January, 2023 Download
The first of many (assuming I don’t get distracted)
Updates!
This is the first edition of my newsletter! I’m excited that y’all are here and interested in everything I’ve got going on. I’ve been feeling fairly disconnected from a lot of important people in my life, and this is an attempt to resolve that. These monthly downloads will be pretty basic; I want to just give everyone a general idea of where I’m at and what I’ve been up to! If you have any further questions or thoughts feel free to send me an email follow up or give me a call to chat! So, without further ado, I’ll just jump right in!
I’m currently living in Vancouver, BC. I’m about to start my last semester of my undergraduate degree. It’s an odd feeling, being so close to this momentous point in my professional and academic career. Unfortunately, I am going to be extremely busy with courses from now until late March. UBC only offered my last 18 required credits in the second semester. I’m both excited and somewhat anxious about what comes next, but I’ll cover that in the ‘future plans’ section.
I have been working on two independent research projects this year. The first is an exploration of the impact of Olivine dissolution on benthic microbial communities. This project will hopefully help with the implementation of enhanced coastal silicate weathering to sequester atmospheric CO2 in the oceans. This project has been very fulfilling and I hope to have the manuscript finished and published soon! I’ve been working with Dr. Sean Crowe on this project. The second project is my attempt to create a more inclusive definition of life. All of our current definitions of life are fairly limited, and I wanted to create a definition which balances the philosophical aspect of life with a practical scientific definition. This is my rough draft of my paper which I hope to publish soon. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. I would be particularly interested if you are confused, or can think of any logical holes in the paper. I’ll upload a copy of my Olivine weathering paper when I’ve finished analyzing the data!
In the spirit of being forced into adulthood, I recently set up a personal website! It can be found here. I’m still making some tweaks on the design and flow, but it is extremely close to being finished. On my website you can find my research, resumes, photography, and various other random projects that I wanted to share with everyone!
Future Plans!
My current plans after I graduate are as follows: Sleep, travel, and eventually go to graduate school (not necessarily in that order). I’m wanting to pursue a Master’s of Science or Engineering in Environmental engineering. Eventually I want to help develop large scale biological engineering technology to help mitigate climate change and build more sustainable urban environments… Or maybe I’ll just move to Moab and work in a bike shop. It’s hard to say at this point.
Currently, I’ve applied to Stanford, UC Berkeley, Cornell, Arizona State,and the University of British Columbia. If anyone hears about, or knows of any fellowships/grants/scholarships I should apply for, please send ‘em my way!
I have been working on a novel for the last year or so. I’ve only got two chapters finished so far, but I want to find more time to write. I’m hoping this summer I’ll be able to travel around a bit and really dive into the author mindset. I’ll publish a link to the first few chapters of the book once I feel like they aren’t a hot pile of literary garbage.
My friend Finn and I are trying to figure out our post graduate travel plans. We are aggressively spinning between a month in Japan, or Europe, and going on a long US road trip. I will update y’all when I know more.
Insights/thoughts!
I’ve had a hard time with this feeling of losing myself lately. I am at a point in my life where I really want to focus on school, which leaves very little time for my extracurriculars. For my entire life I’ve defined myself as a skier and a mountain biker, and until recently those sports have been constants in my life. Since moving to the city, however, it’s been hard to find time to do these things. It’s hard to feel true to oneself when you don’t have time for, and aren’t particularly motivated to, these activities--which have been so intrinsic to my sense of identity. Through exploring this feeling I stumbled upon an interesting pit we all fall into; When someone asks who you are, do you list off accomplishments? Or do you respond with your values? In today’s culture, it’s incredibly hard to separate one’s sense of self worth from the things we do. This is still a work in progress for me, but I thought this was an interesting insight that could potentially help others!
While journaling I’ve been trying to tap into the idea of mimetic desire. I got the idea from listening to a podcast (the knowledge project) about mimetic desires and the importance of tracking it. Your desires repeat themselves and can tell you a lot about what your goals should be. The idea behind mimetic desires is that we decide what to desire from those around us. Whether it’s friends, family, idols, or enemies we based our desires off those around us. By tracking your desires, you can better understand those who influence you. A constant desire of mine has been financial freedom and routine. Looking back at my journal entries I can see these desires crop up in moments of personal aimlessness, when I most look up to the “successful” people in my life. By tracking my desires I have been finding themes in my life, which is really helpful in growing as a person. I do this by writing about my day, and end with an entry along the lines of “Today, I desire…”
I had a really amazing conversation with Finn Peterson about balancing comfort and utility in our lives. We've both been struggling with the idea that progress doesn't have to be a struggle. Every step forward doesn't need to be won through suffering. I've found that viewing my progress from a macroscopic view has really allowed me to embrace self-kindness and comfort. If you take a longer perspective on progress you will see general trends of moving forward, compared to a more microscope view which may feel like progress but only results in a stagnant life. There's value in looking at both perspectives, but I think the macro perspective helps you allocate your time and energy where it is most useful. This idea of gentleness and comfort extends itself to how I view wealth. At the end of the day, all I have is my time. How I choose to spend that time should be paramount, and I think it's helpful to view wealth as a tool for time allocation. Take washing a car, for example. Before I begin washing my car I can ask myself "how much would I want to be paid for this job?" And "could I spend this time doing something more beneficial?" If I decide that I would want to be paid $100 to wash that car, it makes more sense (from a time-valuing approach) to spend the $4 on a car wash or pay the neighbor kid $20 to do it for you. There's importance in doing things yourself, and the questions aren't as simple as "how much should I be paid?" You need to factor in your joy, the skills you may learn, and many more things, but I think this mind set is very helpful for developing a balanced life. (Special thanks to Erik Ekman for exposing me to a different mindset regarding wealth).
Here’s some music that I’ve been very into lately:
Pretty Monster - Album by The Blue Stones | Spotify
I saw you close your eyes by Local Natives | Spotify
And here is a link to the audiobook series I’ve been devouring:
It’s a 9 book series called ‘He Who Fights With Monsters.’ It’s a really fun, witty sci-fi fantasy novel. The plot deals with magic, dimension hopping, and a deviously witty protagonist. It’s a really good series to lose yourself in. The first book in the series is currently free to download with audible. It is very similar to the Iron Druid Chronicles--another series which I would 100% recommend.
If you are wanting more of an academic, learn ya somethin’ book, check this one out:
Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality by Christopher Ryan
I've really been enjoying Benedict Spinoza's views on nature and God lately. He takes a naturalist approach which, in essence, holds that nature is God (God used as a term to denote some higher power which is not tied to any theological belief). Here is a link to his wiki.
Closing Remarks!
Since this is the first newsletter, I would love to hear y’alls feedback! I wanted to create this download as a way of keeping in touch with those in my life--and to avoid answering the same questions over and over again. So, What did you like? Did you feel like anything was not needed? What do you want more of? Please let me know!
I wish you all the best, and I am looking forward to the next time we meet up in person! Until then, I hope everyone has the best of times.
Much love,
