The Not Happy Thread

Whenever that has happened to me it's been very short lived. Hope that's the same for you. Just checked and my Yahoo mail is working.

 

It'll take to long to write about my entire life /half a joke

School is shit, been gone for almost two weeks straight, before that I was at school for a week, and before that I was gone for another two weeks straight. It annoys me that school is so shit, some of the teachers are completely ridiculous, even though they know how my situation is they give me crap, even this one bitch tried to embarass me in front of class and I almost told her to fuck off. But my saner thoughts prevailed and I just told her some condescending bull.

Friends are idiots as well. Here I am, the nicest guy they most likely know, yet they fuck me over and doesn't give a shit. BUT OH, when I get mad at them I'M the bad guy.

That's enough negativity for this morning, at least I got my writing.

 

@Wyr,
(Best Jack Webb possible) It's my job lady... Truly I hope she comes to her senses and gets over it. Life's too short.

@jannert,
For anything meaningful I use spam free Zoho for my email.

@Albirich,
Even at 60 I find there's no tit for tat. (Of course Tat was the third guy out of triplets... ) Birds of a feather flock together. You not only have your writing, you have some thoughtful writing friends here. I the real world though, I'd suggest looking into writing clubs, science clubs, chess clubs and such (I recommend against hanging out with visual/music artists because they can be veeeerrrry unstable, if not downright abusive.)

 

Does this cheer you up?

 

No. I really don't find stuff like that cheerful at all.

BUT I got an amazing prologue idea for "The Tale of the Winter King" and that made me a happy panda (not because of the video, just to clarify, heh)

 

If Immortal and Benny Hill can't do it, you are incurable. (I knew I should've posted a video of animals fighting falling asleep)

Nah, in all seriousness, that's great, good luck with the writing

 

That moment when you hit the wall of diminishing returns.

I had a transcription/translation of a 911 call that's connected with a carjacking, the carjacking being what makes it federal. Why don't 911 opps tell the hysterical person that a patrol car is on the way already as like the first thing out of their mouths instead of taking all the data that seems random and pointless to the poor person in need, and only once they are freaking out on the phone, then tell them the car is already on the way? Now I am back, balls deep, into an extradition package with the D.R. for typical, entry level, drug smugglers. There comes a point where, regardless of how much I have left to do, the letters start to swim on the screen and my brain turns into the stubbornest of donkeys and refuses to think straight as I try to untangle a paragraph long, passive voice, single sentence, that I then have to try and flip around and make it make sense in not only English, but in Legalese English....

 

@Wreybies It's good to be a translator, huh? Well, I hope you showed that pesky piece of text who's the boss

Speaking of work, I promised to sub in Swedish for three classes in total this week -- and I swore to myself I'd never do this, I'd never ever teach Swedish to high school kids 'cause they hate it, but... How are you supposed to say no when you really need the money...

 

I just finished sending the extradition package. I always have butterflies in my stomach when I send one of those. The product is sent for review in a foreign government and there's always this needling concern that they will be critical of my Spanish. Because of ethical rules concerning precision in legal translations, my product never has the endlessly flowery, over-verbose syntax of typical Spanish. I always wonder of the person reading my product imagines me as having an unfalteringly low cranial vault.

 

@ Kat,
Doesn't Finland have their version of "The Comedy Club?"

 

Have you read "Legal Writing" by Steven C. Stark? Are you like the prosecutor?

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385495927/?tag=postedlinks04-20

Whoops... Steven D/ Stark "Writing to Win."

 

I own the book. The English isn't the problem, it's the Spanish. Spanish has no style rule against run-on sentences and has a passionate love affair with the passive voice. Whole pages go by with no grammatical subject to be seen and gargantuan preambles of past particle clauses before even the logical subject makes its presence known. There are times I have to read the Spanish three and four times before I can assure myself of what was done to whom because there was certainly no who did what to whom.

 

Can't you file a motion for clarification? Here, we call it a "Motion for [Clear, Better, etc.] Definition." One can also make a motion for terse writs. If the judge grants it and the other side does not comply, they could be held in contempt.

 

I am not an attorney. I am federally certified interpreter and translator. The rules of ethics by which I am bound are other than those that govern the lives of my clients. The source material given to me is the source material I must deal with, as is.

 

I hope you charge by the word instead of the hour.

 

Is that advice or a remonstration? Translations are charged by the end product. When it's block text, it's by the word. When I am asked to reproduce forms as well as the text contained within those forms, which is quite often when one's client is the USDOJ, then the invoicing is different. The formatting of such forms is quite costly in time and that time is my money. Services for interpretation in court is charged by the hour.

 

Empathy. Truly, I had afterthoughts about the statement, but, being a newb, I assume, the edit function doesn't work for me yet, similar to file upload and such. I know what it's like though, if such is the case, to have an assignment that seems more bother than it's worth.

Advice? When things get absurd, become twice as absurd.

 

No worries. No worries. I was just playing along. With this last project off my plate, I'm actually in a good mood. I've billed a stonking amount of work these past two weeks and with it being a holiday week, there should be nothing in the pipe until next week. Time off! I should be posting over in the Happy thread.

 

There's a happy thread? Is this filtered away from manic- depressive types half the time?

On a Serius note (Woof! Woof!), if an attorney sends me an agreement for a settlement to present to the judge that is 4 pages of legalese fluff, I send it back with all my additions that turned it into a 30 page writ of legalese dandruff. It usually returns to me about a page long, then I send it back about 1/4 page shorter and the other guy's client, who is tired of paying for the other guy's time, accepts and we schedule a hearing. You, as the interpreter, have the monoglots by their testicles.

Wahr ist das gluchlich Schlangeln?

 

You can always find comfort in the fact that you aren't translating subtitles.

 

I wasn't expecting a skip through the daisies, but I never knew getting married was this much paperwork and red tape.

 

Oh lord potato, I'm so sick I can't sleep nor function properly. I slept through two hours of nightmares to wake up sweaty and fatigued. Now I can't write or do anythng productive. I think I'll just stare in to the darkness for a few days. Wish me luck.

WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE

 

I'm peeing blood a lot. I've had colitis since 1994, so can't get insurance. Wait! The ACA is here! Yay! The website is troubled. Boo! I'm a pretty tough old bird. Yay! Pain in the flank suggests it may be a kidney stone in the making. Might be an epic WIP.

 

Just curious what all the paperwork and red tape is from? I don't recall much from when I got married, but of course, that was a long time ago.