#7 | Ah, but actually...

Hey, everyone, I'm back~

"Ah," the sigh after a thought is the feeling brought by habitual thinking. "But actually," upon careful consideration, things are not as straightforward as they seem.

1 Ah, the epidemic prevention policy in my hometown is a bit strange#

That day, I was planning to take the high-speed train from the county to the provincial capital. However, due to a confirmed case in a town in the county, the conditions for entering the high-speed train station suddenly changed. For people whose address on their ID card is in the county, it now requires 24 hours instead of the previous 48 hours.

The town is about fifty to sixty kilometers away from the county, and they are screening people based on the address on their ID card rather than their travel history. This is unreasonable—it will miss some high-risk individuals A (such as those who passed through an epidemic area but their ID card does not show that they are from the county), and mistakenly screen some low-risk individuals B (such as those who are several tens of kilometers away from the epidemic area but their ID card shows that they are from the county).

My family belongs to group B, so they were not allowed to enter the station, while I, because my ID card shows that I am from "Shenzhen" [Doge], was able to enter. Clearly, our itineraries were the same, but we were treated differently.

In the end, the policy couldn't be changed, and my family had to cancel their trip and reluctantly return home.

Ah, the epidemic prevention policy in my hometown is a bit strange.

But actually, upon careful consideration, this may already be the most cost-effective solution.

Tracking people's movements is costly. The county's data capabilities are certainly not comparable to those of big cities, and it requires a high cost. Moreover, it is generally not necessary because there is less population movement. In special cases, like this one, using the address on the ID card for screening, combined with specific epidemic areas, basically meets the requirements.
It doesn't affect many people. The impact of epidemic prevention policies in small places is minimal because of the small population base. Since the impact is small, in order to reduce the spread of the epidemic, it is reasonable to screen out high-risk individuals as much as possible, without any problems.

2 Ah, the experience of nucleic acid testing in my hometown is not great#

The National Day holiday was coming to an end, and on the 7th, I went for nucleic acid testing. Originally, the plan for the morning was to get tested and then do something else, but...

When I arrived at the testing site, there was a never-ending long queue. Actually, the length of the queue didn't matter much. In Shenzhen, sometimes the queues are terrifyingly long, but in the end, it usually only takes about half an hour.

But here, the queue didn't seem to move as smoothly. On the contrary, it moved very slowly, and at times, it didn't move at all. That's okay too. This kind of fragmented time is perfect for practicing what I mentioned in #3 | Another Way to Improve Cognition, which is to read articles on WeChat Official Accounts to improve cognition.

When I finally moved closer to the front of the line, I noticed that many parents with children were openly cutting in line, claiming that "there are people inside" or "the child has to go to school tomorrow"... No wonder the line sometimes didn't move.

"There are still so many people waiting behind, who doesn't have something to do tomorrow!" Fortunately, a fierce aunt scolded them, and the phenomenon of cutting in line improved somewhat.

But there were still parents who sneaked in, and even the staff inside let them go first. So, in order to eliminate the occurrence of cutting in line, not only does each person in line need to have a sense of following the rules, but the relevant staff also need to be strict, and I believe the latter is more important for maintaining order.

Finally, I found that the staff scanning the QR codes were not proficient, and the phones were laggy. When they encountered a duplicate QR code, they didn't know how to go back, so they had to call over another staff member from the other side to help. No wonder the line was moving slowly.

Suddenly, a staff member said, "Those behind, don't wait anymore. We'll close at 12 o'clock sharp." It was 11:58, and I still had three people in front of me, and the staff scanning the QR codes didn't know how to handle a duplicate scan.

Luckily, everything turned out fine in the end, and I finally got tested on the last tube. The whole process took nearly 2 hours, which can be considered as setting a new personal record for getting tested.

Ah, the experience of nucleic acid testing in my hometown is not great.

But actually, upon careful consideration, if it weren't for special circumstances, the daily life in my hometown is basically free from the constraints of the epidemic, while the slogan of life in big cities is "the epidemic is the norm".

Although the nucleic acid testing experience is good in big cities, it is done almost every day (the experience is good because of the accumulated experience from doing it frequently).
Although the experience is not great in my hometown, it is only done a few times a year when there is a large population movement during holidays.

3 Ah, my 1.5-day trip to Shunde is being further compressed#

On the 8th, the plan was to take the high-speed train to Shunde in the morning and start "savoring Shunde" at noon.

But the nucleic acid test that SS did on the 7th morning still hadn't produced results after nearly 24 hours (I relied too much on the speed of getting the test results, thinking that in Shenzhen, the test volume on the last day would definitely be large).

So, SS went to the hospital to get an expedited nucleic acid test, which was supposed to produce results within a maximum of 4 hours. Then, I changed my high-speed train ticket to noon.

Ah, my originally short 1.5-day trip to Shunde is being further compressed.

But actually, upon careful consideration, isn't the original intention of going on a trip to relax?

So, we used the morning time to go to a private cinema and watched a suspenseful thriller called "The Body Remains". You may be more familiar with another movie by the director, Oriol Paulo, called "The Invisible Guest". The endings of both movies gave me goosebumps, and I recommend watching them~

Speaking of which, they say that traveling is an important criterion for testing a relationship. In the novel "Fortress Besieged," there is a passage that goes like this: "The honeymoon trip after marriage is upside down. You should travel together for a month first. After a month of traveling together, if both sides haven't seen through each other, haven't become disgusted with each other, haven't quarreled and fought, and still maintain the original marriage agreement, then this couple is guaranteed not to divorce."

Indeed, the process of traveling can reveal a lot of things, such as each person's spending habits, points of interest, and daily habits, as well as whether the pre-trip preparations have taken into account each other's tastes, preferences, and energy levels, and how both parties handle changes.

Taking the delayed itinerary of this trip as an example, SS and I did the following:

Embrace change, don't forget the original intention of going out to have fun, don't complain to each other, and find the best solution for the present: Change is not so scary. Let's do something else in the morning, the important thing is that we are together. Then, compress the itinerary in Shunde, focus on the highlights of the food, and if we didn't get to try something, we can come back next time and leave some anticipation.
Review the reasons and avoid making the same mistakes next time: Some critical factors need to be carefully considered and not ignored just because they are troublesome. Otherwise, the cost of remedying the situation later will be even greater. For example, for the sake of caution, we could have considered getting an expedited nucleic acid test the day before.

Finally, here's a short video produced by SS~ In SS's words, it's a trip to Shunde filled with eating and sleeping.

(For more details, please see the video on the video platform: Bo2SS)

Ah, it's been two weeks since my last update. During the National Day holiday, with the company of family and the call of friends, the priority of writing has been continuously lowered. But actually, upon careful consideration, the purpose of writing is to improve the state of life, and during this time, I truly immersed myself in my own real world, experiencing the changes in life. This is also a good state.