oldageandtreachery

[oldageandtreachery]

Friday/Saturday

The staff at the RRC have apparently finally realized I'm here after almost a month as one of them just did my first 2 intakes that were supposed to have been done when I first arrived and another set up a meeting to refer me to a skills/works program :| Again these are the upstanding successful citizens of my society that I'm supposed to strive to be like.

Still doing linkedin learning classes. Done like 20 so far :| guy emailed me about a couple jobs at Boeing so we'll see how that goes... All my cheap crap I ordered from "Temu" showed up today, I'm actually really amazed/impressed by the quality for like $2 items... I have a smart watch now that does everything a fitbit does plus like 5 other things and cost $7.68. I ordered $37.58 in crap from them and the only complaint I have on anything is the belt they sent me despite being way way nicer than I expected it to be does not actually fit... it is an automatic buckle one but the band on the leather that clicks through the buckle runs out of clicks like a half inch too soon for it to be cinched tight. Probably work fine if I had shirts tucked in and such but won't work normally. Might be able to take the buckle off and cut it to size so it works which is fine if I can do that but shouldn't need to when they list and sell them by size not as one size fits all etc... Definitely no objection to ordering from them again currently though based on the quality of the items, not saying I would trust them with something health and safety related or a surge protector to use with expensive electronics or anything but for general stuff that there is no risk if it fails the stuff I ordered all looks good and is of surprising quality for the price so far.

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These ones are all certified by PMI and/or NASBA so slightly more than just a LinkedIn Learning class.

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Not really "random" classes as all are suggested but all Linked in Learning only, not academic credits or certification classes.

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Now to get the actual certification again :P

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Not bad for not having used a computer or smartphone since 2015.

[oldageandtreachery]

Thursday

Had an interview with a psychologist today in which it was confirmed that the therapist BOP is contracted with is no longer going to provide services related to smartphones or computers which is pretty much their only contractual purpose... I then attended a group therapy session in the evening that took 1.5 hours on bus to get to for a 1 hour group followed by 1.5 hours on a bus back... The therapist repeatedly stated the problems they saw with society in general and how people were socialized to have these problems ingrained in them so they fit into society. Our job now is to work ourselves so that we fit in with society despite society being completely broken. It's a pretty weird and contradictory message she's throwing out. She is enamored with bell hooks as well but I'm not sure she understands bell hooks theories or the flaws in them. Her intersectionality theories are fine but her understanding of historical oppression is lackluster at best and misidentifies the order of original "isms" and oppression. I might suggest she read some Wilhelm Reich, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, etc.

[oldageandtreachery]

Wednesday

Did a bunch more LinkedIn stuff today... Some SEO, all the CompTIA IT cert prep classes. Guy threw a pizza party for dinner so that was nice :P One of the other guys who came back from the counselor lady said that she apparently no longer wants clients or wants to do any sort of smartphone or computer monitoring so either we aren't going to have phones at all now or BOP is going to have to find someone new :|

Review I wrote for WELD works Seattle

Was referred by RRC staff. Was told they provided backpacks with hygiene and other general supplies (did not receive anything). Attended 2 unpaid all day classes between a "pre-orientation" and an "orientation" during which I supplied all my personal information and government documentation including ID and social security card. Whole lot of talk about how helpful everyone was going to be and how much they were going to work with people and were the only people in the country doing what they are doing. Very self-hyped. Watched multiple relatively poorly put together presentations that had typos and hard to read text due to poor design and background choices. Lot of apologies from staff about being new to presenting or new to the position they were currently doing. Met with other staff members who I was told would be able to answer questions I had about programs and services. None of the staff I was referred to had much in the way of answers they just referred me to other people or agencies to ask them. I don't feel it was intentional I just think there is poor communication between their staff and they are unclear of what each others jobs actually entail and what they are and aren't able to assist with. After attending the 2 unpaid orientations I then attended part 1 and 2 of a "life skills" class the following day. The class itself was fine if extremely basic, the lady who ran it showed up late then had us meditate for several minutes. The class specifically mentions resumes multiple times in the description but we never got to that and she didn't want a paper copy of my resume to give advice on despite offering to look over resumes and give advice. I asked about emailing it to her as she had volunteered during the class to look over resumes and talked up her decades of HR hiring experience. Never heard from her again after emailing the resume for tips. Another resident was told that same day that he was being dropped from the program due to his charges. Was told before attending the next class I signed up for 5 days later that WELD was no longer accepting everyone and had dropped me and like 6 other people from my RRC from their roster. No doubt they are extremely helpful to certain people but even their target demographic at my RRC does not speak well of the jobs they have been placed in and have almost universally stopped going and joined other similar programs they felt provided better quality higher paying jobs. All jobs talked about or offered by WELD at my RRC were physical labor jobs at below prevailing wage for the jobs. To me personally the group discussions with the other attendees at the program before, during, and after the classes were more productive than the classes themselves.

