I've mentioned in other threads I graduated in 2006. When I was in high school I had a dream of being a JET like this guy described http://outpostnine.com/editorials/ Well after making some terrible choices I didn't get my language credits in high school and was forced into community college from my own follies. I passed one class out of four and my dad threw me out. Then I went to live with his ex-girlfriend and her grown children, screwed around and played League of Legends for three months. Then she dumped me in Cumberland, MD the deadzone for jobs and things to do. Unless your a town whore or a crackhead all you can do is wait it out in the heat. You see the men in this town don't like to work certain jobs. They're all landscapers, roofers, or other outdoorsy type jobs. Most are sadly unemployed like me. The women on the other hand take over the restaurants, movie theatres, and grocery stores. I've been up here a year and have only devolved. I'm might have to move back to North Carolina and chill at a homeless shelter until I can take care of my own stuff. Sweet christ i'm losing my mind! Does anyone have worse tales? I need to know i'm not as bad off as I think.
Dropped out of high school 3 years ago, Was meant to be going to Oxford, now work at Walmart earning minimum wage..hi-five for life screwing. Yours does seem worse though, Why not do some craiglist jobs?
Complicity does hurt in the long run. Lord only knows I learned that the hard way. It probably is a good idea to go into the millitary in a position that won't have you called to actually serve, Learn some skills then head back out into the world reinvigorated. Me....I spent 10 years trying to figure out what to do with my life. Finally decided to get into Psychology and going further down the rabbit hole Grief counseling. I'm running around like a mad man trying to figure out what to do to get certified as a Grief Counselor.
Forgive me for saying so, but from the looks of things It all sounds quite fixable. Considering people sound fairly young here, just get back in school and finish it. For some reason I find there is this running cultural belief (specially among some ethnic minorities... Ie Africans, Somalians, Ethiopians, Vietnamese, etc) that being educated is not cool. I think it's a terrible cultural phenomenon to perpetuate and I think parents need to really smarten up and fix it. For me and my family background (Chinese) I always subscribed to the idea of "The amount of success one has in life will be directly proportional to the amount of effort you put into it". During my time, I've seen my fair share of bullying and picking on so-called "nerds" in school, or anyone (for that matter) who actually wants to LEARN something. Don't let them get you down. Just get back into school and keep trying. No one laughs at someone trying to make something of themselves. But they sure do laugh at the guys who thought "They were all that" and now work at a dead-end job. Seriously, do what you need to and go back to school. No one will think any less of you. And those who do are just resentful because they didn't/couldn't do it for themselves.
Lots of these people at my school. Some coming back for sixth form barely scraped 5 GCSE's (They even take people who don't have 5 GCSE's) The guy who bullied me in year 8 I reguarly see cleaning the floors at McDonalds or bagging my fries. I don't hold grudges. He makes sure I get my order in lightning fast times. Sometimes when he's cleaning the tables I purposefully leave my crap there. Clearly all that time skipping class to smoke, playing sports and bully kids 3 years younger them him paid off. Can you go back to school? Try and see if your parents will take you back. Get yourself out of this dead-end town. If they do, study hard and maybe get yourself a steady job to show you are hard working. Remember your P's and Q's with your parents and kiss ass while continuing to work hard.
Sound Advice right there. It's true once a douchebag always a douchebag this jackass I went to High School with Lives in his car and actually got in touch with me for the sole perpose of finding out if I could get a stolen Serial number for a prepaid cell phone. I told him to fuck off I'm not doing 5 years in prison so some douche can have free cell service.
All I can say is that time goes by so fast and the longer you wait the harder it will be to get back on track. If you don't figure out what to do and soon then I'm afraid you'll find yourself stuck when it leaves you behind.
I'd definitely agree with A. Snow. Time does get going faster and faster as you get older, probably due to life getting more and more complicated. I'd say it's not so important to immediately do the 100% right thing (like going back to school full time or entering an apprenticeship or what have you), but it is important to get going on SOMETHING. At least if you're doing something the time isnt wasted, and who knows, you may very well figure out what you want to do, or meet some cool people who can help you long while you still try to figure stuff out.
