usullusa: Matt from Deathnote (Default)
missivesfromghosts ([personal profile] usullusa) wrote2010-07-20 03:12 am
Entry tags:

Rock Bottom

I hate to do this, but I am putting out the call:

As some of you already know a few months ago I came out to my parents. They told me I was not welcome under their roof while I was queer. Since then they have withdrawn a large chunk of their financial support. The last few months have been the hardest of my life. My parents, even when they messed up, where my mentors, confidants, and the only people I could rely on while I was starting out in life. I won't regale you with the details, but it's been horrible. And now I am going back to college while I still can (it is a long story, but right now is my best and last chance to finish my degree without incurring tens of thousands of dollars in loans) and I have to somehow support myself while attending school full-time.

But I'm trying to make some sort of order out of the chaos. At some point within the next month I am moving into an apartment in New York so I can finish my education. The problem is that I need to be able to pay my rent for the first month and I can't find a long-term job yet because I'm moving and because I don't own a car or drive in Connecticut, where that is essential.

I don't know what I can do right now to make some money. This is why I'm asking you, internet, for help. I need some sort of temp job. My resources are so limited. I can basically work from home on something, anything, or I can take odd jobs from people in New York, once I've moved, until I find a permanent job.

If you live anywhere in NYC and need something done, please think of me. Do you need your storage room cleaned? Shelves, closets or cupboards organized? I am aces at cleaning and organizing storage spaces. Do you work at an office where you have a backlog of filing, data entry, or general office work and could use a temp? I have several summers worth of experience doing just that.

Or, do you have any kind of online data entry you need done? Do you need somebody to gather information on something? Do you need cataloging of any kind?

Even ideas for what I can do are wonderful. Anything, any help you can think of, is already more than I have right now.

And, you know, if you spontaneously know of a part-time job that would work with a three-day or evening schedule, please let me know.

If you're on the edge, this will make the difference between my having a place to live or my having to drop out of school and live off the charity of friends until I can find some way out of this situation, or worse having to closet myself again and live under the toxic influence of my parents. I am completely terrified of not being able to make ends meet and ending up without a home or having to crawl back to my parents and promise to "be straight".
I know I can build a new life for myself, but I need some help getting up on my own two feet.

Please, ask your friends, ask your family, ask the people on your f-list. At worst, they'll say no. At best, you'll have helped somebody more than I have words to describe.
Please don't let this entry drop off into the void.
harald387: (Default)

[personal profile] harald387 2010-07-21 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
The software I used personally is Express Scribe, a free download found here: http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/

Many transcriptionists I know invest in a foot-pedal, but I worked entirely with keyboard shortcuts (90 wpm typing speed helped here). The last time I worked with them (September 2009, so things may have changed) they did require output to be in Word .doc format and were recommending Word 2003 (OpenOffice was not good enough); I don't know if they've since upgraded to docx and Word 2007.

Pay usually ran between 15 and 20 cents per audio minute, and as they note they do require typists to take on four hours' worth of audio each month; I rarely had trouble getting five hours of audio a week and could have gotten more during busy periods.