Quiet week in the online space. no news from companies i applied to, and no new job ads that fit my profile. oh, i did send an application to a japanese IP firm, just for the hell of it. got a generic "we've received your application and will be in touch" response. waiting is really the hardest part! but yes, it's early, and there's no reason to panic just yet. i was thinking, that if the japan firm ended up offering me something but i didn't get anything from the UK, would i stay here? it's honestly a decision that i don't want to make, but if i really had to, i'd say i'd try to go to UK as of now. since i don't intend on acquiring japan PR any more, having an uninterrupted stay in japan is no longer important.

in contrast, my offline life was quite active this past week. i told the principal of the smaller school about the new guy coming in, and my rough timeline. she was very nice about it. i've been having a small internal conflict about which school values me more (ego much?), because the bigger school treats me like a member of the staff - like, they take it for granted that i'll be at their events, so the perception is that i'm not "special". whereas the smaller school seems to treat me as more of an outsider/guest, in that they'll give me formal invitation letters for their events, which makes me too "special"! kind of a dumb thing to be concerned about, i know. in the end, i think each school just has a different way of expressing that i'm part of their community, and no one way is more right. more importantly for me, i should remember that my number one priority at both schools is to do my job. anyway, i'm due to break the news to the general teacher population sometime next week, and to the kids sometime after that. as of this post, i have only 3 full weeks before the new guy starts. have to make the most out of my remaining "solo" time.

the town festival was held over the past 2 days, and i went for both of them. met a group of old students, who are in the second year of high school now. apart from the current sec 2 kids, that class was my other favourite class in the bigger school. i'm happy that we still get along well! some of them who were dead silent in english class (even when i spoke to them in japanese) actually held a conversation with me now! i'm happy that everyone seems to be making progress in their own way. meeting them, as well as some of my current kids outside of the school setting, did give me a pang of "i don't want to leave", but again, i know that i have to. the main reassurance here is that it's not goodbye forever; i can come back to attend some milestones like their graduation and coming-of-age ceremonies. beyond that...i don't know. i'd be beyond happy if they thought to invite me to class reunions or stuff like that, but i'm not going to count on it. i wonder if they're still in touch with my predecessor? that's a good predictor of whether they'll still be in touch with me a few years down the road. the signs point to no as far as i know, but then i don't know much about their lives outside of school.

one major accomplishment was that i got my visa renewed, so i can stay past this november. got the new residence card just yesterday! i was given a year, but i don't plan on using the entire duration. next thing is to renew my driver's license and inform the bank about my new visa expiry date. license renewal is the trickier of the two, because i can't do it online - i have to go down to either the police station in the next town, or the main driving/license centre a few towns over. i'll probably do it at the centre, since they open on sundays as well. no need to take time off from school. part of me is tempted to ask if i can use a town hall car to save on petrol, but it would strictly have to be a work trip. figure i'll use my own car, that way i can claim time off for the license renewal, and still go into the city for personal reasons after that. i need to get curry paste to make assam fish.

did i tell you about my assam fail yet? so, my JET friend who moved out of the prefecture (his wife, actually) gave me some ingredients that they couldn't bring along. one of them was assam, or tamarind paste. despite being south-east asian, i actually don't know much about cooking with spices. my knowledge is limited to salt and pepper, and my preferred method for anything more complex is pre-packaged mixes or pastes. the way that these mixes are typically used is that they are added directly to food. do you see where this is going yet? yes, i threw a good-sized ball of assam paste (seeds, pulp and all) directly into the pot, together with the other ingredients i had inside. despite my good tolerance for sour food, it ended up being so sour that i ate what i could and threw the rest away. i've since learnt that the proper way to use assam is to mix it with water and let the water extract the flavourful stuff. then, separate the solids out and add only the water into whatever it is that you're cooking. good to know! i've still got a good 100g of the stuff left, so might as well make the most out of it.

