Visa work

William Steig illustration for Listen, Little Man

You've been more successful in winning your freedom than in securing it for yourself and others. This I knew long ago. What I did not understand was why time and again, after fighting your way out of a swamp, you sank into a worse one. Then groping and cautiously looking about me, I gradually found out what has enslaved you: YOUR SLAVE DRIVER IS YOU YOURSELF. No one is to blame for your slavery but you yourself. No one else, I say!

Wilhelm Reich, Listen Little Man, p13

Nearing the end of my first attempt to get a permanent residency visa, which requires so many hoops, the majority of which are to show that I have a clean police record in the UK [my country of origin]. Have no idea if crimes committed outside the UK or Taiwan would show up anywhere in the system. It doesn't bother me - I'm internationally clean.

Working too much and running around doing paperwork, with the eventual aim of being able to wave my visa - if / when it arrives several months down the line - and negotiate a somewhat more humane schedule of no split shifts. All the while trying to ramp up my proofreading hours so that I can spend as little time as possible in the classroom while still getting forced / paid to work with people, otherwise I'd never get dressed and would start drinking too early.

"Know thyself" - well, I do, and consequently need a whole trunk of workarounds.