more
Here’s a lot more random things that I participate in and enjoy, ranging from the semi-serious to the definitely-not-serious.
interests
- Musicals
- I love musicals! Favorite ones I’ve seen in-person are Hadestown, Waitress, and Les Mis. I’ve recently gotten into acting in musicals. My first show Next Act 2023 show, Remembering Her, where played Kevin, a wholesome, slightly empty-headed, Prius-driving highschooler who forgets his girlfriend, but eventually remembers (Shyeah!). Most recently, I played Michael in a production of tick, tick… BOOM!, which was an absolute joy. Currently on an acting hiatus, but we’ll see what thing I try next…
- Imrpov
- … like improv! Started taking a few classes through a grad club here at MIT, and it’s been super fun to think on my feet and just say different things. I’d love to one day be able to do things like Jess and Zach from Off Book, but I suspect that improv musicals are a loooong way away.
- Bouldering
- I picked up bouldering right before starting grad school. I’m currently considering defecting from Boston Bouldering Project to Central Rock Gym, and climb roughly at a V3 level. I go much less regularly than I’d like to given how busy graduate school is, but enjoy it every time I go.
- Puzzle Hunts
- I participate in Mystery Hunt (and many smaller hunts) with NES, a team composed of many former and current residents of Next House (my undergraduate dorm). I do hunts because they’re fun events to think hard about incredibly unproductive things were there is an answer to find, and also just to reconnect with friends.
- Crosswords
- In 2022, I finally subscribed to NYT Games and began doing the crossword daily and have since solved far too many crosswords for my own good. Slowly working on bringing down my averages to competition level, and maybe one April I’ll take the train down to ACPT.
- Biking
- Over the past few years, I’ve gotten into taking long bike rides! Hoping to start getting into bikepacking over the next summer or two as well.
- Deep Discussions
- I love talking to people to learn more about who they are and how they see the world. One semester, I ran a small discussion series to bring strangers together to talk about big questions like “How do you define yourself?” and “What brings meaning to your life?”
- A Cappella
- For the first two years of grad school, I was part of the MIT Centrifugues, a group that sings predominantly mashups and medleys. I sang baritone, learned how to arrange songs and beatbox, and was a Music Directors for a bit c: I hadn’t been a part of organized music since middle school, and have greatly enjoyed getting reacquainted with my musical side. My last (and favorite) arrangement was my “Senior” Solo, a mash-up of Vienna and Landslide, which you can watch here :)
- Jeopardy
- I’ve always wanted to make it onto to show. Now that I’m past college-age (and thus only eligible for regular Jeopardy), I’m slowly working on shoring my literature and pop culture knowledge. Fingers crossed.
good things on the internet
- Entertainment
- xkcd
- Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
- Semantle
- Down for a Cross
- Critical Role
- Jelle’s Marble Runs (go O’rangers)
- Thinking
- Wait But Why
- YearCompass
- Although of course you end up becoming yourself, a blog post by Petey
- Rabbit holes I’ve been meaning to explore
- The website of bill wurtz, maker of history of the entire world, i guess
- Wikipedia’s list of list of lists
- this blog
- Better Explained (here’s a blog post about it)
- Google Patents (try searching random nouns, like football or pasta, and read the actual patent for entertaining content)
- wholesome links
- hugs
- my favorite train video