Welcome to my blog! Who am I?
In my resume, I always introduce myself as "an artistically-minded STEM student living in Jeju island, South Korea. I am interested in almost everything, ranging from math (especially statistics), debating, graphic design, to environmental problems. I hope that I can contribute positively to the world and my community using my skills to address many of the social problems that pervade our lives."--and this is perhaps this paragraph perfectly encapsulates who I am.
But what is left out in my resume is more about what I am like as a human. I love trying new things that seem exciting to me, and I can at times be too passionate. An example is when I first started visual design using Indesign, I pulled on two all-nighters because it was so fun. Even more, I didn't realize that I had even pulled on an all-nighter on the second day until my alarm went on. Luckily, I have literally zero talent in video games, so most of the fields where I expend my energy are quite productive ones.
I am also an extremely competitive person; I do not only enjoy competing with others but also almost find meaning in life through competition. I was dejected during the COVID-19 outbreak, partly because I couldn't go out and pursue active activities, but also because all competitions and tournaments had been cancelled. Because of my personality, I dive into anything that I deem to be interesting or competitive, and most people call me a workaholic. Although I totally disagree, my best friend would tell me that alcoholics disagree that they are alcoholic and the same applies to me. I respond with a laugh, but if I am workaholic, I think that is at least better than being addicted to anything else such as games or alcohol.
I also agree to objectivism, but only to the extent that selfishness must not be considered evil, nor should altruism be thought as sacred or an objective good. However, I am an anti-realist, and I believe that moral standards are entirely a social construct. I used to be a hardcore conservative when I was in middle school, but I am much toned down now. I had a short period where I was an extreme hard-core communist, but now I lean a little more towards the left. Likewise, I have a very strange philosophy, so you can read my "thoughts" column for more details. As you can see from this long text, I am also a very, very talkative and gregarious person.
What is in my blog?
Even I am pretty unsure about how to describe my blog. I began writing my blog because I think a lot about many things that others usually wouldn't (i.e.. what would the economy look like in the 4th dimension, what is successful leadership, etc), and I thought it would be great to document some of my thoughts and share them online.
I also thought that it would be nice to have a record of my high school life. I believe that academic success during high school life is irrelevant with future success, but it is an indicator of how likely you are to try your best in the future. If we don't even try to break our limits during high school, there is no guarantee that we will be able to do so after we get a profession. To this philosophy, I try to make the best out of my life. A hundred years are too short to do all the things that I want to do, and I wish to make the most out of it. Then, it would be quite sad to have no record of what things I tried, succeeded, and failed during the prologue of my life. Hence, you can think of this blog as an exposition of my life. You will be able to see what type of person I am, what I do, and what I am interested in.
The other reason why I decided to document my life is for others. Again, I am a very competitive person, and thus I participate in many activities and competitions. I also believe in equality of opportunity, but I saw so many friends and underclassmen that are deprived of such opportunities because they don't know what competitions or activities are out there. I generally know more about them because I am more interested in competitions, and I wish to share my knowledge and know-how with them. You are more than welcome to download reports that I've written, iff you do not use it for commercial purposes. (Actually, how much could you even earn by selling things I wrote.)
Finally, I am interested in a very eccentric combination of areas--just generally speaking, how easy would it be to find a mathematician interested in debating that also likes to paint and is obsessed about hypertrophy?
So if you somehow wandered into my blog, you'll be able to expect the following:
1. Some of my random thoughts that you might find intriguing.
2. More formal stuff. Organized work of things that I am interested in, book reviews, or some essays.
3. What I do in and out of school / Plans for the future.
4. Links to other websites that I made. Currently, there are links to:
Yoon's Gallery, Penguin Debating Archive, JFNODC website, Lucidity website, Blog of regeneration, and the Stats and Modelling Enterprise.
5. My views on art or other non-academic matters.
6. Information about competitions.
Future plans?
I love learning and trying new things; I believe life is too short to do all of these, and hence we should try to do as much as we can to make the best use of this short hundred years.
These are just a list of things I want to study, read, or do in the future:
You'll notice that many of them are about competitions, and that's because competitions are fun and also are an objective milestone of my progress. I've also developed a huge interest in research, and the following are some topics that I will research about.
*This is constantly updated, and the ones I've accomplished are underlined. (I can't find how to put in the strikethrough)
Math
- Learn Multivariable Calculus (Current)
- Do a math-art exhibition
- Hold a big math festival in my school
- Learn Differential equations and Linear Algebra (Current)
- Watch MIT OCW Lectures on Topology
- Above 13 in the AIME & Award in KMO R2
- Above second place in the HiMCM or IMMC
Physics
- Qualify for BPhO 2 & Above silver award in PUPC
- Create the shredder-extruder system, make something for my grandfather
- Award in the British Astronomy Olympiad
- Successfully host the STEM-Art exhibition after understanding Navier-Stokes (Current)
Debate
- Participate in world schools
- Establish & Host a debate competition
- Make a joint debating club with many schools in Korea. I wish younger students can use this as an opportunity to develop their skills.
- Create an online resource-sharing website
Community Service
- Penguin Village: Change the community center into an art exhibition
- Voice for the Voiceless: Publish Guideline for Refugees
Research Topics for the Future
- Simulation of Jeju Sea using Navier-Stokes Equation
- How Asteroid 10199 Chariklo Obtained its Rings
- MSIDS Model and COVID-19 Modeling
- Saxon Bowl (A problem I particularly enjoyed on the 2020 KYPT)
- Cosine Rule in the nth Dimension or with a given function of curvature
And.... Read lots of books!