Building character.

[AUFred]

I never had much as a kid that anyone would envy. Growing up with my mother and my sister out in the country on a dirt road. We farmed and I grew up appreciating what little I had.

I was thinking back to how things were for me 27 years ago. I had a great girlfriend I had asked to marry me and I was miserable in my job. She was a senior in college and a few months from getting her degree. I got a chance at a new job 100 miles away and I took it. Things did not pan out and I got fired the Friday before we were to be married on Sunday. I took another job the same day and told my employer my circumstances. My wife and I got married on Sunday and I officially took my new job on Monday. I worked Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. My wife and I left for a quick honeymoon in Tennessee on Thursday morning. I charged our room and I took $300 cash with us for the trip. I returned on Sunday with a good bit of that $300 left.

I look back and wish things had been different for us but that was typical for most of our marriage. A few years ago my business was booming and I could not work enough hours and had money to burn. Today I feel like I have back-tracked 27 years. The economy has kicked me down again.

 

[Nielisfranco]

Life's little up's and downs eh. I am in my mid 30's now and will be changing carreer paths again. Currently have no job, living with the in-laws and generally pretty low, while this time a year ago, I was enjoying a new job with higher pay (most pay I have ever had) and the job of a lifetime.

The thing of it is, in the long term vision of life, these little blips are nothing more than that. Blips, on a scope that span eternity.

From an ecomics point of view, things will bounce back, they already are. And a lot quicker than what most economist have hoped. It seems we wont repeat the problems of the 30's. Thank God. An interesting article I read about retirement stated it the best for me. It used to be that you could retire at 60 and live rest of your life without working on what you had saved and pensions. Typically would have been about 20 more years. Now however, people want to work only unitl 55 and generally people live until they are 90 or even 100, that is almost half their life in retirement. Obviously things need to change here, retirement for me is going to be 65 -70 I am sure of it, and I will still have a healthy 15 - 20 to live out my 'Golden Years".

All I am saying is perspective. Like the title says building character. I like that. I think things will pick up again in no time.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

It's really weird for me, until I was three, I was very rich. My dad was a genious computer programmer, and we were living in a big house, in a great neighborhood. Then he died when I turned three. We had a fairly large sum of money from life insurance, my mom saved some 'just in-case' so she could go to college, and invested the rest. We lost it all. Then I had a single mom, with 5 kids, who had to go get a college degree. So we moved to a lesser-neighborhood, not poor, but not great either. After my other brothers and sisters moved out, we moved into a much more poor neighborhood.

Right now we are financially drowning. It's hard to say to my friends I can't afford to catch a dollar theater movie, because we went over our food budget this month by 5$. It's really weird, but it's life, people who don't have hard experiences don't have character.

 

[AUFred]

It's really weird for me, until I was three, I was very rich. My dad was a genious computer programmer, and we were living in a big house, in a great neighborhood. Then he died when I turned three. We had a fairly large sum of money from life insurance, my mom saved some 'just in-case' so she could go to college, and invested the rest. We lost it all. Then I had a single mom, with 5 kids, who had to go get a college degree. So we moved to a lesser-neighborhood, not poor, but not great either. After my other brothers and sisters moved out, we moved into a much more poor neighborhood.

Right now we are financially drowning. It's hard to say to my friends I can't afford to catch a dollar theater movie, because we went over our food budget this month by 5$. It's really weird, but it's life, people who don't have hard experiences don't have character.

We were never rich growing up. My dad died when I was 7. My sister has never been in good health and my mother tried to provide for both of us. My dad was young and really had no insurance. My mother has done the best she could but I wore a lot of oversized clothes and a lot of patched clothes growing up. We are not destitute now but I have had my pride drop kicked & stomped own. My business jusy turned 18 years old and I am not sure if it is going to survive.

Bri, I do understand how hard it is on a teenager to not have what your friends have.

 

[AUFred]

Life's little up's and downs eh. I am in my mid 30's now and will be changing carreer paths again. Currently have no job, living with the in-laws and generally pretty low, while this time a year ago, I was enjoying a new job with higher pay (most pay I have ever had) and the job of a lifetime.

