do they actually get work done like this????????

i usually bounce ideas off of these 3 filmmakers who are also taking gap years what surprised me is that all 3 had decided to work independently from one another, despite being in the same niche of startup launch videos and knowing each other since the beginning of high school their reasoning was mostly that they could earn way more working alone, have more freedom over their work, and avoid potential conflict honestly very mature on their part to anticipate these issues rather than risk breaking up the friend group also impressive that they can each handle everything on their own at just 18-19 years old

I feel like the narrative behind You Can See Everything is really well done and thought out that, imo, it’s easy to understand/see how Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes came to be The interview segment with her dad was very telling, as were the portions on her ex. I feel like those add up to making Elizabeth who she is The dynamic between her and Billy is also pretty telling. Maybe that was the approach she took to running the company, which inevitably led to the massive fraud that it was, and which startup culture amplified because it’s taboo to speak up I genuinely don’t think there was a master plan behind it all

sometimes i wish i had went to waterloo instead even though it is known for it's hard course load and rigorous programs, its nice to be somewhere where so many people are solely focused on engineering/tech whilst at umich, although it was more diverse, i often found it harder to find my people, combined with its high cost and being further away from home i think when you are young you generally have more options, but the older you get the more that converges. you get less and less freedom and often take less and less risks probably one of the best reasons why you should take a gap year

had the privilege to judge at YC’s Make Something Agents Want hackathon last weekend what the top projects had in common: > either completely novel, or a fresh angle on an existing idea > you could tell instantly a lot of thought went into it (opposite of ai slop) definitely a throwback to when I used to attend/host hackathons. although judging is subjective, there's definitely a clear pattern in the projects that do win thanks @nemild for having me

finally updated my personal website go check it out > jpegkevin.com thoughts?

I went for coffee with one of my high school teachers just last week now you should know A LOT of the students hated this teacher: he was unreasonably strict, had extremely high expectations for students, and was quite an asshole at times but imo he did care for us on a deeper level than merely his students one question I asked him was "are you fulfilled in life?" he said "yes, as you already know I failed med school exams 3 times, but I ended up finding something I enjoy" he then said there were 3 pillars for his fulfillment > friends - ones he made throughout college, other teachers, and family friends > work - he genuinely does like seeing his students succeed and go on to do things, and expects us to be more successful than he was > family - he has a wife and 2 kids that night I ended up telling one of my friends about it he turned to me shaking his head, "do you think elon musk is happy?" to which I thought for a bit and said "no" "exactly, so which of the two do you want to be?" I think this ultimately boils down to one's own expectations. a high school teacher's expectations are obviously lower than that of elon musk's, they'll (in this case at least) be satisfied and therefore happy with less but elon musk on the other hand, probably not. he will always and continue to push to do more, even when he is a trillionaire and I beg you to ask yourself the same question, what expectation do you set for yourself and is it worth the potential tradeoff of not being fulfilled which in turn means being less happy? I think it is a good way to guide the decisions you make in your life and quite frankly, I don't even know the answer to that myself

cafes are the epitome of larp i swear every other second my brain is getting contexted switch since theres constantly things going on: machines going off, random chatter, people going in and out, etc do not get how anyone ever gets work done isn’t the smart thing just to go a library or stay at home??

I stand firm on the fact that there aren't any benefits to sharing how much you make w your friends if you make less than them, it is instant gratification for them to feel better about themselves. if you make more than them, there is an expectation there for you to pay for things here and there your pay is the utmost surface level fact, and there are so many circumstances tied to it: how well off your family is, nepotism, how hard you worked/have to work, your total compensation, etc sharing without an actual reason just isn't healthy for the relationship imo

you know you’ve been in sf for a while when you js start accepting the fact that theres infinitely many people your age doing better than you comparison is the theft of joy and I’m just tryna be happy 😭✌️✌️

It’s interesting to see how much more my high school friends have come to believe in me over the years Back then they wouldn’t take me seriously when I said I was going to do something, whether it was starting a business, working on a side project, or dropping out of school But now, after proving them wrong again and again, some of them have told me that’s the quality they admire most about me: that I act on what I say It just gives me more motivation that I’m taking the right steps

MIT i am inside you

I'm living in my mom's basement (until Saturday, taking a break from work) Since I started my current job, I haven't gone a single day without shipping code I think it's great to have a job doing something you genuinely enjoy But it's also good to take a step back sometimes Life is a marathon, and it's easy to tunnel vision on things that don't truly matter in the long run. You can't sprint every day and expect to last Anyway, if you're in Toronto/Waterloo, hmu. I'd love to grab coffee, always looking to meet new people

i left umich 4 months ago and still get nightmares about final exams at least 2-3 times a week i'll be at an event or just hanging out with my friends, and either someone turns to me: "don't you have your calc final in an hour" or i get an email reminding me of the same thing then i'll spend the next 30 mins cramming (holy flashback) trying to memorize as much as i can then suddenly jerk awake still can't figure out why that's the case, even though i've been equally if not more stressed working at a startup good vs bad stress? maybe they'll stop once i fully drop out lmao

as a 19yo taking a gap year from umich how do i make the most out of my gap year??

back in high school my friends and i would commute to the fanciest 5 star hotel downtown to lock in seeing all the wealth was honestly crazy. people in expensive clothes, traveling in from all over the world, talking about things i couldn't relate to whatsoever looking back, it probably wasn't the best place to get actual work done. i felt completely out of place and my brain was constantly getting context switched by random things but it showed me a whole new perspective of what was possible. it made that kind of life feel real instead of something i'd only seen online so if you ever lose motivation, go find an expensive hotel and just observe. trust me, it'll help