Long story short: yesterday was the proverbial day from hell.

The car that I've been driving since I got my license dropped a piston. There's no way to fix it and it's a '96 Chevy Corsica anyways; my parents got it when I was still little and I kind of took over driving it. Now it won't even get to 35MPH and that's with the pedal floored.

I'm still living at home with my parents at nearly 27 because I can't find steady enough work to ultimately move out + I had to drop out of college unofficially to help care for my mother in 2013-2014. I'm looking frantically for a job but the one car ordeal makes it exceptionally hard to get anywhere and I really have no desire to go and look for rides. My father's retiring in September and as much as I love him, the notion of sitting here day in and day out makes me want to scream. Driving him to work and picking him up isn't an option right now because I'm working to get off an anxiety medication and one side effect of is that if I wake up in the middle of the night, I'm extremely dizzy. The dizziness eventually wears off but I essentially have to sleep it off. Which essentially rules driving him to work completely out because he has to be there before 8 AM EST and if I'm up before that, I'm dizzy. (I'm working on straightening my sleeping habits out but I am definitely not an "in bed at 9 PM" person.)

That's one of my two huge problems.

The second is my PS4 that I've had since September 9th, 2014 just took a dump last night. I was playing Dragon Age Inquisition and got to the first dragon battle and the system turned itself completely off. I had no indication of there being an issue beforehand. (It wasn't the blue light of death, it's a disc drive error because I got the system back up and running to the point of I could get a game in and it was very choppy/sluggish to read and made way too much noise to be normal.) It took me an hour and a half to get it back up to the point of where I could get the disc out and after that, I'd lost everything. All my game files were completely and utterly gone, ranging from Inquisition to Destiny. Gaming is my key form of stress relief and while I have a 360, I'm terrified to play on that system now for fear of using it too much and making that system conk out too.

I contacted Sony about my PS4 and I'd have to "send it in" to be "fixed," but that comes with a fee of $149 American that I simply cannot afford right now with everything else and trying to go back to college. I do have the option of picking up Inquisition for my 360, which I plan on doing later today, but right now, battling nerves of breaking my other console and indeed being stuck here until September is going to put me in a mental hospital.

Few other random little facts relevant:

• I live in rural Pennsylvania on the Mason-Dixon line.
• Uber is not an option up here.
• There is no public transportation service available to those under the age of 50.
• No taxi service to speak of unless I call one over from the next town.
• I don't have the option of borrowing a car from a relative.
• Leery of asking for rides from people at potential jobs because of the obvious young white woman. Not to mention I really don't want to be reliant on someone else for a ride.

I'm alright with leaving my PS4 bricked until I can afford to repair it - I've considered starting a GoFundMe page and/or linking my Paypal to get myself a decent car in the meantime but that's worrying because I've heard horror stories surrounding things like that and people trolling with those.

Someone else help me adult for a while please. Or hand me the instruction manual on how to get out of this hellish a situation.

Man, sure does sound like you've had a rough time recently. But I assure you, that you're not the only one whose gone through similar things! Lets see if I can help anywhere.

Big problem one: Getting a job currently, isn't the easiest thing right now in the US, and if you don't have a ride, you may be looking at finding a job but not being able to hold it because you can't guarantee that you can get there. I am guessing, it would be too far to walk to and from? Or otherwise unlikely to be done. (Not that I blame you) Sharing the car seems like the best bet here, at least with what you have available to you currently, it may be as simple as needing to wait until your sleep is under control, and your meds aren't making you crazy dizzy before pursuing a job, or perhaps until after your dad retires, then sharing the car won't be so hard, hopefully. Other than those two, have you thought about or attempted to get Financial aid for college? Not only will that help you get back in to classes ( Obviously haha) but it would help with your car issue, because you could get a car with whatever is left after you get the aid. My partner and I are pretty much living off his college Aid, paying rent off months at a time, and living with the little that I make monthly. We wait until each installment of FA, and then buy the things we need then. This next one (After summer) we will be taking all that we have left and buying ourselves a car. Since currently, we don't have one. But we live in a city, and his school is only a little bit away, that it's walk-able. I'm not sure what all you have around you, but another option is donating plasma, which here ( I live in Missouri) the place that we go to off and on gives us about 60 a week, (You can donate twice) so that's a bit over 200 a month. It's not a lot, really, but it is better than nothing. Also, have you tried sites like swagbucks, where you take surveys and things and get points that you can redeem for gift cards. The best one to use, is Paypal, since you can move it around a lot easier than most other gift cards they have available. They can get tedious but if you can find a good rhythm, you can make as much off those as you want, just takes some time. Other than those, I'd search around online and see what all you can find. I know there are some places ( some tend to be through churches) that can help you get a running car, or help fix the one you have. Just depends on what all you qualify for. I can help you look if you'd like, but that means I'd have to have more info about you ( Which we can either discuss in messages or where-ever) but I'd be happy to do what I can to help

