This is the total (after taxes) that I have pending from my translations...
Of this, $490.70 are from the "special package" which I had set aside as the would-be Disney money...so $1,783.59 would go towards debt...I'm tempted to make it $1,750 or even $1,700 and using the other money ($33 or $83) on some other stuff...I still don't know...I guess it will depend on the overall situation when I actually GET the money!

more translations!!! woo-hoo!!!
keep them coming!!!

This is a "small" one...a contract...should bring in about $30-$40

sooo, today I get to go to someone's house to help them translate a PowerPoint presentation for some high-ranking govt officials...
We'll see how much this earns me in the end...but, right now, I want as much as possible to put towards debt...(and, I need to work on being patient, because I'm not seeing any $$$ until mid-Oct/early Nov!!)...all this could be my Xmas present to myself!!
...who knows, there might even be enough for Ale's bike!

Took a warm bath and slept for about 2 hours in the afternoon....from all the typos I've made in just these 3 rows (which I already corrected) I can see I busted MORE than 3 brain cells!...I think I need more rest, so...BYE!


zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I've just landed this translation job that could bring around $1,000....I haven't been given a deadline, but they said preferably this week...I may not be ablo to do it alone, mind you, so that $1,000 might be split, but, still....
ok, back to my dictionaries and glossaries! (I want to make sure I have all I need!)...I'll be using my lunch hour and, also, will leave at 5:00:00pm!...oh, and since Independence Day is Saturday 15, we will get the afternoon off on Friday (guess who'll be working like crazy?!)...
I have a high-interest cc with $2,600 on it...
wish me luck!

I've been doing "happy numbers" - which is what cousin and I call it when we make numbers based on the best-possible scenario (which is, of course, the worst way to prepare for anything!)...and, if I managed to make an average of $400/month with translations, I might actually be able to be debt-free by mid-2009
.... oooooohhhhhh!!!

Dreaming is free!

of course, it'll be at least 30-45 days before I actually GET the money, but...

They were very happy with the job (the end customer), and said they'd probably have some more next week...(this was a new customer for the people that sub-contracted me, so that means THEY're happy, too!--of course, if they hadn't been impressed by the first translation I did for them, they would never have trusted me with a new customer!)

YAWN...I'm going to bed!

LOL!...it's 11:07pm...I sent my last work of the day at 11:04...4 minutes after my self-set cut-off time!...woo-hoo!...only 12 pages to go and, from what I've seen, I can have them ready before noon.

I then have to work on some other stuff, but that is not as urgent...I might even stay with Ale at a friend's b-day party tomorrow (was thinking of just dropping her off if I was still swamped!..now I'm thinking it would be a nice nap!LOL!)...

speaking of which...I gota go ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ now!

Will update total wordcount for the weekend tomorrow!

I went to bed late, and got up early-ish (ok, so 7:30 instead of 8!--it's SATURDAY!)...managed to translate most of the day --minus a 1 hour break to rest/bake some honey bread...yum! Just like grandma's! And I didn't want Ale to feel TOO neglected!...
I'm almost done (in every sense!)...I'm going to go watch TV to soothe my brain a bit...
I still have stuff to translate, but, I will work/send that tomorrow before noon! (they need to have the docs tomorrow at the latest, so they can put them all together --they gave us half and the other half they gave to another translator!--make them look like there was only 1 single source, print it, bind it and present it to some VIP's before a mid-morning meeting on Monday, so....)

Good thing it deals with stuff that I know (and I mean KNOW, as in: this was "our business" 2 jobs back!)

$127!!!... ~$114 after taxes...for 2 hours worth of translations!!...woo-hoo!!

woo-hoo!...I haven`t seen it yet...it´s supposed to be a big one!...If it really is as much as they say it is, I will take Ale either to the Museum for an art lesson ($1) or to the LIon´s club for swimming ($2)-weather permitting...because that gives her something nice to do (as opposed to watching me peck in the computer!) for 2 hours....and I can take my laptop and work while I wait for her! ...

Whatever $$$ I get paid for this one will go towards debt!

well, the guys that have been handing me translations wanted to know if I would agree to work on translating the comments from some feedback forms for a series of trainings they are working on (they're interpreting at the seminars and feel too burned out at the end of the day to tackle this!)...it's easy, and I'm used to this sort of thing (used to do the same thing for the trainings at the Other Place I worked before!)...so, I know the handwriting is sometimes terrible, but I also know how to decipher it...these would be "small" jobs, really, depending on what the people write it might come to $15-$20 per day (after tax), working for 2-3 hours each day (I can do this from 8pm to 11pm, so I don't sacrifice my time with Ale)...and it's just until Sept 28....so, let's do the math...let's say $15 X 18 (working) days (not sure if they will have seminars on Saturdays or not) = $270....not bad!! ...of course, I would most probably get paid towards the end of Oct/ beginning of November, but, hey, as long as they do pay, I don't mind that much!

I just finished sending all the translations I did today (I still have a package to process, but my brain is fried for the day!...$329 worth of translations done today! -- at $0.04/word...you do the math...honestly, right now I just want to go to bed and ZZZZZZZZZZZZ...running out of battery!!!!

Well, I had made plans to spend my morning going to the social security offices to renew Ale's card and to have our "adscription center" (meaning where we are to go for medical care!) to one closer to home....as the one on our records was the one closer to the place we USED to live!....and then going to the bank to make a (small) payment towards my loan....Although I couldn't get started at 8am like I intended (the office opens at 9, not at 8!), I was done well before 10am! Nice surprise!...Instead of roaming the streets and wasting fuel, I came back home to finish Ale's sweater (and log on to SA, of course!)...and, Nanny told me there had been an "urgent" phone call for me...from the translation offices!...sure enough, they have some urgent translations...since they only have print-outs, they're sending them to me right now!-- which means I still get enough time to log on and work a bit on Ale's sweater!....I'm "free" from now until 3pm, when I have to pick up Ale, so I expect there will be plenty of time to do the work! (I'm rather fast!)...

