Thursday April 4, 11:41 p.m.
Well, there's been a switch in tonight's fortunes with our sports teams. The Blue Jays finally won one after losing the first two games of the season to the Cleveland Indians. They pulled off a victory 10-8; so their bats were finally firing on all cylinders although the pitching was a bit off. Just down the block, the Leafs couldn't quite catch up with the Flyers, and perhaps in worse news, Lupul may be off injured again.
Got whomped with another major translation assignment again which will probably take me into next week. And I gotta do some more changes on Saturday. When it rains, it pours.
Showing posts with label Translation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Translation. Show all posts
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Easter Weekend
Sunday March 31, 8:58 p.m.
Hard to believe that we're almost into April, and there is still the threat of snow tomorrow. And the weekend was so mild, too. Maybe April Fool's is coming a bit early this year. Hey, this is Toronto...world of wacky weather!
Since I'm neither religious nor a huge eater of chocolate anymore, Easter doesn't have that much meaning for me. And since I work almost exclusively at home now, the long weekend didn't really have that oomph. Still, since it was a holiday weekend, our family went out for good ol' Fish n' Chips. But because the Catholics are indeed keeping to tradition and not eating any red meat, the Fish n' Chips places were doing volume business; I think one owner remarked that Good Friday is the busiest day of the year for them. My family hit The Olde York, a venerable old place, on Saturday evening. And sure enough, Good Friday was spilling over into Good Saturday. We had to wait for about 30 minutes before we could get a table, but the service was absolutely friendly and unruffled despite the hungry hordes, and we all splurged for the Halibut. Of course, that fish is the most delicious (and not surprisingly, the fattiest one); whenever I've gone there in the past, I've gone for the more inexpensive but drier Haddock but since I was eschewing the chowder and the dessert, I decided to go for the gusto. Wasn't disappointed.
Got back home to see the Leafs trounce the Senators 4-0....one columnist for "The Toronto Star" has all but anointed the team into Playoff Nirvana. I'm not quite ready to make that pronouncement myself, but it's nice to hear such happy thoughts this year compared to the horror that was on the ice this time last year.
Then, I saw the start of the 2nd half of Season 7 of "Doctor Who" with a new companion and a slightly new outfit for the Time Lord. Apparently, the reviews have been somewhat mixed for "The Bells of St. John". I'm more in the middle of the pack. It was nice to see Matt Smith happy and madly eccentric, especially after that horrid swan song episode to the Ponds, and the accompanying travelogue to London reminded me of "Skyfall". However, the episode didn't have quite the oomph I had been expecting for the 11th Doctor, especially after all of the accolades that the Xmas Special had gotten (still haven't had the chance to watch it). Hopefully, things will be going ever upwards.
Unfortunately, there has been another shooting at another major shopping mall in Toronto in as many years. The Toronto news channels were all fixated on Yorkdale Mall for the rest of the night after some sort of altercation; from the sounds of the victim's and the instigators' names, it may be a Vietnamese gang issue. Just another way that Toronto seems to be resembling more like an American metropolis....creaking transit system and urban crime.
Hard to believe that we're almost into April, and there is still the threat of snow tomorrow. And the weekend was so mild, too. Maybe April Fool's is coming a bit early this year. Hey, this is Toronto...world of wacky weather!
Since I'm neither religious nor a huge eater of chocolate anymore, Easter doesn't have that much meaning for me. And since I work almost exclusively at home now, the long weekend didn't really have that oomph. Still, since it was a holiday weekend, our family went out for good ol' Fish n' Chips. But because the Catholics are indeed keeping to tradition and not eating any red meat, the Fish n' Chips places were doing volume business; I think one owner remarked that Good Friday is the busiest day of the year for them. My family hit The Olde York, a venerable old place, on Saturday evening. And sure enough, Good Friday was spilling over into Good Saturday. We had to wait for about 30 minutes before we could get a table, but the service was absolutely friendly and unruffled despite the hungry hordes, and we all splurged for the Halibut. Of course, that fish is the most delicious (and not surprisingly, the fattiest one); whenever I've gone there in the past, I've gone for the more inexpensive but drier Haddock but since I was eschewing the chowder and the dessert, I decided to go for the gusto. Wasn't disappointed.
Got back home to see the Leafs trounce the Senators 4-0....one columnist for "The Toronto Star" has all but anointed the team into Playoff Nirvana. I'm not quite ready to make that pronouncement myself, but it's nice to hear such happy thoughts this year compared to the horror that was on the ice this time last year.
Then, I saw the start of the 2nd half of Season 7 of "Doctor Who" with a new companion and a slightly new outfit for the Time Lord. Apparently, the reviews have been somewhat mixed for "The Bells of St. John". I'm more in the middle of the pack. It was nice to see Matt Smith happy and madly eccentric, especially after that horrid swan song episode to the Ponds, and the accompanying travelogue to London reminded me of "Skyfall". However, the episode didn't have quite the oomph I had been expecting for the 11th Doctor, especially after all of the accolades that the Xmas Special had gotten (still haven't had the chance to watch it). Hopefully, things will be going ever upwards.
Unfortunately, there has been another shooting at another major shopping mall in Toronto in as many years. The Toronto news channels were all fixated on Yorkdale Mall for the rest of the night after some sort of altercation; from the sounds of the victim's and the instigators' names, it may be a Vietnamese gang issue. Just another way that Toronto seems to be resembling more like an American metropolis....creaking transit system and urban crime.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Francis the Humble Pope
Friday March 15, 3:16 p.m.
I was just a minute away from having a perfect 3/15 3:15. Beware the Ides of March! Thought I'd throw that in as well.
In any case, I've gone through another muscle-aching round of translations for this week. A lot of my upper-body muscles are feeling properly sore including the one between my ears. I can't really divulge the contents of the source, only to say that it involves tourism, and tourism projects always involve very flowery language. Rather obvious thing to say, even to those not in the translation business, but it's never a straight one-to-one bilingual transliteration; there's always some detective work about what the client really wants to be said. But I can do it and I can make money out of it.
Anyways, last time I wrote an entry here, it was just before the white smoke billowed out of the world's most famous chimney, Habeas Papum and the emergence of Pope Francis I. There are probably a lot of very happy bettors in Las Vegas who went for the Argentinian....the payoffs must've been huge. There was absolutely no mention of the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in any media site or paper; he just literally popped up from behind that curtain from nowhere. Mind you, Chris Cuomo of CNN is probably being even more obnoxious about the fact that he was the only one to have even mentioned his possibility in becoming Pope. Well, in any case, Francis is getting his honeymoon period right now and the world media is talking about how humble and pious he had been in his native Argentina. We shall see what happens after his Inauguration Mass this weekend.
Yesterday, while Pope Francis I was probably lining up to get his Big Mac Meal at the Vatican Golden Arches (again, humility), I was having lunch with Shard at Kinton Ramen downtown. I was back at the counter again which I actually do prefer instead of the Kyushu table at the front. I went for the regular Shio Ramen while Shard went for Miso. It's been interesting going out with different folks in my last three visits to Kinton. Back on Boxing Day, it was with one member of the Anime Court and Automan in which the conversation was pretty regular, while with The Wild Guy and The Banker and Egg a few weeks ago, it was more business-oriented. Yesterday, Shard, who has a deep interest in design, got into the nitty-gritty of the decor inside and outside of the restaurant. I think I have a deeper appreciation of all of the wood that was sacrificed for the place. I'm happy that Shard enjoyed his ramen and the surroundings. My bowl just had a bit of a rancid whiff of pork which was not that great but the karaage chicken was crunchy and juicy at the same time. And the two of us ended up getting recruited into the restaurant's Kinton Bowler program in which if we drain our bowls over the next 10 visits, Kinton will throw in a free plate of gyoza on our 11th visit....that is, if we don't keel over from cholesterol toxicity at the end of the year.
Of course, after such a rich lunch, we fairly waddled our way over to a Starbucks inside Sick Kids Hospital. Shard informed me of this deal with a coupon for a free Caramel or Hazelnut Macchiatto. As it turned out, it was a bit of a hoax by an uploader, but the staff there had been apprised of the ruse and yet were still smilingly willing to give out the free coffee. The other lesson I learned that is if you decide to get a coffee at a Timmies or a Starbucks during the noon hour, getting one at a hospital atrium or being near a huge atrium in an office building will usually guarantee empty seats for you.
