I've never been in the mood to celebrate my birthday. My family doesn't care much about birthdays and I can't remember the last time we ever got to together to celebrate the birthday of anyone. Part of the reason was because we just weren't able to afford a birthday party, cake or anything fanciful when I was little. After I started work, things got slightly better but by then, we had already gotten used to the idea of not celebrating birthdays in the typical fashion -- the most that we would do to mark the birthday of anyone was to get some fried chicken. That was already a big step forward from what we used to have when I was little.
Today's slightly different. Nope, I still didn't celebrate my birthday but I actually did something different to mark this occasion. To begin with, my mood was somber -- I've got a negative prognosis on my future career. It wasn't exactly the kind of news one would want to receive on this day, but you know what, I can actually live with it. In fact, it got me thinking -- the more the world wants me to fail, the more I want to succeed; the more the world thinks that I can't make it, the more I want to win -- and to win big.
With that thought, I decided to go for a 15-round run (3.75 miles) around the stadium track. Ever since I got home, my fitness level has plunged -- I got lazy and started to use age an excuse to cut back on the intensity and frequency of my exercise routine. The path ahead is long and uncertain; it is therefore even more important that I preserve my health for a long and arduous journey ahead. I don't want to surrender to life. I went to get my MBA because I didn't want to be who I was in the past. I wanted to be me; I aspired to become someone who can change the world. To achieve my dreams, good health is therefore paramount. And there is no better way to mark my birthday than to make a promise to myself that I will stay healthy and fit. A 15-round run - though not a personal best nor some record-breaking feat - was still an achievement.
I am currently enrolled in a technology entrepreneurship course at Stanford. This is my second attempt at taking this course and while I am up to my neck with full-time job applications, I decided that this is a great opportunity for me to meet kindred spirits and get my name out there...to show the world what I can do and to accomplish what I believe I can do. So I am immensely pleased that I thought of an idea that I could work on. It's all about the shared economy, which is a phrase coined to describe the new, connected world that we live in; one where people will pool resources together to benefit themselves, their community and even the world we all live in. I am not sure how to execute the idea yet (it involves some hardcore computer coding and I have little coding knowledge) but I am incredibly excited that I hatched the idea today -- on this day that is coincidentally my birthday.
Happy birthday, my new venture. May you grow up healthy, popular, strong and powerful.
I am currently enrolled in a technology entrepreneurship course at Stanford. This is my second attempt at taking this course and while I am up to my neck with full-time job applications, I decided that this is a great opportunity for me to meet kindred spirits and get my name out there...to show the world what I can do and to accomplish what I believe I can do. So I am immensely pleased that I thought of an idea that I could work on. It's all about the shared economy, which is a phrase coined to describe the new, connected world that we live in; one where people will pool resources together to benefit themselves, their community and even the world we all live in. I am not sure how to execute the idea yet (it involves some hardcore computer coding and I have little coding knowledge) but I am incredibly excited that I hatched the idea today -- on this day that is coincidentally my birthday.
Happy birthday, my new venture. May you grow up healthy, popular, strong and powerful.
