Sinking into Another World
I was about to start this journal with "So, um, hi. It's been a while." until I looked back at my previous post and realized that's exactly how I started that one as well. Instead I will simply use that somewhat humorous and somewhat depressing fact as a good segue into my new post.
So much has happened over the past two months that I don't really know where to begin. I guess the biggest news is that I am quitting my job. After talking it over with my friends and my family, I have come to the conclusion that not only is my true calling translation and that I should head down that path, but also that the people who run my current company are insane and that I need to get out while I still can. Specifically the president of the company spends all day windsurfing or something and has no idea what's going on in the office. Still, despite not knowing anything, he has the gall to constantly tell us that we are A) not doing enough work and B) are doing too much overtime. Well which is it pal?! He apparently thinks that we are all simply being inefficient at our jobs, when in fact we all have so much work that we have to do at least 2 hours of overtime daily while trading off various duties in order to even come close to staying on top of everything. Mr. President, but unless by "efficiency" you mean warping space time, the only solution to this problem is to HIRE MORE DAMN PEOPLE. But no, that's not on the agenda at all. So I'm out of there.
I actually announced that I was quitting at the beginning of this month, February 1st, but thanks to my stupid contract my last day at the office isn't until the 18th. I first requested it to be March 5th, but while my supervisor seemed to agree to the date, afterward nobody mentioned it again. Getting nervous, I brought the topic only to be confronted with: "Oh, we never agreed to that. We were thinking the end of March or even June." Ahem, I don't think it's your decision. I gave my notice. You can't force me to stay. They did realize this, and then admitted that they were desperate for me to stay because they know they won't be able to find a replacement for me fast enough. Hell, I wonder if they'll be able to find a replacement for me at all to be honest. Anyone with my skills would be an idiot to take this job. But hey, there's one idiot right here so there you go. Anyway, this was my chance to take advantage of the situation. It just so happened that March 9th was the 6 month anniversary of my entering the company, and it was from that day on that I could use paid leave. So I gave them an ultimatum: "I will work until the 18th if you absolutely need me to. However, I can start taking paid leave on the 9th. Let me take the 9th to the 15th off, and I will work the 8th, 16th, 17th, and 18th. Either let me do that, or I'll stand by March 5th as my final date and you can't stop me."
And they folded and accepted my conditions. They knew they couldn't legally force me to stay after the 5th after I gave my notice so early, and I guess they really really want more time to look for a replacement. Either that or they just really really don't want to go through the paperwork hassle of someone leaving in the middle of the payment period (the 18th of every month is the last day of the payment cycle). Whatever the reason, it leaves me with the rather nice going-away present of only 4 additional days of work but 9 days' worth of pay. This company really is crazy. Thank God I'm leaving. No regrets at all.
And I *really* didn't have any regrets when my leaving the company was announced on Friday morning and immediately I got an e-mail from a coworker asking if I wanted to get lunch with him. I was a bit uncertain, but I decided to take him up on the offer. Turns out he's planning on quitting soon too! "Let's get the hell off this sinking ship! Know any good job hunting websites I could use?" So we spent most of the lunch talking about all the stuff we can't stand about the company and how glad we are we're getting out. He and I both joined the company around the same time 6 months ago, so it says something when nobody can last longer than that, haha.
Other than that, I attended a large-scale off-kai for the first time ever on Saturday. Organized by the famous Eixin-san (famous enough that his booth at Comiket is impossible to get anywhere near because it's always so crowded with people desperately trying to get their hands on his work), the off-kai consisted of about 40 people descending on Carne Station in Shinbashi and later a pub in Hamamatsucho. As usual I was the only foreigner there, which always leads to odd reactions from some people, though I must say the vast vast majority of attendees didn't seem to think too much about it. So refreshing after living in Hokkaido where people stare at you just for walking across the street let alone attending an off-kai. Got so sick of that after 2 years on that island. Anyway, most of the attendees were connected via Twitter, and I think I was already following maybe 1/3 of the guests even before the event. In addition, I had met a few of the attendees in person before once or twice, including Eixin-san. On the other hand, I definitely didn't have any close friends like Taka or Yoshio with me, so in that sense I was on my own. In the end it didn't matter much, since most everyone was very friendly and I ended up spending most of the day hanging out with Hail, Mutsumi, Raywell, Nabebuta and Izumi Yo (all Internet aliases, of course. I spent the day as Alt as usual.) Hai and Mutsumi I had met before briefly, and Izumi Yo I had spoken with online on multiple occasions. Raywell and Nabebuta I didn't know before the event. In addition, I received loads of name cards from people even though I didn't bring any of my own. I spent most of this morning adding them to my list of Twitter followers etc. Ironically I received more name cards from people whom I already knew than new acquaintances, haha.