[oldageandtreachery]

Tuesday

Well, no more WELD program. Went to do my daily chore today and got told I should wait until later even though it says they need to be done by 9am... My current chore is washing the rags which takes 34 minutes in the washer and 47 in the dryer but apparently you're supposed to wait until like 10am to start your chore that needs to be done by 9am :| Was also told when I went to start my chore that my pass to go to WELD was rejected. I already went to WELD 3 times so this was confusing to me. I asked my case manager about it and apparently either WELD or the halfway house have decided that you can only do WELD if you have certain charges and not if you have certain other ones. This makes a little bit of sense as WELD housing can't house meth cooks, arsonists, SOs, or any other registry offense. Other than their housing program none of their other programs are impacted by that though so not sure why we can't do the work programs or the life skills classes etc... Either way I can't go without a pass and the pass was rejected so no more WELD.

After being told to wait until later to do my chore and getting my day pass rejected I hopped on the computer and started doing some LinkedIn learning courses that qualify for certificates, college credit, industry certifications, etc. Another resident was angry that I was using the computer and wasn't job searching as he needed it to job search. Every time he or anyone else have asked to use the computer I've gotten off it either immediately or asked them to wait X minutes until my current class portion was finished. This person was still mad that I asked them to wait 7 minutes until my work related class finished. They went and complained to a case manager who came out and first informed me that this other person had priority as they were searching for jobs. I explained everything above to the case manager and they said that was fine. The person on the other computer volunteered to get off of theirs if it was urgent so the problem resolved itself in the moment but not a long term solution. I talked to my case manager about WELD and the LinkedIn classes I'm taking and she was quite supportive of the classes and annoyed at the situation where I'm not allowed to get a smartphone or laptop currently, can't go to WELD anymore, and am being told to get a job without a phone... She is going to talk to the director and see if they can get me a laptop to use for my classes until I'm approved to have my own so there was some progress there. Extremely annoying situation over all.

[oldageandtreachery]

Monday

Going well today. Decided to do the SEO course and am doing pretty good at it. Already about halfway through since I had nothing to do today it's just been dependent on who else needed a computer.

My drivers license arrived today and the picture isn't amazing but is easily the best one I've ever had on a license. It doesn't look bad.

My amazon order stuff also arrived today so now I have q-tips, a hanging closet organizer, a hot/cold glass/bamboo cup, and an LED alarm clock. This is fantastic as currently I have my duffle bag hanging by the handles from the closet bar to use as a makeshift organizer :P and since they took my BOP tablet saying we aren't allowed to have them in our rooms I've had no clock.

[oldageandtreachery]

Sunday

Well LinkedIn gave me a free premium trial since it has been so long since I logged in. They have skills assessments and learning programs galore.

Completed the assessment for "IT Operations" I took it kind of expecting to fail after watching some YouTube reviews of the assessments in general saying they were a lot harder than expected. You have to score in the top 30% to get the badge for it. Been down since 2015 and scored in the top 15% of 2.1 million people on the first try. I'm kind of excited about that and kind of like "wtf tech industry get your shit together".

Started doing the learning courses also. Completed...

The Non-Technical Skills of Effective Data ScientistsThe Non-Technical Skills of Effective Data Scientists

Skills: Data Science

UX Foundations: Usability TestingUX Foundations: Usability Testing

Skills: Usability Testing · User Experience (UX)

Windows 11 for IT Support: Troubleshooting BasicsWindows 11 for IT Support: Troubleshooting Basics

Skills: Windows Desktop Administration · Windows Support

Those 3 so far. Working on Microsoft 365, and Data Analytics ones currently. At least it is something reasonably productive to do whenever I can get on one of our 2 remaining computers :|

[oldageandtreachery]

Saturday

BOP came and inspected the halfway house today. They aren't in compliance :| We have too much furniture in our rooms :| The current room furniture is a single wide locker split in half vertically like a lot of gyms etc use. 2 beds, 1 night table, 1 chair. Turns out we aren't allowed to have the chairs. Please note if you are actively in prison you have 2 chairs in your cell and a giant sized locker that is as big as a bed... In halfway house where you are transitioning back into the community you cannot have a chair :|

[oldageandtreachery]

Friday

I was called to the front office at the halfway house to be informed they confiscated the tablet in my room. We aren't allowed to have tablets or computers in our rooms only cellphones. Tablets and computers must be used in the common areas. I was fully aware of that policy however the "tablet" they confiscated was the one purchased in the BOP that you are allowed to have in prisons, in your cell, wherever. It isn't even called a "tablet" because it is not one. It is called a "media device" because it's closest analog would be a large screened MP3 player with really shitty games on it. This is also the "tablet" they told me I was allowed to have when I got here but they've updated their handbook since then and I guess decided BOP media devices aren't allowed anymore. The best part? It's been expired for a few days now. You have to log into BOPs trulincs system every 2 weeks to re-activate it for it to even be usable for anything at all. So it's an inactive unusable device that isn't a tablet but they still confiscated it. Hilarious.

