What does it take to get to know someone? A few words, a few sentences, a few pages, a whole book, more? From the fact you're reading this, you already know a few things about me. My name is CJ, and I'm an MIT '23. You can see my avatar, which is what I looked like, once. If you clicked Keep Reading to read the rest of this, you can see above that I'm in Courses 18 and 6-3, which are Mathematics and Computer Science. Is that it?
We could talk about the things I like, if that will help. My favorite video game genre is deckbuilding roguelike, like Backpack Hero, which I've been playing a lot of lately. More academic interests include model theory, dependent types, fan studies, and linguistic typology. I like Galaxy Trucker and Roll for the Galaxy, which, despite the similar names, are unrelated board games. I like pop music, for some definition of pop music.
Or we could go on an adventure. Many of my favorite places aren't accessible right now because they're in the Student Center: the ESP office, the SIPB office, La Verde's. Lobdell and La Sala, W20-407. When East Campus will close for renovations later this summer, more of my favorite places will disappear: my old room, the TV Lounge, KL, my new room.
We can learn, experimentally, what exactly it takes to get to know someone. We can talk about institutional change and the meaning of distance. And maybe it'd get quiet enough that I forget about how tired I'm feeling, and for a moment, it'd feel like I could live forever. And maybe you'd feel the same way.
And then we could tell each other stories.
But until then, I hope you enjoy reading mine.
