Looking to move to Forks (Seattle, Olympia: credit, loan, find a job)

[AaronD01]

Hi, I've recently decided to turn my life in another direction and try to fix all of the mistakes that I've made. I'm 18 and dropped out of High school when I was 15, before that I was enrolled on and off to online schools. Everything that I never cared about in school suddenly came back to me when I left... and for 3 years I've been quite miserable.

I plan on going back to high-school, but I'll be living alone and I need to find a job. I don't have the money to visit forks and look around for a job before I move, so I'm taking a risk on spending the money to move there, and hopefully, with no job experience, I can get something in retail.

If anyone knows the area, I would certainly appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by AaronD01

Hi, I've recently decided to turn my life in another direction and try to fix all of the mistakes that I've made. I'm 18 and dropped out of High school when I was 15, before that I was enrolled on and off to online schools. Everything that I never cared about in school suddenly came back to me when I left... and for 3 years I've been quite miserable.

I plan on going back to high-school, but I'll be living alone and I need to find a job. I don't have the money to visit forks and look around for a job before I move, so I'm taking a risk on spending the money to move there, and hopefully, with no job experience, I can get something in retail.

If anyone knows the area, I would certainly appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me.

So how did you arrive at choosing Forks, WA? The population is only about 3000 people and a very very limited economy. If you chose it because of Twilight, the movies were not filmed there. They were filmed in Canada and Oregon. Filming locations - Twilight Saga Wiki

If you've had a rough time, no sense making it worse by moving to a very tiny town with hardly anything going on. A job in retail? There are Walmarts in other towns but they are fair distance from Forks.

[BellevueNative]

I don't know that there are even retail jobs in Forks. It is a depressed town; it's hard for me to understand how moving there would be a good start for you, or anyone for that matter.

If you want a small town, there are plenty of them in Washington, even on the coast. Pick any of them but Forks.

[AaronD01]

I'm going through a little bit of a depression. I've moved around a lot, and I gave up a lot more than I thought I was when I dropped out of Highschool.

The attitudes of the people around me right now are really bad, and it's been affecting me. I need to live by myself somewhere that's cheap and I won't have to deal with family. Forks seems to be the only decently populated town in the specific area that I'd like to move. I've lived in a lot of different environments, and I like the greenery.

And no, it doesn't have to do with the movie... what's the point in moving somewhere because of a movie?

[Seacove]

I asked because, as many here will tell you, Forks is such an obscure location that typically when it's brought up it's because of the movie, that's all. If there is something about that poor little town that speaks to you, by all means go there but there are a lot of towns in Western Washington that are green and small that you can choose from. A day's drive will take you all over and it sounds like you would love it. I hope the move and the change really do it for you but don't think you've failed if Forks doesn't turn out to be "the one". It rains a lot there. More than most places in Western Washington and Western Washington is still all green. You can live among the greenery without getting completely doused like Forks does. Wishing you the very best.

[AaronD01]

Originally Posted by Seacove

I asked because, as many here will tell you, Forks is such an obscure location that typically when it's brought up it's because of the movie, that's all. If there is something about that poor little town that speaks to you, by all means go there but there are a lot of towns in Western Washington that are green and small that you can choose from. A day's drive will take you all over and it sounds like you would love it. I hope the move and the change really do it for you but don't think you've failed if Forks doesn't turn out to be "the one". It rains a lot there. More than most places in Western Washington and Western Washington is still all green. You can live among the greenery without getting completely doused like Forks does. Wishing you the very best.

Ha, yeah, I'd take the rain over the freezing ass cold of Denver though. When you walk out in the morning your hair can freeze if it has any water left over from a shower. Not fun.

[CrazyDonkey]

I was there a few weeks ago. There's not much there. Only one store. Only action in town is at the bowling alley. Unemployment = 9.0%. The closest sizable town is Port Angeles, about an hour away.

It rains over 200 days a year, over 120 inches/year. That's well over three times what Seattle gets, which has a reputation for being wet.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by AaronD01

Hi, I've recently decided to turn my life in another direction and try to fix all of the mistakes that I've made. I'm 18 and dropped out of High school when I was 15, before that I was enrolled on and off to online schools. Everything that I never cared about in school suddenly came back to me when I left... and for 3 years I've been quite miserable.

I plan on going back to high-school, but I'll be living alone and I need to find a job. I don't have the money to visit forks and look around for a job before I move, so I'm taking a risk on spending the money to move there, and hopefully, with no job experience, I can get something in retail.

If anyone knows the area, I would certainly appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me.

Don't make any more mistakes. Forks is a depressed mostly former logging town. No jobs, no opportunity to advance your future. You need to be somewhere dynamic, like Denver. Go to school or get GED, figure out what you want to do to make money and who from, and get a job there, even if it is on the bottom and work your backside off. As a former manager, many young people these days are lazy excuse making slackers. Show up early, do your work, and don't whine and you'll do fine. The earlier you start, the faster you advance. You are 18, excellent time to get ahead of the slackers around you. And avoid Forks like the plague.

[AaronD01]

I can always choose another location. It just seems like a nice area. I can't do online school anymore, when I was in school I was unfortunately a very anti-social person, I never had any friends, I never wanted any. A few months after I dropped out I just woke up one day and it hit me... everything that I was going to miss, everything that I had given up.

My excuse for dropping out was an excuse, but it also sorta helped. I was developing an online game with a friend of mine who had recently moved to germany, so he was 8 hours ahead of me, he went to bed when I got out of school, and he woke up when I was going to bed. In order to work with him on the game I had to stay up till 4 a.m every morning, and obviously that sort of lifestyle doesn't mix well with school.

I've spent 3 years doing nothing, wishing that I hadn't made so many mistakes. Now I want to fix some of those mistakes and going back to school is one way to do that.

So, if not Forks, where?

[Seacove]

Aaron, Olympia is a good suggestion. Not too large, green and less expensive than Seattle.

Another thing that might help you is to get your degree. Finish your high school or get a GED, then look into a school loan. There are inexpensive ways to get your degree such as Western Governors University which I think is $3000 per semester and is all online. It may require some transferred credits to be accepted but a couple of Community College classes would be good for you anyway.

*Oops, just saw you don't want to do online schooling, sorry, just see if you can get into a community college after getting your GED. Just thinking of ways to speed your progress. We're routing for you.