A fun way to try to get a job in Japan...let's see if it works.

1) Google search for "Jobs in Japan"


2) Stumble upon this page: http://www.jobsinjapan.com/


3) Click on Teaching.


4) Come across this listing, the appeal of which stands head and shoulders above the rest:

Knock Knock English in Setagaya seeks a native speaker who LOVES teaching and creating materials for kids. Teach 4 days/week, 20 hours maximum, with one day for lesson planning/creative pursuits. Special talents (music/design/web) a plus. Full-time from 8/28. E-mail devon(&')knockknockenglish.com for more info (posted 06/20/06)

5) Send Devon an e-mail, asking for more details about the position.

6) Send him a resume. He responds by saying that he plans to interview people who are in Tokyo first, since he generally hires locally.


7) Ask him if he'd be willing to e-mail me some of the questions he plans to ask the people in Tokyo. Set up brilliant "Jeremy Should Work for Knock Knock English" webpage with video interview and other goodies.


8) Cross fingers.

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I'm writing an SAT class just for TITs.

I am coordinating the development of a fun, original SAT class for The Ivy Tutors.

Seriously -- if you are currently living in or around Orlando, wanting some help studying for the SATs, you should think about TITs. I'm telling you, TITs are great. Just grab one, and suddenly you'll understand things you never knew before.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying this, and it's great experience. Even though my wonderful parents tend to ignore this fact, I do actually want to educate people, someday.

I love you, Mom and Dad!

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Family trip to California

The Chapman/Nelson family took a nice road trip down coastal California. We got to spend a couple days at Disney Land with Michael, Jennifer, and Mira (my niece)! I'm pleased to say that we had a wonderful trip, and that everybody is doing well. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Dave and Dad modeling proper UV-protection measures while we wait for the ferry that will take us around the San Francisco Bay. We saw Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge while listening to the history of San Francisco on closed-circuit radio!




Mom relaxing at our favorite cafe in San Francisco - the Hollywood Cafe. The family that owns and operates this fine establishment is just so friendly! We ate there every morning. Plus, they keep a wall of paper napkins, featuring messages and pictures penned by various customers throughout the years. Well, Mom drew a lovely picture of San Francisco, and guess what!? -- Her art made it onto the wall!

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I lived in Orlando with Rob Painter from Jan-May '06

George Robert Henry Dennis Shufflebarker Painter IV and I met our freshman year at Duke University, when we were singled out, together, as the two most endlessly talented and promising individuals in the entire Class of 2005.

Note: Parts of this account may or may not have been slightly fabricated.

Recently, the two of us decided to utilize a rare and fortuitous opportunity to temporarily inhabit Rob's parents' beautiful, remote property in Oviedo, Florida. (Thank you, Rob's parents!)

Our time at Oviedo was not unlike Thoreau's time at Walden. We practiced self-reliance and modest living. We grew all of our own crops, and we built our own fires to cook the crops for supper each night.

We home-spun all of our clothing, dying each garment with the vibrantly colored (but poisonous!) juice of native alafayaberries. This practice was time-consuming, but well worth it!







For transportation, we carved a small canoe out of an old oak tree. We used the scrap wood to construct a simple, but effective dock. Our lifestyle was peaceful, freed from such burdens as awaiting paychecks, expensive gas, and social awkwardness. We most delighted in our total avoidance of shameful fast food, and pathetic trips to Wal-Mart.




After getting settled, we saught jobs at a quaint, local attraction called "Walt Disney World." I would describe the place as a sort of backyard family entertainment center, with a few different games and activities for the kids. We enjoyed growing close with the small, tight-knit staff at Disney.





When we weren't working, we recorded some songs and filmed some videos, including our world-shaking rap video, "Gas Pricez." Unfortunately, our home-made movie camera's wind-up battery began to malfunction, precluding us from further creative works.















As a conclusion to our stay at Oviedo, Robbie and I conceptualized what will soon be the coolest website ever.

We're still working out some final kinks...but there's a sneak preview.

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Amy is getting her Master's Degree at CMU!

By the time I return from Japan, my girlfriend Amy will be a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management! She is earning her degree at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School of Public Policy, in Pittsburgh. (Her classes started less than a week after she graduated from her Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs.)

She is amazing.

Which reminde me - if you have any stories about Amy, quotes to inspire her, or other stuff she might enjoy, please send them to me so that I can include them in WeLoveAmy.com - a daily-updated fan site we created for her.

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I worked at Disney World

Well, technically, it's called Walt Disney World. But yes - I worked there. For a couple of months. I was at Disney's Animal Kingdom as an Educational Programs Instructor.

What's that?

Basically, when lucky-ass students from rich-ass schools got to visit Disney World on wicked-ass field trips, I would take them around the park and chitter-chatter with them about animals and such.

Of course, as part of the job, I got to go on sweet, informative rides like the Kilimanjaro Safari. Oh, by the way, I know every obscure animal in the world. And how long its horns can grow.

