The Masochist's Institute of Technologyanecdotes of an ambitious MIT student

First off, I’d like to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully as you continue your festivities today, you’ll remember that there are many, many people in the world far less fortunate than you are. There, then, lies the true spirit of Thanksgiving – appreciating what you have, when you have it… and helping those who need it most.

This year, I’d like to take a few moments to reflect on the events this year for which I am most thankful. Besides the typical items and people at the top of my list (family, friends, MIT), I am additionally thankful for:

1. The opportunity to perform at AnimeExpo 2009 with some of my Sekai no Melody members!
2. Landing an awesome research position at Harvard Business School
3. All of the amazing sisters I have met in Alpha Chi Omega – we’ve had so much fun together!
4. The relative success that the MIT Asian Dance Team has experienced these past few months
5. Getting interviews from at least four companies, along with a second-round from one particular…
6. Staying in relatively good health, despite the one-week flu in September
7. Being able to stay at such an awesome grad dorm over the summer (Sidney-Pacific), to where I truly felt happy to “come home” after a long day at work
8. Finding majors (14 and 15) that most fit my personality and strengths, and having a direction in life.
9. Realising that I can hit all (except the final one) of Christine’s high notes in Phantom of the Opera. Yay for expanding my range..!
10. For that matter, living within distance of an amazing karaoke studio
11. And for that matter, living in such an awesome city! MIT is literally right across the bridge from Boston, which is one of the most amazingly arts-rich and socialite-rich cities in New England.
12. The fact that I can spend Thanksgiving sitting here in front of my computer, listening to old Sekai no Melody Christmas albums and feeling comforted by the fact that I have a safe home, a great education, a supportive family, entertaining friends, and a full stomach =)

Of course, Thanksgiving isn’t all fun-and-relaxation. I want to spend these two days catching up on some work and beginning my campaign to get amazing grades in all of my classes. Here, then, are a few items I hope to tackle in the coming days:

• Complete 14.02 problem set #6
• Learn enough 14.02 to pass the last test with an A
• Learn enough 15.301 to pass the last test with an A
• Write portions of the 15.301 paper as time allows
• Knock out some mixing for Sekai no Melody
• Pack for my second-round interview, and prepare…
• … by learning a bunch of common/important algorithms
• Do really well at my interviews
• Have a lot of fun in Seattle when I’m not doing the above
• Purchase books and prepare for spring 2010 semester
• Black Friday shopping with Chao and Jason
• Plow through more of my LSAT practice books
• Finish my new wall of projects
• Relax and reflect on life in general
• Begin coding the website for MIT’s Panhel
• Begin coding the website for Komaza
• Begin coding my personal website (it’s been “under construction” long enough!)

There’s never a dull moment in my life, it seems. Well, besides the fact that I’m sitting at my computer on Veteran’s Day desperately trying to learn Laplace transforms. That’s not exactly dull either; it’s simply something stressful that I would rather not do.

Thankfully, one of the wonders of college life lies in the fact that there always seems to be weekend distractions to alleviate said stress. October 2009 was definitely interesting; I attended a few parties and had a some majorly exciting moments. Here are a few of the highlights:

The night before the launch of Windows 7, the Microsoft Cambridge office held a huge launch party! There were students from Northeastern, Boston University, MIT, Harvard, and more. Although it wasn’t quite as exciting as I had hoped, it was definitely quite an adventure. I gorged myself on chips and salsa and wandered around with Chao and Jason. There was a Microsoft Surface table to sample, Rockband (Beatles version) to play – although I did not, because I’m not a Beatles fan – and free prizes to be had. They must have given away hundreds of dollars in prizes; Tiffany managed to wrestle a copy of Office 2007 out of someone’s hands, even though she managed to slice her thumb open in the process. Props to Tiffany and her dedication to free goods ;)

Late October, instead of accepting my invitation to the Alpha Delta Phi semiformal, I headed out amidst the wind and rain to karaoke with two of my Alpha Chi Omega sisters – Sarah Sprague ’13 and Ingrid Chaires ’11! We managed to sing everything from Broadway musicals (Phantom of the Opera!) to late-90′s pop (Britney Spears) to 80′s pop to the latest hits (Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, etc.) It was a ton of fun, especially since all of us were perfectly content to warble out the songs without caring too much about how on-pitch we happened to be…

“What’s this?” you say. “Vivian, I thought you got out of all that math-sciency stuff, aren’t you an economics major now?” Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but economics majors deal with numbers all the time. Especially at MIT, where the economics is very highly mathematical. This is a piece of my first 14.02 (macroeconomics) problem set, which I nearly aced after only attending class for a week. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself =)

