Things We Take for Granted

[Greenie]

What are some useful/interesting/mundane things you take for granted?​

I work a lot with computers, so I know a few things here and there. However it's stuff I've never given a second thought about, thinking everyone must know about it! Like how to turn on the WiFi, as a very simple example. Yet everyday I have to help at least one person with WiFi problems.

 

[Elle Joyner]

OH man... definitely grocery stores within a walking distance... modern healthcare and my husband's work insurance... TOOTHBRUSHES! Ugh. The list goes on and on :) Basically I'm just glad that I live in a country where we have the ability to take care of ourselves the way other countries really can't :(

 

[Joan]

Well, I have the same thing with computers. :P I'm around computers and other electronics on a daily basis, plus my dad works with computers for a living. So, when I have to help somebody with something I consider basic, wellll...it's interesting, to say the least.

I also take my critical and analytical thinking for granted quite a lot. That and my family. My family is fabulous and I often forget that a lot of people don't have good families and then I remember and it makes me sad.

 

[Greenie]

OH man... definitely grocery stores within a walking distance... modern healthcare and my husband's work insurance... TOOTHBRUSHES! Ugh. The list goes on and on :) Basically I'm just glad that I live in a country where we have the ability to take care of ourselves the way other countries really can't :(

Oh yeah, for sure! I was in South Asia last year, and because of reasons to do with crap government situation, we didn't have any hot water during the winter. My hands would hurt so much while washing dishes, and bathing... well that was another long task to undertake.

Same with drinking water, to be honest. :'D

But I'll let others post lol.

Well, I have the same thing with computers. :P I'm around computers and other electronics on a daily basis, plus my dad works with computers for a living. So, when I have to help somebody with something I consider basic, wellll...it's interesting, to say the least.

Pretty much the exact same situation for me! My dad's a software developer by hobby lol, and we grew up around computers, and I married a techie nerd. So when something so simple is stumping people, I get all o_O *scratching head*.

 

[Nav]

My car, definitely.

I work in a metropolitan area, live about an hour away, go to school about forty-five minutes away, and have a horse about twenty minutes. While there are lots of places I can walk to from home (I live close to a small town downtown-- so, grocery store, hardware store, bar, cafe, restaurant, etc.), I definitely take my car for advantage. I didn't realize how much I needed it and how much easier it made my life until it had to go into the shop and I had to work my schedule and plan it around when my boyfriend was able to give me rides.

UGH. It was terrible!

 

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

The complex biology behind our own bodies. The literally nerve-racking intricacies of our own brains and its play with hormones and neural impulses. The sort-of delicate balance in its levels of water, the pH of said water, salts, nourishment, necessary acids and bases, and all else regarding it.

oh yes and all the cables in houses lol

 

[Shiri]

Electricity. It powers all the good stuff, but I don't really think about it much until the power goes out.

 

[Dipper]

Internet. Just... internet.

 

[KPOP]

i think i took my mother for granted more often than i do like to admit
but it was just because she and i often disagreed on things so i easily got annoyed with her

now living somewhere else i realise shit more and i should say thanks more i guess
but same goes for her towards me though

 

[SacredWarrior]

Humanity. That alone says all

 

[torakiji]

Slow wifi and hot water. When I was in Africa, my sister's house had a switch to turn on the hot water, and the wifi was like ancient because there isn't as much updated technology where she was living. It wasn't in the city, so it was like Africa's version of dial-up to go buy minutes for your wifi or a wifi stick.

 

[Vars]

Probably weird, but lack of racial tension in Hawaii. [spoili]
I lived in Hawaii for 3 years. Lots of mixing of cultures and races. Some tension against whites in some areas but less so about being white and more about just not being a local.

I came back to mainland USA and the difference is just so hard to describe. You think mainland USA isn't racist but it is. And I'm not talking about Trump stuff. Just everyday things. Not overt, but subconscious or culturally ingrained. I didn't really understand white privilege until I came back to Mainland USA after living in Hawaii (for reference: I am white).
An example someone put to words recently was that mainlanders get offended when you ask them "What are you?" (in terms of racial or ethnic background) because of the connotation. Whereas in Hawaii nobody cares.

It's something I never ever noticed. I mean I knew there was some bad ilk between black and white but never thought it overly pronounced. But it totally is. To compare, I had lived in Japan for about 2 years and the racial tension was about the same between there and mainland USA. (Although I did have "reverse culture shock".. but for other reasons)[/spoili]

BUT ON A LESS HEAVY NOTE

- Computer-related: keyboard shortcuts. I assume everyone knows them but it appears I'm in the minority??
[spoili]
UNIVERSAL (usually)
Ctrl (or cmd) + P is print
Ctrl + S is save
Ctrl + Shift + S is Save As
Windows key (or apple key) + D minimizes everything and shows you the desktop
Ctrl + Shift + Esc is Windows Task Manager, the processes tab.
Ctrl + R is run
Alt + Tab scrolls through running processes /open windows
windows key + right arrow. shifts your open window to the right side of the screen.
windows key + left arrow. goes to the left
windows key + up arrow. center screen/maximize/previous position (depends on setup)
Ctrl + N is new document
Ctrl + X is cut
Ctrl + V is paste
Ctrl + C is copy
alt = in an active program window that doesn't have that menu at the top (file, edit, etc.), pressing 'alt' is usually the shortcut to make it appear.
Ctrl + A is 'select all'
hold down shift while selecting things = adds to the selection, only if it is adjacent to the current selection
hold down ctrl while selecting things with the mouse = adds or subtracts to current selection, regardless of where the newly de/selected thing is
Tab = please tell me you know what tab does... =(
Shift + Tab = goes backward from regular tab!
Ctrl + F is find


