On a personal note

Certain aspects of my employment in Japan allow me to drift into a state of complacency that unfortunately let me skirt the question of determining a viable future plan. The job in itself is rewarding to some level and poses intriguing challenges from time to time but greatly lacks obvious avenues for personal development and applications of valuable skills relevant to my own self.

Ostensibly halfway through my stay in this corner of the planet, it is important to evaluate how this experience is beneficial and how I can optimize it in the next year to be as advantageous as possible to my future. I feel that I have a strong commitment to entering graduate level education in the immediate period following Japan but in truth a lot of that is due to a perceived necessity for a master's degree to establish a stronger footing in an increasingly competitive job market back home. Speaking with no reservations, career aspirations are not particularly motivating at this moment in my life. I don't look at peoples' lives as models but take a live by the day (in my way) attitude. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach to life in itself as it is an honest reflection of my being. The problem arises from conflicting ambitions that would make prolonging such an outlook unfeasible. Take the issue of marriage, for example. Coming from a background where I've been surrounded by long stable relationships and where circumstances have engendered deep family bonds, I have always perceived marriage as very desirable. This does not derive at all from any religious affiliation. I am of agnostic and atheist influences and have myself taken beliefs in agreement with agnosticism. I don't claim marriage to be "right" but rather I see it as something very important if not essential to my own self. This parallels my views on vegetarianism. I'm strict about my eating habits but the person next to me has the right to eat whatever he or she wants to. The way I view it, vegetarianism makes me a better person but it gives me no claims to say that I am better than my neighbor. My friends and acquaintances can engage in "free love" all they want but it doesn't have the appeal for me that a stable long-term marriage would have. Live and let live.