I let him have the pseudo-rivalry like an unplugged videogame controller. It's harmless until he realizes.

Sure, man, sure. Whatever you need to say to enable you to sleep at night. :)

See but the fact you think I’m the one struggling with reading comprehension is the true L here.

#SicSemperTyrannis

#icantread

I can tread, too.

I don't know what's worse, the fact that I knew someone would make that joke or the fact that I knew you would make that joke. It's a little of both.

Well, I’ve been ill for the last couple of days, but I try to make myself more lively again, as tomorrow I’m supposed to see some friends from primary school and college that I haven’t seen in a couple of years

There's a certain level of expectation I have to live up (or down) to. It's both a blessing and a curse.

No wait.

It's just a curse.

nah, it's a gift that keeps on giving

Did you know that diarrhea is hereditary?

It's in their genes.

Controllers don't work that way anymore, ****tard.

No you are the one who is glue.

Yeah you're right, the controller is definitely connected.

So are you rubber? :laughing:

No I'm white.

Since when

Like the White Album?

that would be white with black spots

I'm going to lose my home in a few weeks.

I just had my appointment with the unemployment office. The agent said that next month will be our final meeting. He said he will deny me the normal 26 weeks of unemployment benefits if I haven't secured paying work in the next 4 weeks. If I don't have a job by then, he will hand me the first job he Googles. If I refuse to work it, (because I'm enrolled in the apprenticeship I've qualified for full-time), then he will terminate my unemployment benefits immediately. He doesn't care that the apprenticeship will place me in a full-time career that pays twice what I would have otherwise made.

I don't know what else to do. My career counselor has been useless, sending sentence fragment emails rife with misspellings weeks after I reach out to her and ignoring everything I've explained in prior communications, drastically slowing the process. I tried calling the Unemployment Office to speak with the supervisor but got the "extremely high call volume" recording I've gotten every time I've called for the last 4 months and it hangs up. I have no one to advocate for me to the unemployment office. I can't take it. I'm going to lose my house. I'm going to be on the street.

The prestigious apprenticeship will be an incredible challenge on its own, but now I have to grapple with being homeless at the same time. And without medical insurance, I can't consult my talk therapist through any of this.

This is all because the apprenticeship doesn't fit NYS Unemployment's "mould." I'm sorry. I just really can't handle this.

Holy hell ISB I wish there was some way I/we could help. Nobody, especially you, deserve to go through this. I dont want to sound cliche and say "stay strong" but words are words. I sincerely hope the best for you through all of this.

Something seems off about what he's doing ISB. If I were you I would contact Legal Services in your area. They may take this case pro bono for you.

That sucks, ISB. It has to be Hell for you. I agree with DJ, try legal services. I know there are people out there that will try and help you.

Thanks everyone. I found a local legal services organization which assists with housing loss due to unemployment (mostly COVID-related) which looks like they might be able to assist. I've drafted an 1800-word summary of my struggle and will try to open a case with them if I don't hear back from the employment center soon.

damn, that's harsh

What's this apprenticeship about?
Can't they help you in some way?
Like, enroll you even on paper?

Thank you, Mucha. I've posted a bit about the apprenticeship in the past but don't want to make you go digging.

It's an apprenticeship to become a network engineer. The failures of my counselor at the city's employment center are drawing out this process over a month beyond how long it should have taken for me to get started.

After submitting the required application paperwork and being approved, I took IBM's MyInnerGenius Assessment which is a prerequisite for entry into their program. The test assesses individual skill sets and personality traits to match them with their most promising career path. The apprenticeship organization requires that applicants not only meet the minimum credentials of the test, but further requires that the Assessment determine that the desired apprenticeship program is a match to their best career path.

I exceeded every required metric of the test by a significant margin, and the Assessment matched me with Network Engineering as my best fit which earned my eligibility for the program. The results page stated:

"Only 60% of people who take the MyInnerGenius Career Fit assessment are a match; so, you are now part of an exclusive group. Matching with MyInnerGenius means you have a high likelihood of success in your chosen occupation."

The program begins with an UNPAID pre-apprenticeship of guided virtual training which usually takes about 6 weeks. Upon completion of the pre-apprenticeship, their Talent Team will assist me with job placement. My Success Coach will work with me throughout the subsequent paid job placement apprenticeship program for 12-15 months. They report that 94% of their apprentices stay at the same company in a full-time role after completing their apprenticeships.

