... Far away. Leaving the country, in fact. It's been inevitable, it's been coming, and the time has finally come..

I was in my creative writing class at Moorpark College back in April of this year. While quite dissatisfied with life and my unknown future plans, I looked up at a wall in the classroom during some boring lecture. The wall held a poster for a short four week study abroad program to Oaxaca in Mexico. I had seen these posters on many occasions previously, each time they'd grasp my attention, setting my mind loose to dream.

A few hours later I was accompanying Cory and Matt at the bowling alley in Simi Valley as they played a few rounds. There happened to be wifi available which I used to take a look, on my iPod Touch, at the site advertised by the poster I had seen in class earlier. After seeing some other study abroad programs, I quickly realized that the poster had not caught my attention because of the specific destination, but rather because it was out of the country, outside of the USA, yet still counted towards credits at a school in the States. I browsed around at various programs, but the destination I subconsciously had in mind made itself promptly evident.

Later in the evening, and over the course of a few days, I spent many more hours browsing other study abroad websites, 3rd party reviews and forums concerning various programs. Being a little weary from my past experience with Brooks Institute of Photography, I didn't really want to make any more questionable educational decisions. However, the winner, just like the destination, quickly became clear.

I enjoy doing things differently, but often times I am forced to jump through well-established societal hoops. College is one of those hoops. Certainly I could simply transfer to a local college and continue my education like most students. However, that would not satisfy me. My discontent with the comfort immanent in the normalcy of transferring to and attending a state-side school was and is palpable.

So, the time to transfer from Moorpark College to another institution to finish with my bachelors has come. Of all things, I'll be majoring in Communications while minoring in Japanese. I've spent years trying to define a direction in my education and this combination seems to satisfy me.

Communications: Like most from my generation, I have a strong grasp on the rapidly evolving technologies which surround us. I am extremely well versed in Web technologies, technologies which drive the mass-media of the future. I am a new-media factotum, knowledgeable in a plethora of Internet-related technologies. From content creation like video production and blogging, to programming web-based applications utilizing SaaS business models, I have been involved with Web technologies both privately and professionally for copious, diverse years. One of my most satisfying pastimes is the dissemination of my thoughts and my ideas into consumable media.

Japanese: I would like to tap into the Japanese perspective to gain a new insight on communication to facilitate, using the Internet as my delivery platform, the production of new media and the creation of new services and applications that can be effectively disseminated to audiences. I've always thought Japan to be an interesting place, a very modern and advanced locale and have wanted to explore its rich culture. With insight into both European and American perspectives, I find that an insight into the Japanese perspective can only aid me in any future success.

I've been working on getting everything organized; I have been waiting for eligibility for my visa before revealing this secret of mine which I've been keeping for more than half a year: I'm moving to Tokyo in January! I'm leaving the weekend of Saturday, January 3rd. I'll begin attending Temple University, Japan Campus as something akin to a Junior when classes start on January 13th.

Huzzah.