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MIT student blogger Allan K. '17

An Experiment in Independence: PART TWO. by Allan K. '17

Happy Friday!

It’s now about halfway through IAP, Independent Activities Period, Period of Independence and Activity-Doing! I’ve lived here in Maryland for about two weeks now, all by myself, working this NASA internship, and I must say it’s been quite an adventure. I’ve settled into a schedule here, working a nine-to-five job, and learning a lot–I definitely know a lot more about stepper motors, C, and MATLAB than I did two weeks ago. It’s awesome.

Nevertheless, you do get a little bored living by yourself, so I decided to try out something new tonight while making dinner. And that was to film it. On video. And put it on the internet. Whether that means that I’m very shameless or just very stupid remains to be seen.

Maybe I need more people to talk to.

In any case, that video is now online and below for your general reference and watching amusement, because I basically have zero kitchen skills whatsoever. I also have no video editing software whatsoever and filmed this on a handheld cell phone, so I apologize in advance for any bad videography/sound quality/general sloppiness. It’s my first time. Please don’t judge me too hard? :)

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EDIT. I’ve received some feedback about people related to some of the things I mentioned in the video who stated they were uncomfortable with it being online. I sincerely apologize for any discomfort I’ve caused anyone, and I’ve removed the video for that reason. Sorry for the inconvenience! Please check out the picture of dinner below and the links, and I hope to be back with more videos in the future :)

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Here’s the final dinner sitting in front of me right now! And trust me, it’s delicious. Maybe more so because cooking dinner myself makes me about ten times hungrier.

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And here are some links to things I mentioned in the video!

All about the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble

Dryden Flight Research Center being renamed after Neil Armstrong

Concurrent Engineering and the Instrument Design Lab

The Gym Workout Routine Without A Gym (from r/bodyweightfitness)

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Definitely let me know what you guys thought about the video. Good? Bad? Positively horrible? Waaaaay too long? (I feel you–I definitely got a little carried away there. Time flies when you’re talking to a camera, I guess.) Should I do it again? You decide! And if you have any cooking tips/suggestions/lifehacks/ways-to-not-be-clueless-in-a-kitchen, leave those below in the comments and I’d be eternally grateful :)

Yours,

Allan