The thing of it is, in the long term vision of life, these little blips are nothing more than that. Blips, on a scope that span eternity.

From an ecomics point of view, things will bounce back, they already are. And a lot quicker than what most economist have hoped. It seems we wont repeat the problems of the 30's. Thank God. An interesting article I read about retirement stated it the best for me. It used to be that you could retire at 60 and live rest of your life without working on what you had saved and pensions. Typically would have been about 20 more years. Now however, people want to work only unitl 55 and generally people live until they are 90 or even 100, that is almost half their life in retirement. Obviously things need to change here, retirement for me is going to be 65 -70 I am sure of it, and I will still have a healthy 15 - 20 to live out my 'Golden Years".

All I am saying is perspective. Like the title says building character. I like that. I think things will pick up again in no time.

I doubt I will ever retire. Maybe after 70 I will try to slow down.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

We were never rich growing up. My dad died when I was 7. My sister has never been in good health and my mother tried to provide for both of us. My dad was young and really had no insurance. My mother has done the best she could but I wore a lot of oversized clothes and a lot of patched clothes growing up. We are not destitute now but I have had my pride drop kicked & stomped own. My business jusy turned 18 years old and I am not sure if it is going to survive.

Bri, I do understand how hard it is on a teenager to not have what your friends have.

Worn out clothes with holes in them and underwear from 9th grade

The worst part is when my friends will straight up ask me why my clothes have holes in them or whatever, it's like they assume I do it because I am too lazy to go buy new clothes; or all the rumors I hear from preppy kids. I am the farmer kid at my school, I mean, I basically live off my goats, and a lot of people just assume I am some poor 'farmer', I'm sure you know what I'm talking about

 

[AUFred]

Worn out clothes with holes in them and underwear from 9th grade

The worst part is when my friends will straight up ask me why my clothes have holes in them or whatever, it's like they assume I do it because I am too lazy to go buy new clothes; or all the rumors I hear from preppy kids. I am the farmer kid at my school, I mean, I basically live off my goats, and a lot of people just assume I am some poor 'farmer', I'm sure you know what I'm talking about

FFA was a real outlet for me, too. Yeah growing up on a farm is a tough way to grow up. I remember my mom buying me jeans on credit. Levis were regularly $10 a pair and they would run them on sale for $9. They were stiff until they were washed about 5 or 6 times. By summertime they were almost white and we cut them off for summer shorts. Kids are cruel.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

FFA was a real outlet for me, too. Yeah growing up on a farm is a tough way to grow up. I remember my mom buying me jeans on credit. Levis were regularly $10 a pair and they would run them on sale for $9. They were stiff until they were washed about 5 or 6 times. By summertime they were almost white and we cut them off for summer shorts. Kids are cruel.

I do the same thing with cutting them into shorts, I think it's cute lol.

I love the FFA, but even now it's SO expensive. But they will pay for me to go to nationals if I win a state contest!!! It would be so awesome!

 

[AUFred]

I do the same thing with cutting them into shorts, I think it's cute lol.

I love the FFA, but even now it's SO expensive. But they will pay for me to go to nationals if I win a state contest!!! It would be so awesome!

A lot cuter on girls than on guys.

I enjoyed my FFA experience overall. There was some favoritism shown to some as in most things. Believe it or not when I was in high school we had a huge peanut brittle sale. For every can you sold you got your name put in a drawing. The prizes even included several guns. I outsold everyone to the tune of close to three hundred cans. Closest other person might have sold 100 cans. Some of the other officers only sold one can. All of the officers except me won a gun.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

A lot cuter on girls than on guys.

I enjoyed my FFA experience overall. There was some favoritism shown to some as in most things. Believe it or not when I was in high school we had a huge peanut brittle sale. For every can you sold you got your name put in a drawing. The prizes even included several guns. I outsold everyone to the tune of close to three hundred cans. Closest other person might have sold 100 cans. Some of the other officers only sold one can. All of the officers except me won a gun.

