peanutheadthings

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My boyfriend needs to stop reading books about American history.

My girlfriend.

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Burgeon from uncertainty

When the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, they could not take solace in knowing that they were embalming their names to the perennial Pantheon of American history, an interpretation only evident many years after the Revolutionary War. Fate could have landed their names as a traitorous bunch who ought to be hanged for their treacherous acts against the Crown. The stakes of their decision and the uncertainty over their futures were well understood  - Ben Franklin urged all to "...hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Yet, amidst this uncertainty which could lead to their knell, the founding truths of America were loudly proclaimed by a fervent set of individuals. Their steadfast ideals and language emerged as a brazen voice out of these tumultuous years, providing a lasting political and cultural foundation for generations to come.

This post is not about historical musings, but about something very personal. The tumultuous times of the Revolution are not unlike the tumultuous 20s of one's life. Making foundational decisions, building lifelong principles, negotiating conflicting interests, and navigating the thick fog that shrouds any clairvoyance about the future are apparent in both cases.

Despite the cemented uncertainty of these years of my life, I can borrow from the examples of the past. Uncertainty during these nascent years does not equate to taking my hands off the helm, letting my ship bob along to wherever the winds take me. Rather, it requires the exact opposite - an active consideration of what I consider important and steering towards that. Whether it's my relationships, my career, or my passions, these are the times where I need to be explicit about my principles and intentions.

The rough seas of uncertainty may not take me where I intend to go, but regardless, I must set course and try.

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There are more public libraries than McDonald’s in the U.S..

American Library Association

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Goodbye 2013!

It's the time of every year where life, either by muffling the distractions of work or encouraging reflections of the year elapsed, gives me a chance to step back and examine it with a wider lens.

I like the idea of looking back and coloring the past year with a broader meaning. Can I call this my year of triumphs, or my year of hardship, or even yet my year of renewed perspective of life?

But at the same time, writing about the past year in such a way may bring me farther from the truth, a sort of romanticized fabrication that conveys a false pretense of how my day-to-day life was lived.

Instead, I'll make a list of events I personally consider significant and lasting and let the reader make up their mind on what sort of year I had.

Interviewed at Wharton so I can be with the love of my life and was promptly rejected. This was definitely a low-point, and while my girlfriend was very supportive, it made our relationship strenuous at times. Life cannot be perfectly planned ever and incubating personal relationships that can withstand the dynamics of life is crucial.

My girlfriend met my mom. Nuff said.

My girlfriend did something amazing with her precious summer vacation days - she lived with me in NYC! I thought about listing some of the best activities we did but the most rewarding experience was just getting to share the ordinary activities of the day with each other - going to the gym, making zoodles together for dinner (zucchini noodles since she was doing #whole30), watching Pitch Perfect after running through Central Park together, renting Citi bikes and endangering our lives to the yellow, impatient death cabs of New York. All in the name of love.

Launched my biggest project so far at work. I designed, implemented, and validated a colossal project over 6 months. It felt daunting and hopeless at times, but in the end I launched it without a hitch. My mentors at work are extremely supportive - they helped me when I was working on it and they announced its success to a wide audience so I got recognized. Overall, I feel like I transitioned from an entry-level engineer to a capable and experienced one over the past year. I hope my positive career journey continue through 2014.

Summer trip to Boston. My girlfriend and I originally planned to visit to test whether she would like to try transferring there if I ended up at Harvard Business School. Unfortunately, we ended deciding that it was not the best option for her to pursue this path (see bullet #1 about planning life). Nevertheless, it was a cute first vacation together for us and a beautiful introduction to the city. Also, I learned the local pronunciation of Harvard ("Hah-vad" - just pretend the letter R doesn't exist).

I actually completed Coursera courses in my free time. So far I completed Finance, Corporate Strategy, and half of Accounting. This should be a great prep for business school. In other news, I am so glad I studied engineering first, business second.

Read some amazing books, some of them on track to becoming my all-time favorites: Checklist Manifesto, Founding Brothers, The Machine That Changed The World, Sherlock Holmes, and started Team of Rivals.

Finally, I couldn't have conceived a better ending to the year: a ski trip with my girlfriend to Killington, VT. We both got in better shape, got closer to each other, and skied through some amazing scenery. A paragraph would hardly do justice describing this trip so I'll just say this: it was the happiest and most fulfilling weekend of the year.

I end this year with a lot to feel happy about - my work, my relationship, and my future. There are things I want to change for the next year, namely maintaining better relationships with people around me and being comfortable being myself with them, and I also hope a lot of the trends from this past year continue.