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 - [2 Bugs 1 Day](2bugs1day.md)
 - [Shenzhen I/O Game Review](shenzhen_io_review.md)
 - [2024-04-05](2024-04-05.md)
+- [Summer 2024 Wrapup](summer_2024_wrapup.md)
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+# Summer 2024 Wrapup
+
+2024-08-25
+
+I flew home. To spend the summer in Shanghai.
+
+Reasons:
+
+- Reunion with family
+- Everything cheaper
+- I need to order a bunch of PCBs and parts which are also cheaper
+
+By "summer" I mean 2024-05-07 thru 2024-08-25 inclusive.
+
+## Projects I Did
+
+### Reflow Workshop 2
+
+In 2023, me and my buddies at TechJI did [Reflow
+Workshop](../projects/reflow-workshop.md) and it was a huge success. Which
+begs the question:
+
+If Reflow Workshop is so good, why is there no Reflow Workshop 2?
+
+There is.
+
+![Poster for Reflow Workshop 2. Vector graphic of a pair of tweezers
+picking up a QFN chip.](./img/summer_2024_wrapup/reflow.jpg)
+
+▲ I designed this to be as different as possible from last year's poster.
+Color scheme yoinked from _Clancy_ (2024).
+
+Based on last year's overwhelming demand (I bought for 20 but more than 20
+people signed up), I decided to buy enough for 30. However, this time
+I did not see enthusiasm as high, probably because it was scheduled on the
+weekend leading to the midterms. Only 17 people signed up. However, I did
+get sweet extracurricular credits out of this.
+
+### Linux Install Party
+
+My buddies at TechJI hosted a Linux Install Party, so naturally I showed
+up (to help). Not many people were with us, as it was raining. One person
+had an old ThinkPad, and when I looked closer it was an E220s, which was
+32 bit and ran Windows 7. Hardly any distros support x86-32 now.
+Fascinating that it still boots. Also, the plastic was all sticky.
+
+### Bookmarkotchi
+
+Bookmarkotchi is an ongoing project. It's a PCB bookmark that helps you
+form a reading habit. The irony is that I broke my reading habit once
+I flew home. whatever
+
+## Places I Went
+
+- Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Xuhui campus
+    - Had a meetup with my friend and gifted him a copy of _Scaled And
+      Icy_ (2021)
+- Xi'an with my parents
+    - Terracotta warriors
+    - Hua Mountain: With considerable help from a cable car, we climbed
+      two peaks, including the tallest in central China. There was an
+      orange cat on our way down
+    - A "musical" titled 驼铃传奇 (Tuo Ling Legend, literally the Legend
+      of the Camel's Bell): see below
+    - Shaanxi History Museum, where a gallery was playing a NileRed video
+    - Two jade jewelry stores that the tour guide forced us in (she later
+      threw a fit when basically nobody bought anything)
+- Sichuan with my father and ten friends of his
+    - Mostly 甘孜 (Garzê, a Tibetan autonomous prefecture), including
+      a bunch of mountains atop the Tibetan Plateau which got me panting
+    - 映秀 (Yingxiu), where an earthquake struck in 2008
+        - There's a public square with pillars commemorating soldiers who
+          sacrificed themselves in the Sino-Japanese war or the civil war
+          (forgot which). I find it absolutely unnecessary. It's like, "oh
+          yeah, your father died in an earthquake? well check _this_ out,
+          _this_ guy died in a _war_!" They're both tragic, ok?
+    - 资阳 (Ziyang), a suburb east of Chengdu, where I busted a tire while
+      pulling out of a parking lot
+    - A friend's hometown (village) in 内江 (Neijiang)
+    - 罗泉 (Luoquan), also in Neijiang, where we bought hundreds of yuan's
+      worth of assorted tofu
+- Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Minhang campus
+    - Volunteered at the graduation ceremony
+    - I failed to mention in the [Winter 2024
+      wrapup](../umich/w24_wrapup.md) that I volunteered at a UMich grad
+      ceremony as well, for JI students in the CoE
+- Drove our family car to a dealership to sell it, because we're getting
+  a new PHEV (wise move)
+- Cycled to the bank with my grandpa to withdraw 300,000 CNY in cash for
+  a completely legal transaction. I felt like a drug cartel
+- A record store in Xuhui with my friend because I heard they had a bunch
+  of Radiohead. Couldn't afford any, so I just picked up three stickers
+  and dipped
+    - There was a restaurant called "Normal Canteen" which totes sounds
+      not suspicious
+- My childhood apartment where I lived from 3 to 10. Unfortunately,
+  there's a mouse infestation.
