J's Blog!

This year started a bit rough, with a layoff, followed by nonstop hustling for the next gig. After I got my next gig, I experienced peace and understood what it meant to slow down. 2017 Highlights Attended SXSW 2017 and created a successful career campaign Watched inspirational talks at Awwwards 2017 and met like-minded designers Attained freelance gigs in fintech, VR, and edutech Won an entertainment tech hackathon Created clickable prototypes using HTML/CSS at AI, career-focused, and eCommerce hackathons Created Swift prototype for a food swapper app (took on the dev role, while a dev took the designer role) Stomped grapes at an Italian festival Watched globs of hot lava flowing in Hawaii Adventured domestically with my partner Started to read again, and finished Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, and Hooked New city, new job 2017 Travels: Australia: Sydney Maldives Spain: Barcelona, Madrid Washington State: Seattle Ha

When revisiting the goals of 2017, I find I've only fully accomplished a small percentage of them: • Continue my daily-ish sketches, digitize them, and put them online (completed, albeit not daily) • Get better at my craft, including design and fine art (undefined, so cannot quantify completion) • Finish children's punny joke book, run a kickstarter, and self-publish (did not finish) • Get back into active life, then take a mermaid glamour shot • Finish another Coursera specialization • Finish my Swift online courses and make 10 non-course rad apps (still working on it) • Sell punny t-shirts and/or merch (placed in an online store, but zero sales) • Actually code at hackathons (yes!!) • Finally release my album Most of my focus this year went into job and gig hunting, so any semblance of a social life suffered. Any personal goals were accomplished earlier in the year, when I had more free time, and fitness goals were placed on a back burner. Development I&

 2016 Highlights: • Developed courage for drawing in a blank sketchbook and filled 3/4 of one up • Finished preliminary sketches for my punny children's joke book • Saw Pat 2X in one year • Experienced adventures and traveled to the Bahamas; Houston, TX; Mammoth Lakes, CA; Australia - Cairns, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra • Became an online course fiend, finishing 1.75 specializations • Started taking various coding curriculums for Swift • 2X Winner at FinTech Hackathon Bucket List Achievements: ✅ Attended first EDC festival ✅ Experienced skydiving, saw a rainbow, and kicked a cloud ✅ Scuba diving for the first time at the Great Barrier Reef ✅ Cuddled a koala ✅ Handfed wallabies and kangaroos ✅ Swam in a crater lake ✅ Slid down a waterfall rock slide ✅ Watched the Penguin Parade ✅ Tried kangaroo meat ✅ Finally attended TechCrunch Hackathon In 2017: • Continue my daily-ish sketches, digitize them, and put them online • Focus on friendships • Get better at my cr

I was talking to a friend today, and he revealed that a couple of years ago, he had "everything," but for some reason, he wasn't happy. Further into the conversation, I asked whether not feeling challenged in life had anything to do with it, and he replied affirmatively, and revealed he is much happier now. These past months, I've been much happier than I was during my younger years, but I get bouts of sadness / depression when reflecting on events that I wish happened differently. At once, I am both grateful that these things have happened, but I am also overcome with feelings that "I failed." I've been reading inspirational articles that I'm trying to put into practice for myself, but I also remember the words from someone who still inspires me. Main learnings: 1. Happiness must come from within. No external things shalt determine thy happiness. 2. Happiness is the present. Take in the beauty of the now. When I ponder about what it is tha

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."   —  Ralph Waldo Emerson It's over. My mind is disjointed in a multitude of ways. Initially, the feeling was: to what end did I pursue this endeavor? I worked so hard, built this team and product, so why did I "give up" so quickly? I feel relieved, yet wistful, with a tinge of sadness. The sentiment fits in somewhere between a breakup and a graduation, both with a journey and the anticipation for something more. Yet, that "expected thing" never materialized, but a warm and fuzzy feeling of understanding and gratitude became the takeaway from this grand adventure. Invisible reader, what would you rather do: carry on with an endeavor you've strived so hard to create and grow even though progress has been halted, or devote your resources elsewhere so that you can start anew? In the startup world, the denizens hail the ideology of "fail fast," so that o

Happy New Year! Much has happened, but where to start? Startups Starting February 2012, I took the online Tech Entrepreneurship course offered by Stanford (the first of its kind, I believe!), and met some wonderful people that I am still in touch with today! Attending the course led to a snowballing of amazing startup experiences. (1) I worked closely online with my groupmates from the course, and crafted an exciting app that helps you achieve your dreams. After completing the course and creating the concept of a bucket list app, my groupmates and I went to a mobile hackathon in Hollywood, in hopes of finding developers who could help our idea come to life. (2) Instead, I met another group of motivated and talented people and joined them on the quest to create a business card app. The team I worked with would eventually become a project over 2.5 years in the making, of which I am proud to call myself Co-Founder. (3) In November 2012, I found a free pass to Startup Weekend and