I have been a little off since coming back from my Trip in southern France. It did not help that I experienced the national mourning after the Bastille Day attacks in Nice. However, I did enjoy my trip with my friend in Montpellier in the Mediterranean province.

The featured photo is a brief snapshot of my time there; I have also gone back to Wine-drinking, as I rediscovered the sensation of good wine paired with good food and cheese!

I am in back in London and the problems that I was trying to avoid, I needed to face.

So, one at a time:

First, my old job contacted me to say that they overpaid me and needed their money back.

What in Sam Hill…!?

I have never heard of this, nor did I think it could happen. I sought advice from two different places and performed my own calculations. See, the thing about this company (and I had inquired about this before with HR) is that their payslips only included my name and address, plus the gross amount paid and any net deductions (taxes). My hourly rate was not shown, nor the amount of hours worked or even the pay period–so I didn’t even know for which two weeks I was being paid or what date the paycheck was issued (except for the obvious date it was deposited into my account).

I was also suspicious because I had worked some overtime hours, so I was told I would get an extra paycheck after I left. However, it turns out that I was overpaid but based on the schedule that the HR person sent me, they didn’t pay me a few days of overtime.

Great. Problem solved, problem created – I am broke. Oh well, I can’t afford wine now, but luckily beer is cheap in east London.

I can’t think straight

I am stuck in my project. I have had some minor “mental revelations” in the course of my studies and readings, but lately — I just don’t know how to process all the information yet. And it is a lot of information, close 200 articles and some books so far that I have read since January. There are so many directions I could go in, but I need to submit a research proposal very soon and in October the graduate school will review the proposal and a draft of the first chapter of my thesis, to see if I have a “viable” project to promote me to the next year.

I think I’ll just have another beer, or three.

I’m having technical problems

This is the most embarrassing problem to have! So a few nights ago, my jack rabbit malfunctioned in the middle of doing the bunny hop to the song, “turning Japanese”.  And my other pet that I keep in storage for emergencies, did not work either.

If you do not understand the cultural references above, let me invite to you to move on and read this next sentence.

Have you picked up a copy of my very own novel, The Reporter and The Girl? Its available on Amazon today! Get it now, while it is still available!

Just kidding, it’s not going anywhere.

So, who has had a shitty week? Want to talk about it, I’m all ears.

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