The reported Average Starting Entry-level Salary Range for the Network Engineering position is $73,640 to $89,420 - significantly more than what I was seeing for unskilled entry-level data entry jobs.

Unfortunately these promising metrics weren't sufficient to satisfy the Unemployment Office. They want me to accept unskilled low-paying grunt work full time which would significantly lengthen the number of weeks it would take me to complete the apprenticeship. Otherwise they'll cut off my benefits.

And the added stress would wreak havoc on my severe daily panic attacks. That's why I was working remotely at my last job - for my own safety.

I need a major breakthrough soon.

Jesus Christ on the dole! Is there no political figure in your area you can go to? Here, if we have major problems we're often told "see your TD" (member of parliament) and if your story can get them a bit of credit in the community they may bring it up. Surely some senator, representative, congressman - I don't know how it works there - but someone in a position of power might look into your story?

Really hope you get it sorted: you definitely deserve some luck.

Wait. You mean in Ireland some random Paddy McBrokeass can contact a government representative ... and get something done about it? What is this Bolshevik nonsense?

A little happy update... I needed a large-scale music project to lift my spirits this week and I'm pleased to say I've found enormous success!

In my early high school days I was a devout Frühead, that is, a fan of the regional college acapella filk group called Moxy Früvous. I still find myself singing their lighthearted and politically-themed melodies as I make my morning coffee and afternoon tea decades later.

The group disbanded back in 2000, but I discovered that The Internet Archive has, with the band's blessing, archived 73 live shows capturing the band in their prime.

So I spent an hour experimenting and researching how to automate and batch download all 73 shows from the collection on a Linux filesystem. I found an old Reddit discussion pointing to a long-retired Chrome extension, but eventually found my way to the wget command line method.

It took some trial and error, (I had to use the advanced search function on Archive.org to generate a CSV, then batch remove all quotation marks and rename it as a text file, then modify the expression to target one audio format and to run as 'sudo'), but with a bit of tinkering I got it to work!

In only a few hours' time I had the complete archive saved to my server. I'll enjoy exploring shows from my favorite college performance spaces in the days ahead!

This is just what I needed.

https://i.imgur.com/Hj7LLfIl.jpg

Whoa, blast from the past! I used to be a big Moxy Früvous fan in high school as well, though they had already disbanded by that point. I completely forgot about them, thank you for dislodging those memories from my brain!

Duh. We put them in power, why shouldn't we be able to call on them for help? In Ireland local representatives have thier offices and you can make an appointment to see them about whatever issue is bugging you and see if they can help. Maybe it's a road going through your area, maybe something to do with schools or rent or bills, or some local sex offender living in your area. Whatever it is, they're there (ostensibly) to serve your interests; that's why you voted for them, so it's time to pay the piper. You can't do that in the States? Why do you vote for representatives then?

And they don't machine gun you when you try to go into their office?

Man, politics everywhere else seem so tame compared to ours.

They use Kit Carson's howitzers on us out here.

Some do, but you get used to it. They're just being lads.

No; I've never gone myself but I know people who have, and that is always the advice: if you can't get anyone to listen to you, go see your local TD.
Again, I ask: why would you vote someone into power if you can't later call on that power once they're, um, in power? Makes no sense. And they call us Irish thick?

To keep the other savages from electing Hitler/Stalin.

Yeah but when this guy comes knocking at election time, if he helped you out or at least spoke to you and looked like he was going to, wouldn't you be more inclined to vote for him? And vice versa? We here in Ireland all listen to WIIFM, you know...

Watched uncut gems, movie was a wow! Plus the banshees of inisherin was odd. Been in Iowa this past week but can't wait to get back home too. Seeing family here, it's been cold because I wore shorts but it's okay. Took some nice photos and video for my vlog and blog. Peace out until I get home

You've seen a politician? Were you not blinded by either the radiance or the fumes? Did their entourage not slice open your belly and let your innards be spilled upon the ground to ask forgiveness of their pagan god for the temerity of allowing you to gaze upon their emmisary's visage?

You listen to WIIFM? Is that a radio station that only plays music from Nintendo Wii games?

Yeah but you get over it. Seen one All-Powerful Master of the Pit, seen them all.
No, it's What's In It For Me?...
:rofl: