05 Side Quests

Everything that refuses to be filed

Not everything needs a five-year plan. This is where the hobbies, obsessions, experiments, trips, games, food, and other detours live — including a few side quests that somehow became competitive.

A small white birthday cake with a single lit candle, decorated with a drawing of Omori and the word OMORI — A birthday cake, obviously

Game

Yes, I Really Like Omori

Played it around 2021 and it never really left. At this point "I love Omori" is less a recommendation and more a recurring character trait.

I played OMORI around 2021 and it never really left. I like the game for the obvious reasons — the music, the art style, the characters, the strange mix of humor and unease — but mostly because it is one of those pieces of media that kept becoming more interesting after I finished it. I have probably mentioned it to an unreasonable number of friends, teachers, and family members since then.

I love how OMORI can move between cute, almost childlike imagery and something much more unsettling without feeling like two different games. The soundtrack does something similar: it can be funny, nostalgic, peaceful, or deeply uncomfortable depending on the scene.

Favourite characters: all of them. That is not a dodge.

Three tracks

“You Must Carry On.” One of, if not the, favourite. It’s not energetic like many of the popular boss fights, it’s not climactic like the Final Duet scene, and it’s not even relatively popular — barely making the top 30 on Apple Music. But still, this is exactly the kind of music that can get me teary-eyed immediately.

“See You Tomorrow.” I love the idea of being able to say “see you tomorrow” to someone else.

“Snow Forest – A Single Flower Blooms.” This one just sounds really cool.

Those are the top three. I love all of the OST.

A snow-covered ridge line under a deep blue sky, a single contrail overhead — On the mountain

Snowboarding

Why Ski when you can Snowboard?

Five years of snowboarding, usually at Mammoth Mountain — with an emphasis on the "occasionally" and an emphasis on the "falling".

Five years in, usually at Mammoth Mountain.

Add a trip or two worth naming, and one story about a run that went badly

A green fairway on a hill under grey cloud, a city spread out in the haze below — A view from the course

Golf

A Complicated Relationship with Golf

Good enough to keep going back, bad enough that going back is clearly a decision rather than a reward.

Add golf photos and text — recreational stories, the courses, and the running joke

The golf idea that won a global business competition →

A chef's gloved hands at a sushi counter, a wooden box of nigiri waiting on the board — At the counter

Food

Things Worth Eating Twice

Ranking restaurants is a hobby with an unhealthy amount of infrastructure behind it. The list lives on Beli.

The full ranking lives on Beli. The short version: someone needs to give Cream Pan a Michelin star.

Beli profile

Open the NASM Certified Nutrition Coach certificate PDF

The certificate, valid through 14 January 2026

Nutrition

Certified to Tell Myself to Eat Properly

A NASM Certified Nutrition Coach certification, used so far on exactly one client: me, and the question of how to eat for swim training on a school schedule.

The National Academy of Sports Medicine certified me as a Nutrition Coach through 14 January 2026. The credential runs on a two-year cycle and takes a retake of the exam to renew, so it is listed here as something I held, not something I currently hold.

I used the coaching knowledge on myself. The point was to stop guessing about my own training: planning meals around swim sets, keeping protein and hydration consistent, and working out what recovery food is realistic on a school schedule. That meal planning ended up as part of the physical-fitness goal for the Congressional Award.

NASM certificate (PDF)

Some side quests get competitive

Achievement: How Did We Get Here?

Harvard Crimson Business Competition, 2025

A 48-hour competition, a four-person team, and an AI plus augmented-reality golf caddie. It ended as Senior Division Global Champion — but the useful part was the reminder that an idea is only as good as the team that can actually execute it.

★ Senior Division Global Champion

The point isn't the trophy. It's that turning an idea into something executable needs management, commercial thinking, and a team — not just the technical part.

Read what happened →