It's been a while and some important things have been happening. I thought I'd touch bases and let folk who are interested know about a few of them.

First and foremost of them is that, come the end of the month, I'll be moving out of my current apartment in the Glen and into a duplex with my friends Randy and Emily in Lacey. This will be the first time in about six years that I won't be living with Mel. Everything that means, the good and the bad, is really starting to sink in. We're still in a relationship, but the dynamics are definitely changing. We'll see how things go from here. In that vein, if any of you is in need of a roommate or a place to live and are in the Western Washington area, please give me a heads up.

I've bought my tickets for the Ohayoklok trip, so I'm certainly looking forward to that. I really can't wait to see everyone again. I love traveling and having another round of drunken debauchery with the ladies is something to get excited about.

I've sent off my application to the JET program, so I should be hearing back from them in February as to whether or not they want to interview me. I'm not going to kid myself about how competitive it is, so there's a plan B that will go into effect if I'm not selected that involves me getting a TESL certification. There's a school in Seattle, but I can take courses online if I'm unable to attend in person. Having that will definitely be a feather in my cap if/when I re-apply, and it'll also open up some opportunities here in the states. I've been doing some contemplation about Canada, as well, but I think that won't become more serious until I know about JET, one way or the other. I have a friend that's teaching English in Korea, and she says that it's pretty much guaranteed employment if you apply, but I don't know if that's what I want to do. We'll see.

I'm finding that I'm really tired all the time. I've been trying to get out on my bike more lately, as that seems to help, but I can't seem to find an appropriate amount of sleep these days. I figure it's a stress thing, and if that's the case, I'm probably not going to see decent sleep for a while here.

Just have to keep going; one foot in front of the other.