And of course, the obligatory food image. Let’s just say that as of late I’ve gotten quite addicted to Next Dining‘s salad bar. I always get the same – a bunch of greens, topped with a ton of tomatoes (no one seems to like them), eggs, noodles (when available), olives (at times), and the slightest bit of vinaigrette dressing. And the best thing? An entire box of salad (which can fill up my Tupperware bowl) is only worth a jaw-dropping $1.50! Talk about cheap and healthy dinner…

Last but certainly not least, Alpha Chi Omega recently had its pledge class 2009 initiation… That means I’m now a full-fledged sister! After the ceremony, we went back to the student center and had celebratory desserts, serenades, and photo-ops. Shown above are all the sophomores (c/o 2012) currently in the sorority – there were four sophomore initiates this year. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the entire 2009 pledge class, but I’m sure the photo above is completely representative of the electric happiness present in the room the entire night =)

The entire past week would have been horrible, had it not been for some lovely presents that kept on appearing at my door every day..

On Monday, I woke up at 6am to finish work on my paper. Imagine my surprise as I opened the door to head to the restroom and instead found a shimmering package staring me in the face! I took the box back inside and unwrapped it to reveal a box of beautiful Italian chocolates. My first present from my mysterious Alpha Chi Omega big sister had arrived at the perfect time – what better to help you through a brutal paper revision? (Trust me – cutting down 3150 words to 2000 is hard work!)

On Tuesday, I was greeted by rectangularly-shaped package, which I hastily unwrapped to find a book of Guillaume Apollinaire’s selected works! Anyone who knew me in French class knows that I’m absolutely obsessed with Apollinaire’s works (he is my absolute favourite poet). I even found some time to read a few of the poems before I settled down into studying for my economics test.

Wednesday, a happy, leaf-printed bag found its way to my door. Mere moments before, I had been irritated for some reason or another, but the moment I saw the present my eyes brightened. After digging out the neon green tissue paper, I saw a colourful stuffed animal grinning up at me. And not just any stuffed animal either, but a parrot! Along with the present, she dropped off the interesting hint that her favourite animal was a dolphin. Quite the opposite from my favourite (any kind of bird), but even more interesting was her selection of a parrot, the bird with which I identify most =) Like a parrot, I am loud and excel at imitation ;)

Thursday, a package nestled itself between the umbrella and boots that I had left outside my door. Inside was a handmade photo frame (in black and pink, my favourite colours!)

I found it beautifully appropriate, especially since we had also decorated photo frames to give to our big sisters! Since I didn’t have any interesting craft items, I found myself being a bit innovative. I grabbed some hot glue from Angela downstairs, dug out all the markers I owned, and set to work affixing a manner of interesting charms to the frame.

In addition to an earring (no worries – I had lost the other one, so it was relatively useless anyways), a button, some word magnets, and a silver heart charm, I included some thin strips of paper that discretely sported interesting phrases:

Friday morning, right when I was about to head out for class, I opened the door to find my final Inspiration Week present – a gorgeous silver lavalier bearing the greek letters A, X, and Ω (Alpha, Chi, and Omega, respectively). I ended up wearing the necklace the entire day =)

That evening, we all arrived at the house for Revelations, in which our bigs would be revealed to us! All the new members gathered on the stairscase (we extended from the first to the third floor!) and, one by one, we walked into the circle of current sisters and were promptly tackled/pounced upon/hugged by our bigs. When my turn came, I strided into the center and paused for a few anxious moments before someone to my right skipped to my side and wrapped me up in a big hug. A glance over the bouquet she pushed into my arms revealed the identity of my big – Minh, a senior I had admired since the first time I met her (fall of freshman year!)

Left to right: Vivian (me), Veronica, Lily, Minh, Christine, Lauren

After all the reveals were over, Minh introduced me to her lineage, the Alpha Pearl family – chocolate lovers, classy, and awesome! What follows below is a very rough current family tree in the format of [Name (year initiated)]:

Minh-Phuong Huynh-Le (2006)
– Sam Marquart (2007)
—- Lauren Sless (2008)
——- Christine Lai (2009)
– Veronica Wilson (2007)
—- Lily Xu (2009)
– Vivian Lee (2009, me!)

As you can tell, due to the years in which we were initiated, this leads to some interesting hierarchal relations. Namely, I’m technically on a higher level than Lauren Sless even though she 1) is my same class year, and 2) was initiated before me!

Is it just me, or do Minh and Veronica and I look strangely alike in this picture? =)