On job hunting.

Hello my dear whoever you are.

I had another job interview yesterday.
It was part of a selecting process, there were two available jobs,
and guess how many people came for it?
A HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE.

That's right. My chances of getting the job were 1/125.
So colour me surprised when they called me and said I passed the written test,
and wanted to meet me in person. They are meeting with fourty-five people who passed the test
however, so it's still a slim chance I get the job.
Add to that the fact that they were not convinced I 'fitted' in the job,
because they had a feeling I 'did not know what I wanted in my life'.

Excuse me, but..

I learned to take care of animals.
There's not a lot of work in that branche,
so I tried going to school for antiques.
Antiques class was cancelled the entire year because there were
only two students and they felt like it was not worth it.
So I tried going to college.
Everyone said I shouldn't even attempt it because I wanted to learn
one of the hardest things there is to learn, and 'I am not too bright'.
So I tried woodworking.
I succeeded in learning those basics but I can't find a job there either.

What I want to do in my life, is not what I can make money with,
and what I can make money with is not what people want me to do,
the bosses don't want to employ me, or things like that.

This society sucks, I want to go back to Dircalis.

Dem boats.

I realised it's been too long since my last post about work on the Belgica.
So I'm going to give you a speedrun through a month's work.
Here goes:

We have a museum in our hangar where the Belgica is standing.
Although I can't call the hangar 'the place where the boat is standing'
because there's only one rafter finished at the moment.
There is no boat yet.
Anyway I helped the people reorganise the museum,
got some old stuff in my hands (like the financial records dating back to 1930)
and felt important.

It's fun to see how the people at work, instructors, bosses, people like that
also come to me for things that are not typically for workers like me to do.
I helped placing electrical wires on the wall, I am busy making eight bee-hotels
at the moment (for the city, so I can go place them on location too soon! ^-^ )
They ask me for opinions, I study plans for the boat even though
I'm not educated for that, today I placed cabinets and a desk in the new
bureau of my boss, which I first fixed (made a ceiling, floor, lights and electricity,
the bathroom (so I'm doing plumber things too.)

Yeah, it's actually really great at work, but I can't stay there forever,
and that sucks. I actually don't get paid either so maybe it's best
that I look for another career opportunity.

I helped the organisation with ideas as well as actions to make the overall
'feel' of the hangar more pleasant, like my idea to put one of the small boats
(project from the past by the newbies) on a raised platform.

I also made the skeleton frame for a sloop,
one of four that are going to be placed on the 35-meter long vessel.

Aaaand here's me pointing out that we're building the second rafter now.
A though job that can't be underestimated, but it's also a lot of fun.

Dat motivation.

Finding a job is hard.
I know that. You know that.
I have told you seventeen-or-something times already,
but still, I want you guys to focus on one thing:
motivation.

Here's what I mean, through my own experience.
I have sold things before, in Dircalis, and thought I could easily handle
the same job in this world. Wrong. This world has a lot in common with my own,
but there's also a lot that changed. For example, a few days ago I applied
for a job in a store that sold cellphones. But they did not hire me because
'my skills did not fit the profile of the man they were looking for'.
In other words, I do not know enough of this world to be able to sell stuff easily.

Yet I feel that that is my calling, and I will aspire to become a salesman,
even if I keep getting rejected. I will look for another job first,
to make sure I have an income.
And after that I will look into the sales-branch of work.

Now I'm getting to the point I was trying to make;
I came up with an idea when I stood up this morning
(it's ten in the evening as I write this)
and I feel like it's the best job I would ever love to have.

I want to sell things.
In space.
Like planets and meteorites.

I want to be known as 'Dorian Leamy, the man who sold the universe.'
And I feel like I can do exactly that, if you give me the time.

Evenings in this world.

Evenings are when melancholy hits me the hardest,
and it does so almost like clockwork.
I miss the times I had in Dircalis, the days I spent as a salesman,
and the social interaction I had with the people that lived there.
I miss the feeling of going on an important mission,
and I feel like this world doesn't offer me the same thrills.

Furthermore, I seem to be incapable of finding a job in this world,
for I cannot walk up to companies and say 'I have experience in sales,
but it was in another dimension.'
No, the companies here base their decision of hiring me on the experience I had,
here, in this world. And that's a pretty sad amount of experience.

