About me

Hello, my name is Tom. I am a writer and hobbyist programmer. I was born in 1991 and I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I had a traumatic requiring vacuum extraction, resulting in cerebral palsy. Life wasn't easy growing up, being in foster homes and being a loner at school. I taught myself how to code at age 10. I have being learning how to be a better coder on-and-off again since 2015.

In my 20s, I became addicted to marijuana. I was smoking upwards of 5 grams a day. I used to work in a dispensary and got staff discounts. I was able to save $4000 by working this job. It was an easy job. I had to clean the floors and check members in. At the time, by income was more than my expenses. I travelled to Toronto, Ontario three times while working at that dispensary.

In 2015, the dispensary shut down and I was out a job. I began to teach myself web development. I also got into bitcoin. I figured I would learn web development and try to get a job as a coder. I got a credit card, which is around the same time I began drinking alcohol. I would pay for alcohol using the card while learning web development. I was spending upwards of $100 a day I didn't have on shatter (a marijuana extract) and 24 beers a day. My plan was to learn web development, land myself a job, and pay off my credit card. This strategy failed and I declared bankruptcy in 2016. Also, since I was drunk all the time, the quality of my work was bad.

If I could go back in time, I wouldn't study web development full time. It ended up being much harder to find work as a coder. I would work a few days a week through a temporary agency and study during the rest of the week. I knew I would be paid cash at the end of the day. I heard temp agency jobs sucked which is the reason I didn't use them earlier. I really should have worked at least 2 days a week through temp agencies to pay my credit card bill.

I went to a treatment centre for the first time in the summer of 2016. This was before I declared bankruptcy. I remember while I was there I had credit card debt toalling $10,000. The thing that made me want to get out of the treatment centre was paying off my credit card bill. I had enough credit card points to book a flight to Toronto. When I got there, I was apprehended by Pearson airport police and was evaluated by a psychiatrist . I was then discharged to a "safe bed" meaning housing without violent co-habitats.

I was sent back to BC and they told me I didn't have to complete the treatment program. It was my first real attempt at quitting alcohol. That time, I was more worried about my finances. After declaring bankruptcy, I got a job through the temp agency that lasted three weeks. I would sweep the floors at Parq casino while it was under construction.

From 2018-2019, I was drinking and smoking marijuana regularly. In the summer of 2019, I came across Graham Stephan's YouTube channel. Earlier that year, I began making preparations to get a credit card (but this time to earn points to travel). I came across Stephan's channel when I was searching for credit card video. I then watched a video where Stephan states that working a normal 9-5 job where you are paid by the hour is not the way to get to millionaire status quickly. He suggests you pick a career where you are paid for results and not time.

In November 2019, my parents offered to buy me a computer. At first I wanted the money to invest in index funds, but I then realized that a new computer would come with a video card. At the time, I did not know much about mining, so eventually I accepted the offer from my parents and bought a gaming computer to experiment with mining.

In 2020, the pandemic hit and everything shut down. I applied for CERB (Canada's Emergency Relief Benefit) and received $2,000 monthly for 9 months. I began drinking much more, up to 12 beers a day. In January 2021 I went to a faith-based treatment centre. I stayed for a month and I began drinking two days after coming back home.

Over the rest of the year 2021, I bought computer parts off Amazon to build a computer that was specifically designed for mining. I bought a motherboard with 8 PCI-e slots. I build a computer that could handle 8 GPUs at once.

Back then, as soon as I got any Ethereum or any other crypto for that matter I would sell it right away to buy alcohol and marijuana. In March 2022, my drug and alcohol counsellor referred me to a more modern treatment centre thaat also deals with mental health. I waited 8 months, and in December 2022, I got a bed.

At the time of this writing, (August 2023) I have been clean from alcohol for eight months. I am confident when I leave the treatment centre, I will continue to be abstinent from alcohol. I exercise regularly and I am using my final month here to build enough strength so I can work more through the temp agency,

When I leave the treatment centre, I plan to look for work. I am going to work though the temp agency indefinitely. I find working through a temp agency because I do not want to *have* to work. I want to have the freedom to work when I want. I plan to work as much as I can, while still maintaining my blog on Medium. As of this writing, I am a paid Medium writer. I am to writing frequently to build a future passive income stream. I am told I will receive free electricity in my new place, so I will be able to mine using my 8 GPUs in the future.

My big dream in life is to buy income generating real estate in Toronto, Ontario. I know that currently, this is unlikely to ever happen considering how bad the housing situation is in Canada. Still, I'm putting that out into the universe. I worked hard to get sober, so I will work hard to somehow come up with the down payment for a house.

I have a few financial related websites/products, such as my review for Cryptotab and Wealthsimple. I am affiliates of these apps and I get a comission when you sign up under my link. If you wish to support me in my journey to become wealthy, check out those pages and sign up under me.

I used to beg for donations on this site, but I have since repurposed it for reviews/tutorials on different ways to make money. I will update this website when I can. I appreciate all the support I have received and it encouirages me to see people wish me a better financial future.

Yours,
Tom