Who I Am Matters

After reading this book, I found his success in making a business out of his farm stems from his passion in farming. He seems to have an endless fascination with growing crops and his craft. It is very clear that he adopted a rather unconventional business model, where he is able to micromanage the farm himself, including “planting the seeds, watching it germinate and grow”. I admire him for chasing after his passion in life and sticking with it for so long despite problems encountered along the way including financial difficulties. His undying love for what he does might be the crux to why he was able to keep his business running. Despite being an autobiography, this book offers the reader a few tips for business or even life lessons—one of which is the importance of finding passion in your business.  While other business-minded farmers would likely want to expand the size of their farms, he wanted to scale down his business from selling produces to grocery stores to loc...

I was fortunate enough to be part of a trip to Granada, Spain as a sighted guide. This was one of the most memorable jobs I have had. It changed the way I perceived the world and life in general. When I found out about this unique opportunity, I was a bit hesitant. I did not know whether I was qualified enough to take the role of a sighted guide. Little did I know that I was about to experience a drastic transformation that made a permanent impact on my life.  This trip to Spain was organized by Traveleyes, the world’s first commercial travel agency specialized in organizing trips for visually impaired and sighted travelers. Before we delve into the role of sighted guides, what is visual impairment? Visually impairment consist of many types including loss of visual clarity, visual field, and visual distortion. People who are visually impaired could carry a combination of these features. It is especially crucial for sighted guides to understand that people have different types an...

After reading the first half of the book, I would like to share some of my views on it. I was particularly impressed by his bravery to set up his own cafe and run it solely by himself with “no cake mixes, no canned fillings, no waiters, no corporate offices”. Buying ingredients, cooking food, depositing earnings into the bank — I couldn’t believe these were all done by himself. Some of his descriptions were intriguing, “With just four tables squeezed together and a minuscule kitchen on the side, this humble space represented the start of my career.” I liked this quote a lot as it implants a memorable impression in the reader’s mind, indicating his humble beginning. Then further down the chapters, he referenced this but this time, he said it grew to become a 12-table-restaurant. He effectively uses changes to his restaurant as a reflection of the development and success he has had with his restaurant business. Another quote I liked was, “As the ferry pulls out of the Seattle dock, the ...

What does Hong Kong look like? If I were to sum it up in two words, it would be “beautiful juxtaposition”. From above, you see relentless columns of high-rising skyscrapers densely clustered together; everything seems to be the epitome of urban living. When the pedestrian light turns green, a sea of people charge across the streets and the cars line up at the traffic intersection one by one. Yet beyond all this, mountain ranges surround the city center, making some of the best hiking trails in Asia. I left myself with nothing but surprize when I found out that I was going to be studying at USC in Los Angeles for my freshman year. LA and Hong Kong are virtually the ends of a spectrum. Hong Kong is known for its humidity so walking on the streets to the convenient store in your neighbourhood would mean soaking yourself in sweat; conversely, LA is practically a dessert. LA culture is generally very different. I have noticed that everything is quite slow-paced here; everybody takes...