It will be a quiet weekend. No Skype lessons and no outing with The Anime King since he is off to Chicago on a business trip. We did have our biweekly telephone conversation a couple of days ago. However, The Egg contacted me to see about dinner plans for tomorrow. Gotta follow up on that.
And by the way, if any of you are having a bad day, just think about the executives at Carnival Cruises, and you'll feel much better.
I was just a minute away from having a perfect 3/15 3:15. Beware the Ides of March! Thought I'd throw that in as well.
In any case, I've gone through another muscle-aching round of translations for this week. A lot of my upper-body muscles are feeling properly sore including the one between my ears. I can't really divulge the contents of the source, only to say that it involves tourism, and tourism projects always involve very flowery language. Rather obvious thing to say, even to those not in the translation business, but it's never a straight one-to-one bilingual transliteration; there's always some detective work about what the client really wants to be said. But I can do it and I can make money out of it.
Anyways, last time I wrote an entry here, it was just before the white smoke billowed out of the world's most famous chimney, Habeas Papum and the emergence of Pope Francis I. There are probably a lot of very happy bettors in Las Vegas who went for the Argentinian....the payoffs must've been huge. There was absolutely no mention of the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in any media site or paper; he just literally popped up from behind that curtain from nowhere. Mind you, Chris Cuomo of CNN is probably being even more obnoxious about the fact that he was the only one to have even mentioned his possibility in becoming Pope. Well, in any case, Francis is getting his honeymoon period right now and the world media is talking about how humble and pious he had been in his native Argentina. We shall see what happens after his Inauguration Mass this weekend.
Yesterday, while Pope Francis I was probably lining up to get his Big Mac Meal at the Vatican Golden Arches (again, humility), I was having lunch with Shard at Kinton Ramen downtown. I was back at the counter again which I actually do prefer instead of the Kyushu table at the front. I went for the regular Shio Ramen while Shard went for Miso. It's been interesting going out with different folks in my last three visits to Kinton. Back on Boxing Day, it was with one member of the Anime Court and Automan in which the conversation was pretty regular, while with The Wild Guy and The Banker and Egg a few weeks ago, it was more business-oriented. Yesterday, Shard, who has a deep interest in design, got into the nitty-gritty of the decor inside and outside of the restaurant. I think I have a deeper appreciation of all of the wood that was sacrificed for the place. I'm happy that Shard enjoyed his ramen and the surroundings. My bowl just had a bit of a rancid whiff of pork which was not that great but the karaage chicken was crunchy and juicy at the same time. And the two of us ended up getting recruited into the restaurant's Kinton Bowler program in which if we drain our bowls over the next 10 visits, Kinton will throw in a free plate of gyoza on our 11th visit....that is, if we don't keel over from cholesterol toxicity at the end of the year.
Of course, after such a rich lunch, we fairly waddled our way over to a Starbucks inside Sick Kids Hospital. Shard informed me of this deal with a coupon for a free Caramel or Hazelnut Macchiatto. As it turned out, it was a bit of a hoax by an uploader, but the staff there had been apprised of the ruse and yet were still smilingly willing to give out the free coffee. The other lesson I learned that is if you decide to get a coffee at a Timmies or a Starbucks during the noon hour, getting one at a hospital atrium or being near a huge atrium in an office building will usually guarantee empty seats for you.
It will be a quiet weekend. No Skype lessons and no outing with The Anime King since he is off to Chicago on a business trip. We did have our biweekly telephone conversation a couple of days ago. However, The Egg contacted me to see about dinner plans for tomorrow. Gotta follow up on that.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Neighbourhood Stuff
Tuesday March 12, 11:16 p.m.
Well, it's been mostly a day of translation and watching the start of the Conclave at the Vatican. I'm not religious by any means but as an observer of world events, it's been interesting watching all the mysterious pomp and circumstance surrounding the choice of a new Pope. And now, SmokeWatch has begun....just love how the media can jargonize even a centuries-old tradition. A chimney is getting more attention than it even gets during Christmas Eve. Of course, nothing came of the first vote as expected, but perhaps tomorrow. However, most folks say the new Pope will appear on Thursday at the earliest.
Got through another round of translation. I got a new assignment of hunting and translating for tomorrow which could be intriguing. It looks like I'm getting into a good groove with my new profession.
Tonight, I actually went to a meeting concerning the unit owners of our development for the first time with Dad. The session involved the presentation of a company coming over to increase the efficiency of our toilets and other fixtures, but we went there to primarily talk with the new property manager about that problem with leakage in the bedroom. Not surprisingly, I was the 2nd-youngest guy there and the questions to the slick presenter were refreshingly direct. To the sales representative's credit, he did a pretty good job and he even went right up to one old fellow whose hearing wasn't too good to explain things as best as he could. Having turned into a major skeptic about most things in life, I wasn't willing to believe everything at first speak so I'm gonna see how the board and residents decide. The jury is out on the manager as well. The regional guy was quite sold on him and made it quite known but the oft-frustrated custodian of our buildings before the new management company came in made it known to my parents that he has no love for this new guy. I did get a straight answer from the regional manager about my problem, but it was unfortunate that the property manager said absolutely nothing to us. Not a good start to me.
And buried in all that stuff about the Conclave and translations and toilet talk was the news that life could have very well existed on Mars after all. Geeks are dancing in the street....or in the basement.
Well, it's been mostly a day of translation and watching the start of the Conclave at the Vatican. I'm not religious by any means but as an observer of world events, it's been interesting watching all the mysterious pomp and circumstance surrounding the choice of a new Pope. And now, SmokeWatch has begun....just love how the media can jargonize even a centuries-old tradition. A chimney is getting more attention than it even gets during Christmas Eve. Of course, nothing came of the first vote as expected, but perhaps tomorrow. However, most folks say the new Pope will appear on Thursday at the earliest.
Got through another round of translation. I got a new assignment of hunting and translating for tomorrow which could be intriguing. It looks like I'm getting into a good groove with my new profession.
Tonight, I actually went to a meeting concerning the unit owners of our development for the first time with Dad. The session involved the presentation of a company coming over to increase the efficiency of our toilets and other fixtures, but we went there to primarily talk with the new property manager about that problem with leakage in the bedroom. Not surprisingly, I was the 2nd-youngest guy there and the questions to the slick presenter were refreshingly direct. To the sales representative's credit, he did a pretty good job and he even went right up to one old fellow whose hearing wasn't too good to explain things as best as he could. Having turned into a major skeptic about most things in life, I wasn't willing to believe everything at first speak so I'm gonna see how the board and residents decide. The jury is out on the manager as well. The regional guy was quite sold on him and made it quite known but the oft-frustrated custodian of our buildings before the new management company came in made it known to my parents that he has no love for this new guy. I did get a straight answer from the regional manager about my problem, but it was unfortunate that the property manager said absolutely nothing to us. Not a good start to me.
And buried in all that stuff about the Conclave and translations and toilet talk was the news that life could have very well existed on Mars after all. Geeks are dancing in the street....or in the basement.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Fun and Work
Monday March 4, 2:30 p.m.
Well, just to link back to what I'd said last entry....I should've knocked on wood a bit harder. As soon as I mentioned that I would be having a slight respite from all that translating, a big assignment landed on my lap which I've finally completed for hand-in tonight. But I'd also mentioned that that textbook wouldn't get to Mr. Moriya in time?.....well, it got just there in the nick of it, miraculously enough.
However, I was able to spend some time enjoying more ramen at Kinton on Friday afternoon. As usual, I was the first one in line at about 11:10 a.m. Believe me, I don't mean to be so early but I don't really have a very good temporal sense so I always err on the side of caution. Luckily, all three of my ramen companions showed up in plenty of time. We got the Kyushu table right at the front. And as usual, it didn't take long for the place to get filled up. I could actually eat the Extra Pork Ramen with a sampling of gyoza and karaage without re-enacting one of the climactic scenes of "Alien". Then, it was up to the Second Cup across from U of T for a bit of coffee, conversation and digestion.
On Sunday, it was the usual get-together with The Anime King for a round of food and anime. Did Asian Legend for lunch and then that Chinese hot pot place on McNicoll for dinner. That hot place wasn't too bad but unfortunately, the chicken was pretty chintzy. I get far more stuff on the bones in my mother's hot pot.
