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Homeless alone

homelessalone.blogspot.com

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Re: Homeless alone

#91

Post by stcredzero »

kaeluka wrote: post #80
stcredzero wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't completely broke but I couldn't keep affording rent as expensive as it was. I was able to shower at a gym, and worked out of Tech Shop on what I was trying to build. But it's hard -- like super hard to just be homeless. The social stigma associated with the word alone is hard for people to get beyond. I would often hear, "But you don't seem like the type to be homeless" and then they would slowly just distan…

You won't slap me in the face because you've got something to lose. A house, family, job, .. Someone homeless hasn't! edit: typo corrected!

No. Please believe me, you still have something to lose. (BTW, lose != loose)

Re: Homeless alone

#92

Post by joslin01 »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #33
lowglow wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me I've noticed a huge difference in creativity and authenticity in my products when I've devoted 100% of myself to it. There is a major problem in the industry. There is no one path to a successful business. I find my time is more valuable than my comfort. To each their own.

I can understand your point but you're not just giving up comfort - you're giving up something we all consider a basic necessity: shelter. I'm willing to bet the end result of your work, whether you do it your way, or do it part time, will be the same. I don't want to come off condescending but the attitude (and it's not unique to you, I've seen many other people with a similar attitude) seems like that of someone wh…

His Dodge Caravan is shelter, which is pretty fancy shelter if you were from a poor village in Africa so I think he'll be alright. If he's not brainwashed by pain = gain, then I think what he's doing is really cool.

Re: Homeless alone

#93

Post by simonebrunozzi »

e40 wrote: post #87
lowglow wrote: post #2

I recently sold everything I owned and started living out of my converted dodge caravan while I was prototyping what I wanted to build next. With an eye on my burn rate, I lived as cheaply as possible. I can tell you without a doubt that there is no natural system in place for homeless to get out of that rut, and it looks and feels dehumanizing. I wasn't completely broke but I couldn't keep affording rent as expensiv…

A cautionary tale of what this can lead to: My brother's startup wasn't bring in much money and there was always the near promise it would. He went through all his savings and retirement funds and went close to $100k into CC debt. This was a swing of +$1m to -$70k. Yes, he had a problem (unacknowledged, btw) that was more dire than yours. Just be aware that this stuff can get out of control, if you let it. After gett…

Sorry to hear this. I love my Brother to death, and I can't imagine going through what you went through with yours.

I hope things will get better.

Re: Homeless alone

#94

Post by abalashov »

lfowles wrote: post #55
tcoppi wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is possible with good motivation and caffeine. It is not sustainable long-term but you should be able to get a good 4-8 years out of it while you are young and in good health. See: college students at high-workload universities.

Depends on how long your day job will accept you getting there in a state of stupor all morning until the caffeine catches up with you.

In my case, it wasn't very long. I had a tendency to stay up till 4-5 AM working on my side project, and would tend to get in 1-2 hours late. I was fired after two months of this.

It wasn't the only reason I was fired, of course; there were some other reasons, ultimately coming down to political-cultural clashes. But it was by far the lowest-hanging pretext. I seldom made it in before 10:30 - 11 AM.

Re: Homeless alone

#95

Post by abalashov »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #35
bjkahn wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you going to sustain that schedule? I could do that perhaps for a week, not longer.

If you're dedicated and it's something you really want I don't think that's an impossible schedule to follow. 5 hours sleep, 8 hours in the office, dinner, 6 hours personal project. Do that Mon-Fri and relax on the recuperate on the weekend or do fewer hours in the evening and make up for that on the weekend.

[taps on forehead] "It's so... lifelike! At first I couldn't tell it was a robot."

