New Year's Post.
December 31st, 2008 § 2 Comments
New Year’s is a holiday I find particularly enjoyable since it marks the ending point to nothing in particular, cause honestly, the fact that my calendar will say ‘2009’ instead of ‘2008’ doesn’t do much for me. However, this change gives me an opportunity to reflect about the past year, a time frame that is long enough for me to mess up many many times and also long enough for me to make significant changes in my life. For this reason, I want to do some reflection about this past year before celebrating its end and welcoming a new year.
This past year was marked with many challenges and transformations both in my personal and academic life. During this time some friendships have grown stronger, others have weakened, and a few have remained strong all along. I’ve made many decisions that have changed my current situation and have influenced my perspective on things. I’ve grown as a person more than ever before. Also, academically I’ve had some good and some very challenging moments. I re-evaluated my career choice, and not long ago decided to pursue a business career.
I’m going to answer some of the questions I found online to reflect about this past year. [http://blogec.typepad.com/essential_connections/2005/12/end_of_year_ref.html]
1- What happened this year that I want to record?
Significant things that happened this year and I want to remember [both good and bad] include:
- My mom joined Facebook.
- I had my worst academic term so far.
- I became very close friends with my 金 – definitely one of the most significant things that happened to me this year.
- I became an assistant instructor in taekwondo and got my second black stripe.
- I became historian for the Sport Taekwondo Club.
- I watched the Olympics with interest for the first time.
- I moved off-campus.
- I dropped a class for the first time.
- I closely followed the elections for the first time.
2- Where did I meet the targets I set for myself and where did I fall short?
I fell short academically. Although in the fall term I performed much better than ever before, it doesn’t really help as much because of the spring term.I think there is nothing else I felt particularly bad about. I had my ups and downs with other aspects of my life (friendships, family relationships, etc.) but nothing terrible. I am very happy with what I’ve accomplished.
3- What behaviors helped me to succeed? What behaviors caused me to fail?
This is a very difficult question to answer. I don’t know particularly where I went right or wrong, but what I do know is that a good attitude and showing respect to others were two things that have helped my relationships immensely. Thinking about some of the things I wish hadn’t happened I realize that most of them could have been avoided by thinking about what’s really important to me, what I want in the long run, and reflect how current behavior is helping/hurting my chances to achieve what I want.
4- What did I learn?
I learned that I love my family immensely and value my friends much more than they realize. I learned that although some of the things that happen to me are not great, everything that has happened to me has contributed to who I am and where I am right now. I have no regrets.
5- What do I want for the coming year?
a. What do I want to start doing?
i. I want to focus on the good qualities of the people around me and to bring energy and happiness to others. I want to be a good influence in other people’s lives. I want to be more humble, friendly and approachable.
b. What do I want to stop doing?
i. I want to stop worrying about what others think about me. This is particularly difficult when ‘others’ refers to people I esteem very much.
c. What do I want to achieve?
i. I want to be admitted to HBS’s 2+2 program. Difficult goal but I’ll give it my best shot.
ii. Get my black belt in taekwondo.
d. Happen?
i. I want to go to Japan for the first time and explore such an interesting, rich and different culture.
e. For me?
i. Have my friends around me.
f. For those around me?
i. Success and happiness.
6- Why are those things important to me? What difference will they make in my life?
All of them are things that would allow me, in one way or the other, to have more fulfilling and genuine relationships with other people and to reach my goals.
7- What decisions do I need to make?
There are decisions to be made every day.
8- What goals am I setting for myself?
Either get into HBS’s 2+2 program or find a job that would allow me to prepare for when I have to re-apply to an MBA program. Other than that I want to keep my friendships healthy and alive and keep do my best in Taekwondo.
That’s all I have to say for now. Happy New Year!
-Omar
Realization Over Break — I'm Going to Business School
December 30th, 2008 § 2 Comments
I always find that after classes are over, and after a few days of resting, I need to get to work and do things while I have time and can actually do them. It is during breaks from the academic workload at MIT that I think the most about life and re-evaluate things.
This past week and a half was marked with a lot of reflection time about my life so far, the things I’ve learned, and how my perspective about everything has changed; I’ve also re-evaluated my career choice and my goals for the next few years. Although I find science and engineering appealing in theory, I must admit that have not enjoyed my engineering courses nearly as much as I’d like. I would rather study for 20 hours for my non-technical classes, or spend that time writing and re-writing a [probably non-scientific] paper, than spend 5 hours going over 2 chapters full of formulas and explanations about when to use them.
