Thrashing like a disk...
Sep. 5th, 2007 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpI was prepared to do the "haven't got a care in the world" act today when suddenly, an old colleague calls with a high-priority item. Can I do about 2500 words by tonight?
The uninitiated might think me greedy, but I said yes. Freelancers have to be extraordinarily successful (or extraordinarily debt-free) to be able to say "no" anytime they feel like it.
But there was a fly, so to speak, in the ointment: visiting my dad. Doing so would take a chunk out of my day, and delay delivery of my translation.
But visiting one's dad in the hospital is a "fly" only if you let it. Sure, I could have called him to say I had work to do, and he'd doubtless tell me to turn to on it, and not come to visit him, but that was not the point.
My dad always set a high standard for me, and I think he did it the only way I would listen (not that I necessarily think he was in any way trying to speak to me): He said not a goddam word, he showed me what needed doing. Maybe I'm a weak-kneed cretin, but I took note, and applied the result to my life.
So I managed to visit the old man, and then return and finish the translation. Everyone's happy, except I actually need to finish checking the thing and send it.
A mere detail, dontchaknow.
Cheers...
The uninitiated might think me greedy, but I said yes. Freelancers have to be extraordinarily successful (or extraordinarily debt-free) to be able to say "no" anytime they feel like it.
But there was a fly, so to speak, in the ointment: visiting my dad. Doing so would take a chunk out of my day, and delay delivery of my translation.
But visiting one's dad in the hospital is a "fly" only if you let it. Sure, I could have called him to say I had work to do, and he'd doubtless tell me to turn to on it, and not come to visit him, but that was not the point.
My dad always set a high standard for me, and I think he did it the only way I would listen (not that I necessarily think he was in any way trying to speak to me): He said not a goddam word, he showed me what needed doing. Maybe I'm a weak-kneed cretin, but I took note, and applied the result to my life.
So I managed to visit the old man, and then return and finish the translation. Everyone's happy, except I actually need to finish checking the thing and send it.
A mere detail, dontchaknow.
Cheers...
