Hobbies and Interests
Here are a few of my hobbies and interests outside of my career and work. These activities are essential to daily life for me. Not only do they provide me a meditation that prevents burnout and stress, but also serve as another passion of mine that I find as much drive to work on as aerospace engineering.
Vinyl Collection
I have been collecting vinyls since I was around 16. As of today, I own around 50 records, and it’s only going to grow bigger. I’m an amateur audiophile, so I deeply appreciate quality of sound and good music. A few of my favorite records are First Light by Makoto Matsushita, To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar, and Donuts by J Dilla. My collection majorly consists of Hip-Hop, Jazz, 80s Japanese Pop, and Psych Rock, but there are a few standouts.
Feel free to check out my full collection on Discogs! It’s a website that allows you to keep track of records, and features a marketplace to appraise, sell, and purchase from other users!
Video Games
I like to play video games in my downtime. It mostly helps me stay in touch and hang out with my friends that I can’t see often anymore, as they’ve graduated and spread out to different cities. Multiplayer games I like to play are League of Legends, CounterStrike, BattleBit, and Grand Theft Auto V. My favorite singleplayer games are Elden Ring, Binding of Isaac, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Red Dead Redemption 2.
Music Production
I like to produce music on the side, mostly House and Hip-Hop beats. I’ve been producing since I was 15, and have moved from Ableton, to Logic Pro X, to FL Studio. I’ve never done it to try and get a huge following or a lot of listeners. I only do it to finish something and be proud of it, and music is the medium that I resonated the most with.
Feel free to check out my SoundCloud! I’ve posted on there since I started, and have a variety of beats that I’m very proud of.
Gym and Exercise
Staying in shape is just as important as school and work, as it contributes not just to physical health, but mental health, too. Over the past few years I’ve been weightlifting and bulking to gain weight and hit my goal of 140 lbs. while improving my strength. I currently use a combination of creatine and preworkout before lifting, and protein and mass gainer after, while trying to eat healthy every day. Working out is best in the morning to start your day feeling refreshed! I was on the varsity Swim and Water Polo teams in high school, so I still try to incorporate that on Saturdays to stay in touch with my roots.
Bartending
I believe bartending is an art. Hundreds of different drinks exist in the world and are each carefully crafted to appeal to an extremely specific taste. Vast amounts of detail, care, and expertise go into each cocktail, and I think a mastered bartender deserves more appreciation. I have had my fair share of restaurant and service jobs, and at each one I have always loaded my bartenders with a barrage of questions about what they do. Someday I’d like to become a master at the bar.
