So I've been working from home for a little over a month now, interpreting for a telephonic interpreting company. To say that it is a strange thing is quite an understatement. I am actually logged in right now, although not on a call obviously. I am only compensated for those minutes which I am on a call so I feel no conflict of interest by doing what I please between calls. At any moment the phone may ring and this causal blogging session will be interrupted by this strange work I've taken up. (posterior edit: this has in fact happened several times; just so no one thinks that I'm not actually working/making money.)
I haven't seen a dime yet. Those of us who work from home are paid monthly, for the previous month, so my first check hopefully will arrive in about a week or so. If I am not mistaken no income taxes are withheld for me so I'll have to learn how to do that for myself unless we want to have a big tax bill next year. (And we don't of course.)
It's definitely a good job for me. I can pretty much work whenever I want to and any interpreting work is good in that it keeps me in practice and always learning. Interpreting over the phone is much more difficult than interpreting in person. You are at the mercy of the quality (both good and bad) of the connection. You have no visual cues. You definitely have to concentrate more. (Ironically, when I am performing (or attempting to) simultaneous English to Spanish interpretation it helps me to close my eyes, but of course, interpreting over the phone does not make use of simultaneous interpreting.) I'm hoping that the next time I have a freelance in-person interpreting gig I'll be that much more sharp and ready because of this job.
I'm hoping to get some freelance work too, I've had several calls this past semester that I had to turn down because of school, including two or three in the past couple of weeks. But I told them all to keep me on their list and that I would be free in the summer (that is starting May 9th...)
I should also be getting the same hefty translation project that I've done for the past three years now. That would be really nice because the money is good, especially if I can finish it quickly. (It pays a lump sum for the entire project, as is the norm for written translation, so the quicker you get it done, the more you are making in terms of your time, ya know?)
Other than that, what else does this summer hold for me? I don't know. It's a weird feeling not to have to go to campus every weekday. I have a list of people I haven't spoken to in a while that I'd like to get in touch with. I would like to organize all my notes and work and everything from the past two semesters and put stuff back in their proper place either here or in my office on campus. There are endless house related chores to do: cleaning, organizing, mowing, ant-killing, etc. There are plenty of recordings I'd like to transfer from vinyl, cassette, or VHS to mp3. In particular I'd like to put my vinyl copy of
The Frogs My daughter the broad on mp3 just because the Frogs are one of the greatest bands ever, and also because most of the songs on this album are completely fucked up and hilarious and I know Holly and Lindsey and Todd will get a kick out of it. I also would like to take all the Quisling (a band I was in in Madison from 1999-2000) material I have that is salvageable and finally get it on mp3 to distribute among those of us who were in the band, as well as the very few people I know who may wish to hear it who weren't.
Other than that I would like to definitely be on campus every now and then, to meet with my major professor. I need to get my reading list ready for my comps and start studying. I also want to start work on my thesis. I have an idea what I want to do, which would involve creating a "script" and soliciting volunteer interpreters and making recordings and whatnot, so the sooner I figure out what can and can't be done, and after deciding that, get to work on it, the better.
And I've begun to read non-required material again. Of course, I picked up where I left off in this book called
Language Myths which is sort of a collection of essays by linguistics professors, so maybe that shouldn't count. It's hard for me to get myself to read fiction these days, which kind of makes me sad, but I just have so much non-fiction that I want to read, that I don't know what to do.
I'd also like to find a way to make an exercise routine for myself and maybe eat more healthily so as to lose some weight. That would be just awesome. It's much easier blogged than done though. I need self-discipline. If nothing else, if I could take the dogs for a walk at least three times a week, that would be a good start.
It would also be very nice if we could take some kind of a vacation this summer. That will ultimately depend on our budget of course. Nonetheless I would like to take some time off before classes start again even if only for a couple days, to get out of town. All my homies in Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison, I know I owe you all a visit, bigtime. I wish it could be this summer, but I doubt it will happen. You know that if and when it does you all will be among the first to know.
