FOLLOW YOUR CURIOSITY · 36 POSTS
The relationships, shared journeys, and small moments that hold us together.
Search within this topic ↗
↗Kefei introduces a new way to explore Koffeemocha through a question, a topic, a remembered passage, or a connected reading path. He explains why publication order cannot always help a reader find the idea they need today.
↗An autumn conversation about a young mathematics tutor prompts Kefei to reconsider how parents pass on experience. Advice can compress decades of choices, hesitation, help, and luck into a conclusion, leaving children without the steps that made it convincing.
↗A bowl of bouillabaisse in Marseille becomes an encounter with another way of living. A waiter’s explanation, Sharon’s hands, and the knowledge carried through an everyday meal matter as much as the destination.
↗A transfer day becomes an unexpected invitation into Toulouse’s evening life. Music, runners, volunteers, and a cheering crowd interrupt a carefully planned route back to the hotel.
↗After nearly six months away from publishing, Kefei prepares to return through travel. Family rhythms have shifted, a new journey is approaching, and ideas developed in quiet now need to meet everyday decisions.
↗Writing aboard a ship bound for Nassau, Kefei reflects on the ordinary pleasures of being a grandfather and the growing harmony between his Shanghai, California, and New York identities.
↗A conversation or essay may resonate briefly and then fade. Kefei reflects on writing as a rhythm that lets meaning return, and on readers who carry an idea into another life.
↗A reunion brings Tongji alumni to Shanghai Tower forty years after graduation. A sculpture near the summit prompts a reflection on strength, restraint, and the possibilities of an encore chapter.
↗Before a flight to his fortieth university reunion, Kefei reconnects with Peter, a former engineering colleague. Their conversation moves from professional foundations to faith, family, and reflection.
↗Reading Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks brings up a concern about ritual that has lost its vitality. A personalized mug for a university reunion gives the question an everyday form.
↗Two years in New York become a chance to consider what Being Bold means. Writing connects memory, identity, family, and the move from a professional career into an encore life.
↗A family outing on the Serpentine turns comic when a drifting pedal boat needs help and its rescuer slips into the water. Kefei and his wife eventually free themselves by reversing, adjusting their steering, and coordinating their effort.
↗Kefei arranges a journey through Germany as four musical movements, from an outdoor concert in Berlin to opera in Bayreuth, an intimate piano performance in Bonn, and a return to Koblenz. Music provides a language for the trip’s changing emotional pace.
↗Before a fifteen-day journey through Germany, Kefei tells his mother in Shanghai about the trip and recalls how her wish to keep him nearby led him to Tongji University. Studying German there unexpectedly opened a wider cultural horizon.
↗A surprised remark about Chinese television in a Shanghai Disneyland hotel sends the family into laughter. For a moment, Kefei’s familiar association with Disneyland has placed him on the wrong side of the world.
↗Different preferences and energy levels complicate a group journey through Egypt. Optional excursions and changing schedules reveal the patient negotiation behind companionship, while guides and group leaders work to keep trust intact.
↗An alumni gathering leads Kefei to think about community beyond shared origins. He introduces five writers whose work, in his reading, explores career pivots, later-life possibilities, creative change, loss, and renewal.
↗At a Tongji Foundation gathering in Liberty State Park, a conversation with Roger about aviation scheduling software gives Kefei a concrete example of purposeful effort. He is drawn to the care behind solving a difficult problem and sharing the work.
↗Two years after his last scrum meeting at OpenText, Kefei reflects on replacing the structure of engineering leadership with writing, mentorship, and a more deliberate relationship with himself. The unfamiliar stillness after work becomes part of that transition.
↗After visiting the Grand Egyptian Museum, a dinner with friends turns from their parents' aging to their own uncertain futures. Kefei recounts a candid conversation about memory, dignity, personal wishes, and the difference between a long life and a life experienced fully.
↗An old Tongji University video circulates among friends, who recognize a young Kefei before he recognizes himself. Clothes, a watch, and a teaching scene open a conversation about the person they remember and the identity he barely noticed forming.
↗A chance meeting in Shanghai reunites Kefei with the colleague who shared his first day in Silicon Valley decades earlier. The encounter recalls the uncertainty of changing professions and the companionship that made a new beginning less solitary.
↗From Pleasanton, Kefei reflects on disagreement surrounding a Tongji alumni event in New York that he did not attend. Drawing on community conversations, he distinguishes an event's potential value from questions about representation, communication, and coordination.
↗A bowl of hot soup gives Kefei a playful way to think about proximity. Retirement, grandparenting, and city life each require judging when to come closer, when to step back, and how to preserve warmth without overwhelming anyone.
↗Rereading a picture book at his daughter's suggestion returns Kefei to the storeroom of his aunt's bookstore. Childhood illustrations, copied words, and his mother's encouragement help explain a fascination with storytelling that continued beneath an engineering career.
↗A fishing trip on Great South Bay takes an unexpected turn when the boat loses its anchor. The resulting drift gives Kefei a metaphor for writing that remains lively yet lacks a clear connection to its readers.
↗Watching Blossoms Shanghai with his mother prompts Kefei to revisit the life he left in 1990 and the identities he developed afterward. The drama's fictional protagonist becomes a mirror for questions about language, belonging, ambition, and emotional connection.
↗This archival letter records Kefei's effort to help former colleagues after layoffs affected infrastructure engineers in the San Francisco Bay Area. He asked his network for introductions, employment leads, and support for people navigating a difficult transition.
↗Episode 0 documents an experiment using Google NotebookLM to generate a two-voice conversation about Kefei's writing. The accompanying transcript revisits his move from California to New York as an occasion for reflection on family, adaptability, and the choices that shape a new chapter.
↗A new school year for Kefei's grandchildren marks his family's first anniversary in New York. Their progress in swimming gives him a language for describing his own adjustment to city routines, physical challenges, and a changing identity after retirement.
↗During a return to Pleasanton, Kefei reflects on choosing an active retirement in New York. He introduces his idea of a life tax: the personal cost of giving up connection, spontaneity, or meaningful experiences to optimize financial savings.
↗Reaching New York, Kefei gathers the lessons of his cross-country drive into a closing reflection. The recap moves through friendship, career changes, natural landscapes, education, sports, and family, showing how each stop contributed to his thinking about retirement.
↗A stop at the University of Pennsylvania brings Kefei back to his daughter's college years and graduation. Walking the campus revives memories of visiting her, sharing university life, and celebrating a milestone that mattered to the whole family.
↗Visiting his wife's longtime friend in Des Moines, Kefei hears a story of movement from scientific work into business and adventurous travel. The friend's current project is rebuilding a travel van with detailed improvements for future journeys.
↗The first day of Kefei's drive from Pleasanton to New York ends in Reno, a place tied to family ski trips. Reconnecting with old friends adds another layer of memory, while dinner and a neighborhood walk open a conversation about retirement choices.
↗Announcing his June–July 2024 drive from Pleasanton to New York, Kefei frames the trip as a reflection on purpose after early retirement. His engineering career supplies images of foundations, preparation, and choosing opportunities that help carry a life forward.
LET’S KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING
New essays on work, family, travel, and the continuing art of becoming.
A thoughtful pause, delivered to your inbox.