Well, just to link back to what I'd said last entry....I should've knocked on wood a bit harder. As soon as I mentioned that I would be having a slight respite from all that translating, a big assignment landed on my lap which I've finally completed for hand-in tonight. But I'd also mentioned that that textbook wouldn't get to Mr. Moriya in time?.....well, it got just there in the nick of it, miraculously enough.
However, I was able to spend some time enjoying more ramen at Kinton on Friday afternoon. As usual, I was the first one in line at about 11:10 a.m. Believe me, I don't mean to be so early but I don't really have a very good temporal sense so I always err on the side of caution. Luckily, all three of my ramen companions showed up in plenty of time. We got the Kyushu table right at the front. And as usual, it didn't take long for the place to get filled up. I could actually eat the Extra Pork Ramen with a sampling of gyoza and karaage without re-enacting one of the climactic scenes of "Alien". Then, it was up to the Second Cup across from U of T for a bit of coffee, conversation and digestion.
On Sunday, it was the usual get-together with The Anime King for a round of food and anime. Did Asian Legend for lunch and then that Chinese hot pot place on McNicoll for dinner. That hot place wasn't too bad but unfortunately, the chicken was pretty chintzy. I get far more stuff on the bones in my mother's hot pot.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Hopefully, a quantum of solace today....
Thursday February 28, 10:42 a.m.
No real allusions to the relatively worst of the current Daniel Craig Bond movies....just would like to have a brief respite from the translation work. However, I still have to think about what to do with my Skype student on Saturday night since basically it is assumed that the new textbook will not reach him in time for the next lesson. I have some ideas...just hope that they haven't already been utilized sometime over the past 2 years.
Yesterday, Toronto did get another walloping of snow. However, although it didn't quite live up to the sturm und drang of a couple of weeks ago, the fact that it was heavy wet snow made things a nightmare for commuters, and even for me. I only had to walk across the street to the nearest convenience store for a paper but I distinctly had to make several chess knight-like moves to avoid the worst of the glacial quicksand. Speaking with The Anime King last night, he told me that he literally had had to move through and around slushy lakes to and from work. It also became a prime part of the newscast last night as well.
Well, the world loses a Pope today due to retirement and not death for the first time in 600 years. Of course, there is all the pomp and circumstance that the media outlets can provide. It looks like the next half-month can be depended on for non-stop coverage of the crowning of a new Pontiff. Perhaps CNN should change its full name to the "Catholic News Network" for the interim. Hey, maybe if Cardinal Oullet does become the first Canadian Pope, he could be called Pope Mackenzie A(rimshot!)
Speaking about losing, the Leafs dropped one to the Canadiens last night. I took a brief look when the game was still tied at 2-2, but then apparently the bottom fell out at the ACC. I hope Randy Carlyle gave a good verbal whopping to the troops. I also hope that this isn't the beginning of another mid-season collapse that's become all too much of a custom in Toronto. It looks like it was generally a bad day for local team sports. The Blue Jays got eviscerated in Dunedin and I think the Raptors lost as well.
Getting back to Bond, that limp 007 tribute at the Oscars on Sunday apparently got someone to make a superior brand of tribute on YouTube. Dark Horizons.com thought it good enough to show on their website. I don't think it's quite the grand slam homer but it's a definite improvement and at least it has actual quotes. For me, it would've been even better if instead of just the theme from "Skyfall", the other classic original themes from entries like "Goldfinger", "Live and Let Die" and "From Russia With Love" could've also been inserted.
No real allusions to the relatively worst of the current Daniel Craig Bond movies....just would like to have a brief respite from the translation work. However, I still have to think about what to do with my Skype student on Saturday night since basically it is assumed that the new textbook will not reach him in time for the next lesson. I have some ideas...just hope that they haven't already been utilized sometime over the past 2 years.
Yesterday, Toronto did get another walloping of snow. However, although it didn't quite live up to the sturm und drang of a couple of weeks ago, the fact that it was heavy wet snow made things a nightmare for commuters, and even for me. I only had to walk across the street to the nearest convenience store for a paper but I distinctly had to make several chess knight-like moves to avoid the worst of the glacial quicksand. Speaking with The Anime King last night, he told me that he literally had had to move through and around slushy lakes to and from work. It also became a prime part of the newscast last night as well.
Well, the world loses a Pope today due to retirement and not death for the first time in 600 years. Of course, there is all the pomp and circumstance that the media outlets can provide. It looks like the next half-month can be depended on for non-stop coverage of the crowning of a new Pontiff. Perhaps CNN should change its full name to the "Catholic News Network" for the interim. Hey, maybe if Cardinal Oullet does become the first Canadian Pope, he could be called Pope Mackenzie A(rimshot!)
Speaking about losing, the Leafs dropped one to the Canadiens last night. I took a brief look when the game was still tied at 2-2, but then apparently the bottom fell out at the ACC. I hope Randy Carlyle gave a good verbal whopping to the troops. I also hope that this isn't the beginning of another mid-season collapse that's become all too much of a custom in Toronto. It looks like it was generally a bad day for local team sports. The Blue Jays got eviscerated in Dunedin and I think the Raptors lost as well.
Getting back to Bond, that limp 007 tribute at the Oscars on Sunday apparently got someone to make a superior brand of tribute on YouTube. Dark Horizons.com thought it good enough to show on their website. I don't think it's quite the grand slam homer but it's a definite improvement and at least it has actual quotes. For me, it would've been even better if instead of just the theme from "Skyfall", the other classic original themes from entries like "Goldfinger", "Live and Let Die" and "From Russia With Love" could've also been inserted.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Bye Seth, Hello Storm
Tuesday February 26, 11:12 a.m.
Well, in a not-too-surprising PS to last night's entry about Seth MacFarlane and the Oscars, Hollywood's current bullseye just tweeted that he would definitely not come back as the host next year. So I guess Amy and Tina are up! But the producers may have to do battle with the Golden Globes guys to get them. Perhaps the producers can throw in a couple of names to be added later: Paul Rudd and Melissa McCarthy...please.
Supposedly, we got another major storm on the way which could veer from a lot of rain to a lot of snow. Whatever the precip, there's a lot of it coming. It's looking pretty nice out there right now, though.
Got the latest translation off to the company, but I've got one more to finish for Cozy today. Not too difficult.
The Leafs have won another one against the Flyers. It's been a good time to be a Torontonian when it comes to sports. The Blue Jays are not doing too shabbily in Dunedin, the Leafs have been doing far better than last year's sad sacks and the Raptors aren't too bad either (although they lost at home to the NBA's worst road team last night, the Washington Wizards...a bit embarrassing, that). I guess a lot of Toronto sports fans almost feel like a guy who's just come out of rehab a new man.
Unfortunately, I've just heard that 4 Japanese nationals have been killed in Egypt due to a hot air balloon exploding and falling near Luxor. From the names, the four sound like older people; very sad.
Well, in a not-too-surprising PS to last night's entry about Seth MacFarlane and the Oscars, Hollywood's current bullseye just tweeted that he would definitely not come back as the host next year. So I guess Amy and Tina are up! But the producers may have to do battle with the Golden Globes guys to get them. Perhaps the producers can throw in a couple of names to be added later: Paul Rudd and Melissa McCarthy...please.
Supposedly, we got another major storm on the way which could veer from a lot of rain to a lot of snow. Whatever the precip, there's a lot of it coming. It's looking pretty nice out there right now, though.
Got the latest translation off to the company, but I've got one more to finish for Cozy today. Not too difficult.
The Leafs have won another one against the Flyers. It's been a good time to be a Torontonian when it comes to sports. The Blue Jays are not doing too shabbily in Dunedin, the Leafs have been doing far better than last year's sad sacks and the Raptors aren't too bad either (although they lost at home to the NBA's worst road team last night, the Washington Wizards...a bit embarrassing, that). I guess a lot of Toronto sports fans almost feel like a guy who's just come out of rehab a new man.
Unfortunately, I've just heard that 4 Japanese nationals have been killed in Egypt due to a hot air balloon exploding and falling near Luxor. From the names, the four sound like older people; very sad.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Calm Before The Storm
Thursday February 7, 3:09 p.m.
