The December Review
December 2023 came faster than I could have ever imagined. After having a poor start to the year, it really finished off amazingly. In fact, every day since the first day was far better than I could have ever imagined. This year was truly crazy but so beautiful. The number of strangers that became friends, the plethora of places I explored, and the multiple changes in the direction of my life made this year truly different and exciting. In fact, I will really miss the crazy adventures I had all year because it was truly like no other. However, as the year closes, it is time to reflect and set future goals for the incoming 2024. I really like December as it’s a time to celebrate with family and friends, and that is exactly what I did to conclude the year.
Top Three Highlights of the Month
1. Korea
One of the first highlights of the month was finishing school and heading straight to Korea (and Japan). Actually, it turned out to be a minor mistake to leave so early because I had so much work to do, but nonetheless, it was very fun and exciting. I hadn’t been to Korea in over six years, and it was going to be great to revisit the city again. When we landed, it was freezing as we had arrived in the coldest week of the year. I remember checking the weather app and seeing a high of 12 degrees Fahrenheit. So, even with six layers of clothes, I could never beat the cold…
One memorable moment from the trip was getting to spend some time with my cousin. After maturing and growing up, it was the first time that my siblings and I truly got to engage in meaningful conversation with our cousins. For so long, we found it very difficult to communicate with one another, but our cousins had learned English, and our sister had learned Korean, making it possible to communicate with one another. While it was brief, we shared good moments and had promised each other that in the future, we would move to New York City together, so that was something I was looking forward to.
Another highlight was just exploring all of Korea. Although it had only been six years since I had last visited, there were hardly any concrete memories of the orientation or the landmarks in Seoul. Therefore, we went to all types of places like Myeongdong, Itaewon, Dongdaemun, and much more. One of my favorite aspects of Korea is being able to eat their delicious food, which consisted of many spicy soups, seafood, rice cakes, and more. I’m not sure if I can say I ate everything I wanted to, but there were also so many brand-new foods that I had never tried before. Overall, Korea was a fantastic time, and I was very happy to be able to visit there, not just to see family but also to explore the city of Seoul and its food scene.
2. Japan
This year, it seems like I stopped by Japan a little too many times. However, I again stopped by Japan this winter during my Korea trip. As a poor graduate student, buying the cheapest plane ticket doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the optimal route. Therefore, flying out of LAX meant that flying to Tokyo first would save me nearly $800 on the flight alone by making a quick pit stop in this lively country.
While it was brief, Japan never ceases to amaze me. Their affordable food, bustling culture, kind people, and beautiful cities are as captivating as ever, and it is always nice to visit when I am able to. This time around, it wasn’t scorchingly hot, but reasonably cold, so I got to indulge in seeing the city of Tokyo under very different conditions. A good but bad habit always occurs when I enter Japan because it always seems like I enjoy one too many beers every night in that country. This problem extends much further into other things like sweets and instant food because all that stuff is just simply so amazing. I recall eating roll cake, and seafood ramen for breakfast while sipping on a grape-flavored beer. While excessive, it’s truly the only place where I can get this stuff for that cheap from a convenience store and where it is truly that tasty. Japan is always a wild culinary experience, trying all types of amazing foods regardless of the price tag.
Over the summer, it felt like I had explored every city imaginable in Tokyo, but luckily for me, I got to visit the cities of Narita and Chiba during my stay there, which were both brand new to me. Neither of them were spectacular or eye-opening, but both had their own unique charm. For example, Narita was more of a traditional small city which felt very authentically Japanese, while Chiba felt like your normal city with a unique upside-down metro system running through the city. The purpose of this trip was never really to go too crazy in Japan, so eating and shopping for clothes turned out to be the main events during my stay. However, I will say the best purchase I made was a medium-sized Rilakkuma plushie, which was the best $20 I ever spent.
3. Revisiting 2023’s New Year Resolutions
Lastly, I wanted to revisit my New Year’s resolutions from last year and see how I did. It’s hard to live by goals that you set, but I want to begin making it a yearly tradition to review how I did with the goals I set for myself. So, here were my 2023 New Year’s resolutions:
- Be happier
- Write out my thoughts in a journal
- Become a better storyteller/writer
- Learn to cook… long overdue
- build a consistent exercise routine
- volunteer/help people/charities once a month
- start building stuff from scratch (arduino, video game project)
- learn tensorflow, pytorch, NLP, generative models, Reinforcement learning, LLMs
- take care of yourself
- Find a good friend group in Boston and stop trying to meet so many new people
- Have a schedule and live by it
I will go one by one through the list, saying how I did and any remarks I might have.
How did I do?
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Be happier (passed): I think I nailed the first New Year’s resolution (NYR) by being happier. I was so happy this year, even if I had challenging moments. Life could not be in a better place, and I feel lucky to be able to experience all that I did and be where I am.
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Write out my thoughts in a journal (kinda):. I did not really write out my thoughts in a journal. These thoughts were complex, but I felt my complex thoughts made it into this blog somehow or another.
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Become a better storyteller/writer (passed): I think I did become a better storyteller and writer. This was most apparent during my serial dating era, where I would constantly tell stories about myself or just explain who I was to other people. I also felt like by keeping this blog up, it made me a better writer.
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Learn to cook… long overdue (failed): I did not really learn how to cook. There’s something about the time it takes to prepare versus the payoff that doesn’t sit well with me. I could do much better on this front.
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build a consistent exercise routine (semi-passed): I don’t think I had a consistent exercise routine, but I did work out and lift weights more than I ever did. It helped that Mikey from MIT both gave me a gym to use and a workout regime to follow, which was really nice. However, it’s sad to say that all that progress has dissipated now that I’m a Ph.D. student…
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volunteer/help people/charities once a month (FAILED) LOL
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start building stuff from scratch (arduino, video game project) (failed) Truth is, this is still something I very much want to do. However, perhaps these projects are something I take up when I am no longer a student. I just don’t have time right now…
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learn tensorflow, pytorch, NLP, generative models, Reinforcement learning, LLMs (semi-passed) I didn’t learn all these things, but I did learn a lot of them. However, it’s better to not be all-knowing and have something to continue to learn and chase.
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take care of yourself (semi-passed) I think I did a subtle job at taking care of myself this year. Not bad but not great. However, I did a lot of things to treat myself, which were often over the top, like flying to Miami…
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Find a good friend group in Boston and stop trying to meet so many new people (semi - passed) I did end up finding a good friend group, but by the time it was great, it was my time to leave.
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Have a schedule and live by it (semi-failed) Yeah, I don’t think I will ever be a schedule-oriented person. At least I use Google Calendar again!
One thing I learned this Month
2024 Resolutions
With 2024 coming up here are my resolutions:
- Be even happier and healthier
- exercise more routinely
- find time to travel
- finally publish a paper
- find better work life balance
- make new friends or form a group
- try something drastically new
Well I hope 2024 is just as good as 2023. See you in the New Year!
Quote of the Monthly
“If you leave something behind, you gain something too” - Unknown.
Contact
Simon Lee
simonlee711@gmail.com
simonlee711@g.ucla.edu