A New Personal Best in the Slipped Discus

I’ve hurt my back many times, but this one was medal-worthy. Note: This is a story from Oct 22, 2020, which I posted on Medium instead of here. I’m correcting that mistake now. Have you ever completely forgotten your own limitations? Maybe you’ve drunk far more alcohol than your body can handle, or even jumped in a pool when you can’t swim. Due to overzealous weightlifting and long-distance running, my […]

A Return to YouTube?

It’s been 8 years since my last video on the Long Countdown YouTube channel, and I’m sorely tempted to post something new. Living where I do, in central Japan, I’m well positioned to make my own lifestyle/travel/adventure videos, and I’m not that far off the magic 1,000 subscriber mark. That said, if I did return to YouTube, I’d have to set some ground rules: Be authentic Just be me. That […]

Keeping Life Interesting

In my last blog post I talked about how lazy I’ve become since I stopped trying to impress people. But no matter how I spin it, sitting around watching YouTube is no way to live life. Ironically, it’s people on YouTube that inspire me the most. I’ve become fascinated by adventurous and brave young women building a tiny house in the mountains, living in a Prius or traveling the world […]

Having Nothing to Prove Leads to Laziness

I’ve noticed a change in myself, something that’s clearly apparent as type this from my bed on a Friday afternoon: I’m lazy. I’m lazy, I’m lazy, I’m lazy. There. I said it. I do occasionally drag myself out of bed for a little bit of exercise, and it was just yesterday that I had a revelation while doing just that: I no longer seek the approval of anyone. That’s it. […]

Monetized on YouTube and More

Since we’re halfway through 2022, it’s time for a blog update, don’t you think? Building my Eiken Empire It doesn’t really excite me much, but there’s a strong demand for Eiken (English test) material in Japan, so I’ve continued to add to the worksheets on my school’s website, and recently made more interview practice videos for YouTube. In my last post, I told you that I had reached 400 subscribers. […]

Checking In

Let’s start with the negative so we can finish with the good stuff. Teaching on the side I gave up teaching on DMM Eikaiwa. It was okay, but when so many people around me told me I could do better, I began to resent working for such a low wage. I decided to try Cafetalk, where I could set my own rates and… hardly any students have booked my classes. […]