Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Transcendant]

Move slow. Look before you leap. Toxic sucks. Totally without anything is worse.

First point is getting a job and living resources.
http://www.indeed.com/
I don't know if Oregon has a Job and Family Services Office, but there may be government programs where people can try to set you up with something.


Second point is finding room mates who can split expenses.
This is a matter of socializing and figuring decent people to live with. Affording a one bedroom or even a studio alone will not be as cheap as splitting rent usually. This also means you'll need that job to contribute on your end.

Third point is believe it or not, maintaining some point of contact with your toxic mother, at least for so long as you must.
This is difficult. I know. Keep in mind that fools rush in, and fools rush out. The point is not to rush. Plan.

[~Neri]

Planning is generally the best way to do stuff.

[Meph]

Get 1-year working visa for Australia or New Zealand, that should get you far away from her. They are easy to get, its near impossible not to find a job there and minimum wage is $16 + health insurance.

[~Neri]

.. I dooooooon't think completely changing countries is remotely necessary.

[Orange Wizard]

Doesn't make it a bad idea though.

[Meph]

Its not a big change from an English-speaking, christian western country that is politically stable, to another English-speaking, christian western country that is politically stable. I'm not suggesting that you run away to Bangladesh or Ghana, I just think that a complete change in scenery might do you good.

[~Neri]

The US is varied enough that if I moved to texas/utah I'd have a sufficient drastic change in scenery. I don't think a change in scenery is beneficial however. (Also the US is predominately atheist if I recall. Not christian.)

[Orange Wizard]

(Also the US is predominately atheist if I recall. Not christian.)

There are ~three times as many Christians as unaffiliated in the US

Compare New Zealand, with roughly the same number of Christians and unaffiliated.

[~Neri]

Citation needed. Wikipage lacks proper records for the institution that preformed the polls. High likelihood of small target groups to skew statistics based on the general lack of records from the cited source.

[penguinofhonor]

This is not a particularly hard statistic to track, you know. I do not think people generally underestimate sample sizes when polling people about census-level questions. Here are some sources anyway:

Australian Census: 61% Christianity in 2011, 22.5% unaffiliated
New Zealand Census: 56% Christianity in 2013, 41.9% unaffiliated (!)
Pew Research in America: 70.6% Christianity in 2014, 16.1% unaffiliated

[TheBiggerFish]

I have no advice to offer, but, *hugs (platonically)*.

[Orange Wizard]

Pew Research in America: 70.6% Christianity in 2014, 16.1% unaffiliated

The latest survey was conducted in English and Spanish among a nationally representative sample of 35,071 adults interviewed by telephone, on both cellphones and landlines, from June 4-Sept. 30, 2014. Findings based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 0.6 percentage points. The survey is estimated to cover 97% of the non-institutionalized U.S. adult population; 3% of U.S. adults are not reachable by telephone or do not speak English or Spanish well enough to participate in the survey.

[Reelya]

Find a street/area with a ton of cafes/restaurants and literally go into every place and ask if they're looking for any kitchenhand staff. That's worked for me before to land a steady job. 80% of jobs are not advertised: it saves businesses a ton of money if they don't, so if you walk off the street at the moment they're thinking about hiring someone you've got a great shot. The trick is to not be put off by the first 30 places, do everywhere.

Its not a big change from an English-speaking, christian western country that is politically stable, to another English-speaking, christian western country that is politically stable. I'm not suggesting that you run away to Bangladesh or Ghana, I just think that a complete change in scenery might do you good.

Yeah, but Australians eat boot polish ...

Also, definitely no on the Athiest Americans. On polls, over 90% of Americans say they believe in God. Only 3% say they are atheists, and 4% say they are agnostic. This has only marginally changed in every poll conducted since 1990, so it's pretty solid stuff. Reputable polling sources include Gallup and Pew:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/147887/Americans-Continue-Believe-God.aspx
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/05/7-facts-about-atheists/
What might confuse people is that there's actually a huge middle-ground: about 60% of Americans believe in theistic evolution - i.e. they believe the account of evolution but think God did it. Theistic Evolutionists actually outnumber Atheist+Agnostic Evolutionists in the USA by an 8-to-1 margin. This has really gone under everyone's radar: atheist/evolution and creationism are presented as an either/or choice, and the assumption is that most people believe one or the other. This dichotomy is, in fact, utterly false, with most people believing a hybrid doctrine of god+evolution. So, is God compatible with evolution? "Yes" according to most Americans.

[nenjin]

First thing you should do is look at bus routes. Figure out where your targeted potential job might need to be based on where you can get to. It sucks to find a job and actually get hired, only to realize it's a logistical impossibility for you.

And being that it's Portland, I have a hard time believing there are no jobs. It's not like you're living in Bum Fuck Egypt in the Midwest or something. You're almost guaranteed to have to make sacrifices though, either in what kind of job you're willing to work or the kind of housing you have.

For example, I have read that garbage truck drivers are in serious demand. So much so they're making between $70k and $100k a year because owners are willing to pay them that much. No one wants to drive a garbage truck for a living but for that kind of cash....

[~Neri]

I can feasibly get anywhere in the city due to how the buses work in Portland. The only factor is time.