The State of My Life
I'd just thought I'd paste a little write up about what exactly is going on with me these days. First...
A Blanket Apology for Not Returning E-mails
Anyone who is sick of hearing about this can just skip to the next section.
I realize that if I spent as much time actually writing e-mails as I do apologizing for not writing e-mails, my inbox would be in a lot better shape. But every so often the guilt of all the un-returned messages in my inbox gets the better of me, and I feel like I should issue another apology.

Although I've never been good at timely replies, this year, and the last 6 months especially, have been terrible. The usually excuses apply. Limited internet time, lots of people to try and keep in touch with, etc. And anyone who has been reading this weblog regularly probably has a good idea of where a lot of my time has been going.

All those excuses aside, I must confess I do waste a lot of time fooling around on the internet when I could be writing e-mails. But (and I know some of you can identify with this) it does seem to take a lot less energy to read than to write. There are just some times when I'm on the internet, but I can't be bothered to write anything. Like early in the morning when I first come in the office. Or when I return from school in the afternoon and am tired out.

Anyway, I'm really sorry to everyone to whom I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up my end of the correspondence. If it is any consolation, it's not you, it's me. You are not the only one I haven't been writing back to.

I'd ask people not to take it personally, but I sometimes take it personally when someone doesn't return my e-mails, so maybe that is unfair to ask. Just try and not be too angry at me. I will continue and try and keep this blog updated. And I do read any e-mails I get, as well as keep up on all of my friend's blogs. (If you have a blog, and I know about it, I've been reading it). So I guess that is kind of like keeping in touch. Not the same as personal correspondence I know, but it's something.

Right, enough groveling. Next subject:
What I'm doing after JET
Since the JET program has a 3 year cap, in about a month and a half now, I'll be finished with the job I'm at now. A lot of people have been asking me what I'm doing next, and my response is always the same: "Don't ask me that."

Really I have no clue right now. A bunch of ideas are bouncing around my head but I don't have anything nailed down. So as it stands right now, it looks like the plan is just to head back to Grand Rapids and sort things out from there.

I've sent out a few applications for teaching positions inside Japan. I probably haven't done as much work on this as I should have, but I do have at least one interview coming up next week. The thing is though that this is a bit of a bad time to be looking for work, since a lot of other 3rd year JETs are doing the same thing I am: looking for ways to stay in Japan and applying to the same companies. So I've got the interview lined up, but the company said they have been flooded with applications lately, so landing the actual job might be a bit of a stretch.

I'm also thinking about applying as a volunteer English teacher on the Peace Boat. This is a volunteer position only. It's not paid, and only for about 3 months, at which point it would be back to the drawing board. Despite the fact that it is volunteer, there is a lot of interest in these positions, so landing it is a bit competitive.

The interviews are in late August, so I'd have to extend my visa to even have a shot at it. I'm currently talking with the board of education about doing this, and it looks like we might be able to work something out. But considering this isn't even a guaranteed thing, it might well end up being a lot of extra trouble for nothing. But I think I'd like to give it try anyway.

So, depending on how everything sorts itself out, any number of variables could happen. If I end up landing a job that starts in September, and extend my visa through August at the same time, I might not come home at all this summer. On the other hand, if neither works out, I'll be home in August and will be staying in Grand Rapids for the indefinite future. So it is hard to say really at this point what is going on. Which is why I hate being asked about it.

What I've been doing lately
This one is a little bit easier to answer. I'm out of time at the moment, but I'll post something in the next couple days.