Just a Quick Note...

...to thank you all for your supportive comments yesterday and to let you know that the biggest drama of the day was that I lost my keys and couldn't find them at the end of the day.  After a huge search involving the assistance of all the sound personnel and lighting techs and security guys, I found them. 

In my purse.

Underneath my lipstick. 

Heh. 

Um.  Oops.

And there was a small irony:  The only speaker who tripped me up was a senior college student, American, local (I even know her dad, it turns out), no accent.  She only read at about 6,900 words a minute.  She was a tad nervous, clearly.  The only good (and it's good enough) mistranslate was when she was going like a bat out of hell and she was quoting the guest of honor:  "When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitive tits become irrelevant."

I kid you not.   It was supposed to be, of course, "national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant." 

Cripe Almighty.   

At one point I just stopped writing.  I had to stop, take a deep breath, and regroup.  It was the only thing I could do.  It was better that than make mincemeat out of the thing.  But the speaker I was worried about?  Piece of cake.  Except when he said Shavuot and Yahrzeit.  I was quite pissed at myself that I didn't have those in my dictionary, but then why would I?  Most reporters around here wouldn't even know what those are, but because I'm Jewish, I could have possibly anticipated them.  When he said, "Between Passover and Shavuot," and I knew for a fact that I did not have Shavuot in my dictionary, I substituted, "between two Jewish holidays."  And when he said Yahrzeit, I just pretended he didn't. 

Head in the sand works for me. 

And kaddish did not translate properly, either.  Damn.   I saw that it didn't the first time he said it, and when he said it the second time, I wrote instead, "prayer for the dead."  It's all about making a readable and understandable transcript.

The reason for no speech being supplied ahead of time?  Because he winged the entire thing.  No written speech. 

The many hours of prep I put in paid off in spades, though, and I got lots of love and positive attention from many in attendance.  Many hearing people, including the sign language interpreters, were, at times, reading the translation because they could not understand the accent.  Later, a VIP asked me, "Just out of curiosity, how did you know all those Jewish words?"  Heh.  Of course, he doesn't know the half of it, because the true question is, how did I have them all in my steno dictionary.   Knowing the words is one thing -- having them translate is quite another.  Of course, knowing them is the requisite first step. 

I'm exhausted, and I have a long day ahead of me Thursday, and possibly Friday as well.  So I just wanted to pop in and tell you what an awesome bunch you are.  Oh, and there are only one or two pole burns. 

Comments

[Kristen]

Ow baby--you showed that pole! I understand sensitive tits. Especially during PMS, when my human dignity is in jeopardy.

[sandy]

You showed him! And them! Norma rocks. But then I already knew that.

[Dave]

Glad it went well! Do you finger-spell? It's handy for those words that pop up out of the blue.

[maryse]

sensitive tits are never irrelevant.

i'm glad it went well. it must be exhausting ... i imagine all of your senses need to be "on" and you need to be 100% there.

[Carole]

Yay for Norma! What an exciting day for you but no wonder you're exhausted.

[Sara]

*guffaws* sensitive tits...

I don't know how you could have kept your composure. Honestly. Then again, I guess I am just really juvenile.

Glad that things went so well, Norma, but honestly? I had no doubt that you would do awesome!

[margene]

There was no doubt in my mind that YOU would be the star.

[marianne]

I quite agree with Maryse, sensitive tits are never irrelevant. Be sure and keep the aloe on those burns....
You really are just.so.damned.cool. Hope today and Friday just whiz right by for you, a bit of rest and relaxation for the weekend is in order.

[minnie]

somebody needs to tell that girl that speed kills! good job, lady, even with the sensitive tits!

[tricia]

Hi, just found your blog from a link on Cat's Eye. As someone who has had steno training, I loved the story about the sensitive tits! I now work as a hansard reporter for the UK Parliament and thought you might like my favourite mishear of all time. A colleague was reporting a speech by the late Tony Banks MP and was puzzled by a reference in it to a "Marks and Spencers' suit". Turns out Mr. Banks was talking about a "Marxist-Leninist stooge"! Cracks me up every time!