-random thought of the day: Flight prices are going up...-

Told the teachers in the big school and the english teacher in the small school about the new guy coming in about a month's time. i'd wanted to tell all the teachers in the small school at once, but there wasn't a good time today. thursday, then. i don't know how to explain it, and it's probably not true, but i feel more valued in the smaller school. perhaps it's because of the closer-knit environment there. i will be sorry that i can't follow every class in the school to graduation, but i know that staying past my current term will kill me. i'll ask to attend their graduation ceremonies; that's a topic for the not-so-near future, though.

my singapore plan seems to be coming together nicely. the current thought is that i'll spend about a week to 10 days in singapore in december. in the process, i will submit my UK visa application just before i take the bus to osaka to fly out. on the return trip (also osaka), i'll go submit my biometrics and passport. i also applied to a japanese IP firm based in osaka, just to hedge my bets. if they want to give me a trial or in-person interview, the best case is if i could arrange it in that period. but that's lower priority for now. my current biggest conundrum is when to submit the application itself, because that affects my visa start date and by extension, when i have to be in the UK. ideally, it would be the later the better, especially since i don't have a solid job offer and most jobs start in september anyway. from what i understand, i have just under 90 days to enter the UK from the date of visa approval, and by specifying a later planned date of entry, i may be able to stretch it up to 180 days, or about half a year. i don't know how true this is, but i plan to try. while i'd prefer to enter and start work earlier, a late-june entry for a september start sounds about right, or maybe even a touch too early.

the toughest part about setting up a trip like this is all the bookings! i'll need bookings for parking lot, bus, plane, plane, hotel, bus, in that order. i'm just worried that i'll miscalculate, or mis-book something. even more annoying, i can't book the bus until a month-ish before the trip, so mid-november. as long as i don't forget and get stranded somewhere, i guess. i'm looking at spending just over 120 000 yen, excluding costs in singapore and souvenirs.

there are a few errands that i want to run in singapore, hence the trip back. first, of course, is to bring back some clothes in advance, to make the final trip easier. next is to collect and activate my HSBC debit card (more on that later). and finally, i have to pick the bicycle up. yes, i didn't forget that i bought it in july. but that was before plan UK came into existence. i figure i can keep it in storage, or maybe sell it first. not worth the trouble to take it to the UK, i don't think.

as part of plan UK, i've opened an account with HSBC in singapore. i was surprised to learn that despite its name, HSBC is a major bank in the UK! i figured that having an existing HSBC account will help with opening a new one, plus funds transfer between accounts is free! so i can transfer my salary (in GBP) over to singapore when it's time for me to leave. again, it's carts before horses, because i need a job offer to even start earning a salary! but no harm being prepared, right?

kind of disjointed, this post. i'd envisioned it to be more cohesive, somehow. anyway, upcoming events include the town festival on thursday. no raid or gaming obligations, so i'll stay as late as i can. have friday off, so if my new residence card with the extended term comes tomorrow, i'll go renew my driving license on friday and get the two biggest headaches out of the way. seems i can do it at the next city, instead of going to the main centre a few towns over. side note: i'm grateful that singapore doesn't do the whole renewal thing, at least not until you hit...65? that's practically a lifetime away, so no need to worry about that for now. need to withdraw money at the ATM tomorrow, because the festival stalls only accept cash. apart from those things, i think i'm in the clear.

-random thought of the day: My clock is slowing down again...-

Couple more rejections came overnight, but before i talk about those, i wanted to mention a weird dream i had. it was weird enough that i actually went to write it down in my notes app after waking up in the middle of the night. it's long, so i've italicized it in case you want to skip over it.

there were 2 separate dreams i think, but i don't know where the transition is. the first thing i remember about the dream was that i was back in singapore, and the weather was cool, like autumn/spring in japan. it was nighttime, and i was at a hotel with 2 secondary school classmates, S and I (both of them were in band). there was a woman there too, and i was saying how i liked the cooler weather. outside the hotel, there was a dog locked up in a pen in an area that resembled the bicycle parking space of the town hall. i told S and I to take my bag and go ahead to the train station, but i forgot and went back into the hotel to get my bag. met up with them at the station, and had tickets booked in I's name for somewhere.

i remember passing an attendant dressed like ANA ground staff. she waved us through the gantry and we took an escalator down to the platform. the first train that came was too crowded, to the point where the doors didn't close properly before it departed. we missed it. people must have desperately wanted to get on board the next train, because an auntie was basically doing a(n american) football-style charge to get on.

in the train, i stood in the middle of the car as i usually do. despite being underground, the train's windows showed the view above ground. i knew that i had to take the train 2 stops, to buangkok station. midway through the ride, i felt someone pulling on my bag. tuens out a middle-aged man had opened a plastic bag attached to my bag, and found a pack of chocolates, which he opened and was in the process of eating. we got into an argument where he said everything belongs to everyone or something like that. my response was "if that is so, then your house is mine". at my demand for him to pay up, he threw a retro 3-fold velcro kids-style wallet at me. i opened it and found some coins, including an old 50 cent coin (the bigger one). they smelled really metallic.

