View Full Version : What would you do? Looking for thoughts.
ricoswava
04-18-2016, 22:33
Looking for some advice. I will have 3500.00 to hike the trail. I have Chronic Myeloid Leukemia it is treatable, I will bring along my daily chemo pill. When I complete the hike. I will find myself broke and homeless again.
If I don't find a job by may15th, I am planning on to do a walk though of Appalachian Trail http://appalachiantrail.org/. I been told by HUD I don't qualify for homeless housing until one year of not being in a place. I asked them would hiking the Appalachian trail count. They said yes. I have been thinking about doing the hike since last year, and have been to a seminar about the trail, and read a book. If you know anyone who has hiked the trail please let them know.... I also figured this would be the best way loose weight, and to get back into shape. Since I have a chronic cancer, this could be a great story about walking the trail with cancer. Plus when I do because a speaker. I know that will happen after the book is published, it would be a great addition to the speaking career. I figured on spending about 1500 for gear. I do need to find a backpack, sleeping bag, tent, shoes and light heating unit. I don't know how I will fully cover the cost of food doing the trail. If anyone has any ideas about sponsors I would love to hear them. I have contacted the manufacture of my cancer medication, and asked if they would provide 1 month supply for in case I can not get my medication in time.
Would you do the hike know that you come back homeless who know what will happen when I get back.
Thanks for the help
illabelle
04-19-2016, 06:31
Hauling yourself, your gear, and your food over the hills and valleys and mountains and streams isn't going to solve your problem. Wandering in the woods for a year so that you can qualify for homeless housing? And somehow you think that you'll be in demand as a speaker?
If you have marketable skills, work. If you don't, learn.
Traveler
04-19-2016, 06:55
Hauling yourself, your gear, and your food over the hills and valleys and mountains and streams isn't going to solve your problem. Wandering in the woods for a year so that you can qualify for homeless housing? And somehow you think that you'll be in demand as a speaker?
If you have marketable skills, work. If you don't, learn.
Spot on.
If this tale is true (looks like a bit of baiting from here) I feel badly for the OP's circumstances. However circumstances can be changed with a bit of thought and effort. Escaping into the woods so one can get financial aid only shifts the responsibility to other, more responsible people. Not many people outside of those unwilling to participate in their own future will be interested in hearing this speaker discuss how they worked the system.
Looking for some advice. I will have 3500.00 to hike the trail. I have Chronic Myeloid Leukemia it is treatable, I will bring along my daily chemo pill. When I complete the hike. I will find myself broke and homeless again.
If I don't find a job by may15th, I am planning on to do a walk though of Appalachian Trail http://appalachiantrail.org/. I been told by HUD I don't qualify for homeless housing until one year of not being in a place. I asked them would hiking the Appalachian trail count. They said yes. I have been thinking about doing the hike since last year, and have been to a seminar about the trail, and read a book. If you know anyone who has hiked the trail please let them know.... I also figured this would be the best way loose weight, and to get back into shape. Since I have a chronic cancer, this could be a great story about walking the trail with cancer. Plus when I do because a speaker. I know that will happen after the book is published, it would be a great addition to the speaking career. I figured on spending about 1500 for gear. I do need to find a backpack, sleeping bag, tent, shoes and light heating unit. I don't know how I will fully cover the cost of food doing the trail. If anyone has any ideas about sponsors I would love to hear them. I have contacted the manufacture of my cancer medication, and asked if they would provide 1 month supply for in case I can not get my medication in time.
Would you do the hike know that you come back homeless who know what will happen when I get back.
Thanks for the help
Why did you go to HUD? Why not the Hartford Housing Authority?
http://www.hartfordhousing.org/
Don't pin your hopes on getting a book published - although I wish you well if you do. The market has been flooded with memoirs ever since the (excellent) Angela's Ashes. But who knows? You could luck out. Try starting locally and approaching the Courant with a column proposal. It might turn into a series if they're interested. Or any of the number of reputable cancer journals - even a Facebook group could steer you in the right direction.
It disturbs me what HUD told you. More typically if someone is sick (even if in remission) emergency public housing can be found, whether in a "project" or a private Section 8 apartment. I recently knew of a man who was living under a bridge, had gall bladder surgery, while recovering was placed in senior housing - usually an 8-year waiting list here in Boston.
Talk to the local housing authority, not the feds. See what they say.
Also, you say you will have $3,500 for this hike. If you apply for housing before the hike, you will have to spend that down. You are not allowed to have more than $2,000 from any and all sources to qualify for housing.
You need an advocate by your side. Many non-profits that have a religion in their name actually cater to everyone. Make some calls to Catholic Charities and Jewish Family & Childrens' Service. Drop in on a priest. Go to the Hartford-area shelters and speak to a social worker. People get housing more quickly when they have the support of a social worker; therapist; clergyperson.
People have posted to gofundme for less dire circumstances. But make sure you provide an avenue so they can check out your story.
I do know someone financing her hike by contracting with a non-profit PR group to speak. Lots of planning needed for that; she didn't find someone overnight; she networked and networked.
Seminar ... read a book. Well, Cheryl Strayed read a book and then did the PCT. It happens. I did the Long Trail without much hiking experience (but had done the Bikecentennial before then, and long-weekend hikes in New England). IDK. It's been done.
As for writing - you need to learn to write, first. And that includes spelling. I noticed a few spelling errors in your post. Yes, I know this is a blog and people often write quickly without proofreading first when they post to blogs - I know I do. But to be taken seriously as a speaker; memoirist; columnist - you will have to have perfect spelling, near-perfect grammar (colloquialisms are OK). Why not start here practicing your spelling? (Spell-check doesn't count, and it doesn't take homophones into account.)
illabelle and Traveler - I feel he needs SSDI, at least temporarily (SSDI has a "Ticket to Work" program which helps reintroduce people to the workforce. It sounds like the OP needs a lot more information than s/he's been given, and that's where a social worker comes into play. The oncologist can make a referral.
MuddyWaters
04-19-2016, 13:07
You should work on getting life in order. Hiking is a vacation. Whats going to happen when quit on day 7? You cant squat on the trail...very long.
Get a job. Go to school. Get some training. Get a job with good insurance. Save some money.
ricoswava
04-19-2016, 13:07
Sorry this came out all wrong. I have marketable skill. I could go out and do many jobs today. I know it will not end "My problems." I had a series of bad circumstances that got to being homeless. I have finally about to or have finally overcame the depression. I really wanted to take a point in my life to do something hard, loose weight and enjoy. Having cancer, and I wanted to take time in my life to enjoy and see some beauty.
ricoswava
04-19-2016, 13:13
Meil,
There are editors. There is difference from a bad speller and a good writer. There are many ways to write a book. One can speak it into a recorder and have a dictation service to write it down. I know about all of the programs. I been applying, and I been told I don't qualify. I did not qualify for domestic violence assistance because I did not have a relationship with my roommate. There were a lot of bad things happened last year, and mostly was out of my control. From cancer to a horrible roommate and many more things. I happened to get
ricoswava
04-19-2016, 13:16
A lot of Authorities are closed : Here is information on Hartford Housing Authority.
HUD – Senior & Disabled – Low Income Public Housing
Effective Friday, December 5, 2014 at close of business, the Housing Authority of the City of Hartford will only be accepting applications for 1-bedroom and efficiency units for disabled and elderly (62 years of age and older) househoulds for our designated elderly/disabled developments in low-income public housing. No applications will be available for non-disabled and non-elderly households. Applications distributed prior to that date must be hand-delivered or postmarked by Friday, December 19, 2014 to be considered for the waiting list.
HUD - Family - Low Income Public Housing
Effective Friday, April 17, 2015 at 4:31pm., the Housing Authority of the City of Hartford will close its Waiting List for 4-bedroom low-income public housing. No additional applications will be available. Applications distributed prior to that date must be hand-delivered or postmarked by Friday, May 1, 2015 to be considered for the waiting list.
The waiting list for 2 bedroom units has been closed since December 2012. Public notification will be made when the Housing Authority decides to reopen the waiting list to accept applications.
The waiting list for 3 bedroom units has been closed since October 10, 2014. Public notification will be made when the Housing Authority decides to reopen the waiting list to accept applications.
Why did you go to HUD? Why not the Hartford Housing Authority?
http://www.hartfordhousing.org/
Don't pin your hopes on getting a book published - although I wish you well if you do. The market has been flooded with memoirs ever since the (excellent) Angela's Ashes. But who knows? You could luck out. Try starting locally and approaching the Courant with a column proposal. It might turn into a series if they're interested. Or any of the number of reputable cancer journals - even a Facebook group could steer you in the right direction.
It disturbs me what HUD told you. More typically if someone is sick (even if in remission) emergency public housing can be found, whether in a "project" or a private Section 8 apartment. I recently knew of a man who was living under a bridge, had gall bladder surgery, while recovering was placed in senior housing - usually an 8-year waiting list here in Boston.
Talk to the local housing authority, not the feds. See what they say.
Also, you say you will have $3,500 for this hike. If you apply for housing before the hike, you will have to spend that down. You are not allowed to have more than $2,000 from any and all sources to qualify for housing.
You need an advocate by your side. Many non-profits that have a religion in their name actually cater to everyone. Make some calls to Catholic Charities and Jewish Family & Childrens' Service. Drop in on a priest. Go to the Hartford-area shelters and speak to a social worker. People get housing more quickly when they have the support of a social worker; therapist; clergyperson.
People have posted to gofundme for less dire circumstances. But make sure you provide an avenue so they can check out your story.
I do know someone financing her hike by contracting with a non-profit PR group to speak. Lots of planning needed for that; she didn't find someone overnight; she networked and networked.
Seminar ... read a book. Well, Cheryl Strayed read a book and then did the PCT. It happens. I did the Long Trail without much hiking experience (but had done the Bikecentennial before then, and long-weekend hikes in New England). IDK. It's been done.
