I once set an S3 lifecycle setting that accidentally affected 3 years worth of logs to Glacier. The next morning I woke up to a billing alert and an AWS bill with an extra $250k in charges (our normal run rate was $30k/month at the time). Basically I spent my entire add annual cloud budget for the year overnight.
Thankfully after an email to our account rep and a bunch of back and forth I was able to get the charges reduced to $4,300.
was hanging out with friends getting some drinks, we decided to walk through our old campus.
there was a roof I always used to climb up while in college to chill on, so I did that.
after finished, while hopped up on liquid courage, I decided to jump down.
did so and shattered my heel.
spent the entire summer immobile and required a surgery that ended up costing me about $5k out of pocket.
have mostly recovered now, but it's still not as good as the other foot, and I know it's going to hurt like hell when i'm old.
don't be like me, don't do stupid shit while drunk.
Never let the car run out of gas. I was on the highway and the destination gas station was in sight. Well, even after putting more gas in from a Jerry can it wouldn't start because debris clogged the fuel filter. Getting it towed + repaired was like $1000 when I could have just stopped at a gas station earlier.
Before buying your fitst home:
- bring someone with more experience than you to have a look at it, maybe even a professional
- scout out the area (on foot) during the day, evening and night
- visit local businesses like cafés, restaurants, bakeries etc.
- look at statistics like crime and air quality
- have a talk with the neighbors, get a sense of the community if you can, otherwise just observe while taking walks
- if applicable, call the home owner's representative (or whatever the equivalent is where you live), ask them about the home, neighborhood, community, expenses, plans for the future etc.
- have a set budget of how much you want to spend on it before you move in, don't overstep that amount
Not all landscapers can "landscape". Hired a guy to build a pad for a shed which included a small retaining wall. The guy doesn't own a level, and the end result is visibly not level. I showed him with my laser level what was going on, and he didn't believe me. He started adding MORE material to the high spot.
He was aggressive about needing to be paid. Very aggressive. I paid him since he knows where we live. Unless we sue him and win, we're out $4800, and to have it done correctly (with a fancier wall) will be $6500.
TLDR: Don't hire a lawn service company to build anything.
Art school isn't worth it, period. I got a far better art education through my local community college by far, from instructors who weren't incrediblely stuck up and full of themselves.
That was an 80k expense that I'm still paying off almost 20 years later, and I didn't even finish my degree.
I went back to get my AS at a CC and took some art classes there. 10/10, far better instruction for a fraction of the price.
I wanted a newer car, so I rolled my existing auto loan into the newer vehicles loan. So easy right?
I was upside down on it for years and years. It's so disheartening to drive a vehicle that's falling apart and stranding you everywhere but still owe $10k on it. It was an awful decision that took years of pain but that was my lesson on buying things I can afford.
Don't invest in crypto.
As an IT-worker, it's not uncommon to test technology and scrap it due to bad results or unfit implementation. Usually this isn't considered a waste, since there are a lot of things to learn in the process.
However, this one system which was designed for testing applications was a bit different. From the day we were told about it, basically every developer knew that this would be unfit. However the customers were firm on that it should be implemented. I'm not sure if it was because of the looks of the sales person or if it was a genuine incompetense that the decission was landed, but I felt a bit too junior to stand up against it. So about a month of work with 2 developers went down on something that every other developer knew would be scrapped. 2 devs at ~$100/hour, 4 weeks of 40 hours, so roughly $32,000.
The lesson was that I need to be more direct and firm when things like that is decided.
When I was a student I kept my books beside my bed on the floor. Got hammered one night, went to bed, felt sick and ended up being sick on all of my books on the floor. Probably about £500 worth of books which is a lot when you’re a broke ass student.
As Eisenhower said,
beware the engagement-wedding-genderreveal-kids-mortgage-divorce-childsupport-legal-industrial complex.
I may be mis-remembering exactly what he said. but I think that was the gist.
The legal system.
After having 3500 dollars worth of stuff stolen by my shit landlord. I went to court. Again And again And again And again.
Not accounting for my time, gas, parking, I spent over 5000.amd even after I "won" I still wound up goj back to court several times because this scum sucking asshole claims to be 100000 in debt to the government.
I hate the legal system more then I hate the guy who stole from me!
Don't buy salvaged vehicles unless you are dead sure you gonna keep it for life. And don't cotumise it if you intend not loosing that money. I've bought my Harely salvaged 10 years ago, put a lot of work and money on that. Now I want to sell it and I just can't, even taking a 20% loss on the market price. And that is without adding the parts money I've spent. Bike original goes for 40K. I've put around 12K on parts and upgrades. I'm asking 32K and can't sell it. Furthermore, the dealership don't accept that bike on a trade cause of the salvage mark it has.
College only makes sense economically if you have a plan.
If you’re a naive, idealistic, scatterbrained, autistic, traumatized, brainiac redneck raised into terrible character by a spineless single parent who drove off the good one, like I was, then your best bet after high school is some entry level job, heath insurance, and therapy for a few years.
I had an emotional system the equivalent of a broken pair of legs. I basically signed up for a walking journey with broken legs, because (a) I had no conception of what the “legs” were that carry a person through college successfully, and (b) I had no idea they could be broken, and (c) I had no idea mine were broken.
I was like “sweet! big journey!” and the kids from healthier backgrounds and I got along fine, and they got their shit done and I mostly tore my hair out and cried and took super long walks and experimented with drugs. I had been led to believe that the journey through life was like driving through a country. I didn’t realize that traveling in this journey meant transforming the self. I had no conception of self transformation as an aspect of life, of directed growth, of evolving consciously. All I had was this feeling that life was like a river and I was kayaking down it seeing new stuff.