Thinking about the possibilities I have, I’ve decided that I enjoy my science & engineering classes enough to to complete my undergraduate degree in my current field, but beyond that what I really want is to pursue a business career. I like my current research and I’m planning to keep doing it until I graduate, but what I want to do after graduation (and after working for a few years) is to go to business school — so now it’s time to work for that goal and hope for the best.
Memoirs of a Geisha & American Shaolin
December 26th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
So far I’ve finished reading two books during this break, both provided me with a good amount of entertainment for the past few days, while I took breaks to eat, use my computer, spend some time with my family, sleep (many many hours) and, today, workout.
“Memoirs of a Geisha“ was a fantastic read. The story is very believable up until the very end, but I was nevertheless enchanted by it and I really enjoyed reading it. I was a bit saddened when I found out that the book caused drama because the author mentioned someone in the aknowledgements section, Mineko Iwasaki, that was supposed to remain anonymous. She was a geisha who had helped him fix some of his misconceptions about life as a geisha, and someone he based the main character on. Once he broke his silence vow he even received death threats… scary geishas. The book is definitely well-written and I’m looking forward to reading similar books at some point.
“American Shaolin“ was also a great read, written in a more casual story-telling fashion, it was easy to read and very enriching (including free Chinese cursing lessons). A very entertaining story. The story is real, which makes it much more interesting to read. It made me wonder… should I take a few years off college and just go out and do whatever I want? But relax, mother, I’ll stay in college for now.
I was not waiting for Santa all night…
December 25th, 2008 § 6 Comments
I left Cambridge last Monday at ~8am, slept on both planes I took to Puerto Rico (I was sitting next to a man, and I don’t talk to men on airplanes, they’re boring), and then shopped all afternoon/night with my mom and my grandmother. I finally made it home by 2am after not having really slept the night before. I went to bed at around 3ish am and woke up at around 3ish pm. I spent my afternoon eating, talking and reading “Memoirs of a Geisha” and last night I decided to go to bed at around 2pm. I intended to start shifting back a little my sleeping schedule and try to reach that point at which I had a ‘normal’ sleeping schedule.
In two days at home, I had slept almost 1 day off! Now that’s what I call productivity. 23 hours of sleep in two days… that would normally take me 3-4 days to achieve at MIT.
So anyways, let’s talk about Christmas. At home the tradition we have is go to my grandmother’s house to celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve. We exchange gifts, do a ‘secret santa’ among the older ones (people ~16-70 years old) and spend some time together making fun of each other or whatever else makes us happy. Today people made fun of my beautiful mother because of a few extra pounds she has (or so they claim!), and my mom at some point cried!
Well, don’t get upset just yet, it wasn’t a ‘really crying’ kind of thing. If you’ve spent a few years with my mother you’d know that crying is her hobby. It’s just something she does. It’s not like she has to be sad or anything to cry, sometimes she just decides to cry because… it’s time to cry. As a teenager my mother wanted to be an actress. She settled for a career in marketing, but subconsciously decided to make her life a permanent act, the world being her huge stage. She goes through life using her marvelous acting skills to achieve anything she wants, or sometimes she uses them for no particular reason. Out of all her marvelous skills, crying is one of her favorite things. She’s really good at it. If you’ve ever seen someone crying whose face turns completely red, eyes are red and watery, and you think they must have been crying horribly for at least an hour… that’s not the case with my mother. My mom can get there in 1 minute for no reason. Five seconds if there’s a reason. I kid you not.
Traditionally after spending the night at my grandma’s we come back home and go to bed, and in the morning (as early as we wake up once the sun is out) we run to see where Santa put the gifts so we can open them and celebrate Christmas. As a kid I always wanted to just stay up all night so I could get my gifts as soon as I heard Santa. Sadly that never worked, I always fell asleep at some point before Santa decided to come to my house.
I guess that after having slept 23 hours in two days, my body is congratulating me by making me stay awake all night on Christmas morning waiting for Santa! Except that now everyone in my house knows that Santa is my mother and she already put the gifts under the tree and said: “we’re not opening them ’til the morning”.
Why thank you. Now I should go cry too.
Here is my mommy making a sad face during/after crying today.
What my professor told me before I left the classroom.
December 9th, 2008 § 5 Comments
I used to say I’m a teacher, but that implies that students actually learned. Now I just say I’m a lecturer.
