A letter from May 7th, 2020

Dear Future Me, I know you're probably balls-deep in your analyst stint at a bulge-bracket bank, so I will make this pretty short. It's me, or you, from year 1 of NYU. Honestly, it's not going all that well. I feel stressed constantly. Every day seems to blend in with each other, and I don't know how exactly I feel, what I really want, nor know, particularly, who I am as a person. It kinda sucks, and I wish I had better news for you, but it is what it is. The end of the semester is on the horizon and I am expecting better days this summer - Lord knows I need dat. Remember your friends at this time - from Blaine, Cole Martin - who is lost in the sauce at Vandy. I'm sure he's doing fine now. Ogechi - who has finally escaped Hamline and is transferring to UMN. Chris, TJ, Stefon, Jake, Juan, and Goy are all the same as usual. Straight comedy bunch. I'm still tight with most of these guys over the gram - I hope your not still using that constantly LMAO. Hannah is as lovely as ever and I hope she's doing well. Baylie, on the other hand.... let's just say she's wylin right now. Logan and Kevin seemed to have settled into good grooves in their lives as Minnesotans. Rafeeq seems lost and sells loud. College friends are hard to come by, I know, but remember those who had your back. Juan and Jon and Zavy basically took you under their wing, and made sure you didn't get into fights at the track house or do anything you would regret. Tony is off again on again, but I'm sure he's a loyal guy and will stick by you. Hope you've gotten closer with Ron and Daniel Akande, the brothahood is all we got. Cameron Hochman was always a purely good friend and was loyal no matter the issue. You could have been a better roommate to JP, but the relationship was not that bad especially in semester 2. Andrew, George, Luke, (the other luke) Miles Barrow, and all the other Founders heads are cool folks. I hope you've stayed in contact with most of them. Family is cool. Parents are still on home #2. Fred has baby #2 on the way in the summer. It's a girl. Mom is still working two jobs and is her same old self; Dad just turned 50 and his gut is showing it. We eat nyama choma everyday still haha. Derrick has now hit that age where he is a "cheesy bruh" and tries to act all grown and ****. He's still a baby and is picky as hell when it comes to food. Daniel is entering senior year and he is picking up all your old habits. Hopefully he commits somewhere good for football. Right now, his best offer is U Mary lol. Timmy.... bruh. Man's talked to you about astrology for 2 hours... talking bout some twin flames and ****. He only got 1 song out, "Done did it". He honestly has promise, but he needs to be recording more music. Matthew, Bright, Alex, Titus, "the Africans"... they're all the same. I hope that you haven't forgotten your goals - to support your family and to make a positive impact on someone. At this point I am not sure whether I want to pursue banking or law or trading or international development- hopefully you've figured that out by now. I hope you haven't forgotten the people who have invested so much in you: Holly Boisjolie, Malik Day, Nathan Schultz from blaine, the entire team from Great Waters (CEO said he will mentor you, Pete is looking out for you, Dan was always giving you great advice, Risa was patient and kind), Stephanie Chrismon from GEM who wrote you the college recommendation letter, Mr Michael Reeves who got you into Great Waters, literally, everyone who has gotten you this far. Without them you would be nowhere. Remember dat. Please continue to push on, and keep fighting for your **** life. I have pushed on my entire life for this, the good bad and ugly, and I refuse to have given up just yet. I hope you've spent these interim years understanding yourself, the world, and really understanding what drives you. If not, let's give it five more years. Best of everything,