Consider this the antithesis to the stressed-out, burned-out, depressed note I wrote a few months back. I still get messages about that post every now and again, and I'm happy to report that things have changed for the better.The light at the end of the tunnel is now very, very bright. With only a month and a half left on my contract, it's gotten easy to stop worrying about small stuff and it's become more important to use this month and a half as best I can - it probably won't be my last time in Japan, but it could be the last for a few years. At school, I've taken an "I don't care" approach to teaching. If the kids are acting up, let 'em. If I'm 5 minutes late, I'm still 10 minutes early for the morning meeting and here 5 minutes before the principal anyway. This approach lets me sleep better, and strangely, it's more effective in the classroom. My new motto is "What are they gonna do, send me back to America?" I don't equate this to slacking off at school - I'm still productive - but it's eliminated 99% of the stress from my daily schedule.My generally-improving health leaves me less exhausted, so I sleep less heavily than I used to. This means I have more free time, so I play more at night and see people more. I'm setting a travel schedule for my last bit here. Next weekend I'll be headed to Osaka to play indoor, close-quarters Airsoft with my 3 JET Airsoft buddies. It'll be a gentleman's weekend, and a fun one at that. Imagine playing Counter-Strike in real life, and that's what I'll be doing next weekend. Yeah, we're nerds, and we're paid good money for it too. After that is a weekend-long beach party with a beach bar and famous Japanese DJs, and after that my Eikaiwa class is taking me to Miyajima (known as one of Japan's 3 most beautiful places) for my last hurrah with them.My last hurrah with my best friend out here will be a trip to Seoul at the start of August. After that, I'll be going to the places I wanted to go - Nagasaki, Nagoya, Kyoto one more time, and of course one last hurrah in Tokyo - before I catch a flight home.Update: I'll be flying back to Texas before August 15th, and I'll take an immediate connection from Houston to DFW. Also, a quick bit of love goes out to Mom, who has finally elected to quit her giant-stressball job, so I no longer have to worry about her mental health. If you see her, congratulate her. Lastly, I've found a *really* good reason to come home. It's, well, me.It's only been recently that I've realized that I've been given more than most JET people. I've got a lovely home to go to. I've got a small but awesome and stable family. Living at home doesn't even phase me, considering how symbiotically my mom and I can live. Whether or not I live at home, I've got my material needs basically covered, thanks to this year's savings. I've got an awesome, awesome, awesome network of friends who 'get' me more than I ever realized. I have a community that I belong to that shares a common interest. I'd truly have to be insane to throw all that away.
