What would you do? Looking for thoughts.

[OCDave]

Seems like this thread should be moved to Hiking Humor forum.

ricoswava, if you're not pulling our collective leg you are a least providing plenty of entertainment. Did I get an e-mail from you recently about helping you get an inheritance out of a foreign country?

What would I do? Pretty much the opposite of everything you're proposing.

Looking forward to where this will lead.

[Miel]

Miel .... regarding your tutorial offer .... I'm afraid you're going to need a larger bottle of Pepto Bismol.

OkeefenokeeJoe

I'll head out now to get some.

I might still have some here though, having worked with many people who asked for advice or suggestions, then every step of the way they offered excuses about why their ideas are the only ones that are feasible.

[ricoswava]

OCDave, you silly goose. No inheritance of foreign country. You can must a mail order bride. There are many companies out there.

Seems like this thread should be moved to Hiking Humor forum.

ricoswava, if you're not pulling our collective leg you are a least providing plenty of entertainment. Did I get an e-mail from you recently about helping you get an inheritance out of a foreign country?

What would I do? Pretty much the opposite of everything you're proposing.

Looking forward to where this will lead.

[ricoswava]

Trust lance? Trust him with what in particular. He did create the Live Strong foundation with the YMCA. It is a good program. It could use improvements.

Lance as in the bike racer?

You trust that liar? (On the Tour de France, and as a homewrecker.)

If your supposition is true, this would have been known to us - and he would have a great big lawsuit in his favor.

[Miel]

Trust him to be an honest man, one who cheats neither in racing nor on his wife.

[ricoswava]

I guess this comes down to a personal choice. Thank you all for your thoughts. Most people don't understand the Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML). Even many cancer survivors ask me all the time if I am in remission. There is no remission term for my type of Leukemia. One can have it undetectable. Even at undetectable, people still take the chemo medication. It is like a diabetes, one must take the medication, or they can have issues, and eventually die.


Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from Basket Ball Lakers: Has CML He recently had by pass surgery http://www.newser.com/story/205613/k...t-surgery.html This can be a side effect of my medication.

As it says in Shawshank Redemption - "Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying." Beating the depression, and having a chronic cancer. I learned I want to get busy living!! Doing the AT could be part of my journey to get busy living.

[ricoswava]

If I go back to work right now, I feel as if I am not living. I would be in the rat race. I will question myself until I can take a long term trip, or travel the world. The past couple of years of my life have been the hardest years of my life. The later part of 2015, there were many days I thought of suicide. Thankfully I don't have those thoughts anymore. I learned coping skills, and I was able to process all my emotions. Since first grade, I told myself subconsciously I was not lovable. That is not true. I want to take some time to love my self, see beauty, and get in the best shape of my life.

[Miel]

If I go back to work right now, I feel as if I am not living. I would be in the rat race. I will question myself until I can take a long term trip, or travel the world. The past couple of years of my life have been the hardest years of my life. The later part of 2015, there were many days I thought of suicide. Thankfully I don't have those thoughts anymore. I learned coping skills, and I was able to process all my emotions. Since first grade, I told myself subconsciously I was not lovable. That is not true. I want to take some time to love my self, see beauty, and get in the best shape of my life.

I plan to do a thru not as a vacation "per se," but for one of your reasons - to "see beauty." To see the beauty of nature, just as I love that on the water, or in a different way in an art museum.

But not all jobs are rat races. I teach a subject that I love, and my side gig is publishing a literary journal.

I too have stared down the black dog. But you made it out, so did I.

I am not pushing you to return to work. Hike Your Own Hike can apply to many aspects of our various lifestyles. But I do feel you have to be realistic about the publishing and public speaking worlds. You could self-publish. P.L. James has made a fortune on what is arguably crap (not the genre itself but her writing about it). Not that yours is crap, it's not. But good things have come out of the self-publishing (what we used to call vanity press) community.

I find it a very sad statement that someone who has endured cancer can't get housing. Welcome to America.

[OCDave]

...I find it a very sad statement that someone who has endured cancer can't get housing. Welcome to America.

With $3500 in their pocket, ricoswava has many housing options. An individual looking for handouts will often find it difficult to thrive in a capitalist society. In ricoswva's own words "I guess this comes down to a personal choice."

[rainydaykid]

If I go back to work right now, I feel as if I am not living. I would be in the rat race. I will question myself until I can take a long term trip, or travel the world. The past couple of years of my life have been the hardest years of my life. The later part of 2015, there were many days I thought of suicide. Thankfully I don't have those thoughts anymore. I learned coping skills, and I was able to process all my emotions. Since first grade, I told myself subconsciously I was not lovable. That is not true. I want to take some time to love my self, see beauty, and get in the best shape of my life.

