News update
Hey guys, it's been a while. I have gotten a few small part-time jobs and which have kept me busy and away from my blog.
First, a bit of consumer electronics news that I hastily translated from an article from the Shikoku News: Nikon has stopped production on six of the eight SLRs they had been making until recently. The F6 introductory model and the FM10 professional model will be the only two to continue production, and these remaining two models will not undergo new development. All other Nikon SLRs will stop being sold as soon as stock runs out.
In personal news, I recently got a part-time job (half a day, two days per week) with a patent office/translation company in Osaka. It's a relatively small office, and most of their work is in translating patents, although they often handle technical, medical, and literary translations as well. I don't have a job title; mostly I will be doing translation and proofreading, but I will also be maintaining their computer systems and upgrading their website on an as-need basis. It sounds like a perfect job for me in terms of content: I get to use both my language and my computer skills. However, it doesn't seem like such a dream job, at least judging from the first two days.
The company where I worked last year, Mitsuba Corporation, was a large company with branches and factories all over the world. My department alone had about 70 people. I enjoyed the challenge of my work, and while my supervisors were often tough with and sometimes even mean to me, it was at least a relatively comfortable working environment. When I first arrived, they gave me a detailed orientation, showed me where to put my coat, where to store my computer, where my folder on the network was, and gave me several projects to work on if I had free time.
In contrast, my current employer doesn't seem to want me there at all. It's not that they're mean to me. Rather, nobody seems to pay me any attention. The manager talks to me when she is in the office, and she seems quite nice. Another woman, whose title has not been announced to me but seems to be one of my immediate supervisors, seems extraordinarily reluctant to talk to me. When I arrived at work the other day, I said "Good morning" even though it was the afternoon because I'm told that's more polite. I was still standing in the doorway, but she just got up and left the room without saying anything. About eight minutes later, she finally came back and asked me to follow her into the actual office, which I had never entered until then. She asked me if I could upgrade some software called PatentBoy/XML Jr+. I had never heard of it, but I looked it up and found that it is software that allows patent applications and webpages to be made using Microsoft Word. They asked me to ugrade it from v3.30 to v3.31, but wouldn't tell me where the program was. Eventually I figured out that it had already been upgraded, and spent the rest of the day translating letters and a court ruling from Japanese into English in a corner desk against the wall, with shit piled all over the desk that I was afraid to move, so I ended up with a backache and headache from having my left elbow airborne as I typed away. I only interacted with two people all day, and only very briefly. One of them seemed to be kind, so maybe things will improve in the future.
Anna and I went snowboarding last month and we don't have many pictures, but the few I took are on my computer (I'm using Anna's right now), so I can't upload them yet. Will get to it later.
I think I may be getting another cold, because I have a headache and stomachache in the morning, which is rare for me unless I'm getting sick.
First, a bit of consumer electronics news that I hastily translated from an article from the Shikoku News: Nikon has stopped production on six of the eight SLRs they had been making until recently. The F6 introductory model and the FM10 professional model will be the only two to continue production, and these remaining two models will not undergo new development. All other Nikon SLRs will stop being sold as soon as stock runs out.
In personal news, I recently got a part-time job (half a day, two days per week) with a patent office/translation company in Osaka. It's a relatively small office, and most of their work is in translating patents, although they often handle technical, medical, and literary translations as well. I don't have a job title; mostly I will be doing translation and proofreading, but I will also be maintaining their computer systems and upgrading their website on an as-need basis. It sounds like a perfect job for me in terms of content: I get to use both my language and my computer skills. However, it doesn't seem like such a dream job, at least judging from the first two days.
The company where I worked last year, Mitsuba Corporation, was a large company with branches and factories all over the world. My department alone had about 70 people. I enjoyed the challenge of my work, and while my supervisors were often tough with and sometimes even mean to me, it was at least a relatively comfortable working environment. When I first arrived, they gave me a detailed orientation, showed me where to put my coat, where to store my computer, where my folder on the network was, and gave me several projects to work on if I had free time.
In contrast, my current employer doesn't seem to want me there at all. It's not that they're mean to me. Rather, nobody seems to pay me any attention. The manager talks to me when she is in the office, and she seems quite nice. Another woman, whose title has not been announced to me but seems to be one of my immediate supervisors, seems extraordinarily reluctant to talk to me. When I arrived at work the other day, I said "Good morning" even though it was the afternoon because I'm told that's more polite. I was still standing in the doorway, but she just got up and left the room without saying anything. About eight minutes later, she finally came back and asked me to follow her into the actual office, which I had never entered until then. She asked me if I could upgrade some software called PatentBoy/XML Jr+. I had never heard of it, but I looked it up and found that it is software that allows patent applications and webpages to be made using Microsoft Word. They asked me to ugrade it from v3.30 to v3.31, but wouldn't tell me where the program was. Eventually I figured out that it had already been upgraded, and spent the rest of the day translating letters and a court ruling from Japanese into English in a corner desk against the wall, with shit piled all over the desk that I was afraid to move, so I ended up with a backache and headache from having my left elbow airborne as I typed away. I only interacted with two people all day, and only very briefly. One of them seemed to be kind, so maybe things will improve in the future.
Anna and I went snowboarding last month and we don't have many pictures, but the few I took are on my computer (I'm using Anna's right now), so I can't upload them yet. Will get to it later.
I think I may be getting another cold, because I have a headache and stomachache in the morning, which is rare for me unless I'm getting sick.
posted by jeremy at 8:07 AM
0 comments
