Category Archives: Weekly Post

It’s Not Your Fault

2 Comments Posted by on August 22, 2015

Growing up, I was notorious for losing things. I would sometimes spend upwards of 10-20 minutes looking for something I lost at home: My homework assignment, textbook, game, a pencil, a water bottle. Everything is always in the last place you look, because well, you stop looking, but it frequently also felt like everything was in the last part of the last room in the house that I hadn’t checked yet. Frustration is the strongest negative emotion that I feel, and losing things all the time was super frustrating.

I used to feel like this was a moral failing on my part. Why can’t I just keep my stuff straight? Why can’t I just be consistent about where I put my things? Why don’t I have a system in place for where each item belongs, and make sure to stick to that system?

Then I got to college. And I magically stopped losing things, or at least lost them with a much lower frequency and spent a lot less time looking. I still maybe lost a water bottle a couple times a year, so I switched to cheap flip-cap water bottles that I wouldn’t mind losing. Then the frustration was completely gone, and with basically no effort expended on my part. What happened? Read more of this post

Lifehack, Personal Experience, Weekly Post , , , , ,

If You Want to Speak Last, Speak Best

Leave a comment Posted by on August 10, 2015

Previously in this leadership series: How Not to Delegate. My examples in this post are typically drawn from Christian leadership, but the message also applies more widely to other instances of collaborative leadership, group discussion, and public speaking.

Four months and seven years ago, I was a high school senior visiting colleges. Out of laziness, I had only applied to three, and was pretty set on attending Caltech. I came to Caltech’s Prefrosh Weekend mostly to solidify that decision and get to know the campus a bit better before I would arrive.

My host’s roommate found out that I was a Christian when I listed that I like to listen to Christian music on the interest sheet which they used to match us with hosts. He told me that he’d recently been attending a Friday night bible study and invited me to come along. Read more of this post

Leadership, Personal Experience, Weekly Post , , , , , ,

Singapore: General Impressions

8 Comments Posted by on August 8, 2015

Hello again from Singapore! After barely getting to Singapore, Grace has taken me all over the island, meeting friends and family, seeing sights, and most frequently, eating food. We still have a couple days left here, but I’ve had enough time to make and process my observations. Plus, today is Singapore’s 50th National Day, the “golden jubilee” anniversary of independence, an appropriate time to post. My observations and thoughts are combined into five characterizations of the city-state of Singapore I’ve picked up on.

Read more of this post

Personal Experience, Weekly Post , , , , ,

A Real-Life Trolley Problem

11 Comments Posted by on July 16, 2015

Many of you are probably familiar with the Trolley Problem, a classic ethics problem phrased something like this:

There is an unstoppable trolley hurtling down its track towards three innocent victims tied to the track. You’re fairly certain they will be killed instantly if the trolley reaches them. Fortunately, you find yourself standing next to a switch which can alter the route of the trolley away from those three people, saving them. Unfortunately, there is another innocent victim tied to the alternative stretch of track, and you’re fairly certain that the trolley would kill him if you diverted it. Do you flip the switch? Read more of this post

Philosophy, Weekly Post , , , , ,

The Fear Inside

Leave a comment Posted by on July 4, 2015

My last blog post focused on supporting the governmental recognition of gay marriage from an evangelical Christian perspective. It sparked several series of Facebook comments and a wide-ranging discussion that hasn’t stopped. Outside that public light, several people reached out to me individually, to talk more or simply to encourage me for posting it. In all, this foray of my blog into a political hot potato has gone even better than expected, and I’m encouraged by the way it’s brought people from different parts of my life together.

To continue this objective, I thought I’d try to describe a sort of meta-worldview that I noticed popping up in the discussion, and in some other contexts. Yes, this is going to be another one of those posts, where each section describes a different angle on the same topic. Stick with me. Read more of this post

Philosophy, Weekly Post , ,

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