Best Christmas Break Ever?

My family was driving to my grandparents' house for a Christmas dinner when my dad announced that we needed to make a quick stop at the airport to pick up his old college friend. I was a little skeptical—when was the last time he hung out with a college friend in California? and why can't he get an Uber?—but I decided it wasn't that big of a deal. Then we got there, and I saw who it actually was: my little cousins, aunt, and uncle!

I missed my little cousins and aunt and uncle, so I was really excited and surprised to see them make a last-minute trip all the way from Beijing. My grandparents, on the other hand, burst out in tears. The whole family was together, and everyone was happy.

Before Christmas

I'm not gonna lie, I left my Econ final an hour early because I was incredibly unmotivated to continue the test. I then played Elden Ring for 3 hours when I got home.

Speaking of Elden Ring, that's what I did literally all day for the next days, because I was super sad about something.

But then I got over it. And I started writing my college apps again.

Christmas

Even though my parents made it absolutely clear that we would not get any gifts this year (the iPhone for our birthdays was good enough!), they called my sister and I down in the morning, and I got a 2TB SSD drive! I was genuinely excited, and it felt good knowing that my dad cared enough to surprise me with something I actually wanted.

My uncle (Yen Yen) got me cologne. I never thought about using cologne before, but, in my uncle's words, it's time for me to be a man now. So I started to wear it every day, and I think it smells pretty good!

Best of all, I now had enough Christmas + Birthday money to buy my latest toy: the iPad Pro. Why? Because now I can write all my notes digitally, and I can use it as a second monitor for my Macbook at school. My dad said that was a very gimmicky reason to drop $1k, but as they say, "spend a lot on things you care about, but really save when it's something else." I'm paraphrasing and I don't remember where I read it, but you get the point. Of course, that also meant I spent money on a "paper" screen protector with a special Apple pencil tip, and a really snug magnetic case/stand.

But now that I have an iPad Pro (and have joined the "Macbook Pro, iPhone Pro, Airpods Pro, and iPad Pro" family), I actually use it for things I'd never thought I would. First off, my dad bought a recipe-making app, so I'm learning to cook with it. I've made chicken quesadillas so far (which are so good), and I'm moving my way up to steak eventually. My dad also has Procreate, which is a drawing app. I'm doing this thing where I draw a little bit (almost) everyday, and then see where I end up in a year/several months. Right now, I'm drawing things from Zelda, Dragon Ball Z, and Elden Ring, and I'll hopefully get better as I progress.

To end Christmas, the whole family sang, I played violin (after not touching it for 6+ years), Jocelyn played clarinet, and Evelyn and Kevin played piano. Wai Po also gave us a math challenge for $100, and of course, I won it!

The Day After

We went to Ruby Hill to eat lunch and play golf with Tyler Wong's family. It was really nice getting to play with my grandpa at least once more before his membership ends. I'm still no good at golf, but I'm improving and will try joining the Gunn golf team eventually.

When we got back, I treated my family to duck at this place called Imperial Treasure in downtown Palo Alto. Since we had 10 people, they gave us the VIP seating, which had a remote control spinny table and a private room. The duck was like $200 bro.

Before New Years

Now that I had my fun, it was time to get back on the college application grind. Jiu Jiu and Jiu Ma were nice enough to give feedback on my essays, leading us to an "EE" day—exercise and essay day. Because the day before they left, that's all we did. Literally, from when I woke up at 7 AM to when I slept at 2 AM.

But looking back, EE day relieved a lot of future stress. I finished Harvard and MIT (both basically from scratch), Stanford, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, and Columbia. I felt more productive that day than in the preceding two months, and the amount of essays I churned showed it. I think stress is a great motivator.

Oh, and I also got a new book: "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck." But counter-intuitively, it's all about giving the right fucks: "While not giving a fuck may seem simple on the surface, it's a whole new bag of burritos under the hood" (12).

"While not giving a fuck may seem simple on the surface, it's a whole new bag of burritos under the hood"

I love that quote.

Before My Cousins Leave

I almost forgot the biggest thing. We saw an open house about 3 mins drive from here. I think they're buying it! It's a really nice-looking house, and though it's not confirmed yet, it looks like a pretty done deal.

Like I could visit them at their new house when I come back from college. That's probably the most exciting part of the entire break.

New Years

Not gonna lie, I lost track of time and played Elden Ring through the new year. Whoops, but at least I saw Disney World's New Year celebration through FaceTiming my sister.

If you're me, you can look back at my digital journal and see what my 2024 resolutions were, maybe you accomplished them? (which in that case, good job man!) If not, you need more confidence.

Last Moments Before School

By now, I'm basically done with college apps, other than fine-tuning certain areas. That means that each day, I wake up, play Elden Ring/Pokemon SoulSilver (on my iPad with an emulator for the nostalgia of course), go to practice, and play more. I think I was genuinely addicted, checking in like 5 hours a day. I think I'm good now though. Writing this post instead of playing is proof?

And on the final day before school started, I played golf with my friends. That was probably one of my worst performances, but fun nonetheless.

Second Semester Senior

No more stressing about school. I'm free baby!