Love – a need?

Love is often considered a necessary need, ranking third on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, below self-esteem. I think it’s time to swap the two. Humans are social animals, and the “need” that drives one to seek unwarranted love is insecurity and uncertainty of one’s own place in the world. By unwarranted love, I mean the […]

Monsters and Demons

^ ^ a visualization of my demonic ex Just now, a high school friend expressed to me his disgust of his campus’s hookup culture after listening to a talk at his school titled “Stinky Freshmen”. I got that parental feeling (with no idea where it’s coming from) when your kid realizes how babies are actually […]

Immigrants

In 2018, 15% of H-1B visas were denied, as opposed to the 7% in 2017, 6% in 2016 and 4% in 2015. Many among those denied H-1B visas are Asian immigrants like my own father who immigrated to the US on a full scholarship as a hardware engineer and worked his way up the semiconductor […]

Sarcasm

Few people my age are active nihilists. Some of my acquaintances, especially those at elite universities, have had existential crisis’s, thoughts of “what’s this all for?” …but almost always they come out soft determinists (or moral compatibilists ), rediscover meaning in their life, usually via friendships, goals, or family, and live on (until their next […]

Panda Express

Me: *finishes final exam of the quarter, tries to brainstorm available friends I can grab a meal with before my flight tomorrow* *10 mins later, I open text message* Me: Hey hey are you still around today or tomorrow? Friend: Aw a friend has an end of the quarter party off campus. I’m going now. […]

Emptied Cup

3 exams crushed, a poster and a report down, with 1 final exam on Friday to go before this quarter is a wrap. Now I can feel the abyss slowly coming back to me to settle the void left by the absence of my 4 weekly psets and 5 courses that count for my major. […]

Why I think people I know ignore me

“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” – Friedrich Nietzsche On the vibrant, sprawling campus of Stanford, everyone seems to be on some teetering center of mass between academics, social events, and sleep, so it’s understandable that some social cues […]