4 posts tagged “rainbowhill88”
Alright, so there are many reasons to be cheerful, but lets start with three. Not the only ones, nor the most important ones, but 3 being the magic number, a good place to start.
Almost a year ago Mick and Min and Nettie bought me a moleskine when they came to Japan. I've been writing in it almost every other day and I'm starting to feel as though it's had a transformational effect not only on writing about things I experience but on observing them as they happen.
Until today I haven't really been that interested in going back through it and reading it again, but I was prompted by a freinds retrospectiveness to delve into the waybackmachine and visit one of my first blogs. Most of the links are broken and the jpegs are missing due to the archive not following links contained within javascript, but it's still there, frozen in time.
Moments we capture in print or on screen are also indelibly imprinted on our psyche. I am who I today for as much I have determined for myself, shaped by the influence of others.
Today I am tired and sore. Yesterday was a 16 hour working day, and tomorrow will be another fourteen. I am happy for the standard 8 today, but feel so driven to produce something of value I am up writing now.
How different things are now to what they were a year ago. I was newly out of work and expecting my third child. It was getting very cold and I was sporting a long beard. I was in a foreign country surounded by people speaking a foreign language and those that did speak English were paying for me to do so.
Things couldn't be more different. I am clean shaven and working three jobs to get back on track. My third child is almost walking, and all three of my kids are at least in the same city. I still get paid to speak English, but this time it's different because it's my second job and the pressure is off. Now I'm able to poor my talents and skills in to my day job I'm a lot more settled.
I still have a long way to go before I can say I'm doing exactly what I want to do, but I am getting there. I'm in a place where I can share my vision and make a difference. I could be getting paid more, but that's beside the point, I'm learning and growing into my responsibilities and that feels good.
Where I'm going from here is the nexus of technology and learning. I have a couple of plans that are slowly being brought to fruition. I won't be revealing all just yet, but you can see things slowly taking shape in places like rainbowhill88 and jrfiction on YouTube, and rainbowhill and jrfiction on tumblr. If you're a higher frequency person, then join me on twitter in either Japanese or English flavours.
There's also edufire, which is where I'm off to now, to try and build up my student base. I'm tutoring in Japanese and English over there. If you're a teacher maybe you should come and join us, if you're a student maybe you should come and learn from me!
By way of affirmation I accept this ambiguity as an expression of the impermanence of all things.
This is a video I put together at the beginning of last month, about the working conditions we all had to endure as Nova began it's death throes. It was recently picked up by Let's Japan, a site where I spent a lot of time over the last couple of months trying to make sense of all the chaos.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one to vlog about Nova as it went down the toilet. A couple of months ago I subscribed to a guy called Trevor who was doing much the same thing as I was, vlogging about life and work in Japan. One of his most recent videos, also featured on Let's Japan, shows the obvious distress at being forced out onto the street in a strange land.
Mark is another guy who came to Japan, full of hope and enthusiasm, just a couple of months ago. In a video series called Mark goes to Japan, his enthusiasm soon turns to confusion and anger. Mark was the target of a lot of misdirected criticism, some of it hurtful, due in part to his perceived naivety. The very last video on his vlog, he seems to be in denial of the situation unfolding around him.
It is hard to watch these videos, and I cringe every time I see my own, but I think they need to be seen. The situation with Nova is far from over. For some people their difficulties are only just beginning.
I am sure there are many other vloggers out there, sharing their stories despite their hardships. I am encouraged by their efforts to present my story as honestly as possible. Is there something that you have seen recently that makes you think about blogging both the rough and the smooth?