Unfortunately, one rough spot occurred between Carne Station and the pub - a 3 hour gap with nothing to do. What Eixin was thinking none of us really know, but in the end that meant that most of the attendees just started on their various drawings while the few of us who aren't artists were kinda left to ourselves. I actually pulled out my DS to play Dragon Quest for a while I was so bored. I also whined a bit on Twitter about how I'd really like to do some translating right about now, and then all of a sudden Izumi-san came over. "So you want to do some translating?" "Well yeah, since I can't draw or anything like that." ::pulls out a copy of his recent Comiket doujinshi submission:: "Think you can translate this into English?" "...Wait, really?" "Can you do it?" "... You bet I can." "Go for it, then."
So I spent the next hour pumping out a rough translation of his manga. And all the while, the artists who had been sitting around me, these artists whose work I think is mind-blowing and whom I respect like crazy, were just staring slack-jawed as I burned through the pages. This isn't the first time this has happened, but I still find it hard to understand how these incredibly talented people could in any way be impressed by a few shoddy translations written down barely legibly in the margins of a manga. It's hard to be proud of something that deep down I think most people could do if they just practiced... but of course, if I explain that to the artists, they say the exact same thing about their art. "You could easily do this if you just practiced... but there's no way we could translate." So maybe we all have to just accept the fact that the whole world is filled with amazing things that are made no less amazing by the fact that they are things anyone could do if they just worked at it.
And I have to give a big thanks to Izumi-san for giving me the opportunity to do something I love and maybe impress a few people along the way. Maybe from now on before I attend events I should do an open call for translations and try to gather work in advance to do while others are doing their drawings. That might be a lot of fun, though I don't know how many people would actually want their work translated, haha. Can't hurt to ask, right?
Anyway, I guess that's it for today. See you in another... couple months maybe, haha.
So much has happened over the past two months that I don't really know where to begin. I guess the biggest news is that I am quitting my job. After talking it over with my friends and my family, I have come to the conclusion that not only is my true calling translation and that I should head down that path, but also that the people who run my current company are insane and that I need to get out while I still can. Specifically the president of the company spends all day windsurfing or something and has no idea what's going on in the office. Still, despite not knowing anything, he has the gall to constantly tell us that we are A) not doing enough work and B) are doing too much overtime. Well which is it pal?! He apparently thinks that we are all simply being inefficient at our jobs, when in fact we all have so much work that we have to do at least 2 hours of overtime daily while trading off various duties in order to even come close to staying on top of everything. Mr. President, but unless by "efficiency" you mean warping space time, the only solution to this problem is to HIRE MORE DAMN PEOPLE. But no, that's not on the agenda at all. So I'm out of there.
I actually announced that I was quitting at the beginning of this month, February 1st, but thanks to my stupid contract my last day at the office isn't until the 18th. I first requested it to be March 5th, but while my supervisor seemed to agree to the date, afterward nobody mentioned it again. Getting nervous, I brought the topic only to be confronted with: "Oh, we never agreed to that. We were thinking the end of March or even June." Ahem, I don't think it's your decision. I gave my notice. You can't force me to stay. They did realize this, and then admitted that they were desperate for me to stay because they know they won't be able to find a replacement for me fast enough. Hell, I wonder if they'll be able to find a replacement for me at all to be honest. Anyone with my skills would be an idiot to take this job. But hey, there's one idiot right here so there you go. Anyway, this was my chance to take advantage of the situation. It just so happened that March 9th was the 6 month anniversary of my entering the company, and it was from that day on that I could use paid leave. So I gave them an ultimatum: "I will work until the 18th if you absolutely need me to. However, I can start taking paid leave on the 9th. Let me take the 9th to the 15th off, and I will work the 8th, 16th, 17th, and 18th. Either let me do that, or I'll stand by March 5th as my final date and you can't stop me."
