My sister and I have to lie every time someone asks us this question; it is exhausting to keep lying over and over about it.

Most of my childhood memories revolve around deadbeat dads and an abusive mom, unfortunately. Around 2007, a violent divorce led to the abuse and neglect of both me (8 years old at the time) and my sister (10 years old at the time). In the early years with mom, violence was a very frequent, more-than-weekly occurrence. My mother mostly targeted my sister, and I was punished if I tried to call the police. It affected everything I dreamt about, wished for on my birthdays, prayed for at night, and thought about in church, hoping for it to someday end. The intensity tapered off year by year, but lasted until 2017.

I learned computer science because it would give me useful skills to eventually (financially) escape my mother’s coercive control. I became interested after using horizonmb to mod Borderlands on the Xbox 360 when I was 9 (2010). Then, I started programming on Codecademy python courses and Harvard’s CS50 online after getting my own computer for “schoolwork” when I was in middle school.

Kevin Martin was absolutely instrumental in helping me get into a good college by helping me write my whole story in a college-focused way. He geniunely changed my life and I could not have gotten to where I am without him.

When people ask me “So what got you into computers as a kid, Ryu?” in public, or when I am being interviewed, I usually give a white lie. I have had people accuse me of making up my childhood after my white lies contradicted themselves, so I wrote this. I have no hard feelings against the question itself; I just need to write this where people can read it and understand.