Well, here I am with an annual pass that gets activated when I step onto the 800 year historical grounds of Oxford this September. I am actually going back to school! unbelievable for a guy that never even wanted to go to college but being a mama's boy I acquiesced to an enrollment at UCLA's EE program - this was way back in 1998. I came down with a case of the rashes in the 3-4th week and missed the next 4 weeks until I had to take my finals. I ended up with my first "C" in a math class and said F*** that, I need to get outta here. My counselor informed me that I had to wait until after the 1st year before I could transfer, which was extremely disappointing but life has an unpredictable way of playing its cards. That day, the life of a Rebel Scholar began.
I'm not here to spill the pages of an imminent autobiography but from hearsay, or should I invent my own NewSpeak word "friendtalk", it seems like I've had a unique ride these past eight years. I would hope that there is something inspirational about this brief anecdote (so I don't completely waste your time) or what I'd like to think of this as - "a virtual self-psychiatric evaluation". So the story goes, I started taking upper division engineering classes before the prerequisites and completed my degree in 2.5 years. I still remember wanting to throw my backpack on top of Boelter Hall as I was walking down the slope in an act of complete freeDUMB. I was on a plane soon enough to reunite with my family who had set up shop in China and got my first glimpse of assembly lines. I don't recall why I applied to Pepperdine's MBA program while I was in China but I did, got a scholarship, and decided it would be "cool" to have an MBA at the age of 21. Anyways, that turned out to be a joke on many fronts and I resigned my academic position several weeks into the 2nd semester. Back to China it was after this malfunctioning episode and a new life began.
Let's fast forward now. I founded my own brand of car audio products (www.eyebrid.com) which was the seed capital for my foray into the fashion and music industries. For the next four years I invested in production companies, artists, fashion designers, and my own music career (www.michaelsun.com) - what happened, I had a million dollar education! To be blunt shit just didn't work out. I cut out more social fat out of my life and realigned my energy, time, and resources into the manufacturing core and bounced back with www.rebelscholar.com. Last December, I was catching up with a buddy from Carnegie Mellon and the talks about Bill Clinton's "talks" about Oxford inspired me to do the www. thing at night. I discovered the one-year Program at SBS, which was extremely attractive and in a few months I will be singing "This Is It, here I stand...." - the next few words are OWNED by MJ.
I used to think that I was "International" but the few days at a convention in Germany does not compare to the massive refills in my passport from stamps in Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan... bla bla. Oxford was the top choice for two major reasons: 1) culture 2) London. The entrepreneurial success stories from graduates of SBS have been sweetly inspiring, especially because I have been trying to conquer a social networking concept for years now... we'll see how coverbrands.com plays out with all the classroom lectures and external activities at the big O.
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