A short essay in English 21

Today was a very busy day. I went to the company in the morning, and then my leader assigned me a task. They sent some brochures to other provinces, and they will use the brochures to do the company’s promotion for others. Then the leader said that someone from the branch company will do this brochure, so he wanted me to connect with this person and give him some relevant materials.

The leader pushed the WeChat of the branch company to me, and then I added this person, his surname is Zhou. After we communicated, I continued to work on this promotion. The leader gave me another one, which was to let me take a look at this company and wanted to apply for the Innovative Technology Center Station? Our company is doing groundwater, so the name we applied for is Groundwater Environment. Innovative Technology Center Station.

The innovative Technology Center Station’s application, and then? The leader said that he wanted to apply for the provincial-level innovative Technology Center Station, so I searched for some information and found that there was no provincial-level one. Then he sent me a message saying that, ah, maybe only after applying for the municipal-level science and technology innovation center station can it be reported to the provincial level.

What impressed me a lot today was that there was a task for me to look for information about applying for the Innovative Technology Center Station. The leader only sent me a related name and a link, asking me to search various websites for this aspect. In fact, the information he gave at the beginning was not very sufficient, and I might only understand a little bit. Then, when I might try to figure out his thoughts and think from the company’s perspective, I might understand that the leader wants the company to apply for the title of the Innovative Enterprise Center Station. Then? Maybe this can be applied for, and there are many relevant websites, such as the technology innovation website. Then there are many other websites related to this that I need to check one by one. Then I thought, could I use the AI tool to help me check one website at a time? Then maybe later I thought, maybe this tool is not intelligent enough to the point where I can give it a website and ask it to search for relevant information and it is also a bit difficult to retrieve it.

Starting this week, I set a Pomodoro timer for every 25 minutes. When the time is up, I need to stand up and take a 5-minute break. In this way, I can combine work and rest, which can help my body recover. Before, I often sat for a long time, which might have some impact on my lower extremities, causing some swelling in my lower extremities. Through this intermittent adjustment, I can relieve the swelling in my lower extremities.

Previously, I knew that sitting for long periods of time is bad for your health. So, I recommended to the company that everyone buy a small standing desk to work while standing. Later, I read online that there are studies showing that standing for long periods of time is not necessarily good for your body, and that alternating between sitting and standing doesn’t have much impact on your health either. The recommendation is that after sitting for a while, we should get up and do some exercises like squats or stretches that involve gravity to improve our body’s circulation.

Today at noon, I had bibimbap. On the second floor of the cafeteria, I ordered a bowl of bibimbap and ate some kimchi. The bibimbap was made with diced chicken and also had some seaweed in it. Then, I went to order a cup of coffee, lemon coffee, and went back to the office. This cup of coffee was iced, not without ice, and with less sugar.

I listened to an audio this morning that was related to the stock market. Regarding investing in the stock market, I learned how the national team invests. It turns out that the national team is not just the national team, but also includes other controlled funds. How do they buy and invest? From this investment, I learned that the national team buys some bank stocks, insurance stocks, and some oil stocks. I listened to this audio repeatedly for nearly four or five times. When I came back in the evening, I extracted some useful information from it and then checked the relevant information of these stocks through a stock software to see the stock prices and their dividends. Through a series of thinking and summarizing, I finally excluded some stocks that I gave up on and decided to buy one stock. I may invest some principal to buy this stock in the future.

Actually, unconsciously, we may waste a lot of time in a day. For example, I clock out of work at 5 o’clock in the evening, and then it takes nearly 10 minutes to walk to the subway station, less than 10 minutes, and then take the subway. From the subway to my home, it probably takes more than 20 minutes. In this case, it may be 5:30 or 5:40 when I get home, and then I go to the express delivery station to pick up my package.

After sorting out these two packages, I washed my hands, and then sat at my computer desk to listen to the audio I mentioned earlier. After listening to it, I thought, what should I eat today?

It occurred to me that when I was browsing information before, it was said that the microwave oven can do everything. I heard that it mentioned how to make steamed egg cake.

