A new leaf....again....

And we are back. Thanksgiving break was nice and rejuvenating and now its finals time. I am getting my nerd on so hardcore it isn't even funny. I'm married to these books for the next couple of weeks which is nice because I've started with enough time so that I'm not cramming and I can take a couple nights off to relax and sleep and whatnot. It is going to be a very healthy study period :)

I have also decided to turn a new leaf. Again. Hahahaha I know it is getting old but the new thing (this goes in hand in hand with my whole live every second to its fullest potential thing) is to do things that are good for me. I am going to try my hardest to do things that make me those around me happy, make me happy, and are GOOD for me. What makes you smile? Do it. What makes your heart race (in the good way)? Do it. That is what I will be doing. Especially after finals are over and I have a whole month of nothing to do. I am going to have some serious me time. What is right for you? Do it. I like this plan. I'll keep you posted. Now if you will all excuse me, I have a date (with finance) :)

Radhi

The most crash ever.

I don't know what to think right now. I'm not even sure if I AM capable of thought right now. Sorry if this post is completely incoherent and I come back and try to look at what I've posted tomorrow and realize I'm a crazy person and then delete it. This may just be word vomit.

CORE business plan? check. That motherfucker has been turned in (and when I was signing the cover page with my teammates, I felt like I should have been doing so in blood). Nonetheless, it is done. All that remains between me and a winter break of funsies is now giving a presentation on the business plan....and finals. But on the bright side? I'll be completely done in about two weeks. CORE will be behind me and the sun will shine brighter, the birds chirp sweeter and yada yada yada.

So what has CORE been like? What was this past week of hell (hell week, if you will) like?
One big long sleepless mindfuck. And just when you think you were doing well and you can escape the insanity? It comes back to punch you straight in the face. And then laugh at you. So my team did a pretty great job all semester but, like most teams, we had to live together to get the plan done in time for the last week. Which was fine--its part of the CORE experience. Didn't mind it...had some fun with them while we were at it. But what I DO mind is on the last day before the plan is due, the day we had planned to do NOTHING because we were done and I had edited ALL 65 PAGES OF THE PLAN MULTIPLE TIMES, one teammate decides it would be ok to open the document, read it, make change it, and then decide she wasn't comfortable turning it in yet. Not ok. SO not ok, I don't even have strong enough words for it. So there we are, waiting. waiting. waiting. for her to figure out what she wants to edit. She brings the plan to me and says: this is what I don't like. She points out a few TRIVIAL things. And then hands it to me. I look at her blankfaced and then I realize she doesn't know what she wants to change these parts to, but I am damn sure she expects me to do it. At this point? I left. I went home, showered, packed for break, and went back. I fixed the minor edits as well as correcting all the dumb edits she had screwed up. Basically, we got it in on time. We turned in a business plan I am proud of, but the level of stress and anger that I experienced last night is unlike anything I have ever felt before in my life. How can one person make an entire ten person's life a living hell? I dunno, ask her. Because we all wanted to kill her last night. YOU DON"T FUCK WITH THINGS LIKE THAT WHEN IT AFFECTS OTHER PEOPLE"S GRADES. I don't give a shit if you don't care about your own grade. Hand in the project late. That's al you. But I will be DAMNED if you think I spent a day and a half editing a document to make it flow eloquently and then I don't plan on handing it in on time so we get a kickass grade.

Fuck. You.
Wow...so that came off a little more angry than I had expected it to. But hey....I'm on a plane home right now, as Allen said, "I have reached the summit of Everest and have now only the trek down," and it's thanksgiving.

So I guess we'll end with what I'm thankful for:
8 teammates who didn't try to give me a brain aneurism yesterday
getting to see my family for a few days
Friends who are without a doubt the best people in the world
Fatakada--LOVE you guys and we have tons of work to do but it is going to be so much fun
Food....lots and lots of it....
Finally getting back in the gym now that this business plan is over :)

Just my thoughts
Radhi

Things fall into place

So this is going to be a pretty short one. Hell week has set in. We are T minus 7 days to business plans being due. And thankfully my team started pretty early so nobody is really stressing out or anything...we are just chugging along in our hole in allston (also known as James' place at 49 Gardner) gettin stuff done.

Today we had our last day of class and professor Allen, who reminds us every day that what we learn are "skills to pay the bills," decided to give us a little life lesson from his alter ego, j-rock from the block. And I guess the only reason I really felt like blogging about it is because it kinda fell exactly in line with a post I put up like a week ago...funny how things fall into place. Basically, the part about what he had to say that hit home the most was "if you are standing still, the current is taking you backwards." The world will continue around you and if you are standing still, if you don't go after your passions, you are falling behind. As simple as that.

Radhi

And then there were two

Well this is a new problem...
I've always thought honesty was the best policy
So how does one
How does one say, "hey, to avoid being disrespectful and potentially hurtful in the future, I just wanna let you know..."
How does one even start that awkwardfest conversation?
Especially when one doesn't really know if it even matters...
I just always thought honesty was the best policy
What is expected, the norm, for these things?
uff.

Radhi

patience, iago...

