Nerd Jobs to the Rescue

So, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with myself come August, when my current job’s contract will be complete, and I will need to have a different job.  In brief, I have gone back and forth from calm serenity and trust in the universe and God to utter disaster, self-doubt, and depression.

Today, I happened to look into copy-editing, as a book I recently was given (I’ve only listened to the first bit so far) made it sound rather exciting.  The article I found was quite nerdy and helpful, but I eventually moved thoughts elsewhere, and forgot about the copy-editing.

Later on, as I was thinking about what I had done at work for the day, – slept two hours, done some research on the computer, played on Facebook a bit (truly only a bit today), chatted with a couple coworkers (while they were around, anyway), sat on the floor while listening to music, used the bathroom several times, and looked up grammar and punctuation rules – I chuckled at the last one on the list.

“I just spent an hour looking up punctuation, because I wanted to.  Can I just find a job that lets me do that kind of thing all the time?”

And then it struck me: Duh!  Copy-editing.

I already love editing people’s e-mails and papers and letters and websites and such.  That was part of what the article said as an early step to becoming a copy-editor, and I already do it…. and just for fun!

As my mom said when I mentioned copy-editing to her this evening (morning for her), it sounds terribly boring.  Really, I agree with her completely on how it sounds.  And yet, as I just mentioned on here, I already do it, and I do it for free and for fun. <– Yes.  See that?  I meant it, and still do mean it.  I do the editing for fun right now, and there’s an actual paying opportunity for doing just that, so I think it would be well worth my time and effort to take strides in the official copy-editor direction.  😀

Post-a-day 2017

Across My Dreams

In high school, I had this playlist entitled “Sleepers”.  Every night, after I turned off the lights, I would snuggle into my bed and put in one earphone (because the opposite ear was against the pillow already) to listen.  The first two songs were from the early release of the music from the film Across the Universe, “All My Lovin'” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”.  The third song, which was on the playlist three times in a row, was “Iron and Wine” by The Postal Service.

I’m not too sure what had me pick these songs in particular, but there was something magical to me about them.  It was as if they were the first steps into my having beautiful dreams, that they began and represented the life I wanted, but could only dream.

Something like that, anyway.  And I was truly happy in my life at the time, too, which makes it almost silly that I wanted something more, even though I was happy exactly where I was with it all.  🙂
Post-a-day 2017

The Goofy Tour Guide(?)

One of my favorite things recently was the time I got to take some of my students around London and Paris.  They literally chased after me at times, as I wound them through the buzz and hub of the cities and their transit systems.  And, from what I understood during and after the trip, they totally loved it.  As did I.

In all the photos, of course, my friend and I looked like two of the kids on the trip, instead of the adult chaperones, but that was okay – it wasn’t like we acted much differently than the kids, anyway. 😛  Sure, we were responsible and all, but also totally silly and fun like kids.  And, while I loved getting to be with a group of people who could be fun and goofy with me, that wasn’t the best part.  

What I loved most was what I was able to give to the kids, what Inwas able to share with them, impart to them.

Everywhere we went, I kept buying them snacks of all sorts (all local favorites, of course).  I was sure to take them to do the silly things you don’t usually get to do on an organized travel tour (like experiencing a grocery store, taking time to sit and enjoy street music, discreetly convincing a pub to let you use their bathroom without having bought anything, finding your favorite books for half the price and in the language you’re learning – things like that, and much more).  I literally spread joy and enhanced people’s world views just by sharing my own knowledge and experiences with them.

Ever since then, I have wanted to do more and more of that.  Sure, I get to do it every time someone visits me, wherever I happen to be at the time, but it just isn’t the same as that trip… perhaps discovering the difference will lead me to a way to make it happen on a consistent basis… That would be awesome.  😀

Post-a-day 2017

Unexpected Student Interactions

As a teacher, I have always enjoyed running into my students outside of school.  I’m not sure all of my students enjoy seeing me (I’ve never noticed them ducking and hiding, but it’s totally possible), but a good number of them run up to greet me whenever they see me out in the real world.  Here, in Japan, has not been too different in that sense.  Yes, students are ridiculously shy compared to the US, however, keeping that in mind, students are still, relatively speaking, quite outgoing and excited to see me out in public.  Sometimes that just means the boys smile, blush, and wave at me.  And sometimes it means girls scream my name across the train station (yes, it has happened).  😛  Nonetheless, they always greet me in some way when they notice me, and are happy to see me (trust me; I’ve seen them when they’re unhappy to see someone – they are definitely happy to see me).

Tonight, as my train pulled into the final station, which happened also to be my station, I roused myself from my half-sleep, for which I had had my head leaning semi-comfortably against a partition next to my seat.  Approaching normal consciousness, I notice a face turned towards me over to my left.  When I stand up, I realize that there is a group of boys with that face, and that the face is familiar.  Sure enough, they are students from one of my schools.

