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

It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it? Summer is going by faster than ever (halfway through!) I actually have a legit explanation for my absence, though…

I was in a car accident two weeks ago.

Long story short: I was biking back from Central Square (I ride the T from Alewife to Central and then bike back to the dorm). I stopped at an intersection and began to turn left. Unfortunately, the car that was stopped parallel to me thought I was not going to turn left. So I was effectively t-boned by the car.

Thankfully, I was riding on a fairly high bike; my leg was efficiently squished between the front of the car and the main bar frame of my bike. At the time, however, I was thrown onto the hood of the car, where I bumped my head, and then rolled off onto the pavement, right in the middle of the intersection.

I’m really grateful to the people who stopped their cars and got out to make sure I was okay. I curled up in fetal position while someone dialed 911. Since Jason was closest, I also instructed one of the kindhearted women to call him. By the time the ambulance came, I realized that I didn’t hurt that much. They asked me a ton of questions, which I kept on responding with, “Yes, sir” and “Thank you” in a really perky voice, haha.

At the hospital, they poked my leg and took it in for x-rays. Thankfully nothing was broken; I was only scraped up pretty badly (my left leg was gushing blood) and I was bruised all over. When I arrived home, I noticed that the bar of the bicycle (where my leg was smashed up against it) was bent. Yes, my leg bones > a metal bar. And despite being bedridden for nearly a week, I am now mostly healed and can speed-walk again :D

The moment of the accident was actually really inspirational. When I first landed on the ground (thankfully I caught my head in my arms), my heart was beating SO fast. I seriously thought I was going to have a heart attack. So immediately, as if a little voice had manifested itself in my mind, I heard myself saying, “CALM DOWN” … and then I started singing to myself. Namely, I sang the chorus of 女に幸あれ (“All the Best to Women”):

Ah, someday happiness will come;
It would be too unjust if it didn’t.
Ah, I’ll go all the way there.
All the best to women;
Rise, morning sun!

Needless to say, it was at that moment that I realized how inspirational music could be. In addition to this, I’ve experienced a bit of a social revival! Next semester, I will be focusing on striking a wonderful balance between the three facets of my life:

1. Academics
2. Career
3. Social life

… including being more involved with AXO, devoting a lot of my time and passion to AKPsi, going to more frat parties, and treasuring my friends more. In addition, of course, to aiming for straight A’s and a finance internship! And now, a bit about my….

New hairstyle!!

Last Saturday (in addition to two hours of fun karaoke with Chris Luna, Lindsey Shi, Michael Chen, and Jason Chiu), I took a trip to Chinatown to get a haircut at Ecco Hair and Beauty Salon. As I browsed through the hairstyles, though, I noticed that a lot of the styles I liked involved curly/wavy hair.

And so, on a whim, I decided to get a perm. And it looks surprisingly, absolutely gorgeous! I look very summery and younger; the volume in my hair makes my face look shorter =)

Also, guess what came in the mail today? That’s right; the first Alpha Kappa Psi shirt to be worn by a member of the newest colony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology!

On Saturday, July 3rd, Jason and I did a bridge loop on our bikes to scope out the Esplanade (best location for watching fireworks) and get some exercise. We ended up going from the Harvard Bridge (Mass Ave) to Longfellow Bridge… all the way around to North Harvard Bridge, and biking back down Mass Ave. In total, Google tells me this was 15 miles; I definitely feel accomplished!

Anyways, after biking for so much, I collapsed in bed around 3am and didn’t wake up until 2pm, effectively missing the Ashdown BBQ that I had hoped to attend. Instead, I made myself Easy Mac and decided that even though I hadn’t been invited along to any of my friends’ excursions, I could go have fun by myself. I packed my new Decora bag full of essentials, threw on a summery dress, grabbed some lemonade and munchies at CVS, and at 5:00pm, I was off… to walk the Freedom Trail!

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No explanation needed. Just a document of hope.

Date: June 7th, 2010
Time: midnight
Situation: chat with Jason

“This is the first time where I haven’t gone through break wanting desperately to go back to MIT. I think I’m starting to get really good at filtering out what’s important in life and appreciating what’s already there, instead of what I want but can’t get. I mean, if I want something really badly – be it repairing a broken friendship or a Microsoft internship – and it ends up not happening… I can live. In fact, I can live better without it, because I have a better love for what I do have.”

(Jason: “Wow, you’re now optimistic. What has MIT done to you?”)

“It’s not so much what MIT has done to me, but the fact that, in contrast to what I’ve seen at home… it’s that mixture of being in two very distinctly different worlds, and being able to see things from two different points of view. In a way, I think I have a better understanding than people who attended middle/high school in such competitive environments and then continued that in college.”

(Jason: “I’m glad for you. You’re realizing more of the world.”)

“It’s not even that I finally realized it; it’s just that I can embrace it now. I’ve always known, but it’s not until it hits you hard that you accept it. Does that make sense? I’ve always known; I just never accepted.”