somewhere in between

3am

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2011 - part two

so i also have been keeping new year’s resolutions since 2005, although i don’t like to call them “resolutions”…instead, i’ve been calling them “plans.” these are things that i wish to accomplish through this year, but i don’t revisit them once i draft them down, so it’s more fun to see whether these things become reality a year later :P (haha but maybe it defeats the purpose since you’re supposed to be actively working on them?)

Plans for 2010:

1. Don’t screw up academically. Apply to med school this year. Do well on the MCAT!!! RAWRRR
2. Get another 5.0 semester next term.
3. Have a fun, creative, and enjoyable summer. (this has become a default to-do item, haha)
4. Decide on a cool history thesis topic.
5. Get to know faculty better. Get to know 3 faculty well this year.
6. Learn Korean :P
7. Get a US Driver’s License (it’s about time…-_-)
8. Go to twelve distinct cities this year (no need one per month, but by this time next year)
9. Care more about the people around me, be less shy to new people. Take risks!
10. Trust in God.

—-

1. i wrote this when my gpa was just a bit above the “threshold” of med school apps…and so i have been very blessed to have everything work out in time for med school applications. MCAT went well! although i shouldn’t have canceled on the first time. let that be a lesson to me for my life :)

2. nope! SO CLOSE. i really thought i was going to make it, but had a B+ in 7.27. five As, one B - 4.8.

3. living at nyc is a really fun experience. working at bellevue taught me a ton about immigrant health in nyc, and i got to really refine my communication skills through working with patients in both manhattan and queens near flushing. there were a lot of people in the city during the summer too, so it was great. :) as a whole, maybe not as “awesome” as summer at ahs in 2009, but this definitely felt a lot more “independent” since i lived on my own and had a ton of time to explore. filling out med school apps toned down the excitement of the summer a bit, but europe more than enough made up for it :D

4. YES! crazy how i knew absolutely nothing about my thesis topic this time last year. now, i’ve already written 50+ pages on it, done archival research on the topic, and read too many books about the subject. gotta push on and finish the thesis in 4 more months!!

5. big improvement! i think having small classes helped :) got to know capozzola, wilder, wood, and my postdoc super well :D (haha all 21h profs…science is still a bit hard, but housman was awesome)

6. nope didn’t happen :( learning canto now though! canto seems more pressing than korean :P (also didn’t get accepted to CLS korean this past summer so i guess it was fine)

7. no! not yet! ugh so frustrating haha but ON SCHEDULE to take the road test in eight days, FINALLY after my permit even expired because it has been 2+ years since i took it. ridiculous.

8. let’s see: taichung, san fran, seattle, vancouver, boston, shanghai, taipei, new york, vienna, prague, budapest, split, dubrovnik, dallas, pittsburgh, DC, providence, kaohsiung. (not being cheap and counting layover cities). 18 including taiwan cities, 16 categorizing them as “taiwan” :P yay goal accomplished!

9. the first half will always be something that i need to keep working on. but the second half i think definitely was a major theme this year. it was actually one of my fb statuses this year…if there’s anything i learned this year, it was how to take risks and not be afraid to go into uncharted territory. keep going strong.

10. actually, something that i need to keep working on. a good reminder at this time.

5/8 out of quantifiable goals :P yay 2010!

—-

Plans for 2011:

1. Get into and attend a med school that I think I’ll love for the next four years.
2. Finish MIT well academically (read: thesis). Get the two diplomas with zach and steve at grad!
3. Finish MIT well socially. Say goodbye properly. Leave Boston (?) properly.
4. Blog like crazy on MITblogs before the end…get everything out!
5. Summer: relax, have fun, plan for the move, don’t get burned out.
6. Become good at Canto. (or keep furthering Spanish and Japanese)
7. Med school - academics: smooth transition, do well first semester, EXPLORE!
8. Med school - socially: be less shy to new people, make new friends, EXPLORE!
9. “Others”: No regrets, no matter what happens.
10. Micah 6:8 - “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” <- my high school graduation quote…let’s keep it going to college grad.

This coming year will be a year of changes, a year of challenges, and a year of endings and beginnings. My hope now is that I will embrace changes as they come, give each day my best, and take some time to smell the flowers along the way. After all, each day is a miracle, a gift from God.

Today, this year begins. :D

in kaohsiung, 2011/01/01…2:45 AM

1pm

2011! :)

So I’ve been making these lists since 2005, so this has been many, many years running…but this will be the first ever on tumblr! used to keep all of these on xanga :)

2010.

