While 2008 may have been an economic bust I’m looking forward to 2009, when my Japanese life will re-start.  Ken and I are doing a Japanese New Year’s Eve today, with lots of cleaning (gotta have a spotless house to ring in the new year!) and soba noodles (the long noodles signify a long life).  Tomorrow will be spent relaxing and then it’s the final push before our move.  What stays and what goes?  What gets shipped?  Exactly how awesome will my farewell bash be?  Only time will tell.

May you and yours have a happy new year and a fun-filled and prosperous 2009.

The New York Times has a story about how some coffee shops in Portland are trying to distinguish themselves from the pack.  One place even asks numerous essay questions on its application.  The thing that caught my eye, though, was this quote:

The best baristas are chefs, rock stars, baby sitters, comedians, bartenders and therapists all rolled into one.

I think I covered four out of six well.  I’ll leave you to guess which ones.  ^_^

At the very least, it doesn’t seem a bad gig to get into.  Several blogging translators say they’ve seen little to no difference in their volume–Ryan Ginstrom at the GITS blog is full up with work.  I love hearing this from Ryan in particular as he works in the language pairing I’m aiming for, Japanese -> English.

What is it that makes translation so stable in unstable times?  I have a couple of guesses.  First, some services are needed no matter the economy.  This is especially true for specializations such as legal and medical translation, and maybe even business translation.  You might be translating bankruptcy proceedings instead of straight lawsuits, but hey, it’s work.

Second, some governments and municipalities may turn to translation to help bring in tourists bearing euros and other strong currencies.  This summer there were tons of European tourists in San Francisco and many were carrying city guides provided by their hotel, translated into their native tongue.

These two things can’t possibly be it though.  If there are any translators out there, what kinds of jobs have kept you busy over the last few months?  What am I missing?  Let me know in the comments.

The holidays have been wonderful for all the obvious reasons, of course, but there is something else I’ve come to appreciate–peace and quiet.  Christmas morning was blissful with no traffic whatsoever.  I live in downtown San Francisco.  This is a very rare thing.  There were even open parking spots on my block.  Very very rare.  Ken and I sipped our tea, had a nice breakfast, and settled into the calm.

Right around then the building’s fire alarm went off.  Now, I’ve been on both sides of this.  I’ve been in a (different) building where there was a fire on the roof.  The building I’m in now had fire alarm issues when water got into the electrical box, making it go off at all hours in weird ways.  Not to mention that less than two weeks ago there was a two alarm blaze in my neighborhood where someone died.  Died.

Needless to say we were mighty careful opening our door.  Flames, no, but burning smell, yes.

Turns out a lady on my floor scorched a Christmas pie beyond all belief in her oven.  The fire department came to make sure everything was okay and sign off on the building.  Once everything was figured out the captain joked with some kids waiting outside, asking them about the Christmas toys they were clutching.  There was a blond haired female firefighter I wanted to high five because she was so cool, but I wasn’t sure of the best way to go about it.

All in all, just ten worrisome minutes.   Not bad out of a whole day of peace.

I can’t help myself.  For all those that go to Starbucks, here’s Kristen Chenoweth singing the great Taylor, the Latte Boy:

And for all who work at Starbucks, here’s Ben Hensley with Taylor’s Response:

I enjoy these more than I probably should.

Each year I have one.  It’s rarely on Christmas Day.  In Japan it was a couple of days after, this year, a few days before.

So what is “the moment”?  Usually it’s the brunt of Christmas coming up behind me and whacking me on the head full force.  Two cases in point:

Suburban Osaka, 2005.  While listening to This American Life online my favorite Charlie Brown Christmas song wafts through my headphones.  I nearly cry right there in the computer lab.

The Mission, San Francisco, 2008.  While in the 24th and Mission BART station a busker starts singing Feliz Navidad with his guitar.  The sun is shining, I’m wearing a fleece in the middle of December, and I’m surrounded by weird 70′s art in the station… it all fits perfectly some how.   Bang.

I wanted to leave you with some music so here’s a song I adore–Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.  It sounds like falling snow.  Absolutely beautiful.

Happy holidays!

The present I got myself just arrived and I couldn’t be happier.  A real, full-blown computer that I can take around with me!  It’s like a dream.

I’ve spent a few hours today doing the whole new computer thing–updating Windows, downloading Firefox, getting all of my bookmarks and favorite programs in order.  One nice thing is that it’s forcing me to go through what I have and see what’s really necessary.  I’m also learning what I can’t live without.  Firefox was first.  Anki was second.  Not quite sure there was a third.

I got myself one more gift–a Japanese Nintendo DS game for studying kanji.  I’ll review it once it comes in next week.

As for the laptop?  It’s only been 8 hours but so far, four stars.

It’s not complete freedom with an upcoming move and all, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.

Took care of a lot of little things today.  Filled the fridge with groceries.  Filled my belly with unagi donburi.  Filled my brain with Japanese.  Filled out forms for my upcoming teaching job.  Tried to fill my pantry with coffee, but my employee discount is already null and void!  I didn’t even get one extra day.  Oh, well.

Tomorrow–more freedom!  Albeit with plans:  donut shop.  Knitting group.  Post office.

Ahh, this is the life.

Actually, it was a chai.  For me.  And gosh, it was good.

This morning I opened the store for the very last time–my last 3:15 alarm!  Woo!  To my regulars:  you rock!  I’m going to miss everyone.  Here are some photos of my last pre-dawn coffee shop for some time.  Sorry about the quality–it was kind of low light.

Speaking of 4 am, Rives has a great TED talk on this bewitching hour.

Did you ever notice that four in the morning has become some sort of meme, or shorthand.  It means something like “you are awake at the worst possible hour”.

It’s a great lyrical piece connecting all kinds of eerie references to a time I know too well.