Tag Archives: writing

Special

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These past few weeks, I’ve read and seen various incarnations of a concept that is best summed up in an article I read in early September from the Huffington Post. The article’s subject – Why Generation Y Yuppies are Unhappy – mainly focuses on our generation’s unhappiness in the workplace, and is delved into throughout the proceeding paragraphs, formulas, and diagrams. Ultimately, it concludes that my generation is unhappy (referred to as GYPSYs, or Gen Y Protagonists & Special Yuppies) because we’ve been raised to believe that we are spectacularly special by our Baby Boomer parents. Problems arise when we get out into the “real world”, entering it with “a sense of optimism and unbounded possibility” as a result of our childhoods. One might ask: isn’t an optimistic attitude a good thing in the world? Well, in this case, that optimism supposedly sets us GYPSYs up for colossal disappointment. Because, when our new jobs end up being less fulfilling than we expected, or we end up not snagging the title of “standout co-worker” in the office (namely, we end up being much less “special” than we were led to believe as children), we become unhappy with the reality of our lives falling much shorter than our expectations. To make it worse, that unhappiness can be compounded with the comparisons our generation tends to make between ourselves and acquaintances’ fabricated lives on social media.

Though the author hits upon multiple other points, the unhappiness-in-the-job-market angle stood out the most to me. Now, at first I was slight angry; I mean, what kind of article was this to tell me that I wasn’t special?

“I certainly am one of the few that are actually special,” I grumbled to myself while reading the article. I instantly wanted to write down all the indignant thoughts flowing through my head. But then I decided to take a step back, and spend some moments pointedly thinking on what the article was professing. After objectively looking at the article’s points, I had to say that I did agree with some of them – truthfully, it can be detrimental to compare one’s activities to those seen on social media, because comparisons lead to discontent; and I did agree with the admonition near the end of the article that our generation should never lose our ambition in our life’s pursuits. Continue reading →

Monday Muse

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Suleika Jaouad, writer of the New York Times column Life, Interrupted on the Well blogs, is Prabal Gurung’s first Monday Muse (according to her Facebook page)! Truthfully, she’s such an inspiration to everyone, including me. I started reading her column when it began early last year in the Times, and I truly appreciated the insight she gave on young adults with cancer. Being a “young adult” is already a tricky age, but to compound a grave, life-threatening disease on top of that had to be devastating for her. Yet now she’s basically an ambassador for others with cancer, offering starkly honest thoughts on her experiences to her audience. As someone who wants to go into the pediatric oncology field in the future, I often think of cancer cases in relation to young children. But through her column, I’ve gotten a little glimpse of what it’s like to deal with cancer at such a pivotal age… the age where you feel like your adult life is just beginning, yet you still can’t wait to get home on breaks to give your parents hugs and spend a night in your childhood room. Yeah, I definitely agree with Prabal Guring: Suleika is a wonderful muse to us all.

Also, happy birthday to my little sister! I think that for all who know her would agree with me that she is also a perfect Monday Muse.

Listening

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Writing (for other, non-blogging purposes – mainly, application purposes) always calls for a healthy dose of music for me… the ratio of music to writing when I write is probably 15:1 (if that’s a way to quantify it based on absolutely no data). This is one of the reasons I’ve been listening to so. much. music lately and posting my favorites because it’s another avenue for me to express my head’s thoughts (or my usual dancing mood). So when there’s more videos put up here soon, pay no mind to the randomness.

Thanks to one of my good friends, Nicole, for showing me this cover a few months ago, knowing how much I enjoy JT. I return to it from time to time and basically press repeat until the button’s broken. This is one of those times. I think her voice helps me concentrate on writing (to some extent… forget concentration when Hillsong’s on. That is pure SANGING music).

Also, who knew Tori Kelly was the same age as me. That, along with her hair, is a pretty awesome fact.

The Art of Describing Yourself

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In the midst of med school apps a couple weeks ago, I ran across these essays in the NY Times last week. They were a part of this main article that discussed a “new” type of college essays that are emerging, ones where the writers take huge risks in relation to what one usually thinks of concerning typical admissions essays. It got me thinking about my own applications, since the all important personal statement is a large part of the process. Reading the four essays, they were certainly different from what I’d seen before. Sometimes I found myself going, “What are they even talking about?” while reading the essays. But in the end, the essays were fantastic, and they ultimately painted a unique picture of each applicant’s personality and style.

A few days ago, I was reading and came across an artist named Leonid Afremov mentioned in the book. I (naturally) looked him up because the book mentioned his paintings of Paris vignettes; it turns out he’s a Russian-Israeli modern impressionist. He likes to paint things that allow the viewer to see the subject through his point of view. His style reminded me of neo-Impressionism (aka, Pointillism, which is my favorite art period) a bit, so I was instantly drawn to his works. The reason I was so drawn to his paintings isn’t just because they are so colorful. Mainly, I love that the colors, though not necessarily blended, come together to paint a complex picture of Paris: the light radiating off of the Eiffel Tower at night or off of Notre Dame in the afternoon, or reflecting in the cafe windows in early morning aren’t just a spectacular yellow-orange color. The light also returns to the eye as blues, greens, and reds as it works to highlight the rest of the surrounding scenery in each painting – the deep blue skies, the well-manicured trees, the autumn leaves and blaring shop signs.

And I was drawn to his paintings because this is exactly how I want to come across while writing all those answers in the med school secondaries I’m now doing: I want to paint a picture of myself, with specific descriptions and attributes, yet I want all of those values to come together and make a beautiful picture, subtly reflecting and highlighting other areas of my life in the undertones.

Guess I better get to work.

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*All photos attributed to leonidafremov.deviantart.com and redbubble.com