Then I searched for some related information on Xiaohongshu and learned some tutorials on how to make egg cake. I tried to make it with a microwave oven, but I put two eggs and 1.5 times the amount of water to make this steamed egg cake. At first, I used high heat. After 3 minutes, I opened it to take a look and felt that it was hot inside, but the egg cake hadn’t formed yet. Then I used medium-high heat for another 3 minutes, but when I opened the microwave oven, I found that the egg cake had overflowed, so this attempt at making steamed egg cake failed. I didn’t eat dinner in the evening either.

It was already nearly 6:30 when I looked at the clock, so I felt a sense of amazement and sighed that time passed so quickly.

My next plan is to organize the books at home and take a look at the books I bought before. Then? Sort them out, get rid of the useless ones, and store the important ones. Well, not as messy as it is now.

In fact, after a person stays in one place for a long time, you will become familiar with the existing environment, so there are some things you may not have noticed. When someone reminds you, you may think, hey, this place can still, uh, be optimized and adjusted.

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Today was a busy day. In the morning, I went to the office, and my manager gave me a task. They had sent some brochures to other provinces to promote the company, and my manager asked me to coordinate with someone from the branch office who was responsible for designing the brochures. He wanted me to provide this person with the necessary materials.

The manager shared the contact details of the branch office employee on WeChat, and I added him. His last name is Zhou. After our discussion, I continued working on the promotional tasks. Later, the manager gave me another assignment—to research applying for the Innovative Technology Center Station. Since our company focuses on groundwater, we planned to name it the Groundwater Environment Innovative Technology Center Station.

Initially, I was told to look into applying for a provincial-level Innovative Technology Center Station. However, after searching online, I found no provincial-level option. Later, my manager clarified that we might need to apply for a municipal-level station first before moving to the provincial level.

One part of the day that stood out was when I had to gather information about this application. My manager only gave me the name and a link, asking me to search for details across various websites. The information provided was quite limited, so I had to think about it from the company’s perspective to figure out the manager’s expectations. I realized he wanted to apply for a recognition title for the company. This meant exploring a variety of related websites, like technology innovation platforms, to find relevant details.

At one point, I thought about using AI tools to speed up the search. But I quickly realized that current AI tools aren’t advanced enough to search multiple websites and extract targeted information in this way.

Starting this week, I’ve been using a Pomodoro timer—working in 25-minute intervals with 5-minute breaks in between. It’s been a great way to balance work and rest, helping my body recover. I used to sit for long periods, which sometimes caused swelling in my legs. With these short breaks, the swelling has reduced.

I’ve always been aware of the health risks of sitting too long. In the past, I even suggested that our company buy small standing desks. But later, I came across research suggesting that standing for long periods isn’t necessarily better and that alternating between sitting and standing doesn’t significantly impact health either. Instead, exercises like squats or stretches are recommended to improve circulation.

At lunchtime, I had bibimbap at the cafeteria. It came with diced chicken, seaweed, and a side of kimchi. I also grabbed an iced lemon coffee with low sugar and headed back to the office.

In the morning, I listened to an audio recording about stock market investments. It explained how national funds, not just state-owned ones but other controlled funds, invest in sectors like banking, insurance, and oil. I listened to the recording four or five times and, in the evening, extracted useful insights from it. Using stock analysis software, I checked the prices and dividends of these stocks. After some thought, I decided to exclude certain options and focus on one stock I might invest in later.

Reflecting on my day, I realized how much time gets lost. For example, after clocking out at 5 PM, it takes about 10 minutes to walk to the subway and another 20 minutes to get home. By the time I arrive, it’s already 5:30 or 5:40. Today, I picked up a couple of packages on the way and unpacked them before sitting down at my desk to revisit the stock audio.

For dinner, I decided to try making steamed egg custard in the microwave. I followed a tutorial from Xiaohongshu, mixing two eggs with 1.5 times the amount of water. I cooked it on high for 3 minutes, but it wasn’t set yet. Then, I switched to medium-high heat for another 3 minutes, but it ended up overflowing. Unfortunately, the attempt failed, and I skipped dinner altogether.

By the time I checked the clock, it was nearly 6:30. I couldn’t believe how quickly the time had passed.

My next plan is to reorganize my bookshelves. I want to sort through the books I’ve bought over the years, keep the important ones, and get rid of the rest. It’s a small step toward reducing the clutter at home.

Living in the same space for a long time, you sometimes stop noticing areas that could be improved. But when someone points it out, you might think, “Oh, I can actually optimize this place and make it better.”