Welcome to my blog

In Medias Res is an artistic device, or narrative technique, whose definition you can find in any glossary of literary terms. It’s also one of the few things that I remember learning in high school. It means to start a narrative not from its true beginning, but rather from some middle point. This technique, according to the infallible Wikipedia, allows for the characters, setting, and conflict of a tale to be introduced through a series of flashbacks or through characters who relate past events to each other. Wouldn’t Horace, the old Roman lyric poet, be proud of what he left for us?
I welcome you to a life already in progress:

When I dropped out of university, or when I voluntarily got lost in Myanmar for a month, several people asked me, “What’re you doing? Do you want out? Is that it?” I replied in the negative, saying that it’s quite the opposite; “I want in.” When an opportunity to start or experience something new, make progress, or exact a positive change presents itself, you have got to seize the moment. Time isn’t something that any of us can get back, and when it gets to the end, you have no choice but to let go. This is a fact, or at least a damn good suggestion. And as we all know, our lives are designed and defined by these opportunities; often more seemingly by the ones we miss.

In starting this online diary of sorts, and re-acknowledging a truth that I discovered several years ago - keeping a record of one’s feelings, reflections, experiences, and goals is of great value - I feel disappointed that I didn’t follow through with this idea earlier. However, what I will try to do with this blog, as I spend the next 10 months living in the People’s Republic of China, is share with you photos, stories, insight, and perhaps a thing or two that I feel I’ve learned over the course of my short 24 years. Please write to me with comments, suggestions, or questions, as this blog is sure to evolve.

Also, I will be maintaining a professional blog on the developments associated with my schistosomiasis research, which can be found here.