Putthing theory into practice...

There is an old saw, which I have cited from time to time, that goes: "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is."

If true, I've just committed a colossal blunder.

For some time, I've entertained the idea that - over the long term - I could translate 1,000 words per day in addition to what I'm already doing and not really feel the strain.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday, I was offered an opportunity to take as much work as I wanted of a huge project due the second week of April. The only fly in the ointment is that there is a very high probability of getting a fairly significant stream of work from my best client during that same time period.

One of the prime rules in this business is to never, ever give up the bird in your hand for the pair of birds tweeting mellifluously over in the bush. I've had experiences where the lack of an immediate acceptance (for the purpose of calling that other client for a last-minute status check on imminent work) has resulted in loss of an offered job. And I've also had experiences going the other way, where a client tells me they need to get some kind of last approval from the end client, and by the time they call again to assign the work, I'm no longer available.

However, one of the hallmarks of professionalism is knowing when and how to break the rules.

So, I signed up for a quantity of work that - by itself - isn't that much (though I wouldn't want to do it over, say, a weekend). If I process about 1000 words per day, the job will get done on time. For purposes of my LJ, I will refer to it as "the 40K job."

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The local library is featuring La Vie en Rose today, at 1 pm and 6 pm. Galina and I plan to go.

I must get a good head of steam up on the document due Monday.

Cheers...

Warm up the backup software, Farkie!

According to one of the better-known members of LJ's Advisory Board, SUP has just eliminated the Basic Account option.

From the support FAQ

...

"Basic Account is an option available to accounts which were created before March 12, 2008. No account created after this date can be turned into a Basic Account."

...

Adds Brad:

I advised against this (when I heard a rumor about it awhile back). I hadn't heard anything recently about it. Perhaps they interpreted my advice as "well, okay, then maybe we'll at least grandfather the existing Basic users, and not convert them all to Plus..."

In any case, SUP apparently sees no value in freeloaders not looking at ads, not paying, and oh wait... producing most the content for other members to read, other members who are looking at ads and paying for their accounts.

Let's hope my permanent account is grandfathered.

Amen to that last, brother.

Cheers...

All I post about is work, so...

As has been posted elsewhere:

"Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don’t blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don’t blog about, but you’d like to hear about, and I’ll write a post about it. Ask for anything: latest movie watched, last book read, political leanings, thoughts on yaoi, favorite type of underwear, graphic techniques, etc."

Cheers...

Yeowie!... oh, no... I meant Yaoi!

LJ friend greymaiden asks:

Thoughts on Yaoi? This I gotta see.

And so...

I should remark, at the outset of this essay, that I posted the original text of the "meme theme" without editing it, or imposing conditions, so as not to dilute its impact.

As it happens, prior to looking up the definition of yaoi on Wikipedia I had no idea what it was, and had this been that party game where one guesses or makes up a definition for an exotic-sounding word, I would have come up with something like "of, or pertaining to a subordinate grouping of indigenous Polynesian peoples, distantly related to the Maori of New Zealand."

My guess would have traveled wide of the mark, it would appear.

As it turns out, despite being in need of attention from a subject matter expert, the Wikipedia article provides the following definition, which for our purposes I will assume to be accurate:

Yaoi (やおい) is a publishing genre which focuses on male/male relationships and is marketed at females.

Having had no idea that such a niche existed, I can honestly state that, up to sitting down to write this post, I've never had any thoughts about yaoi. Moreover, the very first thing that crosses my mind upon learning about it is utter admiration for the kind of marketing mentality that is required to recognize such a market and then exploit it!

"Hey, Boss!"

"Yeah, whatcha want Nakamura?"

"You know that awful story we got the other day, about the two guys...?"

"Yeah," laughs the boss, "what a load of junk!" Then regaining his composure, he snaps, "What about it?"

"Well, I took the liberty of taking the manuscript home after work on Saturday, to have something to line my parakeet cage with, and my girlfriend got hold of it," Nakamura paused to bow in apology.

The boss grunted in dismissal of this violation of company policy, "And...?"

"Well, she sits down and doesn't pay any attention to me the rest of the night until she puts down the last page and then asks me if there is any more to the story," says Nakamura, "and then she disappeared somewhere yesterday morning, after which I start getting calls last night from all her friends asking the same question."

"Nakamura," said the boss, his eyes lighting up, "I think we've stumbled across something here!"

Yeah, I know. It's a little far-fetched.

Then again, I suppose the same thing could be said for the phenomenon of manga and anime in general. As an indirect result of my daughter's former job with a major U.S. publisher of anime, I've no doubt seen more of the genre - and read more manga - than some overwhelming portion of Americans, so when I am told that most consumers of the stuff are actually past the age of puberty, my brow furrows with puzzlement.

Why? Because with some few exceptions, such as Ghost in the Machine and the Claymore series, there seems to me to be not enough plot in the stories to support the weight of even one angel dancing on top of it. So is the point, then, to leer at animated images of prepubescent girls wearing school uniforms? I mean, by comparison, the adventures of Wonder Woman make sense.

Of the titles that are unmistakably aimed at a crowd that seeks sexual titillation in its animated escape (here I have in mind the likes of Crying Freeman), well... my puzzlement grows exponentially. Animated nudity? Animated sex? Bo-ring!

As far as yaoi is concerned, I think I may have read one volume of manga in this category, the title of which escapes me, where one of the main characters is a police officer, if memory serves. There didn't seem to be much happening in the story - at least I don't remember anything of it - but I am left with the impression that some kind of effort was made to create a sexual tension between him and his sidekick. Perhaps that tension was released, somehow, in subsequent volumes, I don't know.

Moreover - and this summarizes my views on the subject - I don't actually care.

Cheers...

Wrapup...

I made acceptable progress in the job due Monday, put a couple of short jobs in the queue, and sorted out the files that arrived in the 40K job.

In between, I was feeling a bit puny, I suspect mostly because I woke up at 2 am and could not get properly back to sleep afterward, at least not for a while.

Galina and I missed La Vie en Rose, going instead to visit a thrift shop at a local Catholic church, which in the end was okay with me because although I enjoy listening to Piaf's singing voice, I am in no hurry to watch a dramatized version of her life, which had its difficulties.

Why we went to the shop, I don't really know, but I came along for the ride to see if they had any good books (they did: I snagged hardbacks by Robert B. Parker and Carl Hiassen). The place also seems to be a good source for inexpensive glassware, which I shall keep in mind should I ever actually be invited to go to Kazakhstan again.

There are a couple of things I must do tomorrow, so I better leave a note for myself on my keyboard. Otherwise, I plan to shut down the office and be at the other end of the house in short order.

Cheers...