Recession Impacts Pt.2

     Last we left off I was still living under Douglas Dam in a tent.  It was no doubt cold now.  We where at the end of November, and the winter had come on.  I had managed to save enough money to rent a hotel room in a very low-budget hotel.  It was really bad.  Like Gatlinburgs' own little Harlem.  This hotel had a life of it's own.  I really missed the peace and quiet of the campground.  Imagine that.  All I heard all night was baby's crying and people fighting.  The cops where all ways there because of drugs, child neglect, you name it.  This place was $110.00 a week and really should be condemned by the city.  The worst part of it all is After a couple of weeks of being there I had began to drink and make other bad choices, as I fell in with the wrong crowd.  It just so happens to get a little busy during the holiday season in Gatlinburg.  I was making more money and had a roof over my head.  I could afford to eat and other than trying to feed all of the kids at the hotel was doing ok.  The problem is the parents that live in this place are usually drug dealers and drug addicts. They stay messed up and the kids end up doing with out.  It is a very sad situation in that particular place.
     I ended up staying there through the winter.  It was close to work and I just dealt with everything else.  I did gradually slip into becoming an alcoholic.  I still had all of my belongings in a storage unit and was having to make those payments as well.  Come the spring time in 2008 I was offered my old job back at the rental company.  Also with a raise.  Wow!!! I am on my way back up.  I knew this was my time to get back to that place that I was at.  So I started working for the rental company again.  I was making all kinds of money.  I eventually left the hotel as I could afford to pay rent on a better place.  I found a studio apartment that had 2 levels.  It was perfect.  It was $600 a month and I had my privacy back.  I was settled in by mid summer 08 and was going out drinking every evening.  I had made new friends again.  That's right I forgot about that Acquaintance area I created.  Seems like I forgot about a lot of things I had experienced.  Drinking everyday will do that.  My job performance did not suffer though.  I always maintained a level of professionalism and never drank on the job.  Things where great for the time being.  After a while my boss started making certain advances at me.  My boss was a female in a very difficult relationship.  I did not respond to the advances and it wasn't long till I was replaced and out the door.  Funny how that happens isn't it?  By this time though I was a full blown alcoholic and had just met my special someone.  Yep, I met the girl of my dreams.  I walked into a restaurant and she was the waitress.  We hit it off.  I didn't tell her I was an alcoholic, but she didn't tell me she was either.  We kind of found out about each other together,as  we moved in together within 2 weeks of meeting.  I started working at the RoadHouse again.  I was serving.  It wasn't so bad this time.  I noticed that there where more people starting to come on vacation.  I was making really good money as a server.  She was working as a server at another restaurant.  Things where only getting better.  Then all of a sudden we come home and there is an eviction notice on the door.  We paid our rent what was the problem?  I called the land lord and she said that since I didn't work at the rental company anymore that we could not live there anymore.  Wow once again.
     So she and I moved into a weekly hotel rental.  It was the fastest thing we could find that was in our budget.  However it was a much nicer hotel.  Still a weekly rental but on the other side of town.  A downgrade none the less.  We fell further into alcoholism.  No surprise there right.  I was promoted to bartender and my significant other started working at the Road House with me.  We where making a fortune.  Loved our jobs and was doing what we wanted to do.  We didn't bother anyone and didn't want to be bothered.  We stayed to ourselves and worked our butts off.  Also drank our butts off.
     Everything was going great.  We had plans to get another place in the next couple of months.  Things where really looking up.  All until I found out about an ABC sting that Sevier Co. does.  They came in when we where slammed out the door and I was the only bartender.  The guy sat down and asked for a beer.  At that moment I poured the most expensive beer I have ever had to buy.  When I set the beer down he stood up walked out the door and in less than 3 minutes I was whisked away to a private area in the restaurant.  The people waiting on me there where not nice at all.  I was cited for serving a minor.  The guy I served was 2 weeks from turning 21 and he was an undercover officer in training.  Needless to say I was in big trouble and unemployed again.  This time was going to be a little harder to find a job.  I also incurred a large amount of fines, Intensive Public Service, and on probation.  All on a first offense.  That's right.  Not even a speeding ticket was on my record.  Later I found out why I got slammed with all of that.  The judge I had also owns the probation offices and has a vested interest in the intensive public service program.  I would say there are some crooked things going on but who are you going to get to fight it.  So I was stuck with it and had to complete all of this, and also pay my fines.  All of this for going to work.  Minding my own business.  I learned about how our government really oporates.  I started learning from the guys who had been in the system a couple of times about the coruptness that go's on.  We paid all of this stuff off and I finished all the things the court had me to do.  Then we got the hell out of Gatlinburg.  We thought we would be able to find jobs in another town in North Carolina.  What a day that was when we pulled in to Asheville, NC.    That is where I am going to have to sign off.  I will be writing the next blog over the next couple of day's.  I hope you enjoy.
The Social Buy Spot

