$20,000.00? [Arnold]You make me laugh. I hire you last.[/Arnold]
True. But it’s doubtful that everyone that you know, that you grew up with, that you are related to, will up and move away.
My memories of Sacramento (it’s been a while since I’ve been there) are all pleasant. I’m sure it’s a very lovely place. But I can’t speak for sven, as to what is a good place for her to move. All I know is that she shouldn’t have to move 1,500+ miles away to save money. Some nice town or city in California or neighboring state should be good enough.
Thanks Dave, I had been thinking the same thing, but I thought I was just being obtuse.
This is what bothers me about the situation. Far be it from me to tell someone else how to spend her money, but If I was low on food, I’d take $100 out of the bank and get some canned goods to tide me over until the next time I could get food. There are people out there that don’t have that option they are poor. If you do have that option, and choose not to do it, then you are cheap or thrifty, take your pick.
I had a roommate and crony from undergrad who probably still has the first nickel he ever made. He was concerned about building up a net worth back when we were trying to make the $2000 loan check last the whole semester. He was the kind of guy who just never shut the hell up about how much things cost, and how much he didn’t want to spend money.
One day we just couldn’t take the bitching about paying for a movie at the $2 theatre anymore, so we had sort of an intervention. “You’re a tightwad,” we said. “We know that. We understand and accept that. It’s fine. However, if you don’t shut the bloody hell up about how miserable you are every time you turn loose of a few pesos, we will be forced to fucking kill you in your sleep. Capisce, paisan?” He did understand, and he was apologetic.
My point is that it is not an expression of ill will, necessarily, to point out that one’s relentless complaining on a particular subject is starting to get old.
Where was I being sanctimonious? I thought my post was about as un-sanctimonious as possible. I don’t know how my message of “sometimes good/qualified people have bad luck at finding jobs” could have been clearer.
I thought he was being sarcastic.
Maybe even sven can’t spend the $20,000 because it’s tied up in CDs or other investments. I have a lot of money tied up right now, that I can’t get to, but as soon as I can access it I plan to use it to get a better place to live and make my life a little less shitty. It’s really not right to bring the money into this, if she has no way to take it out or use it. Then again, that might not be the case.
I hate to bring this up, but IIRC, even sven has said in the past that she’s bi-polar, but refuses to take meds for it. Perhaps that’s affecting her outlook?
I know that no one is going to believe me, but I don’t bring this up for snark. Perhaps, sven, it’s time to bite the bullet and admit you need help?
Man walks in to to a councelor’s office: Hello, I’d like a fuck.
Councelor: ?
Man: Advice!, I meant advice!
No, the sentiment here is that she has CHOSEN to live in one of the most expensive cities in America - which she knew going in. She has CHOSEN to stay in that area, despite the low number of jobs in the area - which she also likely knew going in. She has CHOSEN to stay in said expensive area with not many job offerings rather than move back to Sacramento with her mother (which I believe was an option she once said existed, but that she didn’t want to do). She has CHOSEN to ignore any and all help that others have offered to her in order to try and help get her on her feet. She CHOSE to pursue a degree and a career in an industry that is notoriously difficult to break into.
Sven is working shit jobs and has no money because she decided that she would rather be in that situation, than to make some sort of lifestyle change. She’s not in that situation for some reason beyond her control like illness, an accident, or something.
The point everyone here is making is that even sven is in her situation because she chooses to be in that situation and hasn’t in the past given any indication that she is willing to do anything different than what she’s been doing and people are tired of her complaining about her situation, which again, is a product of her own informed decisions.
It sounds like she’s starting to get things back on the right track with the upcoming hotel job and I’m absolutely sure that everyone in this thread is happy for her. I’m also pretty sure that if even sven laid out a plan of action to get her life to where she wants it, almost everybody in this thread would be willing to help out where they could.
Speaking as someone who did the exact same thing, it doesn’t have to suck.
I know what you’re saying. Thankfully, it doesn’t suck for everyone. On the other hand, it doesn’t have to not suck. In other words, just because it works for some people, doesn’t make it a reasonable expectation for everybody.
