the life of chao(s)

the life of chao(s)

welcome to the sanctuary where
my mind vomits into cyberspace,
and every day is a good day :)


ABOUT ME

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A new record…

It’s been over four months since I’ve officially written a post on this blog. Where did the time go?

Let’s start with January…

January at Princeton means finals, but I was able to squeeze in one fun thing…

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One of my best friends snagged two tickets to the Inauguration. How could I turn down such a priceless opportunity? It wasn’t easy to stand in a crazy crowd for nearly 12 hours (with no restroom in sight), but I have to say that the Inauguration was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

In the middle of Obama’s Inaugural Address, I realized that it was Obama’s 2008 campaign that sparked my initial interest in politics. There I was, four years later, just a few hundred yards from him.

It’s funny how things turn out. It feels like it was just 2008, I had just entered high school, and thought I was going to be a doctor or something. Now it’s 2013, I’m studying public policy 3,000 miles away from home, and hoping to establish a future career in public service. It was Obama who got me fired up about politics, and I haven’t looked back since.

I wonder what the next five years will bring?

As soon as finals ended, my best friends and I flew down to San Juan, Puerto Rico for a week-long vacation.

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No readings, no deadlines, no meetings. Just the sun, the beach, and some good ol’ mofongo.

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It was an amazing vacation :)

Second semester started off with a bang with bicker for Princeton eating clubs…

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I am now a member of Tower!

The following weekend I flew out to UC Berkeley. I coach a high school speech and debate team, and my students were competing at a huge competition that weekend.

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It was such a nice change of pace- California never changes!

The last weekend of February was regionals for mock trial- basically our big “playoff” competition that starts the national qualifying process.

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The weekend was not free of drama, but we came together in the end, had a great weekend in Boston, and performed well. It’s been a great season, and we are already looking forward to next year.

And after a week of midterms…spring break!

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Laura and I spent the first four days relaxing in Rockport, Maine…

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…and then flew to my home in LA for the remainder of our break.

As soon as we returned to school, we were rudely forced back into our busy lives.

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For the last 10 months, I have been planning an event for Whig-Clio with Chen Guangcheng. A lot of my energy during the week was directed at putting the event together, and making sure it ran smoothly on the day of. Luckily, all the pieces came together well, and 250ish people came out to his lecture!

One of the highlights, though, was walking around campus with him and his family after the day’s festivities, and playing with his kids (and practicing my Chinese). It’s funny to see how even celebrities have very normal lives.

Most of my April was spent working on Ban the Box NJ, but we’re going to save that entire story for another post…

And all of a sudden, it’s May! Which means Houseparties..

The first night is formals…

The second night is semiformals…

And the third day is lawnparties!

After a weekend of fun that really seemed like a marathon, we are now in the middle of reading period preparing for finals. This year, I don’t have a really crazy schedule (luckily), so I’ve finally had time to sit down and write this post!

Wait, summer vacation starts in less than 2 weeks?

Insert mid-college crisis here.

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By this time tomorrow, I’ll be back in Princeton. It’s been great being home for the holidays with family and old friends. Stay sunny and beautiful, LA!

By this time tomorrow, I’ll be back in Princeton. It’s been great being home for the holidays with family and old friends. Stay sunny and beautiful, LA!

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It’s been great, 2012.

2012 was the year I hit my new stride.

Now let me explain what I mean. If I look back at 2011, that was the year I was constantly swept along in a whirlwind of change. I graduated from high school, was forced to say goodbye to my friends, and found myself 3,000 miles away from home. I had a remarkable time, but it’s clear that my comfort zones were pushed, and I had to adapt to change whether I was ready or not.

In 2012, I grew, I learned, and I experienced (as everybody does in every year). But 2012 was different because 2012 was the year when I truly became comfortable with the changes of 2011- I hit my new stride. Instead of sitting back, adapting, and adjusting, I took the driver’s seat and took ownership of my experiences.

For one, I made Princeton my home. I gained control of my academic experience, and fully embraced professors, precepts, and papers as a way of life. I began to understand my interests both inside and outside of the classroom, and took full advantage of the resources at my disposal and opportunities at my feet. My life in New Jersey went from novel to normal, and I can now confidently call Princeton my home.

