I know I am preaching to the choir making this post but…
I moved from southeast Asia to Texas for college. I went to high school in SEA and spent a little over half my life there. I am originally “from Texas” even though I wasn't born here. Long complex family history but thats the short version.
I went to Texas for college because I could get in state.
I dropped out after a semester after realizing what a terrible country the US is. I got booted for being in a parking spot right outside my dorm, and that was the last straw for me. I didn't have enough money to pay 500 dollars a semester for a parking pass outside of a dorm I was already paying 7,000 dollars a semester for. I guess I have never lived here in my adult life so I never had to face society head on, but it sucks major ass to say the least.
I then left college to live in Houston on my own with my GF.
I have made a whopping 14k from crypto, NFTs and random odd job shit. I am humble but for my age with no job most would say that's impressive. Say what you want about crypto but money is money.
The complaint here is that I have spent ALL of that money. Literally all of it. I haven't bought but 4 shirts and a hoodie in the last YEAR since I have been here. All that money has gone to literally just living. And not living well at all. I wouldn't even call it living, I would call it surviving. 14k down the drain for just food, rent and gas money basically. Why is it so expensive? It feels like everything, no matter what it is, is 50$ at a time.
I have a 2011 silverado. This truck has been the bane of my existence. I have tried selling it and no one seems to want it. I spend 100+ dollars on gas and whatever I earn it just eats it up because you need a vehicle to go 4 miles down the street in America for some reason. I have hit things, scratched things, been hit, and spent easily over 4,000 dollars in gas over the last year.
I don't even want to be here, and don't identify or fit in with anything here. I disagree with almost everything the government does to an extent, yet I am still suffering just as a result of my being here.
I got a job and was fired after a day because I didn't show up to the second day of training. This was because my dumbass boss sent the schedule to the WRONG number. Then my gf got fired from her job (same place) for literally being 5 minutes late.
This week I made 500 dollars. Spent it all in a week on groceries, gas, and a meal at BWW.
Just every aspect of this country is so unbelievably infuriating. I absolutely refuse to work for and live in a country that has contributed absolutely nothing to my life. If anything, just me being here has ruined my life.
I am just waiting to sell my truck and GTFO of America for good and never look back. There have been hungry, sleepless nights where I just comfort my GF while she cries about how bad life sucks.
I never have fun. Never. I went from having the best and most amazing life in SEA to this shitty one that doesn't even feel like it belongs to me. Everyone always says it will get better, but I am the one who actually has to live it and sit through it. Days go by slow and agonizing for me.
Can you imagine how good life would be if I had made 14k USD in Bangkok? The lifestyle is 30-40% cheaper than the US. I would've had 500,000 baht. I could've used that money for 2+ years assuming I never made any more.
America is such a joke. I don't see why water is 3 dollars, and milk is 4, and fucking toilet paper is 20.
I think there's a lot of good people here, and it just saddens me how many of them are being bent over and fucked regularly by the American systems. The whole country is just exploitative and rooted in bad intentions.
I shouldn't have to live in the ghetto and risk being the victim of a hate crime for affordable housing. I shouldn't have to buy almost expired foods from aldi's for affordable meals. I shouldn't have to have to live with acne because accutane isn't affordable in america. I shouldn't have to fill my truck up 1/4 every time I get gas because I can't afford 120 per tank anymore. I just shouldn't have to suffer to survive. And I am truly sorry for anyone who has to live like this.
I don't even have enough time to focus on making a business, because I need comfort money to support me. I can't work on doing anything like that if I don't have money for food. I dedicate all my time to selling things and flipping them. I can't even do door dash because I won't make over 100 in a day and by that time I will have used 50 dollars in gas.
Let's hope life starts going my way. Trust me, life doesn't have to suck. I have been beaten to a pulp by everything here. Fuck the American dream it's such a lie. In the wise words of George Carlin, “that's why they call it the American dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it”
I now have $3.75 in my bank account. Wish me luck.