wants to know the answer without delving into the underlying reasons. Combined with our understanding of his optimistic and articulate personality, my wife and I agreed that the most suitable career for him would be: civil servant.

Completing It Takes Two

As mentioned earlier, for reasons unknown to me, my wife wasn’t willing to play It Takes Two with me. So, I took the opportunity to finish the game with my nephew during his visit to Beijing. His verdict: “This game is amazing!” As a result, when we later played other co-op games like Magicka, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, Overcooked, Moving Out, and Unravel, he felt none of them measured up to It Takes Two. Starting with such a high bar really spoiled him—luxury makes frugality hard to bear.

The Red Building at Peking University

It was pretty much the same as what’s portrayed on TV and in books. The staff there constantly patrol to ensure you don’t disappear from their sight for more than 30 seconds, just in case you might do something inappropriate.

One peculiar thing I noticed was that the staff were all exceptionally good-looking—I wonder if they were specifically selected for that.

I thought to myself, the staff here have a pretty great job: walking around all day, maybe with rotating shifts and breaks, and with the added perk of being state-employed with official status. So, I approached one of them and asked:

Me: “Do you have official civil service status working here?”

Answer: “No, we’re just property management.”

As they spoke, they flashed the badge on their chest, and I finally saw the “ShouKai Property” logo. Awkward.

Hiking at Beiling Mountain

After staying in the city for too long, I always feel the urge to get out and explore, so I went hiking in the mountains with friends to enjoy the scenery. Since we had to wake up early in the morning, Xiao Wang didn’t join us.

Universal Studios

We went there for a team-building event. As my colleague put it, it was like riding roller coasters all day. Almost every IP—Minions, Transformers, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, etc.—immerses you in the experience through “5D roller coasters.” These involve sitting in a moving seat on a track, wearing 3D glasses, and being surrounded by sound, light effects, and even water sprays to create a “realistic” experience.

To be honest, after trying this “5D” experience a couple of times, it starts to feel repetitive. I hope they can introduce more diverse forms of entertainment!

Playing Table Tennis

A wave of table tennis fever swept through my colleagues, and the most frustrating part was that it was the kind of enthusiasm where everyone became gear enthusiasts. So, I also bought a racket for around 800 yuan, and it feels pretty good.

Traveling with My Parents in Beijing

During the National Day holiday, Xiao Wang mentioned wanting to visit her family but didn’t want to take me along. She felt that since I always follow her lead, bringing me to her parents’ place might make them think she didn’t want to visit mine (ugh, I hate these kinds of family mind games, but I admire how thorough Xiao Wang’s considerations are). So, I made a bold decision: I invited my parents to Beijing for a trip. I asked them on the spot if they had time, and they said yes, so I immediately booked round-trip high-speed train tickets.

My mom said the main purpose of this trip was to climb the Great Wall. After visiting Prince Gong’s Mansion, Beihai Park, and the obligatory Tiananmen Square, we took her to the Great Wall.

This time, we finally made it to the highest point and even reached Tower 10 of the North Section, almost completing the entire route. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel very tired. When I accompanied my mother-in-law to the Great Wall before, I was exhausted by Tower 4. Maybe playing table tennis has strengthened my legs?

Q4 2022: The Darkness Before Dawn

The Resurgence of the Pandemic and Unpredictable Policies

Winter has arrived, and the pandemic is surging again. Coupled with ever-changing policies, everyone is simmering with frustration while getting their nucleic acid tests—just one more trigger away from unleashing their full fury like a double EQ flash + W rage combo.

Under normal circumstances, getting tested every 72 hours over three days wouldn’t be a big deal—people are used to it. But strangely, as the year drew to a close, the government began haphazardly shutting down testing sites. To get tested, you now have to queue up at increasingly distant locations, with lines growing longer each day due to the scarcity of sites. Adding to the chaos, many sites operate only in the morning, closing in the afternoon, or vanish entirely the next day. No one can say for sure where testing will still be available today.

From personal experience, every time I’ve gone for a test, conflicts have erupted, often escalating to police involvement. Why? Take this scenario: a testing site is supposed to close at noon, but no one stops people from queuing (the “Big Whites” tell us each booth only has two staff). So, hundreds endure the cold for over two hours in a kilometer-long line, only to be told at the front that the site is closed. Who wouldn’t be furious? Protests erupt—people block exits, trapping staff inside—as the clash between government policies and public needs explodes at the grassroots level.

Dawn’s First Light: Testing Positive

I’ve always been policy-sensitive, regularly browsing international media, so my information intake isn’t lacking. I considered myself a “rational centrist”—calm, neutral, and objective. All signs pointed to an imminent lifting of restrictions, like Shijiazhuang dropping testing mandates (though rumors later claimed the policy’s architect was reprimanded). Then the U.S. Embassy in China tweeted, advising citizens to stockpile two weeks’ worth of food, medicine, and water. That’s when it hit me: Beijing might be reopening too.

Though I anticipated Beijing’s shift, I didn’t act on it. After all, Beijing isn’t Shanghai: one word from Beijing, and Hebei obediently ships in supplies, while couriers heed Dong’s call to fill the capital’s delivery gaps. So, I didn’t stock up on household staples like cold medicine or ibuprofen.

But I never expected the lifting of restrictions to come so quickly, catching me completely off guard. Nor did I anticipate that hospitals and pharmaceutical companies’ supplies would once again be in short supply, just like masks at the beginning of the pandemic (Don’t these policymakers ever learn their lesson and make advance preparations?).

All these thoughts can be summed up in one word: Idiots.

Other Summaries

2022 Games

This year, I played:

• Battlefield 1: Controller aiming is so hard, couldn’t get the hang of it.

• Battlefield 4: Feels slightly better than Battlefield 1, at least the scope auto-aims now.

