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It rains and it pours

I am the work toad. I agreed to translate some patents, then I agreed to translate some more, then I realized that the first patents were Twice As Long as I'd estimated. I got an extension, but I want to meet the original deadline.

Now it's all dry cleaning solvents and plasma displays around here. That and being glued to the chair in the office. One of the patents was written in the 1960s and is a translation of an American patent. Patent language has been refined a lot over the last forty years. I got one of the dread page-long sentences. Old school! And the benefits to society of the invention read like they were written by an engineering undergrad: lots of hype, no sense.

I did get a chance to go out for a walk while we were waiting on the pizza. I'm marveling at the wisterias getting ready to pop. For the last three springtimes I've been so busy with school that I barely noticed the flowers. (Like, "Oh, it's spring? Those are flowers. Now, how many bits do I need for this counter?") This year, no school! I have time to smell the flowers, at least when I'm not translating patents.

It's always a wonder how good wisteria smell. Good enough to eat, like flowers and cake. Once upon a time, I had a part time job in the mail order department of an independent bookstore. The store was in an old house in Georgetown, right next door to the Caféa Ruche, down by the canal, and overgrown with wisteria. For one week in spring, with the windows open, it was delicious to be there surrounded by books and breathing perfume.

My flower pictures never come out, so you get semi-derelict buildings instead:

North 27th and East Marshall Streets

Something's happening on this corner. The buildings have been sold and presumably the new owner isn't going to run a laundromat and scary apartment building.

328 words | April 5, 2006 09:42 PM | Lost in translation