+- Flew back to Ann Arbor
+    - Flight was delayed on tarmac for three hours. Captain quoted
+      "electronic" and "hydraulic issues"
+
+### Tuo Ling Legend
+
+It's a show, a musical of some kind, about the folks walking the Silk Road
+(the real one). The tour guide recommended it, and I find it
+disappointing. I mean, the dancing and the props were good, but the story
+seems to be the product of a junior high project that was done over recess
+in three days. Not to mention the cheesy lines, which were, of course,
+dubbed.
+
+The show tries to be touching, but the playwright and/or director failed
+to consider that, just having the actors (voice actors, in this case)
+speak the lines operatically does not automatically make it sentimental.
+It comes off to me as cringe.
+
+I did not get the point of the play either. It could be one or both of:
+
+- Look how much our ancestors did for us on the brave new road
+- Look what superpower we were back in the good ol' days. We're gonna do
+  it again haha am i right guys
+
+Our tour guide claimed that the show was what foreign guest officials
+would watch, and I don't believe it. If I were an official in a foreign
+country and they showed me a musical hinting that they once dominated the
+world and had a luxurious palace, I would leave.
+
+Notable features, among this failure:
+
+- They have real wolves (who I hope weren't mistreated) running down the
+  aisle
+- The audience sat on a rotating platform to view six stages clockwise
+- There was a scene where they poured a literal tonne of water in
+  a waterfall and it splashed all over us
+
+### Sichuan
+
+Much more enjoyable experience than in Xi'an (if you don't count the flat
+tire night) overall. Never was pushed to a store to buy anything. Only
+time I was persuaded to buy anything was a street vendor selling
+ready-to-eat walnuts in a bag for only ten bucks. It was good. Everything
+was voluntary. The people were nice. Lots of dogs. I learned a new card
+game called 干瞪眼 (staredown). Food was hot and greasy but that's how
+Sichuan cuisine works. Once one of my dad's friends got drunk and told me
+about the time he and his team reverse engineered the .doc and .xls
+formats in the 90s. Only complaint (other than the tire) was the hours of
+being in a car every day.
+
+### Ann Arbor
+
+Things I did after landing:
+
+- Abused my privilege and requested a SafeRide™ home (I can only do this
+  six times per year)
+
+- Volunteered to pick up new arrivals from SJTU twice at DTW
+- Volunteered on an IKEA ride and bought a Livlig husky plush
+
+- Installed a cargo rack + basket for my bike, didn't apply enough torque,
+  lost two bolts on a bumpy road
+- Got a replacement from Fabrication Underground; also pumped my tires
+- Got a flat while riding around Bursley
+- Fixed my flat (and a couple other problems) at [Common
+  Cycle](https://commoncycle.org/) with help from Matthew. Basically got
+  a new tube for free. Donated 5 dollars.
+
+- Visited the [phallic dumpster
+  exhibit](https://umma.umich.edu/exhibitions/machine-dazzle-ouroboros/)
+  at UMMA. Five stars
+- Saw the furry club poster at Duderstadt and almost had a heart attack 💀
+
+![Poster on a bulletin board. Grey anthro dog staring menacingly and
+pointing at you. Caption reads "I want you for the furry club". URL runs
+underneath.](img/summer_2024_wrapup/anthro.jpg)
+
+## IA application
+
+I applied for <abbr title="Instructional Aide">IA</abbr> back in April,
+and despite HR saying the "goal" was to have the "majority" assigned by
+"July 21", I didn't hear from the professor until 2024-08-05. But hey,
+progress.
+
+We had an interview, then I waited. On 2024-08-19, I got news that I was
+hired. Now all that's left is training and paperwork, which should not be
+hard.
+
+It turns out I was literally the last hire; I was really lucky. Also, my
+former roommate is also an IA now, which is cool.
