Grumble4681's recent activity
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Comment on Managers say they are having trouble finding candidates for nearly 400,000 US manufacturing and technical jobs in ~finance
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Comment on You're going to use Gemini on Android whether you like it or not in ~tech
Grumble4681 Link ParentProbably a combination of cost and hardware/software limitations of alternative options. For example I just bought a Motorola G Stylus 2025, and I had to manually remove a bunch of bloat and...Probably a combination of cost and hardware/software limitations of alternative options.
For example I just bought a Motorola G Stylus 2025, and I had to manually remove a bunch of bloat and disable some invasive services. But if you restrict options to devices with 3.5mm jack and microSD slot, you have already reduced the pool of options greatly. You start adding other considerations and it gets to the point of very few options.
I can uninstall bloatware, I can't build a 3.5mm jack into the phone. Dongles suck hardcore.
There were a few Sony options I preferred more, and perhaps one other brand, I just couldn't justify the cost.
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Comment on Managers say they are having trouble finding candidates for nearly 400,000 US manufacturing and technical jobs in ~finance
Grumble4681 Link ParentWell I have been unemployed for 3 years so far. I knew many months in advance before I quit my job that I wasn't going to look for another job, so I was saving from that point on. I was already...Well I have been unemployed for 3 years so far. I knew many months in advance before I quit my job that I wasn't going to look for another job, so I was saving from that point on. I was already saving most of my money before that, either in retirement accounts or in a regular brokerage account and investing in mutual funds.
At this point I'm pulling money out of my mutual fund investments, so I'm trading what was intended to be my long term survival funds for short term survival. I already pulled most of those investments out anyhow once Trump got into office as the market is unpredictable short term in general but with Trump in office it's almost more predictable that it was likely to go down.
So correct, I haven't gone 'full homeless' which I know what you meant by that because I try not to say I'm homeless without there being some context to indicate that I'm not trying to come off worse than I am or that my situation is the same as someone who is financially and otherwise forced into homelessness as a result of having no other options. I have some other options, though I view them as much less than optimal.
I was living in an apartment for a couple years that I had gotten into before I quit my job, and then I moved in with a friend last year as a somewhat mutually beneficial arrangement where I helped babysit her child and I wasn't paying any rent. I was an option of last resort, she was starting a nursing school program and if she didn't have someone to help she may have had to drop out. I'm NOT a kid person. In fact, I've had extensive conversations with her in the past long before she had a kid that I want nothing to do with kids. So I knew if she was asking me to help that it was important.
I recently left that arrangement as she was at a point in the program where other options were available and while I could have kept the arrangement going, it was just not a situation I wanted to be in. So that's how I arrived at where I'm at now.
As for health, eh it's mixed. I think I'm getting the typical age issues and also reaping what I've sowed with my extremely sedentary lifestyle with a relatively poor diet. I'm doing better in some aspects than before, like losing weight because I'm eating less, as unsurprisingly it's not as easy to keep food around or prepare food when living out of a car. Of course fast food is around in abundance which you can generally either get extremely unhealthy and cheap or somewhat unhealthy but overpriced, so I try not to indulge in it more than I need to.
I did try to get Medicaid last year due to some health issues I was having but because I was in a transitory phase with moving, it became a hassle because I had to prove my residency which I didn't have any of the types of proof they were asking for at the time. So instead I just self medicated with OTC solutions.
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Comment on Managers say they are having trouble finding candidates for nearly 400,000 US manufacturing and technical jobs in ~finance
Grumble4681 LinkI would possibly be someone who would qualify for one of these jobs and instead I'm choosing to be homeless and live out of my car. My dad is a lifelong factory worker and my mom mostly worked in...I would possibly be someone who would qualify for one of these jobs and instead I'm choosing to be homeless and live out of my car.
My dad is a lifelong factory worker and my mom mostly worked in factories. My dad was in a horrific workplace accident where he was turning a nozzle or something on a machine and somehow he ended up on fire, like fully engulfed in flames. He was in a hospital burn ward for months and had extensive skin grafting. He kept working at that same place for many years after that incident, and then he finally found a different place and around the time he gave notice a woman was killed by one of the machines. They offered my dad extra pay if he stayed for two months until they winded down the operations and shut the place down.