If I were you I'd try to get a job somewhere, anywhere as long as it'll be enough to pay for a few community college classes, then when you have the requirements met, I'd apply to university somewhere. Then have financial aid cover you for everything else. Last year, I didn't have to pay one cent. Better yet, try applying to a university like WCU. That's where I'm going at the moment, it's the easiest school to get into in NC, and it's also the cheapest (largest reason I'm going there). Best of luck to you!
Don't worry you will eventually be able to find a job without school... just keep looking for it. Ha, everyone thinks they will have a dream career when we are kids, it isn't just like that, school doesn't prize the best but often prizes the one who look like the best, or the teachers' favourites, be it because they can get the teachers' sympathy or they are recommended, pay money to the teachers, etc. There are a lot of people in the world who would kill just to have a grade which is better than one point compared to the one they have. Yeah, go to school, uni, college, whatever but don't die for it - your goal is to get a job your (future) family can live off and with which you can live a good lifestyle where you can spend an acceptable amount on amusements, your hobby, etc. Any non-criminal way you can get that job, it's good. Oh and the best - get to know people - knowing the right people is the key to succeed in life as good as you might be at something nobody might have noticed you. And it's more, knowing you well they will very likely give you a good job despite the fact you don't have the piece of paper your school gives you. If "Western" society has a problem is this obsession with school - yet our economy is failing because we don't produce anything more than these thousands of "experts" in the service industry.
Man try to get your diploma with at a distance programs, basically the ministerio exams for my country offer solutions for people who are too far away from schools, so they study on their own take one test and get a full diploma. Saved me for being retarded my senior in HS, now I am in Uni and have quite a curriculum to apply for jobs. Just saying, it helped me out.
I'm stuck adrift in an after-master's degree mediocrity. I haven't even bothered to register for the education or social sciences doctorate, because I'm so, SO fucking tired. And if I did register, I'd need to leave one of my teaching jobs to take the classes - and, well, I can't afford that. So, I'm stuck teaching English because it's what is "necessary" for my universities - even though I'm qualified to teach, and have taught, many other things. They always close my Semiotics class, for example. Then again, at least I still have a job, and they do give me (very easy to teach) advanced English classes I'm teaching at two schools, and both are becoming quite stringent with (pullet out of their arse) requisites, little by little. It's as if they just were looking for ways to fuck with us and keep us stressed and not let us do our jobs freely. I've taken like four unnecessary English exams this year, just to keep the management happy. The fuckers who make the exams don't even bother: 1) using correct grammar and spelling on said exams, 2) informing teachers of their results, 3) checking the exams, probably. And after four fucking exams, they ask us to take ANOTHER one or prove that we have taken the TOEFL? Then what the fuck are the other exams for? Who teaches ESL without a very high mark on TOEFL? I'm fucking tired of teaching English. I want to do research and write, and teach research and writing and literature, like I'm supposed to. But no, English skills are more important for the "employability" of the students. Is that even a fucking word? Yeah, at least I'm doing what I like (albeit just barely - Teaching English =! Academic work) - but needing two jobs to just barely live doesn't give anyone any time to prepare for further academic growth. So I'm stuck, unless they come up with 38 hour days somehow. And I'm becoming mediocre... I should be Dr. Xerdo, or on the way to become Dr. Xerdo, not teaching pressent fucking continuous. But one of those pays the bills, and, in my country, the other one doesn't. Then they wonder why the smart people leave.
I was just thinking of starting small in like the National Guard because of my lackluster Marine Corps attempt in 2008. I can hit Allegany Community college and see their programs. This one-legged gut named George really wants everyone to go back to school. Then I take classes I want. My biggest fear really is being around people my own age. That feeling of failure really burns. I mean I babysit a bunch of 10 year old and I can deal with it. I can speak in front of 40-50 year olds at the unemployment office. But get me in a French class with 8 girls and 4 guys and all of a sudden I choke up and bail. Since i'm unfamiliar with Craigslist I haven't looked there. I did however apply for a paperboy job at the Times News. The local newspaper. Thanks guys it's always a pleasure!
