1 post tagged “rtbc”
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!