This is going to be very very ranting, pretty long and will involve foul language.


So, about five years back, I was living in the northern part of the state after my parents got a divorce. My mom and I were living in an apartment complex, but she was tired of "throwing her money away" so she tried to get approved for a condo. I was fine with where we were, because I'd only just recently gotten a job and hadn't even been there for all that long yet. We were living comfortably, so I didn't see what was wrong with an apartment, aside from not being able to paint the walls. Big deal.

My mom finds out that the only way she's approved for a condo is if I signed along with her. I'm against it, but I'm also only JUST 18, and have a slew of (then-undiagnosed) mental health issues, most notably high functioning autism. I'm brilliant with numbers and imagination, but downright fucking TERRIBLE with people. Also, I'm emotionally dependent on my mother. So when she starts wheedling at me and trying to get me to agree to just sign with her and get the condo, I break down. Shortly before we move in, I'm fired from my job because of aforementioned terrible people skills and one of my coworkers kissing ass to one of my bosses. (P.S.: Wal-Mart and Sam's Club have horribly corrupt systems. I don't trust them anymore because of the crap they pulled on me then)

So we're moving into a condominium that we can no longer afford, where before we were living in an apartment complex my mom could pay off by herself. Fast forward a couple of years and the house is going into foreclosure because Michigan's economy is CRAP, especially in the Traverse City area, I can't find a job, and my unemployment has run dry. During this time, my mother sweet-talked her way into another set of problems by telling me to go live with my dad (like trying to push two like poles of industrial-strength magnets; also, he's verbally abusive). This resulted in me running away to live with my then-girlfriend... in Connecticut.

Way off out there, I was abused. All my loved ones told me that I could get out if I tried... I'm not sure if anyone reading this has been in a situation where they've been abused, but it's not as easy as just going out and doing it, is it? I received a death threat and was finally faced with eviction... in the middle of winter, with NO FUCKING PLACE TO GO or any way to get there. A few days before my eviction date on the new year, I make a suicide attempt. The hospital calls my mother, who then calls my father (who, I might add, told my mom to leave me out there, homeless, in a New England winter). My mom buys me a bus ticket to get me back to Traverse City, and all I have is one little suitcase full of stuff to go home with after the entire car full that I'd gone out there with.

So I get back to Traverse City, help my mom move down to Union City in a cheapo apartment, and eventually get a job at Binder Park Zoo. During the same time, she's unemployed and finally gets a job at Stryker in Kalamazoo. She breaks our lease with the apartment complex in Union City, moves to another complex in Kalamazoo, where I finish out the summer with the zoo and finally get hired in at Meijer. Then, a year later, I and my boyfriend gather up enough money to get a studio apartment of our own and move in together. He gets a temporary job doing factory work, and we're all good until Christmas, when he's let off for the holiday.

The temp agency never calls him back. Right now, I'm barely supporting two people on $8 an hour, and with the help of food stamps. We were looking forward to going to Furry Connection North back in April, and were counting on my tax returns to get us there. Had I gotten them, federal tax returns alone would've been $875, and I was counting on that money to keep me out of court for a medical issue I'd had the previous summer. They never come. I look into it, and find out that the U.S. government had taken my tax returns to pay for the $50,000 debt that my mom talked me into incurring.

I'm upset because they never did this to HER, and I bring it up with her. She says she'll look into it. Well, she did, and now we're both stuck with wage garnishes. 15% out of each paycheck! I'm barely able to afford rent and electric as it is! Michigan's economy is STILL crap and my boyfriend can't find a job... we're already not using our extremely ineffective air conditioner because having the computer on all day makes the electric bill $10 higher each month. The first time I can't pay either rent or the electric bill because of the wage garnishing, I'm going to my mother and demanding she pay the difference. We can't live right now without fans on, we'll bore ourselves to death without something to keep us occupied, and we'll have no hot water to wash either ourselves or our dishes... FUCK we won't even have a fridge or anything to cook food with!

I'm so fucking upset right now that it's making me cry. I just paid $200 for glasses, I have bloodwork that needs to be done on a regular basis, doctor's visits to make so that I can continue working and not have my arthritis practically cripple me... I can't DO this! I can only kind of afford it without the wage garnishing. I get, on average, an extra $20 a week and $15 into my savings account for emergency money (which I just drained getting my glasses). All the rest goes to rent and the electric bill. The wage garnishing will take about $30 a week from me...

FML. *flumps down and cries* All I can pray for right now is that my boyfriend gets a job, and damn quick. If he does, it doesn't matter if he's making minimum wage, we'll be able to improve our quality of life drastically.