Yeah it has been a while hasn’t it, soz about that.

I really wish I could say that I’ve been on fantastic adventures in amazing worlds, but the truth is (as you might have guess from the last journal), I’ve mainly been waiting and working.

So let’s start with my exam results that I took in December. Generally I’m pretty happy. No fails, some good marks, alright marks. If I’ve worked things out rightly, if I get minimal passes this semester (not what I’m aiming for by the way) I’ll finish with a third-class honours degree, and to get a 2:2 all I need is 43s (again, now what I’m aiming for).

Classes this semester have been … actually I’ll talk about that in June once all the exams are done. Dissertation too for that matter.

Next was the result for JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). I took this test the year before and failed miserably, so in taking it this year I thought I had half a chance. Unfortunately I was wrong, and failed by just three marks. Now I’ll be the first to admit I improved in my previous score, but … three marks! Ney Mind.

Which brings us to the final update. The job interview that I went to in January was (from what I can remember, weirdly the second I closed the door on the way out my mind went completely blank) not too bad. But the wait between each recruitment stage is painfully long, not to mention the tight deadlines each stage gives its applicants (which involved me actually getting a coach down to London to hand the forms in personally as I didn’t know if they’d get there on time with the post). The job itself is an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Japan on a government run scheme called the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Programme.

Unfortunately due to the recent events that have happened in Japan, the results of the interview had to be pushed back further (they were originally scheduled for early April) until Mid-April. Last week some results had been released in the Caribbean and North America, with members of the JET Forum getting the ball rolling on announcing how they had done. Many Embassies and Consuls announce results to candidates via email, but unfortunately for us the UK still solely uses the postal service. This isn’t necessarily a negative aspect, but because it takes longer to get the results, many applicants were getting somewhat stressed.

Today on the forum, some UK members announced that they got their results. I checked the post upstairs. No result, just an ironically harsh brochure about courses in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. However, back in Telford it was another story. There was a letter from the Japanese Embassy. It was my result.

I’m shortlisted!

Yeah, I probably should explain what that means. There are three possible results from the interview: Shortlisted, Alternative, Better Luck Next Time. People who are shortlisted progress to the next stage, which is where you will be allocated a location (generally speaking everyone who is shortlisted gets the job). If a shortlisted candidate drops out for some reason, they will be replaced by an alternative (though the call happens quite last minute and can (if ever) take up until December to happen). The only real negative side to being shortlisted is that there are MORE forms to get filled out and MORE deadlines to get them done by.

Well folks, here goes!

Oh yeah and I had a tooth wrenched out from my jaw.

So my job interview happened last week and they waiting game has begun. Though I won’t go into details of the interview itself, I hope that I performed well enough to get the job. Unfortunately I won’t be hearing back anything until April, so I have quite a wait.

I’m also still waiting for the results of the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) that I took back in December, but I know it won’t be until March that I hear back.

Added to the list are the results from the Semester 1 exams I took earlier this month.

However, I do still have plenty to get on with while waiting for these results. The Leeds University Japanese Society is running a Tanabata Festival next month which I’m helping out with. With LSTV I’m trying to finish an animation in time for the NaSTA Awards, as well as running a beginners animation workshop. I’m making an effort to get the Lotaku webcomic going again. And let’s not forget about my dissertation and other Uni work, after all this is the final semester.

So as my way of signing off, please enjoy this comic strip by Kelly Angel.

Solution by ^kangel on deviantART

I’ve a feeling this is gonna be a busy semester.

My exams are finally over here at Uni, and that means I have a bit of time before I need to start panicking about resitting them. Hoorah pesimism. So what do I plan to do now that I have a bit more free time? I’m going to go back and work on some of long over-due projects that’s what.

The Lotaku webcomic is in drastic need of an update, and since I have a half complete page already I really should crack on with that. The last uploaded page was a dramatic shot of Simons mom being wheeled into the hospital.

On a similar topic, my should also crack on with my contribution to the Leeds Uni Anime Soc Manga Project. My section is going to be a part side-story of one of the Lotaku characters, but I won’t say much more on it just yet … mainly because I’ve not bloody decided.

I also want to do another animation this year for LSTV. At the mo, I’m thinking of doing one to this song, Funny Man by Rodney Carrington. So I guess if I start that during the summer I can get it in early. I’m also planning on doing a few more TV shows for LSTV this year; possibly remaking some stunning Japanese TV moments.

Finally, one thing I MUST do is upload the rest of my photos from Japan. Yes folks I know I’ve been really slack on it, but I’ve already posted a chunk on now. Go ahead, check them out. It’s already been scheduled to do another set tomorrow, so I’m planning (again) to get a new set up every day. I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I came back to the UK.

Oh yeah, need a house for next year too.

Fly Julien!

Nabe - Not too different from Jamaican soup back home

Let’s start with the easy one, exams. Well ok not quite that easy, in fact after every exam I left the room feeling I’d been completely destroyed in the head. Some exams, particularly my Japanese History exam, left me with that nagging feeling of self-doubt where I knew that I had either done fantastically well or scored worse than a celibate prostitute. Others, such as the Japanese listening exam, just smacked me in the face with a sense of failure so hard that even the worst posts on Failblog couldn’t even compare, though as a bit of a cheer-up plan, one of my Japanese buddies held a Nabe party as his place. I’ll talk about results shortly.

