da tomāto

I couldn't be more satisfied with my current state of WAHJs, by far. Have been for some months now. I feel very productive. I am learning a lot and it is very satisfying. This year has been (and still is) a good time for me, working from home. Owning up: Freelance writing and transcription have fallen by the wayside. But I've not abandoned them. They are my idling wah "gigs" and nothing more, at this time. I've known for a while now that I cannot write on demand and I already explained why here . Transcription assignments from my affiliate have been so few and very far in between AND I like it that way. Sidetracking: It feels nice to write about something good - it's not easy but it feels OK. Words did not come pouring out and I kept editing myself. Without a shadow of a doubt, diatribes are easier - they may be boring to read but they are easier to write.

Looked over my posts about transcribing and saw that I was all over the place when I talked about setting my preferences for express scribe hotkeys (function keys). Thought that I'd break them down clearly now 'cause the current settings work best for me, so far. My current Express Scribe (free from NCH Software ) is v 4.23. To customize the function keys, go to settings-->pedal and hot keys. My most-used (or more appropriately, only-used) keys are: F4 Stop F5 Copy Time (Made adding timestamps a non-issue - just press F5 and then, Ctrl-V [paste on MS Word] without leaving the document window. Easy, breezy.) F6 Step Back 5s (five seconds, my most-used hotkey) F9 Play Functions of express scribe hotkeys F4 and F9 are, I think, default. I changed what F5 and F6 do, and I mentioned why here and here . There are no set functions for F7 and F8 (or maybe I intentionally removed them) so pressing either will just stop the playback. All these are on the top-center of the keyboar

This is going to be about food. I may have had bad dinuguan (pinoy dish that's cooked with blood) earlier. My gut feels funny. Well, it wasn't spoiled or else I wouldn't have eaten it and no one else's gut is rumbling in this house. It may have been not-so-good for me - and only me. Who thought calamares and vinegar went well together? They do, apparently. Had a taste of sweet, soft, wonderful, fried calamares with a vinegar and chopped chili pepper dip. It was so good! Had it the day before yesterday and that one mouthful made my mouth water. Talking about it - my mouth is watering right now. It was yummy.

... the dust. One of my writing affiliates announced that their payment program will be suspended until things on their side pick up (obviously, they meant the economy). I don't know, hopefully they'll recover and this will truly be temporary. But right now, I'm feeling that it's the end (theirs, that is). Edit, 16th June: Just learned that they won't be paying writers who didn't reach the minimum payout this period. I'm sad 'cause that includes me. At the moment, I think that I'll let them have my work (that's pending payment) for free - glass half full and all that. I'll check back on them from time to time. They should carry over outstanding balances for when they start their payment program again -- or should I say, IF it's reimplemented.