Today I attended a GIS workshop about the NIC test, the latest version of certification for interpreters. It was $50 and I earned 0.6 CEUs. I knew nothing about the NIC so I went with the intention of learning more so I could take the test.

Instead, I learned that I don’t want to take the test. It seems really hard and really stressful, not to mention really expensive. If I didn’t have my CI/CT certifications, I’d definitely do it. But considering that passing the NIC doesn’t get me a raise, it just gets me a couple of letters after my name…no thanks. It would be like having a Ph.D. in abnormal psychology, and a Ph.D. in deviant psychology. So close to being the same thing, that they basically are the same thing.

Besides, having CI/CT is equivalent to having NIC, or CSC. They’re all the “top national certification exam,” just from different eras…having an older certification means you’ve been interpreting longer, that’s all.

Again, if I weren’t certified, I’d go for it, and I’d probably pass. But I just don’t want to spend the cash or feel stressed out over something I personally don’t need.

Oh, a funny thing to add about the workshop! When we were practicing voice interpretation, it was kind of hard because we could hear other teams of two voicing for each other as well. But I took out my hearing aids, and all that background chatter (which would have thrown me off) got turned into a low and unintelligible background hum. Cool!

Today I’m harrassing people to join InterNations, an invite-only social network for expats and people who wish they lived in other countries. If you are an expat and I haven’t already bothered you, let me know. If I have bothered you, I got your name from mactavish. It’s a really tiny network right now because it’s invitation-only, if they opened it up they would have more members! Those of you who are not expats, if you happen to know any (even USA to/from Canada counts!) please send them my way so I can offload some invites. Thanks!

Once again I have a premier account with PayPal. Those fuckers will screw you over any way they can. In order to accept credit card payments, you have two choices: upgrade to Premier and be charged 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, OR maintain your Personal account, pay a higher fee to receive the money, but don’t get charged fees on non-credit card transactions. You can only accept five such payments in a year; after that, you are prompted to upgrade.

Unless, that is, you are selling things on eBay. Then, no matter what, you have to have a Premier account. Now, I’ve been a PayPal member since 2000. When their tiered program debuted a couple of years later, I was automatically upgraded. I thought this was a nice thing to do, and I never lost anything major due to the fees. Then someone paid me something like $400 and I lost $12. I discovered that you can downgrade from Premier to Personal, but you can only do it once. So I did!

But now I’m trying to sell some stuff on eBay, and I was forced to upgrade just now in order to accept the payments. In the past I’ve been able to talk to people and get them to pay with a linked checking account, but I am selling several things at once right now, and I might try to sell more stuff. One time I tried posting an auction that said “please pay with linked checking account” and they closed the auction. So yeah, basically PayPal just hates you and me.

Once again, the idea of eating meat is on my mind. I’ve been a vegetarian since November 1993, nearly 15 years. For the past five years or so, I’ve thought about eating meat again. I originally became a vegetarian for ethical reasons, I used to do the “I won’t eat anything with a face” thing, but I now feel like it’s just become a habit. I know about being vegetarian is better for the environment and all that, and I like doing things that are good for the environment, but I am just so curious about eating meat again. Today we went to Chutzpah for lunch, and A ordered the matzoh ball soup. Here’s the conversation we had:

Me: So…what does the chicken broth taste like?
Her: Uh…chicken? (pause while I keep peering at her bowl) Do you want some?
Me: Well…I’m thinking about it.
Her: (gets a spoonful of broth ready)
Me: (stares at broth)
Her: It would be the first time you’ve intentionally eaten meat in 15 years.
Her: No! I can’t do it! (resumes eating egg salad sandwich)

I just don’t know. I’d like to open up my diet meal options, there are only so many different foods available from Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice, etc. I just don’t know. I think about it a lot, actually. I like saving animals, I like saving the planet, but it just feels like a habit I can’t break. I’ve been doing it for 15 years, after all…more than half my life. Is it awful to just try eating a chicken dish from Lean Cuisine? What does it mean if I do? Will I have given up vegetarianism? If I decide I don’t like it, can I really call myself a vegetarian again, if I ate meat deliberately that one time? Will I still love chicken with cashew nuts like I did when I was a little kid? Will it taste good? Will I feel immoral, breaking my long-held beliefs? I just don’t know what to do.

I’ve been a busy bee for the past week or so. Check out what I’ve been working on here.