Time off

William Steig/ Wilhem Reich

To live under constraint is a misfortune, but there is no constraint to live under constraint.

Seneca, quoting Epicurus, Letters from a Stoic p59

The Book of Disquiet, text 139

From Almost Taiwan

Inside the chicken coup, from whence he will go to be killed, the cock sings hymns to freedom because they gave him two perches all to himself.

More from Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet.

A turkey is fed for a 1,000 days—every day confirms to its statistical department that the human race cares about its welfare "with increased statistical significance". On the 1001st day, the turkey has a surprise.

Nassim Taleb, The Limits of Statistics [9.15.08]

Related posts: Wilhem Reich's Listen, Little Man

Half handed

William Steig/ Wilhem Reich

I half handed in my notice today.

I've got eight full weeks to hide out in air conditioned classrooms and cut the stress with rising levels of excitement / fun with students [it's a nice job, in small doses] as the countdown goes on. But I only half handed in my notice, as I'll continue working 10 x 80 minute classes a week, enough to ensure a living and keep my health insurance.

Income will be supplemented with proofreading, which should be another 15 hrs a week, and when that goes up the classes will come down. This is not a big deal for you, but I've been working hard, saving up, and plotting this for ages. I pissed away my 20s and beyond doing almost what I wanted, and then I worked hard from 33 to 38 so that I could get to this point, which is a small one, but large enough for me, being able to order my time as much as possible to my own design and still make a living.

So, posts may be light for a while, as I try and fit 60+ hrs of work into the week, or else they might tumble out in a rage.

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.

Little Man

William Steig illustration for Listen, Little Man

I have a thing for angry books written by people who feel they have nothing to lose. The genre must contain a lot of trash, but the works that last tend to have good things inside, or at least certain lines that work at certain times. One of my favorites is Listen, Little Man [1945], available for free [albeit with no paragraph gaps in the second half] by clicking the title, or from Amazon by clicking the picture. The book is Wilhem Reich's reaction to the rise of fascism, to the 'little men' who, when given a chance of freedom, voted for uniforms, war, regulations and a false sense of security. I like it a lot, and aim to slowly get some of it posted on here.

For now I'm (happily) stuck in my own things.