421–430 of 460 posts
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What are some of the other reasons? Suppose you could make $500k/year either by being a cardiologist or by cleaning out septic tanks. What advantages does the $500k from cardiology get you that the $500k from cleaning septic tanks does not? (Aside from impressing people at parties)
Cleaner hands and a lot less shit?
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I certainly hope so. But man, it's a sinking feeling when so many others seem to have it figured out at an even younger age. And knowing that the clock is ticking to actually go get those figs.
If the purpose of life is the journey to get there, not the destination, how could anyone younger than you have figured it out? Life is the one thing where people will never catch up and pass you.
I always consider my life is strange. Born in a 3rd world country in a broken home, families fight like in drama, many divorces and remarriage. I went where whoever my current father at that time went, moving from city to city, school to school. Then I find myself in the US, from odd jobs such as dry clean, laundry, sushi, deli, to church admin, to now working as SWE in one of big US tech company in NYC. Married a wi…
Keep CGK, Insert SIN, replace NRT with TPE, JFK with YYZ, then add CGK again after that. That is my life :-) Nice to meet you, Chris. We are in similar journey. Maybe I will add another destination after this, see how life goes. Brabel, I moved back to home country and brought my wife. That can also be a solution for you.
Ahh, one day I will. Today I still can't afford it. My family's side, parent, grandparent, etc messed up a lot financially and lost everything. I can't afford to go back right now or even move to Japan, my current salary is a reserve for in case anything goes wrong with them.
I always consider my life is strange. Born in a 3rd world country in a broken home, families fight like in drama, many divorces and remarriage. I went where whoever my current father at that time went, moving from city to city, school to school. Then I find myself in the US, from odd jobs such as dry clean, laundry, sushi, deli, to church admin, to now working as SWE in one of big US tech company in NYC. Married a wi…
Thanks for sharing this. Really put things into perspective.
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It’s fundamentally disrespected by people at a core level. I’ll prove my point with the one question they always ask us versus any other profession, ‘what is it that you actually do at the company?’. I swear, I’d never think to ask this of anyone, doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, cops, literally, I can’t think of one profession that gets asked this, I’ll try again, pilots, chemists, diplomats, translators, artists…
Have you considered applying Hanlon's Razor to the question? In my experience, most people (i.e. sans pathologies) ask this question because they are ignorant and curious. They are trying to integrate the unknown (you and your craft) into the known, not trying to challenge your ego. --- A story that might be illustrative. A close relative of mine came to his current country from another country, but is a citizen of h…
I always consider my life is strange. Born in a 3rd world country in a broken home, families fight like in drama, many divorces and remarriage. I went where whoever my current father at that time went, moving from city to city, school to school. Then I find myself in the US, from odd jobs such as dry clean, laundry, sushi, deli, to church admin, to now working as SWE in one of big US tech company in NYC. Married a wi…
That’s the life of an immigrant. You lose the concept of “home”. You can try to build one for the next generation but for you it’s most likely gone forever. It’s very strange because I don’t feel at home in my new country but I’ve also been gone for so long that my old country feels just as alien.
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The house is like a child’s drawing. A deputizing childishness that grew because someone—much too soon— gave up his mission to be a child. Open the door, step in! In here there’s unrest in the ceiling and peace in the walls. Above the bed hangs a painting of a ship with seventeen sails, hissing wave crests, and a wind that the gilt frame can’t contain.
It’s always so early in here, before the crossroads, before the irrevocable choices. Thank you for this life! Still I miss the alternatives. The sketches, all of them, want to become real. A ship’s engine far away on the water expands the summer-night horizon. Both joy and sorrow swell in the dew’s magnifying glass. Without really knowing, we divine; our life has a sister ship, following quietly another route. While the sun blazes behind the islands.
I always consider my life is strange. Born in a 3rd world country in a broken home, families fight like in drama, many divorces and remarriage. I went where whoever my current father at that time went, moving from city to city, school to school. Then I find myself in the US, from odd jobs such as dry clean, laundry, sushi, deli, to church admin, to now working as SWE in one of big US tech company in NYC. Married a wi…
I have a similar life, though without the part of a broken home at childhood (parents fought but not out of ordinary I think). It's really hard not being able to visit family often, at most once a year (if you're lucky and if there's no pandemics stopping you!). The hardest part for me is that my wife doesn't like my family, so she refuses to visit them... as half the family lives in one country and half in another,…
Maybe your wife isn't ready yet to see your family. My wife, being raised in a clean 1st world country, still is not used to the living condition when we visit Indonesia. It is understandable, so most likely we will retire in Japan instead of Indonesia one day.
As immigrants we already accepted our way of life. We will grow older, and our kids too, without being able to grow together with their contemporaries within the family circle.
I understand what you say about staying here you might end up having a meaningless life. Trust me, I thought about it a lot too. Hence that's why I set some things straight with my wife. Who knows what will happen in the future, but I said we gonna work here for a while, maybe until kids go to college, and we gonna go back to Japan. We decide that we aren't taking any long and expensive mortgage, but if possible, only 10 year mortgage. 10 years is a short time. Once we finish that mortgage, we can do whatever we want, and see where to go next.
Again, it is too far to think of the future, but my current plan gives me and my wife hope and goal to aim to. We'll enjoy the journey while we are here.
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Perhaps for some the placebo effect is enough, and Peterson becomes their savior with devotees. I don't know, I've listened to some of his stuff and what doesn't come across as simplistic platitudes has baked in assumptions that seem unnecessary, like defining truth to be an evolutionarily useful principle. That he inspires people doesn't surprise me, the religion of my youth did the same and was more hokum than Pete…
If you add all the dog whistles he's even worse than that. He's good at manipulating the crowds - the amount of downvotes that you are getting say a lot.
Most of us feel this, but an Elon Musk or Bill Gates may find this thought of an alternate life foreign, or at least horrifying.
Funny, I'd think the other way. Everything I know about these guys is they constantly want an alternate life - and they work to make it happen. They both could have "stopped" decades ago and have achieved more than 99.999999% of people who ever lived, but instead they are pushing against something different continuously.