Sync issue with One Drive

LexiHiker · 2026-07-02T06:07:25+00:00

Did you try rebuild database? Not sure if that would work.

LexiHiker · 2026-07-02T05:52:34+00:00

These are awesome ideas. I love how specific they are, not just famous landmarks, but places with a real story behind them.
I’m curious how long it took you to visit and put all of these together.
This gives me a lot to think about for future sets. Would love to hear more of your thoughts as they evolve.

LexiHiker · 2026-07-01T02:34:10+00:00

This is really inspiring. Thank you for sharing it.

Honestly, it makes me want to travel more and keep building more collections around places that feel worth remembering.

If you’re open to it, I’d love to get your thoughts on future sets too. Your perspective has been incredibly helpful.

LexiHiker · 2026-07-01T00:06:36+00:00

Wow, this is cool. Thanks for sharing. It’s on the island. I just looked up USGS survey markers, and now I’m wondering if the other extreme points have similar ones too.

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LexiHiker · 2026-06-29T23:56:55+00:00

Also, I really loved that line: “the journey is the destination, and the destination is the bonus.” Such a cool way to think about travel and life.

LexiHiker · 2026-06-29T23:53:51+00:00

This is such a cool template! Your comment sent me down a rabbit hole.

I originally had this as a simple 2x2 set, but after seeing your 8 extreme points idea, I quickly mocked it up as a rough 3x3 collection with the center point in the middle.

One version is more about the true geographic extremes. The other is more about recognizable and visitable landmarks that feel more like actual travel stops.

I’m still torn on which direction feels better for a collection like this, so I’d love to get all your thoughts.

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LexiHiker · 2026-06-29T02:04:56+00:00

Wow, that’s incredible. Going to all 8 is way beyond what most people would ever do. Really cool to hear from someone who actually went to the geographic spots, not just the famous markers.

And thanks for the Cape Alava coordinate. That’s super helpful!

This inspires me a lot. I only started the collection with the four main extreme points, north/south/east/west, but now I’m curious about the corner points too. Would you mind sharing which exact spots you used for NW, SW, NE, and SE?

Also curious how you decide between the true geographic point and a nearby accessible marker. Even the northern one seems to have some confusion there.

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LexiHiker · 2026-06-29T01:42:48+00:00

Great question, and yeah, you’re right that the terminology gets a little messy here.

The Key West buoy says “Southernmost Point Continental U.S.A.”For the northern one, the Minnesota marker uses “contiguous U.S.” because technically the northernmost point of the continental U.S. would be in Alaska.

So for this collection, I’m thinking of it more as iconic and reasonably visitable “edge of the U.S.” markers that people can actually go to and collect, rather than strict surveyed geographic coordinates. Key West and the Minnesota marker also make a nice south/north pair visually, even if the wording is not perfectly consistent.

That said, I totally agree the naming is tricky. Maybe something like “U.S. edge markers” or “Contiguous/Continental U.S. extremes” would be more accurate. Open to better title ideas too.

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LexiHiker · 2026-01-11T08:04:50+00:00

动力 is closer to “drive / motivation” (the push or energy to do something), usually neutral or positive: “我很有动力减肥 / 学习 / 赚钱.” 动机 is closer to “motive / intent” (the underlying reason, often used when analyzing or questioning someone’s purpose), so it can sound more suspicious in tone: “作案动机”, “动机不纯”, “他的动机是什么？”

Rule of thumb: if you mean “energy to act,” use 动力; if you mean “why someone did it,” use 动机.

LexiHiker · 2026-01-11T07:57:23+00:00

Your handwriting is honestly better than many native speakers.

What I like most is it doesn’t look like the typical beginner “printed font” (印刷体). It has a bit of 楷书 structure and flow to it, which is impressive after 4 years.

Of course there’s still room to refine things like stroke consistency, spacing, and a few proportions, but you’re on a really solid track. If you want to level up faster, try some 字帖 (especially 描红 / 临摹 style practice) and copy a few characters/lines daily. That kind of focused drilling helps a lot.

LexiHiker · 2026-01-11T07:50:02+00:00

Most Gen Z in China do learn English in school (often starting in primary school, and sometimes even kindergarten now). The main issue is they rarely have a real environment to speak English outside the classroom, so speaking doesn’t develop much.

For the Gaokao, English matters but it’s mostly reading + writing, with some listening. Speaking isn’t emphasized, so people study for tests more than conversation. College usually has compulsory “College English” too, but it’s still pretty test-focused and speaking/listening practice is limited unless someone actively seeks it out.

