Write something to wish someone a Happy New Year

It seems I forgot to write "year after year" for this year.

2016 started off badly. On December 31st, the server was hacked, all content was deleted, affecting more than a dozen websites, including my own blog. After several weeks of repairs, all the websites were finally restored. The most serious loss was, of course, to my own website. The database was recovered, but all the files were gone, and the photos on the blog were gone forever. Of course, we have to look on the bright side. First, out with the old, in with the new; second, I took the opportunity to upgrade the homepage and blog.

Analyzing the attack and the remaining information, it appears to have been carried out by a hacking team from the Middle East, specializing in server hacking and operating daily. I was likely caught in the crossfire, as the server that was hacked was completely meaningless (compared to large websites, my own website has no commercial or political value). They probably just found the server out of boredom and hacked it casually. However, a lot of my previous data is lost, which is heartbreaking. The server hosted some of my work and earlier versions of the website. This is the first time such a serious incident has occurred. The lesson is that backups are essential, whether paid for or done manually. It's like insurance; it's always better to have backups than not. It's not about the money, but what if something goes wrong?

Users of ***student.com and hellogwu can rest assured that the server groups of these two websites were not affected by this attack and the data is safe.

At the beginning of the year, something very strange happened: my QQ account was copied, and scammers kept adding me as a friend to commit fraud. I haven't used QQ for a long time, and I still don't know how they did it. The profile picture and username are easy to copy, but how did they know my friends' phone numbers? Cloning? Copying? They probably need my QQ password. I think there are two possibilities.

1. He stole my password and logged into my QQ account to find out who my friends were. Here are the questions: 1. My QQ account doesn't have any login notifications from different locations (I'm in the US, he's in China; even if we were both in the US, it's impossible for us to live in the same city). 2. He doesn't seem to know who my friends are; I have all my contacts saved, like my parents. If he were to scam my parents, he could easily have called them "Dad."
2. The second possibility is that Tencent's API has encountered a major problem. I remember recently using its API to log in to several relatively unknown websites. It's quite possible that something went wrong during this process, thus leaking my friend list.
3. This is the least likely possibility: my computer has a virus. If that were true, it would be incredibly embarrassing.

Anyway, don't fall for it. I'm not short of money right now and can buy things myself. If you really can't confirm, give me a call or a WeChat message. You can use a US or Chinese mobile number. My Weibo is @陶御轩.

Speaking of phone numbers, why are we no longer receiving New Year's greetings from friends on domestic phone numbers? WeChat is probably one reason.

Now that I've vented, let's get down to business.

I've had a lot of insights lately, but I haven't written them down. Overall, I feel like I've passed the peak of these "insights." I can feel it; I have fewer ideas, less thought, and fewer sudden questions. This might be related to my reduced exposure to different things. I've found that a major aspect of exposure is "people." The information people provide is incomparable; even casual conversations are a way to acquire information. On the other hand, it seems that after truly leaving "supervision," I no longer have time to sit down and contemplate life. Before, whether in the classroom or at home, with parents and teachers, I was forced to sit and do things. When I didn't like these tasks, I would think about various things, and that's how various ideas came about. After graduating and leaving "supervision," I've been constantly busy, implementing everything as soon as I think of it, never finishing, and thus never having time to think. Besides, here in the US, there's no "public transportation" schedule; everyone drives, losing the best opportunity to clear my mind.

The biggest takeaway from losing this time is that time seems to fly by. I feel this is because there are no specific time markers, which are what I referred to above as "monitored time"—simply put, time spent doing things you don't want to do, time to clear your mind. Now I'm constantly busy, like a steady, unchanging motion, so naturally I lose track of time. This is very bad.

What insights have I gained recently that I'd like to share?

There are many truths in this world that we're all tired of hearing, but even though we're tired of hearing them, why do so many people still fail? The answer is simple: when we're tired of hearing them, we don't truly understand them. The word "understanding" is interesting because everyone's starting point is themselves. If we "understand" something in our own lives, we think we understand it. But we live in society, and we need to "understand" from a societal perspective to truly understand. This requires not only vision but also a certain amount of life experience. This is why "youth" is still youthful. In my opinion, if I hadn't been restricted between the ages of 14 and 20, I could have accomplished a lot. My thinking, ideas, and execution were all at their peak. The problem lies in "experience" and "life experience." Now it seems I've physically reached that level, but the objective conditions weren't. Looking back at some of the things I've said and how I've treated others, I'm still incredibly ashamed.

When we think we understand, we don't actually understand. We often don't appreciate what we have. Like now, some of you might find what I'm saying annoying, but think about it: if you were in my situation, you probably wouldn't be. Someone once said, "People are the most important thing," and I didn't take it very seriously. I thought, "People are indeed important, and I prioritize treating and recognizing good people." But now I realize how foolish that was. Back then, I was in school, working in the student union, with abundant resources. I met and got to know different classmates every day, even from different schools and cities. The importance of people only applies to building connections and relationships with talented individuals.

After entering the workforce, the environment changes, and there's less and less room for new people. I never used to proactively contact friends, but now I have to take the initiative, otherwise, new people won't come, and old ones will disappear too. At this point, if you want to do anything, "people" become extremely important, and it's incredibly difficult to find suitable candidates.

I've come to this realization a lot as I transitioned from a student to a working professional. I used to filter what I read, writing down what was important to me or what I hadn't yet accomplished. Now, I realize I need to re-filter it; it seems I was too confident back then.

This is why many people are "too lazy to talk"—they're not in the same environment or are not the same type of people, so talking to them is pointless because they simply don't understand.

This year, year after year, is hopeless. I can't make any wishes, but I'll set a small goal for myself: to think more, have more free time, and try to restore my blog to the level it was 12 years ago.

I wish everyone a belated Happy New Year.