Do you guys ever get the urge to just completely abandon your life? Sometimes I think about trading my car in for a motorcycle, buying a bunch of meth and heroin, and roaming around the country on one long bender until I die. I'm sick of trying to live my life the "right" way, going to school and work and trying to be a good person and still not feeling anything.
Yes. Fantasize about quitting my job and moving somewhere new.
My life is only going down hill from here, so I dream about it constantly. I would actually do it if certain people didn't depend on me.
>>24936661
Sometimes I really want to sell everything and go to South America or Central or Southeast Asia and just aimlessly wander around, teaching English or doing odd jobs to survive once my money runs out. Just see as much as I could.
I could never do it though because there's no reason to live without a constant Internet connection.
>>24936661
I already did OP. Considering my other option was to wageslave away into old age, I said fuck it, dropped everything, packed my life into a backpack and never looked back. AMA if you want.
>>24936831
Was your quality of life any worse than it would have been as a minimum wage slave? If you can only get a minimum wage job, is there actually any reason not to become a drifter?
>>24936831
are you happy now?
>>24936852
It varies, anon, in how one does their drifting. I'm very barebones, here. I never managed to save up enough money to get a vehicle. My drifting is a mixed bag - lots of waking, lots of hitch hiking, some freight trains. As a virtue of not really having any real control over where I end up, save choosing my general direction, I've landed in places miles from civilization. I always pack my own resources to mitigate such circumstances. However, I've also been very filthy at times... which shouldn't come as a surprise living out. However, I'll say this, I've never really gone hungry or without my one vice, smokes, ever. I always manage to make enough to provide for myself, get new gear, maybe a bus ticket or something if I'm really dreading a hitch hike.
The main trade off is comfort for liberty, anon. As a wageslave, I was comfortable. I had an apartment, and while I never had any money left over after rent or bills or even feeding myself, and even went hungry, I always had a place to retreat to. Out in the wilds, I'm at the mercy of the weather, of wild animals, of other people, however, I prepare for the weather, if an animal kills me about fucking time, and so far most people have been nothing but pleasant.
I suppose in the end what really makes me whole heartedly choose this lifestyle over wageslaving is the psychological satisfaction it gives me. If I were still a line cook in my shit tier apartment, I wouldn't be surprised if I'd be investing in a firearm to blow my fucking brains out right about now. As a person unbound by societal expectations, I kind of feel like a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Vague and intangible ennui has melted away and has been replaced rather by much more real, tangible, concrete issues, and to overcome them makes me feel invigorated and alive.
I don't know if that answers your questions completely, but it's my best shot in the dark.
>>24936867
Perhaps the better question is - was I ever happy to begin with? Not really, no. Today? About the same as before. But I'll say this - at least I'm doing it on my own terms and not someone else's.
>>24936995
how do you make money while drifting?
I know that feel OP kun, but I'm too much of a coward to take the road
>>24937203
I like busking myself. I carry a guitar with me, and if I need money, I'll go sit out in a public space for awhile and play some music and sing some songs. I'd like to get back into making chainmail again, too. When I was in New Mexico for a couple of years, I made money selling chainmail jewelry to people. Sometimes, if I'm hitch hiking, a person will give me a ride and a few bucks. They figure I probably need it, and they're usually right. If the opportunity for work comes up, I'll take it, but I'm not looking to get suckered into a dead end job. If someone wants to give me a hundred bucks for doing some sheet rock for a day, I'm all about it.
A lot of folks fly signs or panhandle, and while they can make a surprising quantity of money doing so, it just feels undignified to me. Sometimes, though, even I have stooped to that level, though I don't like to do so.
Different places require different tactics.
I have done this a few times, though never with any negative intentions. I left school at 16 (had to get my GED because my parents insisted) and hitchhiked to the west coast where I lived in punk houses and squats for about 5 years and made a living by stealing groceries and clothes and occasionally doing commissions for show posters, album art, tape releases, etc.
For the last ~6 years I've had a pretty steady normal life (job, apartment that I pay rent for, a mutual fund, etc.) but I've started playing music again and within the next year to 18 months I'd like to ditch all that, go on basically an indefinite tour, and live in my tour van.
I have a thin speckling of friends across the country so my loose plan is to spend 2-4 weeks every few months at someone's house (a friend's, my dad's, my sister's, etc), pay a bit of rent, and have a home base from which to do some recording. I make most of my music with a laptop so the only thing I really need space for is tracking acoustic drums. My goal is to release an album or 2 every year, tour for as long as I can, avoid having to stop anywhere to get a dishwashing job for as long as I can, and just float around.
>>24937313
You remind me of a friend of mine, except instead of busking, he is a firespinner and performs at clubs and festivals. And a few times in the ~10 years I've known him, he's lived in a house, had a job, and paid rent for 6 months to a year at a time.
I lasted about 5 days
went on a big crime spree took over 200mg of diazepam my car blew up and I called my mom to get me
>>24936801
>I could never do it though because there's no reason to live without a constant Internet connection.
No, you could never do it because you're afraid and the internet thing is your paper thin rationalization.
I've been all over Central and South America. Do you think they don't have internet? I spent 4 months in one of the shittiest parts of San Salvador (yay blvd venezuela) and there are cheap internet cafes, hostels with free wifi and cable, etc.
Fuck, as long as you have $50-100 each month, which is pretty easy if you have a TESL cert and teach English or do odd jobs, you could maintain a smartphone with a basic data plan and have internet even at those rare times when you don't have wifi.
