(Or, hell, another nation while I’m dreaming 😅 :-\ ) Walls of backstory (possible to make a cross-instance link? Doesn’t seem so): https://pawb.social/post/8062162 https://pawb.social/comment/7374899
Short backstory: Broken critter, 34 Earth-around-Sol-goings old, probably agoraphobic (as in fear-of-crossing-thresholds, not fear-of-public-spaces) and AuADHD. Stuck living with “family” but now they’re abusive and near-violent. Called cops on me, tried to throw me out with nothing miles from the nearest town, threatened to cut off my Internet access as if keeping me from working out how to leave is the best way to make me leave. Hatefool logic stuff 🙄, bullies both.
This-post story: Is there anycritter who can
-Pick me up when I figure out where to go and/or give me/point me at a safe place to stay (am currently in northeastern Oklahoma, outside of a little town about forty minutes from Tulsa), or
-Help paw-holdguide me through figuring out how to settle in somewhere safer, even a decent* roommate who can maybe help me find the best places to go/be/work/eat/live/etc.?, or
-Just straight-up flee somewhere with me and help work stuff out together? Weird scary idea, sure, but… whatever I guess. Not as scary to me as going it alone, I think maybe. May be able to help financially, even. Probably ridiculous to even think any of this but it’s a nice dream to just hop on a bus/plane/silt strider and piss off with somecritter to greener pastures 🤷 …Presumably flipping every single bird at where we came from.
If not that, some advice on how much things even cost could be really useful. What does it cost to move these days? In time and US Dollars, particularly. And phone calls. Those are terrifying. Anyway Idunno what kind of budget to expect beyond single, discrete things. $100-350 bus fare to Minneapolis, $150-400 air fare depending on when. $60ish per night for a cheap hotel room near here, plus a $100-200(?) deposit I may not get back that apparently isn’t mentioned very upfrontly. Those I can just look up but getting a full mental picture of like, a 25-hour bus trip including food/drinks, the bus fare itself, stuff I’ve not even thought of yet…??? I’d prefer to fly if I can, but then maybe I need a hotel somewhere because of a cancelled flight, and either spend twice as much on the ticket or have to find somewhere to stay for a bit over two weeks, and cab fare to get to the hotel if I need one (or more!), and… ugh!
PS: Sorry this is all really weird and maybe creepy. I’m really weird so maybe it’s not unfair to be upfront about that 😅 but also I’m “a little” unsettled by this mess so I’m just kinda blurting things out hoping something makes sense and maybe helps :-\
*“Decent” in terms of interpersonal respect and whatnot, not like… “not weird” or something. Certainly not the video game, that’s Descent.
Update 27th March, 03:36 CDT/08:36 UTC
Just gonna talk to myself for a sec, I guess. Probably nocritter else up at this hour. 😓 Welcome to my diary! Or rather, you now are my diary. Congrats! It’s an odd role. So, every day’s a hell of a trip, and not a fun one. Hours of bad followed by struggle. Just now finally got around to doing some work. Bets on whether I make it? 🤷 Helps to talk…don’t wanna drag anycritter down 🤷 Bleegh. Anyway, turns out stuff is big and space for packing stuff is not. Gotta figure out how much I can handle carting around, maybe see if I can find (and get) my carry-on luggage-thingle. Easiest just to cram what I can into a backpack and big-luggage I guess. Already have a couple of each in here. Was using them as catchalls <.< What goes, what stays… ugh. Very ugh. Triple hyper ugh! And the checked luggage fees… damn. Hurts being alone, in every way. Chatting yesterdayish was nice, just sad and quiet now. Am just crying out loud I guess 🤷
Could still really use:
- Somewhere to stay: for a week or a day (or until mid-next month when air fare’s better, but who’s wishing for miracles? Oh, it’s me.)
- Somewhere to go: could be somecritter’s weird wiggly
wroommate 🤷 Else maybe advice on where to look for an apartment. Idunno if “cheap and walkable” is a thing that exists but Idunno how the hell I’m gonna be able to get around 🤷 Currently just assuming I’m going to Minneapolis. No freaking clue what to do after that beyond looking for a box to hide in and snatching up like, a bowl and something cheap and edible to put into it. … What a ridiculous “princess experiences real life” movie I’ve got going on here 🤦♀️ Anyone want a weird ugly pet to take care of 😅 - Maybe even just some company? At this point even a voice call sounds great. Fair warning: might just cry the whole time. Am already doing that, in fact.
- I still wish somecritter would just come rescue me but I totally didn’t say that 'cause it’s scary I guess 🤷 😶🌫️
Will even accept cis people! Only asked here because I’m a little bit familiar around here and can’t bring myself to ask anywhere else.
