Updates (May 5, 2025)

The jump to a computer programmer doing web development was hugely substantial for me.

I was complaining for years how hard everything was in life. This blog is a complaint to vent about life too!

But finally after working doing a 3rd website with Ben collaborating and pushing and trying hard web development seems manageable now.

I guess life is to push until something like web development is OK to do. After that you are at ease.

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After working so hard, I know understand the enjoyment, pastime and growth and contentment of refactoring code and adding more features to projects.

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The cool thing about growing this high is that it is probably the most highest level of work: web development.

After reaching this milestone you don’t feel weak.

People born in the West sometimes just want a easy life and do the minimum sometimes … But to grow as a person, especially as a coloured person is to work hard.

Being coloured is no fun.

You have to grow and keep busy to avoid the pitfalls of racism and toxicity from people and toxicity from your own community.

Once you do work like this you are on top of your game.

And everyone knows this. Whenever people hear about web development it is like deep and WoW!

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I worked with Dmitry and he taught me his way of life which is coding … refactoring (making things more efficient and structured) and adding more features. He has been doing this for about a decade or more.

He matured quickly understanding life was like this for the highly skilled and highly mature persons in the Western world.

I used to do projects and give up after. But it took 5 years of constant work to realize being at home refactoring code and adding more features is fun and exciting and a constant going feeling of growing and buzzed and fizzed.

That is the trick in life. You work on yourself and one day have a life of your smarter more mature peers.

Your family and cousins and friends who don’t understand, will constantly tell you to live a modest life. But that is suffering really. You go back and forth tolling away at doing something of value. That is life the back-and-forth of not being enough and trying to find peace and balance.

You do this until your reach your peers.

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The distance between Vietnamese people.

I realize Vietnamese after they have been in Canada for 5+ years understand the goals of living in the West.

They would like to chase Western dreams if they can. Deep down they want to.

They might work and do their thing but they want to achieve Western lifestyle and goals.

I always kind of knew. When I was young I lived apart from the Vietnamese community. I was seeking “out-there” thinking …

When I got older like now, I realized the thinking the West does is just mainly hard work and keeping busy.

The more you work and do stuff and including your hobbies, eventually you turn to Western thinking and lifestyle. Evolving to that at the end.

That is the trick. I used to think I was different until I worked really hard and became forward and it changed me to have better thinking like Western.

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Vietnamese thinking when you are young …

When Vietnamese are young they aspire for fun and doing the cool hip thing they see in media.

That is normal for everyone. That is a part of life and a part of growth.

But everyone knows the life of a learner, entrepreneur and researcher in science and tech are the way for a life of ‘goodness and growth’.

I lived my way lost in society growing up. I was learning and having fun and growing.

But it all came down to is doing your thing and taking the time to do it ‘forever’.

That is the trick. The thing you want to do, you put it back in your mind you will do it and it will make you good and great and might take a long time but it is always in the back of your mind to do it for self-esteem and for you.

You do the long way drive so you do something regardless of everything.

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The cool thing about GitHub projects.

The people doing GitHub projects like Dmitry are doing what seasoned professional people do in society.

They have an project that serves the world and are passionate and active. And this is in tech.

The project serves as a life goal.

But serves as an ordinary thing of routine life for Westerners. High level living.

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The duality of Western life …

The trick of Western life, to have it, is simply working hard and doing lots and doing your passions and keeping busy.

That is all it is.

But the thing is to keep busy is to work with people who hare up there and busy themselves to include you.

Trying to keep busy alone is hard as a Western life needs community.

I work with Ben, Dmitry mostly for collaboration and then Allan and Simon to have independent thinking.

That is all it is to have a life like mine.

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Now I realize why I get this weird no way feeling and upset feeling when I see my people try to achieve stuff without doing the hard work.

I have seen my people try to get into relationships and not succeeding because they don’t do the things normally a person did back in the 1950’s. That is to work hard and study and achieve jobs, create ideas and projects that cater to the human drive of growth and doing better.

I was a problem myself before but I always knew you had to do something worthwhile that catered to all people.

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My life and drive is about working with Ben and Dmitry and the rest of the team which is forward trajectory. It is something that is worth it.

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Without socializing with the Vietnamese born in Canada I would have no push or openness to think.

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The dilemma of being Vietnamese born in Canada …

It is Western facing.

Even though you are Vietnamese and have your community either in Toronto or back home in Vietnam, the Western thinking usually takes over. And you have to work with that and nurture that.

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The money in Vietnam …

In 2016, I went home to Vietnam thinking about living there and working there.

I found that the prices in Vietnam in 2016 even rivaled the West.

You are working hard in Vietnam and the prices almost equal to Canada.

That made me reconsider everything.

And now it is 2025, 9 years after and possibly life is harder back home.

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The thing in 2015 back in Vietnam is that when I met my cousin who is the oldest in his family, older than me, he looks into my soul saying that I had to work hard, hard. Work so hard in the West he pushed me.

That is the thing with family that you should be grateful for.

On my dad’s side, I am one of the oldest. But on my mother’s side I am in the middle. That range and distance teaches you. That is why it is good to come back home in Vietnam to see family so they can teach you life regardless of country.

That is the thing about living in the West, your older cousins back home in Vietnam want you to succeed because that is survival mostly.

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The trick to living a good high life is to live almost like Dmitry.

He works in tech and is an administrator and does his projects as hobbies. Because he is still young he will eventually grow more and more.

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That is the thing about life. You revisit your past and try to learn and reflect.

Older people show you the way but it is up to you to figure it out.

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The ‘young’ Western experience is really in your face and competitive sometimes …

But all you really can do is just do your thing and work hard and keep busy. Not the normal work hard but learn everything to keep your mind and have that feeling of being among everyone. That means be active and learning and doing your thing.

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Working for big tech …

When working for big tech, I think you are trying to just create elephants and all in ones and try to find out more about users and try to sell them something they might not need … or need …

Is that fun?

Or is that just work?

Therefore, I guess to have good drive and good feelings is to make functional and modern websites for businesses.

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I finally got to the point to where you do and look at people who question you, “What now?”