Can you go into private business for yourself as a consultant or geek to come into private homes and straighten out our computer messes? That might give you something recent to put on the resume and should have a low overhead. Just a thought.
2) Bonding. Who are you? Can you be trusted? What happens when you set fire to the cat, accidentally? Who pays? (I've never actually done that, except once, and the cat was ok, and I paid for the drapes)
3) Capital. I'm eating the last of my grain seed, as we speak. Eeking out an existance only goes until the last Eek. I used cats under the covers for heat last night. And they complained about the smell. (showers cost money)
I haven't given up, but I've made lots of lists....
/johnny