Sunday and the JLPT Monster

Well, the JLPT is done and gone. I went in fully expecting to not pass and just to take is as practice for December. But once in the test (which seems to be much better organized than the last time o took it five years ago) i found that it really wasn't so bad. Writing a test without the pressure of passing certainly does ease the experience. Educators take note. When I was teaching Uni classes (EFL) I tried to spread out the marking so it wasn't all weighted in a final exam. This worked in favor of most students, i think. Regardless, The JLPT Monster turned out to be just another boogie man, and now i actually think there's a 50/50 chance that i passed! Unfortunately i have to wait until September to get the results. Fingers crossed. I might sign up to take the test again in December anyway, just to get a higher score, but who knows. If (and it's a big if) i pass this time around then the goal will definitely be to pass the N2 (the next level up) in July of 2012. THAT will take some actual studying... hhmm...

At home, Ulala cooked a nice dinner and i got some work done. Then we took a summer evening stroll around the neighborhood and stopped to get a triple scoop of ice cream from Baskin Robbins (YEs, they have Baskin Robbins here in Osaka and it's awesome) to eat sitting in a little park area, people watching. A lovely evening with my wife after a busy week.

And remember, kids,

So watch your back, yo.

Symian is: relaxing in the wake of the test
Currently Reading: People Styles at Work
Currently Listening: BeatPort random charts
Kanji of the Day: 合格／ごうかく／pass

Not slogging it

I had a seemingly very productive week at work, which is nice. Sometimes work can seem like a bit of a slog, but not recently. I've discovered over the past year or so one of those things that people often try to tell you but you just never learn until you learn it yourself:

If you are interested in your work and challenge yourself you will not be bored.

Seems so simple, right? So obvious. You hear it all the time. And yet we all know a myriad of people who just plain hate their work. And that sucks ...for them.
Me? I'm not wasting anymore time doing crap i don't care about. That doesn't mean only doing things i love, but it does mean caring about the things i'm actually doing and finding more ways to do the things i really do love. Under normal circumstances, no one is going to just hand you a better job. SO it's up to you to do something you want to do and enjoy doing.

I love teaching English in Japan. Now, my job is certainly not hard and can often be repetitive. Many who do this job find it a bit mind numbing (and i do have my days). But it is also fascinating and challenging and infinitely variable if you're willing to put in a bit of effort.

So over the last few years i've been changing my attitude, my behaviour and my life. And with good results (:a growing family and a promotion). A key factor in that is the desire to do my job to the best of my ability and to always challenge myself to do better. This is not the job i want to do for the rest of my life but that doesn't mean i'm going to half-ass it and waste the opportunity. I have always been a string believer that "any job worth doing is worth doing right." When i eventually leave this job (though no plans to move just yet), I want to leave knowing full well that i gave it my best, i improved myself, my company, my coworkers and my students. And hopefully i will have helped many people not only improve their English, but also improve how they study and learn English.

Speaking of learning language, tomorrow I'll sit the JLPT-N3.* I am, shall we say, ill prepared. It has come to my attention that i am in fact the exact kind of student that i generally find most frustrating to teach: the lazy kind. (Sorry, Mar-sensei!) I have had ample opportunity and motive to study but simple have chosen to spend my time doing other things. What other things? Well, let's see... there's house cleaning, watching TV, reading frivolous books, reading not-so-frivolous books, doing more projects at work, excuses ad nauseam. Point is, tomorrow is test day and, since i paid my 50 bucks (a few months ago when i was so sure i was going to study), i'll go and give 'er a go. If nothing else, it'll be a dry run for December, when i can take it again (and really really study this time... no, really!)


Symian is: enjoying the challenge at work.
Currently Reading: "People Styles at Work" by Robert and Dorothy Bolton
Currently Listening: The Complete Stax-Volt Singles Collection 195801969
Kanji of the Day: 日本語能力試験　／ JLPT


*That's the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (new level 3) for all of you who don't live here in Japan.