The hail we've got last night in Philly provides the appropriate dots to the multitude of ?!?!?!?!?!? (quesclamation marks?) that my life has turned into lately. It was no ordinary hail either--not like one I'd ever seen, with deafening raps reminiscent of an army of monkey typing furiously at once--a mock celestial experiment to see if they could produce...what, Shakespeare? As I watched my tenderly cared-for roses taking a brutal beating under the chickpea-sized ice bits (complemented by a brief but violent thunderstorm for good measure), I concluded that the work I'm translating now might have been produced in a similar (failed) experiment. Something semi-coherent and with intelligible words came out, miraculously, but the question remains: is it good? Was it worth it?
In a word: NO. I've undertaken a translation project which I should have never undertaken, but when I tried to get out of it, it was quasi-impossible for reasons I am loath to explain. Now I'm late with the project (at least there's no emergency...) as I'm trying to unscramble my mind from prolonged exposure to tortured language and logic, to say nothing of the underlying political philosophy of this lengthy piece, a philosophy I abhor. Between the cliches, the involuntary humor (the worst kind if you ever want to be taken seriously, as this author does), the lengthy expository passages devoid of any credibility whatsoever, the prolonged oh-my-God-get-on-with-it-already-for-real-wtf plot points, and the archaic vocabulary which requires extensive researched, I am DOOMED.
And of course, the deadline (past due already) comes in the middle of the busiest period of my life, bar none, seriously, honest to God. Which means, logically, that I MUST update this page for the first time in four (FOUR) frigging months.
Ok, just thought I'd kvetch. In the meantime, I've got to go grade the approximately forty gazillion student papers I still have to grade, plus teach, plus committee work, plus own research (Ha. Ha-ha-ha. I'm so funny) and *gurgle* help *gurrrllllllgggrrrrr* I'm drowning here @!#$%^^&&$..............
