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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • I’m approaching 40 this year. Around 20, I missed an important uni deadline, and meant the degree I had planned would cost me an extra year I couldn’t afford (like literally couldn’t afford the tuition). Managed to finish, but with a degree no one would recommend. Was absolutely panicked.

    Ultimately, ended up very successful in a job in a country on the other side of the world. Met the woman who is now my wife of 13 years, had some amazing adventures, moved to a few more different countries, changed industries again about 10 years ago, and worked my way up to upper management again before leaving that field too.

    TL;DR No, stress has brought me nothing but misery, I have no regrets except that I didn’t enjoy the ride as much as I could have.

    Learn new stuff as you work, or as hobbies (my entire second career started as a hobby). Don’t be afraid to “fake it till you make it” and keep an eye out for jobs you didn’t even consider as a possibility. I personally avoid corporate gigs, smaller independent companies are more likely to notice you and use you for the skills you bring. Life can fly by, enjoy the ride.




  • Funny that. I had a boss who had senoritied into a role he wasn’t really qualified for. And after furlough, he too said something about me and another colleague being expendable. I had a new job offer within a month. From what I heard, covering/replacing me did not go well at all.

    New gig had it’s own problems, but they genuinely appreciated me.











  • I’m coming to the belief that sometime this is an overblown excuse. I’m sure it’s not true everywhere, but I just visited a friend in a medium sized (well under 100k people) Florida city, and spent a day going around by bus and foot, and it was great. Buses were reliable, air-conditioned, cheap, and traveled all the main routes, running about 18h a day, but they were barely used. Still loads of 6 lane roads, paved everything, massive parking lots, and more SUVs than I could count.

    Even if you have a car for some trips, people in this city could easily reduce their usage, but they’ve become far too reliant on car culture. A trip to the store, 15 min walk, hop in the car. A trip downtown, 10min walk and 30min bus ride, nope… Car.

    If we want more public transport, we need to encourage people use what exists when they can.




  • Exactly, it sounds like your town is big enough to have/deserve decent transit, but small enough that a small vocal group could have a big impact.

    Get involved, show up, campaign for/against politicians that support/oppose improvements. If you can find a friendly counselor (don’t discount anyone, you never know who might already quietly support a special interest like this) to meet with you, get their help to make a list of practical improvements that could be enacted now/quickly, focus your activity around these (for now). Work to mobilize other bus takers/cyclists/young people/older pensioners who are more reliant on transport. Contact local press, write letters to the editor, befriend a local reporter. Consider planning a small demonstration, but keep the tone very friendly, you are trying to convice and even befriend people who maybe didn’t care or know about the issue. Frame the debate in an inclusive way (i.e. rush hour traffic is terrible, wouldn’t bike lanes and bus lanes improve things for everyone, even car users?)

    You don’t have to do all of the above, just what you can to move the needle. Local politics can actually be a lot more rewarding than national, because you have a chance of seeing a real impact.