It's been an enervating and energetic past few days for me. As Cozy has been a bit delayed in some of those financial statements to be translated, I've been lucky to get work from my regular gig this week, and I did get a nice healthy check to be deposited in the old account. Still, with the precision needed with this work, I could use a massage AND a nap just about now. As for the energetic part, I've gotten a couple of guest contributors for my Japanese music blog, Kayo Kyoku Plus, and they've been absolutely great with their articles. They're covering artists that I've never covered which means that I have a good chance to discover new singers. It's good talking with folks that share my admittedly niche interest, and I don't feel as much pressure to get a couple of songs up there everyday. I've had some good talks with each of them via e-mail about the wonders of kayo kyoku.
Calm before the storm? Ah, yes, Toronto and much of Southern Ontario is supposed to be socked with about 15~20 cm of the white stuff starting from tonight. So, the big news on the news channels highlights the salting trucks and the weather map. Tokyo was gonna get walloped by a second major snowstorm but it turned out to be a mostly false alarm. Some flakes did fall on The Big Sushi, but here in Toronto, we eat those flakes for a light snack. I'm just glad that I don't need to commute anymore. Although if it's as bad as they're forecasting, I think most people will be more than happy to take a sick day on a Friday.
Looks like I've got another Santouka run next Tuesday with another ramen buddy of mine. The two of us got together more than a year ago for ramen (we've gotten together a few times over the months but with his family and not for ramen) at Kenzo but nothing since then. One of my old students who's now living with his family in California recommended the toroniku ramen with pork cheeks. I did see a page devoted to that type in the menu last Friday, so hey, why not? Plenty of cholesterol to go around.
I got a call out of the blue from another old friend yesterday. Looks like he and his family had gotten bogged down by the flu over The Holidays which would explain why I didn't hear much from him for the past few months. But it sounded like he's hale and hearty again, so hopefully we can all get together for lunch or dinner in the next few weeks.....provided I can shovel out of the snow.
It looks like my Skype student will be continuing on with me. Very grateful for that but I have to find a certain textbook for him. I'll be doing my scouring via Amazon or going downtown to the various bookshops.
It's been an enervating and energetic past few days for me. As Cozy has been a bit delayed in some of those financial statements to be translated, I've been lucky to get work from my regular gig this week, and I did get a nice healthy check to be deposited in the old account. Still, with the precision needed with this work, I could use a massage AND a nap just about now. As for the energetic part, I've gotten a couple of guest contributors for my Japanese music blog, Kayo Kyoku Plus, and they've been absolutely great with their articles. They're covering artists that I've never covered which means that I have a good chance to discover new singers. It's good talking with folks that share my admittedly niche interest, and I don't feel as much pressure to get a couple of songs up there everyday. I've had some good talks with each of them via e-mail about the wonders of kayo kyoku.
Calm before the storm? Ah, yes, Toronto and much of Southern Ontario is supposed to be socked with about 15~20 cm of the white stuff starting from tonight. So, the big news on the news channels highlights the salting trucks and the weather map. Tokyo was gonna get walloped by a second major snowstorm but it turned out to be a mostly false alarm. Some flakes did fall on The Big Sushi, but here in Toronto, we eat those flakes for a light snack. I'm just glad that I don't need to commute anymore. Although if it's as bad as they're forecasting, I think most people will be more than happy to take a sick day on a Friday.
Looks like I've got another Santouka run next Tuesday with another ramen buddy of mine. The two of us got together more than a year ago for ramen (we've gotten together a few times over the months but with his family and not for ramen) at Kenzo but nothing since then. One of my old students who's now living with his family in California recommended the toroniku ramen with pork cheeks. I did see a page devoted to that type in the menu last Friday, so hey, why not? Plenty of cholesterol to go around.
I got a call out of the blue from another old friend yesterday. Looks like he and his family had gotten bogged down by the flu over The Holidays which would explain why I didn't hear much from him for the past few months. But it sounded like he's hale and hearty again, so hopefully we can all get together for lunch or dinner in the next few weeks.....provided I can shovel out of the snow.
It looks like my Skype student will be continuing on with me. Very grateful for that but I have to find a certain textbook for him. I'll be doing my scouring via Amazon or going downtown to the various bookshops.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Topsy-Turvy Temperatures of Toronto
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| Wednesday Jan 30 at +14 C |
Gotta say that the picture on the left doesn't really do the weather yesterday justice. But after last week's deep freeze where the average temperature was hovering around -12 C, to experience a temp that was 26 degrees higher was almost overwhelmingly giddy. Toronto weather has always been a bit on the weird side no matter what time of the year, but even yesterday was cause for Torontonians to scratch their heads....or just walk to work in T-shirts and shorts. Taking a walk around the neighbourhood meant that the only obstacle was mud and not ice.
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| Thursday Jan 31 at -3 C |
Of course, all this extreme weather has meant consequences on the city's aging infrastructure. Water pipes burst and giant sinkholes emerged out of nowhere. And Toronto City Hall is trying to figure out where to get the funds to do all this repair.
Well, in any case, I'm feeling a bit antsy since I handed in the big translation project last night, and have got not all that much to do right now. Mind you, I do have that small financial statement translation to hand in for Cozy, but I got the basic translation done this morning. I just have to ask him a few questions on some vocab, and I should be OK to give the final draft.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Snow, Rain, Fog....Next, Locusts?
Tuesday January 29, 4:08 p.m.
Back in my Japan days, I often told students about the wacky nature of Toronto weather, and sometimes I did tend to embellish things a bit, although it wasn't by much. But I gotta say that yesterday was an exaggeration come true. Snow in the overnight hours, followed by sleet in the morning, full-blown rain in the afternoon and then fog last night. I can now honestly say that weather is indeed certifiably insane in this city. And it ain't over by a longshot. It's absolutely balmy today at +9 C, but we're getting even hotter tomorrow with a double-digit high of +12 C! Of course, Thursday will have a high of just -2....the temperature will plummet faster than Wile E. Coyote off a cliff.
I've finally got another epic translation done, and this time with more than 24 hours on the clock before deadline, so I've got a chance to give it a very decent going-over before the hand-in. And I got a good deal of practice on TRADOS. Still not too crazy about it but I feel I've got a fairly good bearing on it now. And at least, I can get a good start on Cozy's annual translation of his statements.
I received a couple of contacts from friends yesterday. One was from Sam who wanted to see if I were interested in having a Winterlicious meal with him sometime this week. Not sure if it's lunch or dinner. Winterlicious is one-half of that annual Toronto foodie festival, along with Summerlicious, that was borne from the SARS scare of a decade ago when restaurants were struggling to survive from lack of customers; so fairly high-falutin' restaurants decided to have weeklong specials at reasonable prix fixe to attract the skittish but culinarily curious hordes. It was a good way to get the food business back into the swing of things, but I wonder if it should've just stayed a one-shot injection into the arm instead of the chronic care it has become. People have been complaining that these currently healthy restaurants have been serving sub-standard fare at those fixed prices in a crazily crowded environment. I didn't bother going to any of the designated restaurants since even at prix fixe, I really couldn't see myself paying the prices they still demanded. I'm still not even sure now, but I did ask Sam what he was interested in trying out.
The other contact was the bi-weekly phone call from The Anime King. Had a good talk on the Precure franchise, since the current series in the franchise finished its run a couple of days ago. According to my friend, it was fine but nothing too awe-inspiring. But the new series starts on the ground running from this Sunday. Told him that I wasn't too sure about meeting him this coming Sunday since it's possible that my brother's family may be coming over, but I'm keeping Saturday open as an option since the two of us have wanted to head on out to The Olde York Fish N' Chips shop; it's open on Saturday but not on Sunday. It'll have to be a truncated outing with him, though, since I also have my Skype student on that night. Speaking of which, I got some souvenirs from him via the mail yesterday from his Holiday trip to Taiwan.
Back in my Japan days, I often told students about the wacky nature of Toronto weather, and sometimes I did tend to embellish things a bit, although it wasn't by much. But I gotta say that yesterday was an exaggeration come true. Snow in the overnight hours, followed by sleet in the morning, full-blown rain in the afternoon and then fog last night. I can now honestly say that weather is indeed certifiably insane in this city. And it ain't over by a longshot. It's absolutely balmy today at +9 C, but we're getting even hotter tomorrow with a double-digit high of +12 C! Of course, Thursday will have a high of just -2....the temperature will plummet faster than Wile E. Coyote off a cliff.
