I stumbled upon a post from a former TA of mine. He said he now has 500k followers on TikTok. As I checked the timeline, I found out his first video came out after I had graduated.
Graduation day wasn’t long ago, yet I already felt my school time slipping into the past.
His TikTok content features study tips and daily life with his girlfriend. Each video gets hundreds of comments, creating quite a buzz.
He was our TA in the advanced algorithms course. Despite being my TA, he is actually younger than me. He looks handsome and does exceptionally well in academics. He has a beautiful girlfriend, and now he is famous on social media. he seems to have it all.
Meanwhile, at 3 AM, I am alone by the kitchen sink washing dishes.
Emotions overwhelmed me.
It is simply inevitable to meet such extraordinary peers at Peking University.
I was deeply into philosophy during my university days. It made me insensitive to worldly affairs. As a graduate of the very top university, I was sure that I’d never have to worry about finding a job. Other than that, wealth and fame didn’t matter too much to me.
I also had a deep belief in artificial intelligence, viewing it as something philosophical.
I probably wouldn’t care so much, had this happened before I graduated.
But change is the only constant.
I remember a business trip soon after I started to work. A colleague of mine, a man in his 30s, said, “At our age, all you think about is making money.” At that time, I just smiled, dismissing his words.
Yet, a year later, thinking back on it, I smile again, but in a different light this time.