Denied

The paternoster in the Arts Tower is being serviced - so I won't be able to try going around the top this time. Damn. Maybe when I graduate...

I can't connect to the Uni wireless network for some reason, so am on a terminal with a broken keyboard - backspace doesn't work and neither do half the number keys on both the main and numeric sides. Explains why it took me so long to log in, since I couldn't see what was going wrong...

Friday was chaos. The Japan-UK Live message boards, which have been virtually silent since I started, suddenly had a burst of activity which ate into my post-in bed at 3am trying to pack time. I am eternally indebted to Z for not only taking some stuff of mine to store, but then taking even more stuff from work when I realised I didn't have the stomach for going to the post office at lunchtime and trying to send it from there. I will have to go back some time in November. For karaoke too, of course.

The project looks like it will be okay, although apparently the product has now been delayed - news to us. Many kind words were said to me as I left, which I was very happy about - we all worked hard and we got it done when it looked like it couldn't be.

Have done the Writing in Japanese exam and the presentation - both went okay, but would have been better with a modicum of preparation. Only myself to blame for that one, so I have to hope that the marking isn't too strict and my basic level is enough. I didn't want to have to say that but there it is.

I'm going to head off to dinner now with some of the staff, and also stop using this keyboard before I put it through the window.

Over the red line

We're still on 10-hour days. But somehow, we've done it. I was in late tonight trying to figure out if we'd missed anything when things went strange with the bug logging system, and had to move my own leaving drinks to tomorrow, but I think - I think - we've got everything. Unbelievable.

Some people had still gone to the pub, so we met up there and went to karaoke. I'm enjoying it more every time although I really have problems singing. I can now switch between my 'high' and 'low' voice within one song, even one sentence if all goes well, but it still sounds terrible. But lots of fun. Sang some Abba and REM, the obligatory Duran Duran (how is it I still remember the lyrics after all this time?) and completely messed up Gorillaz, which is turning into a weekly event.

And we may go again tomorrow, after the rearranged leaving drinks. Why not? I'm too tired to study anyway... although I do need to sort the packing out. I may need to arrange a second piece of hold luggage.

I am now officially dangerously tired, after messing up and accidentally sending one translation to the school mailing list in response to the wrong original email, thereby convincing myself I'd sent both and not sending one until someone realised a few days later. Dammit.

The only other news is that after Z sent me a link, I've been listening to a load of Gackt songs. I like.

Living for the weekend

It's Saturday. I'm having breakfast before going into work. I think that sums up the week nicely. If it wasn't a flagrant contravention of German labour law, they'd have us in tomorrow as well. Three of us from the UK team will be in to process, enter and fix a truly unreasonable number of bugs.

In other news, Iwase was fantastic as usual and it was a wonderful night out. I would come back here just so I could go there again, and I regret not going there more. Frankfurt has tube mice. And I saw a steam train last Saturday.

Working 10 hours a day - particularly when you know the next day holds more of the same - is pretty tiring and study hasn't had much of a look-in. Today will also be spent at work, working, if we're to have any chance of getting what needs to be done done by when it's needed. I had a brief fantasy of being there in body and studying at my desk but it is not to be.

So, feeling very underprepared for my exams... the plan was that I would spend 6 months translating and ace them, but instead I've spent 7 months reading and proofreading US English and occasionally modifying it. I'm sure it's a skill, it's just not the one I wanted.

Anyway... once more into the office and then I really need to pack. Everything.

Well, hello there

Sorry it's gone all quiet - I managed to respond to a busy week by feeling I had to do something when I got home and ended up staying up far too late and spending the week in a vicious cycle of tiredness. Still trying to recover, but feeling much better.

So... less than 2 weeks to go in Frankfurt. Less than 2 weeks to exams. Work will reach giddy new heights of busyness as of tomorrow, and I'm coming around to the fact that there is far more stuff in the flat than I have room in my case for.

I've drawn up a list of things I'm not going to take and will pass it around the UK team at work in case anyone wants anything. Anything else can stay for the next resident. Will have to a trial pack at the weekend. And organise some kind of going-away gathering for work.

Another development was finally getting a place on the Japan-UK Live! school exchange translation team, which is pretty quiet at the moment but could change, and also my first piece of work from a new client. They asked me for the first page as a trial and then asked me to do the rest, which I was delighted with - only to find an email in my inbox after getting home tonight to say I'd left a line out. Not fatal I suppose, but not what I wanted as a first impression.

It's birthday season, so we were out tonight with another birthday person from the UK team. I ended up getting the presents and was delighted that they were well received - amusing tshirts can be hard to get right. We have another birthday coming up in two weeks as well, and my farewell do, and I'm going back to the wonderful Iwase with Z for one last time on Wednesday.

Must pack some study in there somewhere.

The bar we ended up going to tonight is the same one we went to for G's birthday, and we always seem to have the most insane conversations there. Our new mottos for the place are "What happens in Klosterhof stays in Klosterhof" and "You shouldn't have had the first one". Definitely making our own fun.

Here's to not being killed by this week. One down, four crazy days to go...

Softly, softly...

I do have official permission to use my PC at work for doing non-work stuff, but still feels very strange...

I've put up some photos of my new place - I'll only be there for another 3 weeks. Strange thought.

Work is busy and likely to get busier. So, just to really interfere, I've taken on a part-time translation assignment working for Japan-UK Live, a UK/Japan message board site between twinned schools, and started playing Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Between that and attempting to study, I think I'll have to give up sleep...

Himself will be arriving later on, but there's only so much time I can spend at work before it gets strange. I think I will head out to the airport and have a few expensive coffees there and play Zelda... I really do get hopelessly addicted to these things, but (thankfully?) I'm not very good at the puzzle-solving and so tend to give up. But then come back later.

Denied!

The new flat is quite nice - but has no internet access. So, it will be quiet for a while. The other minor frustration was taking two days to figure out how to convert the sofa into a bed (not two days of continuous effort, I'd like to point out...)

Like most of the months of this year, September has kind of snuck up on me. I'll be in Japan next month!

... and it's now the same month as my exams. Really must concentrate.