Paul Hirsh (asker) Feb 9, 2014:

Yes Yumico! Hello, It was a while back now, but as a hardened obsessional, my main project in life for 13 years was to play jazz on the Romanian panpipe. I would love you to have a look at my website to check out my gaijin Japanese... are you expensive? www.tuutflutes.com

Yumico Tanaka (X) Feb 7, 2014:

Yes, and I repeat... I guess the point that the author is trying to say that his life for the past 13 years was all about music, perhaps.

Port City Feb 7, 2014:

Yes, I've read the "13 years" part, but I've still got the impression that the person didn't seem to have devoted the entire 13 years trying to play jazz, learning Basque, etc. seriously. Well, it's just the impression I've got from the limited text, though. I didn't see much connection between jazz and Basque. So, I thought what the person was trying to do were all hobbies. And, I might be completely wrong.

Yumico Tanaka (X) Feb 7, 2014:

perhaps, but it says "for 13 years" The author may be exaggerating, but I guess the point that the author is saying is that his life for the past 13 years was all about music, maybe that's what the author was trying to say.

Port City Feb 7, 2014:

Temporarily bothered I've got the impression that the difficulty the person had was quite casual; it didn't seem to have occupied his/her mind all the time.

Yumico Tanaka (X) Feb 6, 2014:

"trying to play jazz or whatever" 頭を抱える・悩まされてきた has connotation that there were reasons why he couldn't do what he wanted to do. There were clear issues to tackle, but because the asker put "trying to play jazz or whatever" It seems that the person tried to do so but didn't feel like it or situations didn't allow him to. Perhaps it is just me thinking too much, but anyway the main thing is the asker will get some ideas from us, so please don't be offended by my "disagree", thanks!

Yumico Tanaka (X) Feb 5, 2014:

Don't worry it will have to be edited later anyway I just edited a translation of a mini web-book done by a Japanese translator, and it was a lot of work. I also had to redo my own editing again and again. Translation needs to be edited by another translator of the language to be really good enough to be enjoyed by readers.