4 posts tagged “facebook”
Well part of the battle is won. I've made it home, finished my course and landed a job, all without completely depleting my savings. The hardest part is yet to come, finding an apartment. Not an easy task in Brisbane at the moment, where most people spend at least at least a 3rd of their income on rent. Buying is out of the question, housing affordability is at it lowest point in about 12 years, and there doesn't seem to be any chance of that changing soon.
I'm working, and that's the main thing. I decided on going with a full time permanent position with James Cook University Brisbane, in their Learning Support Services section as a Student Learning and Support Officer. It's not English teaching, but it does have slightly more going for it financially. I needed the stability that comes with a salaried position over the contract work that typifies the English teaching industry even here.
I'm going through the induction process today, and tomorrow I'll be in the Channel 7 studios for the recording of "How to Get That Job" with Sarina Russo. I've been told to have some questions ready just in case I get called on to participate in Q&A.
It has been said that brevity is the source of wit, but isn't limiting yourself to five.sentenc.es taking things a little too far? It seems that as the number of our online buddies increases, it's becoming less practical to deal with the flood of information coming our way. Choose your friends wisely I say, GIGO!
There once was a very clear line that separated my professional life from my social life, but increasingly that line is becoming blurred.
My employer has recently launched a new blog, and has invited contributions from instructors. There is also a short video competition for instructors with the theme "My Japan". I am interested in contributing to both of them. I think anything I can do for new instructors to help ease the transition to living in Japan is a good thing.
I know there are other instructors are out there blogging for the public, but I'm not sure how many of them would want their students to know it. Especially in light of the tragedy earlier this year.
The recent launch and invitation has raised a few questions about how much I want to reveal of myself online and in class. I've always kept a professional distance in my dealings with students, and that isn't about to change. However students and others are going to have greater access to my online life, if I start contributing to a potentially high profile blog.
I have turned down friends requests from students before on youtube and facebook, and I will do it again. But with Facebook launching public search listings, the illusion of a private circle of friends is becoming even thinner. There is always the possibility that the stage whispers I make on line cold be overheard by students or my employer, taken out context and served up to me in a memo at work. By the way, I have opted out of having my profile show in public search listings on Facebook.
Since rounding off my involvement in Aikido my social life has revolved around my family first and foremost. If I am interacting with other English speaking people outside of work they are usually other instructors, that's part and parcel of expat communities all over the world. The other place where I interact with people is online, so I am glad that there are privacy options on Vox and other sites where I have a presence.
So, really, I don't have any qualms about blogging for work. Let the dialogue be open, honest and based on mutual respect.
It's kind of rare that I get the time these days to sit down and write a full blooded blog post, and when I do I'm usually posting pictures of our latest trip to the park for friends and family. That's not something that I think is terribly interesting for most people. Most often I've been connecting with people online via my mobile phone and Nintendo DS with Opera mini.
I read some where recently that people love reading short blog posts with lists of links so I've decided to send you a five of my favourite blogging tools on the web. This is where you will find me spending most of my down time, while I'm on my way to work and in my breaks.
- Tumblr - A tumblelog, fast and light, very visual and a bit like scrap-booking.
http://rainbowhill.tumblr.com/ and in Japanese http://jrfiction.tumblr.com/ - Twitter - microblogging tool for those with an attention deficit, also a very good way to share news, and keep your ear to the ground. I'm posting here only in Japanese.
http://twitter.com/jrfiction - Jaiku - The choice for me between Jaiku and Twitter is simple, the former is in English and the latter is in Japanese. I must admit that I have connected with more people on Twitter, perhaps because I put more effort in.
http://jrfiction.jaiku.com/ - Flickr - I've only just rediscovered Flickr, they have some new upload tools and it's simple to upload via email also. I repurpose my feed here for Tumblr and Jaiku. My photosets are also available through other sites like vox and facebook.
http://www.flickr.com/people/rainbowhill/
I was going to mention 43things and Facebook because they seem to absorb a lot of my time, but that's only when I am in front of the PC, which is like I said earlier a lot rarer these days.
