Now, to start this off let me tell you about my story. My name is Maxwell Alexandyr Casto, no Alexandyr is spelled correctly. I live in WV and I dropped out of high School at the age of 16, I live in a very poor neighborhood, people here generally aren't very wealthy and when I mean wealthy I mean, comfortable. Most of the people here struggle with income such as myself and my family. My family and I were always below the lower class line, Food stamps, Free clothes for school, Free gifts for Christmas, Homemade Halloween outfits. We generally couldn't afford any good food, because all of the cheap food was processed, so soda, chips, snacks, was a big thing. Food like steak, chicken, or anything generally healthy didn't come often.
I grew up playing a game called World of Warcraft, I played on my mothers account it was kinda of like a family thing, and a family outlet, something we could talk about. We played on a mediocre Computer at the time, with a mouse with a little ball in it, and a box monitor. At the age of 12-13 I got my own computer it wasn't anything good, i'm pretty sure we got it from someone at a yard sell for about 50$, my parents tried really hard to give us a good childhood, after elementary school and middle school I would come home and play World of Warcraft tell I was told to get off and get ready for bed. At the age of 14 my stepfather left, and my family lived with my grandmother for about 6 months, me, my sister,brother, and mother. I brought my computer and box monitor where ever I lived, gaming was the only outlet for me. I wasn't big on making friends or going out to spend the night at someones house. All I wanted to do was get on the computer and play World of Warcraft. Now at the age of 15 my mother got back together with my biological father, and moved to a place called Fort Gay, yes Fort Gay. I still had my computer and trusty box monitor and everyday after middle school I would play on the computer except one thing was different, I had friends, a lot of friends something I never knew I would have. But the good change in lifestyle lasted for about 4 months.
So 4 months passed and my biological father had left, and my mother was alone raising three kids. We soon found a place back at our old town Saint Albans, it was a trailer that was paid for us by HUD which is a organization that helps people pay there bills who can't afford it, with out this organization I am positive I would be in a foster home, and my mother would be homeless. Now when we first arrived her we had no internet or electricity for about a week, which was very, very tough for me seeing as how my only outlet was of course World of Warcraft. So I started high school and finished about half of the year before dropping our because of depression. Soon after I got kicked out of my house by my mother and was living with my grandmother, I got a job at Taco Bell, No GED so I didn't have many options I was 16 or 17 at the time. I was able to finally afford a decent computer after working several months and saving up 50$ over and over again, but I didn't keep playing World of Warcraft i moved on to a game called League of Legends which is still a HUGE game at the time, and I currently still play it, but at the time I couldn't play it very much, because I had Work, Chores such as, Chopping wood for the winter, washing dishes, the usual stuff everyone has to do. Soon after I moved back in with my mom, and soon after I was kicked out again and I decided to live with my biological father, oh boy here comes the interesting part.So, I moved in with my father, I didn't know this guy very well, he was out of my life for ten years, in it for 6 months and then back out for 2 years. I went to live with a stranger, but this stranger was addicted to drugs, I was 17 at the time. He tried to play it off as I didn't know what was going on, but I was fully aware of the situation, I was still working at Taco Bell, but I quit 2 weeks late because the drive there was too long, and they didn't want to take me. You still remember my decent computer I got right? Well let's just say I was forced to pond it for "food' I knew what was happening I was being taken advantage of from my father, who still lived with his 50 year old mom.
I'm going to end this first blog here, because I want to write more about my life and how i'm taking the right step out of poverty, so far it's been a bumpy ride and I know others have it just as rough, but I hope you will be here to listen to my story.