[oldageandtreachery]

Thursday

WELD "Life Skills" classes today. Interesting stuff, it's pretty basic but they encourage group discussions and that part is pretty interesting. If you have taken any similar class it's a pretty directed message of "you are the problem, focus on yourself" as opposed to "society might have some problems" which I don't agree with as a general message as it enforces maintaining the status quo and pretending like any problem you have is internal which strongly discourages working towards a better world. It also directly equates all measures of "success, value, wealth, etc" to money.

[oldageandtreachery]

Wednesday

Had WELD orientation today. As opposed to the pre-orientation that was on Monday. Pretty interesting stuff, hearing mixed reviews from people who have done a lot of the WELD jobs previously though. I guess the recycling jobs and such it's pretty typical that people from WELD get the shit tier of it and WELD gets a kickback as part of their contract with the company. Have no idea if it is true or not but have heard it from multiple people at the halfway house that worked with or even still work with WELD. The WeldWorks program seems to be mostly heavy physical labor jobs but they are offering a flagger course once a month and say they do have limited office and clerical openings as well so I guess I'll still be trying to find out about those.

The social worker on staff I was told to talk to as he "specializes in what we do and don't qualify for in halfway house" had no idea whatsoever what we do and don't qualify for. He referred me to a possible doctors office that he thinks will treat me regardless of whether they are supposed to or not and told me I should go to DSHS to see what I qualify for...

Still pretty much in total limbo on what I can and can't do.

[oldageandtreachery]

Tuesday

Went to the Seattle Center today with my mom, last trip we'll be doing while she's here as she goes back to Colorado tomorrow. Was a lot of fun even though the whole area has changed it is still a nice area to just wander around in. We went to the Armory and ate at Kabab first, both just had beef gyros with greek fries. The gyros were exactly as expected nothing special nothing wrong they even had tons of meat on them. The greek fries were really good with melted feta and big chunks of feta you had to eat with a fork. We wandered around for a bit after that then decided to go to the Chihuly exhibit. It's kind of expensive like $30/ea but the stuff is extraordinarily cool and fun to look at. Got my BECU account reset and it worked for one login but now it wants me to verify with a texted code :| Fortunately it's my moms number that the code is going to not my old one. It needs that to change anything as well like where the code goes :| Super annoying with all the security measures on email and banks now that just make it way harder for you to quickly log in but really don't do much at all to increase security.

[oldageandtreachery]

Monday

They took 3 of the computers away in the halfway house... now we have 2 computers shared for like 100 people. They say they are doing some kind of investigation and that they won't be back for "quite a while" so this is going to kind of suck until I get approved for a smartphone and computer of my own :|

Went to WELD this morning. Seems like a surprisingly good program. They have all sorts of training opportunities. They offer a bunch of different services and have staff who can assist in navigating what benefits you qualify for and all sorts of stuff. Seemed super chill and helpful, most of them have served prison time or at least been arrested and avoided prison time etc.

Mom came by today and we went and hung out at Goodwill. It was fun and I got some stuff I needed. Goodwill prices suck now though :| I used to always go to Value Village but there isn't one near here. Goodwill used to be pretty good as well but now at least half their stuff I could just buy new online for cheaper without even waiting for a good sale... Had to look around quite a bit to find some stuff that was priced in a worth buying range. Got a brand new Contigo travel mug for $4, couple pairs of new looking Dockers pants for $9.99 each, closet hanger rack thing for $2.99, and a foldable laundry thing for like $3. Most of the other stuff I was looking at was not cheaper or only barely cheaper than just buying it online at regular price. Almost everything was more expensive than a good online sale.

We stopped by a "coffee shop" on the way back called Hello Em, fantastic place highly recommended. Staff were nice, coffee and food were both delicious, prices were totally reasonable. Place has a great atmosphere filled with Vietnamese art and the history of "little Saigon" which is what the area of Seattle it is in is called. Had no idea Vietnam is the #2 coffee producer in the world. Anyway phenomenal quick little place with great atmosphere.

[oldageandtreachery]

Sunday

Boring day, been sitting around looking at job postings and updating my linkedin with what information I have available. Sister is supposed to stop by on her way to the airport to visit for a few minutes sometime this afternoon.

Sister and mom came by on the way to the airport, we hung out in the parking lot for a while. I feel like everyone has just given up... they are content with life as it is despite constantly complaining about how messed up everything is... I don't understand it. If you know your nation is extremely fucked up and your politicians are corrupt or whatever your complaint is, why are you supporting them by giving up?