I read (saw in a ig reel) that some of history's greatest figures would spend hours each day silently sitting in nature to try to spark creative ideas. So today, after rushing back from econ down science hill, I took a moment to appreciate the pretty fall colors outside my suite on old campus. As I sat on the bench outside, I realized that those old people may have had a point. Something about squirrels running around as the sun's light gleamed through the orange leaves brought me a sense of serenity that I hadn't felt in a while. This was quickly interrupted by a reel sent to me by my suitemate, which ultimately led to a short doomscrolling session (still was outside, a win is a win). Notably, unlike the days before, my nose didn't bleed today. A better author than me would find a way to symbolically connect this to adaptation and growth of my character, but unfortunately for you I am not that author and you need to use your imagination to draw the link.

Anyway, I met Brian Cox, aka Logan Roy from Succession, today. He gave a talk on how important art is for society, and his responsibilities as an actor. Specifically, he said that art allows us to examine the human situation, find who we are and what we are meant to do with our time here on this planet. One thing I found interesting was what he said about personal experience. He said that, when acting, drawing upon personal experiences only limits his imagination. Pretending to see himself in his characters did not lead to a more honest portrayal, but in fact caused him to corrupt the creative vision. I think this idea extends to other creative endeavors, including entrepreneurship, as well. By attaching yourself too closely to your idea, rather than focusing on the problem you are trying to solve for the user, you open your entrepreneurial endeavor to failure. Just how Brian Cox delivers the vision of his director rather than his own, you should deliver the vision of your target user. Idk, could be a stretch but thought it was cool.

After meeting the head of Waystar Royco, I rushed to bass to do my linguistics Pset. I took the class to understand natural language processing and large language models at a deeper level, but I now find myself sounding out words letter by letter trying to break down phonemes into IPA characters while contemplating what a word even is. Anyway, still a great class, highly recommend.

To finish off, the lesson of the day is to keep an open mind, sit outside, and try to draw meaning from as many sources as you can. Super cool stuff planned in the next couple days, see you all tomorrow.