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It boggles the mind...
Nov. 21st, 2007 09:11 pmThe client's point man called me on my cell phone this morning after I had boarded the train headed into town for the assignment. He made apologies and informed me that the situation had changed and my services would, after all, not be required today at all. He hastened to add that the company would nonetheless pay for my time as if I had worked the assignment plus expenses.
As I hung up, I wondered what to do. Should I get off at the next station and take the next train back home? Or should I go ahead and travel into the city, walk around for a bit, visit a bookstore or two, and then go home? Well, seeing as how I've really not spent any appreciable time in the city since 1979, I decided to make use of my tickets.
It is my theory that there are three types of New Yorkers: those that love the place, those that hate the place, and a vast majority of souls who live a Matrix-like existence in the city, not really aware of having any feelings for the place one way or another. I was one of this latter group after returning from the job in Moscow, married to Galina.
My moment of awakening came the day I returned to work after a two-week automotive adventure during which I, Galina, her mother, my mother, and baby Andrew drove out to Ohio and then down to Florida and back to New York. As I emerged from the subway stop at 7th Avenue and 14th Street on my first morning back, I experienced the strangest feeling that one might describe as the opposite of déjà vu: the perception that something that ought to be familiar is being experienced for the first time. From that moment, I could not wait to shake the city's dust from my boots, and we moved out of the city within 90 days, aided by a very attractive job offer from Florida.
Yet both last night and today, I felt pretty comfortable in Manhattan, and pretty good about what I saw. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this in future posts.
Upon returning home, Galina and I went to join Costco, which I view as the local version of Sam's Club (it looks much the same, is organized much the same way, sells much the same stuff... you get the picture), and ended up dropping a couple of hundred bucks for vittles and other necessary supplies, e.g., truffles made with Belgian dark chocolate.
The Costco trip pretty much nailed the start I had planned on the roughly 18,000 words of stuff due Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. I think instead I'll rest for the rest of today and start fresh tomorrow. I'll likely have to translate about 4,000 source words per day to maintain my pace, plus or minus, but it's not as if I've never worked like that before.
For now, I'm going to join Galina upstairs in the den, and then settle down for some quality rack time.
Cheers...
As I hung up, I wondered what to do. Should I get off at the next station and take the next train back home? Or should I go ahead and travel into the city, walk around for a bit, visit a bookstore or two, and then go home? Well, seeing as how I've really not spent any appreciable time in the city since 1979, I decided to make use of my tickets.
It is my theory that there are three types of New Yorkers: those that love the place, those that hate the place, and a vast majority of souls who live a Matrix-like existence in the city, not really aware of having any feelings for the place one way or another. I was one of this latter group after returning from the job in Moscow, married to Galina.
My moment of awakening came the day I returned to work after a two-week automotive adventure during which I, Galina, her mother, my mother, and baby Andrew drove out to Ohio and then down to Florida and back to New York. As I emerged from the subway stop at 7th Avenue and 14th Street on my first morning back, I experienced the strangest feeling that one might describe as the opposite of déjà vu: the perception that something that ought to be familiar is being experienced for the first time. From that moment, I could not wait to shake the city's dust from my boots, and we moved out of the city within 90 days, aided by a very attractive job offer from Florida.
Yet both last night and today, I felt pretty comfortable in Manhattan, and pretty good about what I saw. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this in future posts.
Upon returning home, Galina and I went to join Costco, which I view as the local version of Sam's Club (it looks much the same, is organized much the same way, sells much the same stuff... you get the picture), and ended up dropping a couple of hundred bucks for vittles and other necessary supplies, e.g., truffles made with Belgian dark chocolate.
The Costco trip pretty much nailed the start I had planned on the roughly 18,000 words of stuff due Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. I think instead I'll rest for the rest of today and start fresh tomorrow. I'll likely have to translate about 4,000 source words per day to maintain my pace, plus or minus, but it's not as if I've never worked like that before.
For now, I'm going to join Galina upstairs in the den, and then settle down for some quality rack time.
Cheers...
