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Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

gavinray97.github.io

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Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#341

Post by gavinray »

mexicocitinluez wrote: post #315
Vaslo wrote: post #207

As a libertarian right leaning guy I opened your story with pessimism but I really enjoyed it and greatly appreciated the personal responsibility you took in your situation. People should be inspired by this - it’s precisely because of personal responsibility that you are so successful.

> it’s precisely because of personal responsibility that you are so successful. No it's not. It's absolutely not personal responsibility that gets people through addiction. And if you read the entire article, this should stand out: > I don't tell this story because I think it is clean, heroic, or universally applicable -- It isn't. I made TERRIBLE choices. I hurt people who loved me. I wasted chances that other peopl…

I think it's a bit of a mix of both.

I could not have climbed out of the hole I dug on my own, that I am almost CERTAIN of.

At the same time, if I had felt as though I were owed "more", and indignant about being "wronged", I think it would have made me slightly vindictive and less-positive.

To me, "Libertarianism" is about the power of personal-effort and opportunity. Not everything will pan out if you "just try hard and long enough", but at least THINKING it will (even if you know it's unlikely) feels like a better mindset to me than the alternative.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#342

Post by [deleted] »

coldtea wrote: post #114
qmr wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> chronically adverse culture That's the thing. On a bike you can do everything right and still lose. California is one of the safer places to ride given how many bikes are here and I've still had too many near misses as a trained, experienced, and conservative rider. Most people put 1-2k miles a year on their bikes, when I was riding often I put on 2-3k/ month.

> That's the thing. On a bike you can do everything right and still lose. Same with anything in life. Same with a car, just less so. Of course you could also stay at home, wearing protective bumper suit 24/7 (and can still die from any number of things anyway). At some point there's a tradeoff people make. Some people make it where the tradeoff slider says "motorcycle", rather than stop at "car". And I'm not talking…

[deleted]

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#343

Post by gavinray »

wallst07 wrote: post #302
yesitcan wrote: post #134

So this guy was buying fake MDMA and reselling it as actual MDMA? What a scum bag

No, try reading it again. "a legal "Research Chemical" with effects similar to MDMA (Methylone/bk-MDMA)" Someone that is quick to assume without reading could easily make this mistake.. there are my research chemicals that are not technically categorized and not MDMA. Read about Sasha to start https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Shulgin

Yes, it was Methylone (and advertised as such, nobody cared as long as it worked). NBOMe was really popular in my town during my late teens as well for the same reasons.

RIP Sasha, PiHKaL and TiHKaL were, stereotypically, staple books on my shelf during adolescence.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#344

Post by gavinray »

jberryman_again wrote: post #142

(reviving an account this once to just say...) I've been lucky to work closely with Gavin at Hasura for years, and he is really a brilliant and versatile engineer, and is just a pleasure to work with. Great energy, down-to-earth, hilarious. If I had to assemble a "dream team" he would be on it for sure. Thanks for sharing this part of your story dude!

Thank you Brandon, you're a good bit more talented than me in my $0.02 but it's been awesome to work with you, too =)

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#345

Post by [deleted] »

coldtea wrote: post #143
qmr wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crashes. Not accidents.

Accidents. Not everything is under the driver's control, nor does it happen due to their intention (or even necessarily due to their lack of attention or whatever). There's a reason the term accident is used (I know at least 10 countries where the meaning is the same).

[deleted]

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#346

Post by [deleted] »

KingMob wrote: post #260
estearum wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're describing American cities, while GP (to whom I was responding) was clearly describing the huge number of foreign cities (e.g. SE Asia) where motorcycles are the dominant form of urban transit. The relevant factor is that a street where motorcycles, cycles, pedestrians, and small/slow cars are dominant – all of which move at generally slow speeds – is of far, far, far less danger than a street (freeway or not)…

I guess this depends on whether you're emphasizing deadliness or likelihood. I live in Thailand, and I can assure you that while scooters dominating city streets increases awareness by car drivers, it doesn't make accidents less likely. Most accidents worldwide happen on low-speed streets, not highways. On highways, the speeds are higher, so the rare accidents that occur are more damaging, but the opportunities for a…

[deleted]

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#348

Post by aswegs8 »

antonvs wrote: post #61
khazhoux wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Writing articles by hand isn’t just smart— it’s important. No shortcuts. No filler. No excuses. Key insight: relying on AI for writing assistance helps neither the author nor the audience.

Ironically saying "isn’t just smart— it’s important" (complete with em-dash!) and "No shortcuts. No filler. No excuses." sounds very AI-generated. Not saying it is, just pointing out how messed up the world we live in now is. But... was it?

And honestly, you're brave to point that out.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#349

Post by anthonylevine »

gavinray wrote: post #341
mexicocitinluez wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it’s precisely because of personal responsibility that you are so successful. No it's not. It's absolutely not personal responsibility that gets people through addiction. And if you read the entire article, this should stand out: > I don't tell this story because I think it is clean, heroic, or universally applicable -- It isn't. I made TERRIBLE choices. I hurt people who loved me. I wasted chances that other peopl…

I think it's a bit of a mix of both. I could not have climbed out of the hole I dug on my own, that I am almost CERTAIN of. At the same time, if I had felt as though I were owed "more", and indignant about being "wronged", I think it would have made me slightly vindictive and less-positive. To me, "Libertarianism" is about the power of personal-effort and opportunity. Not everything will pan out if you "just try hard…

I was commenting too much, and thus can't reply with the same account, but I wanted to say I do agree with the fact that while you can't control what happened to you in the past (and maybe even what led you to drugs in the first place), your addiction is yours and having a victim-complex (warranted or not) is pretty detrimental to getting clean.

I was pretty fortunate in that while I may not have had the picture perfect childhood, my family was always there for me and in no way shaped my decisions to use. So even if I wanted to feel like a victim, I'd get snapped out of it pretty quickly.

When I look back at what set me apart from most others (I've been in numerous treatment centers, jails, and hundreds of NA meetings), the one thing that stood out to me the most was my support system. Others probably had a greater desire or more to lose, but because desire alone isn't enough, didn't always make it through. One example, my mom would drive hours each weekend to come visit me in treatment. That just didn't exist for the others I was there with.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#350

Post by qmr »

coldtea wrote: post #143
qmr wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crashes. Not accidents.

Accidents. Not everything is under the driver's control, nor does it happen due to their intention (or even necessarily due to their lack of attention or whatever). There's a reason the term accident is used (I know at least 10 countries where the meaning is the same).

Crash.

Google crash not accident will give many resources.

https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/travel/safety/road-users/crash...

> there's a reason

Yes, the auto lobby.

Saying "accident" implies that the tens of thousands of road deaths every year are an unavoidable consequence of the convenience of driving.

That's just not true.

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