Just wanted to say thank you to everybody who responded to my "cry for help" post. It's been a busy day of meetings at work so I've not been able to digest all the information yet, but I just wanted to acknowledge the response and say thank you. 🙏

Translators of Bluesky, this is a cry for help: I'm a J-E translator who's considering setting up as a freelancer. Where do I even begin? What should my rates be? Are there any good resources for people in my position? Any input at all would be helpful. Thank you!

Unfortunately, my job is at risk of redundancy too, along with the rest of my team.

Who's picking up this beauty today?

Tokyo friends, this is happening on Saturday - please come and join us! #translation #literarytranslation #booksky peatix.com/event/4568298

I was interpreting on a call this morning and I misunderstood a Japanese phrase meaning "please choose who goes next after you've introduced yourself" as "please wave your hand as you introduce yourself", so that all the Japanese managers waved very sweetly as they introduced themselves.

I've updated my desk setup! Before and after.

I've discovered a new benchmark for testing the limits of AI assistants that I call "the Japanese joke test". Copilot did not pass the test.

My life is an adventure. I just bought a new desk.

If you work from home and find that your feet get chilly around the house, I can recommend keeping one of these under your desk.

I spent most of my year abroad in Japan listening to: - Tool - Steve Vai - 80s King Crimson So hearing Steve Vai and Danny Carey play 80s King Crimson with Adrian Belew and Tony Levin is making me feel all sorts of things. youtu.be/WSJxtZwJcd4?...

Gex has joined the Amano-verse!

When you're trying to eat healthily but your wife comes home from Costco with a massive tray of chocolate hazelnut mini beignets.

Watching BBC archive footage from the 90s has quickly become one of my go-to coffee break activities.

Ben Starr really can do no wrong.

Happy Switch 2 day, everybody! What are you playing?

Babe, the new Igorrr just dropped. youtu.be/PYRdJo3cG2Q?...

Today, in the category of silly little things that bring me an unreasonable amount of joy: Discovering that Nintendo has added the Pokémon Sword and Shield soundtrack to the Nintendo Music app.

Today's big learning point was: don't eat a load of Reese's Pieces with your lunch if you've got an important meeting in the afternoon. My body was not ready for the ensuing sugar crash.

Today's PSA is that if you notice a fishy smell in your home with no obvious source, chances are it's an electrical appliance overheating, as I learnt the hard way. Thank God my house didn't burn down. Also, don't buy a Beko dishwasher.

I also got to see the chocobo Steam Deck in person today!

I sometimes worry that this office doesn't have enough cool swords in it.

Today I learnt that Sleep Token is in the UK charts after one of their songs randomly came on (and totally killed the vibe) at my friend's kid's birthday party. I'm happy about this, but seriously, how did this happen!?

Now that my bass is back in working order, the first piece that I'm committing to learning is Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione, because it really does "feel so good" to play!

Today I'm working in the garden until my laptop overheats.

Due to various circumstances, I haven't had my bass in a playable state for more than 6 years. Well a friend of mine fixed my broken bass amp and returned it to me last night, which means I finally have a home rig setup again. I nearly cried, I was so happy.

Today my kids asked me the question every parent wants to hear: "When can we watch Howl's Moving Castle?"

My wife: "I was awake for 4 hours in the middle of the night thinking about how to renovate our kitchen." Me: "I couldn't sleep because a character in a video game I was playing died and I felt too sad."

Absolutely top-notch writing in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Dragon Quest XI has wrecked me emotionally for like the third or fourth time. I wish someone had warned me that this game would put my heart through the wringer 😭 😭 😭

@ffunion.bsky.social has a new book coming out, and it looks like it's going to be an absolute belter! Check it out below!

My Sonic Lego set is complete! Please ignore all the clutter on my desk.

My kids were making up superheroes earlier as part of a game that they were playing, and my daughter decided that she wanted to be "Nori Girl" 🍣

The casino in Dragon Quest XI provides all the confirmation that I need that I should never ever attempt to gamble with real money.

Greggs breakfast with my eldest is not a bad way to start the day. And yes, we had doughnuts for breakfast. 🍩 🍩

I've never been massively into Lego, but I got this cute little Sonic the Hedgehog set for my birthday, and I've got to say, it's been great for destressing during what has been a quite intense few months. Here's my progress so far.

First day back at work after a week off and I'm in an FF16 sort of mood today.

Just remembered there's a new Dream Theater album dropping tomorrow.

My 2 y.o. has started napping during the day again, which means he's now often awake when I'm going to bed at, like 10 or 11. This means that he's also watching me play the Switch in bed. The last couple of nights he's requested that we play Dragon Quest at bedtime.

If you've ever wondered what life with 4 young kids is like, I suggest you look up one of those Facebook reels of someone trying to bake a simple recipe with an unrestrained live cow in the kitchen trying to eat all the ingredients as it pretty much captures the vibe.

The Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack still slaps, yo.

このカットシーンにノクティスのお尻がこれほどメインになるのは仕様の通り？かな。 I wonder if the close-up on Noctis's butt here was intentional or not.

Got myself a Raspberry Pi, courtesy from @thepihut.bsky.social. Can't wait to get stuck into this! "I'm something of a computer technician myself."

うちの子供とソニック・スーパースターズのトライアル版をPS5でプレイしてみました。不評判タイトルだと聞いたんですが、めちゃくちゃ楽しかった！2歳の子から34歳の私までも楽しめたというレベルのゲームだった。子供向けの4人プレイタイトルを求めている方にお勧めします。

Today I am drawing strength from Japanese punk-rock bands of the late noughties.

今日は平成時代のパンク・ロックバンドに元気をもらっています。感謝。 open.spotify.com/track/76o9a8...

I need some recommendations for Japanese bands and artists. Fire away!

I've set myself the goal of being less lazy with my Japanese study this year (or at least for this month), so I'll be putting up a few more Japanese posts over the next few weeks. Please feel free to interact, ignore, or even correct any errors. Thanks! And happy new year to you all!

今年こそ(というか、仮に今月こそにしよう)日本語の勉強を怠けないことにしました。その一環として、今月中にたまたま日本語で投稿させていただきます。外人っぽさをどうか許してください。 ちなみに、日本語話者の皆さん、あけましておめでとうございます！今年もお世話になります。

This morning two of my kids walked into the kitchen and immediately asked for "more cocktails". #FatherOfTheYear Happy new year everybody!