Miscellaneous

A Spurs Fan’s Tale

In the summer of 2025, I travelled to Bilbao and stood in the crowd as Tottenham Hotspur lifted the UEFA Europa League trophy. The noise, the tears, the pure, overwhelming joy — it felt like the universe had finally decided to be kind to us.

It had not.

The 2025–26 season arrived, and with it came a cruelty that only football knows how to deliver. The same club that had danced across European stages just months earlier found itself fighting desperately to stay in the top flight, week after agonising week. Fans who had raised their scarves in celebration were now refreshing the relegation table at midnight, barely able to watch. The fall was not gradual. It was brutal, bewildering, and at times, deeply humbling.

They survived. Just about.

All the while, I had been counting down to something I had dreamed of for years: moving to London for my MSc at Imperial College London, and finally watching Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in person. For a fan who had followed the club from thousands of miles away, it felt like the ultimate reward. But fate, as it turns out, has a sense of humour. The very season I was about to arrive was the season Spurs nearly ceased to exist in the top flight altogether. I was ready to walk into a dream, and instead spent months on the edge of a nightmare.

I have seen the peak. I have lived through the darkness. And I still cannot wait to get there.

Perhaps that is why this club means so much to me. Following Spurs feels a lot like life itself — unpredictable, at times unfair, full of moments that break your heart and moments that make it soar. You stay not because it is easy, but because through all of it, you keep moving forward. Together.

Come on you Spurs. 🤍⚽️

About Failure

什么叫失败？也许可以说，人去做一件事情，没有达到预的目的，这就是失败。但是，那些与命运斗争的人，那些做接近自己限度的斗争的人，却天生地接近这种失败。只有那些安于自己限度之内的生活的人才总是「胜利」，这种「胜利者」之所以常胜不败，只是因为他的对手是早已降伏的，或者说，他根本没有投入斗争。 在人生的道路上，「失败」这个词还有另外的含义，即是指人失去了继续斗争的信心，放下了手中的武器。人类向限度屈服，这才是真正的失败。

节选自《一只特立独行的猪》— 王小波

What is failure? Perhaps it can be said that when a person undertakes a task and fails to achieve the intended outcome, that is failure. Yet those who struggle against fate, those who fight at the very edge of their limits, are inherently close to this kind of failure. Only those who content themselves with living within their own limits are always “victorious.” The reason such “victors” remain undefeated is simply that their opponents have long been subdued — or rather, they never truly engage in the struggle at all. On life’s journey, the word “failure” carries another meaning: it signifies the loss of confidence to continue the fight, the laying down of one’s weapons. When humanity yields to its limitations, that is true failure. (Translated with DeepL.com)

Excerpt from A Pig of Unconventional Character — Wang Xiaobo

About Trying

You may fail if you try, you’ll definitely fail if you don’t even try. No harm to try!!