The MBA Journey

Where one journey ends, another begins.  The past two years have been a mix of personal tests: challenges, curiosities, and choices.  I set out at the end of 2017 determined to forge myself in study.  This goal led me to the UC Davis MBA program, and I found myself surrounded by a supportive community of business leaders with an appetite for improving the world. 

It's interesting how a vague goal slowly manifests into many interesting happenings.  Over the course of the program, I discovered product management for games, participated in a venture capital case competition, started an educational app project, and much, much more.  I made new friends, adjusted my thinking with a few books, and honed my communication skills.  All these deserve stories of their own, which I'd love to divulge someday.

Today, I'm just taking a moment to celebrate the achievement.

When I moved my belongings home (most of it fit in this van!), a big question mark appeared in front of me.  What's the next journey going to be?  

This year started off with a lot of uncertainty.  It's one-half tumultuous and another-half chaotic, but new ground will be settled once balance is returned.  2020 also marks the near-ending of a decade for me.  So I'd like to make it a meaningful cycling of time.  Regardless of where I'm headed next, I'm certain to hold myself to these key values:

Creativity - to make reality from imagination

Connection - to share and communicate

Curiosity - to investigate and discover 

Continue on!

Lanterns Teamwork (Oculus Launchpad Week 8)

This week a couple of my friends pitched in to help with the programming side of the project.  As developers with experience in VR, they listened to the lanterns idea and then expanded on it with great insight and ideas!  One of those great ideas was to add a physics-based interaction into the game, a torch that will let the player feel like they're touching the lanterns.  

I'm really excited to try out this new idea in the Oculus.  With a team I have also found the need to narrow down and express my ideas coherently, instead of having a nebulous concept in my head that is only explored when I'm creating the art and models.  I've started on a 'user story', intended to guide the team towards creating the magic of lanterns.

Here's a snippet:
" You start in a cave.  It's dark and you can't see very much.  Looking around, there's a torch, which you pick up, and an unlit lantern to the side of your boat.  Striking the torch against the lantern lights it.  It ignites and comes to life.

You're in a boat, moving slowly forward.  As you exit the cave, your view opens up to the river.  There's many more lanterns strewn across the water.  You lean gently left and right, lighting the lanterns along the way.  They spring to life and dance across the sky."