Recession Impacts

     We have all been feeling the crunch from the recession.  Why is this recession so much worse than any other  collapse in the markets?  Why does it seem that people all over the United States are only being taken advantage of?  Is this only happening in the US?  Of course not.  The rest of the world is feeling this as well.  However this is a true story that I am writing about how this recession has affected my friends and family personally.  I will be writing about events from the beginning of this recession up to this point. I am writing about the whole lot of it.  The good the bad and the ugly.  This will be released in a series of blogs that will show how things have changed and are changing.  So be sure to follow me and share your stories.  Together we can all take this nation back and put it in the people's hands.
     Here is a little personal information about myself.  I am 30 years old.  I work as a server for The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  I was a very well trained HVAC technician before the recession hit.  I was in my very early 20's, and I was on top of the world.  I didn't drink alcohol.  I did smoke a little pot in the evenings though.  Never have done any hard drugs or pills.  Nope just an average guy, that's all.  I loved my job and was very good at it.  I enjoyed hunting and fishing.  I also did a lot of studio work as a musician.  Like I said, I was on top of the world!!!  So things where moving along great from 2001 to 2006.  I had moved to Gatlinburg, TN.  I was now working as a musician more full time than just as a studio musician, and I was working as a maintenance and housekeeping supervisor.  I had accomplished all of this and was doing very well for myself by the ripe old age of 25.  Then the recession hit and hit hard.  Tourism all but stopped and companies started closing down.  No one could afford to pay a band or even a single musician doing an acoustic gig.  Then the inevitable happened.  You guessed it,  I lost my job due to the company I worked for closing down.  This is where my story really begins.
     I was living in a very nice studio apartment.  My rent wasn't over the top.  I was only paying $500 a month for rent.  The electric bill was fairly low.  I didn't really have any other bills.  So I was on top with no debt.  Living the dream.  Well when I lost my job I wasn't to worried because I didn't really understand what was going on in this economy.  I figured I would just go out and find another job.  That is when I realized that this just got very hard to do.   I showed up at my first job interview, which was another Chalet rental company.  When I walked in there where at least 20 people there for the same job.  I couldn't believe it.  So I still wasn't discouraged to bad.  I thought this must be a really great company to work for.  It ended up they cut the interviews short and no one got hired that day.  I knew something was up then.  I went to apply for another job that was listed in the paper.  There where even more people there.  I started talking to people and finding out that a whole work force has been put on the unemployed list.  That is when I realized that I was going to have to start looking for the types of jobs that I did when I was younger.  So I finally found a job with a private electrician.  It was only part time and it was strictly for roughing in houses that where few and far between.  So I went back into bartending at night.  I just so happened to find a bartending job at a little hole in the wall bar that only served beer and whiskey.  Usually a bunch of dudes that where not thrilled to see a guy behind the bar.  I made it work for the time being though.  It didn't last long though.  I then went to serving.  I got on at the Texas Road House.  Now I am making less money than I have ever made and am very behind in my bills.  I would say about 3 month's behind in rent and final notice on all my other bills.  Well with tourism being down and server's only make $2.13 an hour.  People can't really afford to tip and the average bill at a Texas Road house is around $30.00.  That is for 2 people.  So you might get a $1.00 tip.  No matter how well you served them.  Imagine the frustration.