What? What was that?
[/hijack]
I have to say, reading this thread is completely enlightening. I’m now more prepared than ever for my multiple career plans to fall over and collapse, like a flan in a cupboard.
Um, what the fuck are you talking about? Are you referring to my post? Did you even read my post?
I didn’t say they were supposed to be happy about being poor. I said that being poor voluntarily is less tragic than being poor involuntarily, i.e. being born poor and not having a chance to go to school. The fact that even sven has control over her situation means that, while it is still sucky, she is less likely to get sympathy from a bunch of strangers on the Internet, especially if she constantly complains about it.
Ok, but have you looked in:
Capitola
Aptos
Watsonville
Pajaro
Los Gatos
Scotts Valley
Sorry in advance is this sounds condecending or anything, I’m trying to be sincere. Guin, as somebody who once joined in a pit pile-on against you for your repeated complaints about money, job outlook, and your life in general, I’d like to say that you’ve appeared to have either gotten your life together since your sabatical or you’ve accepted that your current life is the result of choices that you’ve made in the past, and can be changed by choices that you can make in the future. Because it’s been a long time since I’ve come across one of “those” posts from you, and I hope it’s because you’re happier now.
This thread just reminded me of that. Sorry for the hijack.
You’ve made it through college, and you still think that America was ever the land where everybody can do what they want to if they try really hard? When exactly was that?
-lv
I think what’s frustrating people is that having enough food to keep body and soul together doesn’t have to be front and center all the time for you. You’re sitting on $20K, which is more than a lot of people’s annual pre-tax income. You can afford to buy groceries, it’s just that you choose not to. And that’s a perfectly valid choice. The thing about making choices, though, is that it takes away a lot of our leeway for complaining about things. The sympathy train pulls right on out of the station. Under the circumstances, you kvetching about not being able to buy food is like me complaining endlessly about how seldom I get to see my family–we’re both just living with the consequences of choices we freely and willingly made, so people really don’t want to hear it.
Yeah, I know, having to make the choice between eating and keeping your inheiritance intact to fund your short isn’t part of the plan. It sucks that you have to make that choice. It’s shitty and it’s unfair, and life just shouldn’t be that way. I know, sweetie. I had a plan after graduation, too, you know. And pretty much none of it worked out. It licks rancid sweat off a dead donkey’s balls to have to make decisions that you don’t want to make, weren’t expecting to have to make, and maybe shouldn’t have to make, but that life has thrown at you anyway. If I said there wasn’t a part of me that wanted to pout and stomp my feet and whine incessantly about having to decide to stop applying to vet school, or about having to choose between being near my family or Dr.J, I’d be a fucking liar. I understand a lot of what you’re going through, really.
But I also understand that nobody wants to talk to someone with whom every conversation gets drug around to the same old personal problems, over and over and over and over again. Especially when those problems are just the predictable results of freely-made choices. Even when you sympathize with them at heart, eventually it gets to the point where you just want to yell at them to suck it up and quit bitching, already. Or you want to snap that they made their bed, now they can just shut the hell up and lie in it. It’s nothing personal, it’s just human nature. I’m glad you don’t seem to be taking it personally.
And, you know, when things seem especially shitty, remember that you at least won’t have to go into debt to make your film, which puts you in a better starting position than Kevin Smith was when he made Clerks. He financed that on credit cards–if it had flopped, he’d still be paying it off. So try to keep your chin up.
I was kind of with you sven until the $20,000 in the bank thing.
Cry me a river. You are NOT poor.
As someone sitting on useless English and Communications degrees, I was with Sven, whose situation mirrors mine right after I graduated college (and hasn’t improved much in four years).
That is, until I read about the Twenty fucking Thousand Dollars.
Oh. Well, thanks. :o
(For the record, things have been better, although I’m still looking for work. I can afford to be picky at the moment, that’s all I’m gonna say).
sven, why can’t you take half of your inheritance, invest that for your future plans, and then use the other half for living expenses?