I casually waved with a smile, and, walking towards them and the door, asked how they were doing (though, seeing as I was not fully conscious yet, I ended up talking to them in Japanese).  They seemed delighted, and in a goofy sense of the word… and, seeing as this is Japan, they could have been delighted just from seeing me out in public during the school holidays.  Too, though, I might have been dozing on the train with my mouth open, which would have made for a fun spectacle for the boys.  Though the latter is less likely, as I wasn’t ever fully asleep, and I didn’t have drool on me or any other signs of having been sleeping with my mouth gaping, both are entirely possible.

So, who knows?  Perhaps they’ll mention it one day at school next week, and I’ll learn the truth of it all.  Perhaps not.  Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed it all.  The nap included.  😛

 

Post-a-day 2017

Spaces after a period

Hello.  My name is Hannah, and I like writing with two spaces between sentences.  Why?  Well, for one, it creates a sense of finality, a true splitting between the two ideas we call sentences.  For another, though, it makes things look nice.  It creates a sense of pause and breath, when a paragraph otherwise could look like a long run-on.  That double space permits me to scan with ease, as well as to see what sorts of sentences are contained within whatever I am viewing.  With only one space between sentences, the words just flow together, as if one single idea, unable to organize itself into distinct yet beautiful thought, in the form of sentences.

Hello. My name is Hannah, and I like writing with two spaces between sentences. Why? Well, for one, it creates a sense of finality, a true splitting between the two ideas we call sentences. For another, though, it makes things look nice. It creates a sense of pause and breath, when a paragraph otherwise could look like a long run-on. That double space permits me to scan with ease, as well as to see what sorts of sentences are contained within whatever I am viewing. With only one space between sentences, the words just flow together, as if one single idea, unable to organize itself into distinct yet beautiful thought, in the form of sentences.

Perhaps you disagree with me.  That’s okay.  Fortunately, there is no rule requiring me to write with only a single space between sentences, because I very much dislike doing it.  In fact, there’s no rule whatsoever.  There is merely a preference by various editors and such for the single space.  So, you may use the single space, too, if you so wish.  However, I shall not.  So far as my eyes are concerned, I miss the period half the time when reading, and wonder what on Earth is going on in this ridiculously long sentence (before I backtrack to look for that period that I must have mistaken as a comma, of course).

Anyway, those are just a few of my thoughts for today.  Hope you enjoyed.  🙂

—I wrote this December 30th, but it apparently didn’t post… so, here it is now!—

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Moms as the best

You know how moms can sometimes be just the best thing ever?  Yeah, my mom is that a lot of the time.  For me, anyway.  (Naturally.  Haha.)  But it makes me wonder about the people who don’t get to experience their moms at all.  How do they survive? I ask myself.  Without that amazing, extraordinary powerhouse of a woman, how do they ever learn the best parts of life?  I suppose they find other women to fill various parts of the role, but certain bits are inevitably left unfulfilled.

Which brings me to my next point: I think I want to be a mom like crazy.  But that I want to adopt children.

First off, I am no fan whatsoever of birthing.  I laud anyone who does it and who is willing to do it – I could barely manage my first gynecology appointment without throwing up; birth does not seem reasonable for my future from that fact alone.  Add to it that I feel it to be, for myself anyway, irresponsible to bring more people into a painfully overpopulated society (read “world”), and the part where I may never have a partner to make the kids with me in the first place, and we’re getting closer and closer to the 0% marker.

However, despite the troubles they bring with them, I want to have kids.  At least one, anyway.  Sure, I’m terrified of totally messing up him or her.  But, I do have confidence in God and the world to help us out wonderfully.  So, this leads me to adoption.  I’m not sure how I would want to go about it exactly, but I think it has to start with volunteering at children’s homes (read “orphanages”).  Eventually, at some point in time, I’ll just know.  You know?

I said recently that I would like to have a child in about five years.  I think I do mean that.  And, no, I do not take this lightly – not in the least.  Remember, I’m not filling out the paperwork just yet.  I’m merely considering my feelings in terms of possible concrete results.  We’ll see what actually happens in another five years.

But I know how the right now I would like things to look, and they include a financially balanced me and a beautiful young child.  🙂

 

Post-a-day 2017

Anticipation, and Standards of Normalcy

Two things, both brief:

1.  You know that feeling of waiting for something huge to happen, and you know it will happen quite soon, but you aren’t sure exactly when, and so your breathing is shallow and shortened, and it feels like a boulder is living inside your rib cage?  Feeling that right now.  Man.  Tonight is the night.  Tomorrow will be a different sort of life, starting at 10AM local time.  🙂

2.  A friend of mine told me that she wants me to write a book, specifically about my life.  When I suggested that no one would want to read it, she declared her desire to read such a book, as well as her hopes to learn more and more about my life, because I have such great stories to share.  I had never considered that to be the case about myself and/or my life.  However, I am starting to believe her.  I mean, come on – I’m living in Japan for a year just ’cause when I wanted to take a break from my last job.  I don’t see that as entirely standard for your average girl.  As I learned from my cousins last year, my idea of normal life is not equivalent to most people’s ideas of normal life.  (more on that another time!)

