Hi there. I'm a vegan, live in Madrid, and an introverted productivity nerd.
I was born in late-20th-century Beijing, to a bourgeois family; my dad was a chief mining designer and my mom was a news journalist. From the age of 2, I was already learning classical piano from reputable teachers — I played Mozart, Johann Strauss Jr., and Felix Mendelssohn. I was also granted some of the earliest computers that had access to the internet, and my dad would teach me the ins and outs of the operating system, software, and web browser. Those were my happiest days.
Then at the age of 5, I was left behind to be raised by my grandparents in distant rural areas since my parents had to work very hard for business. It was a huge setback for me; all of a sudden I had no one to talk to. It was around this time I started talking to myself and grew a deeply introverted personality, repeatedly listening to the only piano tape I brought with me — the Lyphard Mélodie album.
I returned to downtown Beijing in 2nd grade, but things were hard and I was discriminated against by a teacher who called me a poor peasant kid on the first day of school. I got transferred back and forth between city and farm schools seven times from 1st to 9th grade. I'd had enough, so I decided I would study in the United States for high school no matter what. Luckily my English was good and my mother was supportive, so I lived and studied in Champaign, Illinois.
I had a happy high-school life — joined the varsity track and field team, sang in the church choir, made friends, and fell in love. But the good didn't last: my mom's new company went bankrupt and owed a huge amount to the bank. I returned to Beijing, dropped out of college, and took a training class for iOS programming. I didn't see my future in mathematics, but I found my passion working with interfaces, so two years later I became a UI Designer.
I came up with the “biscuit” alias about ten years ago as a sign of altruism, to constantly remind myself of non-ego-centric thinking and to be helpful to others. During high school in Champaign, my American host family had adopted seven abandoned babies. Every weekend the whole family went to church, and on days like Thanksgiving the church handed out biscuits and wine to everyone. When I asked why, they said these represented the body and blood of Jesus.
That, combined with everyday life with them, deeply touched me. I can't say I believe in the Redeemer series or in atheism, but I want to be the “biscuit” that reminds me of the goodness in humanity, and whenever I can, to be altruistic and helpful to others. I feel like it's a responsibility to pay back what we take from the world.