To bring you up to speed, I'm leaving Boston, my sanity, and my stereo system, and moving to Japan. My desire to travel has driven me to acquire a full time job teaching English for a large corporation in Japan. My father has finally concluded that I am definitely crazy, my mother agrees. My little sister has concluded that I am still never going to take her to New York to party and get blitzed. I think the decision was easy to make, for the first time in my entire life, I have no commitments. No girlfriend, no job, and no school. That, and I was offered the job, which was the deciding factor. I knew this was coming, the day when I would finally figure out how to leave and then do it. So, Japan, I hear you can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner from a vending machine. I'm ready for that.

Where do I start? Why Japan? I haven't been there yet. I've seen China, and I've seen Italy(I've haven't seen France, and I haven't seen your underpants, I'm working on that...). I've left the country more than once. I speak French and some Cantonese, but this knowledge will be useless in Japan. Actually, that knowledge was also useless in Boston. I met someone who spoke French once, and only once. A woman lost behind my college ran up to me asking directions in French one day, maybe it was a year ago(?). I told her what she needed to know in just a few sentences, but still did not feel rewarded for the five years I studied the blasted language. I was told that I could start learning Japanese upon arrival at my host school. I know only one Japanese person and she's taught me a few phrases. Phrases like, "Hello," and "Don't kick my ass."

Before I leave, I made a goal of earning a certain amount of money to use for support during my first month. I took on a job at this copy center, and 40 hours a week later, there I am feeding green heavy weight into the Canon "Print Center." I found a job where, quite often, I find myself standing in place for several hours straight, while sticking paper into a giant machine which spits it out of its mechanical anus, coated in shiny ink. I work the copy machine and provide tech support on occasion. I'm counting the days to my 20 hour plane ride. I'm really tired of Boston. I grew up here, and after 23 years, I'm ready to jet. Wake up early, get ready for work, and wait well over 30 minutes for the uncomfortable 50 minute ride to work in North Boston. Someone told me that the subway in Japan comes every 3 minutes, you can time it. If they're late, they issue you an apology, rock on.

So here I am. One month, three weeks away from departing(well, depending on the arrival of my work visa). What should I do that's distinctly American before I leave? Bar crawl. Well, bar crawl and I want to eat a steak and maybe some more hotdogs.