A Wrap to Summer 2019!!!

Summer 2019 was an almost perfect mixture of lying around doing nothing, hanging out with old friends, and self-growth. 

I wanted to use this blog post to reflect on some of the activities I indulged myself in and restrained myself from. I also wanted to use it to peep into the rapidly upcoming future and create some loose goals for myself. 

Reflections

TV Shows of the Summer 

1. Friends - A casual tv show with characters living various real life possibilities and discussing them in a coffee shop. I loved watching every minute of Friends because of the dynamic and vivacious characters that the storyline had. Every character had a part to play and all of them grew as people in their own way. This show made me love New York even more than I already loved it before. 9.5/10

2. That 70's Show - Another casual tv show centered around a gang of high school reefers that had a cast full of unique characters. I started watching this show since a friend recommended it and it showed up every time I searched for 'shows like Friends' in Google.  Every character here also had an important role to play and that's what truly made it interesting. While in Friends the group grows into a better group, I felt as if this show had each individual displaying growth. 9.0/10

3. Master of None - Aziz Ansari went from brown comedian to having his own Netflix show that centers around what his life could have been. His uncanny recreations of situations that adults find themselves in (not like I would know...) and situations that brown people find themselves in makes the show even more compelling for me to watch. Friends provided a glimpse into the adult life but Master of None completed it. His clever commentary on religion, relationships, and family make are an interesting and accurate take on what the Indian community feels and what Indian adults feel. It proved to be a show that wants me to both become an adult, yet also push it off for as long as possible. 9.2/10 

4. Lucifer (Current) - Although I haven't finished this, I can definitely say that it matches some of the shows that I used to enjoy before this summer. This show has a protagonist that is above those surrounding him and the show centers around himself. Both Sherlock and Suits are shows like this and I've enjoyed them before, and I enjoy Lucifer for the same reason. A witty, clever, funny, enjoyable protagonist makes the show much better than I would've expected. Not great, but I don't know what else to watch.  8.5/10

5. Suits (Latest Season | Unfinished) - Amazing characters and their development is a major factor of a tv show that attracts me. Unfortunately I've watched a majority of Season 8 of Suits and it doesn't seem like I'll see Mike Ross. The show just doesn't flow as well as previous seasons had and therefore I might not be finishing it. 7.0/10

6. The Crown (Current) - An amazing show for the concept itself. I personally have never been a fan of historical shows that don't have humor or action in them but The Crown proves to be an anomaly. Centered around a new monarch that is faced with incredibly difficult decisions because of the pressures from the royal family, government, people, and her husband. Unfortunately, this show requires uninterrupted attention to be enjoyed and I haven't been able to provide it with the attention it deserves. 8.9/10

Books of the Summer 

1. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - This was the very first book that I started this summer off with and the second nonfiction book I've read by choice. Charles travels through the strategies behind international conglomerates and lives of typical individuals to showcase his studies on the importance of habits and the ability to alter them. I enjoyed the way Charles was able to take a topic that can be discussed technically from the perspective of psychology and neuroscience, and infused these topics into anecdotes that were easily understandable. 8.5/10 

2. The Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan (currently on book 12) - I discovered this series in middle school and genuinely became captivated in the world John elaborately painted. After introducing the series to my brother and discovering that there were new books I hadn't read I decided to reread the series and enjoyed it once again. In high school I found that I didn't enjoy books that I'd read in middle school as much but this series proved that wrong. The depth of the characters and the attention to feelings and details makes these books a joy to read even as a college student. 8.7/10

3. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (haven't started but will read) - no commentary yet, other than the fact that I will read this book soon...

Movies of the Summer 

Haven't really watched too many movies this summer. Rewatched Good Will Hunting for the billionth time, watched the Batman trilogy again with my brother. Also watched the new Spiderman: Far from Home movie along with Toy Story 4. All the movies I've watched this summer have been pretty great. 

Internships of the Summer

1. City of LA internship - I really enjoyed this internship. I hit a low point in the second week where I didn't know if I could handle the 8 hour workday but by the third week it became incredibly easy. I spent a majority of my time in Excel, but learned that working with others and listening to them describe their work and giving recommendations or digging deeper into finding a solution to a problem was my favorite part. My supervisor was incredibly kind and was genuinely great at government administration and I learned a ton about how work in finance at that department works. Although, I'm not interested in government work I do believe the experience I got in working with large datasets and extracting analysis for deliverables was invaluable. I know for a fact that I was able to contribute to multiple projects and that gave me more gratitude than I had expected. 

2. PE Search Fund internship - Unfortunately I was unable to commit a lot of time to this internship but will make sure that changes as soon as the school year starts. The managing director of the firm is an incredible person that I really look up to. I'm hoping to take up a larger role at the firm and learn as much possible from this experience. I am planning on continuing this internship for the remainder of next semester and hope I can give more time to it as well. 

Fun things of the summer

1. Family - This might be my last summer with the family where I'm living home and I'm glad I was able to make the most out of it. Eating together every night and doing activities like heading over to the beach or the park made the summer an enjoyable one to spend with family. 

2. Basketball with friends - My friends and I would go and play basketball almost every Monday and Wednesday for the last 2 months. These moments were incredibly special because we would partake in an activity that we all enjoyed. We were a group of fairly competitive, fairly athletics, unskillful basketball players and enjoyed every moment we were on the court. 

3. Indian friends - I got to see my Indian friends a total of 3 times this summer. Twice for a wedding, and once for the annual picnic we have. Everyone is the exact same and still an absolute joy to be with. Hopefully I will be able to see them one last time before I leave for school. 

Now that the reflecting is over, it's time to get into the predicting. 

Goals for the year 

1. Being more active in extracurriculars - I will be continuing with UEA and with my new role on the board I hope I can make a difference in the club as well. I would also like to join another club/organization where I can have another community of people to learn from. 

2. Being more active physically - I want to continue playing basketball throughout the year and become just slightly better at it. I also started continuing every now and then this summer and would like to continue that as well. A kickflip by next summer would be rad. And dunking on Owen would be awesome as well. 

3. Being more active academically - I've learned that my philosophy of "take the hardest classes and don't cry if you can't get an A" doesn't hold true in college. I've decided that I will take a combination of classes that I will enjoy and also those I feel I will learn a lot from. 

4. Being more active in communication - I've sensed that I've improved a ton on the way I approach a conversation and I want to continue and hone this. I believe it could be possible through a combination of reading/writing more and reaching out to more people. The ability to communicate efficiently is a vital skill for anyone, and mastering it to at-least a minor level is definitely going to be a priority. 

In conclusion this summer was spent learning and playing and the future will be spent being more active. I would also like to post more often on this but at the same time I've said that in almost every post so we'll see how that pans out.