What to Do, What to Do

I got to work on a client’s brochure. There were lots of inconsistencies in punctuations and capitalizations that it took me 1½ hours to finish proofreading it.

Doug said last week that this week was going to be busy. Maybe for him. Because as far as I was concerned, I was still thinking of what to do to while away the time. I didn’t want to finish reading the graphic design book I brought from home for it would only make me sleepy.

Ending the Work Week in Style

It was a very happy Friday for everyone. Julita had invited the entire office for some drinks and munchies at the lounge at 2:30 p.m. Well, it must be 5 p.m. somewhere in the world.

I am not a social drinker; so, I had a glass of white wine. Besides, beer makes me red and that would be very embarrassing.

Proofreading Pictographs

I got to proofread French and Chinese versions of a client’s brochures today. The French version was easy. It took me 30 minutes only to check the document even though I don’t speak the language.

The Chinese one was a different story; it was entirely in pictographs! It took me an hour to proofread that thing. How? I simply compared visually the characters from the copy deck with the laser copy.

But there was one thing I missed: the logo was in English for both versions. I actually have noticed it earlier, but I forgot about it along the way. It made me remember Sharon’s advice: When in doubt, ask. Well, I meant to, but I failed to take note of it.

It's Getting Personal

With no work in sight yet, I thought this day was going to be a long one. Fortunately, I found some personal stuff to do.

Caffeine Fix

Though I woke up 30 minutes late this morning, I made it on time. However, I was still sleepy. So, I made myself a cup of Italian espresso. It was so strong that it made my left hand shake and my heart palpitate rapidly . It was a weird feeling, but it made me wide awake.

I also got my box of business cards.

Production Ins and Outs

I had a quick meeting with Deb late this morning about the ins and outs of ad production. She gave me an idea where my role as the proofreader comes in in the production stage. It’s much more difficult than I thought, especially when the entire company depends on you to catch glaring mistakes in spelling, grammar or anything that will cause embarrassment to the company and lose money or, worse, the account.

Manu, the freelance copywriter, reported for work today. He’ll be working in Leanne’s former office for the next two weeks.

And 15 minutes before closing time, Doug handed me work to proofread. Fortunately, it was something I worked on a few days ago. So, it was something I was already familiar with.

Isolation

Working at the far end of the office floor makes me feel isolated. And now that Leanne’s office, which was right next to mine, has been vacated, I felt even more.

After two hours of ennui, it’s time to take my 15-minute break. As soon as I returned, Deb called me to her office for some proofreading work. Woo-hoo! That thing took two hours of my time, well into my lunch break.

After a quick lunch in my office, I took a stroll down the harbour and sat on a bench to admire the view. A few minutes of reminiscing and I was off again to work. I was wondering what to do with the rest of my day when Vassil dropped by with a docket. More work! I was in the zone!