The Scoop

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Another Step

So!

Aeon had contacted me and sent the materials and info that they needed for me to fill out. Some of the items were contracts, a personal history, couple employee books describing rules, responsibilities, and what to expect. They also wanted some passport photo's (10 at 35$ grrrr) my initial personal statement, and resume. I sent all of this back and the recruiter gave it the Ok and further informd me that the paperwork got sent of to the office in Japan and that my next step will be to get my work Visa in order. How exciting >_<

I also spoke briefly with the recruiter about some concerns I had ceoncerning what I was informed of, or not informed of enough, in the employee handbook. After covering all the loose ends in that phone-call, I am still very optimistic about this adventure. The handbook had struck me as kinda harsh, but I think my experience with the military and In N Out and thier blatant disregard for the individual at times made me dubious of some of the language I came across. Fortunately the recruiter is also prior military and understood where I was coming from and was thus able to ease my uneasiness in his explanaitions.

Now I will be learning Japanese in earnest and continuing to live my life as I have since the year started. Over all I am liking things, but still find myself tending to reflect and ponder. First off, I retook the GRE today and it was a mildy frustrating experience. I did worse than the first time, but not in a way to bring about shame or anger toward myself. My math was the same as the first but my big drop was in the verbal. I FOCUSED SOLELY THIS WHOLE TIME IN IMPROVING IT!!!! So, apparently, I am at my limit on the verbal and my GRE is as high as it will go at this time . . . oh well. I wish I had known this before I threw away 140$ to figure it out . . . sigh. I am already over it though. I am as smart as I am in terms of the GRE and I have accepted that.

Another thing that I have pondered is my current way of life. I realize that I am ill suited for the erratic scheduling I face with In-N-Out Burger. I either start early in the day or work till the wee hours of the night or morning. Never do I have a consistent schedule from week to week and rarely are my trend of day shifts and night shifts optimaly balanced with everything else going on in my life. I am not angry with the situation, but am weary of it. Hear I am after a closing shift that went to 215 am, it is now 545 am as I type this blog, and I have to be up in less than four hours for work at 1o am. I am a big boy and will be fine throughout the shift, but I know someone of my friends will want to do something tomorrow night and I will want to partake. The catch there is I have to be at work at 830 am the next morning and will be downright exhausted if I don't make up for tonights lacking . I hope whomever I spend tomorrow night with is understanding. Nonetheless I face this predicament often (my fault usually) and am tired of being tired all the time. Which has led me to remember what I refer to as "the simple life."

Life in Cuba was so simple. I was only close to five people at most there and two of them were in my unit, while I could only see the other two on days off. Demands from any of them in terms of friendship were sparse, cause the two I seldom saw were married & they were fine if I was around or wasn't and the other two saw enough of me to the point where they could easily tire of me as a product of our responsibilities and shared duties. Another factor was that the duty schedule was solid. Whether we had the dayshift or the nightshift, my work schedule was predominately predictable and static. The combination of these two elements led to a relatively blistful ruotine that I kinda miss at times. during the work cycles I would wake, eat breakfast, handle my shift, eat dinner, go work out, maybe hit the internet or catch free movie and go to sleep. On my two days off I would do laundry and mess around any which way I wanted to. That was the Routine 90% of the time and I was not tired all the time and my friends understood why my presence was ever scarce. They were in the same boat really. Though unhappy, I must admit that I was pretty comfortable with my lifestyle in those days.

I think my reflection indicates a portion of excitement for Japan. A set schedule that makes sense. No 7 hour turn arounds for shifts and a lot less distractions (for a while at least). No demands from anyone (or desire to randomly kill time with another) beyond my employer either as I intend to be primarily focused on being a good english teacher for a while after I start my journey. A new shot at a more simple life . . . sounds good to me ^_^

No comments: