50 things

everything seems so true. yet im destined to only chance upon it in my final year of university.

By Ben Jones, originally from www.mitadmissions.org, 2006

As you begin your college experience, I thought I'd leave you with the things that, in retrospect, I think are important as you navigate the next four years. I hope that some of them are helpful.

1. Your friends will change a lot over the next four years. Let them.
2. Call someone you love back home a few times a week, even if just for a few minutes.
3. In college more than ever before, songs will attach themselves to memories. Every month or two, make a mix cd, mp3 folder, whatever - just make sure you keep copies of these songs. Ten years out, they'll be as effective as a journal in taking you back to your favorite moments.
4. Take naps in the middle of the afternoon with reckless abandon.
5. Adjust your schedule around when you are most productive and creative. If you're nocturnal and do your best work late at night, embrace that. It may be the only time in your life when you can.
6. If you write your best papers the night before they are due, don't let people tell you that you "should be more organized" or that you "should plan better." Different things work for different people. Personally, I worked best under pressure - so I always procrastinated... and always kicked ass (which annoyed my friends to no end). ;-) Use the freedom that comes with not having grades first semester to experiment and see what works best for you.
7. At least a few times in your college career, do something fun and irresponsible when you should be studying. The night before my freshman year psych final, my roommate somehow scored front row seats to the Indigo Girls at a venue 2 hours away. I didn't do so well on the final, but I haven't thought about psych since 1993. I've thought about the experience of going to that show (with the guy who is now my son's godfather) at least once a month ever since.
8. Become friends with your favorite professors. Recognize that they can learn from you too - in fact, that's part of the reason they chose to be professors.
9. Carve out an hour every single day to be alone. (Sleeping doesn't count.)
10. Go on dates. Don't feel like every date has to turn into a relationship.
11. Don't date someone your roommate has been in a relationship with.
12. When your friends' parents visit, include them. You'll get free food, etc., and you'll help them to feel like they're cool, hangin' with the hip college kids.
13. In the first month of college, send a hand-written letter to someone who made college possible for you and describe your adventures thus far. It will mean a lot to him/her now, and it will mean a lot to you in ten years when he/she shows it to you.
14. Embrace the differences between you and your classmates. Always be asking yourself, "what can I learn from this person?" More of your education will come from this than from any classroom.
15. All-nighters are entirely overrated.
16. For those of you who have come to college in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school: despite what many will tell you, it can work. The key is to not let your relationship interfere with your college experience. If you don't want to date anyone else, that's totally fine! What's not fine, however, is missing out on a lot of defining experiences because you're on the phone with your boyfriend/girlfriend for three hours every day.
17. Working things out between friends is best done in person, not over email. (IM does not count as "in person.") Often someone's facial expressions will tell you more than his/her words.
18. Take risks.
19. Don't be afraid of (or excited by) the co-ed bathrooms. The thrill is over in about 2 seconds.
20. Wednesday is the middle of the week; therefore on Wednesday night the week is more than half over. You should celebrate accordingly. (It makes Thursday and Friday a lot more fun.)
21. Welcome failure into your lives. It's how we grow. What matters is not that you failed, but that you recovered.
22. Take some classes that have nothing to do with your major(s), purely for the fun of it.
23. It's important to think about the future, but it's more important to be present in the now. You won't get the most out of college if you think of it as a stepping stone.
24. When you're living on a college campus with 400 things going on every second of every day, watching TV is pretty much a waste of your time and a waste of your parents' money. If you're going to watch, watch with friends so at least you can call it a "valuable social experience."
25. Don't be afraid to fall in love. When it happens, don't take it for granted. Celebrate it, but don't let it define your college experience.
26. Much of the time you once had for pleasure reading is going to disappear. Keep a list of the books you would have read had you had the time, so that you can start reading them when you graduate.
27. Things that seem like the end of the world really do become funny with a little time and distance. Knowing this, forget the embarrassment and skip to the good part.
28. Every once in awhile, there will come an especially powerful moment when you can actually feel that an experience has changed who you are. Embrace these, even if they are painful.
29. No matter what your political or religious beliefs, be open-minded. You're going to be challenged over the next four years in ways you can't imagine, across all fronts. You can't learn if you're closed off.
30. If you need to get a job, find something that you actually enjoy. Just because it's work doesn't mean it has to suck.
31. Don't always lead. It's good to follow sometimes.
32. Take a lot of pictures. One of my major regrets in life is that I didn't take more pictures in college. My excuse was the cost of film and processing. Digital cameras are cheap and you have plenty of hard drive space, so you have no excuse.
33. Your health and safety are more important than anything.
34. Ask for help. Often.
35. Half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at any given moment. Way more than half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at some point in the next four years. Get used to it.
36. In ten years very few of you will look as good as you do right now, so secretly revel in how hot you are before it's too late.
37. In the long run, where you go to college doesn't matter as much as what you do with the opportunities you're given there. The MIT name on your resume won't mean much if that's the only thing on your resume. As a student here, you will have access to a variety of unique opportunities that no one else will ever have - don't waste them.
38. On the flip side, don't try to do everything. Balance = well-being.
39. Make perspective a priority. If you're too close to something to have good perspective, rely on your friends to help you.
40. Eat badly sometimes. It's the last time in your life when you can do this without feeling guilty about it.
41. Make a complete ass of yourself at least once, preferably more. It builds character.
42. Wash your sheets more than once a year. Trust me on this one.
43. If you are in a relationship and none of your friends want to hang out with you and your significant other, pay attention. They usually know better than you do.
44. Don't be afraid of the weird pizza topping combinations that your new friend from across the country loves. Some of the truly awful ones actually taste pretty good. Expand your horizons.
45. Explore the campus thoroughly. Don't get caught.
46. Life is too short to stick with a course of study that you're no longer excited about. Switch, even if it complicates things.
47. Tattoos are permanent. Be very certain.
48. Don't make fun of prefrosh. That was you like 2 hours ago.
49. Enjoy every second of the next four years. It is impossible to describe how quickly they pass.
50. This is the only time in your lives when your only real responsibility is to learn. Try to remember how lucky you are every day.