Big Problem two: Ouch, yeah been there, done that. I hate, HATE, when the consoles crap out without any warning. It's like, if you told me, I could have fixed you! (or at least attempted!) Other than getting the game for your xbox, which sounds like the best thing to do at this moment, I'd check around craigslist, see if anyone is will to take payments, or trades for a used one. You never know what you may find there. Again my suggestion for a site that allows you to collect points to redeem gift cards can help there, as well. Like I said it would take a bit, but depending on how much you can do in one day, you could get a lot monthly. Just have to be dedicated. I was able to save up 150 in a few months that way, before Christmas last year.

Sounds like life has been pretty rough for you the last while, but I hope things turn up for you soon! I hope my suggestions helped, if even a little. If you'd like for me to help you try to find help, feel free to ask! Take care, and keep your chin up! This is only one part of your story, and it will get better.

I'm sorry to hear about your woes. Vehicles ones are the worst too cuz it's such an expensive/time-consuming fix pretty much 99% of the time.

The best case scenario might indeed be driving your old man to and from work, but I totally get how that's an uphill situation with your psych medication. I take stuff at night that basically knocks my ass OUT and getting up too soon is a hellride of confusion and grogginess. The best solution I've found for that personally is just making sure you take it at a time that'll mesh with the time you want to get up. Which might indeed mean an earlier bedtime. (I know, I'm a night owl too. I'm typing this at midnight.) It might be an overall better adjustment while looking for prospective jobs too, since so many are 8-5 or 9-6. That and, unless in walking distance, they'll require you have reliable transportation.

Re: consoles and games, do you have Steam and a decent PC for gaming? It sadly doesn't have Inquisition, but there's a ton of other titles that might be able to fill your time and give you an outlet for stress. Don't ask me about how many hours I dump into Binding of Isaac, original flavour AND Rebirth.

Otherwise, I get a TON of mileage out of my 3DS. I bought it about 4 years ago and it's still plugging along like a champ. You can get discounted refurbished ones too directly from Nintendo! My brother bought his in this fashion and it also works like a dream.

Sorry about the loss of your saves, though. Reminds me back when I was a teenager and my Pokemon: Blue Version somehow wiped itself. Just kinda laid on my back for an hour and stared at the ceiling. RIP, my OG Pokemon Team.

Pinging you both because this is seriously some kind of coincidence...

Since I made this post, I kid you not, I went on CarFax and found the perfect car for my parents and I. I can't make this up, it's too crazy to be made up.

I sent the link to my father and we found out it was a one owner, no accidents reported, 40k mile car that had literally sat in someone's garage since the early 2000's. It's a year model off the car we already have - a Chevy Cavalier. And it's perfect. I went with Dad back on the 15th for a test drive and we came home with it that night. It has run perfectly since. We were also able to negotiate having a tiny monthly car payment for the next three years. So that worked out immensely well somehow, either through a lot of prayer or sheer dumb luck - whichever. Because I'm not quite sure myself. XD

Secondly, I was able to go to my old coworkers at my local Gamestop and I spoke with them about my PS4. Turned out I could still get what I would have paid in repairs if I just traded in the system there. So I did, and things kind of took off from there, I was able to get $147 for the system - even busted - then canceled my preorder of Uncharted 4, which gave me sixty-odd dollars more, I was able to pay the rest for a brand new system by shuffling some funding around because - turned out - that I had overestimated how much I'd need for a new system so I have a brand new save on a new PS4 going that I'm backing up on a 32gb USB.

Now if I can just find a job to avoid this all again, that'd be a serious stroke of luck. XD I appreciate the advice immensely however, and honestly, just having you guys take the time to post something helped.

(I don't have a decent gaming PC, alas, or I'd have DAI modded to the high heavens. I'd like to make another gaming PC that can trundle happily along with Inquisition, it's quickly become my absolute favorite game despite its sometimes laughable animations.)

Wow, that's GREAT! Things fell right into place for you, didn't they? Good luck with the ongoing job hunt too; hopefully, that'll go just as smoothly as these issues did and then you'll REALLY be sitting pretty.

That's great hun! I am glad things are going in the direction you need! Good luck out there, and if you need to chat, send a message anytime. :)

About your PS4: WEIRD! I don't know if this is a Belgium thing but if your device is within warranty (2 years) you can bring it back to your game store you bought it and they'll send it to Sony free of charge to get it repaired (or you get a refurbished one back). Usually online stores offer these kind of services as well. Not sure where you bought it but a 2 year warranty is standard on hardware. I'm not sure if this is an EU only law though...

Glad that you managed to sell it to them after all! I hope things turn out for the best for you C: