User:Richardphung/Life

Life

Early Childhood

Richard Phung was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on June 20, 1983 as the first son of Gay (mother) & An Chay (father) Phung. Little is known about the processes leading up to or the transitional period after his birth.

When Richard was 2-years old, his parents found opportunities in the town of Marshall, AR where they started a humble business known as the Marshall Motel & Restaurant, a small motor-lodge and road-side cafe. Richard's younger brother, Raymond, was introduced to the Phung family on December 12, 1986. For the first 13 years of his life, Richard and his family lived in a section of the motel that was converted into a 2-bedroom apartment. The living space was small but adequate and was convenient as the family business was connected via a conjoining hallway space that Richard's parents built in the conversion process. Growing up so close to work, Richard always retains memories of the restaurant in his recollection of early childhood:

Mom would always wake us up for school. She would smell strongly of a southern kitchen...like fresh biscuits and bacon grease. We dressed and headed for the restaurant through the motel office. Dad would be up getting ready to clean motel rooms with his coffee and toast. My brother and I would have breakfast in the corner booth. Ray, the elderly cook, would prepare us whatever old-fashion style breakfast we desired. My early childhood was filled with the sounds of a bustling diner, dishes clanging, the sound of the kitchen bell chiming for the waitress to pick up an order, and country music playing softly in the background. A smokey crowd of farmers sitting close by discussing the finer aspects of tending cattle or local events. Out the backdoor of the restaurant kitchen, we would stand and wait for the school bus.

When Richard was 14 years old, his parents decided to start construction of a house in Leslie, AR. The construction process was exciting as it brought an overall change of pace to the family and provided a permanent foundation. Life at this point would bring additional duties which would be best described as typical farm work. Richard would clear brush, drive the tractor, and raise livestock. In the few years that Richard lived in Leslie, he would have the opportunity to enjoy several aspects of outdoor living: recreational firearms, fishing, horseback riding, and ATVs.

For the most part, life for the Phung family was fairly simple. Hard-work and a sense of accomplishment for having exceeded personal challenges were values that Richard's parents instilled upon their children at an early age. Educational excellence was expected of the two boys. Both of Richard's parents came from relatively conservative Chinese or Chinese/Vietnamese culture, but immigrated to the United States through very different avenues. The difficulties of social and cultural assimilation and adaptation proved to be a great challenge to his parents, and their ability to overcome these obstacles in pursuit of the American Dream influences Richard in profound ways.

Both Richard and his brother are considered first generation, and as cultural and social conflicts played a particularly prevalent role in Richard's development, he would claim very little association with his ethnic descent. In fact, Richard would argue that he prefers the "genuine southern values" of the ethnic majority in Arkansas, despite frequent miscommunications and particular racial stereotypes that were prevalent at the time of his upbringing. Richard's parents spoke a combination of Cantonese and English at home, however Richard is not bilingual. He would claim that "languages are his weakest point."

As a child, Richard attended religious services as a Missionary Baptist, and was saved at age 13. By age 15, however, the amalgamation of other world views and life experiences had altered his view point, and by age 17, all remnants of Christian faith had been replaced by more moderate views towards life and morality. At age 25, Richard does not place any faith into any religion that claims an exclusive truth or a single divine consciousness, and in many cases he will condemn actions driven by ignorance or fundamentalism inspired by these beliefs.

Spirituality, Consciousness, and Understanding

Of the many factors that have influenced Richard's conceptualization of reality are writings and experiences with a variety of these schools of thought: Buddhism, Existentialism, Positivism, Hinduism, Empiricism, among many others.

Richard actively engages in activities and learning that work to challenge and unravel the layers of consciousness. He believes that direct experience is the only affirmation of reality, but acknowledges that energy is displaced and manifests into an infinite number of forms outside or under direct observation of which the primitive human senses cannot detect. Quantum Mechanics, Singularity, Complexity, and Brahman are frameworks that Richard continues to use to further understand the nature of existence. Nothingness is an abstract concept that perpetuates his pursuit of understanding.