With the younger kids (as young as 1st grade), I would discuss survival strategies, asking things like, "Whoa! Can anybody guess why this colobus monkey might have such an oily coat of fur?" And, "Hey! Do you guys think that scimitar-horned oryx would make a good pet?"

With older students (up to 12th grade), I would take them "backstage" and show them the various behind-the-scenes facilities, like the Animal Nutrition Center, in which a full-time staff lovingly slices carrots and celery all day, every day.

In short, the job was awesome, and I was glad.

Until I realized that it was becoming more and more difficult to wake up at 5:45 am, since I wasn't going to sleep until like 3:46 am. And, before long, 3:46 am gave way to 4:24 am, and then 4:58 am, and so forth. Eventually, it became downright absurd, because some nights I would stay up editing videos or writing music until like 6:15 am. I was going to sleep after I was supposed to have woken up. And that didn't work, see...because it was like...negative time, see.

So I quit.

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David to go to Vietnam on a Luce Scholarship!

David (my bro) will be in Vietnam this coming year, as a Henry Luce Scholar. For those of you who don't know, that's a big frickin deal. Luce Scholars are ballers. David's a balla'.

As a side note, just in the last few years, David has written, produced and starred in a one-man play, taught at the Northwestern Cherubs Program, assistant directed multiple performances, including plays at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and travelled to Budapest, Hungary, as a Fulbright Scholar. Like I said, baller.

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I bought a Mac and I'm obsessed with it.

I used graduation gift money to purchase a G5 iMac. Within minutes of plugging in this computer, my creative life absolutely exploded (in a good way). I haven't looked back since.

Nowadays, the hardest thing for me to do is to not proselytize every single person I see. If you would not like to hear about Macs, I understand, that's fine. I would urge you to NOT read below the red line.

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Hey! Welcome to the section where I rave about how awesome my new iMac is.

Below is a short list of ways in which my mac has made my life easier, more efficient and way more fun. I'm sorry if a lot of them seem unclear -- it's taking me a while to go through all of them and explain them in more detail.

Feel free to contact me if you want to hear more about anything you see below. I would be more than happy to explain.


Ways in which my life improved once I purchased an iMac:

-Creativity. I have used it to create everything you see on abitofnonsense.com. I didn't have to purchase any software.

-Videos and Pictures. I have made high-quality videos and pictures with the iSight camera that is built into the front of my computer. More samples coming soon.

-More desk space. I have no idea how they possibly crammed all the mechanics of a monitor this awesome into an inch-and-a-half. But I'm happy about it.

-More foot space. Oh yeah -- somehow, they also found a way to get the entire fucking computer in there. I don't like to swear in public, but this is an exception. I never had to schlep or find a spot to plop down my computer's "PCU" or "Tower," because there is none.

Software
-Photobooth: take awesome, funny and cool pictures with the built-in camera
-iMovie: super-easy movie-making program, awesome effects, transitions, titles, etc.
-GarageBand: totally intuitive music-making program.
-iTunes: versatile and intelligent jukebox
-WorldBook: encyclopedia/dictionary/more that came free on the computer
-iPhoto: stores all of my pictures and lets me do a lot with them
-iDVD: lets me create and burn DVDs, like the one I made for my college comedy group
-oh, which reminds me -- I have a CD-RW/DVD-RW super-drive.

Features
-FrontRow and Remote: lets me browse, watch and control all of my music, videos and pictures from across the room.

-MightyMouse: a pretty sick mouse, with a bunch of programmable buttons, and a really fun, tiny scrolly-ball guy.

-Drag between programs: good gosh, this is the handiest thing EVER. i can just drag and drop songs, videos, images, text, etc. directly from one program into another

-Spotlight - instantly searches through all of my files, and is actually good at it

-I can search for files/folders when uploading or opening a file, instead of manually browsing through everything like a chump.

-I can search for files/folders and folders when downloading or saving file, instead of manually browsing through everything like a goon.

-I can change a file name while that file is open, without my computer crashing.

-To quote my friend John, "things just work." I can view foreign characters and PDFs and all kinds of media files online, without having to download all sorts of garbage.

-I can take a picture of my screen with one button, and it will be saved as an editable image

-post-its

-expose

-3 USBs and 2 firewires

-built-in wireless, bluetooth, infra-red compatibility

-no spyware...no adware...no viruses, all clean stuff

-more. way more.

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We won 2nd place in Geico's video contest!

Back in November, I and my roommate Faber entered Geico's Golden Gecko video contest. The challenge was to create a 15-second trailer for a fake movie that has something to do with Geico or a gecko.

Thanks largely to all of your votes and support, our entry, Medulla Oblongecko, won 2nd prize out of all the comedies! The prize was a sweet LCD TV, which we sold on Craig's List for a fat wad of Jacksons.

You can see our entry and the other winning entries here. Ours is the one right in the middle - 2nd place comedy.

Thank you again for your help; I look forward to soliciting much more of your time with my ridiculous quests for fame, fortune and glory...

Update: The contest website has closed down, so I'll work on getting a copy of our video back up here soon.

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