Busy and Sad

I’ve been busy with work this month. Well, BUSY WITH WORK. I got a sizeable amount of translation work, which is of course fine. But, sad news came in also.

On the 14th, I worked as a language converter for an online business review meeting between one in Singapore and the one in Japan, both of whom I’d worked before. Right before the meeting began, she, in Japan, said to me, “I’ve become a cancer patient,” which shocked me immensely. She was diagnosed with cancer several months ago, and a surgery is now scheduled during the last week of October. It was her last review meeting before she would go on leave for her treatment.

Everybody has cancer cells. The problem is that they are so unpredictable. Out of the blue, they decide to start attacking their hosts, even non-smoking teetotallers. I truly hope she’ll get well.

And yesterday (Friday), a person working at another client company sent me a LINE message, telling me that he had undergone a catheter surgery for cardiac infarction and was now in hospital. It’s been almost ten years since I first worked with him and others of the company. Until the covid pandemic interfered, I’d worked with them for a few years almost every month here and in Malaysia. He says his prognosis has been okay.

Today, the agent of this place’s owner messaged me. In essence, I will have to move out within 10 to 12 weeks after the completion of its sale. I know the owner want to sell this place, as the agent notified me months ago. And I’m probably happy not about moving out of this place but leaving this country.  Then, with this pandemic, what can I really do now? How can I arrange things for finding a place in another country? I’d like to say to the agent, “Ask Miss Covid first and then talk to me.”

The 2020 (+1) Tokyo Olympic Games opened yesterday. I’m not interested in competitive events between nations. And who knows how much work I’ll get next month. The longer I live here, the more deeply I go into this abyss.