The last place I worked, when I was a service tech dealing with network cameras (and some networking equipment) and security equipment, I had multiple job offers while I was on site servicing equipment for those companies. Mind you I wasn't really that experienced as a technician in the field I was in, I had only been doing it for about a year, but I was a quick learner and I already have a knack for troubleshooting. So I had owners for HVAC companies trying to get me to work for them too.
I also went inside quite a few factories as we had equipment in there that I had to service. They were generally awful environments. It was often like they were either very clean and orderly or very dirty and didn't look particularly safe, and not as many that seemed to be in the middle.
I ended up progressing in the industry I was in, getting promoted at that company I was already at until I got to management level and I was just burned out and would go home to a life that I wasn't happy with and wonder why I was doing all of this. There was no light at the end of the tunnel.
I hate the grind of looking for jobs. I despise it with an unhealthy passion. I can't possibly even overstate how much I hate the process of getting a job.
So I quit that job and I'm just done with it. As far as I'm concerned right now, I will not work again. I seem to be part of a group this current administration is targeting in some aspects (which they're targeting lots of groups for different reasons). I've seen several statements about how there's a lot of able-bodied men not in the workforce and that's why they're supposedly going after Medicaid, SS disability or other government support services, because they want to eliminate avenues where people can opt out of this shitty system and force them to work or die.
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Comment on Phoenix Suns trade Kevin Durant to Houston Rockets in blockbuster deal in ~sports.basketball
Grumble4681 Link ParentThey were gonna be on the losing end of any trade or even if there were no trade at all. The trade for Beal left them with almost no options and no leverage. They can't trade Booker because of his...They were gonna be on the losing end of any trade or even if there were no trade at all. The trade for Beal left them with almost no options and no leverage. They can't trade Booker because of his relationship to the franchise and fans, they can't win with Durant, Booker and Beal and because they tried to secretly trade Durant last season they helped create a rift between the franchise and Durant. They can't trade Beal because he has a no trade clause and doesn't want to move again.
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Comment on Suspect in Minnesota attacks is detained, ending manhunt in ~society
Grumble4681 Link ParentIt's really easy to legally establish a business, it doesn't require anything than a small sum of money to file. While it seems like maybe he was interested in legitimately running this business,...It's really easy to legally establish a business, it doesn't require anything than a small sum of money to file. While it seems like maybe he was interested in legitimately running this business, it's also not hard to believe he just set it up to make these purchases with such a heinous plan in mind the whole time.
I don't think it's uncommon for some items to have some sale restrictions that end up being like business to business sales, but they otherwise have no licensing requirements. So it's an avenue for people to easily acquire some semi-restricted materials without having an intention of using them for business purposes.
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Comment on Coco Robotics raises $80M to scale up autonomous delivery fleet in ~tech
Grumble4681 Link ParentI knew what you meant by the sidewalk being for people. It's a valid perspective. I mentioned wheelchairs not as though you hadn't considered them but more to establish the basis that I don't...I knew what you meant by the sidewalk being for people. It's a valid perspective. I mentioned wheelchairs not as though you hadn't considered them but more to establish the basis that I don't think something being on wheels is inherently a problem. When you distinguish between bicycles and wheelchairs, I think that illustrates there's something more to what justifies use on a sidewalk because they're both on wheels and they're both helping actual people move around on the sidewalk.
Now I realize it's a sidewalk, not a sideroll and people in wheelchairs may not be able to or can't necessarily walk so it's an obvious exception whereas those on bikes are either seen as doing it recreationally or they're voluntarily using it as a transport vehicle but it's oversized or moves too quickly to operate on a sidewalk with those who are walking. But it's not also like people can't slow down on bicycles to appropriate speeds when needed so I just innately don't find bicycles to be a problem on sidewalks, rather some of the operators of the bicycles to be the problem. I also get that it varies by location and density. Big cities where there's lots of pedestrians, someone on a bicycle can't slow down to appropriate speeds without complely nullifying the advantage of the bike as there would be no place where it's appropriate to go faster on a sidewalk.
