It’s funny when we start doing something we previously thought we’d never do. We choose to pay attention to what interests us at the moment. Everything else exists, but not in our world.

For example, I don’t give a flying ferret about gardening, but I know other people do. I occasionally see commercials and advertisements for garden and lawn supplies, but I never pay them any mind. It’s not because I’m not fond of nice yards. I frankly don’t care for gardening.

I won’t care until all of a sudden I do.

I may own a house one day and…

In the mid-1850s, William Thomson and Rudolph Clausius stated the first and second laws of thermodynamics. They rationalized that energy is conserved and that heat does not spontaneously flow from a colder area to a hotter one.

I like to imagine that these two scientists, of English and Polish descent, respectively, pondered their theories over tea and crumpets in a room full of scrunched notepads and mathematical documents.

Their efforts might have looked like a modern-day collab: something my friends and I do when we have a great idea and want to bring it to life. We brainstorm at the…

Trying to remember everything that happened during your childhood is like finding a specific photo on your iPhone. You know it’s there somewhere, but it’s hidden amongst the thousands of dog photos and meme screenshots.

I only remember fragments of mine. Apparently, I’ve been to Canada before, but I can’t recall a thing about it. My parents will ask, “Remember the gondola ride we took when you were four?” I’ll stare at them with blank eyes while digging deep into my subconscious.

Every once in a while, I stumble upon a memory shard, and I think about what could have…

Hey there. It’s me.

We’re together right now, but we both know this won’t last.

It’s been a fun ride. We’ve spent a lot of time together, but I have to go.

I’ll miss the laughs. I’ll even miss the down days when I felt lonely. You’ve been my partner in crime for over a year now, but time changes everything.

We got together because the world demanded it. It was weird for me at first. But after a while, I started to love our relationship.

I have mixed feelings about it, but this is just what needs to happen.

…

A strong work ethic is a desirable quality, but can you have too much of a good thing? Work can be great for the mind and soul, but the constant pressure to work has a downside: fatigue and burnout.

I built a startup for two years, all while working a full-time job. I was on the brink of burnout just about every day. I jumped at the chance for a break whenever I could. A two-week stint in Thailand seemed to do the trick, at least for a while. I returned home and found myself just as tired as ever.

…

Years ago, my parents took my brother and me to stay in the Wamona Hotel near Yosemite National Park. It’s a quaint, old hotel about 30 or so minutes from the park entrance.

One night, we joined a stargazing group, and a guide led us out onto the golf course adjacent to the hotel. I won’t forget the most transparent night sky I’ve ever seen. Maybe I was young, and it was just my imagination, but every star and nebula in the sky opened themselves up to me.

Lying down on the unkempt golf course grass, I lost track of…

I had a few professors who worked for the Los Angeles Times. They were experienced journalists, each in their respective writing fields.

Even journalists should try and tell an emotional story, they would say to me.

There’s one way to do it, and it’s to put the audience in the middle of the action. You want to make them feel like they are there, hearing, smelling, and even feeling what’s happening.

Coming up with a story is easy. Keeping your audience engaged is something else entirely.

Here are some ways to make a reader read a few lines, lick their…

I’m enamored by Tiktok, and I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed to say it.

If I was 14, I’d be all in on TikTok. I’d spend my days scheming hilarious video ideas to become an influencer before I got my braces off.

Alas, I’m 25 and still live with my parents. If I was born in a different generation, that could’ve been me with an exclusive invite to a TikTok house.

I don’t have a TikTok account, but I think I would do a fantastic job as a creator. I make ridiculous video edits for my friends all…