Category: on my mind

The general framework of thinking from a future endpoint backwards to the present seems to be a particularly useful method. For example, it is a useful trick for solving problems in game theory and other puzzles, as well as for…

One of my most-thumbed books is a poetry anthology simply titled The Top 500 Poems. I have about a dozen of my favorite poems bookmarked, one of which is P. B. Shelley’s “Ozymandias”: I met a traveler from an antique…

Dear Eric, It’s only a few days after Thanksgiving, and already I can feel you admonishing me for wallowing in sadness. Despite the immense shock and sadness of your passing away this Thanksgiving day, I can’t but feel thankful for…

My best friend is dying. It’s strange, seeing the statement written down. For one, its tautological properties are taunting: everyone, by virtue of being alive, eventually dies. For another, I’ve refused to stack rank my friends since at least middle…

Maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, when you let your guard down, life has a way of sneaking up on you unawares, and before you know it, you’ve become exactly that which you promised so long ago to…