Having said all that, I do agree commercial usage of sidewalks can be a big issue but I don't think it has anything to do with whether they're doing it on wheels or not. They could potentially be doing it with biped robots rather than ones with wheels and they're the same potential problem to me.
Also I think sidewalks like everything else have room for adaptation and growing with society and that might include different ways of utilizing them. What makes it any different than commercial services using roads? If you have a road that is congested with commercial traffic, the typical solution to this in many locations is not to get rid of commercial traffic but rather expand or redesign infrastructure to accommodate more traffic. I do recognize that sidewalks are sort of an endangered infrastructure so to speak, so it's necessary to defend them from extinction (not necessarily literally), and they represent something for society that doesn't involve requiring people to buy something just to get around to places and having that invaded by commercial usage can potentially threaten it, but it's also a public benefit to some extent so there should be some consideration for how to make it all coexist.
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Comment on Coco Robotics raises $80M to scale up autonomous delivery fleet in ~tech
Grumble4681 Link ParentI think sidewalks are adequate for wheeled vehicles. If anything it's more about speed and size than it is about how something moves. I don't think anyone has an issue with someone in a wheelchair...I think sidewalks are adequate for wheeled vehicles. If anything it's more about speed and size than it is about how something moves. I don't think anyone has an issue with someone in a wheelchair (even motorized) using a sidewalk over imaginary bike lanes or such.
Now if sidewalks become oversaturated by wheeled vehicles that could be a real problem. I don't imagine that sidewalks were really envisioned to be heavily utilized commercially in most cases, so it would completely wreck the planning behind their usage and how they were actually designed and implemented.
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Comment on My expensive, exhausting, happy failed attempt at homesteading in ~food
Grumble4681 Link ParentThere's a lot of things like this where people who do it full time while it looks like they're just like you or I who do it as a hobby or side project, and they can do it full time because they...There's a lot of things like this where people who do it full time while it looks like they're just like you or I who do it as a hobby or side project, and they can do it full time because they get paid for making the videos or 'content'.
Even something as simple as playing a game. In Path of Exile, that game has tons of little details and complexities and such that an ordinary player may never encounter because there's not enough time to play it if you have anything else to do. But there's a segment of people who make a living playing the game, making content for YouTube videos or streaming it on Twitch etc. so they can set standards for the game based on something that's actually unrealistic for the average person who is watching them.
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Comment on I tried to make something in America (The Smarter Scrubber experiment) in ~engineering
Grumble4681 Link ParentCheapness as a primary metric for how consumers make decisions makes sense if you consider that consumers don't necessarily have any way to differentiate products otherwise. To assume that...Cheapness as a primary metric for how consumers make decisions makes sense if you consider that consumers don't necessarily have any way to differentiate products otherwise.
To assume that something more expensive is higher quality is to be a fool, because companies will exploit that thinking. Why sell a cheaper made product for less when you can sell it for more and people will pay more because they think it means it's higher quality?
Beyond that, sometimes there are ways to tell, but many wouldn't be educated on the very specific things to look for that give away the quality of a product. You could be comparing two tools made of metal and say the heavier one is higher quality, and maybe thats true. Maybe it's solid metal and the other is hollow or filled with something else or maybe the tool part is metal but the handle is plastic while the heavier one it's all one solid piece of metal. If you're talking about a hammer, anyone who has used a hammer probably knows some of the pitfalls of cheap hammers that are made from multiple pieces stuck together, you hit something hard enough with enough hits and it comes apart somewhere. But there's also a possibility that one is filled with sand to make it heavier because some manufacturers know that consumers view the heavier tool as higher quality. Then it may also be the case that you aren't using a hammer for anything more than putting nails in the drywall to hang pictures so it doesn't matter how poorly made the hammer is, it probably won't break under those conditions.
There's all kinds of BS that consumers I think have experienced collectively for years where the price of the product could not be trusted to be indicative of the quality of the product, and more and more people just started buying what was cheaper. If you're going to gamble on quality either way, why pay more?
