My Life — 2 comments
09
Sep 09

Curiosity

Yesterday evening, I sat in on a lecture from Ted Hoff, the co-founder of the very first microprocessor and the now deemed “rock star” of Intel. I’m not going to lie, he wasn’t exactly the most fascinating public speaker and I might have accidentally taken a quick nap in the middle of his speech, but I was still conscious enough to catch some of the most important points of his lecture. He started off with a twist on a famous line saying, “Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it definitely helped THIS cat” whilst pointing at himself.

Ted claimed that nothing but curiosity and luck led to his success. At age 12, he received his very first subscription to a science magazine and ever since then, he has remained curious towards the miracles of science. He mentioned how lucky he was to receive older mentors early on in life who helped guide him in his journey and before he was 18, he became an official inventor by U.S. patent for his work on train circuits.

Sometimes as you get older, you’ll begin to settle in at a day job or whatever it is you happen to be doing, and you’ll realize that you gave up curiosity a long time ago. You’ve accepted your fate, closed off your doors, and settled for something you might or might not enjoy doing. I remember reading a friend’s blog (Victor Shih) and noticing one specific passage:

“Epitomics is a mainly customer service based company so there are protocols on all procedures, which bring tedium to every day activities, but I cant help but look at all these adults and see in them something I have always feared. The end of the road. School is filled with so many opportunities and avenues to explore. Discovering and rediscovering oneself. But at the point where many of the adults at work are, they’ve already found all the things theyre meant for. Theres no more excitement or innovation. I feel as though this is it for me. Schooling will be great and exciting, but in the end I’ll end up just like these adults: stagnant.”

I feel the exact same emotions Victor feels and I fear the day I lose my ability to stay curious. I urge you all to keep that curious cat inside you and occasionally drop in a ball of string for it to play with.

Stay hungry and stay foolish.

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02
Sep 09

Criticism

Many people in this world will bring you down no matter what you are trying to achieve. These few unfortunates ones were probably raised badly or grew up in an environment where it was okay to bring others down to compensate for their own failures. You will deal with these kinds of people all your life, and you will realize that it was the taunting and negative comments that ultimately brought about your success. You pushed yourself harder when they criticized your work. You rose above their challenges and you crushed the desires to sink down to their level and fight back.

No one ever created something new without facing the challenges of the old and stubborn minded. Innovators and entrepreneurs face the disapproval of the masses every day and yet they walk the lonely path because they know what lies at the end of the road.

Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.

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01
Sep 09

Simple Answers

Before summer started, I asked a friend what he really wanted before he died and he said, “a group of people who I love and love me back.” The simplicity in this answer was surprising but I put some thought into the statement during my summer and I’ve come to realize that I would be a happy man indeed if I could maintain my relationships with my close high school friends for the rest of my life. Thinking about it is strange; everyone eventually branches off into different parts of the world, each with his/her own ambitions and goals but if we were all to come back home one day in the future, nothing would be different. We all desperately seek companionship and scrapping away all materialistic ambitions would leave a desire to have people close to you.

It’s hard to comprehend the statement, “money can’t buy you happiness” until you’re sitting alone in your aged years wondering where all your childhood friends disappeared off to.

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26
Aug 09

Spreading Too Thin

This coming fall semester, I’m enrolled in 21 units, which I’ve never done before. In my previous 4 semesters of college, the max number of units I have taken is 15. The primary contributors to my unit intensive schedule are 3 seminars which aren’t in any way related to my major or necessary for my degree. However, the subjects discussed in these seminars are fascinating and highlight my week.

Today, the president of the Asian Business Association told me that I have to make sure I’m not spreading myself too thin. Since I have never overwhelmed myself with work before, he told me that by increasing my workload, I also increase the chance of lowering my effort in every other area. “It’s better to focus in on several areas and do well in those rather than attempt to spread out and damage yourself in the process” he said.

While enrolling in my classes, I had of course thought about this, but no one had ever put it in words for me to understand. I haven’t exactly comprehended what kind of damage a hectic schedule would bring. I had looked forward to spending more time with my apartment-mates and friends but school, work, projects, and ABA will undoubtedly destroy much of my social life. I can only hope that this semester, I develop my ability to manage my time effectively. If I can make it past this, I can make it past anything.

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16
Aug 09

Toilet Thinking

toilet-paper

Our apartment has some facility issues every now and then, including occasional power outages and a clogged toilet. I can’t blame the apartment managers for the clogged toilet; it’s something that everyone has to deal with at least once in life… but trying to unclog the toilet has made me realize how important the toilet is to my life. It’s unexpected that there are so many uses for the toilet that you may take for granted every day.

For one, the toilet is a place to brainstorm. A peaceful sanctuary where you can relax, relieve some tension and think about your day. I for one dislike sitting idly while doing my business so I bought a book of brainteasers and it now sits on a little shelf above our toilet so that I can exercise some of my brain power. Sometimes, I even bring my laptop into the bathroom with me so I can multitask and save some time doing work. It’s interesting that some of your best ideas can come about while sitting on the toilet when you’ve forgotten to bring in a book to read.

Toilet’s can also inspire us. I’m sure you’ve all been in a situation where you’ve happily relieved your bowels only to realize that there isn’t any toilet paper left on the roll. If we were all neanderthals, we’d either sit there forever or use our hands. Fortunately, as intelligent, thinking human beings, we begin to think outside the box. “What can I use to wipe my butt?” Maybe you begin searching for semi-clean toilet paper in the trash can. Maybe you use the rug. Maybe you step into the shower and clean up. Either way, you’ve been put in a situation with little or no way out and yet you’ve managed to make the best of it and find a solution. If all situations in life were dealt with in the same way you deal with the lack of toilet paper, then I’d say everyone would be pretty successful. You don’t give up finding a solution to wiping your butt, so why should you give up on other things in life?