WEB BROWSER
Ctrl + T is new tab in a browser.
Ctrl + Shift + Tab is reopened recently closed tab.
spacebar is page down
shift + spacebar is page up

WORD PROCESSOR
Ctrl + R is right align current text line
Ctrl + L is left align current text line
Ctrl + E is center align current text line (I use this one most frequently)
Ctrl + B bold text
Ctrl + I italic
Ctrl + U underline
Ctrl + H is find and replace
There is also shortcut in MS Word that will alternate between capslock, lowercase, and camelcase, but I can never remember what it is.
Same for selecting things by word or sentence instead of by letter.

PHOTOSHOP
b = brush tool
x = alternates background/foreground color selection
D = default background/foreground (usually black and white)
hold down shift while using a tool with a brush = straight lines only
hold down shift while using a transform tool = proportional only
shift with a selection = add too the selection
ctrl + L = levels
ctrl + shift + N = new layer
hold down alt while in a window with settings (such as levels panel) = 'cancel' button turns into 'reset'
v = move tool
Ctrl + D = deselect
Ctrl + Shift + I = invert selection
Ctrl + shift + Alt + S = save for web
i = eyedropper
shift + any tool shortcut = cycles through different tool options (e.g. gradient vs. fill tool for G)
[/spoili]

- BBCodes. I can't stand the WYSIWYG (rich text) editors. Any BBCode or any coding at all is done by hand from me. I forget that people push buttons a lot to do their stuff. To me that takes more time than just outright typing it.
Iwaku's code is a bit interesting and I have to look up things from time to time but most forums all have the same basic tags and I've been using forums since about 2001 or so, so I've pretty much memorized them all since I just happen to use them so frequently.
But anyway, yeah, someone pushing a button for bold text (in example) as opposed to just typing [b][/b] was really eye opening to me.

- Not living paycheck to paycheck. So many people live without a savings account and it just astounds me. I do not make a lot of money (in fact I'm near the poverty line income-wise right now lol) but I am not struggling because I budget and was able to save money previously... [spoili]There was one time I lived paycheck to paycheck and let me tell you, not being able to afford to eat was a real motivator to never ever revisit that time in my life ever again.[/spoili]

- Um. I guess traveling? I have been to a ton of places and growing up my family really tried hard to get us places, even if it was just a camping trip, at least once a year. It is really hard for me to wrap my head around people who've never left their country, state, or even town. Even harder to understand people who have no desire to travel at all!

It's hard to know what you take for granted, really, because if you take it for granted you probably wouldn't be able to list it off (because you aren't thinking about it)?

So many question marks?
Valley girl talking?
???

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

My kids' health. I know that sounds wrong, but none of them have ever had any major illnesses. They've been sick. They've had to go to the ER for busted heads and concussions, but I've never had a major scare with any of them. Sometimes I forget that things like that can change in the blink of an eye.

 

[Poe Dameron]

In general, I think most people take life for granted. Whether it's a job opportunity, a potential date/fling, a new experience... I see many people around me assume that something better would come along, they want to wait until they're more ready, etc... The truly good stuff only comes along once, usually.

Specific to where I live, I see so many people here take for granted that they live in a country and area that so many tourists spend thousands of dollars just to spend a few days in. My US coworkers here live up the weekends by being homebodies.

 

[Fentanyl]

Not having allergies.

This is the first year where I've had to take a daily allergen pill, and I've never had seasonal allergies before. I took it for granted *so hard*. I used to rub it in the faces of people who had seasonal allergies, and I really want to shake their hands and apologize - because I wake up every morning feeling like I've been hit by a truck. And my truck looks like it's gotten gang-banged by a botanical garden on a daily basis.

** EDIT

Being sick in general. I don't know how good I have it until I can't breathe out of one nostril and it hurts to swallow and I think back on the good ol' days when I wasn't eating dayquil pills like jolly ranchers.

 

[Shiri]

ctrl+z In my painting programs.

 

[Quetzal]

A friend who takes the time to chat with you throughout the day. Especially when you have depression and your mood spirals to a really bad level. Being able to chat with them provides you a 5 second break with each message. But when you're in that space, you can't see what you're doing is wrong. No excuses, just how it is.

 

[Alexandra Steele]

Access to fresh water. I used to live in a house that had salt in the water which was not fun. .

 

[Reina]

Being able to bend at the waist.
(Insert Reina's 8 month pregnant belly here)
I haven't been able to bend in months. I have to squat or just ask someone to get me whatever is on the floor, etc.

 

[Elliandra]

Things people take for granted? How about people who care about their problems?
Some people just don't give a rat's rear when someone tries to give solace or comfort, instead they just blow them off. Kind of sad and irritating at the same time.