We hear it all the time: "patience is a virtue," "good things come to those who wait," etcetera, etcetera. Just one tiny little problem. I don't like to wait and I don't have a hell of a lot of patience. So what? Does that mean that people like me who tend to jump the gun will never get the good things in life? Disagree. I feel like those who are constantly moving forward-constantly evolving are those who will take it upon themselves to grab ahold of every opportunity. If you don't allow yourself to stop in motion then things can't pass you by because you are moving with them. We adapt. Quickly. On to the next one. On to the next class, the next task, the next practice, the next whatever. You don't dwell on the last one beyond assessing what went wrong and what you could do better. You get nothing out of dwelling. People who get themselves into a situation and then wait to see what will happen often find themselves waiting too long...and then they are the last ones left. Patience may be a virtue, but if you don't want to get left behind you had better be a little more impatient that the guy standing next to you. Things move faster today than they ever have before. And yah, it is a shame. But then again, it would be a bigger shame to try to force the world to slow down and end up missing everything worth experiencing. Roll with it. Go after things that seem interesting and if something isn't quite what you thought it was let it go and go after something else. I am by no means saying be fickle. Rather, simply because you are waiting on one thing doesn't mean you have to stand there in pause waiting for it. While you wait, see if there isn't something better. Always be looking for improvement. There is a whole scary, fast paced world out there waiting to see if anyone can keep up with it. How fast are you moving?

Just my thoughts
Radhi

Risk and Reward: taking stock of life

In the world of capital assets, risk is uncertainty. One holding a risky asset is compensated by the possibility of a higher future return. This is known as the risk-return tradeoff. Those who are more risk averse tend to play it safe. In doing so, they often times forego the opportunity to earn a higher return. Those less risk averse will invest in a risky asset-possibly losing a great deal but also taking advantage of the opportunity to gain a great deal. Uncertainty.

Life is uncertainty. Risk is uncertainty. Life is risk. I guess you can evaluate life in the same manner as you could any asset: look at the uncertainties, assess them, figure out which you can deal with and which you would rather avoid, and then deal with the consequences of your decisions. So then the question is how much risk are you willing to deal with? How much uncertainty can you handle in your future? Are you willing to sacrifice certainty for the possibility of a more exhilarating and rewarding experience? Or are you content with a more quaint lifestyle in which all is known, change is minimal, and surprises are few and far between? While both have pros and cons and people do choose both extremes and some things between on the spectrum, I myself can't make a sound argument for the latter of the two extremes. To me that is not being risk averse, but rather life averse. What chance for growth and improvement is there if you never try to see what would happen if (insert new action/decision/person/experience here)? How would you know that that end result or experience or relationship wouldn't end up being one of the best things that ever happened to you?

Fine. Some people say that the reward may be all good and dandy, but what if you get hurt? Now I'm not saying go do something illegal because it sounds fun. By all means, keep your morals and values about you, but don't not do something because you fear that pain or embarrassment or failure would be the consequence. So what? So what if you fail? Someone is going to point at you and laugh and say "you failed, hahaha?" Screw em. More often than not those are the people who play it safe fearing someone will point the finger and laugh at them. They will never know what it is to truly succeed at something new and adventurous because they are too scared of themselves to even try. Failure is an opportunity to pick yourself up again and do better. There is a learning curve in all endeavors. You know what not to do next time. So I guess the point of this post, though extremely cliché, is that we all live a little. For ourselves and for the hope that there is something more rewarding out there and that we can find it as long as we never stop trying.

Just my thoughts
Radhi

Look into the crystal ball...

So very recently (specifically since London and CORE) I have had a hard time deciding what it is I want to do with my life-what I want to concentrate in, what I want to minor in, and what I may want to do once I leave BU. Buttttt, I did have a kind of ideal plan. And thanks to the help of some very handy advisors down at the undergrad program office, it seems the plan is ACTUALLY POSSIBLE. SAY WHAT? yah. So I went into my advisor and told her basically this: I want to finish my IM concentration, do a finance and operations management concentration, and get an econ minor in the last 3 semesters I have here. I also needed to declare my Spanish minor which I was supposed to do about a year ago but now it has been so long that the entire system had changed and so I was able to just do it online in the office. So I sat down with the advisor and 20 minutes later I walked out of there with a sheet of paper in my hand that detailed every class I would have to take for the rest of my time here at Boston University to make my "ideal plan" possible. Guess what? It is a full 12 classes. No overloading necessary. No needing special permission. No nothing. The people they have working in that office are geniuses. It is actually pretty awesome how they work with you.

A lot of people complain about how the bureaucracy of universities and how they are only out to get your buck-that the institution of education no longer exists for the student. I can see where these people are coming from. I can see that the price of an education is ridiculous and that universities tend to add on a lot of "extras" at seemingly crazy prices. But I can also appreciate the faculty members who do make it their life's work to make sure that the students to receive the education they pay for, and the advisors that work their utmost to make sure that students are made aware of and take advantage of every opportunity and resource available to them. I think a lot of students complain about the prices they are paying for their education don't then go and take advantage of all of the things they are paying for. If you are paying for a career center in your tuition, GO TO IT. Go to information sessions for firms and go to career counseling. Have a counselor look over your resume. If you are paying for gym access, GO TO THE GYM. If you are paying for advisors, TAKE ADVANTAGE. They know which classes you should be taking, it is their job, and they are thrilled to help you out. Ok that is it with the lecture. I think this is part of my living every day with energy and appreciation for it. So far it has proved rewarding.

Just my thoughts
Radhi