 

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Automatic Reactions taking over…?

I’ve been thinking lately a lot about automatic reactions.  Not just things like ducking when something comes flying at your face… I mean mentally, emotionally, and with words and such.  Like how  I automatically smile and am happy when I see a cute little kid laughing and having fun.  Or how I am filled with a sense of ease, calm, and peace when I feel that warm sunshine against my skin on a cool day, or that refreshing breeze on any day.

The one part of automatic reactions that has been most on my mind as of late had been physical discomfort.  I have been noticing how, if I am physically uncomfortable, I am automatically in a bad mood.

My morning started beautifully the other day, but the weather was much warmer than I understood it to be before leaving the house.  So, as I grew more and more sweaty underneath my coat and many layers, carrying my heavy bags (which were mostly heavy due to the water I’d brought to keep myself hydrated and thereby comfortable throughout the day), hiking up the large hill to work, and my wool sweater began to scratch me through my shirt, I grew increasingly more irritated, even to the point of starting to curse at my clothes and bags.  Now, I recognized how this all was automatically happening, and so caught myself before actually cursing, but I’m rather certain I had the words starting to roll out of my mouth when I did hit pause on the affair.

Another recent example is my everyday response to my work-empty (the opposite of work-filled) days at work.  At work, my desk and chair do not fit me, and it is uncomfortable to spend more than ten-ish minutes at my desk.  I get rather irritated whenever I spend time there, even if I started out working on something I enjoy.  Just thinking about having to sit at my desk all day with nothing else to do (as in somewhere else to go) gets me into a bad mood.  I’m not even in the chair, and my mood is already in that automatic reaction to the physical discomfort.

When I need to go to the bathroom, and people try talking to me and starting up conversation, no matter how I make the effort to be in the conversation, I cannot be.  My entire focus is on the thoughts of Would you please just shut up and leave me alone, so I can go to the bathroom?!  I am irritated, impatient, and sometimes even a bit rude out loud.

Now, this does not mean that I am always rude or mean to others when in physical discomfort.  Just this week, I was quite uncomfortable, and even somewhat concerned by my intense need for a bathroom while walking home with a friend.  I was aware of my discomfort, and my automatic response to the discomfort.  I remained kind and loving with the friend, however it was a strain.  I noticed how, underneath my skin, I was raving, almost screaming, I was so bothered.  The friend was even laughing at the goofiness I attempted to bring to the situation of my bathroom need, but I was not – I couldn’t find humor or ease in it, no matter what I did.

We are able to be angry, upset, and annoyed automatically and intentionally when we are not in physical discomfort, as well as we are able to be happy, calm, and joyful at those times.  I think we can have the same apply to when we are physically uncomfortable… I just haven’t yet figured out how.

How can I train myself, my brain, to react comfortably to physical discomfort?  When my pants are too tight or my shirt is itchy, when I need to pee or need water desperately, how can I set myself up to be not only okay but to be happy, joyful, or even just calm and at ease?  I guess the best way is to see what conversation is happening in my head whenever these discomforts happen, and inquire as to how to ease that conversation’s stress… and, over time, the conversation might disappear altogether, and the automatic negative response no longer occur… perhaps, anyway, but Imma go for it, just to see!

This is my goal right now.  Feel free to jump on board, and try it out for yourself; I think it’s an intriguing essay*, well worth the effort.

 

*Definition of ESSAY (Taken from Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary)
transitive verb
1:  to put to a test
2:  to make an often tentative or experimental effort to perform :  try
essayer  noun

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Morning Breath

Ever notice how people in movies (and TV shows, too) just wake up in the morning and start kissing one another, as though they don’t have wretched breath?  I always notice, and so does my mom, who always comments on it as though it is the first time we’re seeing this sort of thing together.  Nonetheless, today at work, I discovered a movie that does not do this!

America’s Sweethearts, with Julia Roberts and John Cusack (among other greats), at about an hour eight minutes in, shows a perfect morning scene.  The two wake up in the bed next to one another, smile and chuckle briefly, and then Julia Roberts pulls the bed-sheet over her mouth.  As they end the brief scene with plans for breakfast, both of them have their mouths covered by the bed-sheet, and Julia Roberts’ character says that she’ll go brush her teeth before breakfast, and that he should go do the same.  😀

It was delightful. !!!!!  😀

Thank you for putting in real life, Director Joe Roth.  Thank you.  😀

 

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