Art vs graffiti

It's just that simple.

Infographics

I don't see these often but when I do - wow. From emergency procedure signs on planes to beat-making videos, these things provide endless fascination.
Check out a few here: how to make a beat; spotting a hidden handgun; and baseball pitching.

What's your favourite?

Auto-Tune the News

News getting you down? Current affairs too boring? Auto-Tune it!

Updating "Update...from Australia"

Holding Pattern D for Delayed has yielded! Here's a quick update of what's happened:

• Interviews: Instead of being conducted by the director, they (and we should've seen this coming a mile off) were passed on to the new coaching manager. She's been of great help over the past couple of months, so despite taking my future job I can't hold anything against her as she's working really hard to push this sponsorship through. She finally got them finished on Monday.

• Finalising the application: This actually needs to be done by the Director in person. The coaching manager is trying to get that to happen in the next week, but I'm not holding my breath.

• Department checks: We've had an update on the time frame - up to three months. Aack!

• And perhaps the biggest news of all: the director offered me a flight to go back to Paris early. I know - how rude of me to company-bash when they've offered to fly me to Paris so I can be with the Frenchy, right? Perhaps. The Frenchy was dubious from the start as it's an uncharacteristically generous move on his behalf. I was less sceptical and was even a bit chuffed that they'd spend that much money on me. However, as it turns out, she was on the money as they went back on their offer yesterday.

So where am I at now? Well, having had the idea of returning to Paris early put into my head, I've booked and paid for a flight myself and will be back on French soil in mid-July. The plan is to be there until early October, by which stage I'm expecting the French government to have made up its mind about the sponsorship and, if they've said yes, to have sent the valuable piece of paper to Australia. I'll then fly back to Sydney, apply for the visa, wait one-two months for approval, and then fly back to Paris in November or December (although mum said yesterday we might spend Christmas here and get the Frenchy across too. Food for thought!)

So, at this point in time, it's actually working out quite well: I'll be here for my nephew's/niece's arrival, I'll get to see the Frenchy sooner than expected, and I'll get to come back to Australia towards the end of the year. And if what the coaching manager said is true, the company will be flying me back to Paris - in accordance with the sponsorship agreement - once the visa is approved. The adventure continues!

Update...from Australia

Almost two months ago my working holiday visa ran out and I had to return to Australia. I haven't really felt like writing anything down - so much has seemed up in the air and too fleeting to record - but after two months, and with probably the same amount time to go, there's time to pen a few words.

The weeks before I left were insane. I was offered a sponsorship deal by the company I'd been indirectly working for (the MBA Center, not my portage company) just before the start of April. The Frenchy and I had already begun the process of sorting through a sponsorship deal with the portage company, so we handed over everything we'd found to the MBA Center. Unfortunately, and despite repeated attempts at clarification, they were convinced it was vastly more complicated. This caused delays, and with each day more precious than the last, any delay was looked on by us with increasing annoyance. So what began as a relatively straightforward (if action-heavy) process turned into a daily, then weekly, and now monthly drama.

At the moment, I'm waiting on the MBA Center's director to interview the people who applied for my position. One of the stipulations of a French sponsorship agreement is that no foreign person may do a job that a French national can, so we had to advertise the position and interview anyone who applied. Unfortunately, several people did just that, and it's taken the director several weeks to organise himself sufficiently to be able to conduct the interviews. Knowing him, it will take another week at least to get through them, and for the Frenchy and I, weeks seem like years.

Once he's done the interviews, the MBA Center can finally complete the sponsorship application and send it to the French employment department. From there, as I understand it, if it's accepted it will go to another working department who will give it the final once-over. If it's accepted there, they'll send me a piece of paper which I can take to the French consulate in Sydney as part of a long-term visa application. From there, the process is simple - a two-four week wait for the visa and then whoosh, back on a plane to Paris. Simple, huh?

I've come up with a rough timeline for all of this (perhaps wishfully thinking. We'll see):

• Interviews: One-two weeks

• Department check 1: One week

• Department check 2: One week

• Postage of valuable piece of paper: One week

• Visa application: Two-four weeks

• Total = Six-nine weeks.

Do I sound a little negative? I guess I am. It's not all doom and gloom though!
The good news is that I've been offered and have signed a contract, so - technically - the job is mine. I won't go deeply into the fact that the job the contract offered is nothing like what I was offered and shook hands on in the weeks before leaving Paris. Suffice it to say that I at least HAVE a job and all the benefits that go along with it. Including, most importantly, being able to be with the Frenchy again.

In the meantime, I'm getting in the occasional paddle on the Harbour, catching up with friends, re-establishing contact with people I haven't seen or spoken to in ages (several years in some cases), still working occasionally for the MBA Center, and also looking for further work. If anyone has any openings anywhere, I'm your man!
I'm also, and this is the best part of all, going to be in Sydney for the birth of my nephew (or niece...though I'm convinced it's going to be a boy), due in mid-July.

So that's where we're at. Holding Pattern D (for Delayed) but hoping to move to Pattern A (for Advancing) soon enough.