How I Arrived at the Survival State of Mind

As often happens, I was sitting on the back porch, havin' a smoke, ponderin' things, listenin' to the birds chirp, and watchin' a pair of squirrels arguing over who that acorn really belonged to, when I got my inspiration for today's post. A really nice way to start the day.....

A little over a year ago, I was in a really rough spot. I was way behind on the bills (and I'm talkin' basic stuff here. Electricity, water, etc...), with no hope in sight. I just didn't know what to do any more. I was bustin' my ass workin' 2 jobs, had virtually no "free time", and my every thought was centered on how to pay the next bill.....

Then one day, in desperation, frustration, and all that jazz, I had a realization. An "epiphany" of sorts. I came to the conclusion that the deck was stacked against me, and millions more just like me, and to continue struggling against the current in the name of the "American Dream" was a complete and utter waste of time, effort, and energy. The fight was literally sucking the life out of me, and I was basically just a robot re-running the same program, day in and day out..... Something had to change.

I started researching "alternative lifestyles" (no, not that kind...), and I came across some really interesting ideas, such as "voluntary simplicity", "living off grid", "intentional communities", and other such things. I was really inspired, and regained some hope for the future. There is a way out! Of course, gettin' my darlin' bride on board would be a challenge (still is), but at least I knew there was another way.....

The next thing I came across was "Families on the Road". Wow, I thought! Folks were chuckin' the suburban McMansion, buying an RV, loadin' up the kiddos, and hittin' the road! That's freakin' fantastic! I knew that this would never fly with the Mrs., but I adapted the concept in a more stationary manner, living in an RV right here in town (at a local RV park, of course!). I crunched the numbers, and was extremely pleased with what I saw (somewhere around here is a post with the breakdown, done more recently than this initial run. It still looks quite nice!).

Now I studied a whole bunch of other possibilities as well before I arrived at this conclusion, everything from small "park model" homes, to cabins, to yurts, to what have you.... I've got hundreds of links in my "favorites" folder.... But the prevailing local codes and such preclude damn near all "alternative housing" (the insurance lobby has done a fine job in their quest to destroy freedom!!!), except for the RV. It's the only viable option for low cost housing under the current Housing Gestapo regime..... That being established, I moved on to other aspects of why I was forced to draw this conclusion in the first place.

My next observation was that I am absolutely forced to buy electricity from the grid, and water/ sewer from the city. I found out that my home, according to city code, could be condemned for lack of utility "service"!!! Can you believe that? I couldn't, but there it was, in black and white. It was then that I began to realize that we are all enslaved to the "system", at least if you lived in the city limits.....

All the while, the weight of ever increasing property taxes (gleefully jacked up by the county tax ASSessor as we rode the upside of the housing bubble. Interestingly enough, they went up on me even more this year!!), homeowner's "insurance", gasoline, groceries, etc. continued to pile up on my slowly decreasing income.... My second job, doing boat repair at home, was beginning to fizzle as the economy slowed down. I wasn't the only one feeling the burn....

I found myself selling off all the "stuff" I had worked so hard to accumulate over the years, and it pissed me off royally. Especially when I had to sell the pirogue (cajun flat bottomed canoe) that I had built myself, and of course, the 26 foot Chris Craft that my Dad and I owned.... In hind sight, this is a good thing, because I found that the less "junk" I had, the happier I really was. It's not such a let-down not to be able to use stuff when you don't have it anymore.... Plus, it's less to clean, less to maintain.... Less is more! OK, now we've got that concept down.

As I continued to burn down the internet to quench my renewed thirst for knowledge, I slowly began to realize that the problem I had was not just local. This kinda crap goes on everywhere, and there wasn't much chance to escape it, save for becoming a hermit or hobo.... So I got on the self sufficiency kick. This taught me about organic gardening, DIY solar systems and wind generators, "outlaw" septic systems, composting toilets, etc.... I found out that Greenies ain't so bad, just misguided. Green is cheap! I likes cheap! I can't stand to read a lot of their far-left tripe, but they got some damn good ideas for self sufficiency....

So now I got the knowledge to set me up a self contained homestead, and that's good stuff to know. So I started me this blog to share some of this info, and really to archive it for myself too. Then I discovered the survival blogs. Of course, I found the "snot green" one first.... I think I googled "composting toilets" or something, and Rawles had an article up about them. I soaked up that blog for several days, and then I googled "survivalist". I believe Mikey Creekmore's was the first "real" survival blog I found (not to dig on Rawles, but his is kinda "elitist" survival). Creekmore is homesteading in an RV, right up my alley! I loved it. From there, I found Michael, Sealous Scout, Dragon, Dakin, and the rest of my ever growing list of preppers and survivalists. I linked to these six here, because they are the ones who got me going. Anyhoo, you can go back and read my first posts here, and see just how much my way of thinking has evolved in a relatively short amount of time.....

As I read these blogs, and researched what is going on in this country, I came to the realization that they were right. The S is gonna HTF..... In a big way. So I started preppin'. The rest, as they say, is history....

I continue to read the blogs every day (if I can), and I continue to research into all the ways our government has screwed us over, and I'll continue to share that with y'all for as long as I'm able. I feel that if I can get through to just one person, if I can wake someone up to what is happening all around us, then it will all have been worth while. After all, it was bloggers who really awakened me. They sparked my desire to learn the truth, and it is the truth that I present here. Not conspiracy theory, not half baked ideas (I will label them as such if I do put 'em out here), but the real truth from credible sources. I always look in to whatever I post here before I post it, and if I am satisfied that it is credible then I will include it. If not, then I won't.

The rest is just what happens to be runnin' through my twisted mind at the time...

 BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!! Stay tuned.....

Original at: http://mayberry-keepitsimplestupid.blogspot.com:80/2008/10/how-i-arrived-at-survival-state-of-mind.html