| More #25 Random Things# from Fuqua community! @Jasonyan1897 ,二年级，Chinese Admissions Ambassador。虽然从小热爱体育和篮球，却没想过会到NBA工作。以下“25 random things” 是他当时的essay。Duke 把它晒了出来，申请人可以体会一下Duke的文化氛围和录取标准。25 Random Things - Jason Yan, Class of 2014 1. I was born in Shaanxi Province, China, while my grandparents are from Henan province and grandparents-in-law are from Sichuan province. So I’m mixed-blood. Be jealous of me! 2. Though my hometown gets a name for where the Terra-Cotta-Warrior locates, that doesn't mean I’m an expert on the wonder. It was technology 2200 years ago! 3. I love noodles, all kinds of noodles. Don’t blame some noodles for bad taste. They are just not produced in my hometown. 4. The capital city of Shaanxi is Xi’an while actually I’m from Xianyang, a smaller city one hour drive from Xi’an. That’s much easier to explain where I’m from by mentioning Xi’an, but I hate to do so. I honor my origin since Xianyang was the capital of Qin Dynasty, the first national empire in China matching Rome Empire in influence. 5. Well, I admit my initial motivation to passionately play basketball was to draw attention from girls. It works! 6. At my ten, I asked for RMB 40 (one third of the family monthly income) from my mom to attend a panting training course. Then I learnt for the first time what a disastrous ROI is. 7. I climbed the top of Hua Shan Mountain at the age of 18, one of the most dangerous choices for hiking in China. 8. I became a life guard before I received any formal training on swim, because precaution and keeping alert are much more important than swimming well in saving lives. That’s what I’m good at. 9. At primary school and middle school, I looked forward to life in higher education. At master program and afterward, I looked back and miss those old days so much. 10. I decided to apply to a sports university after undergraduate. People warned me it was crazy to switch from a top school to an even non-ranked school. Later on I got a job at NBA, they shut up. 11. The best decision I made during my undergraduate was to be a part-time librarian for two years. It’s a kingdom of diverse and huge amount of knowledge and you are the king! 12. The reason why I stayed single in the first two years of undergraduate was they didn’t accept being prioritized after basketball, library time and computer games in my life. 13. When I failed the exam of Stats in the year of sophomore, my pride hurt, but I didn’t take it seriously enough. I retook the course and failed again. It hurt in the deeper. I ended up retaking Stats for three times and passing it. It’s not funny. It’s something you learn along the way of life. 14. I never expect a career at NBA until one month before I got on board. Never! 15. When I joined NBA at 25, I was the only one in the department who didn’t have any overseas experience. I valued myself adding diversity to the team. 16. I was not aware whom the number 10 player in USA Men’s basketball team was until a liftboy told me. I was working with my blackberry in a lift and noticed someone just walked out of the lift, with a number 10 on the back of his jersey. 17. The door sign of the cheerleaders changing room in L.A. Staples Stadium should be more straightforward to foreigners, like me, who almost swaggeringly walked in the changing room with an all-access credential at NBA All Star game night. 18. I won my first champion title in Beijing Foreign-Own Enterprise Basketball Tournament in 2009. It was not easy. Our rivals played extra-aggressively, since not many non-professional teams have opportunities to play against NBA. Unfortunately, they over estimated their chance to win, though playing against NBA staff rather than NBA players. 19. My grandmother-in-law means much more to me than I ever thought. I realized that after she passed away. 20. I’m the most senior male among the grandchildren in my extended family, while I’m still learning about the best practice to take care of my sisters and brothers, since every one of us is the product under one-child policy. 21. I call my parents in a frequency increasing linearly as I study or work away from them year after year. 22. Let “The Shawshank Redemption” boosts your courage and toughness to fight against the darkness of life. Let “The Pursuit of Happiness” inspires your wisdom and love to chase after the brightness of life. 23. My thirdly important dream used to be becoming a science fiction writer, like Asimov, ideally. 24. I envy Elon Musk more than I envy Mark Zuckerberg. Though the both are superrich, Elon Musk is closer to actualize the first man space flight to Mars. 25. This is the first time that I write such random things about myself. I see myself more a person of fun. Maybe I should bring these random things to my previous blind dates. | 