As for writing - you need to learn to write, first. And that includes spelling. I noticed a few spelling errors in your post. Yes, I know this is a blog and people often write quickly without proofreading first when they post to blogs - I know I do. But to be taken seriously as a speaker; memoirist; columnist - you will have to have perfect spelling, near-perfect grammar (colloquialisms are OK). Why not start here practicing your spelling? (Spell-check doesn't count, and it doesn't take homophones into account.)
illabelle and Traveler - I feel he needs SSDI, at least temporarily (SSDI has a "Ticket to Work" program which helps reintroduce people to the workforce. It sounds like the OP needs a lot more information than s/he's been given, and that's where a social worker comes into play. The oncologist can make a referral.
dudeijuststarted
04-19-2016, 13:53
I came back from the trail with no plan, no job, and no home. On top of it I developed a medical condition that was taking forever to diagnose and treat. It was the hardest year of my life, far harder and more stressful than the Appalachian Trail or the life I lived before the trail. One of things the trail teaches you is to notice and appreciate the comforts of modern living, so consider whether given your condition you are better off not murdering your body and enjoy the things you have available to you. Not to mention $3500 is a super-tight budget and while the trail is charitable at times you are likely to need support far above and beyond what you can do for yourself.
Advice from an AT veteran: find a more suitable outlet, don't do this.
illabelle
04-19-2016, 14:09
Rico,
If you hang around on here, I think you'll find that most of us are helpful and sympathetic. Based on limited information, we're doing our best to steer you away from what appears to be a decision you'll regret. Only you know what makes sense for you. We don't know what your job skills are. We don't know your age. We don't know your hiking experience. A quick google review of your leukemia indicates that fatigue is a common symptom.
If you have gear, or you can borrow it, why don't you go out onto the trail for a week and see how you like it. If you decide you are capable of handling the physical demands of the trail, go for it. But save up more money first.
Shutterbug
04-19-2016, 16:26
Looking for some advice. I will have 3500.00 to hike the trail. I have Chronic Myeloid Leukemia it is treatable, I will bring along my daily chemo pill. When I complete the hike. I will find myself broke and homeless again.
If I don't find a job by may15th, I am planning on to do a walk though of Appalachian Trail http://appalachiantrail.org/. I been told by HUD I don't qualify for homeless housing until one year of not being in a place. I asked them would hiking the Appalachian trail count. They said yes. I have been thinking about doing the hike since last year, and have been to a seminar about the trail, and read a book. If you know anyone who has hiked the trail please let them know.... I also figured this would be the best way loose weight, and to get back into shape. Since I have a chronic cancer, this could be a great story about walking the trail with cancer. Plus when I do because a speaker. I know that will happen after the book is published, it would be a great addition to the speaking career. I figured on spending about 1500 for gear. I do need to find a backpack, sleeping bag, tent, shoes and light heating unit. I don't know how I will fully cover the cost of food doing the trail. If anyone has any ideas about sponsors I would love to hear them. I have contacted the manufacture of my cancer medication, and asked if they would provide 1 month supply for in case I can not get my medication in time.
Would you do the hike know that you come back homeless who know what will happen when I get back.
Thanks for the help
When my life gets complicated, I find that it is best to deal with one issue at a time:
Cancer -- I am also a cancer survivor. When my cancer was discovered, I put everything else to a lower priority until I got my health under control. Chemo almost always produces side effects that require medical attention. Attempting to do an extended hike while taking the chemo would be getting your priorities wrong. Your best effort needs to be licking that cancer.
Income -- You are fortunate to have $3,500 to hold you until you get a source of income. Spending $1,500 of it on hiking gear wouldn't be a wise choice. Until you get another source of income, you should spend only on necessities. Second only to licking the cancer should be finding a job. Finding a job should be your full-time job. The effort put into planning for a thru hike should be put toward finding a job.
Losing Weight -- The best way to lose weight is to reduce calorie intake. Hiking is a good way to get in shape, but you don't have to go anywhere to exercise. You can walk around the block where you are.
rainydaykid
04-19-2016, 17:42
I came back from the trail with no plan, no job, and no home. On top of it I developed a medical condition that was taking forever to diagnose and treat. It was the hardest year of my life, far harder and more stressful than the Appalachian Trail or the life I lived before the trail. One of things the trail teaches you is to notice and appreciate the comforts of modern living, so consider whether given your condition you are better off not murdering your body and enjoy the things you have available to you. Not to mention $3500 is a super-tight budget and while the trail is charitable at times you are likely to need support far above and beyond what you can do for yourself.
Advice from an AT veteran: find a more suitable outlet, don't do this.
I feel like $3500 is plenty, unless things have changed vastly since 2010 when i did my thru. Did it for $2300 including a bus ticket home from Maine. Didn't feel like I was on a tight budget. I had $4500 total budgeted, though.
I'd recommend the hike to anyone. Being in the woods does wonders for my PTSD, nothing else helped. Unless you have severe back or knee problems, things of that nature.
Starting my 2016 thru this Friday, looking forward to getting out there again.
OkeefenokeeJoe
04-19-2016, 19:06
ricoswava ... I, too, am a cancer survivor. My cancer journey involved three long years of harsh chemotherapy, culminating in an allogeneic stem cell transplant in 2009 at Emory's Winship Cancer Center in Atlanta. Your intentions of hiking the Appalachian Trail while undergoing chemotherapy is ill advised and reflects poor (and immature) decision-making skills. Add to that fact your lack of a job and monetary destitution makes it plain foolish. As much as you don't want to hear it, you need to deal FIRST AND FOREMOST with your illness and personal issues before starting a thru-hike attempt. Contrary to your belief, a thru-hike will not be a cure-all for your life's woes and, most likely, will serve to compound your dire circumstances. Furthermore, your vision of writing a book and earning a living on the guest speaker/lecture circuit is (based on your poor spelling, poor sentence construction and, overall, elementary writing skills) unrealistic, at best. A pipe-dream, if you will. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't give it your best shot, but don't make it your "PLAN A." Most cancer treatment centers, hospitals, and clinics have a social worker on hand that can help and direct, and make referrals regarding your lack of income and housing. All you need to do is ask. They can even provide mental health intervention, if need be, free of charge. My personal advice to you is to seek out help from professional sources, tackle your chronic health and personal issues, and once you are well into your recovery THEN AND ONLY THEN plan the thru hike for which you have long dreamed as a celebration of life.
this doesn't sound like a good idea to me. After 5-6 months on the trail (assuming you last that long) the last thing you'll want is to be homeless. you will want a bed to sleep in and a warm shower more than ever. and 3500 bucks is an extremely tight budget for a thru hike. Forget staying in hotels.. you will stay only in Hostels and not all that often. You will have to avoid visiting the ayce restaurants too often. Don't even thinking of going to bars.
rainydaykid
04-19-2016, 19:27
this doesn't sound like a good idea to me. After 5-6 months on the trail (assuming you last that long) the last thing you'll want is to be homeless. you will want a bed to sleep in and a warm shower more than ever. and 3500 bucks is an extremely tight budget for a thru hike. Forget staying in hotels.. you will stay only in Hostels and not all that often. You will have to avoid visiting the ayce restaurants too often. Don't even thinking of going to bars.
Guess I'm really good with money then. $3500 sounds extravagant. I did it for $2300 as mentioned, stayed in a few hostels, hotels a couple of times splitting it, usually not though, I've always considered hotels an extreme ripoff for what you pay. I ate good, not steak and lobster every meal, but not ramen either. Also hit a few bars. Not many, I generally don't drink much while hiking.
I hear about people spending 6k+ and just don't see how. Hike the way you want, but I hear too many people that say you need 5k minimum and I did it for less than half that, and it was nowhere near bare bones. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything.
I recently got awarded my veteran's disability for PTSD, so I can be extravagant as I want on this hike without worrying about money, like literally, I couldn't spend it all. I doubt I'll change much, though, from my last hike. Always preferred sleeping in my cozy tent over a hostel or hotel room. The few hostels I stayed at were great and the owners were awesome, but wood's hole was the only one I slept well at.
I would have changed nothing had I not gotten my VA disability this year though. I would have gone hiking anyways, and used food stamps if I had to. Don't ever let money get in the way of your dreams. But you sound sick as hell, so that is another matter.
Do you know anyone who wrote a book involving their life story where the vehicle that helped straighten them out was doing a thru-hike? Have you inquired directly from these people about what they have financially gained? Don't include those who's stories were eventually made into movies. Do you know anyone who makes a regular comfortable living where they enjoy some reasonable standard of living publicly speaking about this story? Most of those scenarios aren't what I think you think they entail. Yeah, a thru-hike to beat cancer and …. can change your life but it leading to a truly reliable stable financial status doing book and speaking engagements is a long shot IMO. The overwhelming majority of these scenarios as you portray it likely only supplement another income stream.
Why does it have to be the AT? Why does the hike have to be 2000+ miles? I don't think it does. How about near where you live doing a thru-hike of the Long Trail for starters if you truly want to hike, lose wt, gain some LD hiking experience, and see how addressing your medical condition while simultaneously long duration trail life fit together? Might be wise to consider doing that before you go all in putting your entire savings and possible health at risk drawing to an inside straight on the river?
rainydaykid
04-19-2016, 19:38
Sorry, I meant the cancer patient sounds really sick. I'd ask your doctor if you can, not us.
OkeefenokeeJoe
04-19-2016, 20:14
One more matter to consider and I'll put this issue to rest (for me). One of the key components of successful cancer treatment is good nutrition. There is no way in hell you will be able to regularly eat a good, balanced, nutritious, wholesome meal while on the trail, especially with your meager budget. I'm sorry, but ramen noodles, peanut butter and jelly on a tortilla wrap will not cut it. You will need plenty of properly prepared vegetables and an abundance of fruits to keep your body functioning at its peak during your chemo regimen. Again, don't expect the AT to somehow magically cure all your life's woes. You need to be mature, reasonable, and logical in your thought process and put effective treatment of your disease FIRST in your list of priorities. Get your life together and once you are back on your feet, both medically and financially, bitch-slap cancer in the face with a successful, well-planned thru-hike.
OkeefenokeeJoe
sheperd80
04-19-2016, 20:53
This has got to be a troll... Your goal is housing assistance?Seriously? Spend your 3500 on a roof and a haircut. Get a job and take care of your cancer... Hopefully, in time youll be a healthy tax paying citizen who can afford his own housing, medical care and a thru-hike...
