after the hackathon at LAHacks, I had 2 days to explore Los Angeles and do fun stuff
I started off by going to UCLA:
I said and do some work in a library as I wait for one of my two teammates to give me the green lights and approval for swiping me in to the dining hall, especially because I can’t even pay to enter. I need a student to swipe me in. But then at noon they have not responded to me yet. So I had to find an alternative approach: get someone to swipe me in
I was unsure if people would be willing to do that for me but there was one way to find out
so I started walking there while also searching for a cardboard to use for both to find a person to swipe me in and do a podcast with people.
took me 20 seconds and 2 interactions to get a swipe. It was from this beautiful lady from Seattle who studies psychology.
was honestly so glad that she got me in and not someone else. It was nice sitting and getting to know her.
we talked about
psychology and how we got into it
her mom, a clinical psychologist, and her influence on her life
AIs impact on adolescents
AI therapists and girlfriends
After that, it was time for me to sit with people and interview them. But I felt resistant to doing that, so I did the next best easy step towards interviewing people: sitting with another stranger rather than eat alone
sat with 2 bio majors(pre-med) and 2 Asian ladies who were good in bubble text
Recorded only the last interaction
After that, I get a message from a girl who was a potential teammate but she ended up joining another team. She was down to hang out
I told her I wanna go to the beach once I’m done with UCLA. Long story short, she had to come back to campus early so she wanted to go ASAP. I wanted to stay for at least 30 mins more to get some interviews with people chilling at the hills besides bruin walk. I get one interview done after like 7 rejections (expected)
I decided to go with her and forget my plans of doing interviews with people
We decide to take the bus there. As we waited for the bus, we talked about cool stuff. Same thing in the bus.
but then, she gets a phone call.
It starts of normal but it escalates quite fast. She starts speaking mandarin. Speaking a lil louder. Starts having an argument with them (maybe her mom)
after the call, I resume where we left off before the call. But then 30 seconds in, she tells me that she needs to leave the bus and go back to campus (10 mins into the bus ride and after a 15+ min wait for it)
was very confused after that happened. Tried to act cool and not let it affect me because I wouldn’t have went if she’s not going with me. In addition to that she made me leave the interviews that I was doing with people. I’m other words, my day felt like it was ruined.
at that point I was like: can this bus ride please end asap. Can I arrive NOW
as soon as I arrived I tried to switch my mood and mindset and try to make the most out of being there. It wasn’t very easy but what helped was seeing the coastline and the waves. That instantly improved my mood
First thing I did was go to the Place Steezy Kane jumped off the pier for a girl’s number. Then I walked around and took pictures for people. That made me feel more connected with the world and humanity.
I started pondering the idea of going around and recording myself doing kind acts… But I had 1 problem. I didn’t have a cameraman
I continued walking around in the hopes I would find someone to potentially be my cameraman. I felt like that’s a big ask from the world though. Didn’t have too much hope that it would work out…
But then I see this young man walking past me. He even had a camera on him. He seemed to be a perfect candidate so I turned around and started following him.
he was walking at a good pace which made me think that he’s probably looking to leave. Then I noticed that he was approached/approaching people.
I speed up so I can finally catch him and casually start the convo by saying: “yo bro, I like that smiley face you got (while pointing at the back of his jacket)”
turns out it was his big brother’s
we ended up talking for a few minutes. I told him what I’m doing here and he proactively offered to be my cameraman. The rest is history…