RK

           To conclude this portfolio, I thought it would be interesting to write about my hopes for the future. A couple of years ago, I watched “A Walk to Remember” staring Mandy Moore (Jamie Sullivan) and Shane West (Landon Carter). The significant thing I remember about this movie, other than the (SPOILER) tragedy of Jamie’s death, was Jamie’s ambitions – goals that she hoped to accomplish before she passes away from cancer. There was one moment in the movie when Landon tried to help her out with one of them. He made her put her feet on both sides of a State’s boarder line. Can you guess her ambition? She wanted to be in two places at once. I was inspired by this, so I decided to create my own list of ambitions. Keep in mind that this list started in seventh grade.

 

1.  I want to work at Pixar as either a character designer or animator. Ever since I was a child, I have admired all the artwork published by Pixar. Last winter I was able to experience animation at Cooper Union. I sat there and did hand drawn frame-by-frame animation. I created around 300 frames just to get a two-minute movie. Imagine how many hand drawn frames are in our all-time-favorite animation movies. Because of this, I have come to appreciate this art tremendously.

2. I want to travel the world in 80 days. Yes. Completely inspired by the book. Ever since I was little, my family was addicted to traveling – moving from New Zealand to Tennessee and now, New York. I have gained such interesting perspectives in life due to my travel experiences. I truly enjoy exploring other people’s lifestyle, culture, food, music (I am addicted to Korean pop right now), etc.  

3. I want to work at Disneyworld. Adande Thorne (Swoozie06) posted a video about his “Confessions of an EX Disney Employee.” I learned one thing from this video: underground Disney World is more interesting than the park itself. Under Magic Kingdom, there is an underground park for all the Disney employees. It is a mini Disney World! There is a section for Disney princess costumes, food, and lounge. With that in mind, I would also love to work at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This place is just… magical. I can seriously picture myself there (in my raven claw robe), directing people to the bathrooms. I went after reading the seventh book and became obsessed with Hogwarts’s construction. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen and been to.

 

4. I want to meet the people who have heavily influenced my life. Two people shaped my mind growing up: Michelle Phan and J.K. Rowling. Ever since 4th grade, I have absolutely loved Michelle Phan. Even though her profession was being a makeup artist, I always enjoyed watching her because of something else: her wisdom. All her videos have a comforting aura that I could not get from my friends or family. She has the most tranquil mindset that I try to integrate into my life. She inspires many people of many ages (including my mom). I became such an approachable and amicable person to others because of her. On March 18 in 8th grade, I found out that she was the HALF-SISTER of one of my best friends; my friend proved it by letting me skype call with her. The resemblance was amazing. J.K Rowling also had a special place in my heart. I watched her speech at Harvard University, and I remembered one thing: “there are always benefits to failure.” She explained how her idea of Harry Potter came in the midst of poverty – she wrote the beginning of the book on toilet paper! This stood out to me because people can easily ruminate on their mistakes; however, it is better to be optimistic about the future. Even though many people influence my mind now, J.K Rowling and Michelle Phan are the two people I want to meet in my future (in person). 

 

5.  I want to create an online video game. When I was little (9th grade), I was obsessed with MMORPGs – massively multiplayer online role-playing games – like Toontown, Wizard101, and World of Warcraft. These games created a new “realm” in my life. I met many new people, who are now my best friends; developed my artwork on computers, specifically animation; increased my typing speed, but my spelling decreases tremendously. Years ago, Disney shut down Toontown – after 10 years! Many people were not happy; they decided to keep the files and restart the game. Three months later, the game restarted as “Toontown Rewritten,” and my talent friends – consisting of awesome programmers, animators, and hackers – ran the game. They showed me all the files and scripts needed to run this game. It was so complex. I loved it. I tried programming an art design on the game (wanted to change the eye color of my character) but failed miserably – I probably left out one word. Just like animation, it will take time for me to get a grip on creating video games; however, I have started taking baby steps. Last year, I got to experience programming in research – creating a “random” number generator (that was really fixed) to get people to lie – with MIT’s scratch program. Even though all the commands were color-coded, it was very difficult and involved tons of problem solving. 

 

6. I want to become a teacher. Ever since high school started, I have been addicted to one class: science research (sorry, Mr. Weinstein). I loved experimenting on humans – I even did a developmental experiment on my baby sister – and observing their behaviors to certain stimuli. My goal is to find unique ways for people to learn (other than the traditional textbook) than encourages more engaging and deeper learning. I hope this love for psychology continues to grow, so that I could pursue this career; however, science research heavily focuses on the ideas of teamwork, communication, and leadership that are skills applicable to applicable to any career. 

 

The next few are ambitions that I do not have a rationale to accomplish:

 

7.  I want to change someone's life.

 

8. I want to be on Google Earth. You can do this by standing outside when the satellite takes a picture of the entire street – to predict when it will occur is the hard part.

 

9. I want to act – play a minor role – in a movie. I think we all wanted to do this at some point.

 

10.  I want to live in London or New Zealand. I have tons of family there, and its environment seemed like home every time I visited.