Because that is the only place where I can have them without micromanagement. My parents literally stare over my shoulder the whole time I'm on my home laptop, and yell at me for changing the color of the window borders. Partly because last year in my virtual school, I had an ancient PC with about 23,000 registry errors and kept using msconfig and the Administrative Tools on to try to make it faster, and partly because according to my current school, Minecraft is cracking.

They would be so pissed if they knew what was on my calculator.

But anyway, I bring them to class for non-micromanaged use, listening to my creepy music you've never heard of when my computer teacher blocks the class' internet, and a million other things besides.... except everyone hates me for it because my last laptop was from 2003 and had a really loud fan. "Why don't you get a cell phone like normal people?" "TELEPHONE-MACHINES ARE OVERRATED!!! STOP ASKING ME THAT!!" "YOU'RE OVERRATED! I'M GONNA SMASH YOUR COMPUTER!" ect., ect.

You get the point.

My live doesn't suck, but I sure wish my parents would support what I do alot more than they do now.

They do support me with music, but they sort of shut it down when I keep writing arrangements and when I practice my clarinet "too much" or something. Sure, my dad has told me I'm worthless when I'd rather build a mechanical 3-bit computer using knex and legos instead of watching tv with the family, and sure I've been beaten because of little things that set off big things, but all in all, its really because my parents don't really go for the programming side of things.

But when Im in college next year, no one will yell at me, no one will threaten me with little things, and best of all, there will be people just like me, going for computer science and music theory.

My life kind of sucks...

No Internet at home
No gaming consoles
No reliable source of income
No TV (not entirely true, we have one that we get out 3 times a year. General Conference, General Conference, and the First Presidency Christmas Devotional)

I do have 2 computers at home... 2 computers with Windows XP, graphics old as dirt, nothing will run on them, slow, you get the point

Basically that results in No Life,
And my power with the Calculator!!!

Do you know where you'll be yet?


Not to be unsympathetic or anything, but that sounds pretty much par for the course for a big chunk of the forum base. I had to log and pay for my dial-up usage out of my tiny allowance, had no gaming console except for a 1989 Gameboy with Pokemon Blue that I shared with my friend who lived 1.5 miles away, no job, a TV that was only for movies ~once a month, and an ongoing series of old computers that had already been used for 5 years at the local college. And instead of a cellphone my parents paid for a PIN-protected toll-free number that only called home that I could call from payphones in the school lobby.

This is why we have an appreciation for the unique fun that comes with building things in a constrained environment.

I'll be going to SUNY Potsdam, and also the Crane School of Music there on campus too.

Wow, I found another Mormon in this huge world ....

Come move to Utah, where I live. Utah county, Utah. You'll for sure meet some Mormons. Probably like 98% of the population here is Mormon. The other 2% is from people like me.

Coin isn't out yet.

Utah Rules!...
when you have time to get together

I refer to myself as a Utahian... Cause I'm from Utah xD

You know, I don't really like this topic. Why focus on the bad parts of life? What about the good parts? I've seen my friend take a gun, a it and put it to his head threatening to kill himself because "[his] life sucked, and [he has] no friends." I was able to show and tell him the good things he's done and what not. But suicide is a permeant solution to a temporary problem. We all have highs and lows of our lives, but it will get better, I promise you.

Well, at least it acts as a vent for those of us who feel better about things after ranting about it to some other people....

Although you are quite right about suicide - no way I'd want to see that.

That didn't sound rude, did it?

I entirely agree with Elfprince13; some of this bellyaching is a normal part of growing up with often technologically-conservative parents as non-jock, even nerdy individuals who connect at least as well with technology as with people. I had all of my gadgets, calculators included, confiscated and locked in a room, so I had to hide my calculators. I stored my ASM programs on floppy disks that were also confiscated when they were found. I sometimes had to survive on eating 4/$1 bagels as my primary source of sustenance bought with the $5 a week I made catsitting. I had no internet at home, I was allowed to use the 486 I got second-hand in 7th grade only to type out essays, and I had to walk 2 miles each way to a library to get more than 30 minutes a day of internet time. Life sucks, life gets better when you become independent, and sometimes your parents are not the monsters you think they are and in a perhaps heavy-handed way still have your best interests at heart.

Well I had to walk uphill, both ways, 5 miles in 10 inches of snow just to use a typewriter, where I'd type up all my code. I'd then walk 15 miles to the post office to mail it to my friend and he'd type it into his calculator and let me know if it worked by drawing the screen. I'd have to wait 2 weeks to get a response, while surviving only of leaves and goose feathers. My parents were constantly confiscating my pencils and forced me to memorize ever passage of The Fountainhead for 4 hours a day.

(Minimizing other's suffering by demonstrating that your was worse doesn't make them feel better--it makes you look like a jerk. The last part of your advice is useful. The rest is just a urinating competition. Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw)

Yeah, you're right. Sorry guys! I didn't mean to minimize your situations or delegitimate your emotions. My intent was more to point out that you are not alone, and that other people are, will, or have gone through similar things. I think perhaps if I had known that at the time, I would have been a little more Zen about the whole situation. Things are tough right now, but they'll get better!

How about this?
Everyone who has a crappy life runs away from home with their contraband and any money they have.
We then find ourselves to Utah (As that seems to be the everyone's favorite place in this topic) and build a house.

Remember? We don't have money...

Not if we mine Bitcoins! I can get us ~0.20 cents a week in a few months!