Perspectives

My friends were beyond themselves because I picked them up at the airport, took them through Ikea and other shops and on to their new home in this country.

I just felt honoured that of all their friends, I was the one who got to do all this!

My friends tell me I'm brave, courageous even, for quitting my job and "roughing it" as a freelance translator.

I just feel a coward for not being able to stay in a 9-4 job...

My family tells me how great it is I signed up for this exam, and how well I will do!

I just feel apprehensive about the whole thing, and a little bit ashamed too, for leading people on to thinking I will actually stand a chance.

My friends and family tell me how great I look after losing so much weight!

I just glance in the mirror and can't picture that posing in a bikini in a few weeks time...

My common sense tells me that blogging, facebooking, groupie-ing (read: Rufus!) are for kids.

I'm too busy blogging (ok, maybe not lately...), facebooking and groupie-ing to notice.
But my friends and family seem to agree that life's ok! And knowing that in a few weeks time THIS will be home - even if only for 3 weeks - who am I to disagree?

Lately, I've

- taken to thinking in English. All the time. Which is fine, I'm a trained translator, I can translate it into Norwegian before I speak, so my kids understand me. But it's still sort of ... odd. And I daydream in English. Dream too. I even reason with myself in English. Surely it's not because of this person? - resigned my job. My dream job, remember? It sort of still is. And isn't, because I had to give up my home office. And there's more admin and marketing related stuff to do, less translation. Come summer, I'll be sat at my home office all day long, waiting for something to do. And humming to myself in English, probably...

- started listening to Renoe Alexander, a pastime I can recommend!

- found that I'm not really obsessed at all! I've wasted hundreds of spent a few hours on the RWMB lately, and realised that since I don't travel to four countries in one week to see Rufus I'm not that much of a fan. Really...

- decided to go for an exam that really is way out of my league, but - here's to trying :)

- watched Liverpool march on towards Champions league glory! (I swear, I almost had a heart attack during the last match - with hubby as my witness!)

- missed you guys! I keep thinking of blog posts (thinking in blog posts, even!) but to actually post...

Being artsy in Edinburgh II

I was in Edinburgh with my job (easy to forget, as I had plenty of time to roam around on my own!) and one night we were all 'cordially invited to Scottish Evening'. Which was basically a room crammed with people from every corner of the world - including England (they were mockingly insulted all evening)... It all started off with a bagpiper and then a few Scottish songs from the band. The food was nothing to write home about, and so I didn't. After the meal, and after the concert, though, we were finally given haggis to taste. The waiters looked mischievously at eachother while serving, but frankly, that was the best part of the whole evening.

See? I liked it :)
What I didn't like... This probably very nice and charming lady unfortunately didn't join the crew that night to be nice and charming, but to sing... I'm sure she'd been told she had a beautiful voice, and to match it, she changed dresses for every song!

Not that it helped. I was severely disturbed and had to stoop to playing backgammon on my mobile with a colleague to calm my nerves (and hers)... You can hear for yourselves!

Do I disappoint me?

I still feel alright about me. But I also feel trapped in a song from Chess...

I finally got the tattoo I've been wanting* - yay! And Liverpool celebrates it too by marching on in Champions League... (Yes, DevilMood, so did your beloved Porto!)
I've lost 13 out of the 14 kilos I said I wanted to lose - yay! And I plan to continue...

I'm also still with the man of my dreams (who not only tolerates my crush on Rufus, but finds it rather amusing so helps me keeping it up...) and we've got the lovely bunch of kids we wanted.

I'm still at that job I always wanted - yay!

And we've even booked our summer holidays in Crete next summer, where this will be our view for 3 weeks (except that I'll be under the sea most of the time...):

So why are these the lines now almost continually running through my head, like a muttering;

Now I'm where I wanna be
and who I wanna be
and doing what I always said I would and
yet I feel I haven't won at all!

Could it be I somehow feel I had the makings for even more? What could possibly be more?

I still haven't figured this one out, may take some time...

* go to no. 36 ...

New turf

My new office: Easter present: an egg full of goodies... And the key to the new office...
The view from my office!

And, we live in interesting times...

New surface on the terrace outside my office...

Corner office view

Oslo cathedral down the road City Hall --- where my boat comes in, so not that long a walk...
Don't look down

Ok, it's slightly better than mine, but still... Besides, as we've got glass walls to the main "mingling room", it's everyone's view!