Wow that's so stupid! My teacher does show favoritism, but only to students who are actively involved in the FFA, not to like kids that are religious like some do. The officers of my chapter (I am one) are all the ones who do the most activities. We do a pig raffle in my chapter, I actually haven't won anything except that area contest, but then I didn't really get a prize; either then the chance to compete at state.

But you need money for everything, it's basically "who has the most money to buy the most muscled pig wins first in the fair" etc, etc. It doesn't really matter how much time you put into your project, if you don't have money, you will probably lose.

 

[AUFred]

Wow that's so stupid! My teacher does show favoritism, but only to students who are actively involved in the FFA, not to like kids that are religious like some do. The officers of my chapter (I am one) are all the ones who do the most activities. We do a pig raffle in my chapter, I actually haven't won anything except that area contest, but then I didn't really get a prize; either then the chance to compete at state.

But you need money for everything, it's basically "who has the most money to buy the most muscled pig wins first in the fair" etc, etc. It doesn't really matter how much time you put into your project, if you don't have money, you will probably lose.

The officers were the most active in the FFA. There were very few outside the officers who tried to get involved in all the competitions which were available. My experience in the corn growing contest was not all that good and although I did not win anything I enjoyed land judging. My mother still has a step stool I built in the shop as a 9th grader.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

The officers were the most active in the FFA. There were very few outside the officers who tried to get involved in all the competitions which were available. My experience in the corn growing contest was not all that good and although I did not win anything I enjoyed land judging. My mother still has a step stool I built in the shop as a 9th grader.

I ranked in the top 70 in the state for land judging, then again, only 78 people competed :24: I'm not the best at judging but I am really good at public speaking and I have a good chance to get to nationals, it's my dream.

 

[AUFred]

I ranked in the top 70 in the state for land judging, then again, only 78 people competed :24: I'm not the best at judging but I am really good at public speaking and I have a good chance to get to nationals, it's my dream.

I hope you do make it. One guy I graduated with went on to get his American Farmer Certificate.

 

[Leah Love]

Yeah, tell me about it.

My family is this side of poverty. With two working parents who's paycheck together is barely over the minimum wage, the paychecks being 3 months overdue.

We've been joking how I am the only one who brings money in. But it is sad how we have to live off my scholarship because the paychecks are late. It's a struggle to pay for both my brother's and my tuition. The price for our books are outrageous and you have to get a brand new original copy because if you don't you cannot take the final.
Often I think how much of a burden I am for my family, and if the hardship is really worth it.

And it is just getting worse, the pays had been frozen so as the prices climb higher and higher the wages stay the same.

But still, I know I have it better then many others in the world. Even though we barely make ends meet, the fact remains that we still do, somehow.

 

[AUFred]

Yeah, tell me about it.

My family is this side of poverty. With two working parents who's paycheck together is barely over the minimum wage, the paychecks being 3 months overdue.

We've been joking how I am the only one who brings money in. But it is sad how we have to live off my scholarship because the paychecks are late. It's a struggle to pay for both my brother's and my tuition. The price for our books are outrageous and you have to get a brand new original copy because if you don't you cannot take the final.
Often I think how much of a burden I am for my family, and if the hardship is really worth it.

And it is just getting worse, the pays had been frozen so as the prices climb higher and higher the wages stay the same.

But still, I know I have it better then many others in the world. Even though we barely make ends meet, the fact remains that we still do, somehow.

Tough times we live in. Getting your degree should reap benefits down the road for you.

 

[USF Sam]

Tough times we live in. Getting your degree should reap benefits down the road for you.

:nod::nod:

 

[Laure]

I've had the ups and downs too. Twelve years ago, I was driving around Miami in a brand new car, acting the part of a spoiled rotten brat. A few years later, I was eating Ramen noodles for dinner every night and taking my kid to the park bathrooms for showers because our water had been shut off. Had a windfall and lived well for a while, then my ex snorted every bit of money we had up his nose and I was right back to square one.

