well, just got fired. what now, bankruptcy?

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I've spent the better part of 8 hours today trying to find jobs locally, regionally, and even state-wide (usa here). Nothing matched my needs or my qualifications. There are plenty of jobs out there which require a security clearance, but I don't have a clearance and am unlikely to get one. I might get unemployment, but that's only 225-275 per week, at best; my mortage is about 1300 per month (USD), to put that into perspective.

I've even gone to the computer store I used to work for. They have ALWAYS needed help but even now are not hiring. I've tried ebay and failed at that due to my incompetence at marketing/advertising. I suck at sales. The past few hours have been mostly to brainstorming and trying to find new ways to supplement my income. I've always wanted to be an owner or artisan of some sort of business but lack the people skills, quite generally speaking, to succeed in such an environment.

Any thoughts there?

No luck yet this day finding another job. I might have a few sources of alternative income to get me by (cash only) that won't affect my unemployment. I am tapping all of my family (and the few friends I know) to help me through this, but it's discouraging to spend hours each day looking for work and finding nothing.

I'm still doing computer work on the side but am not getting enough to make ends meet. There is a plant sale coming up soon, and my contact will let me get prices below wholesale, which will get me a quick turn-around for my investment when I resell the plants. I am also pursuing an interest in jewelry and pottery, handmade type stuff. I have a few friends interested in this, so that's another option I'm keeping open.

I have still not heard back from the bank or my credit card companies. I am working out a special deal with my lawn guy. I would just stop mowing it, but there are county ordinances which would result in steep fines if I do not maintain the property. I just put up a craigslist ad seeking room mates. Hoping for the best and taking advice as always. Thanks for reading.

~Crazy Ivan

Well, I sent my resume out to a few head hunters and am hoping for a reasonable response. It should be interesting.

hang in there man, it is tough for many foks in this economy. you have many marketable skills and after all you are a healthy man with no obligations. an able bodied dude can always survive in any economy is what i say.

Try looking out of state for work.

In the meantime, if you haven't already, go to craigslist.org and advertise that you'll fix peoples' computers for cheap. A lot of people use that site, so you should be able to get some customers that way.

I've been getting 1-2 side jobs for week, and I'm heavily advertising "word of mouth" style, which has zero cost and maximum result, as I've seen thus far. I sold 840 dollars of stuff 7 days ago, made 250 dollars friday, and will be making another 250 this week at some point. I just need to keep the rhythm going. It's just so hard to keep finding good people who can afford to pay my service fees for the good work I do. I like to think I do "the best damned repair there is" for laptops and desktops. I never sacrifice quality.

I tapped a few family resources for supplemental income; I will eventually have to pay them back, though. I really have to find a job by the end of the month, or I will be completely screwed and filing bankruptcy. The room mate deal I had fell through once again, so I posted yet another ad on craigslist. Is 500 per person to share a 1520sq ft house asking too much? two people share a a bedroom and an office and they both share one bath. I have my own bath connected to the master bedroom. There's plenty of shared living space, and I have kick ass internet speed, highest tier cable service offered. Later this year, it will be upgraded to 15/15 symmetrical with static IP, which i'm definitely looking forward to.

Suggestions and ideas are welcome, even random comments. I've filled my transmission and crankcase full of marvel mystery oil and will be taking it to the grease monkeys to do a flush and change of both (jiffy lube, midas, etc). I'll probably have them flush the bloody hell out of the BROWN nasty transmission fluid and oil, fill it up with cleaner, run it for an hour or two, shift through all gears, flush again, check oil, change oil and filters, and do another field test. I don't have the flushing equipment or lifts, or I'd be doing it myself. That's probably all she needs to fix the slippage and slamming. Just years of crap built up in the tranny from improper maintenance.

advertise on craigslist for a room ask $500 and see if anyone responds. ask all your family members and friends to spread the words that you are renting out rooms. i believe you can do it, man. if you keep working this hard, things will start to pick up.

The first "nice" looking hit I got on craigslist was a scam. Unfortunately, it seems that craigslist is just full of Nigerians (no offense to those who do not engage in scam acts). I picked up on it pretty quick because I've almost been burned before, so I said never again. I'm generally kind of gullible/explicit, and I guess folks here can relate =p

I think I will have some kind of food and tend to my car for a bit. Cheers.

I've been working with an employment agency through vocational rehabilitation to try and find a job; since it's state assistance, it's free to me. I've applied to several positions but continue to be turned down for other candidates. Employers appear to be in the luxury of picking the best person for the least salary because of record personal debts and employment.

I've talk to a lawyer, and he says we can drop the credit card debt and strip the 2nd mortgage off the house. It would save me 60,000 USD in the long term, but I would need a full time job, not involving dealing with customers, paying at least 45,000 yearly in order to support my girlfriend (hooray finally got one).

Since I haven't paid on the morgage from March, I'm approaching an 8-month marker here that I've made no payments for on the mortgage. They stopped calling me for some reason and haven't filed foreclosure. I don't know why, but I'm not going to ask. It must be because I'm working with a special housing counselor company that the bank pays to talk to me. Even if they try to foreclose, then I still have about 6-8 months, during which, if I get a good job, I can file for chapter 13, which will automatically halt any existing foreclosure proceedings.

Sometimes I play a game for a little while, for nostalgia and for friends because it helps with the anxiety of my situation. I typically play on http://www.uogamers.com quite a bit and have found it to be a good way to practice social skills. I think, by far, I've learned most of how I got to be reasonably high functioning, socially speaking, was because of that game, which is one of the reasons I still play it. You learn not to be gullible and how to deal with people and such; there's just too many details to discuss anyway. Just wanted to give everyone an update

That's very very good! I was going to suggest that you need to add free socials to your life.