I've finally got another epic translation done, and this time with more than 24 hours on the clock before deadline, so I've got a chance to give it a very decent going-over before the hand-in. And I got a good deal of practice on TRADOS. Still not too crazy about it but I feel I've got a fairly good bearing on it now. And at least, I can get a good start on Cozy's annual translation of his statements.
I received a couple of contacts from friends yesterday. One was from Sam who wanted to see if I were interested in having a Winterlicious meal with him sometime this week. Not sure if it's lunch or dinner. Winterlicious is one-half of that annual Toronto foodie festival, along with Summerlicious, that was borne from the SARS scare of a decade ago when restaurants were struggling to survive from lack of customers; so fairly high-falutin' restaurants decided to have weeklong specials at reasonable prix fixe to attract the skittish but culinarily curious hordes. It was a good way to get the food business back into the swing of things, but I wonder if it should've just stayed a one-shot injection into the arm instead of the chronic care it has become. People have been complaining that these currently healthy restaurants have been serving sub-standard fare at those fixed prices in a crazily crowded environment. I didn't bother going to any of the designated restaurants since even at prix fixe, I really couldn't see myself paying the prices they still demanded. I'm still not even sure now, but I did ask Sam what he was interested in trying out.
The other contact was the bi-weekly phone call from The Anime King. Had a good talk on the Precure franchise, since the current series in the franchise finished its run a couple of days ago. According to my friend, it was fine but nothing too awe-inspiring. But the new series starts on the ground running from this Sunday. Told him that I wasn't too sure about meeting him this coming Sunday since it's possible that my brother's family may be coming over, but I'm keeping Saturday open as an option since the two of us have wanted to head on out to The Olde York Fish N' Chips shop; it's open on Saturday but not on Sunday. It'll have to be a truncated outing with him, though, since I also have my Skype student on that night. Speaking of which, I got some souvenirs from him via the mail yesterday from his Holiday trip to Taiwan.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Leafs Lose, Ontario Wynne!
Sunday January 27, 12:14 a.m.
Well, it was another day spent figuring out Japanese into English, although I did use my "parole" to walk around the block in the last day of deep freeze before another thaw comes our way. Heading up to 12 degrees by Tuesday! With this pattern of alternating freezing and heating up since the year began, all of us may end up truly tempered by Spring. Didn't make a whole lot of headway in the translation since I got caught in a spate of tricky vocab and tangled sentence structure, unfortunately. At this rate, by tomorrow night, I'll probably have to inform the boss that I will need to pass off the final parts of it to others since I now have Cozy's translation requests to handle as well.
The overarching theme on TV was via CP24 with that Ontario Liberal Party leadership convention finishing up today at the old Maple Leaf Gardens (I heard the Leafs used to actually win Stanley Cups there once). I just popped in on the channel once every few hours to see how the voting was going; unless I were the most ardent of political animals, I wouldn't last 10 hours to watch who was going to win one of those. But at the end of the day, literally and figuratively, Kathleen Wynne got the nod to become the new Liberal leader and, therefore, received the keys to the Premiership of Ontario....for as however long as she can keep them before a Spring election. It may all end up being a short internship for her since the Liberals are not a well-loved group outside of the Gardens.
It was a slight surprise since in the last few days, it seemed that her closest competitor, Sandra Pupatello, was about ready to take over in the media's eyes, but on the third ballot, Wynne won. So, she now not only has become the province's first female premier, but she is the first openly gay premier in the history of Canada. And the wonderful thing is that, although that latter fact was mentioned a fair bit during the coverage, jaws didn't drop or eyes boggle out as in a Warner Bros. cartoon at the news.
But it could be interesting for Mayor Rob Ford. He's never said it openly, but it's generally assumed that he's no fan of the LGBT community. I just wonder how a first meeting is gonna be like.
As for the Leafs, I think I'm detecting a pattern. They take a lead for two-thirds of a game and then lose it all in the end. It's kinda like that Las Vegas sucker who supposedly wins big at poker before the Ocean's Eleven gang wipes him out at the stroke of midnight. Maybe it's time for Coach Carlyle to put his Loonies where his mouth is and start benching a few players.
Well, it was another day spent figuring out Japanese into English, although I did use my "parole" to walk around the block in the last day of deep freeze before another thaw comes our way. Heading up to 12 degrees by Tuesday! With this pattern of alternating freezing and heating up since the year began, all of us may end up truly tempered by Spring. Didn't make a whole lot of headway in the translation since I got caught in a spate of tricky vocab and tangled sentence structure, unfortunately. At this rate, by tomorrow night, I'll probably have to inform the boss that I will need to pass off the final parts of it to others since I now have Cozy's translation requests to handle as well.
The overarching theme on TV was via CP24 with that Ontario Liberal Party leadership convention finishing up today at the old Maple Leaf Gardens (I heard the Leafs used to actually win Stanley Cups there once). I just popped in on the channel once every few hours to see how the voting was going; unless I were the most ardent of political animals, I wouldn't last 10 hours to watch who was going to win one of those. But at the end of the day, literally and figuratively, Kathleen Wynne got the nod to become the new Liberal leader and, therefore, received the keys to the Premiership of Ontario....for as however long as she can keep them before a Spring election. It may all end up being a short internship for her since the Liberals are not a well-loved group outside of the Gardens.
It was a slight surprise since in the last few days, it seemed that her closest competitor, Sandra Pupatello, was about ready to take over in the media's eyes, but on the third ballot, Wynne won. So, she now not only has become the province's first female premier, but she is the first openly gay premier in the history of Canada. And the wonderful thing is that, although that latter fact was mentioned a fair bit during the coverage, jaws didn't drop or eyes boggle out as in a Warner Bros. cartoon at the news.
But it could be interesting for Mayor Rob Ford. He's never said it openly, but it's generally assumed that he's no fan of the LGBT community. I just wonder how a first meeting is gonna be like.
As for the Leafs, I think I'm detecting a pattern. They take a lead for two-thirds of a game and then lose it all in the end. It's kinda like that Las Vegas sucker who supposedly wins big at poker before the Ocean's Eleven gang wipes him out at the stroke of midnight. Maybe it's time for Coach Carlyle to put his Loonies where his mouth is and start benching a few players.
Friday, January 25, 2013
A Week of Translation
Friday January 25, 11:13 p.m.
It's been another week of slogging through translation work. But at least it's steady work. I've not only gotten a major assignment right now from the current company I'm working for, but I've also got my first of my annual translation requests from my old student, Cozy, back in Tokyo. It's the first of the financial statements. It doesn't look too, too difficult and it won't be due until next weekend.
I think aside from the Sunday foodie-and-anime outing last weekend, I've basically been staying in my neighbourhood for the past 3 weeks. Haven't even been downtown since the year began. Not that I'm going stir-crazy or anything, and it's always better to earn more money than spend it. Certainly, I'm not too thrilled about paying more for the TTC.
Weatherwise, as I always liked to say to my students in Japan, Toronto is always predictably unpredictable, especially in the Winter. We've just gone through a major deep freeze this week; in a slightly masochistic way, it was nice to have felt -22-degree wind chills. However, by early next week, we may be soaring into the double digits...in the plus zone....for a day or so....before we get back down to Earth once more.
As for the Leafs.....I think it's gonna be another one of those rocky (though truncated) seasons. They've won 2 on the road and lost 2 at home. Sometimes the Leafs want to play, sometimes they don't.....not exactly the right frame of mind for a team that wants to get into the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade.
It's been another week of slogging through translation work. But at least it's steady work. I've not only gotten a major assignment right now from the current company I'm working for, but I've also got my first of my annual translation requests from my old student, Cozy, back in Tokyo. It's the first of the financial statements. It doesn't look too, too difficult and it won't be due until next weekend.
I think aside from the Sunday foodie-and-anime outing last weekend, I've basically been staying in my neighbourhood for the past 3 weeks. Haven't even been downtown since the year began. Not that I'm going stir-crazy or anything, and it's always better to earn more money than spend it. Certainly, I'm not too thrilled about paying more for the TTC.