after alighting at buangkok station, i was taking the escalator down (i think it should be up in real life?) when a boy came and passed me a blue leather key holder, asking if i'd dropped it. i told him no, but since i was going to the control station anyway, i'd take it there and turn it in. i tapped out at the gantry with my phone, but it didn't open. turns out i tapped the wrong sensor and the adjacent gate opened. i went to the control station, gave them the 2 wallets, and asked them to reset my phone so i could tap out.

after exiting the station, i walked down a long walkway. i passed by 2 bowling juniors (J and X). turned into a shop and found some judo elders and Mr O, a science teacher in one of my schools now. one judo elder showed me how me used pink crepe paper to turn a book into a bookmark. something about cutting it in half so it interlocked with the page to be marked. the others were practising an illusion routine involving multiple umbrellas. the idea was to make it seem like the same umbrella was being transported through space. separately, the shop also had jeans for sale.

i walked along a narrow footpath, with a hill to my left and the main road to my right. met many people i knew along the way, and they all said "welcome to singapore!" got even more excited, and started jogging a little. i reached a traffic junction that i had to cross to get to waterway point. i wanted to take a picture of something (the mall?) there, but ended up taking a video and then a selfie by mistake. i met scary JC friend, one of the chemistry guys, and another guy i didn't know. they were all on mountain bikes, and scary JC friend had a P-plate on hers. i gave her a hug and then crossed the road.

there was something else that happened in the mall, but i didn't remember what it was, so i have no recordings of it. the mall looked tall, narrow, and dark, which is totally different from waterway point in real life.

thanks for bearing with me. it's been a long time since i dreamt so much and so vividly. if i had to guess, i'd say it was caused by my excitement from planning a trip back (i'll talk more about that in a future post). interesting that people who i haven't thought of in a long time showed up; the secondary school classmates and bowling juniors in particular. wonder how they're doing? a superficial google search didn't turn up anything relevant, and i don't feel inclined to probe deeper.

sadly, i also got 2 more rejections last night. well...one rejection and one "sorry we don't have vacancies but that may change". think i'm going to count that as tentative. the rejection was from my current #2 choice, the one where my cover letter had a typo. maybe it didn't get past them after all. ah well. the good news here is that my #1 choice got back to say that my resume had been passed to the relevant partners and they would be in contact again in the coming weeks. side note: should i send a thank you to acknowledge that? of course, it's not a job offer by any means and rejection is always a possibility, but it gives me hope.

i'm noticing a trend in the rejection emails i've been getting. i think i can broadly classify them into human-written vs. machine-written (or human template response). perhaps the bigger companies are all using the same screening platform, but i notice that a typical rejection email that i would consider machine written goes like this:

thank you for your interest in *company*. after careful consideration, i regret to say that we are not progressing your application further. the decision has been a difficult one as the overall standard of candidates has been exceptionally high this year. unfortunately due to the sheer volumes of applicants we are not able to offer individual feedback at application stage. thanks for your interest and good luck.

it just makes me want to scream! i've also been looking at reddit (of all places) for resume advice. turns out that a 2-column format isn't advised because it doesn't work well with ATS (applicant tracking software). so i've redone my resume from scratch and kind of upsold some points without lying. hopefully that will work better for future applications. it's kind of funny...resumes and cover letters are something that you can improve over time. does that mean we should apply to jobs lower on our list first, and save the most desired companies for last? different deadlines aside, i think that's more trouble than it's worth. i'm just going to apply to companies that are advertising the appropriate vacancies. there are 2 more which just came up, and i plan on applying to them within this coming week.

