The Last Day of February 2026, Spring Is Finally Here

Today I revived my long-dormant blog. Back in 2024 I used to jot down casual essays and course notes, but as things got busier and the PhD application grind wore me down, the habit faded away, along with my evening runs. In the spring of 2026 I've decided to pick them both back up.

After four brutal months of cold and a snowstorm that swept the entire East Coast, DC finally greeted spring on the last day of February. Yesterday I walked through the streets of Georgetown, past the bookshop, and across the bridge. Wind is a kind of memory. The breeze on the bridge reminded me of those idle days walking and cycling on the Yangtze River Bridge, and of running on Luojia Mount. under a dark sky, thinking about where life was heading.

Since I paused this blog, the past year or so has brought plenty of bad news and plenty of good. I received a few offers, chose the one that felt right, spent three months at Westlake, and then rushed off to DC. At the time I thought my application strategy was a bit of a failure. I didn't listen to my family's advice to apply for an MS as a stepping stone. Fortunately my advisor turned out to be incredibly kind and supportive; I figured I'd just publish papers and work toward a degree. I'm the go-with-the-flow type. I've always believed that the meaning of life lies in enjoying the journey.

Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye. Some leftover work from undergrad has wrapped up, and continuous effort has also yielded some results. Sometimes I wonder: if I were doing an MS right now, a year's worth of accumulated results might have carried me to a better platform. But two roads diverged in a wood. Once you pick one, you'd better walk it with both feet on the ground. Wind is a kind of memory, but it is only memory. The point of life, after choosing your path in the wood, is to enjoy the scenery along the way.