39!

King of the Juice

A couple of weeks back, we celebrated a friends birthday by doing an Otley Run. The Otley Run is basically a pub crawl typically done by Leeds students, beginning in Headlingley and finishing pretty much in town, and (though optional) fancy dress is normally worn. It’s the kind of pub crawl that covers such a hefty distance and number of pubs that it takes a whole day, presuming you can survive until the end that is. Facebook photographs have confirmed that I did make it the whole way, though memories are few and far between. Anyway, no one’s come back to me saying I did something I shouldn’t have (that I didn’t already know ^_~), so I’ll say it was a definate victory.

Last week was the return of LURPS, the Leeds University Rock Paper Scissors society. We had a tournament in the Old Bar and even had a guest player all the way from New Zealand. Details can be found on the LURPS website (photos coming soon).

We’ve just finished week 4 of teaching, and that does mean our exam results have been made available. I’m glad to say that I haven’t failed anything yet, though some results were bloody close. It’s also become apparent that I am much better at Japanese History in essay form rather than exam, as the exam itself severely hurt my overall mark.

Japanese Written – 53 – To be honest I’m generally happy with this, I’d have much rather got a higher score, and my practice exam clearly showed I am capable of better, but as far as written exams in Japanese go, this was a good result for me.
Japanese Listening – 46 – After the exam there were a lot of complaints about it being too difficult for our level, but to be frank I think in most cases it’s down to students not getting enough listening practice. Some students got scores upto and including 86 (out of 90), so trying to argue it’s beyond our level is pointless. In my case, I was just naff.
Critical Approach to East Asian Studies – 60 – A module that confused me throughout, and eventually turned out to be my highest scorer. 100% essay based, I was complemented on my bibliography (something I was worried about to be honest), but it was my spelling that let me down. I’ve not gone back over the essay yet, so I’ll take the markers word for it.
Organisation Management and Economics in Japan – 48 – No excuses here, 100% exam based, and I was shit.
Modern Japanese History – 50 – 50% exam and 50% essay. If only this one was 100% essay, seriously! With an overall score of 50, I scored 64 on the essay (the best mark I’ve ever got for an essay in my department), which means that I must have scored a pitiful 36 on the exam (40 is the pass mark by the way).

I also had the result for the Japanese Language Proficency Test which I sat in December. I knew all along I’d failed, but having the confirmation has finally put my mind at rest (but DAMN! 141 out of 400, that’s shit!).

So let’s end on a bit of good news eh. Think back to September, when I opened the auditions for Learn With Anna. Well the first bit of good news is that the animation is done, online and ready for you to view and enjoy. You can watch it at the LSTV website, or on Newgrounds (please vote 5 ^_~). The second bit of good news is that it’s been nominated for a NaSTA Award (National Student Television Association Award) in the animation category. Presuming no other student TV stations submit anything into this new category, then we’d get a victory by default, otherwise I’m not really holding up much hope for silverware.

Well, that’s me pretty much caught up. It’s taken a good three hours to jot this down, so if you’ve actually sat here and read all this then here’s a little reward in the shape of a very cute snowball fight.

I then came online, and while listening to a song by Angela Aki, I noticed I had an email about my exam.

…

I passed.

Now for those who don’t know or just plain forgot, this exam that I took this morning is as important to my degree as non-linear narratives are to a Quentin Tarantino film (I haven’t seen Inglorious Basterds yet so don’t know how that goes). As I said in the pre-exam entry I did sacrifice a Summer, which I should have been working and earning money, to study every single thing that we were expected to know but was held back my my crappy memory.

So how did it go?

We won’t know until next week (possibly Monday or Tuesday) but incase you can’t tell from the tone at which I’m whacking the keys on my keyboard, I don’t think it went well. If I had passed then it would be by the skin of my teeth, and not knowing what will happen if I do fail is what is really eating me up inside.

I guess my next entry will be the result.

I’ll see you after.

Even though packing and sending stuff home has been going slowly, I received word today that the first package, a doll I bought in Kanazawa, has made it to the UK. When I sent it I was told it’d take 3 months to get there (using the cheapest way possible), but it arrived in just under 2 months. Not too bad. I still have a few things I want to send back before I go, but I was really thankful to read that Emirates have increased their baggage allowances from 20kg to 30kg for Economy customers.

Though possibly a little late for it to benefit me while here, I have started a Japanese section of this site at http://www.darlosworld.co.uk/jp. It’s not going to replicate what I have on here, in fact the style is a complete contrast altogether, but it’s mainly there to help me use Japanese on a regular basis.

Speaking of which I had my Japanese mark from Konan back today. Overall I got an 84%, a very good mark for me. Also by some miracle I managed to score 100% on the reading comprehension test. Too bad this is going to completely contrast the mark I get from Leeds for this year. Oh well ^_^.