Okay, Uber. I'm saything this not to be spiteful, but because you're a pipe smoker, and therefore a friend.
I'm 23 years old. I have dealt a with a lot of the problems you are mentioning in your posts.
In every post of yours in this thread, you always say "there is a PROBLEM with this" ... "the PROBLEM is..." ... etc and so forth.
The deal with people our age, man, is that they don't have the intestinal fortitude to deal with problems. Every road you can possibly ever endeavor to undertake in life is going to be riddled with PROBLEMS. THAT IS LIFE.
What are most of the people our age doing? What is their response to the hardships inherent in life? They sit in their parent's basement until they are 30 odd years old.
This enraged me TO NO END.
Consider this, my friend - and I am taking the time out of my day to type all of this not to be angery, but in the hopes of reaching out to someone my age and adjusting their pattern of thinking. Human beings have been existing for a really, really long time. Virtually genetically unchanged for thousands upon thousands of years. Now, a bunch of shit has changed in the past couple hundred years that has produced a modern society that makes it EASIER to do the WRONG THING, and makes it HARDER to do the RIGHT THING. If you had been born a thousand years ago, it's likely that by age 18 you probably would have already gone to war, come back from war, bought a small farm, and probably have the responsibilities of little children to worry about under your belt. You probably would have died not too long after you got gray hair - and would have been happy to die at that age, because by the standards of that time, you had lived a good and full lifetime.
I firmly believe that our generation has to keep our shit together using that perspective. We are incredibly fortunate and lucky to have a very posh and easy lifestyle.
Please, please, PLEASE... "PULL YOURSELF UP BY YOUR OWN BOOT STAPS!" Life is hard, life is cruel, life is ugly, and life is overflowing with problems. Instead of laying the blame on something else, take life by the horns, and LIVE YOUR LIFE. Make something of yourself. It aint easy. It will be hard. It will involve a lot of hard work, a lot of shitty hours, a whole hell of a lot of sacrifice. However, I hope you will trust me when I say this - it will be worth the effort in the end. Don't let ANYTHING stand in your way, ever!!!
That being said, I am not a totally normal person. I had excellent grades in highschool, and what did I do? I joined the Army at age 18. And did I pick an easy job? Hell no - I went in as an Airborne Special Operations grunt (MOS 37F - Psychological Warfare Specialist.) At age 19, I married the love of my life (still married 5 years later now.) Also at age 19, I bought my own damn HOUSE, using only my own money and my own credit (not even my wife's.) At 22, I was out of the Army, and went to school to do x rays in a hospital. I worked 90 hours a week - 40 hours per week doing x rays in the hospital in a training/certification program, and 50 ish hours per week doing night shift security to try to pay the bills. I am at the end of that process right now. ***It has been over TWO YEARS of working 90 hours per week - that's 18 hour long days, plus about two hours of commuting time to get to my job(s) and back home to sleep.
It was fuckin' hard. But, it has been worth it, 100%. Follow your dreams, and it will be worth it to you in the end as well. Don't be another couch potato in your parent's basement - our generation sorely needs people willing to do the hard thing, the RIGHT THING, in life.