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Comment on OpenAI featured chatbot is pushing extreme surgeries to “subhuman” men in ~tech
Grumble4681 Link ParentIsn't that effectively the role religion has historically played? I'm not really sure there is a way to do it without harming people. I'm almost entirely uneducated on religions so perhaps there...Isn't that effectively the role religion has historically played?
I'm not really sure there is a way to do it without harming people. I'm almost entirely uneducated on religions so perhaps there are some that have caused no harm, but that seems hard to believe based on my understanding of general human behaviors.
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Comment on Netflix TV shows disappeared? It's because of VPN. in ~tv
Grumble4681 Link ParentMight also be a competition thing? Not sure how other streaming services are doing on the VPN front, but if other services crack down more, then that may play a role beyond who is the highest...Might also be a competition thing? Not sure how other streaming services are doing on the VPN front, but if other services crack down more, then that may play a role beyond who is the highest bidder when it comes time to license out the show for whichever region. At a certain point isn't it just a lot of the same players behind most of the shows? So maybe they don't get stiffed on a specific show because of that behavior, but something else they control the rights to might, and perhaps that pressures Netflix to accommodate across the board.
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Comment on What are some good vegan substitutes for cheese? in ~food
Grumble4681 Link ParentI'm not currently due to vastly different life circumstances than in the past, but I would sometimes tell people I was vegetarian and other times I would just say I don't eat meat, depending on...I'm not currently due to vastly different life circumstances than in the past, but I would sometimes tell people I was vegetarian and other times I would just say I don't eat meat, depending on what the context of it coming up being. Like if someone just asked if I was vegetarian I'd just say yes, it's simpler that way, but I wasn't the typical definition of vegetarian.
I have had issues with foods my whole life basically so at that point when I decided to try to be 'vegetarian', the main reason I was not going vegan was because I had such a limited range of foods that I would eat even before then that I probably would have died or become severely ill if I restricted myself to veganism. Like, I basically ate pizza, chicken nuggets, Mac and cheese, cheeseburgers(plain) and hot dogs and most common simple things you'd make with potatoes and bread and not much else.
So essentially all I ate after were things made with bread, potatoes, cheese, imitation chicken nuggets, cheese pizza (there were far fewer cheese alternatives 15 years ago).
I knew I wasn't meeting the standard criteria for vegetarian. I would eat things with gelatin for example, because it would restrict my already restricted diet too much not to, but I also viewed it as, people don't buy things because they have gelatin in them (other than something like jello). A lot of people probably don't even know what gelatin is or that it's even in the products that it is in, and it wouldn't economically make sense to even use it in all the products it's used in for the purposes it's used for if not for it being basically a byproduct of the demand directly for meat or other known and desired animal products. So most things that use gelatin would likely use an alternative where possible if people just didn't eat meat or dairy products because it would be entirely uneconomical to produce the animals just to produce gelatin.
So I dont view the use of or consumption of gelatin in that context to be a driver of the use of animals. Yes, the fact that they can make money off of it makes it slightly more economical to use animals for these purposes which it being more economical can allow demand to be higher, but I perceive it in the grand scheme of things to be relatively minor (demand for products made from animals would still be very high). I also view it to be a hindrance to people considering vegetarian or vegan mindsets if it demands an unrealistic adherence to policing animal byproducts and that seems to be a more impactful way to lead people to reducing demand for products made from animals.
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Comment on US President Donald Trump warns big business: Eat my tariffs, or pay the price in ~society
Grumble4681 LinkInteresting how Trump is demanding they 'eat the tariffs' but doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of tariffs? Aren't higher prices as a result of tariffs supposed to encourage consumers to...Interesting how Trump is demanding they 'eat the tariffs' but doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of tariffs? Aren't higher prices as a result of tariffs supposed to encourage consumers to shift their spending elsewhere, thus 'bringing back manufacturing jobs' or whatever nonsense Trump claims will happen? If businesses eat the tariffs, why would anyone change their buying decisions? You could argue businesses will change their buying decisions, but this would be much like I believe it was Home Depot that said they weren't going to raise prices, where they then noted they will just stop carrying some items instead. But not selling the item is not superior to raising the price on the item and still selling it, just in the latter situation I can choose whether I want to buy it or not. And if businesses can 'eat the tariffs', then rather than shop at Home Depot where they just don't carry the item, instead a consumer would be incentivized to go to another business where they're eating the tariff.
