I’m Back!

Reading through my old blog posts… it feels like I might as well be reading a stranger’s work. My pre-pandemic self was a different version of me. Every time I read my old thoughts, I’m reminded that what I once considered a welcome intermission has become the main plot. I’m okay with it — my…

Protected: Fictionalized Reality

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State of the Mind

It’s currently 3:20 AM, and I don’t feel the least bit tired. In all honesty, I haven’t felt tired at 3:20 AM for a very, very long time.  

Spring Quarter Update

I mark these weeks of limbo by episodes of Westworld. Every Sunday (or Monday or Tuesday or even the next Saturday… the weeks have been getting long), I turn on HBO and cling to the edge of my seat through another thrilling episode. The series questions the nature of reality, asking over and over again…

Writing From Home

In these times of uncertainty and infinite shift, there is something unspeakably comforting about putting pen to paper. At the beginning of winter quarter, it was just a whisper in the news, amplified by my parents’ forwarding of posts from China. Wash your hands. We’re not coming for Parents Weekend. Don’t come home for Spring…

Coronavirus

Sooooo coronavirus!!! When I said I wanted to live more in the present, this isn’t exactly what I meant. This constant pressure of confusion and uncertainty dispels any hope of proper focus for finals or classes. I don’t know. I don’t know when I’m going home, I don’t know how summer is going to fall…

Marking the Halfway Point

As I sit in the East Asia Library, listening to the carrillon ring through the post-all-nighter fog, I can’t help but want to reflect on my time here. As of today, I’m exactly halfway through freshman year. Unfortunately, it’s midterm and application season, so writing and reflection are going to have to wait. I just…

Protected: The End of a Decade

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A Love Letter to My Freshman Dorm

What. Just. Happened. Time has blown by, taking with it the golden sunshine and bringing in clouds and rain. Some say that Stanford’s campus shines best in the sunlight – I like it best when the sky is gray and wet, which it has been since Thanksgiving break. The glow of the streetlamps reflects on…

Freshman Fall Mid-Quarter Reflection

Written Week 6, Freshman Fall Stanford is on its own time zone. Not just because the campus is huge or that there’s a particle accelerator nearby—time here simultaneously moves faster and slower than anything I’ve ever experienced before. A minute stretches into an hour, but a week passes like a day. It’s hard to believe…