---
abstract: I want to think about my life as being RLHF by the people I surround myself with. As such, we populate our concept of the world around them. This is a list of people that inspire me to be my best-self at all times.
aliases:
  - thanks
  - cool people
  - people cannon
  - influence
comments: false
date: '2024-01-23'
description: a thank you letter.
id: influence
modified: 2026-06-05 15:08:04 GMT-04:00
permalinks:
  - /thanks
tags:
  - growth
  - love
  - evergreen
title: affecter.
created: '2024-01-23'
published: '2024-01-23'
pageLayout: default
slug: influence
permalink: https://aarnphm.xyz/influence.md
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full: https://aarnphm.xyz/llms-full.txt
---
I think a lot about that one [[quotes#^life-jobs-smart|quote]] from Steve Jobs, and realised that we become shaped by the people around us. Online and in daily life, we populate our minds and time with the people we follow or work with.

The following is a list of people I owe a lot. It moves from people I know who make me whole to people in the wild who remind me how beautiful life is. The groups are separated with `**`.

- [Jacky](https://jzhao.xyz/), for always encouraging me to think hard, even from afar
- [Chaoyu](https://twitter.com/chaoyu_), for taking a bet on me, four years ago.
- [Sean](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssheng/), whom I consider as a friend both professionally and personally.
- All my colleagues at [that infrastructure startup](https://bentoml.com/), for your trust in me.
- [Tommy](https://tommytrinh.me/), for your laughs, and going through life with pure determinism.
- [Kelly](https://www.kellychong.ca/), for your wonderful [[thoughts/taste]] and holistic worldview.
- [Wilbur](https://www.wilburzhang.com/), for your thoughts, vulnerability, and trust.
- [Rabs](https://linktr.ee/rabiasohail), for your trust, kindness and being so damn <mark>real</mark> :smiley:
- [Gourob](https://x.com/PodderGourob), for your trust in my abilities.
- [Parth](https://x.com/thanosthinking), for your trust.
- L, for your trust and love.
- C, for your care and endless laughter.
- N, for being the one who stays while the rest of the world walks away.
- J, for your endurance, for reminding me that I don’t have to walk through this dark forest alone.
- M and TA, for being anchors to my fading roots, [[thoughts/being|being]] Vietnamese, and _frozen grapes influencer_.
- my mom, for being the coolest human being, albeit with some minor hiccups (but you know, generational difference).
- my dad, for his silence, love through actions.
- my brother, for being nothing less but an inspiration for me to always keep pushing forward.
- Anh Q and chi L, for being the <mark>True North</mark> that lights the path whenever I felt lost.

\*\*\*

- [Hank and John](https://www.youtube.com/@vlogbrothers), banger writing and videos
- [Kieran](https://www.fourtet.net/), folktronica, or just pure vibes
- [Mylene](https://x.com/mylenesmind), for your relentless pursuit of happiness and drive in life
- [Ava from bookbear](https://www.avabear.xyz/), for always reminding me that everyone deserves to be [[/tags/love|loved]], even the unfortunate ones.
- [Anson](https://ansonyu.me/), for being the most driven human being I have come across
- Albert Camus, infinite charm and writings
- Ludwig Wittgenstein, [[thoughts/Language|language]] game
- Steven Soderbergh
- Christopher Nolan
- Raymond Carver
- Simone Weil
- Claude Shannon
- John von Neumann
- [Horace He](https://horace.io/)
- Sergei Rachmaninoff