Also, how does one get, say, a bunch of groceries from a shop to a home without a car to store it in? Just haul a bag or two at a time, make multiple trips if needed? Seems like that’d get unwieldy and dangerous really fast, even with like, only two bags but there are cans in there so they can’t both be in one hand so like… 🙀 Kindof a shower thought I guess. Still hoping to get one of those today. 💡 Oyeah, maybe use the rolly luggage thingle.
Okay, it’s been like an hour and a half just… rambling another wall of crap. I hope somecritter can like, study all’ this or something. Maybe I can play a part in advancing Brokenology (scientific study of broken things).
Hi, it’s me again.
I just found this HUGE doc chalk-full of LGBT-focused resources for Minneapolis. There’s a whole section on shelters and transitional housing, also stuff like food pantries. I wish I had found this sooner.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-1Z7KYtcjrxwvMOy3Luwt6ICnCpt5sgNTrYGPZtW_yk/edit
Also, have you decided on travel plans yet? It’s not likely there’s gonna be someone on here who can drive you from rural NE OK to the airport (I’m assuming you want to fly out of Tulsa, right?) because not many people, especially trans/queer people live around there and they are less likely to know of this specific community. Maybe you could post around on reddit and stuff, but I’d be safer (and easier, logistically speaking) if you made taxi/rideshare arrangements with the money you have.
P.s. Do you prefer to be called Keris or Riikka?
I’d found that list elsewhere (through MN Transplant, I think) but thanks.
I guess I’m just hoping for magic to happen so somecritter swoops in and saves me from having to do this alone. Maybe more likely my “family” successfully killed me by dragging me out here ages ago and my body’s just not caught up yet.
I keep smiling a little when people call me “Keris” so I think I like that one. Hard to know anything latelish.
The light at the end of this tunnel is not, in fact, a train! The other side of a plane ride is gonna feel like some kinda lucid dream till the brain decides its reality 🫠
I hope you get the best night’s sleep once you’re through the hard part of the trip, Keris! Or during! Idk how long oklahoma to Minnesota is by plane, last plane ride I had was trans atlantic
[ramble] I feel like there is a train and I just can’t move. Not sure I’ve stopped shaking in days. Sometimes I’m sure I’m just not mentally capable of going through with all’ this, or of even living in this world. The hopeful, adventurous times just don’t last very long and aren’t very strong. I’m almost reasonably sure I can make the flight happen but it’s just impossible to account for anything and I just don’t have time :( If even one thing goes wrong… feels like walking into a minefield, I just balk and fall apart even thinking about it. I can try to tell myself that even being homeless there is probably better than “living” in this awful box but my mental fuckups don’t care about any kind of logic :-\ There are tons of logical fears, of course. What if I can’t get to my money, what if some phobic prick overcharges me somewhere, what if I can’t use this card like I need to, what if I got added to a no-fly list because I share a birthday with somebody who has dark skin…
Ugh. If I just had more time and less stress, I could make a real plan. I really can’t manage more than a couple/few hours of trying per night (and day is complete nope) sooo… welp. If I had somecritter with me, I could make a plan or follow one. If I had stronger meds I could maybe cut through whatever phobia thing I have… But I’m given only a few more days, can’t reasonably go anywhere to get meds (nor to get more time/less stress! Rrgh this feels so solvable, just not for me) even if I contact my doc, and if there’s anyone around who might help me I’ll never find them or I’m just too pathetic to bother with. Hard to imagine it’s not the latter, honestly. I guess someone capable of surviving this world would’ve been gone by now. [/ramble] (Sorry, I just… spewing is almost all I can do any more :( )
You’re wonderful, though. Thanks much for sticking around and saying things at me and helping and stuff <3 You and cowboycrustation and the other critters too. Is a good place here :-\ Flight between Tulsa and Detroitish is something like 45 minutes, so I’d guess it’s a vaguely similar time to Minneapolis. Now, if I could get them to just circumnavigate Earth once or twice on the way instead… I’d have time to figure some more things out. And relax a little. 😮💨
Talking and chatting in MMOs is how i stayed sane for 3 years working 2nd shift while still living with my parents haha. I was usually going to bed at 5am, and my dad gets up for work at… 5am (or earlier because cats want food). That was a miserable timeperiod.
Flights might get more expensive leading up to the April 8 eclipse, every hotel in my city has been booked in advance MONTHS ago and my work advised everyone to stay home to avoid traffic and crowds.
It looks like part of it is going through southeastern oklahoma, so there might be a lot of traffic in every airport in the state the weekend before. It sounds like you’re going to be out of there a bit sooner than that though (the BS 7 day eviction).
