now

Life 📍

Living in the Bay Area. I moved out here from Chicago ✶✶✶✶ in the summer of 2023. Still getting used to the absence of real winters, but I'm not complaining.

Moved into a new house recently. Boxes everywhere and we're discovering which light switches do absolutely nothing. To my disappointment, one of these switches was the one in my room.

Considering a trip overseas next year - maybe Japan. The wanderlust is real.

Work 💼

Heading into second semester of senior year in high school. Final stretch. Balancing APs, college apps (almost done!), and the lowkey existential dread that comes with every campus tour.

Intern at a lab in Stanford. Sounds extremely cool (and is), but also means I've googled “how to not sound dumb in academic meetings” more than I care to admit. More info in the "Works" page.

Learning 🧠

Reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Completely changing how I think about ethics in medicine and the human stories behind scientific progress. As fascinating as it is heartbreaking.

I recently learned how to code in R and (re)learned Python. It seems a lot of research work uses these languages. From what I understand, they're the most popular because they have strong libraries and make it easy to visualize results.

I'm actually in an incredibly large spiral learning about all things related to music. I've always been a musician but it's never been like this. It's an obsession. That's the only word I can describe it with.

Media & Culture 🎥

Currently rotating between rock music, some lo-fi jazz, and surprisingly, a lot of r&b.

Binge-watching Dr. House for the second time. Apparently misanthropy and sarcasm is funny to me. Also rewatching the new Rick and Morty season and... oh. Oh. I see the pattern.

Reading Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn. I like a good political thriller with characters who are much better at surviving than I would be.

Replaying Twilight Princess on the Wii. Something about going back to old games is weirdly comforting.

Personal Growth 💡

Learning to stay disciplined, even when no one's watching. Especially then.

Waking up at 5am to hit the gym. Not to be that person. But yeah, I'm kind of being that person. It clears my head. And the world is quiet :)

Realizing I don't need to share everything to feel seen. Some things are better left unsaid, or just said to myself.

Boundaries 🛡️

Not taking on anything new unless it feels aligned. Whatever that means.

Prioritizing routines over randomness.

Letting go of a few things before they let go of me.