Be yourself. Create. Inspire, and be inspired. Grow. Laugh. Learn. Love.

Welcome to some of the best years of your lives.

check

i never thought i would play another game of darts, let alone write a post about it. but here i am.

derwin took over the captaincy of the hall darts team, and to be honest, three years of darts is quite tiring, so i had planned to just be a mentor of sorts in this revamp (most of the men's team has graduated). i enjoy helping the new members and refining the game for yixuan, sharon and lizhen, and started coming faithfully for trainings.

as fate would have it, we eventually had about four ready male players, so i decided to be the fifth and last in the IH squad. although it was more hands-off for me this year and i would let the others play if possible, it turned out to be my most fulfilling IH darts season over the four years.

we actually started the competition with a 2-0 run, beating halls 11 and 7. yixuan's on really hot form and finally we have guys who can win.

Hall 3

2-1

i was away the morning for a volleyball match, a bit of tennis training, and coached the wkwsci futsal girls. when i came back i was thrown into a match with powerhouse hall 3. but somehow there was a nice calm about it. either im old or i dont really care. i just wanted to see where my level is after all these years.

fact is, not bad at all. despite feeling lethargic in recent trainings, matchday seems to be my buddy. i checked in with my first dart and started running down with an average of 45-60 points.

he then checked in with his first dart and although i looked the stronger to check out, i rued the missed opportunity as he finished. it was level and i worried a little. i didnt want a lead to become a defeat.

but psychologically i was on top. the lad seems inexperienced, fearful and quiet. i was talking and i think he was a tad affected. although i checked in really late this rubber set i kept my cool and finished him off.

although i thought qisheng's board was fiercer as his opponent systematically undid him, apparently our umpire was quite in awe of my board. he kept going "wah" and "woh" and had a shell-shocked face throughout. for good reason, i suppose. except for some forgettable periods, my opponent and i generally served up awesome darts play. my most glorious moment of the match was when i was miles away from my opponent, who was checking out, and i cut it considerably to a 50-point gap from him. all three present knew what it takes, but probably only one believed. and i hit a bull's eye.

Hall 8

1-2

my worst performance this season and one that reminded me of my standard two years ago. the opponent's not good, but beat me comfortably. he almost took all three sets if not for his surprising inability (although it looked intentional) to check out in the last and my sally win.

of course, it didnt help we had a poor umpire who's obviously not familiar with the game and cant count. but my opponent was truly 'the icing on the cake'. im a fan of mental games, my teammates know it, but he really screwed me up. he would exclaim his 'check' in his thick condescending Indo accent, and whenever i missed what i wanted, he would go "No!". what the fuck, seriously.

this match also provided my most ridiculous moment. i was trying for probably 10 rounds to hit a 1-double, but was nowhere close. so i ludicrously went two steps further from the board for my throw, and it amazingly landed right outside my desired spot.

Hall 9

2-1

if that was my worst performance this season, this was my most irrepressible performance all these years.

probably the best or second-best player from 9, the legendary recreation hall. yet i was in control through the match. standards were so high check-outs always happened when both of us were trying to. in all three sets, there was a first-dart check-in (i delivered the first, he the next two).

in one of the best single performances, within nine darts i was on 101. i couldn't exactly believe myself. most times, people haven't even checked in after nine darts. i then checked out smoothly.

like a dampener, i was checking out first in the second set and ready to wrap things up, but he did it before me.

will i throw this great opportunity away? although i was feeling calm knowing i had nothing to lose, disaster struck and i couldn't check in. but, as if some deity came to my help, the poor fella couldn't check out and i watched with sympathy as his darts kept landing outside his desired spots. i caught up soon enough and the moment that really told me i'd win was when i stopped at the exact double he wanted. i felt it surging through my veins. "i will hit it before you and stick it in your face". it didnt happen soon but luck was always on my side.

against a truly outstanding opponent, a match i finally felt i was one of IH's top darts players.

---

before our final round against hall 5, we stood a chance of the quarter finals. if we beat them, we would sneak under their noses for the final spot. unfortunately, our neighbours are really strong in darts this year and whipped us 5-0.

derwin, qisheng, shaoming, zhixiong, yixuan, sharon and lizhen. i am fucking proud of you all.

i would like to think the overall performance is the result of my nurturing over the years. but im not sure. whatever's the case, let's wish many more good years for hall 4 darts.