-random thought of the day: Singapore trip plans next!-

Japan and the UK have an 8-hour time difference in the summer. or maybe it's always? not sure how daylight savings works. anyway, it's about the start of the work week in the UK now. and within the first 2 hours of their work week starting, i've received another rejection from a firm i was interested in. there was another firm who clarified that the vacancy that was still displayed on their website had filled up. i didn't apply there, so i'm not counting that as a rejection. the latest tally is 6 rejections (resume on file for 2 of them), 6 pending (1 singapore + 5 UK), and possibly more to apply for once more job ads come online.

what annoyed me this time was the speed of the rejection. like, i sent the application in yesterday. based on the timeline, it seems to me that they took one glance at a key question, and chucked those that didn't have the "correct" answer. in my case, i suspect it was not currently having the right to work in the UK, despite my explanation. although it could be because my experience isn't in the right type of chemistry too. the thing that REALLY makes me want to give them a piece of my mind is the generic templated response, which often contains the phrase "after careful consideration". forgive me for doubting the care of your consideration when you rejected it so quickly, and before the final deadline, to boot!

to be fair, i think i was partly to blame too. i actually missed catching a typo in the cover letter i sent. i plead that i was mentally drained from writing and rewriting my CV and cover letter to tailor them to different companies, but i also acknowledge that i could have been more careful. makes me wonder if any typos immediately disqualify candidates...

right now, i'm not at the full-on screaming mega panic stage yet. but i can feel it coming closer. won't deny that i've felt close to tears a couple of times, though. the bright side is that the 2 firms i'm the most interested in haven't replied yet, so it's still schroedinger's applications with them. while i don't like waiting in this state of limbo as a principle, i have to admit that the sense of hope/anticipation is nice, as opposed to a flat-out rejection. but it's still temporary. if a rejection was going to come anyway, faster will always be better because it allows me to execute backup plans sooner despite the hit to my morale. incidentally, my application to my current second-choice firm also has a typo. yes, i know, i'm noob. that one can be explained away more easily though, and if the hiring people aren't familiar with the word, they may even miss it totally. fingers crossed.

most dissatisfactions in life stem from unmet expectations. in this case, i expected to quickly land a job and have a seamless transition to it after JET. suffice to say that that's not happening. i'm trying to use the mental strategies i know to not let it get to me...occupying myself with other things, focusing on the present, positive self-talk. these work, to a point. the fear and stress stems from my age, i guess. feels like 35 is too old to start anew. but i have to, because teaching english isn't a viable career path in my mind. again, i'm reminding myself that i do still have some buffer time, though it's not much. i suppose the worst case scenario is that i get into the UK without a job offer, and apply while i'm there. and in an extreme, maybe i might not get any offers for this intake, which would mean not starting in 2024. that would SUCK. if that should happen...i might just do the australia PR thing. let's count...assume i start as a chemist in august 2024, one year's work experience would be august 2025, and my IELTS result would still be valid (expires may 2026). it's a thought/decision for a later time, but i need to have a cut-off date for plan UK IP.

only 3 days of school this week! also, the new temp teacher candidate is coming to the town hall tomorrow. i understand that it's more of a "feel each other out" meeting, and that an offer hasn't been extended yet. i'm a little nervous, honestly. i hope that we'll be able to agree on a start date that works for everyone. the tentative suggestion now is mid-october. don't know how i feel about that. the most important thing is to go in with an open mind and to be receptive to others' ideas. 

-random thought of the day: Things will work out...right?-

Yeah...so about that archived post i had about me being irrationally upset? some things that happened on friday rendered about half of it useless. i'll probably copy and paste the relevant bits over while explaining the changes.

the main cause of my upsetted-ness was that my supervisor told me that the town hall was looking to hire a temporary english teacher for the interim period between me leaving and the next JET arriving. they want him to start in early october. at first, i thought they were rushing it and not giving me enough reaction time. but upon sitting down to plan my remaining time on friday, i realized that the timing would be just right, give or take a few weeks. so remember i have 40 days' leave? well, more like 35 because i plan to use some of it for other purposes during the term. but the main idea is, it's a lot. right now, i'm planning to take essentially the whole month of december off, and maybe working 2 days a week in january plus eiken practice. i figure that's the last thing i can do for the kids who want to learn. i did ask them if they could push the start date back by 2 weeks, so that i could break the news to the kids gradually.

zooming out a little, that means my last day in japan will probably be in early february. i did consider staying longer to get paid more, but i don't know how that will work out. i'm actually thinking of staying until march, to at least attend one school's graduation ceremony, but it feels too long. like, i'd already told the office that i would leave this year. unless i can somehow officially quit, but extend my lease for one more month, or take no-pay leave, or something else. i think the ceremony should be on either the 2nd or 9th march...will think about that more soon. i suppose an alternative is to attend via zoom, though it would mean a lot more logistics on the school's end.

