I feel lucky that I was born at a time when computers were knowable. I grew up in the 80s, and cut my teeth on a ZX Spectrum. Very little was hidden - even loading software into memory was something you experienced, listening to the beeps and warbles and watching the flashing colours for ten minutes or more. Guide books showed labelled photos and diagrams of the actual hardware inside, giving real tangible meaning to the commands you typed in.

I think there’s a massive amount of disconnect now between the users and the actual hardware, and getting up to speed with how things work is so much more difficult.

Also, I’m lucky that I was born into a family that was just able to afford a microcomputer. My dad had a stable enough job that he was able to get a loan from the bank to buy one.

Not sure my life would have turned out the way it did without this starting point.

Being light skinned in a first world country in the early 2000s

Supportive parents. Being in a first world country with social security and free healthcare. Sometimes I struggle with stuff but overall, I must be playing in easy mode.

Multilingualism. Cantonese, Mandarin, English. Although I rarely really watch media in those other languages, but still feels special to have them. Like for bragging rights xD

Literacy in English and Chinese (sort of, idk the higher level vocabulary). Just having literacy in general, 100 years ago most people can’t read.

And ease of access of information in this era, and also in my region. No firewall* like they did have in my now-former country

(*for now at least)

Fortunately, I’m quite thorough and meticulous in my approach. When I purchased a yacht earlier, I did my homework thoroughly—even factoring in the subsequent maintenance costs. Thanks to the guide “30 to 50 ft Yacht Maintenance Costs,” my monthly yacht expenses have remained well within my budget.