Monotony And Waiting, The Usual Supects {Week 45}

Two weeks late only? Call me Marty McFly the way I'm basically from the future. That only makes sense for the second movie. Yeah, I'm late as usual... a good streak can't last forever. 

Honestly, it was a pretty uneventful week because I'm between meetings again, lulled by endless weeks of bureaucracy happening in the background. Or I guess I'm happening in the background. It's been harder and harder to tell what is happening around me... I feel my focus leaving me.

Week 45.

On Monday I went to my 'official' first meeting with France Travail which went pretty poorly. The counselor/officer did not care for anything I had to say at all. Guys, I'm not one of those brain-drain immigrants, I didn't have any super specialized skills like being a doctor or scientist and I sure as hell didn't have some cool tech start-up or whatever when I came to France but I did have a degree. A degree recognized in Europe, actually! They don't care. I explained that I work in the domain of art and/or the English languag. The counselor talked over me and wrote down that I'm looking to work as a cashier. 

Sky looks great this week!

I worked a lot of service jobs so it's not me shaming that or anything and I did plan to start out locally, likely at a big box store anyway. However, I was still hoping that meanwhile they could list that my skills are art-related and that I'm still looking to work with art or to continue my studies. Nope. I know an art degree is a useless degree to most people but I also think this has a lot to do with me not being French. I met a bunch of people who experienced or know someone who experienced being a professional in their field in their home country and being relegated basically to seasonal or side-hustle jobs in France. Like, I understand a level of testing and degree verification is necessary but medicine, science,or engineering isn't totally fucking unrecognizable in Algeria or Thailand or Serbia. It's the same everywhere! During a shortage of doctors and all too.

Things became more complicated because I was supposed to have another meeting with a new social worker from whom I never got a call. Honestly, most social services in France are awesome, but there is no communication between different governmental organizations, even in the same town which is wild. A centralized, modern China-style service/app for all government functions is sorely needed. I will keep dreaming. I got back home before lunch which was super sweet though.

I've been pretty bad with my time ever since October ended and I've been back on YouTube. No one to blame but myself too, I've had recommendations or play-next hidden for the past two years or so but still manage to get swept up in some long videos. Honestly, a lot of them aren't bad or anything but... I just wouldn't have been worse off if I hadn't seen them, you know? Could have been time spent better.

On Wednesday Zohran won the election which is really cool.

Weirdo, blanket-eater.

Ever since I got us the Xbox 360 I've also got myself new, never before heard of, problems. Yeah, if you ever feel like life isn't beating you down enough and you want some totally new and fresh hardships, get yourself a somewhat old but not too old console. Old enough to be unsupported and abandoned by Microsoft but not old enough to have a complete softmod. I also recommend the PS4 in order to emulate what it's like being burned by hellfire and poked by knives.

The fun thing is solving the problem. I've figured out transferring games in GOD format to the internal drive and playing them off of there, no more lag from playing from the USB. I also managed to get 2-Play disc games to work but I'm still struggling with the Install-Play mutlidiscs and the emulator pack to run OG Xbox games. I'll get there and maybe write up a little guide for Winchester havers as there's nothing for us suckers online right now.

On Thursday I finally made my way over to the other social worker in town but she wasn't in so I got an appointment for what is very soon in French time, (in a week and a half). I also dropped by the outlet shop and found some super cute stuff. 

On Friday I cooked the Porcini mushrooms Monique brought us. She's an A-grade mushroom scavenger but this month wasn't super lucky til this week. I made a pasta with cream sauce and chicken with them, it was pretty good.

Stoopid.

On Saturday I met up with Maria during the market, she had my food stamps. I picked them up and chatted with her for some time. I brought her some chocolate madelins and she gave me a cute little rose candle. 

From Maria.

In the evening we went to our family friends' house for dinner. It was delicious raclette with potatoes, meats, and vegetables. Raclette is literally the best thing ever, hot pot of France despite not being a soup at all. Some one started talking about politics again and I gave up pretty quickly, boomers after a few glasses kind of wanna talk more than listen. Me and the mum of my friend kind of had our own conversation at some point and she brought up Zohran's victory and for some reason my tipsy ass began to tell her how hot his wife is. I don't know why I thought this fifty-something lady would care that he has a hot wife but oh well, I informed her.

My outfit.

Monique and my mum.

Sibling 1 and 2.

So delicious...

Guys, never seeing any of your parents drunk is a blessing that has never been within my grasp. Won't go into detail but my drunk mum was insufferable and I'm literally beyond the limit. It's not the first time I saw her drunk or anything, I am 26, but if you can be spared of such a fate, take that option.

We're really close to finishing our re-watch of Avatar. God, it's so good! If you've seen the show, who's your favourite character? Mine is definitely Suki, Zuko, Sokka, Ty Lee in that order.

And that was the week. I've been pretty bad at recalling stuff, journaling helps but I still feel like everyday gets erased as it happens. I hate it! 

The end.

This Week I'm Excited For...

For the first time, nothing in particular. There's kind of nothing happening next week. I guess I'm excited to draw some stuff? Sure, let's say that.

Song Of The Week...

So, ever since we got everything fully functional on the Xbox my brother has been playing Forza Horizon non-stop. An iconic game. I know and like most tracks from the Pulse radio station but for some reason this one specifically has been just stuck in my head: Aroused by Tom Vek. Weird, sort-of horny but really dance-y and fun.