Day 014 The Thing about the Craftsmanship and Break My Leg

Screenshot from the Kung Fu Panda 2

My wound hurted from time to time today. Finger crossed. Sometimes, some sufferings are just so unnecessary.

Just finished the movie - the Kung Fu Panda 2 because I am going to see the third franchise next week. It's better to know what you are expecting, after all, I am not that into surprise though my friends think I do.

In the movie, Tigeress acquired the skill - the punch of steel (FYI, I made the name up) after 20 years of practice by punching into the tree of steel. 20 years. That's about the amount of time for me to grow up to the person I am now. But, what I know is that I got no awesome skills that are equivalent of that, though I think I'm pretty cool in terms of some other aspects. This is a bit off-topic. Anyway, I am trying to make the point that the Tigeress's spirit behind her practice is the very thing that can be found nowhere in the world now. That's a bit hyperbolic, I know, but that's oh-so-true. The so-called craftsmanship is on the verge of extinction.

You might have heard the Legend of the man of Sushi. A Japanese grandpapa who crafts the best Sushi in the world. From the very beginning to the very last of the Suchi-making process, he holds to the high-spirit of craftsmanship, making every little detail refined again and again, from the selection of vegetable, fish meat and rice, to the temperature and containers of the end production. If you have ever seen the document of his, you'd be dying to pay a visit to his restaurant and have a good taste of this food attached to the heaven aroma.

About the same time when Tigeress told Po that she got it, I made up my mind to change something in my own life with this craftsmanship. I determined to become a fine translator and interpreter. That's no easy way to do it. Being a bridge, finding my own way to connect the east and west is not just about rolling out some may-not-be-so-accurate-and-proper blueprint, gathering enough bricks, finding the best tools of bricklayer, and getting your hands dirty. It's beyond the ostensible proper measures, it's more like finding your inner peace and polish the tricks and skills over and over again until you can internalize all the words, phrases, sentences, grammars, rhetoric, slang, idiom, culture, life and everything that another native man can possibly have in his life. Even you can achieve that, the night is still young. The most challenging part remains still is that you have to take a good look at your own language and culture through different lens. Most translators and interpreters do a really stinky job because they suck at their own mother language. It's the most seemingly least thing draws the borderlines of the most possible of you.

I have had my eyes on the ball now. May 21st and 22nd. The day I can get my own punch of steel if I can stick to my plan for the next four months.

Break my leg.