* because I like to keep my past writings, I will put my introduction in chronological order.

2018/09/01 (written in Taipei, Taiwan)

I graduated from UW four years ago, moved back to Taiwan, finished my civilian service in a super remote island named "ChiMei", which is located south of Penghu, which is itself an island county west of Taiwan (you get the idea of how remote it is). I was there teaching English (sort of) and mowing lawn (most of the time), though I really enjoyed it there - time simply freezes on that island. Tempo is extremely slow, and I felt kinda disconnected from outer world during my time there, in a good way. For instance, I went back there a year after I finished my service, and the atmosphere made me feel like I just left a day before.

I had to get on with life though. I found a research assistant job in the field of neuroscience, and considered
going for academics in the future, but eventually found my personality - spontaneous, can't handle repeating tasks well - not suitable for academic life. Also the reason I pursued neuroscience was because of my interest in virtual reality at that time, but at current stage, the academic field of neuroscience hardly has anything to do with the development of virtual reality (or it's just that I failed to see connection). I quit my job last year(2017), while around the same time I tore my ACL when playing basketball, so I went for a surgery.

Lying on my bed, trying to recover from ACL surgery, without a job and didn't really know what my future holds, I had a mild existential crisis. Reading books helped, and the fact that I've kept diaries for more than 10 years also helped, because it gave me a sense that I had left some traces.

Without contemplating my future and how I would achieve my goal, I got another research assistant job in the field of medical education, solely because the title of the research project I was responsible for has word "simulation" in it. I couldn't meet the high demand of my boss and failed magnificently.

This experience really shook me though - because I actually tried hard, but failed. Then I recalled a quote, "you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love" (this is from Jim Carrey btw). I somewhat felt like I manifested this quote, so I started pondering myself with this old cliche question - what is it that I love? What is my interest in virtual reality for? Can I establish a robust plan to attain what I love? A goal?

And the most important of all: what is the meaning of life?

I quit my research assistant job last month, and actually figured something out. Baby steps though. Let's meet and chat and have a friendly conversation!

2014/08/15 (written in Seattle, USA)
CURRENT MISSION

Try to explore American northwest, which I have stayed for four years, before I leave!!

ABOUT ME

(A brief college story) I am - well, I "was" - a student studying in University of Washington and recently graduated with a degree of Psychology. When I first got into college, I aimed at pre-med (even though I am an international student - what was I thinking about?) and a neurobiology major. But life is unexpected and things change, and I thought I was no longer interested in neuroscience and doctors anymore. So my series of changing majors came like this: neurobiology - biology - ? don't know what to study - history and philosophy of science - philosophy - psychology (wanted to study social psychology) - sociology - psychology. Because I got into the major really late, I finished all my psychology courses in one year; it was tough, but I had fun studying it anyways. However, after I finished college and psych courses, I discovered that my true academic interest lies in - guess what - neurobiology. I found out that I am interested in developing virtual reality and figured that I should go for neuroscience in the future.

So, boom, an endless academic loop was created. I spent so much time shopping majors and eventually ended up wanting to study same stuff that I wanted to study when I first got into the college.

My friends enjoy making fun of this. There was once that one of my friends asked me: "if you could have restarted your college and chosen any major you wanted with no concern of grade (one of the many reasons I couldn't study neurobiology was grade - but that's another story), would you study neurobiology instead?" "Yes," I replied. "Well, then you wasted so much time and energy and tuition jumping from one major to another! What's the point?" I thought for a moment, and then said, "but I wouldn't have known what I am studying neurobiology for had I not done this." I guess life can be pointless, but life itself is still heading towards the right direction anyways.

PHILOSOPHY

Everything will be fine. Really, everything.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

2018/09/01
To stay at someone else's couch is a surefire way to chat with locals. More efficient than trying to awkwardly say hi to someone sitting next to me in a bar (I still do it though).

2014/08/15
HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Friendly chatting!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I don't really have a couch surfing experience, except that I lived in a boat house for a month when I visited Germany. That's as close to the couchsurfing experience as I can get.

