| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | A childhood experience that has been deeply etched in my mind remains in my well of memories not because it was a favorable event, but because I almost died at a young age. When I was about five years old I was visiting my dad's parents who live on a farm in China. Because the bucolic area is relatively unpopulated and unmarred by pollution, the environment is absolutely pristine and ineffable. One day, I went out to explore the terrain in the hopes of finding the Skittle tree, a tree from which all Skittles purportedly came from, and which was ubiquitous in the Skittles commercials at the time. On my quest to find the sacred tree, I passed a valley at the bottom of which a shallow river meandered listlessly towards the rice fields. Perhaps a valley isn't the best description because this elicits the image of a V-shaped cut with moderately sloped walls. This valley's walls by contrast resembled those of a cliff that dropped almost 90 degrees straight down to the river. From the top of the valley I gazed down the precipitous bluff as I admired the view. As I turned around, a large rock that had held my footing unexpectedly dislodged itself. My right foot followed the rock as it plummeted downwards. Fortunately, as my head passed the edge of the cliff, I was able to instinctively dig my fingers into the rocky wall to halt my fall. My body instantaneously transitioned into survival mode as I franticly scrambled back up the wall. My hands and feet moved frenetically as I struggled to find stable footholds, but only managed to tear out large chunks of loose earth. Finally, I managed to pull myself back over the top with my heart pounding away in my ears. The whole incident must have lasted less than ten seconds but it is an event that has become immortalized in my mind as my first near-death experience. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | Because my father and mother grew up in China, there is a distinct cultural gap between them and my Americanized self. My step brother, whose mother grew up in the same village as my father, has the same cultural conflicts since he spent the majority of his life in Canada. Consequently, although my step brother and I are not related by blood, we have become closer than any of our blood relatives primarily from sharing similar life experiences and being able to identify with each other. There a remarkable phenomenon that occurs when two people spend an extended period of time with each other. If a good deal of rapport and comfort has already been established, personal characteristics of both people will be transferred and exchanged. As a result, my step brother and I have adopted the same sense of humor and the same perception of reality. We often make uncannily similar remarks that no other normal person would make, and it really seems that a part of his essence has become integrated within my own. During the year he was away in college and I was finishing my last year of high school, his absence was startlingly unremarkable, for I knew a small part of him resided within me. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | Determination, in my opinion, is the most important characteristic for being successful. I enjoy being in the presence of others who are hardworking and have managed to become accomplished individuals because they had the willpower to strive ardently towards a goal. Likewise, I'm also fond of people who have grown up through poverty and experienced unbelievable hardships but have managed to escape through persistent hard work. I truly believe that anybody can accomplish anything they want if they put forth enough of an effort. Social adaptability is also important for achieving anything in life. I'm a strong believer that an unlimited supply of resources is accessible through social networks. Therefore, maintaining strong interpersonal relationships is absolutely essential in order to grow and prosper. Being flexible in social situations is absolutely necessary in order to establish rapport with others. Likewise, beliefs and perceptions of the world cannot be so deeply rooted that they cannot be changed, for this is similar to looking at the world in black and white, or trying to fix everything with only a hammer. Such stubbornness will only result in intolerance of other's beliefs and the inability to establish strong relationships. A tree that fails to bend with the wind in a storm will snap, while one that is yielding will remain. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | During one of my high school physics classes, I was sitting at my chair with my backpack propped on the table. The backpack was situated in such a position that the water bottle in the side pocket of my backpack loomed over my lap. The cap of the water bottle was screwed on just tightly enough to stay on, but loosely enough to let a steady trickle of water flow through. Unaware that water was flowing into my lap, I remained seated until the water had managed to penetrate my jeans and made contact with my skin. I quickly flipped my backpack over to halt the flow, but by then there was already a small puddle that had completely soaked the entire crotch area of my jeans. I thought this only happened in TV shows when the scriptwriters had run out of original ideas. After class, I went home to change into a pair of shorts, but my friends were quick to spot the difference in clothing. When they asked me what had happened, I thought about explaining the complex issue of how my bottle was placed in the perfect position for such an event to occur and how I had done nothing for at least ten seconds because I hadn't noticed the very obvious stream of water flowing freely into my lap. I immediately discarded the thought of trying to tell the seemingly fabricated story and instead told them the next most logical situation. "Well...," I started to explain, "remember how today in physics the teacher told us we'd have a test tomorrow? I got so terrified that I let loose and wetted myself. I completely flooded my pants. It was like a mighty river and I just couldn't control myself. So yeah, I had to go home and change." |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | Seventy-three percent of the earth is covered in water, yet we know less about the bottom of the ocean than we do about the surface of the Moon. Visiting the unexplored depths of the vast oceans would be a dream come true. And because of the surreal nature of the terrain and the creatures that reside there, it would be almost indistinguishable from a dream. The natural inhabitants of the ocean have freakish characteristics that only Pokemon could match in absurdity. They are truly aliens that live amongst us, and to see them in real life would be the equivalent of meeting extraterrestrials. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | I was raised with the notion that hard work and persistence pays off in the long run. And while I didn't enjoy spending most of my childhood studying instead of pursuing leisure activities, I understand now that it paid off. Therefore, I would pass on the importance of work. I would also tell them to get the most out of any situation that presents itself, and not to sit idly by as a opportunities pass through their lives. Seeing potential is one thing, but harvesting it is a completely different art. The final thing I would teach them is to give selflessly and ask for nothing in return. By doing so, they will overcome the dependence on material possessions and money that plagues so many people, and the world will naturally reciprocate their generosity in the long run. |
