Planning for the Future

As I was working off my 90 days at the jail for "driving under suspension" I was quickly planning my future, or so I thought. You see a good friend of mine rented a second floor apartment on the west side of town and he called me one day at work to let me know that the first floor efficiency was opening up soon. I just had to have this place, you see there was a girl that lived on that side of town that I had my eye on and I knew she hung out a lot and partied on the third floor of this very same building. It was a crowd that I kind of knew and I was just certain that I could score this prize if I could just be around that "scene" more often.
So I got the number of the landlord and while I was supposed to be at work one day I was off to check out the apartment. I jumped on a motorcycle at work (still no license and in jail for driving without one) and off I went. I met the landlord, looked at the place and told her I would take it. Now wait a minute she says, I need to learn a little about you before I rent you this place. Well of course I made up some kind of story and convinced the lady that I was the guy. Timing was perfect because just as I was getting out of jail the apartment was becoming ready so I moved right in.
The goal was to hang out more with the crowd on the third floor and get to know this girl better. Turns out while I was finishing up my last couple weeks in jail that she started to date another guy in the crowd. It turned in to a bit of a competition at first but the dude definitely had a lot more going for him than I did. Her choices, a relatively good kid who's family owed a successful small business or an ex felon with no money and bad intentions. Anyhow, he got the prize and I moved on.
It would be the beginning of a two year binge of chasing women and the ultimate buzz. I would again meet a whole new group of people. People who taught me how to smoke crack, people who had people shot because of drug deals gone bad, people who would let people lay along the road and die after a traffic accident because they didn't want to get busted, people that would do just about anything to protect their self, and I was right there helping to lead the charge. It would be a new level of selfishness, deceit, run ins with the law and near death experiences. It would be a time that has too many details to divulge here, a time that I barely escaped with my life. Matter of fact the day I left that "scene" I called my dad and begged him to allow me to come home, he said ok and asked when I wanted to do it. My reply, it has to be today dad. I knew it had to be that day because I wasn't sure if there was going to be a tomorrow. He didn't like it, but he came and helped me move that day. I was so desperate that I set up shop in their garage because there was no room in the house. At the time my parents were caring for my sick grandparents and it was the only place to go.
I was just happy to have a place to lay my head, a place away from the madness I had become a part of. It was a new start, but by now you should no me, again it was a start in the wrong direction. Planning my future, I had no clue.