40 questions to ask yourself every year - 2024 #
Time works a little differently when you're in high school; your year starts in September and ends in May. So, I thought, since I recently graduated, why not post my answers to Steph Ango's 40 questions to ask yourself every year? For adherence to the spirit of his article, I'll be talking about events which happened during my school's 2023-2024 academic year.
1. What did you do this year that you’d never done before? #
A few things. Here are the ones I think were the most interesting or significant:
- I applied to college (I'm going to Northeastern for CS + Linguistics in the fall 🥳),
- I learned how to build genetic algorithms (urban planning is fun; will write an article about it soon),
- Raised enough money to fund the education of a few dozen kids in my city,
- And I finally took the Y Combinator plunge!
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions? #
Can't disappoint yourself if you had no expectations :) (I align with the view that when metrics become goals, they lose their usefulness.)
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? #
My aunt. Not sure what I'm supposed to think about it.
4. Did anyone close to you die? #
No.
5. What cities/states/countries did you visit? #
Nothing this academic year, but as my friends know very well, I will never stop talking about our class trip to Krabi, Thailand. Hopefully my friend and I can earn enough money by December for a repeat; I made a friend there and I'm very excited to see them again.
6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked this year? #
A break from IB. But in all seriousness, I'd say I want to be more active (already signed up for a few clubs at Northeastern to keep me occupied) and way more involved in the stuff I actually like instead of spending six hours filling out financial documentation every time some slightly important college-related process is involved.
Freedom to spend my time on my interests. That's what I want.
7. What date(s) from this year will remain etched upon your memory, and why? #
The 15th of February, the day I got my Northeastern decision.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? #
I would say getting into college, but I'm actually a lot more proud about the friends I've made and kept this whole time. Thanks, friends.
9. What was your biggest failure? #
Not spending enough time and effort on math. Honestly, it's an interesting subject, but I just couldn't be bothered learning it just to get through exams. I like recreational math, and I regularly work on projects which involve a large amount of linear algebra and topology. I just absolutely hate solving problems in a set amount of time. It's a pet peeve of mine, and people who don't understand it don't have to, but that's just how I feel.
10. What other hardships did you face? #
Realizing that Paramore was no longer a band whose music I liked.
11. Did you suffer illness or injury? #
Not particularly.
12. What was the best thing you bought? #
A ChatGPT+ subscription. GPT-4 is my favorite brainstorming partner and the one-and-only gaslighter extraordinaire (I should've waited for Claude)
13. Whose behavior merited celebration? #
Ushy Mohandas, our graduation guest speaker. An absolute riot of a time.
14. Whose behavior made you appalled? #
The US government, as usual. I will not elaborate, but I don't have to— pick whatever you want.
15. Where did most of your money go? #
I don't have my own money. Yet.
16. What did you get really, really, really excited about? #
Northeastern, going to Thailand in December again, Aespa are getting a full album (WHAT THE FUCK IS A NORMAL SONG 🔥🦅🗣️), software freebies (hooray for the Github Student Developer Pack!), and going to Blossom Book House to get my yearly dose of secondhand sci-fi goodness.
17. What song will always remind you of this year? #
I'M SMARTER BABY SMARTER SMARTER BABY SMARTER 하날 보면 열까지 간파해서 돌파하지 WANNA BE A WINNER
18. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter? Richer or poorer? #
Happier (no more IB), thinner (slightly, working on that), richer (have a few freelance jobs booked for the summer).
19. What do you wish you’d done more of? #
20. What do you wish you’d done less of? #
Doomscrolling Hacker News.
21. How are you spending the holidays? #
I actually have a pretty long list for this one.
- Finishing my LEGO Batmobile which I bought in Bordeaux during RoboCup and left unfinished for over a year
- Traveling to Goa for a week with one of my best friends, Prajwal (Cornell '28!)
- Reading The Tale of Genji as a cultural prelude on my attempt to learn the Japanese language, culture, and history. I'm interested in visiting for a study abroad program eventually.
- Catching up on the Monogatari series before the new Studio SHAFT productions of Off Season and Monster Season are released.
22. Did you fall in love this year? #
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? #
Not particularly. Julie Chiu, a little bit, but I'm just salty I didn't get into USC.
24. What was your favorite show? #
Either Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation or My Demon.
25. What was the best book you read? #
Rhythm of War, the fourth book in the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson, who also happens to be my favorite author ever (yeah I'm a Cosmere junkie).
26. What was your greatest musical discovery of the year? #
If I had to pick one artist/band/group, it would be Tilly Birds, a Thai rock band with a really captivating soundscape. However, I will say that I recently got deep into Japanese shogaze rock, and you should listen to this playlist if you're interested, because it's become my favorite genre of music ever.
27. What was your favorite film? #
Dune 2. I've never seen a movie which used sound so magnificently in order to create a completely mesmerizing and simultaneously horrifying cinema experience. You could feel the absolute horror and fervor of the Butlerian Jihad through the screen, resonating through your bones. I find it sad that most people will never see it in cinemas.
28. What was your favorite meal? #
French toast with my mom (I made it, thanks for asking).
29. What did you want and get? #
I wanted USC and I got Northeastern. All in all, not disappointed at all. I'm very happy that I'll be able to use an ebike all four years in Boston rather than die on the iron-infested, 3-ton chariot of death-wielding carbrained streets of LA.
30. What did you want and not get? #
I wanted to not live through historically unprecedented climate crises, but here we are.
31. What did you do on your birthday? #
Went out for a bday party with my friends :)
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? #
Not having to think about the ongoing climate crisis, genocides, political infringement of rights, "shrinkflation" (corporate greed), economic downturns, and Jim Simons dying.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion this year? #
Non-existent.
34. What kept you sane? #
Kim Chaewon, not having to code in Rust (yes that's precisely the website I meant to link you radicalized femboy systems engineers; if I wanted to write low-level I would rather use Nim or C than use your unreadable "type-safe" and human-eye-destroying novelty language), and this blog post by a bunch of the coolest people I've ever found on the internet which shows one of the funniest security vulnerabilities I've ever read about.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you admire the most? #
Does George Hotz count? I think he does, but most people outside the tech sphere probably haven't heard of him. Here's his twitter if you're interested; really cool guy and overall my hacking idol.
36. What political issue stirred you the most? #
The Israeli settler colony's Western-funded genocide against the people of Gaza.
37. Who did you miss? #
What did Ilya see? (refer: Ilya Sutskever)
38. Who was the best new person you met? #
My Thai friend, Fa. She's a teacher in Krabi, and she just started her own art school. The kindest and one of the funniest people I've ever met, despite a slight language barrier.
39. What valuable life lesson did you learn this year? #
- Yacine, 2023
40. What is a quote that sums up your year? #
"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible"
- Arthur C. Clarke
With my summer holidays just around the corner, I'll be writing more often on this blog and on my newsletter. See you around!