Ffs
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
You should work on getting life in order. Hiking is a vacation. Whats going to happen when quit on day 7? You cant squat on the trail...very long.
Get a job. Go to school. Get some training. Get a job with good insurance. Save some money.
We're still in a recession, no matter our solons tell us. He may not have worked in a while. If he hasn't been to school in while, he'll have to take make-up courses - NOT covered by student loans but paid for out of pocket.
Many today lives paycheck to paycheck. Hard to save.
I think you don't need a hike, you need professional help. You asked for our thoughts.
Sorry this came out all wrong. I have marketable skill. I could go out and do many jobs today. I know it will not end "My problems." I had a series of bad circumstances that got to being homeless. I have finally about to or have finally overcame the depression. I really wanted to take a point in my life to do something hard, loose weight and enjoy. Having cancer, and I wanted to take time in my life to enjoy and see some beauty.
With all due respect (and my father had cancer, so I do have some idea of what you are enduring), no-one is going to look at a word you publish unless you clean up your spelling and grammar (especially if you send something in on spec). First impressions count.
Lose weight, not loose weight.
Your fifth and sixth sentences are syntactical disasters.
I get it about depression. Your physician or nurse will only give you three months of anti-depressants, so you will have to make arrangement for a refill during your trip. You will have "know before you go" the location of such a pharmacy. That pharmacy should be aware before you start your trip that you will be coming in for a refill. This is essential, rico. You don't want to find yourself a day or more away from a pharmacy, should the depression return (and it can, although it may not).
"There but for the grace of God go I."
"Walk a mile in my shoes."
I wish some of the folks here would be kind, and not with this GET OFF MY LAWN or WHAT YOU NEED IS A GOOD KICK IN THE ASS ****e. (Mispell intentional.) Many people are just one paycheck away from being homeless.
Muddy - Cheryl Strayed didn't mean for the PCT to be a holiday. She was there to come to terms with her mother's passing. Not everyone who does long walk is on vacation.
People - rico isn't asking YOU to fund this, so what do you care? Be kind.
rainydaykid
04-19-2016, 21:17
I think you don't need a hike, you need professional help. You asked for our thoughts.
This is just personal opinion, but if I had cancer, I'd be more concerned with trying to enjoy my life than to try to grind out a job. Nothing like staring face to face with death to make you realize how pointless the daily grind rat race is. I never was terminally ill, but I did go overseas in the military. I've done several hikes since then, starting another thru this friday. You can always make money in the future. I've tried to enjoy life as much as possible with crippling mental illness, and my hikes are much more important for my well being than a job.
I agree though, get better, then hike if you still want to.
Meil,
There are editors. There is difference from a bad speller and a good writer.
1) Not for an unknown writer, unless you want to shell out $50 - $100 an hour. Don't let hubris get in the way.
2) You are a poor speller and, in these posts, not a great writer. But you could turn into one. Don't let hubris get in the way.
3) I know all about those crutches, I mean electronic devices and apps. You learn how to write by writing - and reading. Read - A LOT. If you want to write about your illness in any way (about the AT, or not), run, not walk to your nearest public library and check out a book titled The Emperor of Maladies.
4) Your cancer (no, I am not defining you by cancer) should qualify you for emergency housing. You need your doctor and your therapist to back you, though.
Everything I've posted about so far, I have first-hand experience with it all. Either via myself or an immediate family member.
We're still in a recession, no matter our solons tell us. He may not have worked in a while. If he hasn't been to school in while, he'll have to take make-up courses - NOT covered by student loans but paid for out of pocket.
Many today lives paycheck to paycheck. Hard to save.
*live paycheck to paycheck (yeah, I make spelling errors, too, but I'm not seeking to publish something anytime soon, but I sure would be vigilant when I sent out that first manuscript).
I came back from the trail with no plan, no job, and no home. On top of it I developed a medical condition that was taking forever to diagnose and treat. It was the hardest year of my life, far harder and more stressful than the Appalachian Trail or the life I lived before the trail. One of things the trail teaches you is to notice and appreciate the comforts of modern living, so consider whether given your condition you are better off not murdering your body and enjoy the things you have available to you. Not to mention $3500 is a super-tight budget and while the trail is charitable at times you are likely to need support far above and beyond what you can do for yourself.
Advice from an AT veteran: find a more suitable outlet, don't do this.
rico won't get his foot in the door of a housing authority if he (she?) has $3,500. One can only have $2,000 total from all sources (including life insurance).
So, rico, spend down before you submit an application.
Lone Wolf
04-19-2016, 21:34
books about forcin' one's self to hike a trail with some sorta disability or ailment are a dime-a-dozen. not best sellers. work and save and walk like the rest of us.
ricoswava,
Are you committed to residing in Hartford? You should have your name on 10 - 20 housing authority lists.
Honestly, I have been in that position, and, because I don't own a car, I put my name on every list in communities with public transportation.
I say this respectfully and kindly: you need to make an appointment with a medical social worker. You need a support network. But starting with your oncologist and social worker, your safety net of support people with spread. I live in a small city with an enormous amount of homeless people and opiate addicts (not all the same). I know many of them, including the sister of my daughter's best friend. Not one of these homeless people succeeds without support from a social worker or therapist. (Not psychoanalysis - psychoanalysts typically don't have social worker skills.)
Not dissing your hike. But what will you do when you return home? There are few things worse than being sick and homeless. Please, PLEASE don't count on speaker fees and cash advances. Go ahead and write that book; go ahead and find an agent But remember how many great books there are out there that will never be published.
On the other hand:
PrairieFlax found a non-profit to fund her hike. I return she will give talks for them later on. However, she is an educator and her talks will be designed about nature in curriculum development, and her curricula will be available online, gratis, as teacher resource. But she worked long and hard to find a group to assist her, and never took it for granted that it would happen.
So it can happen. But her success with this didn't happen overnight.
illabelle
04-19-2016, 22:07
rico, There seem to be a few Republican-war-on-the-poor attitudes in this thread. As if you're asking these peeps for a handout. As if.
Miel, please don't assign political affiliations to people based on what they've posted in this thread. For one, it's a distraction from the topic; two, it's unhelpful; three, it's inaccurate/misleading. There are many reasons why a person might come across as unsympathetic, including gender, personality, social skills, whether they deal with similar situations daily, or simply following the herd. None of those have anything to do with politics.
ricoswava
04-19-2016, 22:44
Ah OkeefenoskeeJoe,
Hello fellow cancer survivor. Emotionally, I am 1000 times better. I am now at a point, I want to enjoy life. I am think I wont ever get another opportunity to Hike the AT. As speaker, and sentence structure. I am writing fast right now. Plus I have been limited to the internet. I am working on a doing a fashion show with a friend on May 14th. My biggest issue, emotionally is that I did not think I was lovable until oct 2015. I dealt the those emotions. I want to take some time being part of a community and get back in shape before I start working again. After cancer, yes money is an issue. We both realized we need to take time to enjoy life.
ricoswava
04-19-2016, 22:46
Hi Lone wolf, thanks for the feed back. I am not sure if I have depression any more. I went to therapy and drafted a book about working though all this issues. I think I really need to take some time to enjoy and love life before going back to work. I never did that.
ricoswava
04-19-2016, 22:49
Miel, no it did not. I lost the second round of disability.
ricoswava
04-19-2016, 22:52
This is just personal opinion, but if I had cancer, I'd be more concerned with trying to enjoy my life than to try to grind out a job. Nothing like staring face to face with death to make you realize how pointless the daily grind rat race is. I never was terminally ill, but I did go overseas in the military. I've done several hikes since then, starting another thru this friday. You can always make money in the future. I've tried to enjoy life as much as possible with crippling mental illness, and my hikes are much more important for my well being than a job.
I agree though, get better, then hike if you still want to.
Your right. I want to enjoy hike, conquering depression, and the emotional year I had. I need to do something different than going back to work.
ricoswava
04-19-2016, 22:55
I think you don't need a hike, you need professional help. You asked for our thoughts.
Rock I have overcame a lot, and I believe I am very close to being out of my depression. I want to go back to school at get my PhD in Psychology to help others. I am not the best speller, I am an idea person. Not everyone is great at everything. thanks for your thoughts
ricoswava
04-19-2016, 23:03
thanks shutter bug. I have always gone for the job, and I do plan on going to grad school. I am not sure if I go to work I will enjoy it. After the year I had, I need some enjoyment. I know the trail it hard. I have no clue how hard it is. But I know I will enjoy many beautiful sights.
"Cheryl Strayed didn't mean for the PCT to be a holiday. She was there to come to terms with her mother's passing. Not everyone who does long walk is on vacation."
+1 You got that one right. :)
Walking is curative, has been show to lead to clarity of mind, can lead to awesome thoughts, more balanced emotions, a better sense of direction and purpose, affects body(and brain) chemistry, and often greater health. Walking has been medically proven to aid in curing depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, fight weight gain, osteoporosis, and some cancers. Various cultures celebrate the pilgrimage - walking with meaning - which sounds like has some applicability to the poster's situation. Not all that crazy or ill informed sounding when one looks at it like that.
Maybe, doing a long walk will not magically result in financial nirvana but the person may very well benefit from a long walk.
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.
Your right. I want to enjoy hike, conquering depression, and the emotional year I had. I need to do something different than going back to work.
*You're
(Spell-check doesn't help with these kinds of words.)
Miel, please don't assign political affiliations to people based on what they've posted in this thread. For one, it's a distraction from the topic; two, it's unhelpful; three, it's inaccurate/misleading. There are many reasons why a person might come across as unsympathetic, including gender, personality, social skills, whether they deal with similar situations daily, or simply following the herd. None of those have anything to do with politics.
OK, fair enough.
Miel, no it did not. I lost the second round of disability.
Try a third time. (And everybody is denied on the first round.)