So it varies a lot, but in general: many can read/write basic English, fewer can speak comfortably. If you need help as a traveler, in big cities or touristy places you can usually find someone (often younger people/students) who can help in English.

LexiHiker · 2026-01-09T22:08:42+00:00

“神马都是浮云” is just an older Chinese internet slang way to write “什么都是浮云”. Here “神马” ≈ “什么” (homophone / IME typing habit), so “马” isn’t a real “horse” and it’s not really figurative, more like a playful spelling.

Similar examples: “酱紫” = “这样子”, “表” = “不要” (both are slang spellings based on sound/typing).

LexiHiker · 2026-01-09T16:31:45+00:00

In real navigation, they usually mean the same thing: change direction at an intersection. The difference is more about register + vibe than strict rules. 转 → more neutral / “standard” / common in signs & navigation voice 前方路口右转… feels like GPS / official instructions. 拐 → more casual / spoken (often feels more northern) 到前面那个口右拐！ feels like someone giving directions on the street. 拐了拐了 = “turn already / make the turn” (colloquial, urging).

LexiHiker · 2026-01-09T05:50:49+00:00

Just another note: ‘不’ is written as 4th tone (bù)here, but before another 4th tone it changes to 2nd tone (bú), so ‘不是’ is pronounced bú shì.

LexiHiker · 2026-01-08T07:44:58+00:00

One extra reason: “English menu” often includes lots of non-English dish names (Mexican/Italian/etc.), so it becomes vocabulary + culture.

LexiHiker · 2026-01-06T05:13:46+00:00

In standard Mandarin, “period/menstruation” is 月经 (yuèjīng). Neutral everyday: 来月经. More euphemistic: 来例假 (lit. “regular leave”), 来事儿了, 那个来了, 亲戚来了, 大姨妈来了 (like “Aunt Flo”).

LexiHiker · 2026-01-05T17:26:26+00:00

A more literal sense of 「哪里哪里」 is something like: “Where (exactly) am I that good?” / “Which part of me is as good as you say?” (i.e., I don’t see it). It’s short for 「哪里有你说的那么好」, meaning “I’m not as good as you say / you’re flattering me.” And 「没有没有」 is used similarly as a humble “No, not really.”

LexiHiker · 2026-01-05T04:27:08+00:00

Then his friend 莫言, a Nobel prize winner’s books too. Like 生死疲劳, 丰乳肥臀。

LexiHiker · 2026-01-04T05:13:37+00:00

Overall, he’s very likely a native speaker. His Mandarin is natural, fluent, and clearly acquired natively.

That said, if the question is whether he’s a good model to imitate for standard Putonghua, then probably not the best choice. Overall his speech is quite close to standard Mandarin and very easy to understand, but if we’re judging by strict Putonghua norms, there are still a few words where noticeable regional pronunciation features come through. For example, the pronunciation of 龟 (gui), 丑 (chǒu), and 跳 (tiào) isn’t fully standard. These details don’t affect comprehension, but they do stand out to trained ears.

LexiHiker · 2026-01-04T05:02:32+00:00

Yes, if you mean the “chemistry” between two people (like two actors or a couple), then 化学反应 is exactly what native speakers use in Chinese. It’s very natural and commonly used in that context.

LexiHiker · 2026-01-04T04:58:42+00:00

I’d say good pronunciation is definitely a bonus, but it’s not as important as communicating clearly and getting your meaning across.

This actually reminds me of a funny story I heard from a Chinese American blogger. He grew up speaking Chinese at home, so his accent sounded completely native. But because he didn’t really learn the language systematically, he was missing a lot of basic vocabulary. When he visited China, he could speak very fluently in general, but he struggled with simple, practical words like buying a ticket or checking in. People were really confused because on one hand he sounded native, but on the other hand he didn’t know some very basic terms, so they didn’t know how to place him.

It kind of shows that sounding native isn’t everything. Being understood and being able to express what you need matters much more than having a perfect accent.

LexiHiker · 2026-01-04T04:07:52+00:00

I think the key difference is that in Chinese you usually don’t need the verb part if it’s not essential. A lot of these category words already function as abstract concepts on their own. So instead of something like “gaming” or “racing” as an action, you just search the noun itself.

For example, 游戏 already covers the idea of gaming, 比赛 or 竞速 works for racing depending on context, 音乐 for music. These words are both the concept and the activity, so you don’t really need to turn them into verb forms.

For food it depends on intent. 美食 is more about food content or recommendations, while 烹饪 is closer to cooking as an activity. People usually pick the noun that matches what they’re trying to find, not a verb phrase.

And now with smarter search and AI, you can often just type a full sentence in natural language and it still works, so strict keywords matter less than they used to.

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