that sudden change in heart was actually brought about by what i saw at their sports day today. the way the kids interacted with each other, the way the community came together, it makes me appreciate life and realize that it's not a one-man show. i've noticed that that's a main difference between my 2 secondary schools. maybe it's because of their respective sizes?

reason 2 is because things seem to be moving slowly for the UK side. i've gotten back one more rejection (total rejection count: 4), and have 3 applications pending with another 3 to be done over the weekend. this most recent rejection was from a firm which i thought was quite elitist, in the sense that all the trainees appear to be from either oxford or cambridge. so, perhaps it was a good thing that the rejection came? i'm just hoping to get an interview with one or more of the firms that i've applied to so far. i'll update again with more updates when they come in

-random thought of the day: Sleepier earlier.-

Lack of clear-cut success in job applications has made me tempted to try something i was previously dead-set against...i wonder, is that the power of desperation? nah, i'm not desperate yet, but my desire to fix upon a course of action for my next move is making me consider weird things.

before i talk about that, i wanted to mention the open day that a UK IP firm held yesterday. it was very well done, and made the company look very good, and it seems to be an ideal workplace. the speakers were all very friendly, and really sold the place. of course, the scientist in me is aware that there is an inherent bias here - which company would field speakers who hate their job? and not forgetting that they can be nice and welcoming on paper, but the selection process is so opaque that they can make up any reason to reject a candidate. so yes, pinch of salt, but still i figure it's worth a shot. the plan is to update my resume and cover letter, and send them in again. after attending their open day, i realize how far off the mark i was with my first attempt! hopefully they choose to disregard it and look at my most recent application with fresh eyes.

now, about the weird thing. about maybe a year ago, i was alerted to a japanese IP firm that had a reputation for being a "black" company, ie. one that didn't have good staff welfare practices. stories include higher-ups being verbally abusive to foreign staff, who are allegedly being required to work for 12 hours or more a day, and basically having to deal with a lot of stress from work and from the toxic culture. as a result, i avoided applying to them. but now, with singapore and UK both turning up neutral at best, i'm thinking that maybe i should just apply to see what happens. because after all, i'm already in japan, and they offer a 1-week trial - basically a free labour scheme under the pretext of "see if this is a fit for you!". i figure i can afford it, and my pay will be the first-hand knowledge of whether the rumours are true. if it's not good for me, then i won't accept an offer if they give me one. problem here is, it's in osaka, which means (1) taking leave off work, and (2) arranging accommodation in osaka for that week. i was also looking at their interview process, and it consists of 15 steps, with 3 of them being writing tests with deadlines, each progressively shorter than the last. it's a psychological trick, i think...make you invest effort in the process, make it difficult, and somewhere down the line, your brain will treat it as valuable because of the perceived scarcity, plus you're putting in effort for it.

so here's the plan. i will apply to the japan firm and see what happens. separately, i'll reapply to 2 UK firms, and see what happens there too. i've got a whole post about a recent happening that made me irrationally negative sitting in the archives, but i don't think now is the best time to post it because it's pretty heavy. going to work on the applications and submit the UK ones before bed tonight, and the japan one by tomorrow.

-random thought of the day: Falling asleep at the computer again.-

Some lessons smell worse than others. on thursday night, i made a big batch of vegetables in mustard sauce. ate about half, and figured that i'd finish the rest on friday. seeing as it was going to be only a day, i thought it'd be ok to leave the vegetables in the pan, and the pan on the stove (heat turned off, of course). didn't count on friday being the hottest day so far this week, and i came back to the smell of rotting garbage. some form of bacteria had started to grow on the vegetables, and produced slimy threads when the vegetable pieces were moved, like natto. chucked everything, scrubbed out the pan, and learnt a lesson. the stuff is double-bagged and sitting in the rubbish bin now, but i still catch an occasional whiff of the rotting smell. not fun. will put out the rubbish earlier tomorrow, although collection is only on monday.

happy to announce some positive progress! submitted my application for japan visa extension (along with supporting documents) yesterday, and got a confirmation that it's been received. no idea how long it'll take to process, but i'm hoping that it'll get done within the next month. i only asked for a year's extension, so i think that should be ok? after that comes through, i can begin the next phase, which consists of submitting my UK visa application, arranging an appointment for my biometric data to be collected, and planning a trip back to singapore around the appointment date. the idea is to land back in japan, go for the appointment while on layover in tokyo (where i'll have to give them my passport, although i might use the option to pay to keep it), and flying back to kochi after that. i tried looking at flights in december today, but with the uncertainty of my japan visa's status and timeline, it's still too risky to solidify anything. well...one step at a time.

