Thoughtful Words from Indra No. 2
Zdravo!
In the past couple of days, I've travelled the length of Croatia on a little vacation with the family. Clearly not enough time to see everything, but we've gotten a glimpse of life out here. Spending time with my parents and sister is certainly fun—we've done these types of trips several times over the past few years. I appreciate my parents especially for taking me virtually all over the world (also giving me good opportunities to use my Sony a7s camera every now and then).
It's also struck me that my parents will be nearing the end of their careers in quite literally a handful of years. That will put me in an age-old conundrum of having to balance my life and theirs as well, as I'll be taking care of them more and more. As such, I'm quite aware of the ever-shrinking amount of time I have to make relationships, build wealth, and experience things without much worry for commitments, dependents, and burdens. At the same time, I'll also want to spend more and more time with family in their years of good health—hopefully we'll go on vacations around the world and see the beautiful things that we're seeing now. Yet, how does that play with wanting to work hard and build out my own personal and professional life? It's a struggle many people face, and I don't think I'll find a truly happy answer here.
Well, best not to worry about things outside of my control now. Work hard and enjoy the good times now and all that.
Something else I've thought about in my travels: the certainty in which I can count on a Chinese restaurant being located in any significantly large region that I visit.
To my knowledge, it's something totally unique to Chinese culture. I can't always find an American restaurant, Mexican restaurant, or Indian restaurant in some small town in the middle of nowhere, but I can sure as hell bet on a Chinese restaurant existing in a charming little town on the tip of the northern peninsula of Croatia. Or the edge of Arizona. Or on the southern border of Chile. Complete with red lanterns, golden pawing cat statue, and a Chinese calendar. Why Chinese restaurants above all else? Maybe it's a mix of the enterprising culture and population size. Regardless, my family certainly doesn't complain.
It might be worth exploring in a Medium article in the future...
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General Life Updates
I've visited a bunch of old stuff in the Baltics
Started The One World Schoolhouse by Sal Khan on Scribd, and it's a pretty good lesson in pedagogy as well as a humble narrative in the founding of Khan Academy
Got sick on some fried rice but now I'm better
Joined this pretty cool Discord community called Ambitious--full of young people in science and tech. Admittedly, a fair amount of the stuff goes over my head in the conversations, but I like the energy and thoughtfulness :)
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Recent Medium Articles
None this time, I'm afraid 😢
I've been tossing around an idea for one though, so you might see it by the next newsletter.
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As always, if you ever want to suggest any to me or have any comments, you can reach me through my Twitter.
Or, if you know me personally, just DM me :)
Cheers,
Indra