I hear you. If I survived cancer, the last thing I would be worried about is getting a job. I'd try to do what I wanted, and live each day to its fullest extent. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about working anymore after fighting the VA for 12 years. I'm not wealthy by any means, but I can take care of basic needs and have plenty for thru hikes, ect, if I so choose.

[shelb]

Here is an example of my writing. This is the first 2 paragraphs of the book I drafted:

"On November 22, 2014, I woke up with my eyes so blurry Icould no longer read, and make out a letter in a book. Take a second and squintuntil the point that everything seems a little blurry. Well mine was worse thanthat. Have your heard of the term ofbeer goggles. It is a phenomenon in where one own consumption of alcohol makesphysically unattractive persons appear beautiful. Well, I did not consume any beverages thenight before, my vision was so blurry, for I could no longer see the beauty ofa person from 4 feet away.
With ultimate concern that I cannot seem to putinto words, I immediately called the optometrist, I told them I needed to seethem now, not tomorrow but now. Theoptometrist said they can see me at 1:30 pm. I thought to myself that is notquick enough. Dam it! I just have towait."

I need improvement in grammar and spelling. Most of the time I write something down, and then have to review it later to see my mistakes. With my learning disability, I correct the mistakes in my mind, but not on paper. Waiting a couple of hours or the next day to make fixes, I can find the mistakes.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts...

You did a nice job of keeping the two paragraphs and their topics separate; however, on a cursory read, I saw 16 typographical and/or grammar errors in this.

[rocketsocks]

Start a "go fund me" page and sing the blues...everybody's doin' it.

[ricoswava]

I take a pill chemo called sprycel, my white counts are normal. With my cancer and medication, we don't go into remission we go into major response. I am only st response level. Doctor game me permission for a month to go hiking not half the year.. ah I can do it

Just wondering what your chemo drugs do for your white count and iron count? It is not just about housing later but health during as there is Lyme disease, Norovirus, food poisoning, Giardia etc on the trail. If you are in remission go for.

[ricoswava]

As i mentioned in the post earlier, copying from microsoft to this sight merged words together. I did not notice it until after i hit the post button. QUOTE=shelb;2060933]You did a nice job of keeping the two paragraphs and their topics separate; however, on a cursory read, I saw 16 typographical and/or grammar errors in this.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the 411

[ricoswava]

OCdave . I was denied the SSI disability last week, so I settled my case for a wrongful termination. I could have received a lot more money, but having no money and homeless is hard. With cancer, it is even more difficult. The main reason I am homeless was due to a bad roommate that did not pay rent for 8 months. With cancer, unemployed, and depression, I was overwhelmed. I left my home when the court did not approve the restraining order against the person. I did everything I could do legally to get rid of my roommate from calling cops to court. I had enough if he would have said anything, I would have hit him, and I do not know when I would have stopped. I had a rough couple of years, and now I have processed most to the emotions. I am now ready to live life.

With $3500 in their pocket, ricoswava has many housing options. An individual looking for handouts will often find it difficult to thrive in a capitalist society. In ricoswva's own words "I guess this comes down to a personal choice."

[Miel]

Everyone's allowed a fresh start.

But be realistic in that start. I say that not to be a meanie-meanie, but to warn you against further heartache. From my own experience, magical thinking leads you down another dark road.

But by all means, take the hike, or hang out on one part of the trail or another (where you aren't limited to, say, eight nights in a national park). As long as you aren't mooching, I don't see the harm it could do other people.

Spend down to $2,000 or less so that you qualify for food stamps. Think outside the Hartford housing box.

And have fun on the trail.

[Miel]

Also read Andrew Solomon's excellent non-fiction book The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression.

The best writers are also avid and close readers.

[ricoswava]

Thanks Meil, I already have food stamps

[OCDave]

ricoswava,

Who will carry your pack during your thru hike? Your modus operandi is highly reliant on finding someone else to shoulder your burden. Is it possible that there is already someone hiking the trail that owes you those miles? Heck, your book might already be half written if only we could determine who is doing that work on your behalf.

The possibilities are staggering

[ricoswava]

OCDave, that is flat our mean.. I am looking at 30 pounds total for the pack. I take it you never had cancer based on that statement. I hope you never do. I hope and pray you receive more kindness. in your life..

ricoswava,

Who will carry your pack during your thru hike? Your modus operandi is highly reliant on finding someone else to shoulder your burden. Is it possible that there is already someone hiking the trail that owes you those miles? Heck, your book might already be half written if only we could determine who is doing that work on your behalf.

The possibilities are staggering