I'm glad, because, if I had been at work, I wouldn't have been able to take these translations (let me see: working on translations during normal business hours, when I'm supposed to be working on my primary job ...er, - NO!)

So, I'm off to finish knitting the pocket to be sewn onto Ale's sweater!!...(small enough that I KNOW I can finish it today!)...

HAPPY LABOR DAY, EVERYBODY!

due for tomorrow am, no less!...it's about 35 pages (though only abou 3,500 words, so not as bad as it seems, but it has a lot of tables (empty, thank God!) and they take a lot of space!

gotta go!

*****
it will bring in $121 (~$110, really, after taxes!)

Got paid for some translations on Saturday, half an hour later, I was "poor" again!...I went straight to the bank and paid it towards the personal loan...the sad news is, a payment was due on Sunday, which means that I'm back to where I was on Friday....the good news is, at least they are seeing a will to pay (important! If they see payments, most banks will NOT report you to the credit bureaus!) and, also, the delinquency level keeps my account with the banks collection agency, it doesn't escalate to their legal department or to an outsourced collection agent (because then they start CHARGING you fees for every call you receive!)...
I'm still pending some other payments, so...

The translation they sent yesterday night will bring $68! - woo-hoo!...
just a short lease contract, and it took me about 2-3 hours....I could hear their minds going ca-ching! when they asked me if I worked nights and I said "Yes"....most people will not work on a document received after 6...but then again, this is my 2nd job...and, mostly, I start working on it at 8:05pm, right after DD is put to bed (8:00pm is her bed-time!)

woo-hoo!...Place #2 for translations called with 2 good news: 1. my check will be ready Friday and 2. they need more translations, which they will forward to me tonight!...

woo-hoo!...this one will go straight towards the loan!!...I might be current before the end of Sept!

well, I am still owed about $320 for translations...since the people I did the work for were supposed to get paid last Friday, I'm calling today to see if my payment has already been processed...

Call #1:The person in charge wasn't there...will try to call in the afternoon!

Call #2: The payment should be ready this Friday (17/Aug)...we'll see...

Call #3: The end customer still hasn't paid!

If I'm going to catch up/beat my debt, I need at least $100/month worth of translations...I need to get moving and get more contacts!
(at least, now I have 2 new contacts, so that should help...although I know they won't be sending work my way every month, I know that once in a while I will get something from them... plus, the second contact was a referral! )

The $$$ is starting to flow!!...$326.73....so, I'll take out the $55 I'm pendig of paying to Ale's school for her enrollment fee and the $53 for the uniforms/shoes...leaves $218.73...to be distributed as follows: $80 to catch up with 1 payment for bank loan...$100 to cc1 so it's up to date (yipee!! I had until Aug 18 for this payment!!)...$25 to cc2 (to remain up to date and pay a bit over the minimum for this month)...that leaves $13.73...$10 should go to the Children's Home...and, if I add $2.27 out of my own pocket, I have enough money for a trip to the Children's Museum, including the new Planetarium, for Ale and myself during the holidays!(they will be open!)...

It's a plan!

well, I still haven't been paid for the first one (payment is due on 6/30), and already got more translations...the first one was billed at $74 and, this one was much longer, so it'll be $261!...
I'm $150 from recovering my "missed" salary payment...and about $700 away from undoing the damage that missed payment caused!...still, I already allocated the money and, hopefully, I'll be able to catch up on all my debts sooner than I expected...I see God's hand in all of this, because I had prayed for $600 before the end of this month and, if other payments come through as well (my $172 from income tax return and $100 that I've been promised by cousin towards her debt...we'll see!)then the total would be $607!...I'm going to start praying/giving thanks for $250 in translations each month...

I don't know if I mentioned that during our trip to the northern zone our translator was a guy that used to be my best friend at school...(very long, painful story...the short-short-short version: he slept with my boyfriend!)...
back to the present...so, there we were and, all that hatred that I felt for him at one point? GONE!...all the bitterness? GONE!...you know what? forgiveness IS liberating! (I just don't think it's entirely a matter of will, you have to be emotionally ready to let go!)...well, the thing is he came to our house, we chatted for hours and hours and got up to date and, the next day he sent me an email apologising for what had happened over 12 years ago! (I didn't expect that, honestly, if I invited him into my home that meant everything was over)...so, anyway, I wrote him and explained that, from the moment I had invited him, it was because he was forgiven and, that we both knew we ALL had some sort of "fault" in all this, if only in not knowing how to handle all that was happening...so...we are friends again...I don't think we'll ever be "best" friends again (though, who knows? ) ...and, since he' s working on translations now, he sent me some work that he didn't have the time to finish...so, this week I get $74 for that work and, he already knows I'm available from 5pm onwards to do translations!!!...so, besides a renewed friendship (which is priceless) I already got an economic benefit out of the whole thing!

Only about a 100 times, I think!...
well, my best friend called yesterday because they need some translations at the place she works. I quoted her $570 (it is about 40 pages)...since it's over %500, she has to get two more quotes...so, now I'm waiting to see if I will be the one to get the assignment or whether someone else will give her a better offer ...I hate waiting!!!...it would be SO great to get it!!

sold some toys and my share (of profit) is $49! woo-hoo!!

just a reminder

just jotting it down so I don´t forget!

...still, I´m $25 short to make it to next payday (Feb 15!)....I think I can collect that from here to Tuesday!...we´ll see!

managed to collect another $100 for admin services last sunday...so, that's my first $100 for this year's $20 challenge!