New Directions

It’s been almost a year since I opened a hosting account at Dreamhost and made an attempt at creating a personal website/blog.  Obviously that didn’t work out too well.  Hopefully this year will be different, I do feel really bad about paying for this space and not making use of it after all.

So on to new directions we go!  I learned from lots of reading that to make a successful blog or site one should choose a theme or central topic to write about/develop around.  I had always struggled with that, so maybe thats why things never took off.  With that in mind, I decided from here on that I would write about:

• Japan, because I’ve made it my home (for now)
• Photography, because its my new hobby
• Web/Graphic design, because I had always wanted to be a designer (obviously didn’t happen)
• Foreign affairs (maybe), because I have to make use of my $60k+ diploma some how, right?!

Of course this isn’t the only new direction I am taking.  Thinking back on these past few years, I’ve come to the realization that I truly have been avoiding networking.  Why?  I don’t rightly know.  Probably because I suck at it.  But just because you suck at something isn’t a good reason to avoid it, right?  Therefore, I’ve resolved to step things up and build my network because I:

• need new friends (in addition to the very few I already have of course)
• need help finding leads on jobs and opportunities
• want to meet successful ex-pats (and locals)  that I can learn from

Finally, the most important change I’m taking on this year being a better daddy.  Don’t get me wrong, I (and my wife and others) don’t think I’m a bad daddy.  I just know that I (still) have a short fuse that needs work.  I actually took the initiative on this and bought a book my cousin and mother of three recommended, “Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood“.  Let’s hope it’s really useful.

F.