Hobbies/Activities

Richard has invested interests in a large number of activities that include mountain sport and travel. He has visited at least a dozen states in the U.S., has dipped in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and has taken two international journeys. In his time in the New England Area, he has reached the top of a dozen +5000 ft peaks and has traversed miles of the Appalachian Trail. Richard enjoys kayaking, backpacking, cycling, camping, and rock climbing. Although bordering amateur enthusiast, he enjoys these activities and would not pass-up opportunities to engage them.

Utility, primarily concerned with Decision Making and Survivalism, is a primary interest of Richard. Meticulous arrangement and organization of otherwise Chaotic Systems under the guises of contemporary Feng Shui can be considered activities that define Richard Phung's lifestyle. Time and special interests reside in Engineering, Home Improvement, and Systems Integration. Richard enjoys recreational study of Firearms and Martial Weaponry, although his current claim to these past time activities is nonexistent. Richard occasionally dabbles in twirling and juggling arts.

Richard appreciates finely crafted beers, and has been affiliated with a number of special interest groups centered around sampling and recreating such handicraft. In his travels, Richard makes special note to visit regional breweries to explore the local varieties of the brew.
Richard's standpoint on recreational substances is vague at best, but he has spent a substantial portion of time investigating the psychological implications of hallucinogens. His research has included but is not limited to LSD, Psilocybin, 2CB, and 2CI, but the extent of and the conclusions resulting from this research is inconclusive. Richard does claim that he feels that the overall impact of THC and Marijuana on the human physiology (considering social and ethical implications) is rather insignificant, but his own engagement of these substances is speculative at best.

Despite turbulent experiences in early childhood with formal musical training, Richard loves to reproduce his favorite popular music through the guitar.

Richard engages in regular weight training and cardiovascular exercise. His interests and motivation to attain a state of consistent health and well-being may be influenced by genetic predispositions for particular illnesses.

Richard is very interested in Transhumanism and researching methods that humans have adapted to exceed their physical and cognitive limitations.

Digital Culture

Richard maintains an equally significant digitally immersed lifestyle in which he engages in digital content creation, file sharing, online communities, and massively multiplayer online gaming. Richard is known by several avatars, throughout several directories of special interest.

See List of Online Services & Communities

Personal Computing
Richard's earliest digital media experiences stemmed from with games on his father's Commodore 64. His family later adopted a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and a 100Mhz Packard Bell PC. Later, his family would incorporate a 233Mhz NEC PC. Other than computers at school, Richard would not have access to a personal computer until his junior year at ASMS when he acquired an 300Mhz eMachine. In the summer of 2001, Richard built the first of the 0p-Fleet, a series of computers that would be the lineage of his personal computing units.

Computer Gaming
In years past, Richard enjoyed recreational computer gaming. Among his favorites were Real-Time Strategy and Turn-based Strategy games, but the occasional First-Person Shooter would captivate his interests for short periods at a time. As far as console games are concerned, Richard would not own a gaming platform other than the NES until 2002 when he purchased a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).
Richard actively played Guild Wars for a period of 4 years (2005-2009), and currently plays City of Heroes/City of Villains.

See List of Games

Digital Media
Richard primarily engages in Archiving of digital entertainment media. This habit began in early 2000 when he began to rip backups of CD Audio into mp3 format using Audio Catalyst. His archiving has extended to include compressed back-ups of full-length movies in various media formats. It is unclear the particular legitimacy and originality of his entire collection, but it is certain that under no unlawful actions does Richard share or distribute this media. As of 2008, his digital media archive is comprised of ~50,000+ mp3's and ~1500 movies/documentaries.

In his travels, Richard enjoys taking photographs and videos that document his experiences. These can be found among various community sites.

Richard Phung's website can be found here.

Gagetry
See 0p-Fleet