Weatherwise, as I always liked to say to my students in Japan, Toronto is always predictably unpredictable, especially in the Winter. We've just gone through a major deep freeze this week; in a slightly masochistic way, it was nice to have felt -22-degree wind chills. However, by early next week, we may be soaring into the double digits...in the plus zone....for a day or so....before we get back down to Earth once more.
As for the Leafs.....I think it's gonna be another one of those rocky (though truncated) seasons. They've won 2 on the road and lost 2 at home. Sometimes the Leafs want to play, sometimes they don't.....not exactly the right frame of mind for a team that wants to get into the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Charlie and Wayne
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| courtesy of maurisico from Flickr |
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| courtesy of M. D'Evreux from Flickr |
Yesterday was a marathon session to get that mammoth translation assignment in on time. Gave myself some virtually permanent katakori by tapping away at the keyboard for hours. And sure enough, I have another big assignment due next week. But ain't touching that today....nope, gonna give myself a bit of a break. Mind you, if I had to be cocooned in the apartment, it would've been and should've been yesterday. It was rather cold out there with a high of only -12 C
But I couldn't just stay at home all day today....would've gone stir crazy. And so with it being -18 C this morning, I had my first experience of really cold weather for the first time in decades. It was bracing out there although I was fully equipped, tonsorially speaking. Had the scarf and longjohns on. It was rather nice, though, walking through that cold. Felt positively Canadian again.
Now, as for the title today. I heard and saw a couple of stories....one which is true, one which is not (at least not for now or the near future). First, the true one. Apparently the voice actor behind Charlie Brown was nabbed by police....for stalking, of all things. This is probably gonna be a dream target for the late night show hosts. And strangely enough, couldn't you see perpetually depressed Charlie Brown growing up to become a stalker? His obsession with the Little Red-Haired Girl going to extremes? In any case, I can imagine if some reporter were able to stick a microphone in the actor-turned-jailbird's face, the first thing he probably would say, "RATS"! That is, after he got nabbed by the cops when he exclaimed, "AAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGH!"
The other story that got Toronto going crazy like a fox was the rumour that The Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky, could become the next President of the Maple Leafs, occupying the place left by ousted Brian Burke. Not sure how this one got started, but it was probably a reporter who just decided to throw something into the mix when he/she was interviewing one of the new powers-that-be of the hockey team. I was too busy and stressed out yesterday to catch TV but apparently the media was having a field day with it. But can you imagine Gretzky, the best hockey player in NHL history and with his record as a businessman in the sport, coming to this town....the so-called Mecca of Hockey? Just hard for me to imagine a guy like him leaving the sunny confines of California in happy retirement, though. But then again, if someone finally gets him that money from the Phoenix Coyotes, perhaps he could see Toronto as the ultimate challenge worthy of his talents and time.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Different News Fronts
Monday January 21, 7:51 p.m.
Well, it's been a varied day in terms of news. Down in the States, the main story was the second inauguration of Barack Obama, over in Japan, NHK led with the sad news that 7 Japanese nationals have been confirmed killed due to the hostage incident in Algeria, and over here, the big story was the return of the Leafs to action tonight. It was nice to see and hear the Leafs win the first game in Montreal....and a low-scoring one, at that. Saw the first few minutes of tonight's Buffalo-Toronto game....pretty spirited although the Leaf defence still needs a bit of enhancing, but our own buzzsaw, Colton Orr, managed to knock a 6'8" fellow down to his knees in the first fight at the ACC this year. Always great for morale to see that.
I managed to fairly sprint through another 50 pages of translation this afternoon since there wasn't all that much text. Just have another 50 or so to go and then the final check before hand-in.
Well, it's been a varied day in terms of news. Down in the States, the main story was the second inauguration of Barack Obama, over in Japan, NHK led with the sad news that 7 Japanese nationals have been confirmed killed due to the hostage incident in Algeria, and over here, the big story was the return of the Leafs to action tonight. It was nice to see and hear the Leafs win the first game in Montreal....and a low-scoring one, at that. Saw the first few minutes of tonight's Buffalo-Toronto game....pretty spirited although the Leaf defence still needs a bit of enhancing, but our own buzzsaw, Colton Orr, managed to knock a 6'8" fellow down to his knees in the first fight at the ACC this year. Always great for morale to see that.
I managed to fairly sprint through another 50 pages of translation this afternoon since there wasn't all that much text. Just have another 50 or so to go and then the final check before hand-in.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
From Coast to Coast, It's Back!
Saturday January 19, 7:37 p.m.
Well, the countdown is over.....professional hockey is back on the map as of today. I saw a bit of the Winnipeg-Ottawa game earlier this afternoon...."Hockey Night in Canada" will basically be taking over the entire CBC schedule for the rest of the day and night. It started at about 3 p.m. today, and except for a dinner break of 30 minutes, HNIC will have a total of over 12 hours of broadcast. Talk about engorging desperately starving hockey fans! Right now, the Habs-Leafs game is on in Montreal, but I'm keeping things closed off for now (although I did catch the Olympic-like torch passing amongst the former captains of the Canadiens, and about a few seconds of the actual game), since I will have Mr. Moriya in about 20 minutes for his very first lesson of the year. And I need some down time to get myself prepared for it. I'm sure there will be a bit more free talk in the first several minutes of the lesson since it's been a month since our last lesson, and he and his wife had gone off for a week in Taiwan.
Speaking of Taiwan, The Anime King should be back in town after almost a month of traveling in Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam. He should have quite a few tall tales to tell since he was hinting as much in his e-mails from Asia. He did go off to the small town of Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture since the anime "Girls And Panzers"takes place there. The Anglerfish Dance has become a small phenomenon of note for a small segment of YouTube watchers although Psy won't have to worry too much about being usurped. I should be seeing him tomorrow since he did say that he will make himself available for the first Anime-And-Foodie outing of 2013; apparently, jet lag doesn't affect him at all. I also sent out a mass e-mail to the rest of the Anime Court but only The Iconoclast has even acknowledged reading it, although he said to keep him informed of developments. Don't know what's gonna happen for sure but The King should be calling me after my lesson with my student.
Much of the day before dinner was spent on that mammoth translation assignment....not finished by any stretch of the imagination but I am over the halfway point, and I did make a lot of progress. Still, I'll be taking the day off tomorrow before getting back to the grindstone on Monday.
Anyways, maybe I'll check the telly and see if Randy Carlyle's "Defence First"philosophy is finally rubbing off on the Leafs.
Well, the countdown is over.....professional hockey is back on the map as of today. I saw a bit of the Winnipeg-Ottawa game earlier this afternoon...."Hockey Night in Canada" will basically be taking over the entire CBC schedule for the rest of the day and night. It started at about 3 p.m. today, and except for a dinner break of 30 minutes, HNIC will have a total of over 12 hours of broadcast. Talk about engorging desperately starving hockey fans! Right now, the Habs-Leafs game is on in Montreal, but I'm keeping things closed off for now (although I did catch the Olympic-like torch passing amongst the former captains of the Canadiens, and about a few seconds of the actual game), since I will have Mr. Moriya in about 20 minutes for his very first lesson of the year. And I need some down time to get myself prepared for it. I'm sure there will be a bit more free talk in the first several minutes of the lesson since it's been a month since our last lesson, and he and his wife had gone off for a week in Taiwan.
Speaking of Taiwan, The Anime King should be back in town after almost a month of traveling in Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam. He should have quite a few tall tales to tell since he was hinting as much in his e-mails from Asia. He did go off to the small town of Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture since the anime "Girls And Panzers"takes place there. The Anglerfish Dance has become a small phenomenon of note for a small segment of YouTube watchers although Psy won't have to worry too much about being usurped. I should be seeing him tomorrow since he did say that he will make himself available for the first Anime-And-Foodie outing of 2013; apparently, jet lag doesn't affect him at all. I also sent out a mass e-mail to the rest of the Anime Court but only The Iconoclast has even acknowledged reading it, although he said to keep him informed of developments. Don't know what's gonna happen for sure but The King should be calling me after my lesson with my student.
Much of the day before dinner was spent on that mammoth translation assignment....not finished by any stretch of the imagination but I am over the halfway point, and I did make a lot of progress. Still, I'll be taking the day off tomorrow before getting back to the grindstone on Monday.
Anyways, maybe I'll check the telly and see if Randy Carlyle's "Defence First"philosophy is finally rubbing off on the Leafs.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Anxieties Everywhere
Thursday January 17, 9:36 a.m.
