A LITTLE ISLAND OF STORIES

付之一笑

Harbor Island, a place to wander and read.

中文
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付之一笑

A little otter is leading the way

Harbor Island is just ahead. Your stories are waiting.

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中文

Letters & reflections

For myself, and for everyone passing through. 133 in Chinese · 130 in English

130 articles · Page 1

Life Essays

Three Months Embedding an Agent into My Workflow

Three months with Hermes Agent: memory, toolchains, cron jobs, skills, capture channels, model strategy, and its place in a personal knowledge system.

Artificial Intelligence / agent / Hermes +2
Life Essays

The Slowness and Depth of Life in Guangzhou

Back in Guangzhou after seven years in Shanghai—arcades, market kindness, and the city's slow, thick sense of home.

Guangzhou / Life / Cantonese +3
Learning from Others

Musk’s Real Genius Wasn’t the Rocket

What Musk really changed was not just the rocket. He took a business that was slow, expensive, and closed, and forced it into a much more modern shape.

Elon Musk / SpaceX / Rockets +3
Artificial Intelligence

Day 0 of Being the Boss: My Employee Is an AI

A record of how I turned AI into my game development partner, using Claude and Godot 4.5 to create a procedurally generated platformer.

Artificial Intelligence / AI Programming / Game Development +2
Music Appreciation

AGA's Cover of "No One Is Doomed to Be Alone": A Gentle Yet Steadfast Confession in Soft Vocals

AGA (Jiang Haijia) covers Dear Jane''s "No One Is Doomed to Be Alone" with delicate vocals, transforming the original fervent confession into a gentle yet.

Cantonese Music / AGA / Dear Jane +4
Personal Growth

Card-Based Thinking: Let Ideas Snap Together Like LEGO

Break your ideas into independent cards that you can shuffle, recombine, and smash together to spark something new — a way to keep your thinking fluid.

Thinking / Knowledge Management / Card Notes +2
Culture

The Lingnan Spring Festival in the Countryside: Not Just Floral Scents, but the Boiling 'Nianli'

The Spring Festival for Cantonese people isn't just about New Year's Eve flower markets and reunion dinners. As someone who grew up in western Guangdong.

Guangdong / Yuexi / Nianli +3
Music Appreciation

The 80s Dancefloor Never Cleared: Zhang Qiang Still Lights Up the Night

In Zhang Qiang’s songs, you can hear neon lights, dance floors, and city heartbreak. From her early cover-hit era to retro synth collaborations with New Pants.

Music / Zhang Qiang / Chinese Music +4
Music Appreciation

Swing: A Millennial Hong Kong Songwriter Duo that Brought Playfulness and Craft into Pop

From Snowman to Swing: a Hong Kong duo whose witty arrangements, tight harmonies, and dark humor marked millennial Cantopop.

Hong Kong Music / Cantonese / Swing +4
Learning from Others

Turn ‘Jack-of-All-Trades’ into an Edge: Building Generalist Compounding in Uncertain Times (Video Notes)

When work feels like a fireground, generalists win by adapting fast; structure many interests so they compound.

Self-Improvement / Learning Methods / Career Development +3
Learning from Others

SDL 3.4 Released: A Small Upgrade that Makes Cross-Platform Development Smoother (Video Notes)

A structured write-up of a quick video plus SDL 3.4.0 release notes: GPU/2D renderer interoperability, native PNG, Emscripten and input improvements—practical.

Game Development / SDL / SDL3 +2
Learning from Others

Stoicism: A Structured Introduction - History, Framework, and Practical Reason

A structured intro to Stoicism—history, the logic–physics–ethics triad, virtue and emotion, plus modern limits.

Stoicism / Classical Philosophy / Virtue Ethics +3
Music Appreciation

Listening to Tangtang Sing "At Least Do One Outrageous Thing": Turns Out Bravery Can Also Be Clumsy

Tangtang YuzeTang covers "At Least Do One Outrageous Thing," singing youthful bravery, clumsiness, and earnest hope.

Cantonese Music / Hong Kong Music / Cover +3
Learning from Others

The Path to Improvement: Do Just a Little Every Day, But Never Stop

A 6-minute video reminded me: Don't spend your energy "talking about dreams"; use it in a little bit of action every day.

Self-Improvement / Action / Habit Building +3
Culture

More Than Pronunciation: Exploring Lingnan Culture Through Cantonese Slang

Beyond tones: exploring Lingnan culture through Cantonese slang on food, numbers, loanwords, and everyday wit.

Cantonese / Culture / Language +2
Life Essays

Gemini: An AI Assistant That Makes Creation More Imaginative

From text to images, Google Gemini Pro is transforming my creative process. Its image generation feature makes imagination truly tangible.

Artificial Intelligence / Gemini / Creative Tools +1
Life Essays

A Little Life Note: The Joy of Playing Pool Again

At a pool hall near home, I rediscovered long-lost focus and joy, dispelling life's boredom one shot and one ball at a time.

Pool / Billiards / Leisure +1
Music Appreciation

"Impermanence": The Fire is Merciless, May Heaven Protect Hong Kong

In the face of the pain caused by the Hong Kong fire, "Not the Lyric God" and Sister Xin offer warm solace with the song "Impermanence," hoping to convey.

Cantonese Music / Impermanence / Hong Kong +3
Life Essays

How AI Has Transformed My Creative Process

From writing to game development, AI is quietly changing how I create, leading me to rethink the relationship between humans and tools.

Artificial Intelligence / Creation / Writing +1
Life Essays

Life Notes: Everyday on the Road

Reuniting with old friends, finding life's rhythm through cycling, and feeling nature's gifts in the mountains.

Cycling / Hiking / Friendship +1
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付之一笑 · Written on Harbor Island

TAKE YOUR TIME. STAY A LITTLE LONGER.Back to the island ↗
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