Interests

2018/09/01 Last updated

Movies - my older brother is a movie director, and I just can't resist his passionate influence on me.

Music - I play violin for ten+ years. I used to be proud of this fact, but after I went to a master class affiliated with music festival in Northwest Germany, witnessed such great skills and relentless practice displayed by other professional Taiwanese students majoring in music - I don't talk about my violin playing anymore. I am an amateur, playing just for fun. Real amateur.

Sports - running, cross country, weight lifting, basketball, baseball, football(soccer), etc. I basically enjoy all kinds of sports. Also enjoy watching professional basketball and baseball.

Meditation - I am interested in Buddhism.

Yoga - Nine months after I had a surgery to repair my tore ACL, I could still feel uneasiness in my quads and ligament, and therefore I went to a yoga place in hope of smoothing my tense muscles and myofascial. To my surprise, yoga not only smooths my muscles and myofascial, but also smooths my mind.

• arts
• writing
• yoga
• meditation
• shopping
• movies
• reading
• violin
• baseball
• basketball
• martial arts
• history
• psychology
• mountains
• gaming
• google map

Music, Movies, and Books

2018/09/01 Last updated

Favorite Movies: Her(absolute favorite!), Children of Men, City of God, Pulp Fiction, Big Fish, District 9, Drive, M(1933), Moneyball, Brad’s Status, everyone’s favorite The Shawshank Redemption
Favorite Animation: Ratatouille, How to Train Your Dragon

Music:
The Killers (favorite band), Pink Floyd, Oasis, Arcade Fire, Nick Drake (favorite folk singer), and lots of folk stuff. James Vincent Mcmorrow, James Arthur, Tom Rosenthal (indie), Jeff Buckley, Andrew Bird, Jose Gonzalez, King Creosote, Keaton Henson..... just to name a few. I discover new music with youtube "side bar adventures".

I also listen to Taiwanese or Chinese indie music, band and singers such as 鄭宜農、老王樂隊、告五人、先知瑪莉、菊花夜行軍(stunning album)、晨曦光廊、柯泯薰、萬能青年旅店(also a stunning album)、陳建瑋、逃跑計劃、蘇運瑩. You can copy/paste to find these mandarin singers on YouTube.

Favorite Books:
“The Antidote: Happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking”
-Don't let title scare you - this book is really fun and informative.
“Man’s Search for Meaning”
-An antidote for readers with existential crisis, like me.
“The ONE Thing”
-If you want to achieve anything extraordinary, this is a must-read.
“Into the Woods” by John Yorke
-Not only is this an excellent book about crafting screenplay, it also provides great insight about life.
“Who’s in Charge?”
-For neuroscience geeks who don’t believe in free will. Take that!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

2018/09/01
I've kept diaries for more than ten years. Starting from 2008/02/25, to be exact.

2014/08/15
I went to Nepal with a study group in Summer 2011. Our group was led by a professor in Nursing, and the purpose of this study group was to investigate local public health systems. Landscapes along mountain treks and extremely rural areas amazed me; besides landscape, I met clinicians who stayed in deep mountains taking care of remote villages rather than making profits, also students who trekked two hours everyday just to make it to school.
These taught me to appreciate vastly different background of the people I meet.

Teach, Learn, Share

2018/09/01 Last Updated

-I speak very fine mandarin (duh) and I am willing to pick up more language skills or share it with you.
-My undergraduate degree is in Psychology, so I might be able to teach you some mind-reading.
-Just kidding. That's not what psychology is for.
-I practice one of the martial arts - wing chun - but I am far from being an expert. I can explain some of the core concepts to you though! And if you know any martial arts, please share it with me as well.
-I enjoy learning history because every culture has their subjective interpretation - and that just baffles me. For instance, I was born and raised in Taiwan, so naturally I would think Taiwan is an independent country. For people that were born and raised in China though, they would naturally think Taiwan is part of China. I was taught so, they were taught so, and how does this (born with) polar opposite mesh together?! I have no idea lol.
-but let's be friends and find commonalities first.

Countries I’ve Visited

Germany, Malaysia, Nepal

Countries I’ve Lived In

Taiwan, United States