Lots of planes coming in might also mean lots of planes having to leave sooner to clear out hangers, so that might make flights leaving oklahoma and going to a non-eclipse location (like minnesota) miiiight be cheaper? In a perfect world? But not a discount I would count on, corpo greed is far more reliable a metric
Oh, is that why tickets are like twice the price until halfway through April :| Great. I couldn’t have picked a better time to say “no.” 🤦 😮💨 'Be great if I could find a way to make it past the event, I think, but it’s looking like everything’s a nope but literally just “get a cab and a plane ticket and hope the rest works out.” Slightly terrifying plan, honestly. “Slightly.”
I’m glad you were well-supported by that MMO-based mental health care 😅 Reminds me that RIFT cracked my first shell a bit. I’ve always used odd names and I ended up with a group who didn’t know what pronouns to use but I somehow didn’t want to “correct” them 😅
In other news, the first money-transfer is supposed to complete today. I went for only part because I was afraid someone would get excited over transferring too much, or too much of what’s in there, and demand to contact an account owner but end up just reminding her to rob me. Well, hopefully all’ that goes smoothly and I can afford something nicer than a cardboard box under an overpass. Will probably be settled one way or another by the time I wake (yay nocturnality!).
This whole thing could’ve been great if it hadn’t happened like this 😒
Woohoo! Money!
Yeah, niche MMO communities are great, particularly the late nighters (I would honestly like second shift again, I liked the hours, it was just a shit job (grocery store deli) and conflicting schedules with living situation at the time). For a long time (pre-egg-splat) people thought I was a woman and it felt weird to “correct” them. Community for me was mostly women and ran a bit older but that’s the nature of an older MMO. Friendly folks ☺️
Jumping ship is very nerve wracking. Once things are in motion it feels like it moves fast, but you’ll look back at some point and surprise yourself by how far you’ve come 😅 Last time I moved to a new apartment I was actively trying to avoid an incoming snowstorm (I was too sore to even put together my BED for days, that suuuucked).
I recommend keeping at least 1 or 2 small keepsakes, preferably ones with good, un-tainted memories. Most of the souvenirs I had from my childhood were either thrown out while moving or stolen by teachers for being “distracting” (ADHD of the “need something in my hands” variety) 😒
Can’t stay asleep, freaking out 😰 I must be getting some kind of workout shaking this much.
Good news, though: the first one went through! PayPal balance may be enough to get a month of apartment and even a cupcake if both are cheap 😅 And assuming I can pay that way. Gonna be upsetting if I get there and find out nobody takes debit cards or something. Way too many things that can go very wrong >.<;
Once I get started I may be fine emotionally even if I end up in a struggle. There’s a kind of “Okay, now I’m out and I’m doing me” kind of feeling after I cross a threshold, where I’m out of whatever safety-blanket-place (hope that makes some sense <.<) and depending on myself unless I specifically ask someone else for help. Will likely still be pretty nervous at least, especially in this case. Haven’t been without a safety net before, which… yeah okay, real people in the real world don’t always have those but pressing the lil green button on my phone can take literal days and make me lose my lunch so 🤷 some of us aren’t cut out for the real world I guess.
Really wish I could take more. If I take two big-luggages I can grab a bunch of stuff but moving around with both is surprisingly unwieldy (and expensive to get onto a plane) so I feel like one is the best I can realistically do. Gotta figure out what has to go rather than what I can take 😩 My horde of plushies… sigh Hope I can manage at least one or two. May still take this crappy little bracelet I got off’ Amazon. First “girly” thing I got specifically for that purpose. A critter said it’s the sort of thing that “helps hold the girl in” 😅 It’s all mucked up and like… corroded or something, but it’s something me.
Where’s my Gandalf?! 😅
Stressful as hell having so little time >.<;
Oh! One fun thing I just thought of!
Blahaj!
It feels mean to squish them but plushies can get pretty tiny!
Thankfully, the US as a whole adopted card payments ages ago, and most places these days support tap to pay (although that might be payment providers requiring hardware that has it). To get a car (should you need/want to) will probably require an actual checkbook for a deposit, I imagine some apartments might as well if they’re older.
Probably a good idea to check your credit score just in case the parents pulled some skeevy shit; apartment complexes will sometimes run a credit check as part of applying. most will want some kind of proof of income (my first apartment needed paystubs from two paychecks). You’re probably going to be dealing with shelters for a good month or so at first, and that’s okay!
A credit card has more protections than a debit card (as its the Banks money, and they care about getting that back more than if its your money), and can help you build credit. Just buying little everyday things (like that cupcake) and immediately paying it off will improve it.
The little things that make you “you” are important to hold onto
I, too, would like an emotional support wizard and/or Ian McKellan himself at times.
That quote goes so hard
Tolkien is a gold mine. The dude was in The Somme in WW1, and his values show in his writing.
The actors for the movies portray the emotions so perfectly, it’s borderline offensive that remakes are being attempted.