And they folded and accepted my conditions. They knew they couldn't legally force me to stay after the 5th after I gave my notice so early, and I guess they really really want more time to look for a replacement. Either that or they just really really don't want to go through the paperwork hassle of someone leaving in the middle of the payment period (the 18th of every month is the last day of the payment cycle). Whatever the reason, it leaves me with the rather nice going-away present of only 4 additional days of work but 9 days' worth of pay. This company really is crazy. Thank God I'm leaving. No regrets at all.
And I *really* didn't have any regrets when my leaving the company was announced on Friday morning and immediately I got an e-mail from a coworker asking if I wanted to get lunch with him. I was a bit uncertain, but I decided to take him up on the offer. Turns out he's planning on quitting soon too! "Let's get the hell off this sinking ship! Know any good job hunting websites I could use?" So we spent most of the lunch talking about all the stuff we can't stand about the company and how glad we are we're getting out. He and I both joined the company around the same time 6 months ago, so it says something when nobody can last longer than that, haha.
Other than that, I attended a large-scale off-kai for the first time ever on Saturday. Organized by the famous Eixin-san (famous enough that his booth at Comiket is impossible to get anywhere near because it's always so crowded with people desperately trying to get their hands on his work), the off-kai consisted of about 40 people descending on Carne Station in Shinbashi and later a pub in Hamamatsucho. As usual I was the only foreigner there, which always leads to odd reactions from some people, though I must say the vast vast majority of attendees didn't seem to think too much about it. So refreshing after living in Hokkaido where people stare at you just for walking across the street let alone attending an off-kai. Got so sick of that after 2 years on that island. Anyway, most of the attendees were connected via Twitter, and I think I was already following maybe 1/3 of the guests even before the event. In addition, I had met a few of the attendees in person before once or twice, including Eixin-san. On the other hand, I definitely didn't have any close friends like Taka or Yoshio with me, so in that sense I was on my own. In the end it didn't matter much, since most everyone was very friendly and I ended up spending most of the day hanging out with Hail, Mutsumi, Raywell, Nabebuta and Izumi Yo (all Internet aliases, of course. I spent the day as Alt as usual.) Hai and Mutsumi I had met before briefly, and Izumi Yo I had spoken with online on multiple occasions. Raywell and Nabebuta I didn't know before the event. In addition, I received loads of name cards from people even though I didn't bring any of my own. I spent most of this morning adding them to my list of Twitter followers etc. Ironically I received more name cards from people whom I already knew than new acquaintances, haha.
Unfortunately, one rough spot occurred between Carne Station and the pub - a 3 hour gap with nothing to do. What Eixin was thinking none of us really know, but in the end that meant that most of the attendees just started on their various drawings while the few of us who aren't artists were kinda left to ourselves. I actually pulled out my DS to play Dragon Quest for a while I was so bored. I also whined a bit on Twitter about how I'd really like to do some translating right about now, and then all of a sudden Izumi-san came over. "So you want to do some translating?" "Well yeah, since I can't draw or anything like that." ::pulls out a copy of his recent Comiket doujinshi submission:: "Think you can translate this into English?" "...Wait, really?" "Can you do it?" "... You bet I can." "Go for it, then."
So I spent the next hour pumping out a rough translation of his manga. And all the while, the artists who had been sitting around me, these artists whose work I think is mind-blowing and whom I respect like crazy, were just staring slack-jawed as I burned through the pages. This isn't the first time this has happened, but I still find it hard to understand how these incredibly talented people could in any way be impressed by a few shoddy translations written down barely legibly in the margins of a manga. It's hard to be proud of something that deep down I think most people could do if they just practiced... but of course, if I explain that to the artists, they say the exact same thing about their art. "You could easily do this if you just practiced... but there's no way we could translate." So maybe we all have to just accept the fact that the whole world is filled with amazing things that are made no less amazing by the fact that they are things anyone could do if they just worked at it.
And I have to give a big thanks to Izumi-san for giving me the opportunity to do something I love and maybe impress a few people along the way. Maybe from now on before I attend events I should do an open call for translations and try to gather work in advance to do while others are doing their drawings. That might be a lot of fun, though I don't know how many people would actually want their work translated, haha. Can't hurt to ask, right?
Anyway, I guess that's it for today. See you in another... couple months maybe, haha.