Logging online at an early age taught me that in order to get ahead, you had to know how to steal.

I first learned of the Asian American-oriented social networking platform Asian Avenue through my cousin who was just a few years older than me. Its logo was done in a shade of green not too far away from #339933. I learned about the basics of graphic design and coding through being online at the tender age of eight, nine, ten and so forth.

The first thing I learned to steal was a pirated version of Photoshop. The second was the HTML and CSS markup of a personal profile. It wasn’t long before I was figuring out how to manipulate text and images into decent-looking web pages using free fonts and stolen CSS and HTML markup.

Sure, being online taught me how to steal, but being online ten or so years after I first logged on made me realize how resourceful I was. Nowadays, the answer to most things is a Google away. Before, trying to get from an idea, Point A, to a finalized item, Point B, required a whole lot of guesswork and trial and error. Presently, with everything being a click and a Wikihow article a day, existing online has become well, very fucking easy.

Sofia Luu is a writer and IRL meme from Toronto, follow her @CGIasian.