Today, winter left Boston. I woke up and found that the snow had melted, the ice had mostly thawed away. The streets were clear and the air was warm. I walked around without a hat or gloves and didn't feel the slightest chill.
Things change quickly, sometimes.
One thing that hasn't changed is my personal proclivity towards "doing things": whether it's taking on a new project, writing a computer program, or putting together a well-organized spreadsheet. I'm always looking for ways I can improve what already exists, always eager to make progress on the goals and projects I care about. But that attitude has drawbacks, too - sometimes I get easily frustrated by lack of progress, or by people who seem more content to talk rather than do. On more than one occasion, I've taken on more responsibilities than I could actually handle - and I've been trying especially hard to avoid doing this in the future.
For a while, I've been trying to come up with a word to succinctly describe this aspect of my personality. A few weeks ago, I realized that the word I was looking for was results-driven, or maybe just driven. Either way, I think it fits.
I think it's this part of my personality that's secretly behind my not-so-secret love for the Internet. Things just happen so much faster online, with a sense of immediacy and a let's-do-it-because-we-can attitude that you rarely find in "real" life, except maybe in start-ups. And in a sense, I think many of the attitudes of the computing culture has spilled over into the culture and attitudes of MIT in general (which probably explains why most MIT students are compelled to check their email at least once every hour, on average). Or perhaps you could argue that it was the culture of MIT, which provided the cradle of the Internet, that spilled over into the Web culture at large.
More likely, the truth oscillates somewhere between those two poles. I feel that the culture of MIT is, almost by definition, in a constant state of flux, subtly altered by every new technological trend or novel school of scientific thought, shifting slightly but perceptibly throughout the years as each new class of students arrives and makes their mark upon the Institute. By saying this, I don't mean to say that administrators, and professors, and all the other hard-working individuals at MIT don't make their mark as well - but the changes those people bring to MIT often end up being many levels abstracted from what students actually experience and do "on the ground," as it were. And so the most significant changes students tend to see and care about are, as far as I can tell, those that occur in their living groups or their clubs.
Originally, I wasn't entirely sure what this entry was going to be about, or why I was writing. Now I think I know what pushed me to write it: my fraternity initiated our latest pledge class last December, and I still hadn't fully come to grips with what that meant. In my opinion, initiating someone into a fraternity means more than simply completing a rite of passage. It means entrusting them with your traditions and your secrets - with the very future of your house and brotherhood. Sooner than I can possibly imagine, the people I know of as freshmen now will become sophomores, juniors, seniors, ascending the totem pole of experience and responsibility.
And tonight, I realize this and accept this truth completely and wholly, just as the brothers who initiated me last year must have, and I begin to look forward to another year, another class of MIT students who will go out into the world and do things.
Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)
Internet culture really is like life on fast-forward :D
Posted by: Anonymous on February 3, 2009
Posted by: charmcaster on February 3, 2009
time has gone quickly. I'm more than half way through my senior year and I haven't even begun to feel like a senior yet... lol. I guess that's what it's like when you always have something to do and not much time to do it
btw, do you think most people in fsilgs care so much about their fsilgs as you show?
Posted by: deng on February 3, 2009
Posted by: 0 on February 3, 2009
It's a nice blog. Though I don't know you, but I think you are a very kind person.
Helping others is awesome. Keep it up =)
Ahmed
Posted by: Ahmed Hefnawi '13 on February 3, 2009
"As winter melts" probably came pretty naturally to you.
@charmcaster:
1.different people enjoy different writing styles
For instance, in this blog, what caught my eye were: hyphenated modifiers, metaphors, interesting/succinct adjectives, parenthetical phrases, punctuation (like colon and dashes to create little tension/be dramatic), the use of quotation marks for irony and emphasis, and
transitions (seriously take a look at how smooth it goes:"
Today,...
Things change quickly, sometimes.
For a while,...
Either way,...
More likely,...
Originally,...
And tonight,...)
2.As far as content is concerned:
Most of paul's blogs are reflective!
They seem to start off as though by instinct ... and then the readers come to a 'realisation' point toward the end.
--
I like Yan's blog too... (mouth-watering food pics/interesting things about MIT/adjective-parade) But I just look over them, I don't feel like scrutinizing them...
it's a matter of taste I guess
Posted by: crazyboutpunctuation on February 3, 2009
Not according to the forecasters! And not according to me, either, as I look out the window this very second to observe the mess of falling snow.
Posted by: 0 on February 3, 2009
@Anon (12:01) - Yeah, apparently I blogged too soon. I was very sad when I stepped outside today. It's turned completely white again.
@Anon (8:44) - Thanks, fixed.
Posted by: Paul on February 3, 2009
Posted by: Tiffany on February 3, 2009
Posted by: Ahmed on February 3, 2009
Posted by: Snively on February 4, 2009
So, unless you have anything more enlightening to say,...........
Posted by: charmcaster on February 4, 2009
Posted by: crazyboutpunctuation on February 4, 2009
Posted by: Paul on February 4, 2009
Posted by: Ian on February 4, 2009
Posted by: charmcaster on February 4, 2009
I got a score of 108 out of 120 in Toefl(ibt).Is it good enough for getting admitted as a transfer student in MIT?
Posted by: AK on February 5, 2009
From reading your blog posts it is obvious you really like poetry, Paul. I wonder, do you read T.S. Eliot? I think he is amazing!
Posted by: Liz on February 6, 2009
Posted by: Mel on February 9, 2009
Add a comment
Comments have been closed.