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Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

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Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#131

Post by vharuck »

I'm thankful for my parents. Because of their planning, saving, and support, I graduated college despite mental health issues, a "I'm thinking of suicide" note, and breaking off a wedding engagement to move back in with my parents.

Now I have a degree in a subject I loved, a nice desk job that encourages me to research and apply new ideas, a wife who is the fiancee I broke up with, and a home in a great school district for our future child. We just got back from a trip to the West Coast and are planning to go to Japan and Germany in the future.

The odds of this life were not in my favor, despite being a white American from the middle class (though those didn't hurt). I am lucky. I and everyone who feels this lucky should give other people chances to stumble on their own lucky path.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#132

Post by janee »

I'm thankful for all the mentors I've had over the years. Not just teaching and taking the time to explain until I understand, but also providing good examples how to handle bad situations and treat people.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#133

Post by jhowell »

baroffoos wrote: post #122
rtpg wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great, it really sucks that people on work visas can basically be threatened with deportations by their employers like this because of all the ways unemployment can go wrong. Good look with the new job :)

It also sucks for locals because some corps will strongly preference people on work visas since they basically own the employees.

Is it possible that at some point someone in your family tree was preferred for employment due to their immigration, or perhaps other status, which created opportunities that brought you to where you are today?

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#134

Post by nyxxie »

fishtoaster wrote: post #120

I'm thankful that people want to pay me ludicrous sums of money to do the thing I love. I've seen my friends who have the same passion for art, or literature, or even STEM fields like biology and psychology, struggle to make a living "doing what they love." Many of them end up as baristas and uber drivers while they try to make it in their chosen fields. Me? I went to school for something I found fun. I didn't choose…

Definitely this for me as well. When I was younger I was at an interesting crossroads with my freetime where I'd either program or play video games obsessively. I decided to try putting that video game energy into improving my programming ability, and 10 years later now I'm in the valley making FAANG wages at a young age and still absolutely love programming. I have no idea how my life would have turned out if I didn't luck into discovering this amazing hobby. I feel bad calling my job "work" since I very rarely don't feel like coming in.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#135

Post by frosted-flakes »

didgeoridoo wrote: post #11

I’m thankful for the heart donor who saved my newborn daughter’s life last week. My daughter contracted Coxsackie B enterovirus at 2 weeks old, and it scarred her left ventricle beyond repair. Her donor has given her a second chance. Another family had to make a heartbreaking choice at a devastating moment, and they chose to give life to my daughter and probably several other gravely ill infants. Check your organ don…

That family made both a heart saving choice and a heartbreaking one. That other baby's heart lives on in your daughter.

This past summer, my late-20s brother was killed when he was hit by a car while riding his bike. He was an organ donor, and because his heart never stopped beating, his organs (including his heart) went to six or seven other people.

But don't just check your organ donor status, tell the people you love that you're an organ donor. It was completely by chance that we found out that my brother was one just a few days before the accident, and we never found his wallet or his driver's licence, so we probably wouldn't have known his wishes otherwise.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#136

Post by wyldfire »

Don't tell my boss but I have the greatest flipping job ever. Just another software dev but challenging, interesting, and yet not high pressure/intensity. Great compensation and recognition.

I'm healthy aside from the results of my poor diet. My family is healthy too.

Born in the US to a wealthier than average family. I am thankful that almost everything in my life has gone my way.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#137

Post by adventured »

I'm thankful for each day that I get to work on the things that I enjoy and get to learn new things that I find interesting.

I'm also thankful for HN. I've been coming here for about a decade. It's one of the few sites or communities I've visited for such a long period of time consistently going back to the early to mid 1990s. The relatively consistent, persistent moderation is a big part of why it still works so well after all this time, so a thanks to the mods as well.

Good fortune to everyone here in the year ahead.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#138

Post by kingbirdy »

pinkfoot wrote: post #126
rtpg wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great, it really sucks that people on work visas can basically be threatened with deportations by their employers like this because of all the ways unemployment can go wrong. Good look with the new job :)

Why? EVERY temporary work visa I have ever had has had a declaration section where I acknowledge that its temporary and in no way entitles me to residence. Its not a hidden suprise.

Acknowledging that it sucks doesn't mean it doesn't suck. It's unfortunate for anyone to have such an unstable residency, where they could have to uproot their life back to the other side of the world with very little notice, on top of being laid off.
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