My Story…

I was born in Vienna, Austria to Filipino catholic parents (Arsenio and Ligaya Sinoy) on June 20, 1985. My mother with the brighter ideas in the family realized that the first letter of my father’s and her name combined, makes a short decent name – AL.

Back then this two-letter phenomenon of a name was not considered a catholic name. So I was blessed with Al Philippe Biona Sinoy. Authentic, I guess. But I do prefer the shorter variation.

We were going to be a family of three children but it looks like I was going to face the world’s challenges as an only child. It didn’t mean I was alone. My parents are the foundation to my being and I have extended family and friends that look after me (and vice versa).

I haven’t had the smoothest start to an educational journey because I had two significant issues to adjust to: trying to master five languages (English, German, Tagalog, Ilongo and Cebuano) and being flexible to three environments (School, Home and local Vienna) that were different to each other in many ways. Although it wasn’t easy to overcome these hurdles, it surely made my learning experience more interesting.

As a toddler I attended a public school in Vienna. My transition to an International School took place as my parents realised that I was terrified by my nun teacher (Schwester Kolita) who one day forced me to spend the rest of my school afternoon with my arms and head on the table for not eating my pea soup.

After the traumatic incident, I attended the Vienna International School by 1989 where I have achieved the IB diploma in 2003. Afterwards, I spent three years in the United Kingdom to complete a Bachelors of Science (First Class with Honours) in Multimedia and Digital System at the University of Sussex, Brighton in 2006.

Only as I was approaching University did I realise how important a good education was for me. Since then I always valued hard work and strived to become one of the best in everything that I do and interests me. As a late bloomer, I always try to catch up for lost time.

My love for multimedia developed since the first time I laid hands on a Sega Master System. I remember that the experience was electrifying and valuable. I was fascinated how the art of multimedia manages to excite people in the most dynamic and stimulating ways. This is when I realized that this is the area I want to be involved in. I, too, want to give people exciting experiences across digital technology, video entertainment and the ever-blooming world of the Internet. I, too, want to master the art of Digital Media and Entertainment.

Nevertheless another part of me that keeps me grounded from the digital world is sports. Basketball to be exact. Although I am open to every sport, god knows that I spent more than enough time playing hoops. I am sure that my parents do too. It has taught me the value of teamwork, training hard, timing, awareness and playing with heart. It reminds me how I should live most of days. It keeps me focused and on my feet. However, I do try to keep fit overall and maintain my interests in martial arts and extreme sports (the ones that are not prominent for bone breaking like triathlon, surfing and paintball).

Now this is more than enough information “about me” and I’d like to close it by saying thank you to everyone who has helped come this far, especially Mom and Dad.

Peace.