H@PPY NEW Ye@R 2008
Here in the Future, I am on Day 4 of Year 2008. I’ve decided that I need to start narrowing down my extensive list of hobbies and things I want to do, and try dedicating my attention on polishing up my skills in certain areas. I read an article in one of my Malaysian magazine about the Art of Blogging, and it suggested concentrating on one particular thing. Once readship increaces, and one has a following, then the author should attempt branching out. I found it interesting, especially since it was a fashion magazine that touched upon the subject. American fashion magazines aren’t so accommodating (from what I remember).
A fun theme I’ve decided to start with my Japanese Blog is “The Queen of (insert topic here)”. Now, I am not a princess or queen by any means, but I figure if I am to improve my critiquing, writing, and langauge abilities, I should take an interesting approach to keep myself motivated.
Japanese Blog Queen :: Though I have a Japanese blog on my Mixi.jp account, readership and exposure is only available to those with membership. So, I decided to dust off my poor, neglected Ameba Blog, and attempt something I’ve been completely slack about: continuously blogging about my experience here in Japan. Despite having a relatively uneventful winter holiday, I had plenty of time to think about things weighing down on my mind.
On thing that motivates me to write on Ameba is the blog ranking system. The insecure high school girl locked up deep within my heart craves to know if people are actually accessing and reading my blog, or if I am just wasting my time on it. It also triggers my competitive edge, making me want to post frequently so as to increase my popularity ranking. I know that is insanely shallow, but it’s fun (in complete honesty). Yesterday, I hit my all time general ranking high with being in the top 30% (yeah, keep in mind I was 61,680th of out of 2,136,636 people, but whatever, I’m proud of it).
Shopping Queen :: My two recent purchases were headphones for my iPod and a wireless for TV/Video Game surround sound. The walls in my apartment are rather thin, so I worry about disturbing my neighbors when I watch movies or play games late at night. I feel like a DJ with wearing big headphones for the first time in years.
Plan B Queen :: This is where I fear people will want to beat me with a Clue-by-Four. I’ve been thinking of alternative paths in case grad school falls through, or I can’t find work after I graduate (provided I do so). With watching so much Japanese TV, I’ve noticed a very distinct pattern: plenty of Western male TV talents (variety/talk show programming, quiz programming, etc), but virtually no Western female TV talents. It’s been suggested by several friends of mine that I should consider going into Japanese show biz.
Unlike the US, where blue eyed, ligth brown haired girls-next-door is commonplace, I have potential to go far in Japan, especially since I speak Japanese (well, sort of). Though I am not the pop idol/sexy pin up type of girl, I could do very well as a comedian/talk show panelist (provided I drop about 15-20 pounds). I know that it would be a very arduous, risky task, especially in my late 20s, but I think the dejected ex-Telecomm major within me is still itching to emerge. However, the tricky part is that in Japan, most companies (if not all of them) only admit new employees in April when the new fiscal year starts (as university/high school students graduate in March).
So what does this mean for me? Possibly a very narrow window to slip through, if I seriously want to get into the business. Also, a point of concern would be the language barrier, as I know that there will probably be things I will miss provided I don’t improve my Japanese to a native fluency. All, I know is I want to live in Japan forever, but I don’t think I could survive living in Tottori, especially if I am single. I have a greater possibility of meeting people in the larger cities, and there are larger availibility of jobs. I’ve been considering this since NOVA, one of Japan’s largest English Conversation schools, went bankrupt in October 2007, stranding hundreds of foreign teachers in Japan with no money to pay rent, let alone pay for plane tickets back to their home countries. Any available English conversation school jobs have been snapped up like sharks in freshly chummed water.
Heck, I’ve even kicked around the idea of working in a Maid Cafe, if not anything else, just to experience something different before settling into a career. I know that sounds extremely reckless of me, but curiosity is nibbling at me.