amrayu

I’m 47, yes, I’m old. Born from immigrant parents who escaped Vietnam. Raised on welfare in the US. Hustled by selling stuff door-to-door as a kid. Sold candy to kids on the bus. Won a scholarship to study in Japan in high school (dad left my family around this time). Left my hometown for SF. Put myself through college with side hustles and multiple part-time jobs. Landed my first corp job at Ziff Davis in the gaming industry… went to E3, met Paris Hilton. 😅 Mom passed away from cancer. 😭 Got poached for another corp job at Apple by a former coworker (2x Ziff salary).🍎 Got poached by PayPal by a former coworker (2x Apple salary). Met my partner at Apple, then had two babies. Earned my first million from APPL and PYPL. Not bad for a welfare baby, eh? 🥹 Laid off after 12 years from PayPal via a video conference call. Took a 6 month sabbatical—coding, relaxing, applying, working with recruiters, visited Japan 2x. Started indie hacking! Got a job lead from a recruiter while on the plane to Japan. Back at Apple as a contractor for 18 months. Humbling, hell, stagnant, but it was for $$$ Had a coffee chat with a former coworker’s wife who is a director at Sony PS. Didn’t think it would go anywhere. Interviewed with multiple people at Sony PS and got the job as soon as my Apple contract ended. Continued indie hacking during my month before working at Sony and released my first iOS app! Now working on my second iOS app for #shipaton while working a 9-5, being a team manager for my daughter’s hockey teams, doing chores, cleaning, cooking, learning hockey myself… and marketing. I hate marketing 😂 Let’s connect or not, I don’t mind. I’m here to just make friends and share!

Pokemon Crystal GBC soldering success! This was my first time soldering 😂 Just tested it and everything is saving as it should.

I guess buying old Pokemon cartridges means lots of soldering 😂

Cute PlayStation stickers from Halloween work party 😭

Another successful AI conference! That’s two in one month. Learned a ton and met some old friends and made new friends.

ModRetro Chromatic game haul number 2. Too bad that these don’t come with clear cases for protection. 🙈

Is this sacrilegious? Playing a ModRetro Chromatic game on my Analogue Pocket 😂

Converted my GBA game into a manga!

Mommy beat a gym trainer and daughter is winning on Snoopy ice ☺️

This is what I want to do too 😭 But I gotta wait till January!

Yup, I’m nuts. But YOLO. Playing games has been a nice break from the grinding of indie hacking.

Bruh. Big screens are nice too.

Ahhh these Pokemon cartridges are too cute 🥰

Purple ModRetro Chromatic with this sparkly Pokemon GBC is 🥹☺️

Starting to buy second-hand GBC games for my ModRetro Chromatics. English Pokemon cartridges are insanely overpriced, but luckily I know Japanese, so Japanese Pokemon cartridges it is then. 😅

Slowly opening up all the new ModRetro chromatic games. It was a tough one since I want to savor every new game. I love how each game comes with a little charm too 😭 I think this neon green may be the best color too. It just pops!

This S-11 game and music on the ModRetro chromatic is 🔥 The speaker can blast too 😂

Yes I’m a bit obsessed with handhelds.

This is why I love Greg. He's so wholesome. 😂

Bruh... I wish my date would move. 🥲