Hi, I’m Alex!

Welcome!

*Warning this is a long one*

A little about me. I was born in the beautiful state of Hawaii. I lived in Honolulu for most of my childhood. Island life was great. The people, food, weather, it was just paradise. However, when I was around 19 or so, I was working at a Wal-Mart and attending community college for a Computer Science degree. I was thinking to myself, I don’t want to do this forever. The community college wasn’t really teaching me anything new and working at Wal-Mart (albeit was a fun experience) wasn’t going to pay the bills in the long run. I needed to do something or else I may end up being stuck there. I also knew I couldn’t stay in paradise forever and wanted to see what else the world had to offer. I packed my things, said my goodbyes, and decided to travel to California to attend IT school and get a new start and outlook on life. Leaving my friends/family just to try to achieve something different. I knew IT was something that I wanted to pursue ever since I was 8 years old. The first game I ever played on a computer was Doom/Marathon on Mac. From then on, I was hooked like a fat kid at a candy store. When my parents bought me my first PC (Hewlett Packard Pavilion), It further burned my desire to do something with computers in the future. Something about how computers worked and the endless possibilities you can do with them piqued my interest.

A new journey

To say I didn’t have a plan while moving to southern California was an understatement. This was the first lesson I learned that impulse may lead you to do stupid things 😁. I will say I was pretty lucky though. Fortunately, my cousins and family helped me along the way. My parents purchased me a car and helped me look for a room to rent while studying in California. California was definitely an eye-opening experience for me. It was just so much larger than anything I’ve been accustomed to. The people were rude, traffic was a nightmare in LA, the beaches were terrible. I knew I had to endure it so I can finally just get my degree in Computer Network Systems, and I’ll figure it out from there.

I lived in Harbor City, which was a bit away from LA. The town was nice. Very peaceful and not too much crime going around that area. I studied more than I did back home. I knew High school grades didn’t matter much but for my “higher education” I wanted to at least try this time. Studied, learned a lot about IT that the community college never taught me.

It was pretty grueling during those years. Ate ramen and those small frozen Totino’s pizza just to make ends meet. I will say the one restaurant that saved me was Ted’s Place in Harbor City. They had a 2 fries 2 burger deal for like $8 bucks. It was a nice treat to end the week with. I believe the restaurant is still around so definitely try their teriyaki or wet burrito. It does not disappoint 🙂

California was pretty chill after living there for a bit. I think once you get adjusted and adapt to a new environment then it isn’t really that bad. The people were easier to get along with, traffic wasn’t too bad once you knew the patterns, beaches were good if you knew which one to go to. All in all, it was a great experience. Traveled around California. Went to San Jose, Sacramento, Koreatown in LA. It was just so different than anything I experienced in Hawaii. I eventually got my parents to visit me, and we took a road trip from LA to San Francisco to attend my brother’s graduation. We never got to experience something like this together as a family and it gave us some great memories and bonding time. My mom finally got to drive somewhere other than Honolulu and it was funny just watching her panic every so often 😂.

After I finished my studies, I stayed a bit in California to look for work. During this time, it was around 2009-2011 and man was it difficult to find a job anywhere. I believe they labeled it as the “Great Recession”. I don’t understand how something with the word recess in it can be so bad. I think I sent out about 20 or so applications a week just nothing was biting. After a while I decided it may be best to move back. Money wise it made sense and being able to see some of my old high school friends also contributed to my decision.

Back in Hawaii

When I arrived back to Oahu. It felt amazing. I felt that I came back home, and nothing changed in the past few years I was away. I visited friends, enjoyed some beach life, and just spent the time decompressing and spending time with my parents. I think for most kids after they finish school, they usually end up lost and not knowing what to do. I was in the same boat. I knew I couldn’t just do nothing, so I ended up working with my dad to help him with his construction business. Mostly as an apprentice and picking up things he did and tried to help as much as I could. It reminded me back in the day when I would help him with his various projects.

When I was a kid like around 12-19 years old, I would always help my dad with a few jobs around Hawaii. We renovated churches, small businesses, restaurants, strip clubs, apartments, you name it. It was fun at the time and definitely grueling work that I do not miss whatsoever. I remember one time I had to bring up a few sheets of drywall up 3 floors while using the stairs because it wouldn’t fit in the elevator. I never experienced so much pain in my life🤣 (아이고..내 등 Remember to lift with your knees kids). So going back to helping him was going to be a challenge, but the money was good, and the time spent with him was something I cherished.

Unfinished business…

To be continued..