Rock I have overcame a lot, and I believe I am very close to being out of my depression. I want to go back to school at get my PhD in Psychology to help others. I am not the best speller, I am an idea person. Not everyone is great at everything. thanks for your thoughts
*Overcome, not overcame.
http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/English/overcome.
htmlhttp://www.english4today.com/englishgrammar/grammarfaq/grammarfaq_answer.php?qid=6841
You want your future publisher to respect your work, to take it seriously. S/he won't if you have spelling and grammar errors in your first submission. You don't get to have the publisher's proofreader work on your piece until it is accepted - fact.
"Close to being out of depression"? I hope so. It's a lousy thing to have, I know (I have it). I hope your therapist agrees.
"Cheryl Strayed didn't mean for the PCT to be a holiday. She was there to come to terms with her mother's passing. Not everyone who does long walk is on vacation."
+1 You got that one right. :)
Walking is curative, has been show to lead to clarity of mind, can lead to awesome thoughts, more balanced emotions, a better sense of direction and purpose, affects body(and brain) chemistry, and often greater health. Walking has been medically proven to aid in curing depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, fight weight gain, osteoporosis, and some cancers. Various cultures celebrate the pilgrimage - walking with meaning - which sounds like has some applicability to the poster's situation. Not all that crazy or ill informed sounding when one looks at it like that.
Maybe, doing a long walk will not magically result in financial nirvana but the person may very well benefit from a long walk.
Great post, dogwood! 100% on the aid walking does for health matters. (Swimming, too.)
Traveler
04-20-2016, 07:49
Rock I have overcame a lot, and I believe I am very close to being out of my depression. I want to go back to school at get my PhD in Psychology to help others. I am not the best speller, I am an idea person. Not everyone is great at everything. thanks for your thoughts
From the perspective on this side of the screen, you have described yourself as; homeless; unemployed but managed to scrape $3500 together for a long vacation/walk; have cancer and apparently no insurance; want to lose weight; have marketable skills but no desire to use them effectively; have depression/don't have depression/almost done with depression; want to get a PhD; unable to obtain public assistance for housing or disability; want to write a book about hiking with a condition (either cancer, depression, homelessness or all); want to escape for a while from the previous difficult year.
You ask for input, so to answer your question about a thru hike of the AT amidst an increasingly complex set of circumstances:
Yes, you can do a thru hike on $3,500, with some caveats. If you need medical attention for accidents or due to cancer/treatment (this will likely be necessary a few times along the way), obtain cancer and other meds along the way, need to get out of the weather into a warm/dry hotel or hostel for a few days to avoid getting sick or recover from sickness in the weakened condition your immune system is in, and have a few meals on a higher level than Raman Noodles, you will probably run out of funds somewhere south of the White Mountains. You should have a plan on how you can find money along the way so you don't end up with a cardboard sign at an intersection. Frankly, you should think of what you will do the day you walk into Millinocket when you complete the trail without a job, home, or anything to return to.
The value of a long walk can be high, conversely it can be a terrible experience. It can be attractive in its escapism as you have expressed a desire to do. The AT has rarely solved anyone's problems in and of itself. What you can most likely expect from this trek is to emerge in northern Maine with the same problems you have now, perhaps a few pounds lighter and possibly a little more grit in your character. You may walk away from your problems for a while, but they will follow you and eventually require resolution.
If the expectation or idea is to somehow use the walk as a catalyst to money or notoriety, you will be sorely disappointed. The economic reality is few people make money writing about their thru hike and the market is very small for readership. There is limited to no economic value speaking about it in and of itself.
As for public housing assistance and disability, there can be legal complications involved you may want to consider if you take on the challenge.
Lastly (or perhaps primarily), getting your health in order is the most important thing you can do. I am not sure how stable your health conditions are, nor do I see how cancer and/or depression benefit from a difficult walk of this nature given its deprivations. You will be exposed to severe weather conditions, marginal food given your budget, and solitude/separation issues that challenge those who are in perfect physical and mental health and take them off the trail.
All that to say, sure, you can do it. Only you can decide if you are able to or not. We only have what you've told us to go on.
Traveler, your first paragraph:
This is what depression can do to a person. Make him/her unable to make decisions, or color thinking so that unhelpful decisions are made. Depression can also make a person engage in magical thinking (not rico's case, but for example - "when I win Powerball next week I will do this and do that).
However, I believe these things:
The anti-depressant rico is on (if s/he takes one) needs to be modified (either through dosage or a different med)
rico (I use the lower-case r, because rico does) is resourceful - rico has saved $3,500, no small feat!
rico is not in a domestic abuse support group
I could be wrong on all counts, but this magical thinking rico has about his/her book winning the next Pulitzer Prize (I'm exaggerating) leads to to believe there is a medication issue at play here, in addition to my belief that rico's depression isn't being treated aggressively. And I hope rico's med are not being prescribed by a general practitioner. So few of them have adequate training in psychopharmacology.
In spite of the ACA, one has to fight for the precise kind of healthcare that one needs.
I may end up wanting to shoot myself, but I am willing to give rico free tutorials in composition, everything from spelling to writing an outline to anything at all. I think rico COULD have a compelling story - marketing it (90% of art is marketing yourself - it was 500 years ago, it was 50 years ago, and it is now) is beyond my skill set. rico - I would write a couple of chapters, then find an agent.
AWOL wrote columns for Florida Today. Don't know if he was paid or not. Think locally. The Courant may well LOVE your idea. (And don't be opposed to writing on spec. You need to get your foot in the door, first.)
I hope you will be able to walk the AT - but as almost everyone else here has said, health first.
I may end up wanting to shoot myself, but I am willing to give rico free tutorials in composition, everything from spelling to writing an outline to anything at all. I think rico COULD have a compelling story - marketing it (90% of art is marketing yourself - it was 500 years ago, it was 50 years ago, and it is now) is beyond my skill set. rico - I would write a couple of chapters, then find an agent.
AWOL wrote columns for Florida Today. Don't know if he was paid or not. Think locally. The Courant may well LOVE your idea. (And don't be opposed to writing on spec. You need to get your foot in the door, first.)
I hope you will be able to walk the AT - but as almost everyone else here has said, health first.
Note dogwood's post on how walking helps us.
ricoswava
04-20-2016, 09:29
Hey Sheperd, fyi my cancer med cost 11,000 a month. I have to make 40,00 a year to cover the cost on Obamacare or only earn 15,000 a year. Right now I have nooo ties. No wife or kids, and monthly rent. Hud is a last option. It is worst case scenario. I am glad you don't have cancer and that you did not beat depression. At my age, I want to take a moment before going back to fulltime work and enjoy life.
Everyone has problems Rico.
It's what you do personally to rise above them that makes you a survivor.
You do, what you have to do, to survive. Sometimes, you have to make the tough choices, which might be not hiking the AT.
Hey Sheperd, fyi my cancer med cost 11,000 a month. I have to make 40,00 a year to cover the cost on Obamacare or only earn 15,000 a year. Right now I have nooo ties. No wife or kids, and monthly rent. Hud is a last option. It is worst case scenario. I am glad you don't have cancer and that you did not beat depression. At my age, I want to take a moment before going back to fulltime work and enjoy life.
*40,000, not 40,00
No-one will take you seriously as a writer unless you attend to the basics. That means spelling. Again, you do not get the publisher's proofreader unless your foot is already in the door - and that door is shut to you unless you respect the writing process. Or, you can create a blog with links to for-profit sites - like Amazon, which will give you something like 10 cents if your reader makes a purchase there from your blog.
I agree with you about taking a break. If you can afford to do this without nudging other hikers for money or food, and if you have a safe way to return home, then by all means do so.
I speak from direct, personal experience about domestic violence; depression and housing. I was also a paid, professional writer for many years, with a degree in the field.
There is nothing wrong with the ACA ("Obamacre" - a derogatory term) formula. Like MassHealth here in Massachusetts, it is designed, in part, to keep wealthier peeps from taking advantage. (Yet they do in other ways, like corporate welfare.)
ricoswava
04-20-2016, 09:45
Meil,
I take no anti depressants. Getting my cancer medication will be difficult part. I have written to the manufacture and asked them if they would provide a month supply. On certain occasions the state will provide of to 3 months of medication.
No I do plan on a Pulitzer. Growing up, my family never taught coping skills. I learned them in group therapy, and draft a book about my last years experience.
No I don't want to use the system. I am in the middle. I need help covering the cost of my cancer medication. In 1 year my cancer medication cost $132,000. in 5 years it cost it cost 660,000. I have to stay under 15,000 to qualify for state medical, or make over 40,000 to cover the cost of Obama care, for my insurance and out of pocket expense is 8,500 a year.
I am not sure if a month vacation would be enough time for me to enjoy something. I want to take some time to see the beauty of the sunrise, and sun sets, may beautiful lakes, see some wild life. Take photos, that I might be able to sell in the future. I am a professional photographer.
Thank you for the thoughts. Having no rent, no wife, no kids, right now seems the best time to do this trip.
Thanks for your wiliness to help giving me some free tutorials. :)
ricoswava
04-20-2016, 10:06
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...
ricoswava
04-20-2016, 10:13
Thanks Trance, all my life, I have put God then work first. I have sacrificed, when friend were having fun. I have worked in a restaurant or attended business seminar. Having a chronic cancer, I have leaned the life is beautiful. I need some time to have some fun before retuning to work. I am sitting at a library. I see this older man who had a stroke. He is struggling to walk 100 feet. How long will it take for me to make enough money to take a vacation or a trail hike. It would be a while, or will it be 5 years from now. How will my health be in 5 years? would I have lost the weight. In 5 years, would I be enjoying life or still going to work every day. have a great day!!
ricoswava
04-20-2016, 10:28
Thanks Dogwood, This is exactly what I am thinking. In August 2015, I went on a life change white water kayaking for young adults with cancer: http://firstdescents.org/ I learned I can do more with my life. On the trip, I learned I was majorly depresses and I needed help. On November 14, 2015. I got that help. Now I want to take some time to enjoy life. I only have one life to live. Cheer Dogwood..!
"Cheryl Strayed didn't mean for the PCT to be a holiday. She was there to come to terms with her mother's passing. Not everyone who does long walk is on vacation."
