Sayonara

Three years ago, I began this blog as a means of documenting my experiences in Japan. At the time I knew very little, except that 1) I didn't want to jump into teaching in the States, 2) I needed an outlet for my writing, and 3) I knew virtually nothing about the country I was about to live in. I was, to be fair, clueless about what I was doing, but I thought I'd see where it went.

While I can't say whether the "experiment" was a success or not - the writing has ebbed and flowed quite unspectacularly, as most blogs do - what I do know is that the experience has proved invaluable. And I'm not just talking about the blogging. Living in Japan has been an unbelievable experience, one that has constantly rewarded me and tested me and ultimately - hopefully - made me a better person. It was a dream that, unfortunately, has finally ended.

So what now? Well, I think it's an appropriate time to end the blog. That isn't to say I'm ready to stop blogging, but it's time to find a new outlet for my experiences. Whether that outlet ends up looking like this is still unknown even to me, but I can promise that the result will be exciting and, as always, honest. And as for a job, well, that I'm working on too. I can't say I know exactly where I'll be writing from next, but even with a daunting job search ahead of me I can say that I can't wait to find out.

I'm not typically fond of this kind of self-referential post, but I'd feel remiss if I didn't thank anyone who has read the blog over the past three years, as well as anyone who might have helped me out or given me constructive criticism. I know I've got a ways to go as a writer, but God and Tom Cruise willing I'll get there.

Finally, as I've left Japan for the greener pastures of Wisconsin, I'd like to end, appropriately, with a little cheese. I chose the name "The Long and Winding Road" when I started out because I hoped that my journey would lead me somewhere - to "your door" or elsewhere. I feel fortunate to have discovered quite a bit throughout the course of that journey, and so now I feel like it's a good time to end the blog because, well, I feel as though maybe I reached the of the road. It doesn't mean that I'm done searching altogether, only that I'll be choosing a new path.

I hope you'll come along with me.

Thank you, thank you, and sayonara.

-Jeff

Packing up

It's been nearly two a half weeks since I told you to check back in on Monday, but after a long absence from the blog I'm back. Sort of. On top of tying up loose ends here I've begun packing, which has led me to believe that perhaps a) I'm a hoarder, and b) I want and need significantly less stuff in the next phase of my life. And if just typing that isn't enough to prove my conviction, take a look at the stack of extra bedding I pulled from my closets yesterday:



It's gonna be a busy last ten days, but I'll try to check in soon.

I'm going out

Today was my last day at one of my junior high schools, which means I'm slamming a canned coffee and heading out for some middleoftheworldcupnosleepdelirium fun. After three years of avoiding it like the plague, I'm playing pachinko with the boys. What does that mean? Mostly, that I'll be dropping coins into a bottomless pit while doing permanent damage to my hearing and being peer-pressured into smoking cigarettes that will later make me vomit during the 65th minute of the Brazil-Portugal game. Think I'm joking? Tune in Monday to find out.


Hooray for bad ideas!

Save me, Google

The pain in my jaw is not the result of a right hook. The jittery hands and accelerated heartbeat are not consequences of too many cups of Peet's Coffee this past weekend, courtesy of @henrydreyfus (no he's not on twitter, but isn't this how we're supposed to write names these days?) To the best of my knowledge, I am not on drugs, suffering from anaphylaxis, or dying. Yet.

The source of my troubles, rather, is my impending job search in August. When I moved to Japan and decided that I would explore career opportunities outside of teaching (yes, I knew that my job here still counted as teaching), I took comfort in knowing that my next job search would be at least a year away. When I signed a paper last year saying that I would be staying at my teaching job for another 12 months, the search was pushed back even further. Now, 11 of those 12 short months later, the looming search is pushing back. Faced with the stark reality of the ruthless feeling out process ahead, there is no comfort to be taken. Until now. Sort of.

Last week, after some discussion over my ambitions to enter the seemingly dying field of journalism upon my return to the States, Mr. @dreyfus handed me a copy of The Atlantic. Apparently he had been struck by an article detailing Google's plans to save the print journalism industry and suggested I check it out. I'm glad he did.

Below is a brief excerpt from the article. Written by Jim Fallows, it describes Google's attempts to think constructively about the problems facing print journalism in the 21st century and outlines, though somewhat vaguely, the company's plans for aiding the news business. Whether you'll agree with Mr. Fallows' summation that the future of journalism is bright or not will be up to you, but if I can manage even slightly better sleep tonight because of these pages, it'll be just one more thing to thank the geniuses at Google for.

Check it out.

How to Save the News

BY JAMES FALLOWS

Plummeting newspaper circulation, disappearing classified ads, “unbundling” of content—the list of what’s killing journalism is long. But high on that list, many would say, is Google, the biggest unbundler of them all. Now, having helped break the news business, the company wants to fix it—for commercial as well as civic reasons: if news organizations stop producing great journalism, says one Google executive, the search engine will no longer have interesting content to link to. So some of the smartest minds at the company are thinking about this, and working with publishers, and peering ahead to see what the future of journalism looks like. Guess what? It’s bright.

Read the whole thing here.

Night sounds

Thank you, Seoul, for the free entertainment.

Seoul in technicolor

6.5.10

Unreal.