How I Became a DJ on a Whim (And What I Learned About the Craft)

David Guetta, Afrojack, Tiesto. No DJ Chestnut. If you didn’t catch that, all of those names are world-renowned DJs, except for the last one. You guessed it. That’s me! DJ Chestnut Let me take you through how I, with zero DJ experience, ended up spinning tunes at a local Korean pub. Spoiler alert: I had no idea what I was doing, but that didn’t stop me from learning quickly and turning the volume up to 11....

November 2, 2024 · 6 min

Post-mortem: Interviewing

As you’ve probably guessed from the title, the past two months have been a whirlwind of interviews — back-to-back meetings with recruiters, coding challenges, and the constant weight of anticipation. Before this, I’d only gone through 4 interviews in my life, and one of those was for a waiter position. Interviewing is never easy, but I’d been fortunate to face rejection only once — and that one still haunts me....

October 4, 2024 · 9 min

Finishing Strong

Part 1, if you haven’t read it. As the basketball takes its final dribble, I print out my final rotation as head coach for my youth basketball team, the Aces. Looking back, I am not only proud of my achievements but also of what my team has accomplished collectively. Each individual has grown tremendously, whether it’s boxing out players, setting screens, or moving off the ball. Their basketball IQ has grown alongside their skills....

June 27, 2024 · 5 min

Coaching Basketball

Due to privacy reasons, there will be no photos within this post For the past couple of months, I have been volunteering as a basketball coach for the city. When I decided to volunteer, my first choice was to coach volleyball because that’s where I felt most confident. However, the city administrator informed me that the volleyball season had already started, but they were in need of a basketball coach. Initially, I was hesitant; it had been years since I last played basketball or watched an NBA game....

May 29, 2024 · 6 min

Building Wing Gundam Zero EW

Gundam Wing Zero EW While dropping off my daughter for art class, I had 1 hour of downtime. A Hobby Lobby was within walking distance, so I decided to stop by. I’d never been inside a Hobby Lobby before, so I didn’t know what the store sold. I soon realized that the store experience was similar to that of Joann’s or Michaels. It was more of an art and craft store sprinkled with random furniture decorations....

March 26, 2024 · 6 min

Tinkering with Avengers Black Panther 6V quad power wheels (Part 4) - The crafting

Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, if you haven’t read it. Now that I was confident that the components I purchased worked perfectly fine, it was now time to embed the components within the quad power wheels. The first part was figuring out where to place the DeWalt battery adapter. There was enough room inside the seat, but whenever I wanted to swap out the battery, I would have to unscrew the seat every time, which would be an inconvenience....

February 16, 2024 · 3 min

Tinkering with Avengers Black Panther 6V quad power wheels (Part 3) - The testing

Part 1 and Part 2, if you haven’t read it. Now that I have all the needed components, it’s time to first test the components and then piece them together. It’s much easier to understand how each component functions as well as to test them before integrating them with the power wheel. DeWalt battery power wheel kit I grabbed the DeWalt battery adapter and the low voltage protection box and started to wire them together....

February 14, 2024 · 4 min

Tinkering with Avengers Black Panther 6V quad power wheels (Part 2) - The sourcing

Here is Part 1, if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet. After disassembling each component and analyzing them, it was time to determine which component I should replace in order to make the power wheel faster. Luckily, there are numerous excellent guides on YouTube as well as blogs showcasing the upgrades enthusiasts have made to their own power wheels. After reviewing several guides, it became evident that only two components truly mattered: the battery and the motors....

February 4, 2024 · 3 min

Tinkering with Avengers Black Panther 6V quad power wheels (Part 1) - The examination

I hope this post will be one of many projects I work on beyond my comfort zone. The goal is to learn and challenge myself by stepping outside of my boundaries, and hopefully, it inspires you that you can achieve any task as long as you put in the effort. I typically like to tackle problems I face within my daily life. Hopefully, these problems don’t have life-threatening consequences, or at least they are limited or irreplaceable....

January 31, 2024 · 4 min