About AsianTom

December 28th, 2006 by asianTom

My story is not meant to be a sad one but one about the American Dream, and how hard work can pay off.

My family immigrated to the US in the early 80s, and without knowing any English my parents were able to provide for my brother and me. We didn’t have much but we had enough to get by on a daily basis. There was a time when we were on welfare, and got our clothes from a donation center.

My mom would take the old clothes and cut them up and sew stuff that would fit me. We lived in a one bedroom apartment. My mom, brother and I slept on a single size bed. I lived a very normal childhood and spent my times playing in the streets. Before the Internet came along kids actually went outside to play.

My family’s first computer was an Apple 2E, later a 286 and so on. After I finished college, I attended college and graduated with a business degree, emphasis on computer information systems.

As far back as I can remember I’ve always been working. When I was younger I would pick weeds from people’s yards, wash their cars, even spray painted house numbers on curbs. As I was growing up my mom said you have two choices in life, you can either work hard with your hands or with your head. I chose to put my head to use as I’m too fragile for manual labor.