+1 You got that one right. :)
Walking is curative, has been show to lead to clarity of mind, can lead to awesome thoughts, more balanced emotions, a better sense of direction and purpose, affects body(and brain) chemistry, and often greater health. Walking has been medically proven to aid in curing depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, fight weight gain, osteoporosis, and some cancers. Various cultures celebrate the pilgrimage - walking with meaning - which sounds like has some applicability to the poster's situation. Not all that crazy or ill informed sounding when one looks at it like that.
Maybe, doing a long walk will not magically result in financial nirvana but the person may very well benefit from a long walk.
ricoswava
04-20-2016, 10:34
Hi Rainydaykid,
My cancer is treatable. The side effects of the medication does cause fatigue. My weight does not help. There are story of people doing amazing things with cancer. Lance Armstrong is a great example. Even with steroids, he has a strong mental strength. I believe, I have (CML) Chronic Myeloid Leukemia to help make people aware the cancer and I am in some way going to encourage others with CML.
Guess I'm really good with money then. $3500 sounds extravagant. I did it for $2300 as mentioned, stayed in a few hostels, hotels a couple of times splitting it, usually not though, I've always considered hotels an extreme ripoff for what you pay. I ate good, not steak and lobster every meal, but not ramen either. Also hit a few bars. Not many, I generally don't drink much while hiking.
I hear about people spending 6k+ and just don't see how. Hike the way you want, but I hear too many people that say you need 5k minimum and I did it for less than half that, and it was nowhere near bare bones. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything.
I recently got awarded my veteran's disability for PTSD, so I can be extravagant as I want on this hike without worrying about money, like literally, I couldn't spend it all. I doubt I'll change much, though, from my last hike. Always preferred sleeping in my cozy tent over a hostel or hotel room. The few hostels I stayed at were great and the owners were awesome, but wood's hole was the only one I slept well at.
I would have changed nothing had I not gotten my VA disability this year though. I would have gone hiking anyways, and used food stamps if I had to. Don't ever let money get in the way of your dreams. But you sound sick as hell, so that is another matter.
ricoswava
04-20-2016, 10:36
Something happened with the blog, it messed up on the spacing between some words. lol
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...
squeezebox
04-20-2016, 11:04
Lance might have been on steroids for cancer treatment. While racing he did blood doping and EPO, unless Epo counts as a steroid.
Lance might have been on steroids for cancer treatment. While racing he did blood doping and EPO, unless Epo counts as a steroid.
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.
Something happened with the blog, it messed up on the spacing between some words. lol
Oh dear.
Your story is there. But needs, as we said in the business, massaging.
Your vision fear does come across, however, and that's a great start, a great hook.
OkeefenokeeJoe
04-20-2016, 16:26
Oh dear.
Your story is there. But needs, as we said in the business, massaging.
Your vision fear does come across, however, and that's a great start, a great hook.
Miel .... regarding your tutorial offer .... I'm afraid you're going to need a larger bottle of Pepto Bismol.
OkeefenokeeJoe
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 .... 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
04-20-2016, 18:53
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
04-20-2016, 18:55
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.
Trust him to be an honest man, one who cheats neither in racing nor on his wife.
ricoswava
04-20-2016, 19:16
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/kareem-abdul-jabbar-has-heart-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
04-20-2016, 19:30
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.
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.
...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
04-20-2016, 22:36
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.
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
04-21-2016, 02:04
Start a "go fund me" page and sing the blues...everybody's doin' it.
ricoswava
04-21-2016, 09:25
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
04-21-2016, 09:29
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
04-21-2016, 11:03
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."
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.
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
04-21-2016, 11:55
Thanks Meil, I already have food stamps
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
04-21-2016, 21:07
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
4eyedbuzzard
04-21-2016, 21:45
You asked for advice, so here it is: You don't have the resources to take a long hike nor to write a profitable book, and the odds are that neither will actually happen. Be realistic regarding your goals. Set your goals lower so that success can be achieved, and then build from those successes. Borrow some gear and go take a one or two week long hike. Then come home and start working on getting healthy, finding housing, and returning to work and school.
MuddyWaters
04-22-2016, 05:22
If you are healthy enough to hike, you are healthy enough to get on with life.
Whats the difference between ..
A cancer survivor that may live 10 yrs or more
A person that dies of unknown heart disease suddenly ( #1 killer of men in US)
The latter lives happily and normally like nothing is wrong
Some problems are mostly mental. Awareness of sickness may be more debilitating than sickness itself.
A year or so ago there was a PCT hiker with cancer that hiked until he physically couldnt anymore.
You asked for advice, so here it is: You don't have the resources to take a long hike nor to write a profitable book, and the odds are that neither will actually happen. Be realistic regarding your goals. Set your goals lower so that success can be achieved, and then build from those successes. Borrow some gear and go take a one or two week long hike. Then come home and start working on getting healthy, finding housing, and returning to work and school.
Oh, rico could write a book. And rico could publish it on Amazon's createspace:
www.createspace.com
Just don't EXPECT the riches to come flowing in - not right away, anyway. It actually could be profitable. But rico could build an audience. I wouldn't discourage the OP on that. But rico needs an editor and an agent. The agent will take a cut but will not ask for a fee upfront. The OP my have to pay for an editor, unless a college or grad student or someone else will volunteer. A narrative non-fiction class could help (you mentioned school).
ricoswava
04-22-2016, 08:28
Thanks Meil, I did not about create space I did not about many more self publishing companies
Oh, rico could write a book. And rico could publish it on Amazon's createspace:
www.createspace.com (http://www.createspace.com)
Just don't EXPECT the riches to come flowing in - not right away, anyway. It actually could be profitable. But rico could build an audience. I wouldn't discourage the OP on that. But rico needs an editor and an agent. The agent will take a cut but will not ask for a fee upfront. The OP my have to pay for an editor, unless a college or grad student or someone else will volunteer. A narrative non-fiction class could help (you mentioned school).
rocketsocks
04-22-2016, 09:20
Oh, rico could write a book. And rico could publish it on Amazon's createspace:
www.createspace.com (http://www.createspace.com)
Just don't EXPECT the riches to come flowing in - not right away, anyway. It actually could be profitable. But rico could build an audience. I wouldn't discourage the OP on that. But rico needs an editor and an agent. The agent will take a cut but will not ask for a fee upfront. The OP my have to pay for an editor, unless a college or grad student or someone else will volunteer. A narrative non-fiction class could help (you mentioned school).in no other genre has travel writing been such an over saturated market (more specifically, the Appalachian trail) and that's no fiction!
$3500 buys a lot of lottery tickets. Better odds of hitting?
I don't get so much about this thread. Skeptical to say the least.
Purely for my own WB soap opera entertainment giving in to distraction interest:
1) define your homelessness
2) do you have $3500 or $5000 total financial resources? does that $3500 "to hike the trail" include the $1500 you anticipate buying hiking gear? OR, is your trail budget really $2000 after the bought gear?
3) name the AT seminar and book you previewed
4) you currently have no job and say your "homeless", whatever that means, but you were able to save $3500?
5) how are the expensive meds being paid?
6) what are the immediate post AT thru-hike "attempt" living day to day priorities?
Umm, what's Ricoswava? Isn't it Rico Suave?
No indication ANY consideration was given to a shorter hike nearer your "homelessness" in CT that didn't involve putting your entire financial resources at risk WHILE having…NADA… concrete wage earning ability post hike. NO INDICATION given that you even like backpacking yet you are giving into the epic overly romanticized idea of spending 4+, 5+ months living outdoors walking on a possibly limited budget putting everything financial in hand at risk that COULD lead to grandiose ill conceived financial stability. AND, you have no idea how the rigors of day to day trail life over a long term will fit simultaneously into addressing your cancer treatment AND you give NO INDICATION you're considering it. Several of us, albeit likely having a different value system than your own, recognize contradiction and rather extreme risk in what amounts to ill conceived AT thru-hiking plans and achieving the goals shared planned for the thru-hike and for post hike living. So much points to failure or not achieving what we have heard communicated are the goals. Muddied waters indeed.
How about this??? I see a lot of upside. I hope you do too. Go hike the LONG TRAIL. See if you like backpacking, walking day after day after day week after week after week. See how your health fares. AT LEAST, get a glimpse of long term trail life in that shortened timeframe of 3-4 wks before putting so much at risk throwing much to the wind on an AT thru-hike ATTEMPT.
All this grandiose talk about books and speaking engagements is getting way way ahead of yourself!!! BESIDES the story of a homeless man who beat cancer, depression, and obesity LD hiking that led to finding a home and contributing to the betterment of others can begin by hiking the Long Tr. Even if the financial rewards you're assuming don't materialize as your projected scenario unfolds it leads to other success you will appreciate.
DON'T spend $1500 on gear your finances don't allow. Consider buying used gear. Since you're not working you have time to make some of your own gear. Hiking the Long Trail during fairer seasonal weather saves gear money and potentially on trail budget compared to 5 months of an AT thru-hike. CAP your gear AND Long Tr budget IN TOTAL at $1500.
Light bulb goes on. Everything you assumed is eclipsed by reality…you still have $2000. You're near the potential housing. You're near your health care. You have less travel expense to/from the thru-hike. A job opp arrises you can be back in CT in a few hrs. Get your body weight in check. Gain some clarity. Get into Nature. WALK. Solvitur ambulando
It is solved by walking
The problem is solved by a practical experiment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiment)
Step upon step. Precept upon precept. Line upon line. Maturity is achieved this way. A thru-hike is accomplished this way. Everything isn't achieved through romantic one shot epicness. Expecting runs to be put on the score board by home run swings from all your team every time at bat results in losing more than winning. Don't live by basing your future, your dreams, your success on an astronomically stacked against you odds of hitting an epic lottery ticket which makes for good marketing but isn't the reality of what happens. Set yourself up for success. It's often a road a journey with infinite smaller successes.