I am missing a piece of my heart, which I left in the outlands of the old world,
and that makes me feel sad and downtrodden.

But it hits me hardest during the evenings, because I'm living passively in those moments.
I'm sitting, hanging, laying down. And I feeling like I have nothing to do.
Yet I should read more often. I try to read a lot of books, but I just..don't.
I try to learn how to dance, and play the accordion, but I ...don't.

Then there is music. Music on my head during sad times makes me even sadder,
but I need music to make me feel like I am back in my world,
when I close my eyes and listen to the tunes of some very special people.

Tl;DR version: I need a power hug.

Manly man.

At work today (and yesterday in the afternoon)
I've been hauling 170-pound wooden beams from one hangar to another,
putting them in different machines, operating said (big) machines,
and climbing the story-high iron construction that's used to build our boat on, like a monkey.
I've been doing manly stuff, and while I am yawning like hell right now,
I feel like my beard has grown two inches out of pure masculinity.
I felt like a Super Saiyan.

Excuse me for not talking a lot, I am tired.

Strange week @ work.

Past week was a bit weird, in terms of me not working on the boat at all.
In fact, I'm not sure I entered the hangar where the sloops are
for more than five minutes a time.
And it's not just me, the entire team did not work at the sloops or something else boat-related.

You see, here's the thing:
our sponsors are closing the stream of money one by one at the end of this year,
because they don't see any progress on the boat and they decided it's not worth it.
-I know that because I get inside and secret information from the bosses, that's how I roll.-

So what would be the natural reaction of our bosses and instructors?
To work our asses off building this vessel, of course.

What was the actual reaction of our bosses and instructors?
To start working on a room in the hangar where the big machines are,
and start installing insulation, paint the walls, you know, that stuff.
Oh, and we were also busy doing the whole
'make a cargo ship's container into a liveable space complete with electricity, a toilet, ...'

So that's what we were doing all week instead of building the actual ship,
and that makes me kinda stressed out. Because I don't want them to lose the boat.
Oh, I was also busy for an entire afternoon on friday being all manly and stuff
when I took a gigantic hammer to a wall's face. IN YOUR FACE, WALL!

Aaaand I also lost my fifty-year old gloves on the train station on friday after work.
You know, the ones that were given to me by the sister of my grandmother,
the ones that were worn at her wedding fifty years ago by her husband,
and I feel like SHITE because of that. I can not be comforted. Bluh.

(Oh yeah, I thought you guys might like this drawing on the wall of the hangar.)

Long anticipated -maybe- post about work.

People have often been asking me the following question

"Ok, so, you say you are building boats. Fine, but what exactly do you do?"

People of the world, I present to you: my days at work.

I call this picture: crappy quality of me being proud of the sloop.*

I am currently getting skilled at using the bandsaw,  the power mitter saw, the late,
and the manual horizontal panel saw. I can use hand saws, planes,
drills, you name it. I am a quick learner, they say.

This is the current team: me and Rachid, both beginners,

and Benjamin and Cafer in the background, working hard.

In this video one sees the big hangar where the magic of transforming wooden
beams into boats and smaller artefacts takes place.
First, we see Noureddin working on a treasure chest and a shelf.
The camera then goes towards the sloops, one being halfway done,
and one being just a skeleton.

This is what I do. This is what I like to do. And this is what I will continue to do.
Untill I have honed my skills to make guns again. Probably.

Awesome day.

Today was a good day, for an end-of-the-world scenario.
Life started as usual, at six o'clock, when my cellphone
-yes, I have a cellphone- woke me up from a good dream.
I got ready and went to work, where I found myself working
on one of the four sloops of the New Belgica.
We put in the floor today, and then cleaned the cantina,
toilets, dressing room and workplace for the vacation
that bars progress.
After that, a team of crane workers and truck drivers
surprised every one of us when they brought in another boat
that needed restoration. The Aloha, as it's called,
is a gorgeous piece of work, from the wooden
head at the bow to the beautiful railing that prevents
drunk people -I assume- from falling into the ocean.
It's so big it didn't fit into the hangar,
as was planned, so it needs to be worked on outside.
I can handle it, I want to stand in the mud and the rain,
as long as I can work on this piece of artwork.

