Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Um..Ok? I was considering college but I'm worried because college is going to take me at least 6 years to complete. I don't have 6 years or the money to do it. I don't have the grades to get a scholarship either. My family is in a serious bind and acting/model is the only self-respecting gig I know that I can make some quick cash to get a little something going.
What happens in 6 years? You state that you don't have 6 years to complete school. Are you going to die in 6 years? Ever heard of grants, loans, and even government help? No excuses to not having an education. I started going to school in 1998 part time and by 2006 I had completed my Bachelors Degree. By 2008 I finished my Masters degree. Time goes by and you can either do what you need to do or you can sit by and watch time pass you by. It will only get worse if you sit on the sidelines of life and do nothing.
You stated that your family makes $10,000 a year. Unless things are cheaper in Florida than I would say that you are dirt poor. Minumum wage in Florida is $7.25 an hour. If you were to have a full time job that paid the minumum wage you would be making $15,080 a year pre tax. Minumum wage is not something someone would choose to raise a family on. If you are living on minumum wage you are dirt poor. I remember back in 1988 I was living in my parents home working 3 jobs. I delivered papers early in the morning for the LA times from 2am till 5 or 6AM. Monday - Saturday. On Sundays it took a lot longer. After that I would head over to Heidi's Frogen Yozurt (Yes it was spelled like that.) and set the place up for the day getting the machines ready for the day, cleaning the front and back of the shop, and making sure everything was set up. I would leave at 9am to head home for some sleep and get up at 2pm to get ready for my job at a Stop N Go Convienence store where I worked 3pm - 11pm. I worked for Stop N Go for 3 years, Heidi's for 2 years and the paper route I had for over a year. For one fun year though my life was work, work, work. I made I think $4.85 an hour at Stop N Go and worked a 40 hour week. That alone was more than $10,000 a year gross. Heidi's I made $100 a week and the paper route was About $600 a month. Together I was bringing in a little more than $22,400 a year gross and that was back in 1988.
Well like I mentioned before I live in a small town in SW FL where things ARE cheaper. I have a really nice house that is about $500-something per month. No I cannot go into the details of why we cannot pay it. That is how much we are struggling. We don't have a car. And this city requires a car. We barely make the rent every month. But no we're not dirt poor. We clothes on our backs, a roof over our heads, and we are fed every single day. I don't consider that dirt poor. I am typing to you on a nice computer that has internet. I don't consider that dirt poor. But is this a normal living situation? Moving around all the time? Absolutely not. This is the 8th city I have moved to. Only people who are in the Military move around this much. And we aren't.
Quote:
My point is that you do what you need to do to make your dreams happen. If it is washing dishes at a fish place and you can't stand the smell of fish, you deal with it. It means working 3 jobs to get what you want. It means giving up everything to get the freedom that you want.
No way. I cannot just do whatever I need to make my dreams come true. If I did that, I would be just like the rest of the naive googly-eyed fools that move to LA on wing and a prayer. I am not them. I have a solid grounded purpose in mind to do what I need for this family to get financial stable. But it's not doing whatever I can to make ME famous. That would be a piece of cherry pie. But my main purpose is to make this family as financially stable as possible. I'm not going to say who but one of my family members owes more than $100,000 in debt. If that's not crazy I don't know what is. I have to find a way to get things done but I have to do it in a way I know I can and one that I will succeed in. It can't just be anything.
Quote:
Maybe you won't find the job you want. Think of this as a momentary problem and a solution for now. Getting a job in any field doesn't take your dream away. It allows you to get closer to your dream. That being said, Jobs are hard to comeby in the LA area. You don't say what your resources are for now. Do you have the cash to keep you going untill you can get a job or land a gig? The average nationwide is 5.5 months to get a job. Here in the LA are it is more like a year. Can you get by for a year without any money coming in?
It's been momentary for quite some time. I've moved to 8 different cities. And I have been in 12 different school in my entire life. Now I am done with it. My resources are zip to none if I don't look outside this small city. Perhaps it is my fault I didn't make things clear. I have family on the east coast of FL. I can stay with them and work in Miami and save up until I have enough money to move. Moving to CA is not the problem. The prospect of getting an acting job within a year of being there is the problem. Because if I don't, I am buying myself a one way ticket back to FL and back to college there. This isn't a game for me. This is trying to find a way to do what's best for my family financially. We're all in the midst of getting seperated soon. My mother with her teaching possibility in NJ, my sister already lives in a different city, and myself not willing to move with her. I need to do something and this is a possibility of that. After high school, I'm on my own. By choice. And I need to take care of myself but my family comes first. That's why this is so hard.