Greenlight
04-22-2016, 14:57
I've followed this thread through its ups and downs for the past few days. I get the tension behind wanting an AT thru-hike experience and having cancer. The what if's must be tiring. In the end, you're going to do what you're going to do whether it's the mature thing, the spontaneous thing, the ill-conceived thing...possibly the deadly thing. You may be the guy who beats all the odds. Beats the cancer. Completes the thru-hike. Gets the book deal. You might never get a blister either, and subsist entirely on trail magic and hiker boxes stocked with your favorite candy bars. I'm not cold hearted, but I don't really care what happens if you start and don't finish. Job-wise and house-wise you probably won't be any worse off than you are today. That part is a wash. You just have to realize that what you're proposing isn't going to be "fun." To some extent, it is something you can adapt to as you go, but not fully so without money to replace inappropriate clothing and gear. The net experience might produce rewards greater than the hardships. But we are talking about hardships here. You could further compromise your health by taking this walk. Rico, this could contribute to your untimely death. Be careful. Be well. And do what you will.
ricoswava
04-22-2016, 21:18
Dogwood what do you mean by skeptical? I made the whole thing up? I did not ask a real question.? Lottery is not they reason why I want to do the hike. Read. You missed how I got the money by a settlement of a wrongful termination case. Homeless, I have slept in shelters, and people places since 11,12,15. Reid seminar, guy completed hike through last year. Meds are paid by state medical. I don't have post plans of at yet.
QUOTE=Dogwood;2061236]$3500 buys a lot of lottery tickets. Better odds of hitting?
I don't get so much about this thread. Skeptical to say the least.
Purely for my own WB soap opera entertainment giving in to distraction interest:
1) define your homelessness
2) do you have $3500 or $5000 total financial resources? does that $3500 "to hike the trail" include the $1500 you anticipate buying hiking gear? OR, is your trail budget really $2000 after the bought gear?
3) name the AT seminar and book you previewed
4) you currently have no job and say your "homeless", whatever that means, but you were able to save $3500?
5) how are the expensive meds being paid?
6) what are the immediate post AT thru-hike "attempt" living day to day priorities?[/QUOTE]
ricoswava
04-22-2016, 21:24
It is my nick name. I thought of short hikes. 3 month hike would get me healthy. 1 month i would be getting my trail legs.. hiking can have many health benifits.. i am not think crazy dreams. I am not expecting a red carpet for me when I get back. I do know I most likely be homeless. I know it will feel like work.
QUOTE=Dogwood;2061293]Umm, what's Ricoswava? Isn't it Rico Suave?
No indication ANY consideration was given to a shorter hike nearer your "homelessness" in CT that didn't involve putting your entire financial resources at risk WHILE having…NADA… concrete wage earning ability post hike. NO INDICATION given that you even like backpacking yet you are giving into the epic overly romanticized idea of spending 4+, 5+ months living outdoors walking on a possibly limited budget putting everything financial in hand at risk that COULD lead to grandiose ill conceived financial stability. AND, you have no idea how the rigors of day to day trail life over a long term will fit simultaneously into addressing your cancer treatment AND you give NO INDICATION you're considering it. Several of us, albeit likely having a different value system than your own, recognize contradiction and rather extreme risk in what amounts to ill conceived AT thru-hiking plans and achieving the goals shared planned for the thru-hike and for post hike living. So much points to failure or not achieving what we have heard communicated are the goals. Muddied waters indeed.
How about this??? I see a lot of upside. I hope you do too. Go hike the LONG TRAIL. See if you like backpacking, walking day after day after day week after week after week. See how your health fares. AT LEAST, get a glimpse of long term trail life in that shortened timeframe of 3-4 wks before putting so much at risk throwing much to the wind on an AT thru-hike ATTEMPT.
All this grandiose talk about books and speaking engagements is getting way way ahead of yourself!!! BESIDES the story of a homeless man who beat cancer, depression, and obesity LD hiking that led to finding a home and contributing to the betterment of others can begin by hiking the Long Tr. Even if the financial rewards you're assuming don't materialize as your projected scenario unfolds it leads to other success you will appreciate.
DON'T spend $1500 on gear your finances don't allow. Consider buying used gear. Since you're not working you have time to make some of your own gear. Hiking the Long Trail during fairer seasonal weather saves gear money and potentially on trail budget compared to 5 months of an AT thru-hike. CAP your gear AND Long Tr budget IN TOTAL at $1500.
Light bulb goes on. Everything you assumed is eclipsed by reality…you still have $2000. You're near the potential housing. You're near your health care. You have less travel expense to/from the thru-hike. A job opp arrises you can be back in CT in a few hrs. Get your body weight in check. Gain some clarity. Get into Nature. WALK. Solvitur ambulando
It is solved by walking
The problem is solved by a practical experiment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiment)
Step upon step. Precept upon precept. Line upon line. Maturity is achieved this way. A thru-hike is accomplished this way. Everything isn't achieved through romantic one shot epicness. Expecting runs to be put on the score board by home run swings from all your team every time at bat results in losing more than winning. Don't live by basing your future, your dreams, your success on an astronomically stacked against you odds of hitting an epic lottery ticket which makes for good marketing but isn't the reality of what happens. Set yourself up for success. It's often a road a journey with infinite smaller successes.[/QUOTE]
ricoswava
04-22-2016, 21:30
My health could go down hill, and it could get much better.. do know until one dose.. really at the end of the day. I do need to take time to enjoy life.. either during the at or other ways, and I need to get to healthier weight. Thanks for your thoughts.
I've followed this thread through its ups and downs for the past few days. I get the tension behind wanting an AT thru-hike experience and having cancer. The what if's must be tiring. In the end, you're going to do what you're going to do whether it's the mature thing, the spontaneous thing, the ill-conceived thing...possibly the deadly thing. You may be the guy who beats all the odds. Beats the cancer. Completes the thru-hike. Gets the book deal. You might never get a blister either, and subsist entirely on trail magic and hiker boxes stocked with your favorite candy bars. I'm not cold hearted, but I don't really care what happens if you start and don't finish. Job-wise and house-wise you probably won't be any worse off than you are today. That part is a wash. You just have to realize that what you're proposing isn't going to be "fun." To some extent, it is something you can adapt to as you go, but not fully so without money to replace inappropriate clothing and gear. The net experience might produce rewards greater than the hardships. But we are talking about hardships here. You could further compromise your health by taking this walk. Rico, this could contribute to your untimely death. Be careful. Be well. And do what you will.
in no other genre has travel writing been such an over saturated market (more specifically, the Appalachian trail) and that's no fiction!
Well, I am spending an enormous amount of money) for me on these AT memoirs, and loving every word! Books I will neither sell for a penny or so on re-sale sites, nor give away unless someone really, really wants them.:) (Granted, these AT books are new to me; previously I spent many dollars on LT books and thing like whatever Verlyn Klinkenborg was publishing about his extended family's and his own farms.)
Dogwood gets points for "solvitur ambulando."
Still, rico, what is the hook of your memoir? How I beat cancer on the AT? Not sure what your focus is even after 5pp of posts. Angela's Ashes, for example, was a non-fiction bildungsroman.
What will I be able to learn about the AT (since this is an AT Website) by reading your reading, by listening to your talks?
Frankly, I see the makings of a more novice Karl Ove Knausgard in your memoir, and I'm not sure that that is a good thing for readers. (His scribbles have a purpose although maybe not at first glance.)
Still, Anne Sexton did not start writing poetry with the intention of becoming a literary superstar. She wrote at first at the behest of her therapist, to deal with issues. So, as I like to say, "stranger things have happened" - in this case in the world of arts and letters. It could happen to you too!
However, as a future thru-hiker and as a person who is loving what I learn about that on this site, I would want to know, maybe selfishly, how will your memoir help me? And could it have helped, in some way, my cancer-riddled father?
So far I don't see a raison d'etre for your memoir. Before or after your hike, there are many fine low or no cost non-fiction writing courses you could take to assist you in writing and publishing a valuable AT memoir. It should be about your AT experiences (since, again, you're here on an AT Website) and both about and more than about ricoswava.
Again, I'm here to help when the time comes.
rico,
I think Dogwood used "lottery" as a metaphor. I could be wrong.
And (sorry to jack your thread, rico) on that topic, I hope peeps will post their favorite AT memoirs! I'll try to read 'em all. (rico, again, the best writers are also heavy readers. I have five books going at once, right now two of them about the AT, two about fine art, one titled The Theban Hegemony. What are you reading these days, out of curiosity? The public library can be your best friend, seriously.)
lonehiker
04-22-2016, 22:55
rico,
I think Dogwood used "lottery" as a metaphor. I could be wrong.
And (sorry to jack your thread, rico) on that topic, I hope peeps will post their favorite AT memoirs! I'll try to read 'em all. (rico, again, the best writers are also heavy readers. I have five books going at once, right now two of them about the AT, two about fine art, one titled The Theban Hegemony. What are you reading these days, out of curiosity? The public library can be your best friend, seriously.)
No wonder Rico has issues as he can't even live up to your expectations...
ricoswava
04-22-2016, 23:06
Hey lone hiker you are too quick to judge. I am handeling a lot right now.. fyi my friend and I are leading this event. I am thinking about what people are saying. I am also gaving to figure out where i am staying. I am leaving to denver for a week. Attending www.stupidcancer.Com I got a scholarship.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1793285117623370/ QUOTE=lonehiker;2061474]No wonder Rico has issues as he can't even live up to your expectations...[/QUOTE]
ricoswava
04-22-2016, 23:08
I forgot to tell you know this is not close to a hike through. I did 15 hikes in 60 days during sept-oct last year longest was 6 miles in a day.
ricoswava
04-22-2016, 23:11
Meil, dose there need to be 1 focus? Thank you for the suggestions .
Still, rico, what is the hook of your memoir? How I beat cancer on the AT? Not sure what your focus is even after 5pp of posts. Angela's Ashes, for example, was a non-fiction bildungsroman.
What will I be able to learn about the AT (since this is an AT Website) by reading your reading, by listening to your talks?
Frankly, I see the makings of a more novice Karl Ove Knausgard in your memoir, and I'm not sure that that is a good thing for readers. (His scribbles have a purpose although maybe not at first glance.)
