If you're on this page, I presume it is because you want to learn more about me as a person/idea/philosophy/enigma/social experiment/etc. aside from my academic and career development. I don't know exactly how much or how little you wish to know, but I will lay everything I am willing to offer out here regardless.
I was raised and educated primarily in Richmond, BC, a municipality within the Metro Vancouver area that is best known for fishing, agriculture, and Chinese food. I did not have a particularly remarkable childhood, I think. I was surrounded by people who loved me-- and that is all I could ever ask for. One of those people is my father, who graduated with a BASc in Civil Engineering from UBC before the fall of the Soviet Union. My older sister, the smarter sibling, is currently studying Engineering Physics at the same institution. As a result, the clear path for me was to attend UofT out of spite (this is a joke, mostly).
I spent most of my life online, as is the case for the majority of young people in my generation. In the real world, I was quite lonely, isolated, and self-loathing due to bullying and ostracization, so staring at computers for hours at a time was my escape. Through the internet, I developed intense fixations on various topics, including the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. I watched (and rewatched) the HBO mini-series Chernobyl (2019), I wrote, produced, and narrated a podcast about Chernobyl, I completed various school projects on nuclear energy, and I ate up any books about nuclear engineering and its history that I could get my hands on. This "autism-fuelled obsession" (as my friends like to put it) ended up being the catalyst for me to seriously pursue engineering.
My love for engineering also came about as a result of growing up in an age where knowledge about social injustices, war, climate disasters, and other global perils were widely accessible through TV and social media. I am fortunate to have never witnessed missiles or drones flying above my head, though the same cannot be said for millions of children across the globe. I'd like to spend my career examining the ways in which engineers have intentionally or unintentionally contributed to injustice and oppression; from building weapons of mass destruction to designing highway expansions that cut through marginalised neighbourhoods. More importantly, I want to empower the next generation of engineers to act more ethically and responsibly than their predecessors.
I feel that now would be an appropriate time to talk about the things that make me "tick", per se. I enjoy almost all genres of music, particularly indie, rock, folk, hip-hop, R&B, J-pop, alt, country, musicals, game soundtracks, and "mainstream" pop. I will genuinely listen to anything--from horny millennial club music to Chinese folk music. If it matters, I sided with Kendrick Lamar in his beef with Drake, and I believe J. Cole was incredibly wise and humble to drop out of the race early on. My favourite musicals include Mean Girls, Hadestown, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hanson, and EPIC. In another life, if I'd been more talented, I could see myself being a professional musician.
Outside of school and work, I enjoy playing and watching video games (The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption 2, Resident Evil, the Sims 4, Bloons TD 6, indie titles), going on long walks, writing stories, organising things, making spreadsheets, web development, and reading. Since birth I've had a vivid imagination, and to this day my most beloved and frequent hobby is daydreaming about fictional characters and worlds I've made up in my mind. Speaking of, if you ever see me in person, please ask me about Dillon "Diomedes" Malik Owen.
When I inevitably die, I hope I will be remembered for trying to make the world a little bit better for those who will come after me. To quote my favourite high school teacher: "Don't aspire to be a great person, aspire to be a good one".