Well, hello. It's probably been a while since I've seen you, or you've seen me, but the basic gist is that I've been stranded in the Arizona desert for about three months now after both cars I was using broke down, one from a crack in the oil pan which destroyed the motor and the other from a broken alternator.

I need help buying an old used truck and fixing my mom's van (the one with the alternator) so I can pick up hay and other animal supplies for the 60 animals (goats, chickens, sheep) and 23 dogs (aussies, bernedoodles, and porties) and now two litters of puppies that I handle daily, and go to the local community college and figure out a career.

My ma has been driving supplies to and from here for the past three months from El Paso and Tucson and she can't continue to support this, she loses days of work each and every time she does so.

I don't have any emergency funds to handle it on my own because I've become a loser. I never even went to high school but I did travel all over the South U.S. and survived mold toxicity in Bolivia, Uruguay, and Argentina during political turmoil, and worked some odd jobs.

I never planned for my life, so life made plans for me, and I hate to whine about it but it's true. I'm trying to change that now, but our circumstances are too tight.

And the reason I have to ask is because my paternal family doesn't know how to help me at any speed above snail mail. I practically have to send them a letter in a bottle before I can get a response, let alone help. I kid, but I unfortunately I don't. They knew about my situation and I downplayed it as I usually do, but it's been a crisis since day one. There are rattlesnakes here, and I have no transportation. I asked them months ago and I'm still waiting for them to figure things out.

Anyways, I'd really appreciate help. Call it a 21st birthday present, to give a kid his American Dream: the almighty car, o great enabler of pathways in this strange new millenium.

Also, I can pay you guys back. I wanted to make it a simple loan from my grandparents but they refused.

Ugh. Sorry to say hello again like this.

Diallo Xia