Now, I live paycheck to paycheck and work myself dead everyday to make ends meet. However, I've learned a lot of important lessons through it all, and I believe they've made me a better person. There are many things I wish I could have done different in the past, but a part of me is really glad life doesn't have a rewind button. For the first time in a long time, I like the person I am, and I owe that to the lessons I learned from making all those mistakes.

 

[Leah Love]

Tough times we live in. Getting your degree should reap benefits down the road for you.

If I still have my health. The stress of exams combined with he stress of not having enough money is having its toil on me. I started to clench my jaw tight all the time and it makes both my jaw and my head hurt. I try not to do it, but it is unconscious, and I sometimes even do it in my sleep.

In the summer between high school and Uni I was hospitalized, had a surgery because I had gallstones. Funny how I started to have issues with it when school had been the most stressful.

... and let's not get into the issues that I have at home...

 

[AUFred]

If I still have my health. The stress of exams combined with he stress of not having enough money is having its toil on me. I started to clench my jaw tight all the time and it makes both my jaw and my head hurt. I try not to do it, but it is unconscious, and I sometimes even do it in my sleep.

In the summer between high school and Uni I was hospitalized, had a surgery because I had gallstones. Funny how I started to have issues with it when school had been the most stressful.

... and let's not get into the issues that I have at home...

Stress effects us all. Worse on some than others. Getting your degree eventually will afford you the opportunity to change your home situation. I will tell anyone getting a degree doesn't guarantee anything but it certainly gives you an advantage over those who do not have a degree.

 

[Xeno]

I never had much as a kid that anyone would envy. Growing up with my mother and my sister out in the country on a dirt road. We farmed and I grew up appreciating what little I had.

I was thinking back to how things were for me 27 years ago. I had a great girlfriend I had asked to marry me and I was miserable in my job. She was a senior in college and a few months from getting her degree. I got a chance at a new job 100 miles away and I took it. Things did not pan out and I got fired the Friday before we were to be married on Sunday. I took another job the same day and told my employer my circumstances. My wife and I got married on Sunday and I officially took my new job on Monday. I worked Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. My wife and I left for a quick honeymoon in Tennessee on Thursday morning. I charged our room and I took $300 cash with us for the trip. I returned on Sunday with a good bit of that $300 left.

I look back and wish things had been different for us but that was typical for most of our marriage. A few years ago my business was booming and I could not work enough hours and had money to burn. Today I feel like I have back-tracked 27 years. The economy has kicked me down again.

(Reviving Threads That Have Meaning)

I often look back on my life ever since that one particular night in my life when everything had changed for me in an instant. I wonder why my life has never been like everyone else's life in a sense. A mother. A father. Perhaps brothers or even sisters. I have to admit that life was very difficult for me overall. People seem to judge you by what you are rather than who you were and not in a racist manner either though there was a fine line between orphans and kids with parents. That much was clear growing up. As a kid you often want to be happy and find something that'll make you smile again. I found that happiness as I got older. I just never understood why that bit of happiness had to be taken from me. I never understood why since I had never asked for anything in my entire life. I surely was not given anything either except by the girl that I loved and still do. She gave me so much love and it rather sounds a bit corny, but I truly believe she gave me a heart. I suppose that is why it hurts so much at times when I think about her and her smile. I wish I could go back in time and tell her so much more as well as make different choices that night. I look into the mirror everyday of my life and I no longer see the person that I am suppose to be. I am suppose to be the person on my driver's license and birth certificate. I do not see "him" anymore. That is why I wear a mask in a sense. "Both" of them died that night. I know I am a more loving and caring person nowadays, but I often struggle with the "price" that one had to pay in order to understand the true meaning to life in a sense. It is truly odd though. I can give advice that is used by some and yet I cannot use that advice given to change my own life. Most think that some Anons have all the answers. I, for one, do not because the answer that I seek is an answer I cannot live with. When one cannot live with an answer then the question remains cemented in one's heart. That is just me though...or was at one time.​