Updates (July 2, 2025)
Old now as I have been socializing with old Vietnamese in the West … and socializing in general as I have gotten some stuff done.
I realized this … ‘external validation‘.
- I grew up just wanting a life. I am a Southern Vietnamese from An Giang where it is the most agriculture with the Mekong.
- At 33 I finally did my dream of computer repair. Something external???
- At 34 realized I was unhappy doing computer repair as it was routine, industry was dying, wanted more in life as I peaked in that industry. Days were the same after working in it for 6 months. It was OK.
- At 35 did healthcare. Days were OK. Life was good. But still had 50+ years of ‘able-bodied’ life left to do anything according to nice people in Canada. In the West what do you want and want to explore? How far are you willing to go for the next 50+ years in the West?
All this growth is after 30 years old for me in Canada. People can not make 1:1 comparisons as everyone life stage and progression is different. ‘Age’ is so important and the people you meet will show you the way for broader future sometimes.
At ’30’ years old, I had to look deep as that is a funny odd number (biological clock was ticking). I was still working nights at a supermarket at 33. My back hurt and days were just OK.
My father said if you live in Canada you should just pursue more and that is usually more stuff like education. You are given that in the West. The people you might meet in schools and in life can alter your trajectory.
You can live however you want in the West. But doing my thing stagnated a bit. I don’t know if I went more doing things my way would turn out better or not. I just happen to meet people who pushed and helped me reach whatever I had gotten so far. Even they did not expect what happened to occur.
There is a level of passion, grit, boredom and uncertainty in this.
But again, from my angle, I am a South Vietnamese from the most agricultural area of Vietnam. I took the jump from working routine nights. That is the angle. People ask where you come from. And that is my angle.
…
The important thing I realize too is 2 perspectives:
- At the end of the day after reaching 35 – 40 (around 40s), you should have learned that there is more. And that more might drive you for the remainder of life.
- Someone must support you. Tammy Nguyen and Tony Tie support me and guide me. They both have the same vibe as me born in Canada.
…
There are 2 things I realize about doing stuff:
- Just doing your thing will grow you. You reach more maturity and still grow just being you day by day.
- Doing the education route of maths (math/physics/coding) will enable you to grow too.
You should not make comparisons as both are growing paths.
The thing is to grow.
Both can combine and accompany each other like my brother and I.
…
How the combination of my brother and I work …
Both are old in their late 30s when www.BenchTweakGaming.com came out in Fall 2020. We gotten old and did our thing we wanted at that time. We looked at the market and did something our way which is different from what is out there.
William is the older more mature brother who had ideas to build stuff on the computer.
I wanted the programming skill. And once I had the experience to flesh out custom software we worked together. William waited for his younger brother to do the coding work.
That is how things just worked. One person has the ideas while the other does the bricklaying.
…
After doing our thing … what we realize and what people can understand too …
- My brother and I did our thing in 2020 at that time as older adults in our late 30’s after working for years in the computing industry. We were exposed to computers in 1995.
- We did what we thought was need for ourselves at the time in 2020. William’s passion of gaming, computing and art and David’s need to do his thing which is coding.
- We could do something and that was recognized and well received. That is all. We looked at the gaming tweaking market as old adults and pushed something out. That is the main key I think. We looked at a niche section.
- We are done. In our late 30’s we tried something. It worked out at that time. It matured too over the next 5 years.
That is all there is to it. Emphasis on being over 35. Also living in a cold safe climate like Canada maybe.
…
But at the end of the day … my mother said she born me a computer guy. She was thinking a certain way like thinking about computers and coding when she was pregnant with me.
I am not sure of my brother, but my mom said she born him like her uncle who liked art.
…
Then what makes a good life in the West for Vietnamese born in the West?
After writing the above … It might simply be just focus on a niche market. And go with that for years and years until you produce something …
…
As a 3rd child in my family, I constantly fight and debate with my older siblings.
In the Canadian and Vietnamese-Canadian and South Vietnamese family structure, no one listens to the 3rd child and youngers.
I could not get more life experience than my older siblings except if I worked longer outside in the society. But I can’t. I am simply younger. Both my older siblings have more outside work experience than me and disregard 99.9% of my opinions and suggestions.
I learned computer coding to get an edge over them and now win more debates now.
Coding gave me more levels than some of their daily everyday work.
The 3rd child must win sometimes. Right?
The current condition of my family is kind of bleak. More on this later …
To do what I am doing can grow and add more to what is current.
…
I realized now the problem I have with socializing in general … The conflicts I have day-to-day.
I realized this after finally socializing with Vietnamese old as me or older in the West.
I am from South Vietnam from An Giang. I come from the most agricultural area in Vietnam.
That is where I coming from and it makes people uneasy. Basically I am from farming background.
Most people in Canada are from cities and some from towns. Most immigrated from developed countries.
People who come from developed areas have laxed lives. Their parents or grandparents plateaued in life previously and they don’t really expect anything …
When they see a Southern Vietnamese farmer who is exploring and growing it disturbs their ‘world view’.
90% – 99.9999% of the lived Western experience revolves around negative stereotypes. That is how things run.
0.0001% are people similar people like you.