Three Days of Whinging
But Not For Me
I'm at my teacher's/friend's. She's starting a musical organization and she needs me to translate Les Miserables for a student production.
She has all these young ladies, young singers, coming round and Skype'ing and calling. One just came very excited that she's been picked to take part in a high-profile competition like American Idol, and another got a contract to model for, i think, Herbal Essences for the Middle East region. And this girl is singing in this thing and that girl is singing in that thing, and they don't even know that they're 17 and how different 18 is from 40. Or 41, which is what I am, and all embittered and shit! :-)
I was telling someone about maturing. I said, "When I was 16, I thought if I didn't become a famous singer I would die. Now..." And then I stopped and thought. I think this may be why so much of my life is killing time: I actually think that - to be a drama queen for a minute - since I didn't become a famous singer, I died, in all the ways that matter, and everything else is just salad dressing. :-)
Of course, this isn't strictly true. I enjoy some things - I want to post pictures of my new naturally curly hair, which I used to straighten all my life - and one day I did sing well at the opera, although my singing triumphs always seem to coincide with people getting framed and arrested - last time was in 2001 - and uh, I suppose this translation gig will eventually be a good thing, like The Magic Flute, oh, yeah, SO many people locally and internationally CARED about THAT... /sarcasm ---and this musical organization my friend is putting together will be fun, only not for me.
Fuming
A pal of mine gets a call for simultaneous interpreters, and is asked for a quote, and she quotes a rate that is at BEST 10% of the rate we should be getting, and only about 30% of the least possible rate I would accept for such a job. Why? "Well, this was the rate I got from X three years ago" and that wasn't booth-interpreting. And X let her go because he thought she was too expensive.
WHY ARE WE NOT GETTING OUR DUE? I could say it's because, in the case of me, that I'm not UN-certified - I didn't pass the United Nations exam because they ask for specialized terminology I don't have - but almost everybody in the market isn't UN-certified, so it's not like I have a crippling debility. I think it's because everyone speaks 2 words of English and thinks that 'hey, this isn't so hard! Why do they charge so much?' And the WORST of it is that I'm starting to believe it!!! "Why do I charge so much? Maybe I don't deserve it."
People Who Made Me What I Am
Music and opera: Neveen, Raouf.
Arabic music: Mo.
Translation and writing: My dad.
Theatre love and study: My mom.
Business & negotiation: Hisham and Hoda.
Circumcision and intersex rights: Seham.
Film & Arab/Gay History: Maher.
Race Relations: Lisa, Kholoud.
Only thing is, I never claimed any of these as my own. I remember one of those drawing-therapists asked me to draw what this looked like, and I drew a circle with an X in the center for myself, then coloured spokes radiating outwards in pie-cut segments for each person and their specialization. The lady then looked and said, "They're all these colours, and you put yourself as just an X", and wouldn't you know it, I burst out crying. I always see myself as a pale imitation of whoever taught me the thing first.
I'm at my teacher's/friend's. She's starting a musical organization and she needs me to translate Les Miserables for a student production.
She has all these young ladies, young singers, coming round and Skype'ing and calling. One just came very excited that she's been picked to take part in a high-profile competition like American Idol, and another got a contract to model for, i think, Herbal Essences for the Middle East region. And this girl is singing in this thing and that girl is singing in that thing, and they don't even know that they're 17 and how different 18 is from 40. Or 41, which is what I am, and all embittered and shit! :-)
I was telling someone about maturing. I said, "When I was 16, I thought if I didn't become a famous singer I would die. Now..." And then I stopped and thought. I think this may be why so much of my life is killing time: I actually think that - to be a drama queen for a minute - since I didn't become a famous singer, I died, in all the ways that matter, and everything else is just salad dressing. :-)
Of course, this isn't strictly true. I enjoy some things - I want to post pictures of my new naturally curly hair, which I used to straighten all my life - and one day I did sing well at the opera, although my singing triumphs always seem to coincide with people getting framed and arrested - last time was in 2001 - and uh, I suppose this translation gig will eventually be a good thing, like The Magic Flute, oh, yeah, SO many people locally and internationally CARED about THAT... /sarcasm ---and this musical organization my friend is putting together will be fun, only not for me.
Fuming
A pal of mine gets a call for simultaneous interpreters, and is asked for a quote, and she quotes a rate that is at BEST 10% of the rate we should be getting, and only about 30% of the least possible rate I would accept for such a job. Why? "Well, this was the rate I got from X three years ago" and that wasn't booth-interpreting. And X let her go because he thought she was too expensive.
WHY ARE WE NOT GETTING OUR DUE? I could say it's because, in the case of me, that I'm not UN-certified - I didn't pass the United Nations exam because they ask for specialized terminology I don't have - but almost everybody in the market isn't UN-certified, so it's not like I have a crippling debility. I think it's because everyone speaks 2 words of English and thinks that 'hey, this isn't so hard! Why do they charge so much?' And the WORST of it is that I'm starting to believe it!!! "Why do I charge so much? Maybe I don't deserve it."
People Who Made Me What I Am
Music and opera: Neveen, Raouf.
Arabic music: Mo.
Translation and writing: My dad.
Theatre love and study: My mom.
Business & negotiation: Hisham and Hoda.
Circumcision and intersex rights: Seham.
Film & Arab/Gay History: Maher.
Race Relations: Lisa, Kholoud.
Only thing is, I never claimed any of these as my own. I remember one of those drawing-therapists asked me to draw what this looked like, and I drew a circle with an X in the center for myself, then coloured spokes radiating outwards in pie-cut segments for each person and their specialization. The lady then looked and said, "They're all these colours, and you put yourself as just an X", and wouldn't you know it, I burst out crying. I always see myself as a pale imitation of whoever taught me the thing first.