I already know the answer, it's purely just optics for Trump. He wants voters to see that he's 'fighting' for them to not raise prices, while also 'fighting' for them by putting in tariffs that are supposed to help America, and counting on these voters to not recognize the inherent conflict of the two positions.
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Comment on Space Cadet Pinball by ksylvestre in ~games
Grumble4681 LinkThere's an android version linked on that page, but also you can run this game natively on Windows and if you do this, you can actually set your own controls like arrow keys controlling flippers...There's an android version linked on that page, but also you can run this game natively on Windows and if you do this, you can actually set your own controls like arrow keys controlling flippers etc.
https://www.myabandonware.com/game/full-tilt-pinball-a3m
You can just download the game rather than the ISO.
This contains the game files, but I couldn't manage to get it to launch at all even with compatibility mode.
However, the basis for the link here and the android game was someone who did the work to reverse engineer the game, and that is here.
https://github.com/k4zmu2a/SpaceCadetPinball/releases
You can download the windows version and put those files into the folder for the Space Cadet game in the first link I provided. Then launch the Space Cadet exe from the github release.
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Comment on What are the rules of this subreddit? in ~tildes
Grumble4681 Link ParentEverything to follow is my opinion but I obviously think it's an accurate portrayal of the site and the owner of the site otherwise I wouldn't post it. One thing that I find sets expectations...Everything to follow is my opinion but I obviously think it's an accurate portrayal of the site and the owner of the site otherwise I wouldn't post it.
One thing that I find sets expectations appropriately is recognizing that one person controls this site, they're pretty hands off but they're responsive to user reports, so it's not lawless, but they aren't going around looking for reasons to ban people. Understand that there are people here that you are talking to behind the screen, respect the people behind the screen and you likely won't ever have a reason to be reported to be subjected to any kind of moderation. But at the end of the day, this site is owned and controlled by one person, one person who dedicated their own time to code and design the site and invite people to use it, one person who has paid to keep supporting it, and that one person is the one who sets the terms.
If you approach the site thinking its owned or run by the community, or that it is a democracy or such, that's the wrong expectation to have in my view. Again, the owner is fairly hands off, so they're not exactly sitting around ruling with an iron fist dictatorship style of control, they do seem to try to keep the community in mind when making decisions so they aren't intentionally trying to ignore what the community wants, but you should see the site as a take-it-or-leave-it type of situation. It's not trying to be a site for everyone, it has its own identity and philosophy for how it operates and the idea is that people come to it because they believe in that identity and philosophy and want to participate in that.
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Comment on Tornado warnings delayed because of US Department of Government Efficiency cuts in ~society
Grumble4681 Link ParentThe sad thing is the precedent this sets for replacing people when administrations change. These loyalists they are installing either have to be replaced or you risk them doing what Trump was...The sad thing is the precedent this sets for replacing people when administrations change. These loyalists they are installing either have to be replaced or you risk them doing what Trump was claiming was happening to him (projecting his move ahead of time of course, just like when he claimed the election was going to be stolen from him before the election even started), which is that they can potentially use their positions to sabotage administrations they are against. Since they were installed into these positions that are normally not appointed as a political move, that's a reasonable expectation now that they are there to serve political motives more than they are to do a job for the people.
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Comment on Ethernet working but not working? At an absolute loss. in ~comp
Grumble4681 Link ParentIt would be interesting to know if windows shows the link speed as 10mbps when connected to the modem. It does seem likely that it's the port on the mobo based on what you've done so far. There's...It would be interesting to know if windows shows the link speed as 10mbps when connected to the modem. It does seem likely that it's the port on the mobo based on what you've done so far. There's probably a pin or two that isn't making a connection on the board, and thats why it can inconsistently make a connection with your other devices.