The latest translation is coming along slowly but steadily. However, I'm not a huge fan of TRADOS or at least the learning curve for me seems to be a right angle. I tried to send over a sample file to the boss only to be told that the file didn't have any translation along with the source. Well, I have 16 hours of solid work to prove that I was working on it! Something similar happened to me when I did my first translation on the software, so using another trick, it was able to pull through. I'm hoping that the same thing did the trick this time. In any case, the deadline for this one seems to be rather distant and amorphous so neither the boss nor I are particularly in panic mode. But I'm still unsure.
Japan has been having to deal with a couple of crises in the last few days. The new old Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, would only have had to deal with the usual economic woes infiltrating his country if these situations hadn't happened. But both ANA and JAL have grounded their Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleets like itinerant teens since the batteries on some of the planes have been turning into (smoke) bombs at the very least. Of course, Boeing stock has been going boing at the news....and that is in the bad way. And then there is the ongoing hostage incident in Algeria in which some Japanese nationals have also been taken, although I may have heard that some of them have been released.
Buried within all that is the 18th anniversary of the Kobe Earthquake. Some events will always be remembered....the people in Kobe and the surrounding region certainly haven't forgotten. And as someone who had felt a fraction of the Tohoku Earthquake a couple of years ago in Tokyo (and that fraction was enough to sear itself into my memory forever), I can attest to that.
At the end of this, I also have to mention that Conrad Bain from "Diff'rent Strokes" has passed away. To be honest, I hadn't heard anything about him for years so that I thought he had already left this mortal coil, but he was able to live a good long life. I had no idea that he was actually born in Lethbridge, Alberta. I used to watch the show with him, Gary Coleman, Dana Plato and Todd Bridges on Thursday or Friday on NBC. It's a pity that Bridges is the only surviving member now from that series.
Now that I know Bain's connection with Canada, I can understand a bit more about his brother, Hank, being brought into that old "SCTV" sketch involving the station and alien cabbages.
The latest translation is coming along slowly but steadily. However, I'm not a huge fan of TRADOS or at least the learning curve for me seems to be a right angle. I tried to send over a sample file to the boss only to be told that the file didn't have any translation along with the source. Well, I have 16 hours of solid work to prove that I was working on it! Something similar happened to me when I did my first translation on the software, so using another trick, it was able to pull through. I'm hoping that the same thing did the trick this time. In any case, the deadline for this one seems to be rather distant and amorphous so neither the boss nor I are particularly in panic mode. But I'm still unsure.
Japan has been having to deal with a couple of crises in the last few days. The new old Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, would only have had to deal with the usual economic woes infiltrating his country if these situations hadn't happened. But both ANA and JAL have grounded their Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleets like itinerant teens since the batteries on some of the planes have been turning into (smoke) bombs at the very least. Of course, Boeing stock has been going boing at the news....and that is in the bad way. And then there is the ongoing hostage incident in Algeria in which some Japanese nationals have also been taken, although I may have heard that some of them have been released.
Buried within all that is the 18th anniversary of the Kobe Earthquake. Some events will always be remembered....the people in Kobe and the surrounding region certainly haven't forgotten. And as someone who had felt a fraction of the Tohoku Earthquake a couple of years ago in Tokyo (and that fraction was enough to sear itself into my memory forever), I can attest to that.
At the end of this, I also have to mention that Conrad Bain from "Diff'rent Strokes" has passed away. To be honest, I hadn't heard anything about him for years so that I thought he had already left this mortal coil, but he was able to live a good long life. I had no idea that he was actually born in Lethbridge, Alberta. I used to watch the show with him, Gary Coleman, Dana Plato and Todd Bridges on Thursday or Friday on NBC. It's a pity that Bridges is the only surviving member now from that series.
Now that I know Bain's connection with Canada, I can understand a bit more about his brother, Hank, being brought into that old "SCTV" sketch involving the station and alien cabbages.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Snow in Tokyo
Well, my Facebook was all a-flutter with photos from the buddies back in Japan concerning the big snow in the northern half of Honshu....which includes Tokyo. And YouTube seems to have had quite a few videos get uploaded of the atypical blizzard which swamped the region in white. The video above was taken in the tony neighbourhood of Den'en-Chofu...the home of my Skype student and former Prime Minister Hatoyama; it oughta be interesting talking with him for his first lesson of the year this coming Saturday night. In any case, Tokyo got hit with 7 cm....which is an enormous amount for the Japanese capital. Apparently, the JR is running; the joke about them was that if a single snowflake hit any of the rails, the entire network would come crashing down.
In my years there, I remember perhaps one Winter in which the Kanto region got anything comparable to what happened on Sunday. Basically, Tokyo is snow-free most of the time, and what snow does come down is in the form of pleasant flurries. If there is accumulation, usually it's gone by the next morning. I don't think that will be the case today and perhaps for the next couple of days. Tokyoites may even experience that horrendous sight of watching the snow gradually going various shades of gray and black....and perhaps yellow, in pet-friendly areas.
Meanwhile, over here in Toronto, the grounds are bare once more but perhaps just for a few days. Apparently, 4 cm will be on the way later this week. The cold has returned, though. There was that distinctive below-freezing snap in the air. Spent the afternoon on this new translation assignment....not too difficult but had to download a free PowerPoint viewer on the new computer which was aggravating, plus I got the usual feedback from the editors about my work. I'm never gonna be too thrilled to see that although I am aware that they're trying to improve me as a translator. Let's say taking criticism....constructive or destructive....will never be my strong suit. In any case, it seems that I will be on this assignment for this week so I'm just focusing on that.
The Anime King has gotten in contact with me. He managed to miss the big snowstorm in Tokyo by a couple of weeks, and is now enjoying the hustle and bustle in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. He'll be back on the 19th after his long flight from Southeast Asia back to Canada; was surprised to say that he wants to meet up the next day for our first outing. He may want to re-consider considering the potential for extreme jet lag.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
January Thaw
Sunday January 13, 9:13 p.m.
As was the case yesterday, I couldn't complain about the weather today. Was downright boiling at 12 degrees....too bad the sun refused to cooperate. It was pretty dreary all day. However, things will get back to normal as of tonight as we dip down to -2. Strangely enough, according to a photo put up by my Facebook friend in Japan, it looks like Tokyo is getting bombed with the white stuff. But as I've said before, snow isn't exactly an everyyear phenomenon in that area, so I'm sure a lot of kids...and my friend (she's in her mid-thirties but she's got the heart and energy of someone a sixth her age)...are taking full advantage of having snow.
Well, the NHL training camps are in full swing as of today. As would be the case in this city, the press conferences of both the General Manager and the Coach of the Maple Leafs were Breaking News. Haven't heard any news of major trades and I figure if GM Nonis is gonna be pulling the trigger, it will be within the next 24 hours....otherwise, he'll be making some major disruptions to his team. But then considering the boneheaded timing behind the ousting of his predecessor a few days ago, anything can happen.
Got my latest translation assignment in, and I'll probably be getting another multi-day one tomorrow. I'm definitely getting busier....the money coming in will be helpful, especially when tax time comes around. I also helped out a friend of my sister-in-law who'll be coming back to Japan from overseas life; she needed some advice on the Customs stuff. Basically, if she's having goods follow her, she should be prepared for some extra time conversing with the folks in another section of Pearson.
Speaking of which, my sister-in-law and the rest of my extended family came over for dinner tonight. My niece was as cheerful and running off at the mouth as usual. Unfortunately, she was one of the hundreds (thousands?) of kids who got caught in the middle of that Friday morning kerfuffle involving the Ontario government and the teachers' union, not that it bothered her too much.
Was looking at some photos from my time in Tokyo. I took this one back in 2009 as I was walking through the Park Avenue (Koen Dori) area of Shibuya. Sometimes when I look through the shots, I can't believe it's been over a year since I made my return from my second home. I do miss the place at times. Shibuya can be grungy at times but this shot certainly makes the neighbourhood a little more sophisticated.
