Snail Mail My Email (Please)!

Very recently, I found this really creative and awesome month long project called "Snail Mail My Email." (Click here to learn more about it.) Basically what it tries to do is recreate is the warm feeling we get when we receive a snail mail, especially in loo of today's world where e-mail and such replaced the conventional ways of communication. What you do is you e-mail them a letter you want to be hand-written, and volunteers from around the world will personally write that letter and mail it to the receiver for you. 

I requested to have a snail mail written for my parents. It arrived early than I expected (I wanted it to come after I had left for college)! And being the curious girl I am, of course I opened it. It was lovely! Aside from the fact that the person's handwriting is beautiful, the message of the project really shone through. Nothing can replace the feelings of intimacy and "specialness" you feel when you receive a letter in the mail.

(P.S. Click on the images for the awesome quality. I don't think these thumbnails do it justice!)

I want to brainstorm a project that makes people want to get involved and that can recreate the warm fuzzy feeling that they are part of something. Before this summer I was unsure of whether these "ideas" should just come to me or if I have to go out and search for them -- I'm thinking that they will just hit you in the middle of the night as long as your eyes are open during the day. I will wait!

My time away from Boston

Summer's coming to an inevitable end once again. Being home in New York really gave me an opportunity to step away from a bad habit I develop in Boston -- an unhealthy fixation on myself. I come to realize that while at college, my thoughts are consumed by my future, my plans for tomorrow, my studies, my friends, my little bubble that my life consists of. However, the real world consists of so much more of what I overlook on a daily basis. Here's some of what I relearned about people while I was home:

Importance of family
This we all know. And yet this is something I'm reminded about every time I return home. Spending quality time with my family really reinforces the special place they have in my heart. When I'm in Boston and something happens at home, no one wants to tell me because they don't want to affect my studies. However, all I really need to do is take the initiative to reach out and ask. Must keep this in mind for this coming year!

Avoid toxic people 
I noticed this after reading a talk by Milton Glaser called 10 Things I Have Learned. A super great read so I highly recommend it. He says that there are people who may be "toxic" for you, and there's a very simple way to tell. At the end of the time together, are you more tired or exhilarated? After reading this, I unconsciously think about it when I'm out and find it to be very true. It can be 3am in the morning but still I can go home tired but still full of life, or I can feel like I've gone to the gym and back. Ah, life is so simple?

Satisfaction of keeping in touch 
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Reuniting with friends from years ago and realizing you miss them as much as they miss you? Pretty neat. Everyone has stories; there are reasons for losing touch but if you can easily pick up where you left off the last time you've talked...then why not share them :)

Holding onto hate 
Anger is a double edged sword. I didn't realize how much I cared and how much anger I was really holding onto until I was able to step away from all of it. After that, it became silly to me why it even mattered in the first place. Whenever I think about this, I remember a great book by Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven.“Learn this from me. Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.”

Embrace those who are constants
There is only a select few (maybe even one) that I can consider a constant in my life. Most often, these are people we overlook and take for granted. Learn to love and embrace them!



Anything you learned this summer while home from college?

11 things I learned yesterday from my internship

1. If someone can feed his family of six by working a $15k job, we should be able to conquer the world with what we know.
2. We are all dealt a different hand of cards. But if you're reading this right now, you already have a pretty good hand.  It shouldn't be about the cards, its how you play the game. 
3. There are leaders and followers. One is not necessarily better than the other. If you want to be a leader, you have to be a fighter.
4. Attitude is everything. 
5. Keep striking at your goal and you'll get there (even if the probability is only 1%). If you need to do something 1000 times in order to beat the odds...do it. 
6. Everyone needs balance, but everyone's balance is different. Find yours!
7. Network network network. 
8. Always stick to your vision...the target/business model/method/whatever may change but your vision should always be the same.
9. Bad experiences humble you and make you who you are. You just need to hustle and get back on track after you fall. 
10. Build relationships, be in the circle of conversation, know what people need and don't need.
11. People used to say the streets of USA were paved with gold. They are -- but you need to bend down and get your hands dirty. If you have an ambition, there's a way to get there (but it should never easy).  

"If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough." 

Oh you're a business major...

Recently I've been noticing more and more how people will judge and categorize you into stereotypes based on your major in college. Oh you're english major, you must want to be a teacher. Oh you're engineering, you must have no life. Ah..and I, I am a business major. It's actually also really funny because I'm still in the process of figuring out exactly what I want to do when already people have formed an idea of who I am.  Nonetheless it's interesting (and sometimes irksome) to see how people perceive me based on what I've chosen to study at school.

Here are some stereotypes that may fit some business majors, but definitely does not describe who I am:

1. I love money. 
Yes, I do love money but not in the way people think of. The misconception with this is that business majors (or specifically finance) make a ton of money by slaving away in the cubicle. But in the end it is all worth it to them because they have the money to live whatever kind of life they want. To a certain extent, I think this is what everyone wants. However, money to me is not the end goal. I don't want to make a lot of money to make a lot of money (so I can buy nice things and live richly). Money is only a means to what I want to really accomplish with my life because practically, money is a necessity. And thus were I to ever go into finance, my career would only be a stepping stone to my greater goal.

2. I am a robot. 
Actually not really sure how this relates to my business major but this was said to me by my sister. (I assume because "investment bankers just do the same thing over and over again daily?")  I don't want to (nor intend to) face a computer all day. So just because business majors "work with numbers," and not with people on a "personal level," I do not want just business relationships, I want intimacy and substance.

3. I am persuasive and can get what I want with a little rhetoric. 
I kind of wish this was true but sadly, it's not. The kind of person that I try to avoid are people who try to push their ideas and perspective on you. I'm very open to other people's opinion even though I may completely disagree with them. I will never pushy because I don't like the feeling of trying to change someone's opinion because everyone's point of view has their own benefits. I will make a horrible sales person but I am actually trying to be better because one day I will need to sell my future idea to the world (whatever it may be!).

4. I am not creative. 
If I had to chose between the label "artist" and "businesswoman," the latter would definitely lose a horrible death. I see myself as someone who will use the accumulated knowledge and experiences of this field to fulfill my artistic desires and greater goals (as mentioned before). I get excited from interior design, words, and color palettes not numbers, the stock market, or whatever people think.


All in all, stop trying to define people based on their major. There are many components to a person than we will ever know. Maybe your friend who is studying to become a doctor may actually have plans to start an art gallery. Once my professor said to me, "the world is your oyster," and it's true -- go explore, take risks, and make opportunities happen! We are three-dimensional people, don't constrain us to only one.