Still, Anne Sexton did not start writing poetry with the intention of becoming a literary superstar. She wrote at first at the behest of her therapist, to deal with issues. So, as I like to say, "stranger things have happened" - in this case in the world of arts and letters. It could happen to you too!
However, as a future thru-hiker and as a person who is loving what I learn about that on this site, I would want to know, maybe selfishly, how will your memoir help me? And could it have helped, in some way, my cancer-riddled father?
So far I don't see a raison d'etre for your memoir. Before or after your hike, there are many fine low or no cost non-fiction writing courses you could take to assist you in writing and publishing a valuable AT memoir. It should be about your AT experiences (since, again, you're here on an AT Website) and both about and more than about ricoswava.
Again, I'm here to help when the time comes.
dudeijuststarted
04-22-2016, 23:23
Understand that long distance hiking is vastly different to the body than a day or weekend hike. Thru hiking is a persistent high exertion activity that taxes the body far beyond what most people are exposed to through an ordinary sports or exercise regimen. Think "rapid oxidation" of cells.
A thru hike is not going to heal cancer, it will make it worse, and a few mile hike-out when very sick can seem near impossible. It took me nearly a year to get "normal" (hormonal levels, proper nutrition, etc,) and that requires some trips to the doctor. The AT is no joke and thru hiking in general needs to be considered and planned for seriously, particularly by the sick or those "over the hill."
ricoswava
04-23-2016, 11:12
I have thought about this.. thats one of the reasons I am not planning on hiking 10 miles a day at the begining. I am thinking of 5 miles. I can do 5 miles, and take breaks. Once I feel strong enough I will do the 15 miles a day or 24 miles.
My doctor said I can do a month long hike. My cancer allows you to do much more, yet one dose struggle getting out of bed for an hour.
QUOTE=dudeijuststarted;2061485]Understand that long distance hiking is vastly different to the body than a day or weekend hike. Thru hiking is a persistent high exertion activity that taxes the body far beyond what most people are exposed to through an ordinary sports or exercise regimen. Think "rapid oxidation" of cells.
A thru hike is not going to heal cancer, it will make it worse, and a few mile hike-out when very sick can seem near impossible. It took me nearly a year to get "normal" (hormonal levels, proper nutrition, etc,) and that requires some trips to the doctor. The AT is no joke and thru hiking in general needs to be considered and planned for seriously, particularly by the sick or those "over the hill."[/QUOTE]
ricoswava
04-24-2016, 18:56
I do not have the right equipment to muffle out the wind. I will get better in front of the camera. Here is the reason why I want to hike the AT. https://youtu.be/DdLhUept47g
4eyedbuzzard
04-24-2016, 20:53
You seem to bounce around a lot - Photographer, Justice of the Peace/Marriage Officiating/Life Coach, Dr SBA (.com), ??? Now you want to be a writer - or go to graduate school for psychology - well, maybe - but only after losing weight - while thru-hiking the AT - at 5 mpd - with $3500 - and no home or job to return to. What will be next?
Wedding season is coming up. That's when marriage officiating and photography professionals are busy earning their money.
Writing and grad school and hiking are long term desires, and are subordinate to building on what you know and have a foothold in. Obviously, your medical situation is somewhat limiting. But if you're healthy enough to hike for a month, even at only 5 mpd, you're healthy enough to get on with life.
You state on one website that you're a "life coach", and you have an interest in psychology. Analyze your own situation - objectively. You are drifting and running away from the here and now realities of your life, using your illness and weight and roommate and everything else to justify, to yourself and others, going off on wild tangents. You may not like to hear it, but what you offer as reasons, can be more aptly described as excuses. Take responsibility for your life and get on with it.
ricoswava
04-24-2016, 21:59
4eyebuzzard, you seem very judgmental, you are speaking to me as if I have not be responsible.
Here is a list of what happened.
2014: June: A roommates friend stole my camera
Falsely accused of harassing someone: arrested took 1 year and 6 months to clear my name: I lost work because of this, and had a hard time finding work. I we to court 18 days in that whole time frame. Cost me 250.00 cash for a bond.
July started getting sick with the cancer. I thought it was depression
September: Computer broke down took a month for it to get repaired
November: New Camera Needed repair
November 23, 2015 Diagnosed with cancer: in hospital for ten days
December still could not even read a book: eye damage due to the cancer
2015 Went back to work at as a sessional at the State Capital
Unemployed
Still dealing with bad roommate did not pay rent for 8 months
Purchased a used car the next day head gaskets blew
Learning to deal with the side effects of my cancer
Major Depression
Went to 3 places looking for help
Photography gigs being moved.
Went Homeless November 12, 2015 due to the bad roommate tried a restraining against roommate the court did not approved
Went to group therapy.
That false case. I took 1 year probation the group therapy I took cleared it, no community service, or fine. I would not settle anything for less. I lost work from this.
2016 January racing thoughts stopped
Still defensive because of the bad roommate Continued with group therapy
March stopped being defensive
March Drafted me book
Been looking for work: with my cancer medication I have to earn less than 15,000 or more than 40,000 a year. I have to take my medication for 5 to 50 plus years.
April, I realized I am emotionally healthy enough to return to work
If you have never dealt with depression, cancer, broke, and homeless. You could not understand. I had a father who had depression and PTSD from Vietnam. I grew up with undiagnosed depression. Since first grade, I just started to learn to love myself. I need to do something before retuning to work that will allow me to enjoy life, and lose weight. I need to do something before returning to work or maybe the stresses of the new job might put me back in depression or I might become a person who is just frustrated.
If you never had depression, cancer, vision issues made it you could not read a book even with corrective lens. Maybe you should think being in the person shoes... Unless I find a job as a research assistant in psychology, I think if I returned to work now. I would feel like I am in prison.
You seem to bounce around a lot - Photographer, Justice of the Peace/Marriage Officiating/Life Coach, Dr SBA (.com), ??? Now you want to be a writer - or go to graduate school for psychology - well, maybe - but only after losing weight - while thru-hiking the AT - at 5 mpd - with $3500 - and no home or job to return to. What will be next?
Wedding season is coming up. That's when marriage officiating and photography professionals are busy earning their money.
Writing and grad school and hiking are long term desires, and are subordinate to building on what you know and have a foothold in. Obviously, your medical situation is somewhat limiting. But if you're healthy enough to hike for a month, even at only 5 mpd, you're healthy enough to get on with life.
You state on one website that you're a "life coach", and you have an interest in psychology. Analyze your own situation - objectively. You are drifting and running away from the here and now realities of your life, using your illness and weight and roommate and everything else to justify, to yourself and others, going off on wild tangents. You may not like to hear it, but what you offer as reasons, can be more aptly described as excuses. Take responsibility for your life and get on with it.
We're still in a recession, no matter our solons tell us. He may not have worked in a while. If he hasn't been to school in while, he'll have to take make-up courses - NOT covered by student loans but paid for out of pocket.
Many today lives paycheck to paycheck. Hard to save.
I recently completed a continuous employment history from March, 1968 to March, 2016. I haven't been in a classroom since 1967. When I needed new skills I taught myself.
Multiple skin cancer survivor.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, usually make excuses.
If the OP expects to write a book, they will need a ghostwriter.
I'm old. I tell it like I see it. I don't have time for subtlety or political correctness.
Y'all have a great day.
Wayne
I forgot to tell you know this is not close to a hike through. I did 15 hikes in 60 days during sept-oct last year longest was 6 miles in a day.
Friends and I did 6 miles between breakfast and lunch yesterday. My first real hike over varied terrain with a real pack in decades.
I'm out of here.
Wayne
I do not have the right equipment to muffle out the wind. I will get better in front of the camera. Here is the reason why I want to hike the AT. https://youtu.be/DdLhUept47g
Wowsers! You are MUCH more articulate on camera than you are here! (Good to put the posts with a face, too.) Nice setting. Now can you apply that eloquence and fluency to your writing? As Venchka said, you'll need a helper. But as a public speaker you'll do just fine. From the YouTube, you seem like a very amiable person, humble even. And you're not enormous, in spite of your views on your body.
*Edited for typo.
rico,
Depression can be so tricky. I know. I have it. I don't enjoy it, but I do my best to manage it, working even during some very very sad moods, not taking sick days. I'm not "speshul," I just know that depression isn't a bowl of cherries or whatever.
This woman I know, who recently lost her husband (may his memory be a blessing) - he had early onset Alzheimer's, but no-one, not even his clinicians, recognized it or even considered it. Everyone thought he was depressed, hence, his inability to work and the loss of his business. He wasn't properly diagnosed until they had lost everything.
I tell you their story because I feel it could be harder to manage depression (should the need arise to manage it) than cancer on your AT trip. Sometimes it can feel like trying to outrace an alligator - the only thing you can do is keep turning, since it takes an alligator longer to change directions than it does for him to chase you. I hope you will be able to check in with your clinician on a regular basis - especially when you are feeling fine.
I do know this - I hate exercise more than anyone else in this world does. But I don't think of walking as exercise. Yet, since it is, it's not a panacea but is one more tool in managing depression. The worst thing for a depressive is to lock himself in a room, with nothing to do.
Take the AT hike, but pay attention to some of the other suggestions offered by more experienced hikers than either you or me in these pages. You could astonish us all!
PS - Being overweight doesn't mean being out of shape.
I
If the OP expects to write a book, they will need a ghostwriter.
Yes, or an experienced editor.
Wasn't Jonathan Livingston Seagull rejected something like 17 times before the writer found a publisher? Best-seller in my teen years.
Yes, or an experienced editor.
Wasn't Jonathan Livingston Seagull rejected something like 17 times before the writer found a publisher? Best-seller in my teen years.
No clue. I shall investigate.
Wayne
No clue. I shall investigate.
Wayne
I hated that book. Just sayin'. But maybe its publishing history will give hope to our OP.
I never thought of doing a memoir of my Long Trail hike. I thought I'd have to be schooled in natural history and Vermont history and all that jazz. The only thing I knew about Vermont at that time was that Rudyard Kipling lived and wrote there, and that it had an interesting college that was part military school, part MFA program. And that Kelly Stand Road would become one of my favorite places in this entire country. I like trail (any trail) memoirs that talk about the land itself. I'd be interested to read about the nuggets about the AT (dating back 10,000 or more years) that rico learns. I'd also welcome AT reading matter suggestions, and I hope rico would, too.
