a brief introduction

"And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."

I've always dreaded writing for as long as I can remember. It's not because I think I'm too unimaginative or dull, or because I think I'm a terrible writer. I'm certainly not a great writer - but I want to improve. I believe my aversion to writing stems from the fact that throughout my life, I wasn't offered a lot of creative freedom in what I wrote. Throughout my high school English classes, I was required to write things like stories, essays, literary analyses, etc. But, I was often constrained to writing about topics I frankly cared very little about. I've since realized that to be able to produce good literature, you need to be truly passionate about what you are writing. I wasn't, the majority of the time. Furthermore, I often found my opinions conflicting with the world view I was expected to demonstrate in my writing. And on top of that, my work would be graded based on a very subjective grading scheme. It always felt as if I was writing to satisfy my teacher, rather than writing to express myself.

With that being said, I am grateful for my high school English classes because they gave me a reason to write. Perhaps not the most intrinsically motivated reason - I just wanted to graduate with good grades - but a reason nonetheless. Now that I'm studying computer science in university, I have very little reason to write outside of the two mandatory communications courses I have to take. As I entered my undergraduate studies, I loved the thought of never having to write again. But, I've come to realize that's not necessarily a good thing. Writing is an essential skill. Practicing it not only develops your communication skills, it also enhances your creativity, and sharpens your thinking abilities. I want to cultivate my intellectual vitality.

And so, that's why I'm starting this little blog section on my website. So I can freely express my thoughts, whatever they may be, in a casual manner without the pressures of ticking all the boxes on a rubric, and without being coerced into someone else's world view.

I'll probably write mostly about math and computer science. But expect anything.

If you're looking for my old blog page, it's still up here. I'm migrating a few posts from there that I think still hold up, under the legacy tag.