Building stuff.

Oh hey there, are you guys ready for the joy of winter, and furthermore, the holidays?

I was never a holiday guy to be honest.

But this year, I will do it. I will make something.

It's not going to be gigantic, like my aspirations,
and it's not going to be very well done,
seeing as I just started working with wood.
But hey, at least I did something,
I made something myself, and that's better than buying something off the shelf.

Here's a teaser.

The Builder's vibe.

Hello interwebs,
how's your sunday, good?
That's good to hear.

These days I am full of motivation, full of that 'vibe' that makes you love your job,
and fills you with a sense of delight when you do what you do.
Is that making any sense?

Anyway, what I mean is I have found my place in the woodworking sector,
and I am planning to pursue it further into the art of prop building
for photography, maybe even plays on stage and events like Burning man or Handcar Regatta,
but there's nothing to do here in Belgium, so.. yeah..

Basically, I want to build a career that resembles the world where I come from.
Making 'alternative vehicles' that were a common sight in my town,
and resume my past profession as a business man of firearms.

It will be a while untill I can do all that, but hey, a man's got to have a goal.

France.

I was on a pirate's boat. In France.
Yes, I really was,

I went to see the progress on the 57 by 12 meter reconstruction of the 'Jean Bart'
on wednesday. It was a trip set up by my boss at work,
so the current team of instructors and students/cursists (including me)
went on a two hour trip -yes France is that close- to Gravelines, next to Dunkirk.
When we arrived, a worker there showed us around the working place,
where they made every single giant nail by hand, on an anvil,
and where they cut trees to build the enormous piece of functional art.

As I set foot on the impressive skeleton of the Jean Bart,
I felt like I could take on the world.
I pictured myself as a captain at the rudder, giving orders,
I found myself, destined for amazing things.

But alas, we did not stay there.
We also went to see the so called 'Musée portuaire',
a museum all about the history of boats in Dunkirk,
where I, once again, felt amazed by all the incredible vessels.

I love boats, and one day, I will build one.

First day at work.

Good evening.
(or, noon, or, morning, I found out the interwebs could be accessed everywhere)

I have survived the first day of woodworking, although I do have a big cut in my finger now.
I have to accept the fact that my days of selling protective firearms are behind me,
and I have to focus on building something new,
something that requires physique, thoughness, and a bit of callus on your hands.

I arrived there by train this morning -can you believe trains run on electricity?-
and they gave me a pair of work pants, and shoes with a piece of iron in the tip.
The people were friendly, but I still have to learn a lot,
like how to saw stuff accurately, and how to use a chisel, and..
I guess I will learn that in time.

Meanwhile, the other people were busy building one of the sloops,
that eventually will be on the deck of the MUCH larger "New Belgica".
I thought to myself 'I want to build a boat when I get home, boats are fun.'
But hey, that will be something for later.

Anyway ehm, what did I want to say again..
Oh yeah, wednesday we will go on a trip to France to look at the building process
of their masterpiece, the "Jean Bart".
Hurray, field trip :D <- look I'm using internet faces.

Just got a job. Kind of.

So, fellow explorers of digitalism,

I've been here for about a year now, trying to find my place in this -dare I say it?- awfull dimension of Earth.
Getting a job is not exactly easy, it seems, but everything is so darn expensive here,
so I really need money.

I tried to apply for jobs in a sales sector,
but people thought my background and therefore my experience in sales is made up.
So.. I am forced to try something new, get a profession, and build experience from the ground up.

A year, is what it cost me to find something suiting for me.
I don't want to be a part of this modern civilisation,
so imagine the glee I felt when I heard of the 'New Belgica' Project.

The 'New Belgica' is a replica of the Norwegian build 'barque' ship,
bought by Adrien de Gerlache in 1897 for an expedition to the Antarctic.
After they got stuck in the ice, they were forced to spend the entire winter there.
This was a first for humanity.

See? Now this is something I can get behind,
building a replica of that legendary ship,
and make it sailable. (the replica will make transatlantic voyages when finished)

I've never ventured far into woodworking, but the people wanted me on the team anyway,
and I will learn techniques while building,
so yes, I am excited now.

I start tomorrow.