Unlike some days where I use the prospect of looming deadlines to declare "today, I have a perfectly good reason to sleep in", I knew today was going to be a rest day. It just so happens that I also had looming deadlines of the "actually already passed by variety" except that my editor is aware of major news items like the 8,000 Covid infections Hainan has had in the past two weeks and understands that me and the other person working on this book are a wee bit overwhelmed with doing government Notices.

I'm currently working on Chapter 4: Establish a Socialist Market Economic System and Ushering in Socialism with Chinese Characteristics into the 21st Century (1992—2002) which, as my co-translator¹ describes as "sort of being like a Hindu tasked with proofreading the Bible". It's around 20,000 words so, even at the abysmal rates this publisher pays², it's still a decent chunk of change and it seemed like a really good idea when I agreed to it. 

Then, I started reading it.

There are few things I want to be doing less right now than confirming the accuracy of this translation and making the English pretty. Unfortunately, I'm not only working on this for Super Important Central Government Press, I'm also doing it for the friend who would otherwise be digesting this whole book on his own. In other words, I have no escape route. I must finish it.

I will start the day off by saying "everything but my brain hurts³" and describing myself as having successfully pushed past my limits to the point where I feel physically terrible but am mentally thrilled.

I will end the day no longer physically exhausted but mentally wiped out.

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¹ Co-proofreader? Co-polisher? Co-llaborator? We're both translators. I've got more experience and a better resume, he's got better Chinese and more formal qualifications. For reasons that make sense from a business and legal point of view, we're technically competitors except for the part where we regularly work together.

² Rates that they get away with because of how much more money you get out of other people once you can point at your name in one of their books 

³ I can think of a few notable instances where I literally couldn't get out of bed the next day and I'm not quite as bad off as that, but the way I creep across the street on my walk towards lunch at 6pm, it's pretty obvious that no biking could have happened today.