So my brother has three beers... also: Japanese.

...

40 kanji away from knocking out the requirements for 2 kyuu.

40 kanji.

3 days.

Gully.

I've been slaving away for 3 months trying to knock that garbage out, and I'm almost there. Then again, when I'm finished I gotta learn another 1000 to get to 1 kyuu, but when I get to 1kyuu I'll be a. old, and b. probably well on my way to workin' in Iowa and praying for my own death or some such bullshit.

(Still beats living in England or whatever.)

I originally aimed to have 2 kyuu by this year. Please repeat with me: HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.

Alright.

Regardless, when I take that test (and when I say this I mean 'take', like 'Mike Tyson will TAKE that P'), I hope to then use my skills in Japanese to move out of English and into more entertainment work. If worse comes to worse, I can go back to teaching Japanese in America, where the actual MONEY is when you roll with the language game proper-like.

That's hilarious, right? Also, it's kinda messed up when you think about it. You move here, rock out some high class Japanese tests, and then people offer peanuts for hard-ass work. That's a sucker's game.Take note: translating is some real shit, both an art and a science. I love Japan and I love Japanese, and I can attest that Japan will ALWAYS be a part of my life, but I'm not about to black hole my existence just to stay here when the green's on the other end.

I know a dude who got 1kyuu and moved here to start translating, but he took an ALT job first. That's like becoming a brain surgeon and then rolling up to a pre-school saying 'yo, let me bandage up some scrapes, Flo!'

At the same time, on the English front, I wish people were a bit more serious about keeping their 'ones up' so-to-speak. I keep getting emails from other instructors and I need a Turing machine have to time to figure that garbage out. I'm intent on making a more serious effort to learn the parts of speech so I can delineate them clearly and properly for my students, but some of those grammar terms are slippery as a greased eel. I guess this is why I think I would have been better off studying linguistics instead of film. I don't think you can really teach English unless you have the tools to break it down.

The irony of the whole situation is I've basically just learned to read in 3 months, but my speaking has gone to SHIT lately due to my concentrating almost completely on reading. I can understand up to 60% of daily conversations and meetings, but my speaking is still stuck in 'I need 2 cups of coffee and some mini-thins' mode. Oh well.