OK Kids...

after a drawn out breakfast of peanut butter banana oatmeal and twice the amount of coffee i require, i am ready to begin the day.

i still can't really talk. the novelty of the condition has been rubbed and scratched away like the outer layers of my throat. nah i'm making it sound worse than it is. i'm really not even that sore most of the time. just this mostly pathetic-sounding cough.

here is some big news which is ACTUALLY PERTINENT to this my intelligent blog which has been so defaced in recent times by emotional upheaval: i signed on for a "getting started in t&i" workshop in san francisco. it's put on by the northern california translator's association and will take place the 15th of october.

"A wide variety of useful themes will be covered, including concrete tips and resources on topics such as education (T & I schools, professional seminars, continuing-education opportunities, self-study, etc.); certification exams; office equipment and organization; marketing one’s services to agencies and direct clients; evaluating, meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations; the negotiation and drafting of contracts; resources for information on agencies’ reputations and payment practices; quality assurance; professional ethics; compensation; computers and CAT programs; research methodologies; creating and updating glossaries; reading for self-improvement; glossary creation and maintenance; bookkeeping issues; and T & I associations and conferences."

stoked indeed.

i like the idea of "useful themes" especially. application is essential.

you know i mentioned coffee earlier and after the cup i had at the asian art museum in san francisco the other day...(mmm san francisco...) i have noticed the submediocrity of our cafeterias version of the most wonderful drink. i've graduated from half milk half coffee and sugar to a dab of milk mixed with a packet of splenda which i drown with decaf. one or two cups...i really should only have one...today i had two. but yes it's rather tasteless and lukewarm as compared with steaming othercoffee...from practically anywhere i imagine. maybe the decrease in milk content is due to this fact alone and i am still a poor example of a coffee enthusiast.

i wonder if i can really say enthusiast. i say it only because i have enthousiasm for coffee, not necessarily any snobbish taste or expert knowledge. i'm a ramblin' amateur.

and thus the bell strikes ten...

in an hour i have a japanese quiz that should be terribly simple. i would hate to think that and, through cockiness, miss things that, would i have taken even the most cursory last minute glance at the material, i could've done perfectly.

that sentence is a bit unclear isn't it. i wonder if there are any grammatical problems or if it's just not well thought out. i'll leave it like that and you can comment on the ineptitude as you see fit :D

it's not really ineptitude tho because obviously as i comment now i could be reworking it to a more acceptable form.

this morning i read about hong kong cinema. we were assigned the introduction to a book. i wish we had time to read the book...i should be reading more film stuff.

right now i'm still working on bukowski's bio and some short stories to be followed eventually by at least one novel and possibly a collection of correspondance...i dunno. maybe there is no end to the bukowski tunnel and i'll be sucked in. that's cool too. i can always return later. i have a pretty framework for reading his stuff now. it's nice to do these in-depth sort of looks instead of hopping around to various people. it does leave one a bit impatient tho, when you think of all the great writers out there. also in progress is the history of the world. just closing up the era before ancient greece right now...

last night i read the first chapter of the our third film textbook (Koszarski, An Evening's Entertainment) it's book three of history of the american cinema)

(hey does anyone know Chicago style notes as opposed to MLA? the terrifying east asian civ paper requires that...and a topic...and a bibliography heh)

anyhow this new textbook is much more reader-friendly...at least so far. far more readable...more narrative, even while throwing names and dates at you in the most rapid succession. i recognize some names now, but it is really hard to remember to which company they belong to, will belong to, who goes with who to start what, who fails with which company only to rise again as the head of some other thing which you maybe thought went down with the rest long ago.

the striking thing is that we've only covered approximately 8 years so far...1907-1915...the new book will take us through '28. we've read so much but it's all on overlapping time. sorta hard to get the big picture. i will have to go over my lecture notes and try to find a thread...or maybe our teacher will give us a thread...i dunno. (laziness corrupts my ethic...)

ah yes...well it is definitely time to have a last minute session with those old kanji...this test is so much review for me, as it is for them. but really, some of these kanji are ones i have known since high school before i even started classroom-style learning of the language. sadly, byouin has been still threatening to kick my ass. i do know it now tho...i think.

and my laptop should be here soon!

so i won't have to borrow my roommate's heh

yeah...well i'm off after all that...

moshi moshi...nihongo desu....