Re: Homeless alone

#96

Post by everlost »

e40 wrote: post #87
lowglow wrote: post #2

I recently sold everything I owned and started living out of my converted dodge caravan while I was prototyping what I wanted to build next. With an eye on my burn rate, I lived as cheaply as possible. I can tell you without a doubt that there is no natural system in place for homeless to get out of that rut, and it looks and feels dehumanizing. I wasn't completely broke but I couldn't keep affording rent as expensiv…

A cautionary tale of what this can lead to: My brother's startup wasn't bring in much money and there was always the near promise it would. He went through all his savings and retirement funds and went close to $100k into CC debt. This was a swing of +$1m to -$70k. Yes, he had a problem (unacknowledged, btw) that was more dire than yours. Just be aware that this stuff can get out of control, if you let it. After gett…

Just out of curiosity, what was the idea behind his startup? I've been avoiding getting a job along the same lines, but can never imagine going into 100k debt for a startup obsession.

Re: Homeless alone

#97

Post by abalashov »

ethanbond wrote: post #51
lowglow wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, even sleeping through the winter down in Palo Alto was a little tough with a sleeping bag + comforter.

Equivalently, being outside during the day in areas hotter than Palo Alto is ludicrously taxing in pretty much every way. The Bay is very kind to Homo sapiens, in terms of climate.

[Atlanta native here] Tell me about it, and don't forget to mention the humidity--a factor 5x more important than temperature per se, in my eyes. If I had to be in the hot sun, I'd take 100F in Phoenix over even 70F in Atlanta _any_ day.

Re: Homeless alone

#98

Post by tryitnow »

e40 wrote: post #87
lowglow wrote: post #2

I recently sold everything I owned and started living out of my converted dodge caravan while I was prototyping what I wanted to build next. With an eye on my burn rate, I lived as cheaply as possible. I can tell you without a doubt that there is no natural system in place for homeless to get out of that rut, and it looks and feels dehumanizing. I wasn't completely broke but I couldn't keep affording rent as expensiv…

A cautionary tale of what this can lead to: My brother's startup wasn't bring in much money and there was always the near promise it would. He went through all his savings and retirement funds and went close to $100k into CC debt. This was a swing of +$1m to -$70k. Yes, he had a problem (unacknowledged, btw) that was more dire than yours. Just be aware that this stuff can get out of control, if you let it. After gett…

Yikes. I hope the wounds heal over time. What you all did sounds right. It seems like your brother had a problem and giving him more money would have exacerbated it.

Hang in there, I'm sorry you all had to go through this.

Re: Homeless alone

#99

Post by jonnathanson »

stcredzero wrote: post #72
lowglow wrote: post #2

I recently sold everything I owned and started living out of my converted dodge caravan while I was prototyping what I wanted to build next. With an eye on my burn rate, I lived as cheaply as possible. I can tell you without a doubt that there is no natural system in place for homeless to get out of that rut, and it looks and feels dehumanizing. I wasn't completely broke but I couldn't keep affording rent as expensiv…

I wasn't completely broke but I couldn't keep affording rent as expensive as it was. I was able to shower at a gym, and worked out of Tech Shop on what I was trying to build. But it's hard -- like super hard to just be homeless. The social stigma associated with the word alone is hard for people to get beyond. I would often hear, "But you don't seem like the type to be homeless" and then they would slowly just distan…

That, and I think a lot of it is also pattern matching. When we hear that someone is homeless, we compare that person to the mental image we have of the homeless people we've encountered on the streets.

One of the great tragedies of our society is that we've allowed our mentally ill to slip through the cracks. Untreated schizophrenics and PTSD-suffering Vietnam veterans may or may not make up a significant percentage of the homeless we see -- but they're certainly the most memorable. They stand out. They ingrain, in passersby, a mental map of homeless people as "crazy," or "violent," or "dangerous." And so we start to believe that homeless people are broken somehow. Many people go a step further; they start to regard the homeless as less than human.

These pattern matches are powerful blocks on empathy for many, many people.

Re: Homeless alone

#100

Post by joslin01 »

thesimon wrote: post #8
toomuchtodo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its dependent on each state, but that's close enough to average, yes.

Cheers. Probably makes sense considering the "freedom" mentality in the US where everyone has to work for himself compared to the welfare state mentality in Europe. Actually makes me feel a bit good for paying my taxes :)

I'm sure there's financial sense behind it too. Americans aren't just cowboys firing off their "freedom" guns at every major decision we come to.
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