By the skin of my teeth...
It looked as if today's meeting was on schedule to break up at 4 pm, all the way until about 4;15, when it became clear that there was about a half hour of work left to do to keep to the rather ambitious schedule.
Normally, that merely brings a smile to the interpreter's face, as the pay is by the hour, but I really needed to do the HIV test, so I finagled alternative transportation for my people and managed to hie myself to the medical office I needed to be at, with only minutes to spare as the address I had written down was faulty, and I had been kicking my BlackBerry into and out of "locked keyboard" mode so often that I was unable to dial a number without actually recycling power to the unit via the expedient of removing the battery for a few seconds.
The young woman who drew the blood was either skillful, as she managed to miss all the nerves in my arm, and I felt precisely nothing during the procedure.
Dinner was sushi at the Ichibon near NASA Road One and El Camino. I noticed, as I made the turn, that the Half-Price Bookstore, which had been on the corner for ever since I can remember, was gone. Perhaps it was the vicissitudes of the times, or perhaps it was the loss of traffic due to the construction in the area, I don't know.
So here I am, and it's time to fire up webster and get some translation done.
I love these leisurely assignments.
Cheers...
Normally, that merely brings a smile to the interpreter's face, as the pay is by the hour, but I really needed to do the HIV test, so I finagled alternative transportation for my people and managed to hie myself to the medical office I needed to be at, with only minutes to spare as the address I had written down was faulty, and I had been kicking my BlackBerry into and out of "locked keyboard" mode so often that I was unable to dial a number without actually recycling power to the unit via the expedient of removing the battery for a few seconds.
The young woman who drew the blood was either skillful, as she managed to miss all the nerves in my arm, and I felt precisely nothing during the procedure.
Dinner was sushi at the Ichibon near NASA Road One and El Camino. I noticed, as I made the turn, that the Half-Price Bookstore, which had been on the corner for ever since I can remember, was gone. Perhaps it was the vicissitudes of the times, or perhaps it was the loss of traffic due to the construction in the area, I don't know.
So here I am, and it's time to fire up webster and get some translation done.
I love these leisurely assignments.
Cheers...