Question to Venchka and other more experienced hikers here (my longest hike was the LT, a long, long time ago): Is there such a thing as too much reading immersion before a hike, before writing an AT memoir? I want to be filled with wonder when I do my own thru, but I'm not writing a memoir, so rico could indeed need to read as much as possible.
rico - You come off as a very appealing person on that video. You don't look like you have bad breath or body odor and you're wearing a nice shirt and your hair is clean. When I do my thru I expect to look as I did on the LT - like a drowned rat. Braids helped, though.
4eyedbuzzard
04-25-2016, 13:01
4eyebuzzard, you seem very judgmental . . .
Looking for some advice. I will have 3500.00 to hike the trail. I have Chronic Myeloid Leukemia it is treatable, I will bring along my daily chemo pill. When I complete the hike. I will find myself broke and homeless again.
Well, you asked for advice, which requires that people assess and judge your situation and plan. But then you get upset when the replies don't validate your preconceived plan, which many of us find inherently flawed. Broke and homeless 6 months from now isn't a good goal.
April, I realized I am emotionally healthy enough to return to work
Okay. And. But . . .
Unless I find a job as a research assistant in psychology, I think if I returned to work now. I would feel like I am in prison.So, unless you get exactly the job you want, life is like a prison sentence? Given that perspective, you should probably get comfortable with feeling depressed. Because the reality is that most of us put in many years of work before getting anything close to doing what we really desire, and then have to temper our expectations to a great degree. It's kind of like a thru-hike. There's the romantic notion of what a certain career/job will be like, and then there's the reality, which usually doesn't measure up. "Work" - because all the other four letter words were taken.
It sucks that you have cancer. You seem like a nice person. It's really crappy luck over which you had no control. But read your own words. Yes, your cancer has caused you lots of setbacks and problems. But the rest of it, meh.
If you have never dealt with depression...I could write a long personal account of my own experiences with depression, traumatic injury, less than ideal parental situations (including death) during childhood, broken cars, etc, but I'll spare you and everybody else the details. Because honestly, nobody really cares. Suffice to say that pretty much everybody experiences at least some of that in their lives. In that sense, you are not unique. We all have our struggles in life. Don't "give in" to the past. Focus on the present and the future. Try to be somewhere better in six months than where you are now. And broke and homeless just isn't an improvement.
lonehiker
04-25-2016, 14:17
Well, you asked for advice, which requires that people assess and judge your situation and plan. But then you get upset when the replies don't validate your preconceived plan, which many of us find inherently flawed. Broke and homeless 6 months from now isn't a good goal.
Okay. And. But . . .
So, unless you get exactly the job you want, life is like a prison sentence? Given that perspective, you should probably get comfortable with feeling depressed. Because the reality is that most of us put in many years of work before getting anything close to doing what we really desire, and then have to temper our expectations to a great degree. It's kind of like a thru-hike. There's the romantic notion of what a certain career/job will be like, and then there's the reality, which usually doesn't measure up. "Work" - because all the other four letter words were taken.
It sucks that you have cancer. You seem like a nice person. It's really crappy luck over which you had no control. But read your own words. Yes, your cancer has caused you lots of setbacks and problems. But the rest of it, meh.
I could write a long personal account of my own experiences with depression, traumatic injury, less than ideal parental situations (including death) during childhood, broken cars, etc, but I'll spare you and everybody else the details. Because honestly, nobody really cares. Suffice to say that pretty much everybody experiences at least some of that in their lives. In that sense, you are not unique. We all have our struggles in life. Don't "give in" to the past. Focus on the present and the future. Try to be somewhere better in six months than where you are now. And broke and homeless just isn't an improvement.
This was a written much more eloquently than I could ever hope to write. So, for the first time ever, I will use the "expression" +1.
ricoswava
04-25-2016, 17:25
There is a difference between judgemental and and giving thoughts. Some of the statements are just plain judgemental. QUOTE=lonehiker;2061993]This was a written much more eloquently than I could ever hope to write. So, for the first time ever, I will use the "expression" +1.[/QUOTE]
ricoswava
04-25-2016, 17:27
Meil, thank you for your thoughts and kind words.. your are an example who has given thoughts to both sides. QUOTE=Miel;2061876]I hated that book. Just sayin'. But maybe its publishing history will give hope to our OP.
I never thought of doing a memoir of my Long Trail hike. I thought I'd have to be schooled in natural history and Vermont history and all that jazz. The only thing I knew about Vermont at that time was that Rudyard Kipling lived and wrote there, and that it had an interesting college that was part military school, part MFA program. And that Kelly Stand Road would become one of my favorite places in this entire country. I like trail (any trail) memoirs that talk about the land itself. I'd be interested to read about the nuggets about the AT (dating back 10,000 or more years) that rico learns. I'd also welcome AT reading matter suggestions, and I hope rico would, too.
Question to Venchka and other more experienced hikers here (my longest hike was the LT, a long, long time ago): Is there such a thing as too much reading immersion before a hike, before writing an AT memoir? I want to be filled with wonder when I do my own thru, but I'm not writing a memoir, so rico could indeed need to read as much as possible.
rico - You come off as a very appealing person on that video. You don't look like you have bad breath or body odor and you're wearing a nice shirt and your hair is clean. When I do my thru I expect to look as I did on the LT - like a drowned rat. Braids helped, though.[/QUOTE]
ricoswava
04-25-2016, 17:29
There is a difference between advice and judgemental. QUOTE=4eyedbuzzard;2061979]Well, you asked for advice, which requires that people assess and judge your situation and plan. But then you get upset when the replies don't validate your preconceived plan, which many of us find inherently flawed. Broke and homeless 6 months from now isn't a good goal.
Okay. And. But . . .
So, unless you get exactly the job you want, life is like a prison sentence? Given that perspective, you should probably get comfortable with feeling depressed. Because the reality is that most of us put in many years of work before getting anything close to doing what we really desire, and then have to temper our expectations to a great degree. It's kind of like a thru-hike. There's the romantic notion of what a certain career/job will be like, and then there's the reality, which usually doesn't measure up. "Work" - because all the other four letter words were taken.
It sucks that you have cancer. You seem like a nice person. It's really crappy luck over which you had no control. But read your own words. Yes, your cancer has caused you lots of setbacks and problems. But the rest of it, meh.
I could write a long personal account of my own experiences with depression, traumatic injury, less than ideal parental situations (including death) during childhood, broken cars, etc, but I'll spare you and everybody else the details. Because honestly, nobody really cares. Suffice to say that pretty much everybody experiences at least some of that in their lives. In that sense, you are not unique. We all have our struggles in life. Don't "give in" to the past. Focus on the present and the future. Try to be somewhere better in six months than where you are now. And broke and homeless just isn't an improvement.[/QUOTE]
Last Call
04-25-2016, 17:35
Fascinating.
Traveler
04-26-2016, 06:26
Fascinating.
I think more like trolling at this point.
At the end of the day, rico will do it his way, with or without us. But I'm here if, a year or so from now, he wants a first-reader for his memoir or a page or two published in my little journal (Miel reserves the right to edit).
AngryGerman
05-08-2016, 10:51
OP; I applaud you for wanting to complete a thru-hike, write a book and publicly speak about your experience with cancer etc.
How much income to expect to gain from this? Are you going to be the Dr. Phil of the LDH community? Gods forbid that happens!
What's the percentage of thru-hikers that complete the AT; especially ones that have illnesses and low budgets?
How many books and movies have you read and watched about thru-hiking? After reading and watching the material are your ideas still marketable? The answer to the latter two of the questions is really what I'm interested in!?
Is your interest in this endeavor because of the increased interest in the LDH community from already published books and produced movies or has this been a goal for a while? I'm going out on a limb here. You've read and watched some material recently about thru-hiking/long distance hiking and think that what you have is worth marketing. Why? Yeah I get you've gone through and are going through some tough times! But is it really marketable to the world and can you get it put together in a book/movie? Put together a few proposal's, contact a few editors and producers. You'll find out real quick if what you have is marketable!!!
Furthermore; if you still feel you want to write a book don't make thru-hiking the center of that book because that would just be lame! Gee folks; I thru-hiked the AT with a treatable cancer and before that I had a string of bad luck, mostly self-induced, and before that I couldn't pull my head out of my fourth point of contact and blah, blah, blah. Sound familiar? It should!
AngryGerman
05-08-2016, 10:59
I probably should add that I too have a treatable cancer in what's call Thyroid cancer; I also have Lymes disease and Graves disease. All these illnesses occurred after my 12/13 thru-hike of the AT I being the athlete that I am there is no way I'd attempt a thru-hike right now. Not at least until the cancer is smoked!!!
I've thru-hiked a few trails and plan on thru-hiking lots more and I may even be mentioned in this magazine or that magazine when I'm done but does that all make it marketable??? It all depends on how you put it together and who sees it.
ricoswava
05-21-2016, 12:56
Well Said Miel
ricoswava
05-21-2016, 13:04
Update.. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts. You did give me a lot of think about. I decided not hike the Appalachian Trail. I will be traveling to the Continental United States. First I will be visiting all the State Capitals and hold rallies for Young Adults with Cancer. Additional to that project I will be traveling to all the National Parks, and do a hike in each park. If you want to follow the travels please friend me on facebook Ricardo Dence thank you for your help in making this decision.
Update.. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts. You did give me a lot of think about. I decided not hike the Appalachian Trail. I will be traveling to the Continental United States. First I will be visiting all the State Capitals and hold rallies for Young Adults with Cancer. Additional to that project I will be traveling to all the National Parks, and do a hike in each park. If you want to follow the travels please friend me on facebook Ricardo Dence thank you for your help in making this decision.
I think you made a wise choice. Hiking the Appalachian Trail is awesome, and completing it is a serious achievement, but visiting and hiking in all National Parks will be amazing. Putting yourself and your condition out there to help others is positive and will pay forward. All the best Ricardo!