Xiluluke's Weekend Letter Vol. 02: Pass the Light to Those Behind You

The Main Feature!

Pass the Light to Those Behind You

Maybe you never watch League of Legends esports. I still hope you'll read this part to the end.

Last night I was watching League again. First Stand is in full swing right now, but it already feels stale to me. However many matches you watch, it always comes down to China versus Korea.

In the semifinal, Korea's No. 1 seed GEN played Europe's No. 1 seed G2. G2 is Europe's old powerhouse, but for years they haven't had any real results at Worlds. Even after they swept Korea's No. 2 seed in their previous series, nobody fancied their chances.

Honestly, after seeing G2 sweep Korea's No. 2 seed, I thought before the match that G2 might be able to beat GEN. But even thinking G2 could win, part of me still felt GEN was just too strong. They hadn't dropped a single game in the tournament so far.

It wasn't just me. I think very few people in the world would unconditionally believe in and back a G2 that was the clear underdog by every opinion and every stat. Before the match, almost every caster and streamer thought GEN would win easily, and that G2 taking even one game would count as a success.

But to everyone's surprise, G2 won the first game by a huge margin. If that only nudged people's thinking a little, then by 2-0 everyone was starting to believe G2 could really beat GEN.

In the end, G2 beat GEN 3-0.

In the post-match interview, G2's captain Caps said this:

I think a lot of people have given up hope by now. A lot of pro players don't really believe they can win internationally, right? But at the end of the day, I want to pass on hope. We have to beat the best LPL and LCK teams in a Bo5. So if we can win here, then there are no excuses for anyone out there in Europe watching.

Those words moved me. I think they'll be handed down in esports like scripture.

Before this match, things were dark for G2 and their region, on stage and off. Years without results, and their live venue was already set to shut down next year. The whole region's hope had nearly gone out.

And then G2 walked in carrying a light.

G2's story and what Caps said reminded me of two people.

One is the marathoner Eliud Kipchoge. Two hours used to be seen as the human limit, like running the 100 meters in under nine seconds. Countless sports scientists believed the body simply couldn't break it. But in 2019, in a special challenge, Kipchoge ran a full marathon in 1:59:40 and became the first person in history to run one in under two hours.

Afterward, Kipchoge said: "No human is limited."

The other is Nelson Mandela, the father of modern South Africa. Under apartheid he was sent to prison for opposing it, and he spent 27 years behind bars. Over those 27 years, countless people lost faith that South Africa could ever change. In 1990 Mandela walked free, went on to help end apartheid, and in 1994 became South Africa's first Black president.

He didn't choose payback or revenge. He pushed for racial reconciliation and passed hope on to everyone.

One of his famous lines: "It always seems impossible until it's done."

Looking back at these three lines from Caps, Kipchoge and Mandela, each of them proved through what they did that hope is real. And once they'd succeeded, none of them chose to sit up high like a saint. They turned around and passed the light to everyone else.

A true pioneer doesn't just make it through the dark. They turn back and hand the light to those behind them.

I caught this light from Caps. Now I've written it down and I'm handing it to you, reading this.

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Okay, that's the big stuff. Now for some small things from my life this week.

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Lighter Bits

On Fitness: Don't Just Train, Learn to Loosen Up Too

This week I tried myofascial release with a scraping tool for the first time. I'd been curious about it for ages but never gone. I went in nervous, sure it would hurt a lot. In the end, I'd say it did hurt a bit, but nothing dramatic. And it worked really well. My muscles felt so much looser.

It taught me something: I'd been far too sloppy about stretching and loosening my muscles. That's why they were so stiff that even a light press with my hand hurt.

With that in mind, this week I found a beginner's flexibility follow-along video on Bilibili, and only then realized how stiff my body really is. After doing it once a day for three days straight, I can already do some of the moves pretty well. The progress is obvious.

Never really cooling down, never doing flexibility work. It made me see that I'd only ever focused on power and intensity. If that kind of training builds the body's strength, then flexibility and balance training are the oil that keeps the body running smoothly.

Without that oil, the body risks seizing up.

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Some Useful Tools and Tricks

01 Chrome's Tab Groups

I opened this feature by accident, and it's great. You put all the pages you want to browse together into one tab group, and a single click opens every page in it. I put the sources I check regularly in there, so I no longer have to open them one by one!

And with one button you can collapse all the pages you opened from a tab group, so when you need to browse something else, you don't end up buried in a mess of tabs.

02 Chrome's Split View

Another one I found by accident. I was actually trying to drag a tab out into its own window.

The benefits of split screen speak for themselves. I'm sharing it because I suspect lots of people, like me, don't know Chrome can do this.

I used to be someone who loved reading manuals. But in the internet age I rarely read the manual for something like a browser. So most of the time I only use the features I use most and miss lots of features that were there all along.

How to open it: drag a tab to the left or right edge of the browser, and a "Create split view" area pops up. Let go of the mouse and you've got split screen.

03 If You Order Delivery, You Don't Need Trash Bags

I don't know if you order takeout much. I do.

I've noticed that a lot of delivery bags are really well made, much better than the trash bags I buy.

So now I don't use trash bags at all. I just put my household trash in the delivery bag and take it downstairs.