Year zero.
I graduate with a degree in Computer Science.
I was just a normal kid wondering
what it meant to be cool.
I joined programming competitions,
I had done internships at Sun Microsystems
and Microsoft.
Year one,
I get my first job at Sony Pictures in Hollywood.
75K, pretty good.
I worked on the 3D graphics visualization tool
for movie special effects like "Spider-Man".
I'd go to movie premieres, concerts,
anime expos, car drift shows
and the trendy company parties.
In my spare time I'd build silly websites
using a funny language, PHP,
that I had taught myself.
Most apps were pretty bad but fun.
Eventually I started working on a dating app
I named Connections.
It wasn't growing so I added a virtual economy
and renamed it Human Pets.
The app goes viral, generating $300 per day in ad revenue.
At first I thought it would just be fun dinner money.
But it became more.
I started spending my evenings and weekends
building out the website,
handling server crashes as the app generates $2,000 a day.
If I had worked all night,
I would need to take the next day off work.
I loved the work
but it wasn't really a choice for me.
I just didn't have time for both.
And by the end of the year I quit my job.
Year two.
For my birthday, I get myself a one-way ticket to London.
I figured I could work from any where in the world.
And since they speak English there
it'd be a good base.
But I'm disappointed by the city.
It's all business and noisy pubs.
I can't find WiFi,
so I spend most of the days
working out of the Apple Store
standing on my feet.
I visit friends in Italy too,
stopping by Paris, Florence, Rome.
Midyear I return home
and began working on a new app idea,
a series of web-based RPG games.
And it goes viral, generating 5K a day.
Zynga offers to acquire it for 500K.
But I reject the offer, perhaps foolishly,
because if I had taken the offer,
well, Zynga later goes on to IPO.
But, regardless,
I take off for Hawaii for three weeks
where I work from hotel lobbies
teaching myself windsurfing every other day.
I celebrate Christmas
aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean.
It sounds all fun
but I was fairly stressed throughout it all.
Year three
begins as I get into stock trading
and technical analysis.
I needed to learn how to invest.
My commodities trades go well
and I am up 70%.
This year for my birthday
I gift myself an extended trip back to Japan.
It's the first time I go back
since having studied abroad there nine years ago.
I couldn't believe I had let so much time pass.
I visit Kyoto and Miyajima
with a side trip to Hong Kong.
I'd continue to work on bringing my apps
to other platforms like Twitter,
while adding new features.
However, my projects fail to gain traction
and I find myself returning home.
I join a web gaming startup.
And that Christmas I buy myself a DSLR camera
with my new income.
Year four
begins as I quit my job once more.
My brother and I co-found an LLC
to build a portfolio of apps and games.
We name it AVALANCHE
borrowed from the rebellion group name
in "Final Fantasy VII".
Our games gain popularity
and soon I leave for New York.
I wanted to better understand
such an iconic city.
And I wanted to be on the same time zone
as Wall Street too,
so that I could trade properly.
But, New York was so hot and humid in the summer.
It lost its appeal to me.
After six months I gave it up and went home.
I decide to start a new job at a startup
where my sister was working.
So it was fun to see her every day.
I celebrate Christmas at home that year.
Year five begins in Japan again.
I had learned motorcycling
and pre-ordered a Ducati
to remember the craziness of last year.
But at the last minute I canceled the order,
quit my job at the failing startup
and returned to Japan instead.
Unlike previously,
I had more assets this time to enjoy the travel.
And I figured it would be a different experience.
For my birthday I go to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia
in search of Angkor Wat.
It is fantastic.
In March I visit Taiwan for three weeks
getting to finally know my cousins.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster occurs then
and I abandon my flight back to Japan,
instead returning home to California again.
With the regrets of New York from the prior year
still in my head,
I revisit the city with determination this time.
I get a nicer apartment with a window desk
so that I could actually work.
However, few of the apps succeeded like before.
Meanwhile,
I'd heard of a European backpacking route.
So in September I sublet out my room
and book a one-way ticket to Switzerland.
It is the most fun I've had in years.
And I meet so many people.
The route takes me through Italy
into the Cote d'Azur,
through southern Spain
before I grew tired of seeing museums
and my feet grew blisters.
By winter I visit Kauai, Hawaii
and make my first video as a test.
In December I obtain high-end DSLR video cameras
and return to Japan to film Tokyo and Kyoto.
These would be the start of my video channel,
Blue Eden.
This year I had launched a number of web projects
but none really worked out.
Year six begins as I return to New York
to reclaim my apartment.
I stay until the end of the lease
and then return to California.
I preferred the casual tech culture of Silicon Valley.
I asked myself what I wanted and I thought,
150K would be my number.
So I apply to Groupon and tell them what I want
and they agree.
So I take up a position as web developer
and live in San Francisco.
Several months in though, the product bored me
and the commute from San Francisco
to the office in Palo Alto was absolutely brutal
so I quit and took a break
spending the rest of the year
filming time-lapse videos
of the British Virgin Islands
and the Utah Grand Circle.
I was driven by the idea of
youth, health, time and money
and I wanted to maximize them while I had it.
After that, I wasn't sure what to do anymore.
But I thought, I'd go back to Japan
to visit my brother.
And I celebrated Christmas there.
Year seven begins in Japan where I meet a girl.
She catches my attention
and I decide to extend my stay a little bit longer.
With my photography knowledge
I also began development on a new software program
which would become Panolapse,
a software for time-lapses
that would turn out to become a success.
Meanwhile, I had struck a sponsorship
with a sailing company
based on a prior video in the British Virgin Islands.
And they wanted me to do another one in the Bahamas.
I bring my girlfriend back to California
and we go film in the Bahamas.
In July we continue to film in Alaska.
In August, Yellowstone
and in September, Maui.
By the end of the year we return back to Japan
where we spend time living in Tokyo, Yokohama,
Osaka and Kyoto.
I return home for Christmas.
Year eight begins back in California.
I buy a MacBook as a late Christmas gift for myself.
And I also buy an engagement ring.
I invite my girlfriend to California
where we take a trip to Las Vegas.
In February we visit Iceland for my birthday.
But there I also propose under the Aurora.
And she says yes.
In April we visit Japan again
and make a side trip to the tropical island of Guam.
During that time I also began work on iOS apps
and bringing Elven Blood onto the iOS platform.
It is a small success
and I bring my fiance to the US
with a spousal visa.
Meanwhile I began applying to jobs
and landed a position at Google.
We celebrate our bright future in Disneyland.
In year nine we hold a marriage ceremony in Thailand
where again, we have a sailboat
with a sponsorship from the sailing company.
We honeymoon the next month in Hawaii.
By October, we get a puppy, Sunny
and my wife gets pregnant.
Sensing that I won't be traveling for a long time
I get a PlayStation for Christmas.
In year 10, my wife gives birth to our son.
With a baby, a puppy and a full-time job,
I finally settle down and get to work
taking on my mantle as the Tech Lead.