Howdy

     Hey (or howdy) to all who are reading this. My name is Weiran Liu (although I do go by other nicknames sometimes) and I am currently a 16 year-old junior. My goal for this year is to survive - in other words, maintaining a 4.0 GPA while working, sports, participating in other extracurriculars, spending time with friends and finding some downtime as well. My dream school is Stanford, which I had the opportunity to visit last summer, and is the source of my motivation to do as much as I can. Although it may be a stretch, it is still worth a try.
     In contrast to last summer which was spent in California and swimming 7 practices a week for my club team, this one was spent working. I worked 40 hour weeks over the summer so I could save up for some of my expenses. The real highlight of my summer (surprise surprise it wasn't having a job) was that I started boxing. It gave me an outlet to let my stress out as well as a new training goal. It was a new sport for me that unlike my previous ones - track and swimming year round - hasn't damaged my joints yet. I also met new friends who encourage me and challenge me to live a healthier lifestyle, i.e. running 4 miles a day.
     If I could have any superpower I would pick teleporting or being able to walk through walls and other objects. It would make navigating much easier...especially in the halls of Henry Clay. I would also argue that being able to read minds is a great super power to have - after all, who wouldn't want to? My friend recently told me of a superpower from the show Heroes where a character is able to copy the superpowers of others, but that's just cheating.
     I love music. It has always been a big part of my life. It is pretty safe to say that Pandora is one of my most visited sites. But I really enjoy MentalFloss which provides me with my weekly dose of "random facts no one really needs to know but are still cool to learn about". The link to the channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/user/MentalFlossVideo
     I also enjoy painting late at night and hope to slowly improve. Whenever I can and when the weather permits, I like to hike, paddleboard, and spend time outside. I hope to someday return to Lake Tahoe, arguably one of the best places I have ever been to. Below is a picture of it as well as my latest painting.