D'yer wanna be a spaceman?

When I was young I dreamt of one day being an astronaut and living on the moon. However, the end of the Cold War effectively meant the end of the Space Race too and - unfortunately for me - with it went any (un)realistic hopes I had of ever seeing human beings colonize space.

But even though I am no spaceman I must admit that it is pretty good to be working again! I still don't really know what I am doing yet in my job - or what I'm supposed to be doing - but I'm slowly working it out. Unbelievably - and despite the fact that it is only my fourth language and that I am far from fluent in it - I have been handed the responsibility for the apparently growing amount of Japanese-to-English translation work which comes into our office. Yes, I know this sounds totally ridiculous but it is in fact completely true! I am the designated Japanese expert at my office.

And it's not your average Japanese either - it's medical Japanese - so some of the kanji I have been forced to try and learn this week include such horrors as pituitary gland, cerebellum, medulla oblongata, large intestine, small intestine, pancreas, spleen, eyeball, nipple, haemorrage, white fat, plasma, amniotic fluid, placenta, excretion, submandibular glands, urinary bladder and breast milk, to name just a few.

Luckily I don't have to do the translations themselves - someone properly qualified does all of those (freelancers) - but I do have to check and proofread all the documents once the translators have finished with them. By comparing the Japanese and English texts side-by-side, one of my tasks is to thoroughly read through the texts and identify potential translation errors as well as spelling mistakes, punctuation errors and formatting issues. And with so much of my day taken up with reading through complicated documents in technical Japanese, I have a suspicion that my ability in the language will increase pretty quickly!

So, I may not be a spaceman but I'm pretty happy nonetheless. Life on Earth could be a whole lot worse!

A New Life Sponsored by Tiger

Although it wasn't exactly part of the plan when I came back to the UK, it has been nice to spend the last few months in Essex. It has given me the chance to take a refreshed look at the county in which I grew up - such things as charming country pubs, two-hundred year old windmills and old medieval churches take on a whole new significance when you no longer take them for granted. As far as I can remember the county of Essex has never looked so good!

However, the bottom line is that my overall plan for returning to the UK did not work. In fact, it failed miserably. Had things gone the way I wanted then I'd be in Birmingham now with the girl I wanted to spend my future with. Instead, I find myself living a life far from that which I had originally envisaged.

So last week I moved to Putney in southwest London. It's a reasonably affluent and charming part of the city very close to the south bank of the River Thames. To be honest it's a world away from Birmingham - in a Japan vs. Cambodia sort of way - and that's something for which I must surely be thankful! It just goes to show that there is always a silver lining when life takes a turn for the worse!


And as you can see from the above photo, I now have a reason to get out of bed on Monday. It seems that things are finally starting to take shape for me as I slowly build a new life out of the ruins of the old one. To say that the "come-down" from my adventures abroad has been a tough one would be very much an understatement. You may think I am being overly-dramatic and you're probably right. After all, how bad can it be? Well, maybe it's just all in my head.

Sometimes life deals you a duff card right at the time when you need it least. But the game goes on. You just have to take it on the chin and hope the next card is a kinder one!

Now I'd better get that ironing board out. I have some shirts to do!

Photographic Fame and Glory

It's not often you get two of your photos on the covers of magazines in the same month but that's exactly what happened to me in May as both Japanzine (for an article on my journey home from Singapore last year) and Fukuoka Now (for their Dontaku festival special) used my photos for their covers!

It probably won't be happening again for quite some time so I'll try and enjoy my moment of photographic fame and glory while it lasts!