Time, it’s passage, my relationship with it, it’s perception… it has always been I concept that I struggle with, both philosophically and psychologically, and definitely practically. It shifts and changes and loops around, it feels like it repeats, or gets completely lost, and I can’t control it in any way, which destabilizes me to no end. January has always been a month of great possibilities, I like the idea of starting fresh, having another chance at an old thing or taking a chance on a new thing. I like the idea that with a new year I get a clean slate. Even if it’s just a construct we’ve created, it feels like there’s an order to things, and in order I thrive (although not really).
January also feels like the longest month in all existence every year while it’s happening and the minute February 1st rolls around I get anxious cause oh my god one month gone only 11 more to go! For what? Who knows… that’s just how I feel.
This year started out a little differently though, I’m coming out from a strange bit of wintry over-hibernation, and instead of hitting the ground running like a racehorse at the starting gate, I’m emerging from a cave of foggy intent and motivation, sluggishly inactive, and still a bit confused about which direction I want to take, my winter bear fur all scraggly and unkept, eyes not fully open, wondering if I’m hungry or what woke me and exactly what am I supposed to do now?
An interesting aspect to this though, is that whereas I would normally be making grand plans, and setting lofty goals during the first week in January, that would, in the best scenario make it to spring, and rarely if that, this year my goals are still a bit confused and my plans awry, but I have started actually putting into practice the few bits of mishmash that I’ve decided are important. So there’s that… I’ll let you know how it goes.
I have not, however, been completely idle, just a bit of this and that of dubious interest, that I however feel the need to recap here, almost as if (and this really is the malaise of our time) it’s not somehow recorded for posterity on some sort of digital platform, ideally with pictures and emojis, and the hope of a comment or like, then it might not have happened at all.
I read a bit less for some reason, this whole listless, indecisive vibe was no help at all in settling on books to read. My TBR list keeps getting longer, and I’m excited to read all of them, if only I could make up my mind on where to start.
I did get a bit lost in the Sarah J Maas’ Crescent City storyline (House of Earth and Blood, House of Sky and Breath) which though initially very confusing actually turned out to be much more interesting (in my humble opinion) than ACOTAR so I strongly suggest it. The world building is more complex, and the mystery / suspence /surprising twist and turns factor is higher.
Also, and I won’t spoiler anything there’s a nice little between the worlds twist at the end of book two that I finished a few days before the release of book three and that really had me on the edge of my seat for the new instalment (out on Jan 30th).
My interest / fascination with generative AI is ongoing and I’ve started another course. At the end of last year, I participated in the AI Translation Summit organized by Techforword, which incidentally, is a great resource for translators and interpreters, and then I did a quick introductory course by Udemy on MTPE and Emerging Jobs. I’m now delving deeper in the subject.
I find it interesting because if you go on social media, including LinkedIn you are BOMBARDED with talk of AI but it almost feels like every one is saying the same thing and sound-biting everything but with very little substance, and possibly a little bit too much hysteria. It’s very polarizing (what isn’t nowadays though?) but I’m trying to build an opinion for myself and to delve a bit more deeply in it’s intricacies, because like all things it has it’s positives and it’s negatives and I’d like to leverage the positives for my business and avoid the negatives as much as possible and really you can’t understand something until you study it right?
I’m very optimistic and excited about it though, used appropriately it has the capacity to make my life much, much easier, and I am a big fan of that. There’s a huge potential for the use of AI in a translating, editing, or copywriting business that doesn’t mean supplanting the human but rather making the human more efficient and precise, because that’s the edge that machines have on us. So I’m excited to start putting it into practice in more interesting and diverse ways.
January has shown it’s grey-toned colors in other ways as well. I’ve had a bit of a work slump, which obviously put me in a bit of a down in the dumps spiral, but once I ended the whole woe is me phase it forced me to think about my strategy (or total lack thereof). It’s true that there’s nothing like a hard time to show you what you’ve been doing wrong. I’m working on this. My solitary, and a bit anti-social self is making an effort to network and put myself out there (shall we connect on linkedin and instagram?). I can’t sell a coke in the desert, but I’ve got to learn how to sell a translator to the world apparently. Thankfully the resources are out there and I’m on a quest. Stay tuned.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, I’ve made the effort to reconnect with people and to be a bit more open and it has already shown some timid blooms, that will hopefully turn into flowers that presage a cornucopia of fruit in spring.
I’m waiting on a few proposal collabs, and project approvals, and really sometimes you just have to be patient. In the meantime, I’ll keep taking courses and training and participating in this fascinating language and word-based world where I’ve decided to plant my flag.
January is over, February is full of possibility, and honestly, spring is just around the corner, things always sort themselves out somehow and in the meantime I’ve got a book or two to read!
How was the start to your year? I’d love to hear about it in the comments! Let’s have a conversation about how we approach the new year and how we’re feeling towards 2024, it’s always great to learn from each other!
Ellipsis Languages 
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