January - compared to my past IAPs in madrid and tokyo, i think this one was relatively more boring/tame, haha. i spent iap at home studying for mcats…and then spent the last week in SF! i took the mcat but was too scared of the result and voided the test :( (which i really shouldn’t have…because my “oh i’ll get two extra months to study” didn’t really happen :P)

fort minor - remember the name

February - this was a beginning of a tense semester where i took 72 credits in an attempt to boost my gpa before applications. i skipped mitmunc cuz i went to attend an amsa conference in seattle/vancouver. highlights were getting to see the winter olympic stadiums and seattle in the rain :)

owl city - hello seattle

March - it rained a lot in march…i was head-over-heels in churning out essays for four history classes with 21h.931 thrown in (which arguably may be the best class i’ve taken at mit). was lame and skipped spring break to study again for the mcat, which i took and kept the score for.

avril lavigne - keep holding on

April - history essays, procrastinating like mad by posting on tumblr, easter party where i was a bunny, building a distiller for our mit ideas project, which we finished last minute, getting my mcat scores back…although through the madness, there was always a pervasive odd tranquility…

gary jules - mad world

May - finishing everything! senior ball. cape cod. figuring out where to get recommendations. getting rec packets in. going home. recovering from brain damage (4 finals! ugh - mon, tues, weds, thurs - pulling off my most epic academic feat at mit…the A in 7.29)

jay chou - chi li xiang

June - shanghai expo! ridiculous lines. beginning of work in nyc! learning about life in the lower east side, taking field trips on the weekends, working on my amcas, drafting personal statements, hanging out late at starbucks, running to catch the M15 every morning, finding japanese bistros that open past 10pm, loving the anonymity of being a face in the crowd at new york :)

howie day - collide

July - being excited every time a secondary pops into my mailbox…starting on drafting essays. world cup and going to bars in the morning. japanese lessons next to bryant park. finding the groove of work at bellevue. working and getting to know cancer patients. endless lunches at this really yummy japanese place on 31st st. movies with cyn - despicable me, inception, toy story 3!!! :D fourth of july fireworks on the hudson. summer nights on the roof of my apt building :)

black eyed peas - i gotta feeling

August - euro trip! magic. the blue blue waters of the adriatic. the sweet red wine in budapest. charles bridge at midnight in prague. the random trip to the most famous beach in croatia while we were at split. missing our train from prague to budapest. finding the “hidden bar” in dubrovnik and listening to sinatra against the crashing waves. :) finishing work, sending in like all 20 secondaries in 2 weeks. wrapping up work in ny - heading up to boston for fall term. the beginning of many many nights of gchat. 3 nights in dallas :p

plain white t’s - rhythm of love

September - back at mit! getting to know the ’14s! ihouse retreat to maine! PROJECT LAB. getting through 40 days. PROJECT LAB. PROJECT LAB. PROJECT LAB. :(

jason derulo - what if

October - MOAR PROJECT LAB. harvard interview! pitt interview! first sf trip :) upmunc happened, but i didn’t go. more work? haha my fall semester life is so sad =/

black eyed peas - pump it

November - research trip to DC, boston trip, tksgiving in sf, PROJECT LAB!!!

david archuleta - crush

December - moar interviews. DONE with 7.18! A+ in 7.18! :) pitt and brown acceptances :D doing thesis work while in taiwan, ihouse christmas party, didn’t see snow before leaving mit, warm christmas and new years in kaohsiung :D

beyonce - halo

i often also pick a “word of the year” - 2008 was ‘quietness,’ 2009 was ‘discovery.’

I would say that 2010, for me, has been a year of “surprises.”

1. I never expected that I would come to equate NYC to SF.

2. I never expected to be so pleasantly surprised at so many steps along the way re: med school admissions, beginning from the moment i got my mcat scores back.

3. I never expected to seriously pursue a history major (if you were to ask my freshman self…i still get moments of wow, i’m really doing history! hehe)

4. I never expected to realize my goal of working with chinese populations in so many pockets of the US (again, similarly, if you were to ask my freshman self. in boston, sf, and nyc!)

5. I never expected to catch the “research bug” and start liking molecular biology research.

6. I never expected croatia/eastern europe to be so pretty.

7. I never expected to find love.

1pm

yay taylor swift!

2am