separately, i've also received confirmation to attend a UK IP firm's virtual open day. it's still far from a job offer, but it's closer than nothing. i figure that if nothing else, it'll give me a better idea of whether i want to work for that firm, or in the UK in general. the thing i've been feeling so far is that UK firms seem to be kind of elitist, like they say second upper class honours is ok, but would strongly prefer first class. well, i'm hoping that i can bypass that. for once, the time difference works in my favour, as it's planned to run basically a full day in the UK, which is nighttime in japan. i think it'll last from 6pm to 12am my time? will consider taking an hour off the next morning if i need sleep, since i don't think i have first period class scheduled.

well, i think that's all i can do now. waiting is really the toughest part. at least with a decision, i can move on from there. oh, there was a firm whose automatic system insta-rejected me, and the HR people told me the system said that i'd withdrawn my application. well, there was probably a technical fault somewhere, and i'm asking how i can resubmit my application. with luck, that will go through...though i'm not super hopeful. it seems that despite the "no sponsorship required" feature of the visa, UK employers are unwilling to take holders of this visa on because once they reach their maximum stay, they will either have to leave the country, or employers will have to register to be a visa sponsor and pay some fees to keep the employee. as far as i know, most IP firms don't have that credential. maybe i might have better luck doing a year as a chemist and trying plan australia PR? that's the backup plan for now.

should stop thinking about it over the weekend. after all, everyone's not working, so it's not like i'm expecting big news. i'm supposed to get a haircut in the next town tomorrow, coinciding with getting groceries during 5% off sunday. also did a first transfer of funds to my singapore account. hopefully it goes through ok. that reminds me, i'll have to update my residence status here with the bank, unless i decide to leave earlier after all.

-random thought of the day: Feeling flu symptoms coming on.-

An analogy that i like to use to describe making plans (the kind where you fit events into a timeline) is to say that it's like solving a puzzle. you have so much time, and the activities that you'd like to do in that given time. sometimes it's easy - planning things according to proximity in the case of making a travel itinerary. other times, it's more challenging, because there are certain conditions that have to be fulfilled, like "i can't progress to event C without doing event A, which must be done 3 days within completing event B"...that kind of thing. sadly, plan UK kind of falls into the challenging category.

but before i elaborate on that, i just wanted to digress to say that i was told a not-nice piece of news that's unfolding back in singapore. not going to say what it is for the privacy of those concerned, also because i'm not directly affected and was told to keep details to myself. anyway, the person who told me the news finished with, "surprised, right?" due to the gravity of the situation and to spare a thought for the person's feelings, i held back my initial response of "no, not really". of course, this could be the hindsight talking, but i've always thought that this particular thing was a matter of "when" more than "if". and while i didn't and wouldn't wish for it to happen, the signs were too strong to ignore. anyway, the fact is that it's happened, and i hope all parties involved receive satisfaction/closure.

coming back to the puzzle that is my UK visa application, i was recently made aware of a subreddit of people applying for this visa. turns out that the UK started this visa in 2022! i guess that's somewhat mollifying, although i could have applied for it earlier. but well, better late than never. on the subreddit, someone told me that i could only specify an intended date of entry within 3 months of the day i submitted my visa application. from there, i'd get a visa sticker (they call it a vignette) which would only be valid for 90 days from the intended date of entry (aka. visa start date). so, this means that i have up to 6 months (5.5 months to be safe) to enter the UK from the day i submit the application. and if i want to enter as late as possible, i should apply as late as possible without missing the most important deadline of 31 december this year, because that's the 5-year anniversary of my degree.

the other slight issue is that i need to prove that i'm a legal resident of the country from which i'm applying. ordinarily, that wouldn't be a problem...except that my japan visa will expire in late november. so the 2 options i have here are (1) apply before the expiry date, which would lead to a shorter buffer time, or (2) apply after extending my japan visa. there is a third option of taking like, a month's leave and going back to singapore to complete the application there, but it's also the most unpredictable.

