I’m already sixteen?!
This year was great in general. I learned lots of fun stuff, whether it has to do with olympiads or school-related stuff.
It’s interesting because even though I’m sixteen, I’m one of the oldest ones in the class of 2025. And although I may have regretted being back and not being with my old friends in class of ’24, I’m still very glad that I got moved down. I met lots of awesome people with unique interests and can’t wait to journey with them throughout high school.
Sixteen is one of my favorite numbers. It’s the only positive integer that satisfies xy = yx with x,y being natural numbers. It’s also the number I picked out in fifth grade, when I had wished very hard for before picking it out of a bunch of face-down cards. Here was the presentation we eventually made.
Looking back, fifteen was just me “getting my feet wet”. Even though the cliche is true, sixteen can be the year where I make lots of great stuff happen – like qualifying for the USAMO and the gold division of USACO. It can hold lots of great potential for swimming, too. However, this will not happen if I repeat what I did being fifteen – instead, I have learned the power of the growth mindset. Using this strategy, let’s see where I will end up next year. Will I be able to solve olympiad problems and even hard Codeforces problems? We’ll leave that up to my effort and determination this upcoming year.
Today was quite a great day for me – I spent an entire afternoon making twelve math problems. I originally wanted to make sixteen, but I felt pretty burned out afterwards. Thus, I took a walk and coming back, met my friend, who gave me a Fyrebird pack and eventually a book later.
And lots and lots of birthday wishes, a lot more than I expected. Thank you all for the kind wishes, love y’all 🙂
Last but not least, my parents prepared a great dinner and a cake, which is basically all a birthday kid could ask for.
Sixteen, onward. Strike, drum!