As was the case yesterday, I couldn't complain about the weather today. Was downright boiling at 12 degrees....too bad the sun refused to cooperate. It was pretty dreary all day. However, things will get back to normal as of tonight as we dip down to -2. Strangely enough, according to a photo put up by my Facebook friend in Japan, it looks like Tokyo is getting bombed with the white stuff. But as I've said before, snow isn't exactly an everyyear phenomenon in that area, so I'm sure a lot of kids...and my friend (she's in her mid-thirties but she's got the heart and energy of someone a sixth her age)...are taking full advantage of having snow.
Well, the NHL training camps are in full swing as of today. As would be the case in this city, the press conferences of both the General Manager and the Coach of the Maple Leafs were Breaking News. Haven't heard any news of major trades and I figure if GM Nonis is gonna be pulling the trigger, it will be within the next 24 hours....otherwise, he'll be making some major disruptions to his team. But then considering the boneheaded timing behind the ousting of his predecessor a few days ago, anything can happen.
Got my latest translation assignment in, and I'll probably be getting another multi-day one tomorrow. I'm definitely getting busier....the money coming in will be helpful, especially when tax time comes around. I also helped out a friend of my sister-in-law who'll be coming back to Japan from overseas life; she needed some advice on the Customs stuff. Basically, if she's having goods follow her, she should be prepared for some extra time conversing with the folks in another section of Pearson.
Speaking of which, my sister-in-law and the rest of my extended family came over for dinner tonight. My niece was as cheerful and running off at the mouth as usual. Unfortunately, she was one of the hundreds (thousands?) of kids who got caught in the middle of that Friday morning kerfuffle involving the Ontario government and the teachers' union, not that it bothered her too much.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Translating Saturday
Saturday January 12, 10:48 p.m.
It's been a quiet start to the weekend with most of today being spent doing some translation work. It wasn't too difficult but somewhat arduous since there wasn't much of a translation memory to work with. Gotta say that the weather has been gorgeous at least when it comes to temperature. The mid-January thaw has done its job....the snow is completely gone and it feels more like Spring out there. We should have one more day like this since we'll be heading up to 12 degrees tomorrow but then we return with a huge thud back to Winter as the high temperature is only going up to 0 degrees on Monday. We may even have some of that snow back by this time next week.
Well, the players have ratified the CBA, so hockey is back on. Training camps should be launching tomorrow and the first games will be hitting the screen and the arenas next Saturday. I'm gonna be really interested in seeing how the general managers will be parlaying the next few days before game time. The big question here in Toronto is whether the new guy, Dave Nonis, will be getting Roberto Luongo as the new goalie. Even if he does don his mask here at the ACC, I think he will just be a band-aid until one of the youngsters finally gets up to speed and skill. But the guy who won't be involved in any of this: Brian Burke. He had his final press conference with the media he mostly despises. He was relatively cordial, though, as he apologized for his failure to bring any sort of winning team to the masses, but he still brought out plenty of stick to certain members of the press....namely Steve Simmons. Most of those reporters won't admit it, but I bet some of them would like to use a stick on him. In any case, he's gone....let's see what the new guy does.
But on the 19th, I've got my Skype student back on-line for this lesson, so I won't be seeing too much of the game. It's a Habs-Buds lineup but it's over in Montreal, and this matchup is rather far from the classic level from yesteryear. Both the Canadiens and the Leafs have seen far better days. And another old friend from Japan is visiting....I was invited for a big reunion dinner on that night but had to decline because of the lesson, but hopefully I may be able to make it for the dim sum the next day, although I know that The Anime King should be coming back home on the 18th so he may come calling for our first Anime-and-Foodie outing of the year.
It's been a quiet start to the weekend with most of today being spent doing some translation work. It wasn't too difficult but somewhat arduous since there wasn't much of a translation memory to work with. Gotta say that the weather has been gorgeous at least when it comes to temperature. The mid-January thaw has done its job....the snow is completely gone and it feels more like Spring out there. We should have one more day like this since we'll be heading up to 12 degrees tomorrow but then we return with a huge thud back to Winter as the high temperature is only going up to 0 degrees on Monday. We may even have some of that snow back by this time next week.
Well, the players have ratified the CBA, so hockey is back on. Training camps should be launching tomorrow and the first games will be hitting the screen and the arenas next Saturday. I'm gonna be really interested in seeing how the general managers will be parlaying the next few days before game time. The big question here in Toronto is whether the new guy, Dave Nonis, will be getting Roberto Luongo as the new goalie. Even if he does don his mask here at the ACC, I think he will just be a band-aid until one of the youngsters finally gets up to speed and skill. But the guy who won't be involved in any of this: Brian Burke. He had his final press conference with the media he mostly despises. He was relatively cordial, though, as he apologized for his failure to bring any sort of winning team to the masses, but he still brought out plenty of stick to certain members of the press....namely Steve Simmons. Most of those reporters won't admit it, but I bet some of them would like to use a stick on him. In any case, he's gone....let's see what the new guy does.
But on the 19th, I've got my Skype student back on-line for this lesson, so I won't be seeing too much of the game. It's a Habs-Buds lineup but it's over in Montreal, and this matchup is rather far from the classic level from yesteryear. Both the Canadiens and the Leafs have seen far better days. And another old friend from Japan is visiting....I was invited for a big reunion dinner on that night but had to decline because of the lesson, but hopefully I may be able to make it for the dim sum the next day, although I know that The Anime King should be coming back home on the 18th so he may come calling for our first Anime-and-Foodie outing of the year.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Mission Completed
Thursday January 10, 11:53 a.m.
Well, got the initial translation done for that assignment. Took about 3 days but I got it done more than 24 hours before the deadline. I still have to give it a good once-over for any errors or mis-translations so that will probably be what will take up my day tomorrow. It wasn't supremely difficult but there were quite a few pages to go through. Had a bit of a scare last night when, for some reason, the Internet wasn't coming through as the router was having conniptions I couldn't control. I wasn't translating in the evening but was worried that the problems could have gone into today.
Looks like we're in the middle of a January thaw. It's really warm for a Toronto Winter at 4 degrees today, but things should get utterly boiling by the weekend when we hit the double digits as a high. I think people will be in the mood to break out the T-shirts and windsails. But of course, in Tokyo, that still means wrapping the scarves and buttoning up the wool coats. Still, it seems as if half of Japan is undergoing a major deep-freeze this year. Tokyo has been hovering at about the freezing point as a low for several days....something that doesn't happen all too often in The Big Sushi. It's gonna be interesting getting The Anime King's account of the weather there when he gets back from his vacation in a couple of weeks. For me, the winters in Tokyo were great for me although I often missed the snow. We sometimes got socked in by the white stuff every few years or so but basically the capital was free and clear. It was cold....for a Japanese city....and clear, though, which made Mt. Fuji sightings a lot easier from the Tozai Line subways.
Anyways, getting back to Toronto 2013...now that I've completed the translation, I'll have lunch and finally get a good hour's walk in for the first time in 3 days.
Well, got the initial translation done for that assignment. Took about 3 days but I got it done more than 24 hours before the deadline. I still have to give it a good once-over for any errors or mis-translations so that will probably be what will take up my day tomorrow. It wasn't supremely difficult but there were quite a few pages to go through. Had a bit of a scare last night when, for some reason, the Internet wasn't coming through as the router was having conniptions I couldn't control. I wasn't translating in the evening but was worried that the problems could have gone into today.
Looks like we're in the middle of a January thaw. It's really warm for a Toronto Winter at 4 degrees today, but things should get utterly boiling by the weekend when we hit the double digits as a high. I think people will be in the mood to break out the T-shirts and windsails. But of course, in Tokyo, that still means wrapping the scarves and buttoning up the wool coats. Still, it seems as if half of Japan is undergoing a major deep-freeze this year. Tokyo has been hovering at about the freezing point as a low for several days....something that doesn't happen all too often in The Big Sushi. It's gonna be interesting getting The Anime King's account of the weather there when he gets back from his vacation in a couple of weeks. For me, the winters in Tokyo were great for me although I often missed the snow. We sometimes got socked in by the white stuff every few years or so but basically the capital was free and clear. It was cold....for a Japanese city....and clear, though, which made Mt. Fuji sightings a lot easier from the Tozai Line subways.
Anyways, getting back to Toronto 2013...now that I've completed the translation, I'll have lunch and finally get a good hour's walk in for the first time in 3 days.
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| Pikachu greeting me on top of the Ueno Matsuzakaya Department Store back in November 2009. What's life without a little whimsy? |
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