     I ended up loosing my apartment." Shocker".  I had no where to go and no money to get there.  I had 1 week to get out of my apartment.  I also only had 3 shifts that week.  They where not even week end shifts! So I made about $80.00 that next 3 days and I found a rental unit to store my things as I knew I could not afford to rent another place.  It costs me $50 to rent it.  Now I was down to $30 to get a place to stay and to buy food.  So I got my stuff moved in the storage unit and had to look at making some very tough living decisions.  I had no clue what I was going to do or where I was going to do it.  I had a small tent in the storage unit, so I grabbed that and went to a campground under the Douglas Lake Damn.  This was my new residence.  It was only $8 a night for me to put my tent up and use their bathroom facilities.  On the bright side I was next to a river that I could catch some food out of until I got to work again.  That was 4 more days away.  I got a fishing rod I had kept up with since I was a boy, and started fishing.  It was in the end of summer so it was still warm and bearable.  I caught enough fish to feed myself for those 4 day's.  I went back to work for my shift and made about $50.  I was a little relieved.  I could afford to stay another week. I could also afford to eat something other than fish cooked over an open flame.  I worked the next 3 shifts and made about $120.   That was such a relief.  I didn't have to worry about getting evicted from the camp grounds.  It is amazing what you can come to appreciate.  Life had changed for me in a really rough way.  After about 3 weeks at the campgrounds it was turning colder and I had managed to save about 100 bucks. I was making about $100 a week.  Not enough to even afford a cheap weekly rental hotel.  So the sobering reality of having to face the elements of winter had become a reality that I was not ready to handle.  I questioned a lot of things about myself.  I blamed myself for being in this situation.  I could not believe that I had fallen so far so fast.  It was getting colder and that is when it is the slowest at the restaurant.  For the second time in my life I really did not know what to do.  I was scared and alone.  For someone who once had a ton of friends that called on him all the time, I couldn't call on any of them.  I learned another lesson at that point.  Friends seem to be there as long as the money is there and when it's gone so are they for the most part.  That is when a new department in my life opened up called ACQUAINTANCES.  This category is where the new people in my life go before we ever even think about using the friend word.  Back to the story.  I was in the ending of fall and it was cold now.  People where looking at me like I was crazy for staying there in a tent.  I was clean shaved and I showered everyday.  I didn't look like Grizzly Adams.  I still had nice clothes and presented myself well.  I think that is what made people wonder.  I looked and dressed like the people in the nice motor homes, but lived in a tent, and as much as I tried to hide it looking back everyone that come through could see that was my residence.  I had a 1982 yellow and rust colored.  Mostly rust.  I used to drive a four runner but had to trade it because I couldn't afford to run it.  I traded it for that little yellow beast.  I still think I came out on top of that trade though.  Maybe not monetary value so much, but that truck and my living situation humbled me.  I saw the not so good in life and still maintained a positive attitude.  I had a lot of time to think, and every night I could here my grandmother say things don't stay the same forever.  She was right.  I will be writing the next part of this epic adventure over the next couple of day's.  Thank you for reading and I hope that stick around for the next part of to many peoples realities.    
The Social Buy Spot

 The Social Buy Spot

 The Social Buy Spot

Lifestyle Movement

     Every generation is caught in a lifestyle movement.  Things change drastically over 15 years.  The parents are no longer hip to the young crowd, although these days parents aren't much older then their children.  Not so much different than if we look back just to the early 1900's.  I have found that most women in 1905 had their children at the ripe old age of their late teens and early 20's.  The women in those day's also had as many children as they could bear.  It was a more innocent age when the man provided for the family and the women had the hard tasks of keeping the home together.  It must have been difficult to feed 5 to 8 kids plus yourself and your husband and anyone else that came by passing through.  It was a different time then with different morals and values.  The smaller things in life are what really mattered.  Owning a piece of land for a homestead for the family.  These where the things that where affordable and business was done with honor.  It wasn't until the 1940's when big business came in and immediately after that big government came in and got their hands in with businesses.  Ever since then morals and values have been altered and all together changed.

