The collected excuses of an absent mind

In mid-November there were some issues with one translation in a project I'm responsible for. I asked instructions from the other branch office that had outsourced the work to us and they promised to look into it. I forgot to press the matter and they never got back to us. I had two possible courses of action. I took account the fact that there had already been problems with the source files of that very same translation job, and made up my mind. We delivered the translations, and since there were no complaints, I thought I had made the right choice and forgot all about it.

Until yesterday, when the whole bloody affair came back with a vengeance and bit me in the arse.

We should have stuck to the source, but I thought the source was corrupt, so we stuck to the translation memory (previous translations for the same client) instead. Bad choice. The source was correct, and now I have to fix umpteen translated sentences that are all in one single file of gargantuan proportions. It's very dull, very mechanical and very time-consuming, since due to the quality of the problem, it can't be fixed automatically, but has to be done manually, checking every occurrence.

At least I know what I'll do all Monday morning: mop up my own mess.

I should really be doing this blogging thingy much more often: it's a good outlet. And also an excellent method of procrastination...

At the moment, I'm supposed to be proofreading an essay I wrote in ancient times about the influence of Norman French on Early Middle English. I'm almost done - something like three more pages to go - and then I can email it to the person who'll grade it. And I'll get some study credits.

Then, I'm going to go through one chapter of my thesis before going to bed. I still haven't heard from the prof. concerning the first version, but otherwise the thesis is doing fine. It's me who's worse off >_<.

And I almost killed the Moonflower seedlings again today. I just got them inside an hour ago and they looked a tad floppy. During the first half an hour the floppiness got progressively worse. *scurries off to check the current status of the patients* And now some of them are already back in the land of the living. I just have to learn the hard way, don't I?

Hmm. I need more icons, too. Something emotive; I already have many serious ones, an inquisitive one and a humorous one. I need something cheery and something pissed off. And some more with plants in them. I'll probably have to ditch some old ones. Sigh. Finding any good icons is going to be a drag, though.


Edit: got the essay done and emailed. Now I'm off to pay the rent, then maybe some thesis-reading, then sleep.