on a related aside, i've also begun the process of extending my japan visa. FINALLY got the card reader to work thanks to the IT resource person, reset my password, and managed to access the site today. got a feel for what they were asking, but they didn't allow me to save the application halfway, which sucked. the next step is to prepare my supporting documents, as well as passport photo. from what i've gathered, i need to submit a copy of my existing residence card, passport, contract, and some tax document that shows my annual gross income and tax payable. seems simple enough. my end date will get an automatic 2-month extension once i submit the application, so i shouldn't face any overstaying issues. the problem might be communicating that to the UK side, especially if there's a delay...but we'll see. reminder to self: have to plan to renew my driver's license too.

putting all that together, the timeline seems to be:

within this or next week - submit japan visa extension

1 month later (?) - get results

mid-october, after visa extension - renew driver's license

mid-late december - send in UK application (applying to UK firms throughout all this)

sometime in december - singapore trip (either completely before or after UK application)

??? - prepare to leave japan

may/june-ish - prepare to move to UK

this plan has some wiggle room in when i want to leave japan. if i wanted to maximize my money earned, i'd work until maybe a week or two from my UK entry deadline, then take a short stay in singapore before going over. an alternate idea is stopping JET this year as planned (or in january?), then going back to singapore to job hunt. if i land a job, i can choose not to enter the UK and swallow the money lost in the visa application process, or to activate my visa and treat it as a glorified holiday visa. after all, the visa doesn't come with minimum requirements for how long i have to stay in the UK each year. the annoying thing is that if a UK company asks me to follow their typical calendar of a september start, it means 3 or more months lost on my total visa lifespan.

should IP not work out in the UK for whatever reason, i was also considering doing a chemist job in the UK for a year, then applying for australian PR based on that work experience. it'll delay plan IP by at least a year or two, but perhaps that would be better in the long run? as i've mentioned before, i can't apply for australian PR with work experience in the IP industry, but i can with experience as a chemist. i'm starting to realize that if i want to move countries like this, i should start keeping better documentation. small digression: if i was given a choice between UK or australian PR, i'd probably take australian, simply because it's closer to singapore! strangely, japan PR doesn't entice me any more. well, it's a lesson learnt. and also probably because i can come in so easily on a tourist visa.

it occurred to me that i haven't seriously sat down to work out the cost of moving to the UK. there's utilities (including this thing called council tax - estate maintenance costs, i believe?), rent, phone, food, transport, furnishings, and other things that i probably haven't thought of. even though working in japan has boosted my savings significantly, i need to think long-term and not blow through my available money. i did some searches on airbnb and booking.com for places to rent, and i think the cheapest i saw was the equivalent of SGD800 a month? granted, those may not have been the best sites to search, but i think they give a good ballpark figure. perhaps i'll try other sites/avenues closer to the move.

for now, i'll stick to the plan and apply for more jobs. thinking of just responding to the law firm's job ad, to see if anything will come out of it. will probably contact one of my reserve (aka. not first few choices) firms, and i'm also waiting on a possible lead from one of the JETs. reminder again, that although time is limited, it's not down to the wire yet. i have buffer time, so i shouldn't panic excessively. job ads come up later in the UK anyway!

-random thought of the day: Stay calm.-

Bureaucracy is something i will absolutely not miss when the time comes for me to leave japan. so today, i started the process of extending my japan visa. i know, i only intend to stay until the end of the year. but in the event that nothing comes through from singapore (more on that soon), i figured i might as well use my time to earn a bit more money while waiting in limbo (or for the next job to start), as opposed to waiting without a source of income. besides, better to have a longer visa and not need it, than wanting to work longer but being unable/too late to extend the visa, right?

my previous supervisor said that doing it in person would involve a trip to the immigration bureau in the next prefecture, which is a 200km drive away. worse, i will need to make 2 trips! some other JETs have said that it may be possible to do it in kochi city, which would be much less of a pain. in case that isn't feasible, i'm trying to avoid travelling by doing it online. the setup is majorly convoluted. first of all, they want to scan your my number card, i imagine as a security feature and/or as proof of identity. that has to be done through special software. and to get the special software to recognize the card reader, you have to set up the appropriate driver. and don't forget the chrome extension to interface with the website! i would have done it using my own laptop, but the japanese software doesn't display correctly, and i get garbled nonsensical characters. in the process of trying to guess at what the undecipherable instructions were asking me to do, i managed to get my my number card password blocked. have to reset it at the town hall tomorrow. good news is, i can try again using my town-issued tablet that can actually display japanese characters properly. hopefully i can settle it by september, or else i may have to plan to take leave during the mid-term test period in mid-october to get it done in person. reminder to self, i'll probably have to settle my driving license around that time too...probably slightly later because the visa extension has to go through first.