What happens in 6 years? You state that you don't have 6 years to complete school. Are you going to die in 6 years? Ever heard of grants, loans, and even government help? No excuses to not having an education. I started going to school in 1998 part time and by 2006 I had completed my Bachelors Degree. By 2008 I finished my Masters degree. Time goes by and you can either do what you need to do or you can sit by and watch time pass you by. It will only get worse if you sit on the sidelines of life and do nothing.
I didn't say I was going to!! Read the entire thread please!!! I AM THE ONE OPPOSED TO LA!! I AM JUST CONSIDERING IDEAS!!!
Honestly, in your shoes, you are best off going to college and getting grants/low income benefits to go for free/nearly free, and work part time (you can easily work 30 hours while going to undergrad). Try to pick up some job like waiting tables at a decent restaurant, selling cell phones, etc...those jobs tend to pay above average for a part time college job. Waiting tables is probably the best thing to do, you can often take home 200-300 on a weekend if you get the right gig, and it fits in with college well.
What should produce the most value for you is picking up grants due to your family's low income status and getting out of the situation you are in, and supplementing that with a part time job that can cover all of your expenses and then some, and you have the flexibility to take out minor loans if you need something to cover the difference. LOTS of schools (even private ones) provide lots of subsidies for low income people, and by far the best thing you can do is to get into college for the lowest cost possible, IMO.
ok, I guess I should put it a little differently..Your family needs money, you have burning desire to go to Ca in the hopes of being discovered plus you want to do something to help them. This is all fine, but I know a little about Orlando and some of the other areas in Florida. No, the economy isn't great, but your chances of finding work in Florida are as good or better than in California. College is important, sometimes though we have to sacrafice. If it were me, I would stay in Florida, get anything you can in the way of employment, help the family and put both college and Ca on hold for a few years.
Not that I have read all your responses and I am not trying to downplay your dream, it seems to me, you really are looking for someone or ones to encourage you to move to Calif and don't want to hear the words "don't" If this is the case, no amount of reasoning is going to help. Good luck, I hope you can make it and help your struggling family at the same time. The changes are about 1 in a 1000 at best.
Nita
Thank you so much! I absolutely agree with you. I am not opposed to staying in FL. That is where the misconception starts. CA was just an idea. Since the hollywood industry is there. I would only be taking advantage of the acting job market there. I would totally STAY in FL. It's just a consideration of what I should do. But thanks for the help! I appreciate it!
Honestly, in your shoes, you are best off going to college and getting grants/low income benefits to go for free/nearly free, and work part time (you can easily work 30 hours while going to undergrad). Try to pick up some job like waiting tables at a decent restaurant, selling cell phones, etc...those jobs tend to pay above average for a part time college job. Waiting tables is probably the best thing to do, you can often take home 200-300 on a weekend if you get the right gig, and it fits in with college well.
What should produce the most value for you is picking up grants due to your family's low income status and getting out of the situation you are in, and supplementing that with a part time job that can cover all of your expenses and then some, and you have the flexibility to take out minor loans if you need something to cover the difference.
That sounds reasonable and feasible. The only thing is my mother and my sister (who is in college) is already doing that. I wanted to be able to find a way I can get some good pay quick instead of doing that route. CA offers the industry and I could take advantage of it. Then again, New York offers that as well and I could do that. But the only thing that bothers me above all is if I have what it takes. I don't know if I do. I don't know if they will get a callback within a year or any kind of acting job. That is what scares me. I am not used to that and I hate living on the edge like that. That kind of living is not for me. I would much rather stay in college here in FL knowing what to expect and continuing college. But then again, letting my acting chops go to waste and not knowing if I could have ever been successful in the industry tears me apart as well. I will never know if I don't try. But it doesn't seem worth it.
From what I am reading you have a mom, sister, and yourself at home. Am I missing anyone? You also stated that between the 3 of you (unless I am missing someone) you make $10,000 a year. With minumum wage in Florida at the $7.25 an hour rate and if you all 3 worked full time then you should be making $15,080 a year per person or $45,240 a year Gross between the 3 of you. Your going to tell me that your sister is in college and can't work. That is a load of garbage. I worked full time and went to school as have many people. Many more worked part time to help out around the home. From a later post you mention that your mom is trying to get a job teaching in New Jersey, that your sister is allready in school somewhere else, and that you will be on your own soon. From reading that I would say that you have no family left to take care of.
I mentioned in my post that people do what they have to do to make things happen. I also stated how I worked 3 jobs to make my own dreams happen. This has nothing to do with acting or coming out here. You stated that you want to come out here because you need money. To take care of that I am telling you to work any job that you can get to make some money. You will be on your own soon. Don't look for acting job, look for the survival job first and then move up from their.