• Battlefield 5: Feels pretty good.

• Sniper Elite 4: A slaughter… I love WWII-themed shooters.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge: Retro nostalgia.

• It Takes Two: Double the fun with two players.

• Stray: Adorable little cat in a cyberpunk setting.

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: A shooter with solid mechanics.

• Detroit: Become Human: An interactive game, fantastic, ended with a peaceful outcome for all.

• GTA 5: More of a nostalgia trip, didn’t play much.

• Moving Out: Fun times with my nephew and wife.

• Need for Speed: Heat: Zoom zoom.

• Titanfall 2: Bought it but haven’t started yet, looks promising.

• Red Dead Redemption 2: Recommended by a friend, pretty good but time-consuming—still stuck in Chapter 2.

Tried and abandoned:

• Biomutant: A mix of shooting and action, but no aiming for shooting—felt awkward.

• Sackboy: A Big Adventure: Played co-op with my nephew, stopped after he left.

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Special Edition): Couldn’t get into it, graphics were painful.

• Genshin Impact: Couldn’t stick with it solo, and the PS5 is on the Hong Kong server, which doesn’t sync with the mainland server.

• Monster Hunter: World: Too complicated, couldn’t get into it.

• God of War 3: Felt more like a side-scrolling action game.

• The Last of Us Remastered: Stealth gameplay, too time-consuming, couldn’t stick with it.

• Metro Exodus: Originally planned to play it seriously, but after reading reviews, lost interest.

• Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Had the chance to play it properly but uninstalled it to make space for other games.

• Assassin’s Creed: Origins - Decided to give up on the Assassin’s Creed series as it’s too time-consuming.

• Hollow Knight - Repetitive gameplay and high difficulty, plus the lack of map markers.

• Watch Dogs 1 - Stealth mechanics made it unenjoyable and hard to get into.

• Watch Dogs 2 - Same as above; stealth gameplay didn’t click with me.

• The Division - A shooter without a compelling real-world backdrop, couldn’t get into it.

• Ghost Recon: Wildlands - Same issue as above.

• Horizon Zero Dawn - The controls didn’t feel as smooth as God of War 4, couldn’t continue.

• Assassin’s Creed: Unity - Again, the Assassin’s Creed series is too much of a time sink.

• Cities: Skylines - The PS5 controls were too challenging.

• Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla - Still part of the time-consuming Assassin’s Creed series.

• Little Nightmares - A bit dull and oppressive.

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 - Pure shooting with no engaging storyline, couldn’t stick with it.

2022 Travel

Due to the pandemic, I barely traveled at all.

2022 Software Subscriptions

• YouTube Premium (Turkey region) - Mainly for tutorial and educational videos.
• Infuse Pro (Hong Kong region)
• NetEase UU Game Booster - Purchased a six-month subscription.
• Craft (China region)
• 1Password
• iCloud (China region)
• PlayStation Plus Premium (Hong Kong region)
• Nintendo Switch Online (Hong Kong region)
• Apple Music (China region)

2022 Network/Electronics Hardware

• R4S Soft Router

• TP-Link XDR 5480

• TP-Link TL-SM410U Ethernet Port

• Apple TV 2021 4K

• Mac Studio

• Xiaomi Monitor Light Bar 1S

• Logitech Wired Mice G403 & G502

• NB G40 Monitor Stand

• UGREEN USB 3.0 to Gigabit RJ45 Ethernet Adapter

• PlayStation 5 China Version 1TB

• Sony PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller Charging Dock

• bebird Note3 Pro Visual Ear Pick

• ViewSonic 27’ VX2780-4K-HDU Monitor

• UGREEN 5V1A2A 3.1A Dual Port Type-C Charger

• MCHOSE iPad Stand

• ifacemall iPad Stand (Unused)

• Anker Dual Type-C Fast Charging Cable

• Anker Dual Port 40W Charging Cable

• Anker 20W Fast Charging Cable

• SSPAI xJSAUX PD 20W Fast Charging 1.8m Cable

2022 Home Appliances

• Sony XR-65X90J

• Roborock G10 Robot Vacuum

• Yamamoto S-2105 Air Fryer

• Mi Smart Graphene Heater

2022 Progress as an Independent Developer

Optimized and updated a significant amount of blog content, such as adding elegant bookmark support and localizing the blog publishing workflow. Also learned video production and recorded a video explaining my Craft plugin-based blog publishing workflow.

Studied SwiftUI and Swift, developed a small tool for my wife’s work to install ZXP files. Originally planned to release an app by age 30 (2022), but the goal was not met and postponed to next year (2023).

Published 13 technical blog posts and 7 lifestyle posts this year. Aiming to do even better next year!

2023 Outlook

All plans for 2023 are based on the assumption that post-pandemic life will return to pre-2019 levels. If things change… well, they change.

First, this year should see the return of Nian Gao (our pet), followed by finding a kind-hearted adopter.

As an Independent Developer

• Develop the app originally planned for release last year at age 30. Features and prototypes are finalized, with technical and knowledge preparation underway.

• Aim to maintain the current number of software subscriptions without adding new ones (no guarantees).

• Publish at least one technical blog every two months, with a minimum of 6 posts this year.

• Read 2 technical books.

Personal Life

• Travel abroad once, tentatively planning for New Zealand/Europe/the U.S.

• Considering not renewing the PS Plus subscription since I don’t play much. For games I want to play, I can just get a one-month subscription when needed. Games I’m certain to play include:

  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

• The final KPI for Xiao Wang is to have a baby—other things like work aren’t important.

• Publish at least one lifestyle blog every two months, with a minimum of 6 posts this year, covering topics like cooking and travelogues.

Finally, wishing everyone a safe, smooth, and successful new year where all your wishes come true!

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