Michael He

Trying to get better every single day.

Pinned post from October 30, 2021

Tender Lightness

What makes life worth living? Fortunately, some moments are self-evident answers to that question. For example, right now. I'm sitting outside the biology department building, looking at the four-way street intersection. The sun is shining a bit extravagantly but the temperature feels just right. IU's 'Ah Puh' is playing in my ears. I'...

Pinned post from February 21, 2022

Small Moments Are All We Have

Today wasn’t productive by any account, but it felt wonderful. I read a fascinating story in bed to start the day. Then I walked to Trader Joe's to buy flowers for my friend's recital. After the recital, I walked around campus, spoke with someone I haven't seen for two years, ate some fresh chicken tenders, and started writing this pie...

Pinned post from March 9, 2022

AGUST 29

Min Yoongi (Suga) turned 29 today. I'm just going to write in a stream-of-consciousness style about Yoongi, while listening to all of his produced songs. Holy shit that is a lot of songs! The playlist came out to be 36 songs, around 2 hours. And these are only songs he produced, not written! Essentially, Yoongi produced three albums wo...

Pinned post from May 19, 2022

People: The Triumph of Happiness

Good music is a painting. You can tell it's good. Great music needs to have a bit more. You know it's good, but you also know there is something you can't quite figure out yet. You get attached to it, think over and over again, until one day you connect the dots and arrive at the epiphany. The truth couldn't be simpler. That is what yo...

July 27, 2021

Michael's SGV Eating Guide

The San Gabriel Valley (aka 626) in Los Angeles is one hodgepodge of great restaurants. It is one of the best places in America to enjoy all types of Asian food. Below are my recommendations. The restaurants are listed in no particular order, but grouped by cuisines or themes. Many thanks to the late Jonathan Gold, whose articles intro...

July 26, 2021

Reflecting The Reflection Process

I love to read people’s reflections. Michel de Montaigne and Marcus Aurelius are giants of the introspection genre. Warren Buffet’s annual shareholders letters and Howard Marks’s investment memos are must-reads for investors and reflection-aficionados alike. In the Chinese world, technology writer Dan Wang writes eloquent annual review...

July 5, 2021

Stop Being Jealous of WeChat

In the West, WeChat is known as a super-app. We don't want this one particularly, but we wish we had something like it. At least Facebook desperately wants to be the super-app. We shouldn't be jealous, because we already have our super-app. It's called the web browser. The web browser does everything WeChat claims to do, but better: • ...

June 23, 2021

You And Your Research

Richard Hamming's You And Your Research is excellent. Here are my favorite lines from the lecture. Start Big, Live A Meaningful Life As far as I know each of you has but one life to lead, and it seems to me it is better to do significant things than to just get along through life to its end. Certainly near the end it is nice to look ba...

June 17, 2021

A Random Poem for Someone

Random things happen So you meet random people But you don't want some to be random Sometimes it happens right there Other times it takes some time Nothing is different until a random moment When you can't stop thinking about that random someone Now, someone is no longer random to you Yet you may still be random to them What a random p...

June 15, 2021

New Year Old Me

"New Year New Me" is an illusion. When the clock strikes twelve on January 1st, it's natural to think about new year resolutions. I will get fitter. I will save more money. I will finally learn Python... And the list keeps growing. But you are the same old you in the same old new year. By April you feel bad about how little you have do...

May 24, 2021

Better Than Ten Years of School

A classic Chinese saying goes, "A conversation with a gentleman is worth more than ten years of school." It's not an exaggeration. You should try to have these conversations early and often. I know I have. I had a privileged year living with one of my role models. A true rags-to-riches millionaire. A humble man that speaks worldly wisd...

March 8, 2021

Why Kids Hate Writing

Why do people (especially kids) hate writing, and why do people think they can't write well? I know my reasons and they are not restricted to writing. It’s a broader problem. 1. We don't write for ourselves. 2. We don't read. 3. We don't edit. 4. We buy into the bullshit myth of writing. When we write essays in high school English clas...

March 6, 2021

Why You Should Cherish Senioritis

I love senioritis. Why? Some will ask. You don’t do anything. You just stay lazy and waste time. Sometimes that someone is you. People who judge you without making an effort to understand your perspective often bring you unnecessary misery. We all want to be understood and supported. Unsympathetic judgement is the direct opposite. If p...

March 4, 2021

Starting Here, Calm and Happy

Hello, World. This may be the eleventh time I start a blog. Please call me a serial entrepreneur, only because I failed all previous attempts. Not bad for a twenty-year-old. I start projects with reflections on past mistakes, since most of my mistakes happen for the same reasons. In the case of maintaining a blog: • The lack of consist...