I don’t really know how to say what the lesson was. It was the most expensive lesson I ever learned, because not only did it cost me a huge amount of money, it also cost me about twenty years of my life.
Not a massive expense. Turned 500 € into 250€. Learned a lesson nonetheless.
I followed the GameStop (GME) hype to late and halfed my money in 4 easy steps. Follow and don't repeat.
- invest (feel like robin hood ... hehe)
- panic (notice why I shouldn't daytrade and why I was in therapy
- withdraw my money at an awesome 2:1 ratio
- not fall for internet hype that quicky again and delete my invest account
Our mortgage brokers, we had a broker that told us it would be best to go with variable because you always end up paying less. We had a choice between 1.35% variable or 2.05% fixed. We had 1.35% for 2 months and it is 6.1% now. We could be putting so much against our principal but instead we are paying 3k+ in interest and 1200 in principal.
Don't go with the low bid.
College isn't for everyone.
Houses are overrated.
Seriously, even if you can technically afford it, if you're not still flush with cash after close, it's just infinite stress.
The main issue is that you are now locked into the area around your home. Unless you're making so much to be able to afford a house AND appartment rent, your job opportunities have become that much more limited since remote job offerings are on the decline. Relocation assistance is a thing, but if your house purchase is at all recent, still a good chance that selling will put you in the red.
You also have to pay for any repairs or improvements in the event that the only house you could afford is old and not up to safety regulations. In my case, I also have interest rates to worry about. I bought my house while they were on the rise and locked in above my comfort zone (not in a "i'm about to bankrupt myself" kinda way, don't worry) in hopes that they'd go down and I could refinance, but obviously they havent, so what should be a comfortable payment for me at 3% (~$1100) is instead a "wow I can literally never have fun anymore" payment of $1850 at 6.5%, and will remain so for the forseeable future. Also: Because the only affordable place was like an hour from my job, gas money's eating a hole through my soul as well.
Education? I guess I learned a lot from it?
College.
When buying a house people tell you to make sure the roof is in good condition because that'll be expensive to replace. What they don't tell you is that is all the other things that you may need to replace and how expensive they are. Fence, paint, siding, water heater, washer/dryer, AC, heater, kitchen appliances, etc. Some this might show up in the inspection report, but it's hard to get a good idea of what it'll cost beforehand. Also your realtor will have an incentive to downplay any problems to get the deal done.
Dining out isn't a substitute for therapy.
Not everyone needs to go to college or grad school or do a PhD or do a postdoc because they can't get a job or another postdoc or
Fuck, all of this is depresing to read. I havent had had any mayor fuck ups like the ones in here so my only contribution would be to not lean into bathroom sinks since they are not as firm as they look, not even if they are welded to the floor via concrete, just wash your hands or your teeth or shave or wathever away from the sink, since the motherfucker breaks easly.
College, probably
Years ago I tried my hand gambling on politics on PredictIt, and I didn't lose all that much, but there were a couple bets I lost that seemed like sure things. Mostly the lesson I learned is that talk is cheap and there's no real consequences for people saying one thing and doing the other.
For example, in the 2016 election, there was a market on whether no-name Carly Fiona would qualify for the CNN debate, and by the rules they set she didn't qualify, but there hadn't been as many polls in the right timeframe as had been expected. Still, they released a statement days before the debate, saying "rules are rules," so I took a bet at like 90% odds thinking it was completely safe - then they let her in at the last minute and I lost big. I don't remember the exact circumstances, but I think I lost a fair bit on a market about Trump meeting with Kim Jong Un, which was a pretty chaotic market. The most chaotic market I ever saw, which I avoided and wanted no part of, was whether Bernie would win Iowa in 2020, and watching it closely in real time made it very obvious that some really shady stuff was going on. Probably the most I ever lost was Biden winning the 2020 primary, which is about when I got out of it.
I would not recommend gambling like that because if you have money on the line there's an incentive to be glued to the news in a way that can be really unhealthy. Honestly the stress was worse than the money I lost. It's more trouble than it's worth, the fees will get you, also it's generally more about predicting what the market will think so you can profit off the swings, and personally I think it's kind of a distasteful way to engage in politics. At the same time, it can be a learning experience - it definitely got me in the habit of asking "And what consequences will this person face if they're lying off their ass?" every time I see a headline about someone saying something, and of not paying as much attention to statements in general.
Practice/passion/skill > gear in music
And Gear Acquisition Syndrome is a real disorder
Don't get into modular synths unless you have serious $$$
Don't take 4 pills of molly in one night. And don't make that mistake more than once.
I cant just coast through uni like its highschook
Wear a condom.
Don't know if it is that expensive for others or not but just sharing cuz it might help someone.
You don't need to be a dad in order to make dad jokes.
I should never have been born
Don't bomb it down a slope you don't know (snowboarding). Someone pointed me to a "hospital" which turned out to be a private clinic and my insurance didn't cover the ridiculously overpriced CT scan.
Be aware of your own finances and don't blindly trust your family.
"Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly"
[as opposed to "not done at all" because you're overthinking it]
Check that your cpu can use all your ram mhz :(
@TheImpressiveX I will die one day.
Money wise I once ran a speed lab and lost a couple grand on it after my associate chikened out because his half brother got whacked. But it was fun.
Overall. I studied for an acounting tecnician in my teenage years. Thats what i regret the most in my life. No human being should go through that. One of the reasons i dont have a college degree is tgat after going through that i sworeupon my soul and upon the mass that i would never again go through anything similar.
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Monitor the temp gauge in your car. Overheated my civic's engine when radiator leaked :( had no warnings until it's too late (2008 one). had to replace it, now always trying to have an eye on it
Volkswagen's are no longer reliable cars.
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