Sad news...

Within the last ten days, two people I've known professionally have passed on.

Though I hadn't received any work from him since returning from Houston, I'll always remember Robert Addis as a fair taskmaster who helped me establish myself in the early 90s, when I was breaking into translating full time. I seem to recall he was one of the "early adopters," indeed perhaps even one of the founders of the ATA, though it was he who - in response to my telling him that I'd gained accreditation with that organization - retorted "Well, I won't hold it against you!" I never met Robert Addis in the flesh, but I shall still miss him.

The Russian language division was, if memory serves, the first such "special interest" group within the ATA (and FWIW, Feht was the first person to sign up in it, but that's another story). What made the organization of the group so unusual was that it came into being owing to the efforts of one Susana Greiss, a woman who - though she had Slavic roots - worked as a translator in French and Spanish (and, if memory serves, Portuguese). I got to know Susana, sort of, over the past few years, mostly at ATA conferences and via email, and I can only hope to have her energy and enthusiasm should Providence grant me the time to become that old.

Cheers...

Besides the unfortunate affair at the theater, Mrs. Lincoln...

To be frank, I probably have better reasons to be morose than the news of the demise of my two aforementioned colleagues. I have been neglectful in calling my old man, mostly because he seems to make a point each time I call to needle me. Whatever the news, I end up hanging up the phone wishing I had never initiated the call. I should, probably, force myself to call tomorrow, and hang the consequences.

In other news, today was yet another good day for work. I am beginning to think that, if I were to set myself up as the de-facto "rush" translator for my best client, many of my worries about getting work would be solved, though frankly, I don't think such a setup is practical.

My new East Coast client dropped me an email asking if I would be able to take on some work this Thursday and Friday, but without actually guaranteeing any work, since at this point it's merely a query from the end client. I was careful to reply with my usual boilerplate, to the effect that if I was available, I'd be happy to work for them. (It's funny, but over all the years I've worked in this racket, nobody's volunteered to pay a retainer to keep me available for translation work. Interpretation? That's a different kettle of kumquats. But translation? Never.)

Cheers...