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12
Aug 09

Breaking the Rules

i-am-free

I broke a lot of rules in elementary school and middle school. I cut in line, helped start a food fight in the cafeteria, and never rose my hand when talking. Almost every report card mailed to my home said the words “needs self-discipline” in the comments box. Regardless of this behavior, I still grew up to be a pretty well-behaved guy. I don’t steal or break laws every chance I get and I’m not often regarded as a troublemaker.

I think once in a while, it’s necessary to break some rules in order to fully enjoy life. You can’t be the normal guy/gal who sits around in a cubicle waiting for something exciting to happen in your life. Like most things, breaking rules comes with risk. But without that risk, there wouldn’t be any reward. If you never broke the rules, you’d admit that you’re satisfied with the average. With the norm. You just want to be another ant in the ant hill.

I have a brilliant friend here at Berkeley. He’s intelligent in every way, yet when I asked him what his biggest goals were, he simply said “I would be ok with a desk job from 9-5, where I can go home, watch some TV shows and go back to work the next morning.” When I heard this, I was shocked. It’s like hearing Tiger Woods say, “Oh, I’m ok with just dominating the holes over at Golfland,” or Donald Trump telling me “I’ll just stick with the apartment managing business.”

It’s hard for me to understand why some people aren’t willing to break some rules and do something great if they truly have the talent to do so. Even if you don’t have talent, you can work hard to develop some with enough experience. Some people just hate risk and are satisfied with a comfortable life. I’m all for security but there’s definitely enough time in your life to break some rules and do something crazy.

Think about it.

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07
Aug 09

Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes

The number one rule in understanding how someone else feels is to walk in their shoes. You will never truly understand what someone is going through unless you have experienced it yourself. I don’t care how good your intuition is, how much of a friend you think you are, or even if you have the power to read minds. You will not understand and sympathize with someone when they are in a situation you have not been in before.

So do not criticize or act like you are better in any way because you are not. There’s no point. You can’t understand how a starving child feels in a third world country or how someone feels in a breakup if you haven’t been there in the past.

Putting someone down for a situation they are in is immature and childish. Rather, you should be doing your best to understand what they are going through so you can offer positive and helpful advice. Let that person know you are there for them no matter what they are going through. Show the true meaning of friendship to someone you care about, even if their situation has caused them to abandon you and neglect you for a long period of time. Be the bigger man/woman and stay loyal to the ones you love because if both of you are truly friends, he/she would do the same for you too.

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

My Life — 1 comment
05
Aug 09

Future Plans for my Passions

If you are reading this blog, then you were probably directed from my main site www.kevinleeme.com. Now if that’s the case, then you might have read my “about me” section and discovered that my passions are LEARNING and BUSINESS. I intend to learn anything and everything I can until my mind prohibits me from doing so. But what do I plan to do with all this learning?

A lot of my close friends know that one of my future goals is to go into a teaching field, whether it be in elementary school, middle school, or simply anywhere that requires a teacher. Ideally, I want to start my own school of business, but not for college students or MBAs. I want to start a school of business for the younger generation. For the teenagers who wanted to learn more about the economy and how to manage their personal finances. For the younger children like me who thought checks and credit cards were items of unlimited power that could buy anything for free.

Look at this graph:

startupage

I want a school where parents can send their children for an hour or two after school to gain critical exposure to the business field at a young age. Having that opportunity will probably propel the percentage of entrepreneurs aged 0-24 to greater heights.

Although a school such as this is one of my “long-stretch” goals, I do intend to fulfill my short stretch goal of doing something in the education field.

My Life — 3 comments
03
Aug 09

Rage

Rage is a horrible thing to deal with. You let go of all composure, release all your emotions, and set yourself up into doing something crazy and possibly stupid. You are filled with uncontrollable anger, an anger that consumes to the point where you’ve realized that you were faulty and yet you cannot stop because you are too proud and too stubborn to back down.

But what good is rage. It does nothing. It solves nothing. You seethe in anger long after the deed is done. You feel unsatisfied. Like a man who has spent his life digging a hole out of his jail cell only to find himself on a deserted island. You have spent your energy on rage while reason sits in the corner, pointing and laughing, taunting you for your stupidity.

Only when you’ve hurt yourself and others do you truly begin to understand the frightening power of rage. Harness the rage. Channel it and control it with logic and reason. Let it be known that you are not one of them. One of the irrational. One of the foolish. Then, and only then, have you completed your evolution into the sensible human being that you should be. That everyone should be. That the world should strive to become.

My Life — 3 comments
01
Aug 09

Purpose of a Paid Blog

I pay about 5 dollars every month for the use of this blog as well as 10 dollars per year for the use of a domain. Why do I pay for something I could do for free? Well, I have probably tried every single major blogging service out there but regardless of how great the interface or customization is, I always end up posting one or two times and then forgetting about the blog altogether.

Having a blog that I am now paying for, I am forced to post regularly or else feel extremely guilty about the waste of money that is going on. I figure it’s a good investment of sorts. I can always look back when I am a lot older and read about my past memories and thoughts. Reminiscing is great and there’s no better way than keeping a blog/journal on a medium that can’t be burned or lost (hopefully.)

The only problem is that I don’t generally have huge urges to post about every single thing that happens in my life. I only post occasionally about dramatic events in my life that caused me to think certain ways or pieces of advice I feel I should give to any reader. Therefore, sometimes I can go weeks without thinking of something to post about. Can’t decide if I should make this blog a regular life entry type of thing or occasional deep post kind of thing.

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