Organic Chemistry
It’s almost the end of spring semester, which means that it's around the time where I grow increasingly frustrated with my coursework and get a strong urge to run away to a barrier island and lie naked in the sun all day. Unfortunately for me, that’s not feasible in this day and age, so I must stay here in Maryland and continue to work and study for my finals.
One thing I am grateful for about college is the fact that I am so much more motivated to actually do work. I find the coursework much more rewarding now, probably because I am able to actually pick my classes and all my classes (even the hard ones) are pretty interesting. Take organic chemistry for example, a notoriously difficult class. As much as I complain about it, I still think that the content covered is really interesting and I would definitely take it again if I had to start college over again.
It’s a stark contrast from my mentality in high school. I had a tendency to give up easily, and assumed I was just naturally bad at certain things like math. This ultimately culminated in a self fulfilling prophecy where I would encounter a difficult problem, give up because I thought that I was naturally ungifted, and not improve as a result.
College has freed me from this self inflicted purgatory. I’m a lot less scared to try at things I might fail at. The stakes feel lower, in a way, especially because I'm finally out of my old hypercompetitive school district. There are people here at all academic levels, and no matter what happens there is likely at least one other person who is going through the same thing that I am. It’s comforting to know that I’m not alone, that there’s usually someone who’s been in my position and still made it out.
That’s about all I have to say for this post, philosophically. Now onto some fun stuff.
I’ve recently been listening to this Indonesian band called Crayon Case. They make solid indie pop/shoegaze adjacent music, which I would best describe as the essence of a mischievous summer evening. Like all the times Ryan and I would sneak through the hole in the skatepark fence or go geocaching in the woods near our homes. Or like, digging a giant hole at the beach before you get told off by the lifeguards.
I’d recommend their EP "Catch Twenty-Three !!" as a good jumping off point, as well as their new single “Surabaya”. They don’t have much music but I hope they keep making more stuff. I also think it’s nice that an asian band that's not from Korea or Japan is getting some level of spotlight, even if they aren’t that big yet.
Peace out,
flyingfish