In 2012, I also worked as an intern for the first time, lived on my own for the first time, and explored the east coast for the first time. Living and working by myself in a new city made me realize that sitting back and being a spectator to my own life would be the easiest way to lose valuable opportunities. As a result, I tried my best to take ownership of my experiences. Along the way, I realized that the world is bigger and greater than I had ever imagined, and it’s up to me to discover as much as I can.

2012 was also packed with memories. I traveled 50,000 miles around the world, grew addicted to caffeine, and embraced east coast prep. I became a student leader, met inspirational professors, and (hopefully) became more cultured. As I began reflecting on the aspects of my life that truly matter, good friends became best friends, lolling turned into an important pastime, and I fell in love.

On the heels of constant change, settling into a comfortable rhythm was no simple task. But with immense luck, stubborn optimism, and relentless curiosity, I hit my new stride. 2012 was a phenomenal year, and I’m excited to see the surprises that 2013 has in store :)

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Home for the holidays

I’ve been home for two weeks now, and it has been nice to be back in LA. Though having finals in January is, of course, a bit inconvenient, winter break has provided a nice change of pace, and I think I’ve found a good balance between fun and working on papers in Starbucks. 

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The holiday season has been quite exciting. It’s amazing how much preparation goes into this time of year; lights, Christmas trees, and red Starbucks cups are just the beginning. Earlier last week, I heard a story on NPR about St. Nicholas, the original Santa Claus. What really stuck with me is the lesson we can learn from St. Nicholas about holiday season generosity:

St. Nicholas gave to those whom he did not know, and did not love, those in the most need, and that is really something that can be added into family celebrations of Christmas, giving gifts not only to their family members whom they know and love, but to those who are in need whom they do not know.

Food for thought as you celebrate this year. 

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In other news, I got my wisdom teeth pulled last Friday, so my life has been quite the struggle. After the Novacaine wore off, I was kept alive by mango smoothies, chicken soup, and Vicodin. As you can tell by the picture, my girlfriend Laura got her wisdom teeth out too, so we kept each other company via Skype as we both lay incapacitated on a couch, icing our swollen cheeks. 

On a final thought, It’s interesting that this time being home, I’m starting to see the lives of all my friends grow increasingly different as we all take different paths toward different futures. It’s crazy to think that just 18 months ago, we were all living essentially identical lives; how quickly that has changed is both exciting and frightening. But despite how different our lives may become, Arcadia, in a way, grounds us all by acting as the common thread. I look forward to seeing where we all end up, and how our friendships evolve over time and space.

Can you believe it’s almost 2013?

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Wait, it’s mid-December already?

How did December sneak up so quickly? I can’t believe it’s already the last week of the semester, and that I’ll be home tomorrow. The past few weeks have just been jam-packed, and I’ve been so caught up in everything that I didn’t realize how fast the semester has gone by. 

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My most recent post was from flying home for Thanksgiving. Spending Thanksgiving at home in LA was awesome. What could be better than being thankful for your friends and family under a warm Southern California sun? 

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As expected, I ate way too much for my own good. I literally had five meals a day because I had to squeeze in all my favorite restaurants into a 72-hour window. The picture above is the remnants of a meal at Boiling Crab- 10 pounds of shrimp, oysters, and clams. Tell me that’s not the most disgusting yet delicious picture you’ve ever seen.

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The following weekend, my mock trial team competed in Philadelphia at Temple University’s invitational. After suffering the loss of three of our team members (for various emergency health and academic reasons), we somehow pulled everything together and got 2nd place! To my knowledge- it’s the best this team has placed in three or so years, so we were really excited.

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This past weekend was Winter Formals… dressing up is always fun :)

Aside from the past three eventful weekends, everything has been really great. Whig-Clio held three terrific events: Jacques Steinberg of the NY Times and Princeton Dean of Admissions Janet Rapleye discussed college admissions, The Honorable Stuart Rabner (Chief Justice of the NJ Supreme Court) discussed eyewitness identification, and the founders of RealClearPolitics and Princeton alumni, Tom Bevan and John McIntyre, spoke about the state of American politics. 

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I’ve also started to look forward to next semester. We picked classes earlier last week, the Breakout program picked trips for next semester (I’m coordinating a trip to Pennsylvania to investigate the impact of fracking on local communities), and I’m tentatively set on my summer plans for 2013. 

