Quaran-Time

 [Originally written 4/24/2020]

The past few weeks have been a time for self-reflection and personal growth.
That's a meh-truthful statement… but here’s a list of things what I have been doing:

• Bed

  • Love my bed. Love lolling around in it and feeling warm in my sheets. Love playing music on my speaker and watching sunsets from my bed. Love calling with friends on my bed. My bed is a true hero, and it also has the coolest cape//blanket. @Musa also considers lolling in bed a form of exercise!

• Altrui Foundation

  • Along with my two partners, I’ve been putting a lot of time into developing Altrui Foundation. From the branding to website design to kickstarting Altrui SMILE (our first initiative: Supplying Medications In Lives Everywhere), starting an organization feels great because it gives me a sense of vision and a greater sense of impact.

• Online Courses

  • @Arjun, a friend of mine, told me that his goal for quarantine was “to learn as much as possible.” That goal resonated with me, and I decided to try and expand my potential interests.

  • I took two courses in a Python specialization called “Python For Everybody” by Umich on Coursera before I realized coding wasn’t my ~forte or interest~. Right now, I’m working through a business course called “Corporate Social Responsibility” by UPenn on EdX, and it’s actually super interesting to hear their theories on private enterprise maximizing their potential through social impact.

  • I’m thinking that next I want to have a good understanding of financial markets. Considering that the price of oil is currently below $0 (sigh.) and the world is in a shitshow, understanding finance basics and investment strategies is a really valuable skill to have in these uncertain times.

• Terraria

  • The game that I spent 250 hours on during my 8-9th grade. The game that channels the inner-geek that I lost during my four years of high school. Probably my favorite video game of all time. I spent a couple hours trying to convince some people to get the game and so I’m going to be lazy and just link a really great video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddhteg-cNVM).

  • Shoutout to @Vrishin & @Tom for an awesome couple dozen hours on this game grinding an expert mode world.

• Steins;Gate //Anime Lab Members

  • Four other people and I made a Discord channel, and started one of the greatest anime of all time: steins;gate. It’s a masterful series that cuts through the boundaries of space and time, and puts a different perspective of the human experience. Simply put: it is a powerful show which takes a unique twist on the typical romance.

  • We have “Lab Members” 01-04, however they refused to let me be Lab Member 00, so I am now “(Not A) Lab Member”. Screw you @Rohaan.

• Movies

  • Every night, I watch about half a movie with other people
    Citizen Kane; 3 Idiots; Rush Hour; All The Bright Places; The Sun Is Also A Star; 5 Feet Apart

• Epified

  • I found myself a friend who was only somewhat-probably-not interested in Hinduism (#culture) and forced her (@Anika) to binge this awesome Youtube channel with me. Currently working through their Mahabharata series, and it really does bring back childhood memories as I learned about these awesome epics. Disclaimer: I'm not religious but I find studying world religions very interesting!!

• Workouts

  • It seems my powerlifting days are at a halt, and I don’t have much heavy equipment in my basement home gym. So here’s what I cycle through:

    • T25: a HIIT program by the [og] Shaun T

    • Resistance bands on a rusty playground

    • Weighted pushups and planks by filling my backpack full of textbooks

    • 2-3 mile runs around my neighborhood and surrounding areas, usually at a 6-7 minute mile pace

    • Long bikes around Holmdel on the $50 ladies beach bike my dad bought 5 years ago [when Sports Authority went out of business]

    • Supplemental ab + pushup routine