TWJ to a whole new level...

For about the past three years, I have been batting back and fourth the idea of teaching overseas, most namely in Japan. What is required to teach over there generally is a bachelors degree.

I've had a few interviews, I've cancelled an interview; basically played Double Dutch with the idea. Right now, I'm twenty-four. I have a feeling that when I start to 'settle down' and am say, mabye fourty; I'll look back on my time in my 20's and say "what would it have been like to live/teach overseas?"

I really don't want to regret a decision I didn't make. This means that right now I'm aiming for a TEFL certification.

Or

Teach English as Foreign Language.

It'll take me 100 hours to get my certificate but it'll be worth it. When I'm done, I'll be aiming for not only Japan but S. Korea and Taiwan as well.

I will keep you posted on my progress.

Episode 11

Finally.

Error - Error - Error

I'm getting this message a considerable amount of times at the current moment on youtube. I'm in the process of uploading a new Episode (11) and am faced with this error each time.

If I'm correct, routine maintenance occurs weekly each Wednesday. Right now I'm going to sleep, seeing I work nights and if its not up by the time I awake for work, I'll try again tomorrow.

This series will be short and unrelated to Japan or Asia. Its part of the road trip I went on a week back. Editing it hasn't been difficult at all. Seeing as though I'm going very linearly and am just showing what I saw. I'll doubt if I use much narration or cut in with updated footage.

Currently my upload is halfway there so I might wait it out, 13 minutes left, and crossing my fingers...

Episode 10! and other thoughts

Look how far I've made it! All the way to episode 10. I really wish I would have been at this point, maybe 4 weeks back but there is so much content and so little time. These episodes take a lot of work, even if they seem like they might not.

Since going on my adventure throughout the SW United States, I'll try and cut those up and post them as some form of 11-13. After the SW, I'll head back to Japan and see if I can try and blaze through the remaining Sapporo Episodes and Tokyo.

I would really like to move onto working on my Taiwan series. I went there last year in Oct and I'll be coming up on that anniversary of visiting the island. Its not fun to have outdated material.

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A few weeks back I gave youtube promote a try. It didn't work to well in my favor. I think its worth to give it another shot but this time, I'll create a legitimate promo/ad. The time before I used it, I used my "Drinks - 03" episode. It landed me some views but no subscribers or ratings.

I'm back

From a long trip. There is much to say but I will save it for later. I will be posting the video as soon as I can. It'll be different than most of my other videos and will probably be around half an hour total, broken into three parts.

Austin, TX

One of my good friends is moving back to Portland. She has lived in Portland for the past few years and moved to Austin to look for work. Things didn't work out and so now she is moving back. Her boyfriend, was wondering if I'd like to road-trip back with them.

Sometimes I can be fairly spontaneous and sometimes I'm not. On his suggestion, I told her "If I can get time off work I will".

Well, in the short span of 24 hours, I got two days off of work. In a weeks time I fly down to Austin and will spend the following 3 or 4 days on the road back to Portland.

I plan on bring my camera(s) and documenting the trip a little. There probably won't be much time to stop and see anything but it is an adventure.

It got me thinking... A road trip is a uniquly American experience. When I went to Taiwan, I asked the friend I was visiting if she wanted to go to a city that was 86km away. She thought that distance was far and I laughed because I told her it isn't. 86km is something like 40ish miles, which is the distance some people in and around Portland travel on their bycicle in a day. To an American, thats a short distance and really, I'm not trying to sound ethnocentric, just stating the facts.

Here is why...

Shortly after I came back from Taiwan, I decided to visit a friend of mine up in Bellingham, WA. The Drive is around 262 miles. During this 6 or so hour trip, I got to thinking... Taiwan is SMALL.

In comparasion, here is my trip from Portland to Bellingham compared to the size of Taiwan. People will routinely travel distances like this every so often. To take a week off of work or school to travel 500 - 1000 miles isn't a huge distance for us to travel.

Last year I did Portland to LA with a friend of mine and we did that in a day, 950 or so miles.

If you do get the chance to come to the States, I highly suggest a road trip.

New Episodes Coming Soon! (Japan Series)

I ended taking a bit of a break for a week and didn't work on any new episodes. Even though it doesn't take a horribly long time to piece together an episodes, maybe around five hours; it is a lot of work.

Since it is labor day, I'll spend some the extra time I have working on a few more episode. I'm hoping to complete at least two but my goal is three.

The upcoming episodes will be on:

-Views of Sapporo

-Sapporo Beer Museum

and the third, if I have time will be decided later.