It’s been such an exciting semester, and I’m looking forward to a warm winter break at home :) 

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My shorts and flip-flops are all packed in anticipation for my 83-degree Thanksgiving. I can’t even begin to express to you how excited I am to fly home this evening; Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and I’m happy to be spending it at home with my family and old friends. See you soon, LA :)

My shorts and flip-flops are all packed in anticipation for my 83-degree Thanksgiving. I can’t even begin to express to you how excited I am to fly home this evening; Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and I’m happy to be spending it at home with my family and old friends.

See you soon, LA :)

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Spending my fall break in Houston, TX on my Breakout Trip was an unbelievable experience. In the months prior when Shawon and I planned it, I really didn’t know what to expect. Will our trip be meaningful? What will our students learn? What will our group dynamic be like? Will this trip be fun? Will we lose or gain hope in reform efforts?

From the incredible group of students to the amazingly dedicated community partners, we were so lucky and fortunate with how our trip turned out. As each day went on, joy triumphed over my nervousness, and I was proud to see our group bond through the collective learning experience. And I knew that the months of planning were worth it when some of our trip participants said that this trip changed their life.

Personally, I was first exposed to the issue of juvenile justice in elementary school because my best friend’s mother was a juvenile court judge. Carpooling with my best friend meant hearing stories daily about the kids who appeared in her court. Once, she brought me to the juvenile detention area of the courthouse, and we sat quietly in a holding cell. The faint smell of trash and urine filled my nostrils, and my eyes followed the graffiti carved into the wall by fingernails. The bailiff told me that he hated Christmas because he had to see kids spend the holidays in the holding cells with no love, no presents, and no hope.

In that moment, I realized how fortunate I was to have a home, loving parents, and a great education. Unfortunately, thousands don’t, and as a result, find themselves stuck in the criminal justice system. And the worst part? Nobody is fighting for them.

Throughout the past year, my interest in criminal justice has grown considerably through my extracurricular activities and summer internship. When Shawon and I were deciding on a topic for our Breakout trip, we easily agreed on juvenile justice- it was a pressing issue that combined our respective interests in education reform and criminal justice. 

I embarked on this trip with little hope for the future of criminal justice reform. Though I believed in the cause, I felt powerless in the face of such massive bureaucracy and structural problems. Reform felt impossible; indifference felt so easy. 

Fortunately, my pessimism was shattered by the passion and kindheartedness shown by the dozens of individuals we met in Houston. From the woman whose brother was locked away for 18 years at 16, to the orphan who now dedicates his life to repairing families, I learned that with patience and positivity, tangible progress can always be made. It doesn’t matter if it takes months, years, or decades. If lives can be changed, it’s worth every moment to commit your life to making that difference possible.

I return to Princeton with renewed hope for reform. Who cares if it takes 40 years to change the criminal justice system? As long as we remain determined to continue moving forward, we can change lives and make a meaningful difference. There’s no denying that reform will be extremely difficult. Injustice will surely continue for decades and lives will continue to be harmed. But giving up on reform is acceptance of an unacceptable status quo. And frankly, we can do better than that.

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Be sure to visit our Breakout trip blog at http://breakouthouston.tumblr.com where all our trip participants have reflected on the impact of this trip on their lives. And check out the rest of the photos taken on our trip here.

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It’s my second real autumn ever, and I still can’t get over the colors of fall. Just a few weeks ago, the trees were all full of green leaves, and by next week they will all be bare.   All of a sudden, half a semester has gone and winter is coming. What could be scarier? This past week was midterms week, and I’m just glad that that’s over. It’s crazy that in a span of 24 hours, the Princeton campus went from being overly stressed out for midterms, to being packed with crazy Halloween costumes, to empty as everybody left for fall break. This fall break, Shawon and I are leading a civic engagement trip to Houston, Texas to investigate the juvenile justice system and youth incarceration. We’ll spend the week meeting with attorneys, nonprofit organizations, probation officers, recently incarcerated youth, and policymakers to learn as much as we can about the issue of juvenile justice.  By the time this has been posted, we’ll already be in Houston- you should follow our trip’s progress on Tumblr and Twitter: http://BreakoutHouston.tumblr.com http://twitter.com/BreakoutHouston Shawon and I have been planning this trip for months now, so I’m excited to see how everything plays out. It’s gonna be a fun week in Texas with warm weather (yay!).  Stay tuned with our trip’s progress! We’re going to try our best to keep the world updated with our work in Houston. Hopefully we all return to Princeton with new ideas for juvenile justice reform and a renewed passion for continued civic engagement work. 