When a person is not working, it can be highly demoralizing.

In addition, as human beings, whether aspie or not, we are social animals. It's almost hardwired in us. I remember a period of not working, I was living in a town with 40,000 people, and I got in the habit of going to the twice monthly city council meetings. I almost viewed the city council members as my friends! That's how much I needed social interaction, and how sparse it was getting it.

So, I recommend political groups, both democrats and republicans, and greens etc

'I'm more of an independent'

'I'm really more of a moderate'

'I'm just here to listen and to learn.'

Go early and probably leave early.

Explore politics, get out there and meet some people on your own terms, just don't expect too much. (yeah, these people are not necessarily smarter, or more social than you, that's the really interesting part. And infighting can be a real problem. If it comes up, try and coach people to take the high road, that we don't all need to agree)

How you thought about using meetup.com to form an aspie group in your community? Not that you are taking on the burden of leadership. No,no, no, the zen of it is that you are delegating and coaching from the very beginning. So that when you get busy, the group does just fine without you.

Or a boardgame group. I have gotten a lot of enjoyment lately out of the game Cuba El Presidente version. Yeah, you can do it online (many games, I don't know about Cuba) but there might be something biological hardwired about seeing human faces, and familiar faces.

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Gradulations on getting some income by repairing computers.

'Pre-Thanksgiving Day Special'

That's what I'd recommend. I used to sell mattresses. You want a reason to drop price. You don't want to kick the value out of it. And it sounds like you do very excellent work and take pride in it.

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The standard goody two-shoes advice is: "oh, you need to job hunt as many hours as you'd work a job, at least 40 hours a week."

And that advice is ridiculous.

It's emotionally exhausting. It's intellectual taxing (you need to make all kinds of decisions that you have not made before, or recently) It would be like a doctor trying to practice in another speciality. You'd have to be very deliberative, very step-by-step.

My goal was 10 good applications (resumes) a week. Well, I was able to hit about 6. And I'll take 6 good ones over just spinning my wheels.

Stephen King, one of the most prolific writers in the last 50 years, is able to work about four or five hours. On a good day! (Some people don't like him, but I think he has a lot of depth. I'm not even particularly a horror fan. I just read him to see what he was all about, and I was impressed.)

I'm pretty sure it was the book TALENT IS OVERRATED by Geoff Colvin that developed the theory that what really makes a difference is deliberative practice (quality mindful practice) and this concept has gotten some buzz of late. And you cannot do it eight hours a day. It just takes too much concentration.

So, my advice, and a lot depends if you're a morning person or not (and I am much fresher and have much more energy in the morning, even though I wake up about eight o'clock) is to do the high impact things early, take medium risks if need be (when you have the emotional energy to make your authentic decisions), see how it goes, and then live to fight another day. Quit while you're still fresh, and do fun things, and hopefully fun social things. And then start the next day with just as much energy.

It is humiliating but this is really a 1930's style depression in the works. The U3 statistical records the government used to record unemployment back in the 30s is 17% today ... not 9.7%! If you run out of benefits you are counted as employed. It is really a once in a 70 year event right now.

I moved in with family and have 12 members in one house similiar to what my grandparents did during the 30s. This is the new norm we have to deal with for at least 4 to 5 years until people are hired again ... if ever.

If you can sell the house at a loss and pay at least part of it back to the lender you can significantly reduce your monthly payments and maybe able to buy time or at least get an underpaid job that can actually pay off your debt.

I feel dehumanized too working jobs I am overqualified for but at least I am not a factory worker in China.

Banks are getting seriously burned in foreclosures.

They take the house. Great....if they can turn around and sell it. A couple years ago when this housing bubble mess started, the banks were horrified to see what happens to UNOCCUPIED real estate. It goes to crud in a matter of weeks from neglect and the chance of criminal activities moving into the vacated property.

They can huff and puff all they want, but in truth, they really can't afford to kick you out unless they will pay someone to take care of the property for them until they find a buyer for it.

I thought that in most cases, if you declare bankrupcy, you get to keep your house.

Or is that old school?

Declaring chapter 13 bankruptcy is more selective but will allow you a stay on any existing foreclosure proceedings and prevent foreclosure from being filed until the bankruptcy is resolved. It's federal court in the states, so they are serious about it. I can't seem to find work anywhere either as a desktop technician or an information security engineer. I'm doing all those online job sites and am working with state-sponsored employment agency (hooray state funded disability programs) but still haven't turned up anything. I guess anybody can get a stack of 1,000 CV's, but when you don't have a chance to see my work, you can't fully appreciate what it would mean to hire me =\

I am in the same field. Very tough. Have you tried substitute teaching if you have a 4 year degree. Its a job that you can do while you look for another one. That is why I am doing.

The 1000 CVs will not change for a couple of years. Where I used to live in Southern California there was a custodian job and 700 people applied! The more desperate people are the more they will apply for jobs they are not qualified to do. In addition a bankruptcy will make it harder to find a job as many employers do credit checks to see if you are a responsible person. I think its bs as half of bankruptcies are for medical bills for people with insurance. However the CFO's and lawyers do not understand this as things are easy for them due to their large income and they make the rules.

Sell your property and do what you can. Bankruptacy will haunt you for many years. I do not mean to stress you out more. Just stating the facts.