Hi everyone,
So I've graduated from school and like everyone (or mostly everyone) I'm looking for work. It's a long drawn out process with no certain outcome and it's killing me a little inside everyday. Besides that, I think I've found what I want to do with my life...well at least for the time being. I want to translate. Although I don't have that much experience with it (I did translate for my senior thesis and I have done little homework assignments here and there) I decided that it would be good for me to try my hand at some freelance material. A few days ago, this lady (although it might be a man I'm not sure...) post on one of the google groups that I joined for translation that he/she's looking for someone to do a rush job for a brochure translation. I e-mailed her back and told her although I don't have a lot of experience I might can be able to do it and at first she/he was hesitant because I'm not a professional but after an hour or so and no one took the offer he/she offered it to me! I was so excited because this was my first translation job ever that I was getting paid for!
Needless to say it took all night (until 5 am) but I got it done. However, because I was so new to the freelance translation business, I had no idea about how to charge. XD I asked my boyfriend (just as clueless as I was) so I went with charging by the hour...later to find out that most translators charge by the character. (So now I charge .10 cents a character) but I lost a bit of money on my first job but not to worry because today, he/she e-mails me again about another assignment they have for me to possibly complete! I'm elated that they would come back to me and I immediately said yes....but I think this person might be on a different time zone than I am because she/he sends me the materials so late that I wind up having to stay up to get it done. This project today that she/he proposed to me is a little bit bigger than the last one so I told her that I would probably need a little more time to finish this one (if she/he sends it too late) I would rather it be sent during the day so I can work on it and have it finished in the the morning when she wakes up...but I guess we would have to collaborate on that since this is only my second project and I don't really know about the company or anything...(I thought about that this morning to, so I sent her/him an e-mail asking to fill me in on the details about who he/she works for)
Even though thinking about it, I should have got up a little bit earlier and maybe could have caught her/him and she/he could have given me the materials earlier...but I mean I didn't know I was going to be asked for a second job so...I can't beat myself up too much....but anyway, I'm just happy that I'm able to get myself started in freelance work! It's good for my Japanese and my pocketbook lol so I guess it's a win win situation...however I just can't stand the tight deadlines...I hate working under pressure and the quality of my work suffers when I'm under pressure =( So...hopefully I'll be allowed more time to do this next project since it is the weekend and all....(cross my fingers!!!)
Besides my start in translation, it's been a pretty lax summer so far. My grandma's here for a little bit (she came to my graduation and now is staying with us for a little bit) and she cooks so I'm getting a little bigger lol (not too big though..I hope -__-; )
...but the one thing that is really making this summer difficult is being away from my boyfriend...we got so close so fast and the spring semester just flew by spending time with him. I don't know where all the time went honestly...being at home now I would just give anything just to hug him again...I miss him so much. We talk pretty much every day though and skype helps a lot so it makes it easier...but it's not the same. I also worry about us being separated by our careers and jobs we get...I don't know where my Japanese is going to lead me and I don't know where he's going to end up...I want to start living with him and starting the next phase of our relationship but all this uncertainty is just daunting and I don't like it...all I can say now is that I hope we can get through it together and end up together like I envisioned us...but no one can be sure of the future and that's a scary concept to me. He's my first...for everything...and I don't want to give up because when I look at the big picture I don't want to be with anyone else...I mean I feel like I can go the distance with this guy, I love him and to me, that's pretty much all I need...and him feeling the same way about me, just fuels my love even further to keep pushing to make it work. Anyway that's enough about my personal life lol so embarrassed!
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