It’s my second real autumn ever, and I still can’t get over the colors of fall. Just a few weeks ago, the trees were all full of green leaves, and by next week they will all be bare.  

All of a sudden, half a semester has gone and winter is coming. What could be scarier?

This past week was midterms week, and I’m just glad that that’s over. It’s crazy that in a span of 24 hours, the Princeton campus went from being overly stressed out for midterms, to being packed with crazy Halloween costumes, to empty as everybody left for fall break.

This fall break, Shawon and I are leading a civic engagement trip to Houston, Texas to investigate the juvenile justice system and youth incarceration. We’ll spend the week meeting with attorneys, nonprofit organizations, probation officers, recently incarcerated youth, and policymakers to learn as much as we can about the issue of juvenile justice.  By the time this has been posted, we’ll already be in Houston- you should follow our trip’s progress on Tumblr and Twitter:

http://BreakoutHouston.tumblr.com

http://twitter.com/BreakoutHouston

Shawon and I have been planning this trip for months now, so I’m excited to see how everything plays out. It’s gonna be a fun week in Texas with warm weather (yay!). 

Stay tuned with our trip’s progress! We’re going to try our best to keep the world updated with our work in Houston. Hopefully we all return to Princeton with new ideas for juvenile justice reform and a renewed passion for continued civic engagement work. 

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It’s been over a year since I left home last August to start a new adventure on the east coast. It was difficult to leave home; I felt so secure and content in Arcadia, where I grew up in the same place with the same people for 18 years. My future 3,000 miles away from home was filled with uncertainty, and I was scared that Arcadia would change and leave me behind.  Since that emotional day, much has changed in Arcadia. I don’t recognize anybody but teachers when I visit the high school. I feel extremely old and alienated whenever I step into Teabar. Conversations with the high school friends whom I was not that close to are becoming slower. Arcadia and I have grown separately and apart. These changes did worry me initially, but then I thought of the things that haven’t changed about Arcadia. Family dinners feel just the same. Conversations with my best friends flow effortlessly for hours. Morning jogs around my neighborhood bring me the same sense of peace.  Arcadia has changed on the fringes, but the heart of my hometown has and will always remain the same. Home is always home.  Tonight, I’ll be 30,000 feet in the sky flying back east to Princeton. This time around, however, I’m free of apprehension and only filled with excitement. Home is always home, and Arcadia is waiting patiently for my return.

It’s been over a year since I left home last August to start a new adventure on the east coast. It was difficult to leave home; I felt so secure and content in Arcadia, where I grew up in the same place with the same people for 18 years. My future 3,000 miles away from home was filled with uncertainty, and I was scared that Arcadia would change and leave me behind. 

Since that emotional day, much has changed in Arcadia. I don’t recognize anybody but teachers when I visit the high school. I feel extremely old and alienated whenever I step into Teabar. Conversations with the high school friends whom I was not that close to are becoming slower. Arcadia and I have grown separately and apart.

These changes did worry me initially, but then I thought of the things that haven’t changed about Arcadia. Family dinners feel just the same. Conversations with my best friends flow effortlessly for hours. Morning jogs around my neighborhood bring me the same sense of peace. 

Arcadia has changed on the fringes, but the heart of my hometown has and will always remain the same.

Home is always home. 

Tonight, I’ll be 30,000 feet in the sky flying back east to Princeton. This time around, however, I’m free of apprehension and only filled with excitement. Home is always home, and Arcadia is waiting patiently for my return.

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I flew up to Berkeley this past weekend to visit some friends before I head back to school later this week. I haven’t seen many of them in almost a year, so it was nice to escape to NorCal for a few days to catch up with their lives. Nothing can beat an overdue conversation over a latte, brunch, or Ici (and it’s no surprise that I spent the entire weekend eating…).

I’m home for just a few more days before I head back east. It’s time to make the most of Arcadia (aka eat as much Asian food as possible)! Though I will miss summer when it ends, I am excited to get back on campus, see all the familiar faces, and jump back into the busy rhythm of school.

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