[yaxdotcom]

Think about the guys in any prison movie: Take time to plan your escape.

1) Instead of digging a hole with stolen spoons in the prison yard, learn to program. "Rails for Zombies" (the tutorial) or Michael Hartl's book can substitute for stolen spoons. Build a personal pet project or find a way to contribute to an open source project. It'll be more fun than digging a hole in the prison yard. And you'll develop a marketable skill that'll get you a job so you don't end up back in prison.

2) While you are developing programming skills, get yourself transferred to a different prison where you can make an easier escape. You can get into any community college in the Bay Area (Laney College in Oakland, for example). Or try SF State or CSU-Hayward. Going to college in the Bay Area will give you a base and you can make your escape to a startup from there.

3) Just like the guys who volunteer in the prison library to get in position for their great escape, once you're in the Bay Area and enrolled in a local college, volunteer for all the startup events and conferences (seems like you've already done that with the TechCrunch events). It'll be a lot easier to ask people about jobs or hookup with a cofounder if you can say you're already living here and have got some useful skills.

You're smart to recognize that you need to escape your current environment to move ahead in your life. Just make the change in a smart way. Or you'll be stuck in solitary confinement for a long time.