You question *my* attitude? Have you read some of the other posts? Oh wait.... no, you're all too busy trying to outdo eachother and make the wittiest, most flippant comments possible toward me...
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How do you escape "small town" USA?
- Thread starter powderfinger
- Start date
You question *my* attitude? Have you read some of the other posts? Oh wait.... no, you're all too busy trying to outdo eachother and make the wittiest, most flippant comments possible toward me...
If you are on welfare life owes you plenty. Free healthcare. Free housing. Monthly check.
Or rich folks... you have money... you seeminly control everything.
You must have meant, that regular working people are owed nothing.
That might be the case most of the time, but Ive hardly seen anyone in this thread trying to do so until after youve given your excuses for why any particular piece of advice wont work for you. Youve exhausted all your possibilities, the only answer left to this question at this point...
How do you escape "small town" USA?
For you, apparently, you dont.
I was over 40 when I went to NYC just to hang out for three weeks.
I took a suitcase and a bass...one for each hand.
No room booked, no plans....prepared to take things as they came.
I was happy and fearless...a kind of buoyancy I'd rarely felt at home.
Things fell into place like I'd rarely experienced up to that point:
I found a reasonably priced room in the village that could have been long term if I'd wanted to stay.
I met great musicians. NYC maybe a shark tank for getting gigs but there is an excitement there just to PLAY I've never seen in any other city.
Met an interesting girl.
When a friend found out I was there gave me the number of a guy he'd worked for who I had lunch with. He offered me a job.
It was a real thrill when I realized I could stay.
My parents are getting on and not in great health so I chose to go home instead.
But what I learned from that trip to NYC was that when you're fearless and positive people give you breaks...and what breaks you aren't given you have the spirit to make. Fast forward seven years and I owe no debts, own the boat I live on, don't have to do work that makes me unhappy and have the time to make playing bass my first priority again after a lot of years of wishing I'd kept at it full time.
Don't get me wrong my life hasn't been without bouts of doubt, depression and even a few hungry days but once I got over the fear of what might happen what actually did happen has been moving steadily in the right direction. And continues to do so more and more as I create the life I want to live...attitude is self perpetuating.
So just go for it. Take what you can carry and make a move. Do as much advance work as you can but ultimately there comes that moment when you get on that Greyhound with a bag, a bass and a few bucks in yer pocket. Stop seeing that moment as a fantasy and start seeing it as a necessity.
Wow, from the number of comments like this one it seems lots of people have never felt trapped and depressed and unable to see a way out.
Not sure who I feel more sorry for....
I don't think he meant it towards the OP's original issue. I believe it was to the "Welfare" post the OP made.
I certainly didnt mean to imply that someone over 40 couldnt up and move and make it happen. Anyone of any age can, so long as you have the right attitude, like quoted down below. What I was saying was directed solely at the op, that at 40 years old, with his situation, and more importantly, his attitude, he isnt going to make it happen.
powderfinger, really, if you want out of your small town so bad, up and do it. Take some risks, life will afford you them.
Jeff, that's because a lot of the people posting here are (acting like) a bunch of flippant jerks who live in ivory towers.... or glass houses.
Yes, I do think it was meant toward my original issue.... my OP and subsequent postings would lead anyone to believe I felt trapped and depressed.
You just *want* it to be directed at the welfare post, because you cant believe anyone else here thinks you are are all acting really callous and snarky toward me.
Really, dude, grow up. No one is being callous and snarky. Plenty of people have offered up suggestions as to how you can get out of your small town and into a a more desirable place. Every one of those suggestions has been shot down, by you, with various listed excuses as to why you can't possibly do so. What more do you want? YOU asked for this advice, and you got it. Either apply it, or realize that its a lost cause.
Let me ask you this... whats the worst that could happen?
I only shot down the ones that werent feasible to me. I simply made a note of the good ones.
It's not realistic to expect someone who's really depressed to "snap out of it" and get on the right track just because you gave him some good advise...and your advise had been excellent, spot on. Give him some time to digest it though. What seems obvious to you and me probably feels to him like leaning backwards off a cliff.
Did you consider thanking the people who gave you good advice, and exploring those ideas further, thereby contributing something positive to your own thread?
Did you consider thanking the people who gave you good advice, and exploring those ideas further, thereby contributing something positive to your own thread?
You are right. Oftentimes we as people focus on the negative. At least I have lately. And I do thank many of you guys for your advice. I think its easy to tell the ones I would like to thank vs. the ones I find repulsive and callous.
I may be stating the obvious here, but, if you'll notice, YOUR quote is in purple right above his comment. Sooooo, one could easily see how the QUOTE was what the comment was mocking.
Of course, you may see it different.
