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[slaytanic]

I am just wondering if smarter people than me can figure a way out of this predicament. So anywayzz..roleplay as me for a moment. I had a neck injury. was unemployed. remained unemployed for almost 2 years while trying to get treatment with no insurance and was turned down by Social Security. Was staying with my mom when this happened had split from my wife recently. (I'm 35 by the way) Never got to see a neurologist but my general practitioner says i need surgery. Okay..went back to work for a restaurant washing dishes for 6 months because thats pretty much what all of my previous work experience consisted of (restaurant work). Well, my mom had to move, and I had to move with her, because I was only making min wage and getting less than 30 hours a week, no way I could afford my own place. So we move to the middle of nowhere in the country 10 miles from a gas station even. So I had to leave that job because its like 50 miles away.I live in a camper I bought that is parked in my moms yard. I have a 1991 blazer that needs tires now and brakes and the insurance and tags are dead as of this month.I have already flunked out of college and owe a student loan. I have no gas money to go look for work in town and if I get pulled over I'm screwed. I have tried applying to just about every work at home call center job I can find online and even borrowed money to buy a USB headset. I applied to those paid cdl training schools and was turned down because of something like 8 years old on a background check. My mom cant help me because she can barely pay her own bills. I'm stuck in this camper in the middle of nowhere. Its like a prison almost. I would go to the next town over and stay at the homeless shelter there until I find a job, but they only let you stay 2 weeks without a job and throw you out in the cold all day.  So my obamacare kicks in next month and I might be able to see a neurologist finally. What would you guys do? sit in your camper prison with no income ? I don't think I can do it much longer. I'm down to like 2 pairs of pants and 5 shirts or some shit.And no I really don't have any friends that live around here to help me out either so thats out. Just a little rant. I lie here at night daydreaming of ATM's spittin money like slot machines. Didn't buy a mega millions ticket. Didn't have a buck. So what am I missing here? Should I just get in my blazer with the bad tires bad brakes no tags or insurance and just drive until i run out of gas ? LOL wouldn't take long. It gets pretty cold when the motor dies.

[lordcooper]

I'd grow/sell weed and do some voluntary work while searching for something a bit more sustainable.

If that didn't appeal to me for some reason, I'd try going door to door in my nearest town or village offering to do basically any work for a piss poor wage.

I'd also break up my paragraphs a little more.

[gimlet]

If you went to the shelter is there any chance at all you could find a job near there?   If it was me I think I'd at least try that for the 2 weeks, maybe even multiple times if it didn't work the 1st time.  Spend the 1st couple days in the library looking through the want ads in the paper, and going business to business seeing if they need ANYTHING, or if they know anybody else who needs somebody.   If it doesn't work there, try another town if that's at all possible.

You could do some prep work before leaving home, use the phone book or google to find restaurants or other likely leads and call around.   There SHOULD be at least some temp work available, lots of places need extra staff for the holidays.   If none of that is working, try stuff like borrow a snow shovel and go around shovelling and then asking to do it regularly or at least get a few bucks.

Oh, and call up all your friends anyway and ask them if they know of any openings, and even to look around their area for you.   Ideally you could crash with them for a couple weeks while you get on your feet, or at least maybe they'd let you park the camper there.  If you at least got tags, possibly you could get a friend to drive the camper to wherever (presuming THEY have an insurance card to show if you get stopped).   Hell stay in a shelter there if you have to if there's a job, you should be able to bootstrap your way up once you have SOME money coming in and are in a better area to keep looking...

[LordBucket]

middle of nowhere in the country 10 miles from a gas station

One possibility: Take up gardening. This will provide you with food. When you have surplus, sell it at a local farmer's market. That gives you cash for things that are difficult to procure on your own like shampoo.

Note that it typically takes months between planting and harvesting and depending on your climate there are many months out of the year during which it might be impractical. Also, plants vary very greatly in both quantity and regularity of output. Half a dozen zuchini plants can potentially give you breakfast almost every day for 3-6 months out of the year, whereas three times as much space worth of corn will give you absolutely nothing for a long time, then all at once suddenly more than you can eat.

It might take a couple seasons for you to make it functional, but in a situation like you describe where you have space to work with and a shelter, living without a job might be a very valid option. If you don't need to pay for rent, or food or a car, how much money do you really need?

It's unlikely to give you ATMs spitting out cash, but it is a valid lifestyle.

[slaytanic]

I like my paragraph structure. ; )
     It equals the jumbled state of mind I'm in. It sucks when you wake up middle aged wondering what the hell happened to the last 10 years or so. I guess the main thing keeping me in place is fear. It all boils down to fear of the unknown and fear of failure.
     It looks as if it's one of those situations where I'll have to make things worse in order to make them better in the long run. I have to leave the warm safe comfort of the camper prison and go out into the cold shitty world and deal with cold shitty assholes again. The thing about the shelter in the town next door is... its a small town and I have already worked at most of the restaurants there and am unsure of my rehire eligibility. LOL
     And I have been working on this one friend I have that I used to play music with. (I'm a guitar player. YAY! ) He lives ironically in a house i used to rent with my wife a few years ago. But he has a moocher staying there at the moment and says if that guy leaves.....
     I have my thinking cap on and I welcome any ideas that masquerade as helpful. It just feels kind of nice to talk to people about shit, even though we are all just faceless screen names on the DF forums.

[slaytanic]

     And I did some farming. I had tomatoes and squash and beans and pumpkins. Also a cash crop that I had to harvest early due to chopper fly by's. I live close to a national park. I could do some indoor but would need some up front cash that I do not have. I like being self sufficient and for the most part I am. I can't live without the car because that is our only way to get groceries. (For my mom also) There are some things in life that can unfortunately only be obtained with cash. Such as tags and insurance.
     I wouldn't mind staying here if I could find a way to earn even like $50 a week. I could take care of the vehicle and have gas to go do things. It takes gas to hustle out here. And my nearest neighbor is like a mile away.