Sunday, September 9, 2007

Why I Do the Things that I Do


I don't think that I am narcissistic, but it might be fun to know that the person who is writing this is not a total psycho.


However boring I am






























Why Berkeley?

I can afford it.

This is critical, because I haven’t seen an Ivy that is worth
its ticket-price. I would feel guilty studying there, I would
have no life as I would feel obliged to pay my parents back;
I would constantly be haunting Mckinsey’s or Goldman Sach’s
recruiters because I need to pay off this debt.



Cal has the best value for its money.


Did you know that 36 our departments (undergrad and grad) are ranked
#1 in the nation?


Tied with Harvard


Better Football


Some people go to Yale to meet interesting new people; I can
do it just fine.


* I was an international student, not qualified for scholarship+aid.


















Major?

Decisions Headache
























Architecture

Grandpa was an architect/civil engineer/inventor/linguist/physics
professor.
Do I sound jealous? Why yes I do….

We used to build little trebuchets when I was little, 3 feet tall

Can fling a stone 50 yards long

Cal’s wonderful program was more technical than creative

I should have known something when the ugliest building in
Cal is the Architecture Building

They have NO reason.



















Molecular and Cellular Biology

So naturally I gravitated to the major with the prettiest building

Liked it. That is the problem.

I didn’t love it.

I liked serving people and interacting with them but....



Did a Surgery Internship, saw A LOT of surgeries in 2 weeks
and decided that I liked talking to the people more than going
to Med School.


Can’t justify the residency, no matter how much they pay me.


Oh, try not to motorbike, one patient was carted in with her
leg bone splintered into 5 pieces.

































Business

Because I love people

And in almost 20 years, haven’t got sick of them yet.

Am fascinated by Private Equities, Venture Capitals, Consulting,
M&A, IPOs, Startups, Accounting, Finance, Web 2.0, stock
investing, brokerage services, hotel management and
in general anything goes!

But most of all, I am fascinated by people. Everyone has so much
to offer, and I love listening to them.



The janitor in Golden Bear Café who has a four year old daughter
and is bussing tables 20 hours a week while trying to get that psychology
degree so he can be a professor.

The gung ho investment banker who entered because he accrued too

much debt during his highflying college years and need that 6 digit salary



The Iowa-born African American who is absolutely fascinated by Chinese
culture and longs to teach in Tibet

The linguistic professor who translates an archaic Turkish dead language


for a living while saving up money for that Romanian Trip



The Debate Champion and influential lawyer who quit because
his conscious can’t take it anymore and now happily wakes up
at 5am in the every morning for 20 years, enlightening
High School students on the finer points of Art History.


















Who did you miss while you're grocery shopping today?

When not in school?





I inhale books

and

I hit the gym everyday for at most an hour



















I don’t do this


Clubs?

Leadership Symposium, Eggster.Org, Freshman Sophomore
Business Club, Circle K (Kiwanis), Koinonia

Shortcomings?



Trivial: I spend more on my friends and family than I do on myself.
Not necessary a bad thing, but sometimes I need to learn that my
paycheck should go towards something that I wanted.




















Serious: I often take on more than I can handle; fleeting
interest in mundane things, impatience (HUGE problem).

And oh, I loathe quitting. And yes, that is a problem.


And many many more that I am not aware of. It is out
there, people just need to tell me that.


I’ll bribe you...or bake you cookies!



Pieces of me


Made in China, Property of Singapore, Inherently curious, Babbles 2.5
languages (Spanish…it’s embarrassing), Art History Buff, Techie Nerd,

Two Instruments, Food Network, Yo Yo Ma Fanatic,
























Klimt devotee, Dad’s family = Engineering, Mom’s =
lawyers and politicians


Don’t you just love family gatherings?



























Future Ambitions?


I am not in debt, so I don’t feel obliged to haunt down Bain or Google's


recruiters.


Makes me open to more ideas….was thinking of Private Equity
and Venture Capital because it is people oriented and you build
relationships with successful people.


But web 2.0 and startups draws me in like a kid to candy.


I also like accounting and finance because they are the
backbone to business.


And Sales because it is one of the hardest fields and I
have so much respect for them (not the dishonest ones).


Marketing lets me into the minds of people.


And Consulting lets you in on the inner-working of every field.


You see where I am going with this?



I don’t know


what i am going to do for life.


All I know is that I will try everything because
20 years from now I will regret the things I've
never done more than the things I have.

I want to live a life with no regrets


I’ll be doing something that I love

And that I’ll be good at it.












4 comments:

Anonymous said...

heya - love this post.

Unknown said...

I'm amazed at all the pictures you find.

Joanna (Yin) Lin said...

Anon: Thanks! More will come, I promise....

Tom: I am more amazed by the people taking them. ;) I'll try to find links but many were found while mindlessly phishing the net.

CaCowboy said...

Joanna you are going to love your time on this earth and many will love you.