With the business boom that happened from 1930-1970.  There was a movement of money.  People had money in their pockets, a great family, a home, a fenced in front yard, and a job that paid well.  Even if they liked it or not, it did provide for an affordable mortgage and also put food on the table without having to worry so much.  The 40's, 50's, and 60's where a golden era in time when the values of our American leaders ran in a high regard.


     These images are not from a time so long ago.  These are just from
the 1950's.  Just looking at them brings up feelings of purity from a
decent and pure time.  When television was clean and commercials
didn't advertise the indecent things that are seen on television today.
You can cut on prime time television any time of the day and see ads
that pushing sex, drugs, and alcohol.  24 hours a day these commercials
are streamed all over the world.  Children are forced to learn of things
that they shouldn't have to know about until they are teens.  The
unfortunate part of that is, we can never get that back.  All we can do
is censor the things our children watch.  That is the problem though.  Why should adults even be subjected to the filth and garbage that is spewed out at us.  In the 60's and 70's a 1 hour show was exactly that.  There was no 25 commercials every 8 minutes.  Which if you do the math we watch more commercials than actual show.  That is where our lifestyle changes have brought us.  Religion has been all but removed from the schools and the government.  Religion and honor is what these things where built on.  Now our schools teach you how to get over on someone else.  What are we setting our future generations up for if we have pushed the envelope this far in this short of a time.  In 20 years will porn on Prime time television be acceptable.  Where will this end.  I think it ends with each individual parent.  I think if we allow our children to be subjected to these principals or lack there of, then it is our own fault for what we will have allowed to happen.
     It is not that hard to set parental controls.  With all of this great technology comes an even greater power.  We have the technology to set time locks now, and block all kinds of things.  Of course kids will be kids and find ways around it.  That is what they do.  It is our jobs to check up on them.  These days you can check the memory of the television to see what has been watched that day.  All it takes is the time to be responsible with the technology that we are placing in front of our children.  If we provide it we must be responsible for it.
     Can you believe there was a time when music bands played real instruments and used their natural voices to produce music.  They worked hard at their craft and learned their instruments.  They didn't just sample things together and use auto-tune for their vocals.  They really played and sang to their audiences.  They where true artists.  In fact the beats that are being sampled where laid down by a real musician who will probably never make it because the people today want to here what someone has dubbed together and called their own.  It is fairly horrible what has happened to the entertainment industry.  As we can see every time we turn on the news.  It is always some teenager or even now some actors who have been around for a while making absolute fools out of themselves.  It is like Hollywood is playing one large game of
swaparoo.  Everyone marries everyone and drugs and alcohol use in public are almost coming to be accepted as the normal thing to do.  These are the people that our future leaders are watching and following.  
     All of these problems stem back to the government.  They are the ones who censor what we are allowed to see.  It seems as though they are censoring the things they don't want us to see, such as the real news that happens everyday.  Prime time news now covers the latest of what the newest reality stars are doing.  They are not telling us where all of our money has gone or is going.  They can't even get the weather right 90% of the time.  That is the weather forecasts that are released from a government controlled weather media station.  All we need our government to censor is the reality junk.  That is a dumbing down of our culture.  We are force fed stuff that has nothing to do with the world and even what roll we are playing in it.  I remember my grandfather telling me how the government used to report what was really happening and men discussed real world events at lunch.  So where does that leave us?  Just tell the government no.  You will not let them dumb our nation down.  Tell them that we want to know where we stand in the world matched up against other countries.  Ask them why no one can get financed for a house now.  After that realize that we are the ones who give them the power, and we are the ones who can demand results.  We can change the line up.  There are 500 people that make up the congress and senate.  There are millions of people represented by that little number of people.  You decide where the change go's from here. Thank you for reading.