I would say that you have a very active if not over active imagination.
But one thing in your favor is that you are not lazy and able to write a huge amount of reasonably lucid text.
If I were you I would sit down and write a book, who knows you might make it pay!
Just remember that it was uncle Impala who pointed you the way!!
From what I am reading you have a mom, sister, and yourself at home. Am I missing anyone? You also stated that between the 3 of you (unless I am missing someone) you make $10,000 a year. With minumum wage in Florida at the $7.25 an hour rate and if you all 3 worked full time then you should be making $15,080 a year per person or $45,240 a year Gross between the 3 of you. Your going to tell me that your sister is in college and can't work. That is a load of garbage. I worked full time and went to school as have many people. Many more worked part time to help out around the home. From a later post you mention that your mom is trying to get a job teaching in New Jersey, that your sister is allready in school somewhere else, and that you will be on your own soon. From reading that I would say that you have no family left to take care of.
Okay I apologize once again because it is my fault your not understanding the situation. I didn't list all the details on this plan. Mostly because I felt they were unnecessary and private information to list. My mother is not working at this moment. She's been out of job for about a year and a half. I don't have a job either. My sister attends college in San Antonio and she's on a loan with her funds. She's BEEN working for the longest time with her 9-to-5 and she gives us as much as she can while trying to support herself. My father and mother are divorced and he sends monthly income to us. Which is about $200. Recently he stopped because there was death in his family so he had to put forth money for the funeral and also my grandfather had to be transferred to being on life support. You asked am I missing anyone? My little brother. He's adopted. He has small amount of income that comes in every month from his agency. I believe it's also $200 or lower. Don't quote me because I am not sure. My sister is our biggest source of income and has been the only regular source of money for us. My mom keeps moving because her resources are slowly getting drained. Her entire college career were on loans. Now she has to scramble to get a job fast but with the economy like it was, she wasn't able to. Now she's sending applications to NJ and anywhere up North to try to obtain a teaching job since they are not hiring here in our small town.
Quote:
I mentioned in my post that people do what they have to do to make things happen. I also stated how I worked 3 jobs to make my own dreams happen. This has nothing to do with acting or coming out here. You stated that you want to come out here because you need money. To take care of that I am telling you to work any job that you can get to make some money. You will be on your own soon. Don't look for acting job, look for the survival job first and then move up from their.
That is fine. But I also told you I cannot do something that I don't have interest, skills, and determination to do. I just can't. There's specific requirements and skills you have to have to do things like nursing. I don't and I'm not looking to go through the training to do so. It's not what I need at this point. And I told you also that I AM looking for the survival job. LA is on a big back burner for me! I told you that I am going to be working wherever in FL I end up after HS, and save up, and then move from there. How else would I do things? I don't have the money to do it. But I wanted LA because of the fact that there's a whole industry of the exact thing I am good at. And it pays quick and it pays well. As long as you don't do something that is morally degrading. I don't think you realize I am opposed to this plan. I just wanted opinions on whether you think it's a good idea or not. I personally don't. It's just a possibility, a consideration, if things don't work out here in FL for me.
I don't have the time to sit in a place to see if the possibility of finding a good paying job. The bills are racking up, the loans are coming, things need to get paid. These are labor pains. In the future it will get worse if I don't come up with a plan. We have family all throughout FL but my mom REFUSES to stay with any of them. She is strictly set in being independent no matter what the cost. She has personal problems but I will not reveal them here in respect to her. I know exactly what is wrong with her but there's nothing I can do about that. I can only try to provide and make a way for my family. We may be struggling but we're not going to starve. It seems as if I am desperate but really I am worried about the financial issues that will arise later on. I am just speculating ideas on what to do to take care of them. I'm sorry I got you riled up. I didn't mean to. I just don't do a good job at making things clear.
I would say that you have a very active if not over active imagination.
But one thing in your favor is that you are not lazy and able to write a huge amount of reasonably lucid text.
If I were you I would sit down and write a book, who knows you might make it pay!
Just remember that it was uncle Impala who pointed you the way!!
I know you don't think I'm serious, but I really am. This isn't a joke for me. This isn't a fantasy for me. I'm not one of those silly 20-somethings that just moves to LA for the fame and fortune. I am just interesting in it because acting is something I am good at and it makes good pay and there's a whole industry in LA for it. All I will do is just take advantage of it and send money back home to my family. I have the same ambitions for business marketing. I like business and it has a reasonable yearly salary as a career. But it's all just considerations. Most likely, I will end up in college. Everyone else seems to agree that is the best plan.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
