Should I get a "real" job?

Should I get a real job? Yes. Why? Because it's about time that I surround myself with a different kind of people. People who can actually teach me something. People who can maybe show me that being employed doesn't mean being in a dead end job and that you're being treated like an enemy.

I don't necessarily want a new job, I just want to see what happens. I am a translator and if I happen to get a job through which learn new skills helpful in becoming a paid translator than so be it.

I need a CV. How do I summarize the last 7 years of my "professional life"? In one sentence? I have no idea. Oh, I know: doing this job for so long made me believe that I'm worthless and my job prospects are hopeless. I can't do this right now. Maybe tomorrow.

Applying for a Masters Degree

Lady from the admissions, whom I just spoke to on the phone, said that if I apply this year for a course and my application is successful I can ask for my entry to be deferred until the following year. That sounds like a perfect solution to me. Within a year I can easily save up enough money to pay the fees plus I would have time to explore the subject of Intercultural Communication more. Next step is to gather information about the course and set goals for the next few months.

Meanwhile the translation continues :) I'm determined to complete at least two translations in March for TED. One of them is on how to save money more effectively and the other is on "Digital Humanitarianism", whatever that means (I'm yet to listen to the talk). I'm quite pleased with the trnalsation of S.Iyengar's talk that I finished last week, let's see what the reviewer has to say about it.

Does anybody know a super quick way to learn a language? Namely Spanish. I need help.

Finally saving money!

I'm starting to save money. Not from tomorrow but from today, from now on! I'm going to call my bank in a minute to tell them to transfer £300 into my savings account each month. I've finally got out of debt, had some surplus money but completely lost my focus. In effect I've gotten into a crazy spiral of spending more and more money on crap, i.e. clothes, cosmetics, eating out. It got out of control to such extend that I was constantly thinking about what to buy next. I had to stop. A few hours ago I paid £100 to a charity which helps hungry children in Poland, I was going to spend that money on a new dress and shoes but f@%k that. No more self indulgence. I need to save, save, save. If I actually do that, I'm going to have enough money to start thinking seriously about going back to uni next year. WoooO HooO!

Differences because of culture or inequality.

I've been reading a book by I.Pillar in which she claims that problems encountered in intercultural communication stem not from different cultures but inequalities between people. It's all very well, since she's trying to shift the focus of failed communication on to the unequal financial and educational status of the two people conversing, but does it mean that she's denying cultural differences and culture all together? Does she mean that had we all come from backgrounds of similar financial status the communication would be smoother because we would perform it in exactly the same way? Would there be no difficulties in intercultural communication had we treated each other with mutual respect? Would that solve everything?

Great talk on cultural differences by Sheena Iyengar: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/pl/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing.html

Sunny day.

What a wonderful day! It's sunny, I'm off work meaning that I can concentrate on translation. My body's screaming to go out though. Drinking a cup of tea by the river and reading a book seems like so much a better way of spending the day than sitting at the desk.

Sheena Iyengar(http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_choosing_what_to_choose.html) Someone to look up to. According to her it takes up to 9 minutes on average to an CEO of a big company to make a decision. I'm not really managing a corporation here, barely my own free time. It's 3 o'clock, time to make an executive decision. I'm going to do 3 hours of translating today. Redy, Steady, GO!

Present moment.

Do you know any people with real careers? People your age I mean? People who do what they truly love, not just because it pays well.

I do. One or two. The rest is either trying to get established in the field of their interest or hasn't even worked out what it is that they want to put a lifetime into.

I work for free and I love doing it. Then I do overtime in a fucking restaurant. I choose to believe that there is no way that I won't succeed as a translator. Then I brake down for a week and feel like I have to run away, make a radical change.

I want to be a translator. I am a translator.

Learning takes time. Learning to be patient takes time.

Panic.

I've panicked. Rysia sent me correction of my last TEDTalk translation. The sheer number of yellow lines really disappointed me since I've worked so hard. Then I read the corrected translation and panicked. It's gibberish and doesn't make any sense in Polish. The next mistake I made was showing the subtitles to my mother (the most criticizing person on the planet. no, it's not your mother. it's my mother. I'll introduce you if you don't believe me). She slagged it off completely, straight after reading the first line! And then she went on and on... "Who's that idiot speaking? What's he trying to say? What is this newspeak language? What a load of crap is this??"

What a kick in the ass. I probably needed it. As a person with the tendency to rest on my laurels I often need a reminder that I'm nowhere near as good as I want to be.

So here I am, it's Thursday evening, I'm off work for a week and what am I doing? Translating. I could be in the pub right now with my friends but screw it. I want to translate for money and getting drunk isn't going to get me to Brussels.

Is anybody out there also trying to better themselves? How are you doing? Keep it up, you're doing great!