So if I were to leave kansas...

[Mozgus]

....where should I go? This situation just isn't working out for me. The day to day pattern of working and coming home to an empty room is getting to me after these few recent months. Had a bit of a breakdown at work today. Like I said, I've never been able to find any fellow geeks in this city. I don't know why that is. Typing on a fucking forum here and there isn't enough of a social outlet.

Basically, besides the job, which is hanging by a thread, nothing here is weighing me down besides all the shit I own that I cant fit into the car in a single trip. I could craigslist the hell out of most of the things I own. I have no family keeping me here really. I could probably get up to about 7 grand to start my life somewhere new. This is all assuming my car would survive a trip that is.

So where do you live that you're happy about? Where you have been able to find people like yourselves? Where a high school diploma is enough to get a job that you can survive off of?

[Flak Beard]

There's lot of fellow nerds here in Florida, but unfortunately employment is bad at the moment and it's hard to find a place to live by yourself at a fair rate. My previous one bedroom apartment was $700 a month, and it was one of the cheaper places in town.

I recommend South Carolina. Both my brother and a good friend live there. They both make decent money and rent is cheap there from what I've gathered. Thinking about going there myself. The wife and I can settle into a place before starting a family. Florida's starting to wear on me. It's become pretty rundown and sketchy in places.

I wish you the best of luck Mozgus. You're a smart guy, I'm sure you could make your way just about anywhere.

[Mozgus]

I wish you the best of luck Mozgus. You're a smart guy, I'm sure you could make your way just about anywhere.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm not smart. I just know stupid shit about stupid games because they raised me instead of my parents. I don't know anything important.

[Flak Beard]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm not smart. I just know stupid shit about stupid games because they raised me instead of my parents. I don't know anything important.

It doesn't matter. You're intuitive, and that's what will get you ahead. You seem like someone who can easily adapt and absorb the knowledge to complete a task which is what employers need. If I had a quarter for every person I met with a "college degree" who didn't know crap about their field, I'd be one rich S.O.B.

[Ack]

Well, you'll probably not be too interested in Alabama. While there are large sections that you can survive in with little more than a high school diploma(hell, there are counties where only 50% of the adult population graduated high school), you likely won't find many geeks there.

At the same time, there are some places where you'll find lots of geeks, but it'll likely require some education to survive. Huntsville almost requires a Masters to survive it would seem, while Auburn and Tuscaloosa have job markets flooded with student workers from the nearby universities.

Shoot, I don't know, maybe Georgia? I'd avoid Mississippi like the plague though.

[equalsign]

Utah's a no go. Trust me there.

[Hatta]

I don't know how you feel about the plains states in general, but I really liked living in Iowa City. It's a pretty small town, and most of its economy is due to the University of Iowa. So you get lots of young, intelligent people, and it ends up being a very cosmopolitan place. As far as the midwest goes that is. The music scene was great, hardly a week went buy without a decent show to watch. The university even has classical concerts for free every once in a while. And there's the annual week long jazz festival downtown in the summer.

Of course, Iowa had a bad year last year, with all the flooding. And now with the economy I dunno how the job situation is. Trouble is, without a degree you're competing with all the college students (but if you stick around the whole year you have an advantage over them). BTW, if you check out the IC area, it's cheaper to live in Coralville.

I would highly encourage you to move just about anywhere. It sounds like you've run out of patience with KS. It's really nice to be in a position where you can just get up and go. If I were you I'd take the shotgun approach and apply for jobs across the country. When you find one that sounds ok, you have a new home.

[Flashman85]

Two thoughts that might be too... researchy, but here goes:

Find a state university with some sort of geek club on campus and move around there--the geek alums will probably be more likely to stay local, and between university events and college towns trying to be interesting places to visit, you might find some unexpected worthwhile things to do from time to time.

Track down a few really awesome comic book/gaming stores and see what it'd be like to live in the vicinity; if a shop like that is pretty big, there's a good chance there's a geek community nearby, and if not, you'll still be able to meet people.

Or just throw a dart at a map and move to whatever city (or ocean) you hit.

[ubelaffe]

I'm in south carolina.

The job market isn't great anywhere. I don't really know what kind of field you're working in, either so I couldn't really give much of an opinion. Everything costs a lot less here than other places I've been nationwide. We had the nation's lowest gas prices a few months ago.

I'm from the upstate, the top left-most corner of SC. There's little outside of Greenville. I'm currently in the capital, Columbia. There's a lot more going on. My rent in a two-bedroom two-bath apartment at the shittiest place I could find was $465 ($232.5 each) with water included. There are a lot of renovations going on across the area and trendy living spaces are everywhere.

I do recommend the area. It's only a few hours ride to the mountains or the beach in either direction. Atlanta is a few hours away. Charlotte, NC is only around an hour and a half away from Columbia. Sales tax is something around 6-7%. There may not be a lot in the way of gaming, but there are lots of spots thickly populated with eateries and others with bars. There are a couple colleges and universities in Columbia. I go to the University of South Carolina.

[Mozgus]

Man...none of this sounds all that good. But somehow you guys get by. You get motivation through some means. I don't get it.