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
- A Cappella
- I’m part of the MIT Centrifugues, a group that sings predominantly mashups and medleys. I sing baritone, have been learning how to arrange songs and beatbox, and am currently one of the co-Music Directors c: (I’m one of the soloists here, starting at ~2:26!) Haven’t done organized music since middle school, so it’s been fun getting back into it.
- Bouldering
- I picked up bouldering right before graduate school started. I climb at Boston Bouldering Project, and am roughly at a V3 level. I climb much less regularly than I’d like to given how busy graduate school is, but enjoy it every time I go.
- Musicals
- I love musicals! Favorite ones I’ve seen in-person are Hadestown, Waitress, and Les Mis.
- 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 (where I lived in undergrad). I do hunts because they’re fun events to think hard about incredibly unproductive things and also I get to hang out with fun people.
- Crosswords
- Relatedly, in 2022, I finally subscribed to NYT Games and began doing the crossword daily. At this point, I can solve them without needing any hints, but still working on bringing down my averages to near-competition level :P
- 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?”
- Memory
- I enjoy trying to remember all the random facts that people tell me. For one Splash class, I learned how to memorize a deck of cards; maybe I should work on re-learning this skill.
- Scrabble
- Word games are fun, and Scrabble is my favorite. I’ve taught Splash classes about strategy and two-letter words. One long-term goal of mine is to join competitive Scrabble tournaments.
- 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
- Crosswords (check out Down for a Cross)
- 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