Nine hundred and ninety-nine pieces

This was not the post I wanted to write.

I wanted the cyber equivalent of a dance of joy. As I found out yesterday, the score on my written test (passing is 70%; I scored 95%) qualified me to take the oral test for court interpreters later this month.

After doing an Internet search, I found an article with tips for preparing for the oral test. It consists of three parts: sight translation, consecutive translation, and simultaneous translation. The article suggested reading news and practicing translating these. So far, so good.

So, I log on to cnn.com. By now, we all now that on Monday, a truck driver went into a one-room schoolhouse in an Amish community and shot several young schoolgirls. For some reason, I logged on to an interview with an official describing the events. And I tried to interpret, in a simultaneous fashion, the way the articles describe. If you find a word you don't understand, skip it and move on. Don't add, don't leave out information. Be professional and keep an emotional distance.

Even if your heart breaks into 999 pieces.