Reading & Sharing

I am an avid reader, mainly of English books. Depending on the year, I read anywhere from 3 or 4 textbooks to 20+ nonfiction books. For fiction, I enjoy Chinese online literature. Here are some of the books I have enjoyed recently:

• Ages & Stages, A Parent's Guide to Normal Childhood Development.
• A Short History of Nearly Everything — by Bill Bryson
• The Clean Architecture by Robert C. Martin.
• Nutrition Made Clear (The Great Courses).
• The Science of Exercise (Coursera online course).
• 暗示间 by 刘未鹏.
• 凡人修仙传

Some of the techniques I use for reading:

• Instead of reading, I listen to audiobooks while doing household chores or commuting. The LA Public Library is ranked second in the US in terms of audiobook collection size.
• When writing book summaries, I do not limit myself to sitting in front of a computer. Nowadays, I finish most of my summaries through dictation using WeChat, ChatGPT, or Doubao, often during small pockets of downtime throughout the day, such as while commuting or waiting for appointments.

Dancing

I enjoy learning hip-hop dance from videos. It is more difficult for me than learning from an in-person teacher, but I get to notice more details and become more aware of my body and the music. Here are some insights I have gained from learning dance:

• Dance is actually very logical. The way I move my body in a routine needs to be logical. If I treat each move as an isolated pose, my dance looks like a sequence of snapshots, and it does not flow. Creating flow requires me to design how I use momentum, tension, force, and vibration from one move to transition into the next. For example, if I need to step to another location, instead of taking a straight step, I can initiate the motion with my shoulder to create leaning momentum, allowing my body and legs to follow naturally.
• I start to see choreography not simply as “pose A → pose B”, but as transition logic between movements:
  • Which body part initiates the movement
  • Where the momentum comes from
  • How the force is redirected
  • How the rest of the body responds naturally
• Designing transitions between movements on the beat is very fun. I do not need to follow the teacher's choreography strictly; I can experiment with my own interpretations and variations.
• If I feel awkward about a move, it is usually because I have not fully worked out the transition logic between movements. Once the transition logic feels natural, it becomes much easier to memorize the routine, because my body remembers it instead of my brain. No matter how many times I do it, I can perform it the same way.
• In dance, it is important to think about the pivot point. I intentionally use my toes, fingertips, ankles, and wrists more because they are generally farther from a movement's pivot point, so less force is needed to execute the movement. For example, if I want to lift my leg straight up, the pivot point is at the hip joint. In transitions, if I initiate momentum from ankles, the line of motion is extended. I like this dance style because it creates a longer line of motion.

Swimming

I swim two to three times a week. I was on my high school swimming team, but only in adulthood have I started to think more deeply about swimming itself. It is a sport that hurts me, teaches me, and heals me at different times of my life:

• For any sport, part of training is mental focus. Can I stay focused so that each of my strokes is executed with good form, even under physical and mental fatigue?
• What is my "real" potential? My potential is not the highest level I can force myself to reach in a short burst of fear or pressure. It is the level I can sustain with happiness, curiosity, and focus over time.