A question and an answer (unrelated)

What, good readers, is this in English? It's a "wildlife sweater" or "wilderness sweater" in Norwegian, but I somehow don't think that's the correct translation...

And for the answer - my niece has now arrived safely in San Francisco and has even set up a blog to relate her life over there. It's in Norwegian, but for those of you who don't speak it, isn't it about time you made the effort..?

(And why is it you think I'm home alone again, simply because I'm blogging at this hour?!!? Oh, alright, you're right of course... I'll be rejoining the others at the cabin on Wednesday, just staying home to catch up with some work...)

Yesterday

Yesterday my hubby and the kids drove off to the cabin, to stay for three weeks. I'll be working another fortnight. So - left to my own (de)vices, what did I do?

First, my contribution to society, donating a little blood. (Don't look if you don't like that kind of thing...) No, reallly, I think everyone who can ought to do it, I've been doing it since I was a student.

Then I met with my childhood friend M who works in the same building as the above hospital unit, and we sat out on a street cafe. The sun was baking, we had so-so iced coffees and became so dizzy in the heat I didn't manage or even remember to take any photos...

In the evening I went to football practice. Cycling to and fro, as the rest of the family - as is fair - had taken the car.


Made it home just in time for the semi final were Germany was luckily beaten, well-deserved by the Italians! (Notice the great, new bike, by the way...)

And if you think I'm not really blogging at this hour - sadly, I am... But now, off to work!

Too much fun!

No, really. My new job is everything I hoped it would be and then some. The only drawback is - being glued to the screen all day kind of deprives me of the hunger for repeating just that at home, so - much less blogging. So far.

Thanks to "d" and Merujo for helping me with those translations. The querist was ever so pleased.

And here's a look into MY office. Truly, I can live with that!

Well, here goes..

3rd day at work and already I need help! Does anyone out there know what these 4 items are called in English? The first ones are gloves with half fingers and without any fingers. Then there's a serving tray with a stem, and finally a "honey spoon" (for want of a better word) - which usually is made out of wood but I couldn't find a photo of one like that.. Any suggestions?
And yes, this is me working. Ahh...

A quick preview into editing

3 more working days before I'll start my new job. Quite a few people ask what I'll actually be doing. So, to give you a hint, I'll set you a task! Here - two words:

1. Stupid
2. Drunk
(Imagine them both being in Norwegian, for sake of dictionary-making..)

As editor, I'll need to translate them. Now, these both have multitudes of synonyms. I'll give you a handful, then explain further.

1. foolish, silly, gormless, dumb, oafish, dense, thick, dim-witted
2. inebriated, intoxicated, pissed, well-oiled, pickled, potted, crocked, sloshed

The game (erh, sorry, the work!) is as follows:
- decide which words (translations) to choose, add or remove others,
- decide the order they should appear in,
- add more information. Informal? Slang? British? American? Taboo? Medical? Old-fashioned?
- then provide examples / expressions. (Thick as two short planks. Well and truly plastered.)
- keep it short, you're compiling a dictionary, not a novel...

If you think this sounds boring - be happy that I'm the one going to do this! And if you enjoy this kind of thing - feel free to finish this task...

- And for the best example ever of a row of synonyms, read - or preferably listen to - this!

And the winner is...

"Scholiast"
Editor

Thank's for all your ideas, suggestions and comments - it really did help!
The manager of my new job agreed the other editors would need a lot of sub / junior / vice things added on theirs ;) Besides - they're all freelancers and don't get these cards...

Let's see now...

Wikipedia:
Executive editor
The top editor sometimes has the title executive editor or editor-in-chief (the former is replacing the latter in the language). This person is generally responsible for the content of the publication. [The exception is that newspapers that are large enough usually have a separate editor for the editorials and opinion pages.]
The executive editor sets the publication standards for performance, and is responsible for assuring the highest standards of ethical conduct in the process of gathering and presenting information, as well as for motivating and developing the staff. The executive editor is also responsible for developing and maintaining the publication budget. In concert with the publisher and the operating committee, the executive editor is responsible for strategic and operational planning.

This about sums it up, actually.

But other suggestions I've had are (in random order): Chief Supervising Editor, Editing Chief, Supervising Editor, Senior Editor, Editing Consultant, Senior Editing Consultant, Managing Editor, Publishing Editor, Editor-in-chief, Chief Editor, Principal Editor, "Chief editor, translations".

