It sounds like you've gotten wore out emotionally from your parents issues, before even getting a chance to make a life of your own. I am so sorry you've had this dragging you down. You're dad, at age 68, is maybe dependent on you a good bit, or will be soon.

Going to a community college is not anywhere as expensive as going off to a University. After a two year program at a local technical college, you might have a trade that would earn you enough money to be on your own. By the way you express yourself, it is apparent that you have the smarts to do well in school. I would urge you to look into that. There can be quite a wait to get into community college programs because they are such a good deal financially. Otherwise, I don't know how you will find a job that pays well enough for you to move out and have your own life.

Also, there is nothing wrong with renting. Owning a home has not turned out to be the road to wealth that it once seemed to be. But I don't see how you could do either without some training for a job that pays better than what you are currently doing.

At age 22, I was kind of in a similar boat. Then I did what I am encouraging you to do, and it worked out just as I hoped. At age 25, I finished a vocational program. At age 26, I got my own little apartment. I never had to move back with my parents after that. It's a feeling of emancipation that meant the world to me.

Sure, I've had lots of problems since, but nothing like the dead end feeling of hanging around in a dysfunctional family setting.

So go to the local community college and request a catalog. Nowadays they charge you about 5 bucks for it. (Of course, I'm dating myself, as the whole darn thing is probably available on-line.) Look it over, and sign up for even just one course. College English is a good place to start. You don't have to talk to a darn soul at school, if you don't feel like it. Just go to the classes and do your homework. If you make an honest effort, you'll suddenly find your self in the midst of a little circle of people that you share a big interest with - getting through the course with a good grade. It's nothing like high school. The social environment is completely different. You can be as social or non-social as you like, and nobody cares or judges.

Do that for one semester . . . . just one course. Then see how life looks to you. I promise you, you'll have a new perspective. It would be great if your dad could help you out with an old car. He owes you that much. Being home won't seem half as bad when you are connected to something outside of that house . . . something meaningful that you participate in and get credit for.

Age 22 is still very young. You have time to catch up. But the years go by, and it won't be long before you feel those walls closing in and you feel trapped. Right now, you are not much different from a lot of your peers. Lots of young people screw around for a few years after high school and then wake up in their early 20's realizing: "I've got to have a plan." When I went to community college at age 24, there were plenty of people like me there. Tried this . . . tried that . . . didn't pan out. We'ld had low-paying jobs, had apartments that we shared with roommates who didn't pan out. I'ld dropped in and out of colleges, and in and out of jobs, been in relationships that didn't work out.

So I got in a program that I knew would lead to a job that I could survive on. Had I not done that, I don't want to think of how I might have ended up.

You don't have parents to encourage you in a constructive way. Maybe your father even kind of likes having you sort of trapped there with him. Your not really trapped yet. But wait another 5 years, and your life will seem even worse than it does now.