+
+They gave me a sheet to indicate which hours I'm free so they could
+schedule lab sessions. And that's where I fucked up. I forgot I had
+a lecture on Friday afternoon, and by the time I discovered that it was
+too late. I've emailed and texted but to no avail.
+
+Shit.
+
+## Movies and Shows I Watched
+
+- "Barbie": Watched it for the second time on the flight to Shanghai.
+  Someone in front of me was watching Oppenheimer at the same time, and
+  there was a brief moment where Ryan Gosling danced to the detonation of
+  the first atomic bomb. Also realized Billie Eilish sang in the movie.
+  (Barbie, not Oppenheimer)
+- "The Garfield Movie": Saw the negative comments, wonder why. They're
+  right. Plot was unoriginal.
+- 抓娃娃 ("The Successor"): Comedy film on helicopter parents. Seems
+  biased toward the parent side, but the actual message requires critical
+  thinking and speculation, which will takes another five pages, so no.
+  Open to interpretations.
+- Stand-up comedy night with 严值高 (Yan Zhigao, homophonic to
+  "good-looking"): Lots of sexual humor.
+- 逆行者 ("Upstream"), which is about a former software engineer who
+  becomes a delivery driver (rider to be more specific) to pay mortgage.
+  The ending where everything worked out is dystopian. The riders compete
+  against each other without even once questioning capitalism, or the
+  authority who exploit them. Imagine showing Mao this movie.
+- "The Lion King", on the flight to Detroit. Can see why it's one of the
+  classics.
+- "Everything Everywhere All At Once": I have suspicions that it's just an
+  elaborate pun on the everything bagel
+
+## Music I Made
+
+This was a musically prolific summer. I wrote two songs, covered one, and
+forced a computer to cover two and a half. In chronological order:
+
+- [Diag](/jam/diag/): Original. Entered Fedivision 2024 and won 56th
+  place. Also [on air in Berlin thanks to Herr
+  Irrtum](https://www.elektrische-lasagne.de/radioIrrtum/) (Sendung
+  2024-06, timestamp 53:20)
+- [At The Risk Of Feeling Dumb](/jam/at-the-risk-of-feeling-dumb/): twenty
+  one pilots cover from scratch. Somewhat overproduced.
+- [A Flat Tire Is Nothing To Worry
+  About](/jam/a-flat-tire-is-nothing-to-worry-about/): Inspired by the
+  Ziyang flat tire incident and my father getting drunk. Decided against
+  overproduction. Features minimal instrumentation and effort.
+- [OK Computer but sung by
+  a Computer](/jam/ok-computer-but-sung-by-a-computer/): featuring the
+  Festival Speech Synthesis System, invented the same year OKC came out.
+
+## Music I Listened To
+
+- Fedivision 2024 songs (all 72 of them) (I even kept a spreadsheet to
+  rate them so I can vote)
+- twenty one pilots
+    - _Clancy_
+- Radiohead
+    - _Amnesiac_
+    - _In Rainbows_
+    - _The King Of Limbs_
+    - the other albums as well, but mainly these three
+
+## Things I Bought or Otherwise Acquired
+
+These were bought online in China:
+
+- A fume extractor for soldering which I should've ordered in 2021
+- A CO detector in my grandpa's kitchen
+- A pair of earbuds
+- A logic analyzer
+- A ten-port USB hub because apparently four isn't enough
+- Some accessories for my bicycle, like a cargo rack
+- Some stickers including this one:
+
+![Left to right: UMich logo, "EECSISTENTIAL CRISIS", checked
+box](img/summer_2024_wrapup/eecsistential_crisis.png)
+
+Also I made a few badges with the badge press in the hackerspace I worked
+in last year, including this one:
+
+!["This individual is no longer allowed to operate a badge press"
+surrounding a badge press crossed out by a red circle of
+forbiddance](img/summer_2024_wrapup/badgepress.png)
+
+These were bought in the US:
+
+- A Livlig husky plush
+
+## Things I Am Going To Do
+
+Notable event happening in the coming month:
+
+- August 26: First 370 staff meeting, Festifall North
+- August 28: Festifall Central
+- September 1: Pride Outside
+- September 4: Green Day Saviors Tour
+- September 9: Practice teaching as part of IA training
+- September 29: twenty øne piløts Clancy Tour