the law firm wrote back. they said it was a mistake on their end and their job ad hadn't been updated between successive postings. so my question is, why haven't you corrected it despite having been alerted to the fact that it's wrong!? well, i'll keep periodically checking in until given a firm rejection. as for the australian firm, i've sent them my paper, and should hopefully hear back from them within the week.

another reminder to myself: it's still too early to engage full panic mode...although i feel that the time might be coming soon. see, i just got another 2 rejections from the UK side today, bringing my total to 6 applications and 5 rejections, with 1 firm left to contact. at least one of the recent rejections provided a bit more insight...it asked me to reapply after confirming my visa status. going by this, i would guess that the UK companies are not willing to take the risk on someone who may not be approved to work in the UK. while i can understand that, and would probably do the same if the roles were switched, it's a bit annoying. question now - how does this affect my timeline? i suppose i should send in the visa application sooner, just to secure it and let companies know that i can work in the UK, and that their risk in taking me on is comparatively low. problem is, what do i put as my expected/desired date of entry? and, what do i do between now and that date? really makes me think that i misplanned my timeline. well, that's not entirely true. i actually didn't really have a plan beyond ending JET this year, so it's more like completely didn't plan, as opposed to misplanned.

ok, more reason to panic. the australian firm in singapore just emailed to say that they aren't planning on hiring at this time. i'm running out of companies to apply to!!! it makes me wonder if i should pursue the current backup route - work for a year as a chemist, then apply for australian PR based on that experience. again, there's no guarantee on when i'll get it (or IF i'll get it, for that matter), so that feels like a risk too. worse is, it will take about 2 years...1 to accrue the work experience, and almost another while the application is being processed. but if i'm desperate, i suppose that's an avenue that i can explore.

let's take a breath, and take stock. at present, i know that i will have work in this town. the board of education has said that they want me to work here for as long as possible, so that's kind of a safety net. the latest i will stay until is probably next january or february. and if i do that, i will schedule a trip back to singapore in december just to settle the bicycle and some other admin things. it might be seen as a waste of time, to visit when i'll probably be moving back only a month or two later, but i guess the expenditure is justified considering (1) i haven't been back in the past 3 years, and (2) the town is paying for my one-way ticket back at the end of JET. i'll think about it at a later date. i suppose i should remind myself to keep an open mind. who knows - i might stumble into my niche.

-random thought of the day: Getting harder to stay positive.-

2 pieces of news to end this week off - one good, one neutral/annoying.

good news: the results of my degree verification came back! they took 6 working days from the time i submitted everything and paid the fees. considering they set 30 days as my expectation, i am beyond happy. i'd like to think that it was because i was on the ball and gave them every single document that they requested, so all they had to do was check and not waste time requesting more stuff from me. or it might be that the queue was short because fewer people are looking to move to the UK due to brexit...i don't know. whatever it is, i'll take this win and run.

this also means that one hurdle in my visa application process has been cleared. the biggest one right now is setting my date of entry. i have to enter the UK on this visa within 90 days of my stated date, so although there's a window, the unpredictability of a job offer and start date now mean that i'll essentially be guessing and gambling if asked to state an entry date. i suppose the safe way is to set an early date, but that would end up being detrimental because visa duration starts counting down from first entry into that country under that visa. ideally, i'd get a job offer first, then plan my visa date accordingly...but if forced to blindly choose a date, i guess i'll set mid-may or something, because i know hiring picks up in the summer. so i'll go over early and job hunt while i'm there. maybe that might make employers more amenable to taking me on.

neutral/annoying news: i decided to send another email to one of the singaporean IP firms, to politely ask why they still had job ads up when they told me their vacancies had been filled. it shows that i'm interested/invested, and most importantly, actively searching and keeping track of job ads that interest me. so, as i always do, i wrote an email in gmail and scheduled it to send during office hours. only that i forgot it was a public holiday in singapore today because of polling day for the presidential election. well, no big deal. it just means that i have to wait a little longer for a reply.

been feeling tired, as expected from the ramp up in activity with school starting. should start sleeping earlier, like when i first arrived.

-random thought of the day: I have 40 days' leave!-