Yu-kai Chou

Since my co-founder Jun Loayza wrote a post about the same topic, I figured I need to write one too just to be cool. I mean, people have a lot of different opinions about me, but few can deny that I’m a pretty unique/weird guy, so I’m sure I can beat Jun in being more interesting:

1. I can write different things with both hands at the same time
2. I have a scar with 26 stitches on my lips because it split in two when I ran into a metal trashcan at the age of 3
3. My father has been a diplomat for Taiwan for over two decades
4. My mother has Master’s Degree in Chinese literature
5. I was born in Taiwan, but grew up in South Africa (6 years), Taiwan (7 years), Kansas (5 years), and California (5 years)
6. I started my high school chess club and I spent 4 hours a day learning so I could coach the team
7. My high school chess club won the State Championship in my Junior Year, and won the championship for the next 5 years. They also finished strong nationally.
8. I secretly admire my girlfriend’s workaholic discipline and how everyone likes her (schools, jobs, guys)
9. I have records of gaining 15 lbs in 2 weeks as well as losing 15lbs in 2 weeks.
10. I can play the violin at the back of my head
11. I can beat many of my friends in chess without looking at the board (shout the moves)
12. When I was little, my dream job was to be a factory worker in a ramen factory
13. When I was little older, my dream job was to be either an actor/singer, or a professor at anything
14. I thought I was going to be a Biochemist during high school. I applied to schools with chem majors
15. In South Africa, my favorite pet dog is named Icy
16. Icy was smart enough to press the doorbell when she was locked out of the house on accident
17. Before I was 17, I was constantly working to be accepted by others. I was a pushover
18. When I was small, I felt that I had an obligation to be happy because people around me are sad. When I cry, I do it secretly and shamefully
19. A huge chunk of my education was derived from business podcasts
20. On my iPod Nano, there are no music but 4 gigs worth of podcasts
21. I graduated from UCLA with a degree in International Economics in 3 years while running my businesses to save my parents money
22. I became a devoted Christian when I was in 10th grade, after rejecting a church invite from a friend six times.
23. I brought Jun to the Way of the Sub
24. I enjoy sleeping in my jeans and button ups
25. I am a co-founder of Bruin Consulting from UCLA
26. I once rejected sex from one of the most attractive girls I know
27. I became an entrepreneur when I was 18
28. My first business was on eBay, when I “coincidentally” won 2 football tickets by drawing myself from a raffle
29. I started four businesses, one non-profit, and one student organization before I was 22
30. My goal in life is to make people around me successful
31. I can beat Jun at Super Smash Bro Melee
32. I used to be called Eric
33. My best friend when I was in South Africa was called Luwazi, although I don’t know how to really spell it
34. I put ice cubes in my fried rice
35. I have eaten an eight-by-eight at In’N'Out and thought it was nothing
36. I met my girlfriend at Aikido Class
37. In middle school, I was obsessed with martial arts and would spend hours a day practicing/reading about it
38. I was a heavy Starcraft and Diablo II player
39. There is nothing in my life that I truly regret up to this point
40. I have about 1500 friends
41. I am heavily involved in the green/sustainability movement
42. I was one of the 100 young leaders in California that was invited to the Governor’s Global Climate Summit
43. I took a dump in a bush outside my college apartment once and wiped with leaves because I lost my keys:(
44. I look smarter than I actually am. I was impressed by a guy when he said he is as smart as I seem to be.
45. I had the worse phobia for earrings until I wanted to prove to my girlfriend phobias can be overcome by love
46. I joined the debate team the first year I came to the states. Got slaughtered without knowing much English, but made it to varsity my junior year
47. I literally eat four times faster than some of my friends
48. I used to write string quartet music and perform in a group call BoPo MoFos
49. My first relationship was opposite attract. She was pessimistic with low self esteem
50. I have global expansion plans: LA, SF, Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan, London, Argentina, Brazil, Dubai
51. I used to be addicted to this online pure text strategy game called Utopia
52. I have very awkward body language
53. My violin’s name is Marian. I named her after a Danish girl I liked in high school.
54. I had one of the most important epiphany’s in life from Diablo II
55. My favorite movie is Brave Heart. It made me cry even watching it the 4th time.
56. I think I am pretty impressive for my age, but am always shocked when others think I’m impressive
57. I created a business analysis system in college called Octalysis
58. I prefer living in a triple than a double. I would pay a bit more for a third roommate
59. I have never smoked cigarettes or done drugs
60. I can only bend down to touch my knees
61. In South Africa, my family received a certificate from the government, stating that my family is honored as the equivalent of white people. Now you know why I am so well-respected.
62. When I was in 5th grade, I led a team to clean the restrooms used by kids with special needs. I can confidently say that I was the No 1 poop cleaning expert in my school (being a pushover in everything else)
63. I feel that a leader should take care of the grunt work while the team focuses on what they are best at
64. I can make a strange eagle cry noise that no one I have ever met can reproduce
65. One of my new hobbies is to hulahoop and DDR at the same time
66. I can beat the entire Mocap Boxing game in arcades within 2 tries
67. When I was younger, I was obsessed with ninjas
68. My brain makes connections between things that most people think are random
69. So far people seem to think that I’m a good leader
70. I realized that Twitter has the potential to take over my life
71. I swam varsity for my high school team
72. I shaved my head twice, one for swimming, the other because of girlfriend
73. I have a $8 budget a day for food until my startup generates good revenue
74. I took Spanish for three years, but didn’t learn much
75. I am trying to really learn Spanish
76. I am into promoting acupuncture
77. I love my girlfriend a lot and am impressed by everything she has over and over again
78. I am not a sentimental person. I only look forward, not back
79. I am trying to lose 20 lbs. I starve myself sometimes for that
80. The first thing I check out when seeing a girl is her hair
81. The most important physical trait of a girl to me is her eyes
82. I look for non-emotional girls who share the same interest as me
83. I am a co-founder of Future Delivery TV
84. I have my own reality show called Living the Startup Life
85. I speak in explanations, not in sentences
86. Jun says I look like a Panda, but I think my animal would definitely be Dolphin
87. I do not care about living a luxurious life, but I want to make the largest impact possible
88. I think it is better to live in a small house and eat well if I did become wealthy
89. I often needed to do penalty problems till 3AM in the morning when I was in third grade because I just moved from South Africa to Taiwan
90. I have about 7-8 best friends in this world, all separated by geographic area
91. I made hundreds of people motivated and level up in real life
92. I wrote a Chinese novel that is 190,000 words with three years of effort, and only 20% done
93. My dream vacation is to fish and play chess at the same time with an attractive and smart woman
94. I am a typical O blood type Taurus
95. I once faced death and smiled, thinking that I lived a good life
96. I like to sing, but sing horribly
97. The worse drink that I ever had was a Durian Smoothy
98. I believe that one day I will be the leader in one or more industries
99. I am appreciative of my teammates: Jun, Jason, Alesha, Jason, Joseph
100. I’m not sure if creating this list is a good return on investment in time or not