Updates from Al

Well, well, well… the last couple of weeks have been quite an adventure, to say the least. To begin, I would like to formally announce that I’m looking for work in and around Montreal. I got the news last week that there just isn’t any money in the budget to maintain my position, so at the end of the fiscal year (May 31) I’ll be handing in my keys and bidding a fond farewell to my little office space. While this is hardly the sort of news I wanted to hear, I was only ever promised a year here so getting an extra 2 and a half months is actually pretty decent. So if any of my readers know of any jobs for Anglophones out there (and though I shouldn’t NEED to emphasize this, I will anyway: NO CALL CENTRES), please feel free to drop me a line.

The next blow to the ol’ ego came last night in the form of a rather thin envelope from McGill’s Department of History. Contained therein was notice that I had been rejected from the Masters program and that my interest in the “highly competitive” program was appreciated. Um, thanks for that, I think… so I guess that clears up any fears I had about how I was going to pay for the MA, huh? Oh well. The next challenge awaits, I guess.

So let’s try and end off on a positive note, shall we? Last night I had the final exam for the French to English Translation course I’ve been blasting through this term. It’s hard to believe that 12 weeks have gone by so quickly, but evidently it has. Now I don’t know if I just got handed something different from everyone else in the room or if my classmates are just far more cautious than I am, but I was done that exam in record time. Sure, I had to look up the occasional word, but otherwise the translation seemed to write itself. All told, in a 90 minute exam, I was done in 45 minutes—and that includes the time I spent re-writing my rough draft! So either I tanked it or I rocked that baby til the break of dawn. We’ll be getting the results back next week, so I guess I’ll find out then if I’m as clever as I believe I am at the moment. Maybe I’ll get lucky on the English to French exam after Easter? Anything’s possible, right? Til next time…

My Mind is Blank

We’ve hit March 15 and my mind is still a blank. My parents decided to take advantage of March Break this past week and drove up from London to see little ol’ me. As much as I hate to admit it, I do miss my family occasionally. Sure, it was pretty tight quarters, but it’s the price one pays to have visitors in a one bedroom apartment in Montreal. They were able to entertain themselves while I was at work, so I didn’t need to play tour guide.

I also got back the results of my English-to-French midterm and, while hardly spectacular, was well within the low ‘B’ range, which is fine by me at this point. This course was a good litmus test for me and my fluency in French. It showed me that, though I’ve got a reasonable grasp of the language, it’s going to take longer than the duration of this course for me to approach my own demanding performance standards with respect to mastery.

I also recently got the chance to attend a lecture by Sherry Simon, who wrote a book called Translating Montreal: Episodes in the Life of a Divided City (I just ordered a copy of it, by the way). Her observations have prompted me to read her book, since it seems that she took a different look at Translation. To her, translation becomes a tool of cultural contact and exploration (hmmm… sounds like a theme I can support) rather than a replacement of one text with another. I’m curious to see what direction she takes with it.

Alright, I’m off. Til next time…

News from the Front

Today has turned out to be a pretty good day (and I’m not even half way through it yet). Just after lunch, I received an e-mail from the folks responsible for creating the student e-mail accounts at McGill University. It looks like I’ve been accepted into Part-time and Continuing Studies for the Certificate in Translation (French to English) program that I had applied to earlier! Hurrah!

Now how does this fit into my grand scheme? Well, I’ve always been a bit of a worrier and since I can’t claim to have loads of job security at the moment, I thought I would take something that could add to my skill set. There’s bound to be a market for someone who can translate French to English in this province. Sure, I could have taken something a wee bit more practical, but what fun would that be? Besides, this also leads back into my explorations of Quebecois culture and would assist me in reading through primary sources should I succeed in my attempt to get into grad studies.

I’ve also recently joined a gym and have managed to get through 3 workouts so far. With any luck, I’ll manage to get back to a dainty 200 lbs sometime in the new year (I’m not going to hazard a guess as to how far through the new year it’ll be, though). So overall, I’ve got some pretty positive things happening. Lastly, voting begins tomorrow for the First Round of voting for the Canadian Blog Awards. Please feel free to show your support for ol’ Al B Here. Til next time…

Apprehension and Anticipation

My mini-cassette recorder is still sitting on the living room coffee table. Beside it, one will find a UWO clipboard with some quotes scribbled on the lined paper contained therein. I don’t think I’ve ever been more apprehensive about finishing an article in my life. Seriously. I know that my half hour interview with Bernard Landry isn’t anything monumental in the grand scheme of things, but I want to do a good job with it.

Now every time I sit down and press play on the player, my mind starts racing. What if my questions all sucked? What if I’ve got absolutely nothing of value out of the interview? Did I just blow a golden opportunity that few writers or reporters get afforded? And while I’m sure my readership is less judgemental (Morgan is, of course, excluded from this comment) than I am of my work, I still want to put something of substance out there. However, in saying that, it occurs to me that shit is still a substance…

In other news, I’ll be taking an entrance exam this coming Thursday in the hopes of entering a part-time certificate program in Translation at McGill University. The department is structured a wee bit differently than what I’m accustomed to at Western, insofar as the types of courses one is eligible to take is limited, but I wanted to do something to keep my mind active and perhaps meet some people. And if I managed to get a certificate out of the deal, then all the better, right? Plus, it gives me a classroom setting to work on my French again. So that’s what I’m up to. Til next time…