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Comment on Ethernet working but not working? At an absolute loss. in ~comp
Grumble4681 (edited )LinkWhat does it show in the status in the network settings (on your Windows PC but can also likely be seen in TP-link settings too) for link speed the port is negotiating at when connected to the...What does it show in the status in the network settings (on your Windows PC but can also likely be seen in TP-link settings too) for link speed the port is negotiating at when connected to the modem and then what does it show when connected to the router? In theory auto negotiation defaults to lower speeds when it cannot negotiate at higher link speeds but it could indicate possibly a pin issue in the NIC of the motherboard if the modem is negotiating at 100mbps and the router is something different, especially if the modem technically supports a gigabit link.
Since 8p8c ethernet connections do not necessarily require all 8 wires to work, I've noticed there can be inconsistencies with how some devices work or do not work when some of the pins aren't making a connection. You can try messing with link speed settings on the ethernet port as a troubleshooting step, instead of letting it auto-negotiate, obviously if there's a physical defect you may not wish to use any possible solutions found here to compensate, but it may help narrow down the issue as it takes two devices to communicate and quirks can exist on both sides to cause something that may not have occurred before with another device.
Edit: Also just thought to mention, may want to confirm if you've tried other ports on the TP link router or only one port. I know you said the cables worked fine before, and perhaps they did and perhaps its not the cables, but its worth noting that unplugging the cable when you had to replace the motherboard could have resulted in damage to the ethernet cable or to the pins inside the ports, or there could have been possibly damage already that was merely being held in place by things that weren't moving until you had to disconnect the wires in the first place. It's all highly unlikely, but someone somewhere experiences the highly unlikely things while everyone else might resolve their issue through the most likely things, and it could just be your turn to be the someone somewhere on the unlikely side.
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Comment on All four major web browsers are about to lose 80% of their funding in ~tech
Grumble4681 Link ParentWell as you acknowledged since Google almost surely won't be allowed to bid on the default search engine, that's one huge competitor out of the way for remaining search engines. Beyond this, isn't...Well as you acknowledged since Google almost surely won't be allowed to bid on the default search engine, that's one huge competitor out of the way for remaining search engines. Beyond this, isn't part of the governments case against Google that they were using their dominant position on search and their advertising side to jack up the cost of advertising and then using those extra funds to overpay to maintain their semi-monopoly? Basically all of the companies developing these browsers were financially benefitting from Googles ad dominance through search.
That's my understanding of the reason other search engines couldn't compete with Google on bids to be the default, because they didn't have leverage the way Google did to jack up costs for advertising.
So couple that together with Google not even being able to throw their hat into the ring, I could very well believe it's a substantial reduction in the amount of money they can get in new search deals.
I will say perhaps the biggest change coming up is AI results and perhaps that is what will drive up bids, considering AI is threatening to upend the whole web search model as it is, this could be the inflection point to shift the power of what collectively people default to when looking for answers or information.
The main thing I question about this is that I'm not sure if any of them yet have a solid revenue model to justify the large bids. That doesn't mean some of them backed with all their venture capital or billionaire backers won't try to throw that money at it, but I question the viableness of that funding in the long term for browsers if they can't actually find a way to generate the revenue to continue justifying those deals.
No long term plan exactly. No I do not have enough savings to keep up with it indefinitely. To an extent I am winging it yes. I don't look at it as a path to success. I see paths that lead nowhere and they demand more of me to walk those paths, or this path which seemingly also leads nowhere but demands less in the sense that all it requires is what I already have. As evidenced by what I saved, it's not as though I am impulsive or can only act in the short term, it was almost to the contrary; I was saving for the end of a life that I didn't even want to live through the middle of.
Agreed. I wouldn't want to end up in that situation. The thing of it is that when I had a job and had money, there was nothing for me to spend money on that brought happiness or satisfaction. If there's anything in this world that would bring me happiness or satisfaction, money wasn't helping me get it, at least not with the amount of money I was realistically going to acquire. Money buys me survival and that's it. That's not to downplay it, because like every other living being, I'm hardwired to want to survive. So when I have no money, I'll have wished that I had it. I assume money will seem like water in a desert. However when I'm surrounded by water but all I have is water and I'm unhappy, I couldn't care less about water. In this context, water is something to drown in more than it is something that keeps me alive.
So with regards to becoming full on homeless, my only hope is that I'll have a quick exit before it comes to that, but that's not a near-term issue.