Most votes so far on Editor-in-chief. Someone also said "less is more". Maybe simply Editor will do? Wouldn't an Editor-in-chief be in a newspaper or magazine?

Linguists, come hither!

Dear bloglings. I have a bit of a, situation. You see, I'm starting my new job in June. It's great, it's amazing, I'm so looking forward to it, and all that.

But I have no title.

They'll be printing my visiting cards, and all titles are in English, only my title is, apparently, untranslatable.

A bummer for a company that lives on dictionaries...

We could, of course, find a translation. The thing is, though, there may already exist a similar job position in English, and we just don't know it. So - will you help me?

I'll be editing, compiling (or extending / expanding, rather) and proof reading dictionary entries. I'll be supervising similar work done by others. I'll be responsible for the biannual updates of the dictionary. The Norwegian title translates "responsible editor".

I could be just that, only it doesn't sound very English. I could be "liable editor" but I'm not really liable, I'm responsible for the words, not the financial bit. I could be editor-in-charge. Sounds like a translator-in-arms...

Any others? I'll donate a letter to the winner ;) Oh, and quickly - please - they're printing the visiting cards before Easter...

Monday mutterings

Ok, O'Sullivan cruised through to yesterday's final, only to be crushed by John Higgins... Oh well, if anyone was going to beat my hero, John Higgins at least is probably the most sympathetic bloke on the entire tour. (No, I never said O'Sullivan was that. I just hinted I liked him best regardless..)

And now for something completely different.

I work with a bunch of criminal lawyers. (Haha, cheap pun... Defense lawyers, of course!) Most of them are just as nice as the next man - or nicer, there's a lot of fun and generally a nice 'climate' at work. But then there's always the odd man out. Or woman. Whatever...

The thing is, this person seems not to want anything to do with non-lawyers. Us staff, or clients, even, are just a necessary evil. It seems. If our time is spent waiting - more often than not without any messages as to how long this will last - that's irrelevant. Like NN said: 'I always finish on time! Even if I start half an hour late...' But how could we know? And how can s/he know whether we might have other plans? It annoys the h#! out of me - and s/he won't really communicate with non-lawyers off work either. Even when talking about our kids / holidays / films we've seen etc. - you'd think education wasn't an issue? But yes.

I mean, I've got 6 years of university training as well, only I didn't spend them in law school. But even without this education - does working as a clerk mean I'm worth less? Wouldn't you think I was at least worth gabbing to?

A friend of mine works in this law firm too. This summer there were only four of them working - three lawyers and her. Their boss invited them over one night - the lawyers, that is - with spouses. Maybe to discuss legal matters?? Well, the next morning, her boss went on and on about how the others would be late, how much fun they'd had, etc. Yeah, rub it in, my friend thought...

But was she, perhaps, being overly sensitive? Are we both? Are we less interesting people and need to live with this attitude? I'm not saying they're not allowed to talk law with other lawyers, I just thought - you know, social talk was for everyone...

To be honest, though - most of them do talk to anyone, with ease, and even seem to enjoy it. I just had to spill my guts...

Should I stay or should I go?

I went to a job interview last week... Yeah, hurray and all that. But the problem is (ok, it's a luxury problem, I know, but still..) that I don't know if I want the job, should I be offered it.

I'm really happy with were I am now. My colleagues are excellent fun, and I look forward to going there most days. My tasks are, shall we say, varied - but never outright boring. And the job's very flexible concerning taking time off to take the kids to the dentist / football practice (which Americans still think is called soccer) etc. So why change a winning team, right?

Timbuk 3 used to sing: "Fifty thou' a year Will buy a lotta beer". Now, I'm not really into beer, and we're obviously not talking dollars here, but - this new job offer involves quite a lot more money. (A lot, that is, for average people like us, not for people in that company in general!) And the tasks I'll be set to are slightly more challenging, or at least involves more of my university training than my current one.

But they're more strict about the comings and goings, dress code is way more formal (anyone who knows me knows that that does count..) and the colleagues - although outnumbering my present colleagues ten times! - can't possibly be as nice or as much fun...

All I know is, a higher salary might ease the strain on our mortgage, kindergarten bills etc. Does that make up for 8 hours of plain, boring work every day?

I think I've decided not to go anywhere. Gosh, I haven't even been offered the job, why am I rambling like this? Anyone?