You seem to have weird preconceptions about Latin America. They love wifi just as much as we do. Fuck, even when I was in the Sahel region in Africa wandering around with no money for 6 months, I still found regular internet access. If I can find nearly-daily internet in Burkina Faso then you can find it in Ecuador.
Keep in mind that most likely the only "odd jobs" youd be able to get in a developing country would be at a hostel front desk doing check ins for other first world, largely English speaking tourists (in which case, yay free wifi in every hostel ever) or maybe some farm labour with other itinerant workers, in which case you will probably also have wifi.
If you want to do it, stop making excuses and fucking do it. Getting your TESL takes like 2 months and costs a couple grand. Once you do that, you can probably find work in just about any developing country.
>>24937894
Always wanted to tramp outside the US. The states just get boring after awhile. How is South America? Is being particularly pale faced and lacking in Spanish speaking abilities a veritable death sentence for one such as I? Recommendations? Thoughts?
>>24937362
I have that same sequencer, taking tiger mountain is 10.0, hope you manage your dream man.
>>24937994
Gringos will be instantly kidnapped as soon as you leave any upper class areas. They assume someone in the states will pay a big ransom for you so they'll grab you at the first opportunity and if no one pays soon enough they'll kill you and move on.
Can I bring my dog?
>>24938156
Always bring your dog.
>>24936661
i'd do that with you if you wanted a traveling bro; i don't know any drug dealers though aside from weed, so i could get a couple of oz's
>>24937994
>>24938108
look out for the cartel - they love to hunt down gringos and cut out their pigment glands. Rich Mexicans pay big bucks for them to make their skin white. One second you think youre getting in a taxi cab to your hotel, the next some hairy Mexican guy is hacking into your skull with a machete.
>>24938392
If you think that's bad then you never saw the dementors...
Too many niggers and jews roaming around South America, plus those people don't speak fucking english.
>>24936995
love that last paragraph. Modern man's biggest enemy isn't thirst or hunger, but ennui.
I often get the urge to buy a cheap car, give away or throw away most of my stuff, and just drive around, reading and walking in peace before my money runs out and I allow myself to starve to death in the beackseat. I am hostile towards life, and the older I get the more value I attribute to living. I calmly wish to die.
>>24937994
>How is South America?
South and Central America is really varied, and your experience will depend on where you go.
Nicaragua and Costa Rica suck imo. Nic is full of coked up party kids from Canada (do not go to San Juan del Sur unless you want to be surrounded by rowdies) and Costa Rica is full of retired Americans and rich surfer kids.
Salvador was amazing. Very friendly people, very few tourists (just pockets of young expats and more adventurous surfers), better infrastructure (the government has been investing massively in roads so it's not nearly as horrifyingly dangerous to ride the bus). Guatemala is great too, though you'll need to watch your back a little more and the roads and drivers are absolutely anarchic. Guatemalans are the smiliest, most helpful people I've ever met desu. Maybe second to Ghana.
>Is being particularly pale faced and lacking in Spanish speaking abilities a veritable death sentence
Pale faced, nah. My friend and I got a lot of stares in areas where tourists never go (Guatemala City, parts of inland Belize that don't have ruins, etc) but nothing threatening. If you're a white guy, some of the rasta dudes in Belize might give you a bit of a hard time, but they don't mean anything malicious, it's just that Carribean culture is very macho and they like to break balls and test you.
Learning Spanish will make everything 100x easier. You will feel less confused about where you are and what you're doing if you can have a basic exchange in spanish with someone. Less confused = less fear, more joy.
>Recommendations?
See some Maya or Aztec ruins, they are fucking mindblowing. The Maya sites in Belize are great because everyone speaks English.
>>24936661
Yes. I often do things like look at pictures of empty faraway places (antarctic islands, Mongolian steppes, ...) or watch videos of train rides. Every time I take a train myself I imagine getting off at a stop, taking a completely different train and never returning.
>>24936661
best to have a car so you can sleep in it.. i'd only get a motorcycle if you really dont mind sleeping outside or if you have enough money to pay for hotels.
>>24939209
>hotels
or hostels, which, depending on where you are, can be 1/10th the price
A motorcycle with a tent or sleeping bag can be great if you're not anywhere super snowy/cold and you have a quality bag.
Otherwise, yeah, a car, station wagon, or van is your best option.
My mom lived in a truck for almost 5 years while traveling and in the summer it was great because she had a cap on the back and would sleep in there, but in the winter she hated it and would often sublet an apartment for 3 or 4 months because when it's cold she has to sleep in the cab.
I've wanted to do it for a long time but can't run away because it would emotionally destroy my family. I kind of resent them now for destroying my dream.
I want to go see Chile, not so much throw away my life and do drugs though.
>>24936661
Why live your life the "right" way? the only reason to live that way is so you can support children. If you aren't having kids, why do you care? Do it op. I did it too. When I was 18 I packed a duffle bag and fucked off to be a hobo. I go from living in the city to doing farm work across the country, using the WWOOF program. google that shit.
I'm going to do it soon, meng. Moving, quitting my job, the whole deal. Just tired of the pressure, time to do something new
>>24937362
i wanna get into making music with my laptop but i have no idea how. is there a good getting started guide somewhere
>>24941147
Download or pirate Fruity Loops Studio and try that.
