What goes up must come down

Another two months have passed since I last wrote anything. Since starting work, updates have become slower and slower. I do not know whether life has become fuller or whether I simply no longer feel like writing. Yesterday, though, I finally bought the MacBook Pro I had wanted for a long time. After spending all day migrating data, I suddenly wanted to update this long-neglected blog.

Still products and internal pressure

When I wrote my previous post, I had just taken over another major product. For the first month, the numbers looked good. By the October National Day holiday, it was performing better than ever, and I thought I had landed safely. Only a few days after publishing that post, the situation turned sharply. Two competitors rose at the same time and overwhelmed us in order volume; a few days later, results fell off a cliff and previously stable strategies stopped working.

November was worse. Even with colleagues sharing the pressure, we could only hold the line. Then broader market fluctuations arrived in December, adding more pressure. It was the last thing I wanted to see as my probation review approached.

By the way, here are the brick-figure gifts from the company:

Reunion and parting

At the end of November, Fangfang came to China on a business trip. I applied to work remotely so that I could see her; it had been about half a year since we last met. We ate hotpot and Japanese food, wandered around Shanghai with its fashionable crowds—almost too fashionable for my rheumatism—and tried sesame-noodle soup recommended by Michelin. For a week, it felt a little like the old days in Macun. Then she had to leave again. It will be another six months before we meet, which is frustrating. I hope things will be more stable by then.

A new computer

Apple released the M4 and I was immediately tempted. A national subsidy made it even harder to resist. I nearly ordered a Mac mini during the Singles’ Day sale, but held back. Then, after nights of being bombarded with Mac videos on Bilibili and Douyin, I finally gave in and ordered a MacBook Pro M4 Pro with 24 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage.

I was genuinely excited when it arrived yesterday. I used to mock macOS as unfriendly; apparently the “it just works” effect reaches everyone eventually. The display and speakers are excellent. My old Razer was not bad, but the MacBook is still stronger overall. After an afternoon of setup, its fan had not even started spinning. It is wonderful.

December 14, 2024, in Suzhou