The Dark Summer El verano oscuro Tamsioji vasara O verão Negro 黑暗的夏天

In December of 2008, I had finally had gotten a job after graduating in May of the same year. Nel dicembre del 2008 avevo finalmente ottenuto un lavoro dopo essermi laureato nel maggio dello stesso anno. It was at a big institutional bank in Boston. Era in una grande banca istituzionale a Boston. I was hired to do accounting for Mutual funds. Sono stato assunto per fare la contabilità dei fondi comuni di investimento. This job was a good fit for me, since I had studied Economics at University. Questo lavoro era adatto a me, dato che avevo studiato Economia all'Università.

That summer, I had started to think about my future. Quell'estate avevo iniziato a pensare al mio futuro. The more I worked at the bank, the more I realized that I wanted to do something else. Più lavoravo in banca, più mi rendevo conto che volevo fare qualcos'altro.

My commute was long. Il mio tragitto è stato lungo. Each day I would take a bus from Manchester, NH to Boston, MA. Ogni giorno prendevo un autobus da Manchester, NH a Boston, MA. It took one hour. Ci è voluta un'ora. Because of my long commute, I didn’t have much of a social life outside of work. A causa del mio lungo tragitto giornaliero, non avevo molta vita sociale al di fuori del lavoro. And being friends with your co-workers is a little different than with non-co-workers. Ed essere amici con i tuoi colleghi è un po' diverso che con i non colleghi.

I did have a few friends, however, so don’t feel too sorry for me! Ho avuto alcuni amici, tuttavia, quindi non dispiacerti troppo per me!

That summer, I had shot a wedding for a beautiful couple who I had become friends through the swing dancing scene at my University and around Boston. Quell'estate, avevo girato un matrimonio per una bellissima coppia con cui ero diventato amico attraverso la scena del ballo swing alla mia università e nei dintorni di Boston.

I also had a good friend who I would hang out with on Fridays and Saturdays. Avevo anche un buon amico con cui uscivo il venerdì e il sabato. Sometimes we would go downtown to the bar and just play pool or talk about engineering and other academic subjects. A volte andavamo in centro al bar e giocavamo a biliardo o parlavamo di ingegneria e altre materie accademiche. My friend is a mechanical engineer. Il mio amico è un ingegnere meccanico. Many of my good friends are engineers and healers. Molti dei miei buoni amici sono ingegneri e guaritori. I love talking with these people because I learn so many interesting things about how the world works at a physical level. Adoro parlare con queste persone perché imparo tante cose interessanti su come funziona il mondo a livello fisico.

That summer I kept on thinking about what I really wanted out of life. Quell'estate ho continuato a pensare a cosa volevo veramente dalla vita. I knew that I had to do some soul searching. Sapevo che dovevo fare un po' di ricerca interiore. I had to find my way. Ho dovuto trovare la mia strada. I had to discover my true heart. Dovevo scoprire il mio vero cuore.

I started painting. Ho iniziato a dipingere. I painted very surreal pictures. Ho dipinto quadri molto surreali. I painted out my sadness and my blues. Ho dipinto la mia tristezza e il mio blues. It was great! È stato fantastico! I used very maddening colors with maddening subjects. Ho usato colori molto esasperanti con soggetti esasperanti. All of my energy lived in my paintings. Tutta la mia energia viveva nei miei quadri. And then I could not find more inspiration. E poi non sono riuscito a trovare più ispirazione. It was a bit erratic at this point. A questo punto è stato un po' irregolare. So I had to stop and think If I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. Quindi ho dovuto fermarmi e pensare se volevo farlo per il resto della mia vita.

I decided to put it on hold. Ho deciso di metterlo in attesa. As I was already starting to do more and more photography on the side for other people. Dato che stavo già iniziando a fare sempre più fotografie per conto di altre persone. I still do a lot of photography today, and perhaps I will again do it professionally. Faccio ancora molta fotografia oggi, e forse lo farò di nuovo professionalmente.

One night in August, I was searching for something to watch on Hulu.com. Una notte di agosto, stavo cercando qualcosa da guardare su Hulu.com. I was really bored. Ero davvero annoiato. I was searching for my passion. Stavo cercando la mia passione. All of a sudden I stumbled upon this anime. All'improvviso mi sono imbattuto in questo anime. I never really liked anime as much as my brothers. Non mi sono mai piaciuti gli anime tanto quanto i miei fratelli. I did enjoy it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it alone. Except, that night.

I started watching it. One episode led to another! I stayed up all night watching it! After that, I had remembered a dream I had as a child.

I would swim to Japan and meet lots of friends and learn the language instantly! I would make inventions and be very rich with lots of Japanese friends. This is a dream I had in middle school.

I had decided at that point that I wanted to learn Japanese. I wanted to go to Japan. I just had to do it. I knew it would be a huge challenge. And that’s exactly what I needed in my life.

My father always used to say "There’s no such word as 'can’t.'" And now I’ve been to Japan and met many friends. I’ve even built a few language learning web applications. I’m still not rich yet, and I’m not fluent in Japanese either. But the more and more I read and listen using tools such as LIngq.com the closer I am to achieving my greatest dreams!

Hang in there! I hope my story has inspired you. I wish you the best of luck. Please add me as your friend on Lingq.com. I’d love to hear your story.