[MaryB in Richmond]

YOU GOT TO HEAR ELIE WIESEL!?!?!??! Oh, I am SOOOOOO jealous!!!!

[Tracy]

You rock my dear! Hope today and tomorrow fly with great ease and your weekend is restful.

[pippi]

I knew you would kick ass!!!!

[Roxie]

Did the readers guffaw over the "sensitive tits" thing, or did it just fly by under the radar? It sounds as if you were simply brilliant and thought on your feet like a karate master! We knew you could do it!

So for that pole dancing thing, did anyone shove twenties in your g-string?

Praise and cheers for you!!

[Marcia Cooke]

Knew you could do it!

[no-blog-rachel]

Sensitive tits - oy. Too freakin' funny. How did you not gigglesnort in front of everyone? I'd have died tee-heeing.

[Lee Ann]

Wow, I'm just catching up here, and between the cracked tooth, the sensitive tits, and the pole burns, dude, you're a wreck. :-) Happy to know that you made it through the day without anything too bizarre happening...

Because, you know, a striptease during a speech is not at all bizarre. I hope you wore your hot yoga clothes.

[Rachel H]

I was gonna say something, coz hey, that's what I do, then I read Lee Ann's comment.

...

Now I got nuthin' I think I'd better go check on our girl though...

[Cheryl]

So "tits" was in your dictionary, but "genocide' wasn't?? Fascinating . . .

[Anne]

I knew it would be good. Of course you totally rock. No brainer.

[Renee]

Sensitive tits... just one of the many reasons I'm scared of a breast reduction. They are highly relevant to me.
Glad your day went well. Lost keys aside.

[Joansie]

Norma, great job! Can you tell me if that transcript will be available to the public? A co-worker of mine who attended would like to know.

[LisaK]

Cool! I'm glad it went okay for you. I think what you do is really amazing!

I almost failed typing in school and I still don't type worth beans. I think my fingers are not attached to my brain when it comes to typing.

[kmkat]

I wish I could have been there, not for the sensitive tits thing, but to hear ELIE WIESEL!! (*jealousy*) A friend of mine took a grad school seminar from him @ Brandeis. One weekend he was gonna be flying somewhere and needed something to read on the plane. My friend gave him her copy of "Bimbos of the Death Star" b/c she loved the image of the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize laureate reading that book in public (it is a light-comedy murder mystery, if you are interested).

[Ruth]

Way to go!

and wow ... he winged the whole speech? Amazing. He is amazing.

[Rachel]

You should have made that: tzitzim as they are called in jewish words HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA

[Tonia]

OK, I've been impressed before at your steno speed, but now I'm even more impressed that you can transcribe live speeches accurately *and* substitute words on the fly that you know aren't in your dictionary. Brava!

[Carol]

What a couple of pole burns between friends and co-workers? I was reading about the sensitive tit just when someone here told a joke. You and I made them sound good!

[Tee]

Holy Cow. Elie Wiesel. And now you can say you've worked with him. Wow.

And you must never work with my son, who speaks at least 9600 wpm on a regular basis. We're terrified of what will happen when he starts drinking coffee.

Glad that's over and you can enjoy the weekend.

[Margot]

Congratulations! I *knew* you'd shine! Wish I could have been there.

[Lucia the filthy-minded]

I keep trying to write you a limerick, and it keeps coming out, well, filthy. It's what my mind does when you say "pole" and "sensitive tits" in the same post.

You're awesome!

[Laura]

Still laughing. hehehe I've done the key thing. You're not the only goofball on the planet - isn't that nice to know?

Still laughing. GAWD. Just one bad translation but yeah, it was bad enough. hehehe

[Anne]

I knew it!!! I knew he hadn't written it!

[Mum]

Those "sensitive tits" gave me a good belly laugh, and I don't get too many of those at the moment. I also had a bit of a giggle that "tits" is in your steno dictionary. lol
I'm glad it turned out far better than you anticipated, and isn't that most often the case; that our worst fears are rarely realised.
You did good Norma.