Chilling
I had a nice talk with my mother this morning which served as a good reality check. I have been making a lot of wild assumptions about graduation, work, etc. but my mom knows how I work so she saw through my bullshit and gave me some really good advise.
As a result, I think I am going to give up on the computer engineering degree after all and just get my B.A. in Japanese. Computers are a hobby for me, and they always have been, but I don't think I'm suited for a career in high technology. I lack the discipline and am sidetracked too much by parallel disciplines. I think I will just pursue technical skills on my own (i.e. programming/web design/robotics) and if those skills happen to double as a selling point for future job interviews, so be it, but I won't try to keep the charade up any longer. Oddly, much of the joy of computers seems to be lost in me when I step into a classroom.
I went to the local employment office and registered for their employment database. However, it doesn't seem like there will be too many positions available with my target hourly wage: 1500 yen. There would be many such full-time positions, but I can only work for 28 hours/week given my current visa. Maybe I will be able to bolster my future income with some English lessons and translation work here and there.
Tonight I cooked dinner for Anna and our friend Yoko. My menu featured a mushy vetetable/textured soy protein stir-fry, a soymilk soup with corn and tomatoes, and some black sesame tofu (which Anna had bought at the local grocery). It wasn't a very good meal but Anna and Yoko were very gracious and pretended to like it. They went to a kimono lesson across the street about an hour ago.
In the meantime, I reinstalled Windows XP on my laptop because it was getting to be way too slow. I am going to be very careful about installing software from here on out so that I don't have to waste the few hours it takes to get everything re-installed to my liking. I really should burn the XP Service Pack 2 update to a CD next time so I don't have to put my computer at risk until I get my firewall software installed the next time.
Despite my conspicuous lack of income, I splurged on a FireWire/USB 2.0 DVD-RW burner with LightScribe technology. I had never heard of this technology until last week, but it allows you to laser-etch labels right onto specially designed DVD and CD media with the same laser that burns the data to the disc. I have never owned a printer...so it will be nice to have professional labels on my future CDs/DVDs.
What else?
After I make some handouts advertising my rates for teaching English, I am going to go on an aggressive flyering/leafletting campaign, putting pamphlets in every mailbox in the area and posting on local community information bulletin boards and at local schools. Word of mouth is just not cutting it for me.
I am going to start doing some unconventional travel advice. Maybe through my website I will start posting unusual FAQs and tours about Japanese things based on suggestions from friends, family, and visitors to my blog. For example, if asked how tofu is made, I will actually go in search of a tofu-making shop willing to let me do a little investigative reporting, and do a little photojournalism to explain the process, instead of just regurgitating information I got from Google, as so many people tend to do (myself included).
More later...please leave a comment if you have any ideas!!! I'm at your service, loyal blog-readers!
As a result, I think I am going to give up on the computer engineering degree after all and just get my B.A. in Japanese. Computers are a hobby for me, and they always have been, but I don't think I'm suited for a career in high technology. I lack the discipline and am sidetracked too much by parallel disciplines. I think I will just pursue technical skills on my own (i.e. programming/web design/robotics) and if those skills happen to double as a selling point for future job interviews, so be it, but I won't try to keep the charade up any longer. Oddly, much of the joy of computers seems to be lost in me when I step into a classroom.
I went to the local employment office and registered for their employment database. However, it doesn't seem like there will be too many positions available with my target hourly wage: 1500 yen. There would be many such full-time positions, but I can only work for 28 hours/week given my current visa. Maybe I will be able to bolster my future income with some English lessons and translation work here and there.
Tonight I cooked dinner for Anna and our friend Yoko. My menu featured a mushy vetetable/textured soy protein stir-fry, a soymilk soup with corn and tomatoes, and some black sesame tofu (which Anna had bought at the local grocery). It wasn't a very good meal but Anna and Yoko were very gracious and pretended to like it. They went to a kimono lesson across the street about an hour ago.
In the meantime, I reinstalled Windows XP on my laptop because it was getting to be way too slow. I am going to be very careful about installing software from here on out so that I don't have to waste the few hours it takes to get everything re-installed to my liking. I really should burn the XP Service Pack 2 update to a CD next time so I don't have to put my computer at risk until I get my firewall software installed the next time.
Despite my conspicuous lack of income, I splurged on a FireWire/USB 2.0 DVD-RW burner with LightScribe technology. I had never heard of this technology until last week, but it allows you to laser-etch labels right onto specially designed DVD and CD media with the same laser that burns the data to the disc. I have never owned a printer...so it will be nice to have professional labels on my future CDs/DVDs.
What else?
After I make some handouts advertising my rates for teaching English, I am going to go on an aggressive flyering/leafletting campaign, putting pamphlets in every mailbox in the area and posting on local community information bulletin boards and at local schools. Word of mouth is just not cutting it for me.
I am going to start doing some unconventional travel advice. Maybe through my website I will start posting unusual FAQs and tours about Japanese things based on suggestions from friends, family, and visitors to my blog. For example, if asked how tofu is made, I will actually go in search of a tofu-making shop willing to let me do a little investigative reporting, and do a little photojournalism to explain the process, instead of just regurgitating information I got from Google, as so many people tend to do (myself included).
More later...please leave a comment if you have any ideas!!! I'm at your service, loyal blog-readers!
posted by jeremy at 8:05 PM
1 comments
