>>12710349Was pretty close with my high school's valedictorian. It's hard to put into words, but he has something like "mental agility". Was like his mind moved a mile a minute, very quick to get things. Add to that a studious work ethic and clear goals for his career. He also fucking devoured books like candy.
I feel a little conflicted about his whole situation these days, though. He went to a top tier uni and is now doing an MD/PhD at a top tier need school, to no one's surprise. But he once told me that he'd prefer to do something more humanities oriented (probably why he reads so much), if it weren't for the realities of having a stable career etc. I also met up with him (right before covid) and he seemed to have no passion for what he was doing anymore. Maybe it's just burnout, and who can blame him. But being a PhD student myself, I love to talk about my research to anyone with a modicum of interest. On the other hand he would directly shut down any shop talk, and literally said to me "who cares? None of this matters" when I asked about his work. It wasn't necessarily surprising to hear him say that, but I was a little disappointed nonetheless.
