The Amigo is Back!

This blog is all about other people, but I think I should write a little about why I was gone, and what happened.

People have asked me, "What happened to The Amigo Project?" Well, actually, my dad was the only one that asked. But I'm sure a couple of people were thinking it! I replied to him that I was too busy with school, internship applications, yadda yadda yadda. But a couple of days ago I realized something:

I'm stale.

Stale like year-old tortilla chips. I had lost my crunch. My wife is usually there to warn me when this happens.

Mathematics is a beautiful subject, and I can't explain how much it fascinates me. But it's like being in a dusty museum all day with only your thoughts to keep you company. Eventually you will become dusty too. I did.

I was reading a beautiful book named "Man's Search For Meaning" by Viktor Frankl last night. The first words of the preface caught me off-guard: " Dr. Frankl, author-psychiatrist, sometimes asks his patients who suffer from a multitude of torments great and small, 'Why do you not commit suicide?' "

He does this to see what really gets his patients through the day. I asked myself a variation of that question last night (I didn't ask about suicide--mathematics is a dusty museum, not a dementor). What do I wake up for in the morning? Is it the study of the financial markets? Is it foundational topology? Game theory? I struggled with this question.

Then I woke up one morning and it dawned on me. Suddenly I knew what gets me out of bed.

People.

I love people. I love their stories. I love to learn what makes them tick. I love their senses of humor, their passions, their vices. I love hearing it face-to-face.

I love The Amigo Project.

So I'm back. But enough about me. I want to talk about you.