Weekly Log - 09 through 15

Monday Mar 09

Kid Bro was on concert tonight, we packed up and went there to watch. His band had the biggest cheerleading squad in the room: a whole row of teenage girls shouting for them. While they didn't win, they did pretty good. I on the other hand got bored to kingdom come watching everyone else act before them. Okay, there were two who were fairly decent, but I swear... a girl saying she likes "heavy" music and then coming out with Amy Lee? Get outta here...

Tuesday Mar 10

Can't sleep for shit. I'm worried about my house. The rent's late, the bills are late, Mum's gonna be summoned to court over payments Pops didn't make on their debts, I don't know where I'm gonna go if we lose this place.

They called from the translation job. The guy told me the first text was perfect, but the second one wasn't so perfect. That was because I had never worked in patent register before (shit, really?) and as such didn't know the sort of language I should use, (oh please. I did that thing without a technical dictionary. It was hard to understand in English and it turned up readable in Portuguese. What's the fuckin' problem?) adding that really wasn't my fault. He would present the texts to the patent people to see if I was accepted.

Translation: get lost, sister.

More and more it dawns on me that people are too wordy for their own good. I've been like that. I used to think, when I was younger and stupider, that using long words and making the best of what vocabulary I had meant I was more responsible, more adult, more capable. It wasn't so much to convince others, as myself. In order to speak responsibly you have to think responsibly, and if I thought responsibly, I'd probably end up being responsible. It's a pack of bull. This is why I love language: you can speak a million words and never say a thing. Whoever is so self-important they can't speak informally should be taken out of the building and beaten with golf clubs. This patent guy is like this. My Pops always speaks informally. This asshole insists in showing off his education by using words nobody knows...

But I'm not complaining about that, this is just a comment. I know in some contexts you need to use technical language. I wonder what's a more technical term for "but". Or "due to". Or "yet". I used as formal a language as I've learned. I did my best, that's that. What bothers me is that, when speaking to this guy on the phone, I had a distinct impression he wasn't going to hire me on grounds that I haven't got a degree. Why the fuck did I have to do all this if it all depends on a fuckin' piece of paper proving I spent four years or more of my life sitting on a room getting fed bullshit from every corner? Because that's what college is. Sitting in a room getting fed bullshit you don't really need to know, and forsaking skills you can actually use in a job and everyday life.

Wednesday Mar 11

Spent the afternoon in the company of a friend, holding a remote and kickin' virtual ass. It's been a while since I've had so much fun in front of any given game system. My game list is limited these days, and I think I'm finishing them too fast for my own good. This reminds me of being a lil' brat and doing exactly the same thing with exactly the same guy a shitload of years in the past (getting my ass handed to me, too), only it was my house and the game system wasn't of the present generation. Crow, I had fun. I never for one minute thought about the crock of shit that is my life back in the house.

Then later on, we went out to the only Starbucks in the neighborhood (for now...) to tackle a "coffee taste". You know, like wine tastes? I swear... I like to think I can tell good coffee from bad coffee, but that was ridiculous. Or maybe the smokes already killed my taste buds, I don't know. Who cares, nobody ever expects free coffee to be good coffee...

Well, there's an exception. There used to be a place in downtown Lisbon where you could drink free coffee. It was an advertising place for a coffee machine. As long as you could put up with a ten-minute explanation of how the machine works, you could try their coffee all you wanted. Good coffee, too. It was sorta hidden in one of those streets, and eventually closed. All the coffee freebies can't be good for business, even if coffee isn't all that expensive when bought by the pound.

Thursday Mar 12

Grandma is coming out of the hospital, and nobody knows what we're gonna do about it. She now needs true 24 hour care. No way of letting her stay by herself for an hour or so as before: she can barely move and doesn't talk now. Mum went to the hospital to see the doctor twice, and twice the doctor was a no-show. So we really have no idea what other requirements there might be. Mum is hoping the Brady Bunch from Hell will agree to take her down South again, and it seems Grandpa is also inclined towards that option. Auntie says she'll help but doesn't want Grandma in her place. My Uncle hasn't said anything yet. If I know my family, this is gonna be just like the afternoon my Mum left Pops for good: everyone will be at the same space in different times, talking via messengers, avoiding to discuss the unpleasant matter and nothing will get solved. My brother and I will have no say in the matter even if he's one year behind on adulthood and I'm old enough to handle most shit, Mum will only complain about any decision when she's alone with me, and in the end, we'll all have to grit our teeth and hang on.

In the very unlikely event I one day give birth, if I ever put my children through anything that even slightly resembles this situation, my friends, you have my written permit to beat the eleven bahoolas out of me.

Friday Mar 13

Here she is. Two in a fuckin' row is hard to do, but by crow, it's done!

Pops withdrew all the company money from the bank, so this weekend will be spent with very little to eat and gas that won't last to Monday. Mum's furious and she keeps saying the company is still hers, and that Pops owes her child support for my brother (well, there's no way to prove that now, is there? Seeing as you gave him the receipt and all...) and that he's gonna have to hear from her on Monday (if that really happens, I'll be scanning the skies for the Horsemen). Murphy must be laughing his ass off somewhere.

I went through several job ads, with very little results, and gathered as many coins as I could from pockets, money boxes, ashtrays and wallets all around the house. Not enough to buy food for the house, but just enough to get cat chow. My cat hasn't eaten for two days now, I know that's rough, I've been there. So I secured his feeding for the next few weeks. He hates that brand, but he eats it anyway. I hate eggplants too, but if I'm really hungry, I'll eat 'em.

Weekend Mar 14-15

Going right to the good side of my weekend, let's talk about download updates. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence will be sitting in my hard drive in a few days. I'm still not sure if I want to get Curse of Darkness as well. There' only one thing I dislike about LoI: the fraggin' whip. It reminds me of Simon's Quest, crow, it's been years and that still sucks. Also have Kuon on my Do Want list, so as soon as I find a .iso, it's going to be downloaded. Epica (missing two albums) and X-Japan (have jack) discographies are also on the way. Due to a very odd and rather uncalled for hint, I'm also looking for Korpiklaani's discography. Yay, folk metal (also called viking metal). Plus, check out those fire jugglers... fuck Portuguese folk dancing, the Finnish don't mess around.