The International Appeal

It has been a while since I posted something on CB. I have been working mad hours in South Korea and haven't had much time to do anything other than eating or sleeping. I have been noticing an increase in popularity as of recent and most of my questions and comments have been via Facebook. So, I'll make this one extra special.

Any who, I want to talk about "the international appeal." What exactly consists of this image? This is really a response to this article and I want to address somethings.

It has been almost 5 years since the US economy has plummeted and there is this call for international appeal. People are suddenly trying to do what I have done 5 years ago. It's great. I have to say there is an interesting parallel with the failure that is the US economy and its juxtaposition to my success. Part of the failure that is the US in my humble opinion, is its notion that English should be the only language embraced and there should be no support signs in any other language.

I think this notion is preposterous and the very fact that these signs exist are to help the foreign patron. I think Americans themselves do not want to admit that they are afraid of misunderstandings.

With the Internet and applications this whole notion that language support should be isolated to a singular language is a very dangerous notion of isolationism. Isolationism is part of the problem we faced in the 1930s in the United States and is the mindset that ones culture is better than another's. With technology being at the advanced state that it is, there should be little to no problems with communication:

However, there still are many foreigners that go to another country and make absolutely no effort to understand the customs of that country. Then when they try to act American in another country they are surprised they are ridiculed and are insulted for their behavior. And employers can sift through a stack of applicants and see which candidate has actually received a cultural exchange that actually has some merit versus someone who just partied it up.

If you are reading this article and are thinking about going to another country. While it isn't mandatory that you intermediate or advanced proficiency in a language, people should at least get a basic level. After all, most people who seek to get the "international appeal" stay in their host country for at least 3 months to one year. Why would anyone want to burden their hosts with their ability to communicate is beyond me. While one should enjoy themselves in a country, they should exercise a level of prudence with their hosts. In other words, err on the side of caution. There is no real need to act like an arrogant Anglophone. There will be times and places to party, but I honestly believe people shouldn't treat their trip abroad as one giant hoopla.

However, I think part of the problem is that many Americans do not know how to obtain the "international appeal" mainly due to an inherent ignorance in America. We are often taught that the English language is the most superior language and no one should bother trying to learn another language. Sadly, most of the people I have bypassed in the job market have were monolingual and monocultural.

It only takes a few months to reach an intermediate level of proficiency in a language and there are misconceptions about the amount of time you have to put forth. Sadly, this also falls on their current American generation and this cultural promotion that laziness and anti-intellectualism is suddenly the "in" thing. When people make mistakes in a language they are often criticized as being incompetent, too. If there are people who believe they do not have the time to make the effort to reach even a beginner level of proficiency in a language, they should at least make the effort to learn some facets about the target countries culture. I understand and am aware that not everyone has the time to study,

but at least take the time to figure out what is okay and what isn't. Trust me, if you were to take just 20-30 minutes of your day to learn something about the country your going to visit or work in, it will save you from insurmountable unforeseen headaches in the future. When you the prospective graduate are choosing to embark on one of the most incredible journeys of your life, how do your wish to remember it? Do you want it to be a fruitful one, ripe with experience and growth as a human being or do you want to be the person who happens on the blunt end of every misconception and misunderstanding? Just ask yourself is it necessary to actually travel abroad. If you have a hard time adjusting to different people and cultures, you might want to actually take baby steps prior to going over to another country. While I do not really care for Lonely Planet books, you can browse them to get a general overview of the country you plan on visiting. You will thank yourself later for doing so.

To wrap things up, the "international appeal" on a individual level and a national level is obtainable. It will take many years of effort on a national level, but on the the individual level, the person needs to evaluate themselves to see if they are a reputable candidate for their host country. If they like working countries like Japan and Korea might be possible places to go or if they want some free time in their days to do other things besides work, they probably should consider Germany or the Netherlands. But ultimately, work abroad should provide an experience with interacting with other cultures. Having international appeal is "win-win" for everyone. I honestly wish the future prospective college students and future leaders the best of luck. It has been a crazy, yet fulfilling ride for me.

Over 3,000 Hits

I just wanted to post this as a way of showing thanks for all the support you guys have given chuckiesblurbs. I know it isn't that many hits when someone puts this blog's timeline under a microscope, but I felt that I have grown as both a writer person by sticking this project out. Shots out to all the family in Korea, Japan, and America. Special shots out to the people in Incheon, Korea and Okinawa, Japan for being hospitable towards me.

I want to think Madi, Grigory, Navgeet, Kris, Masako, Osamu, Shintak, Tamera "Saigi", and any one else I have neglected to mention.

I have two minor projects that are on my plate at the moment: 1) I am planning to write a book under the pen name Alex Patt. It will be my second book and this one will be an informative piece about the Korean ESL market. 2) I am working on some poetry for a upcoming project. A third minor minor project, that I have is adding more content to http://www.incheoncharles.blogspot.com/. Stay tuned for more upcoming announcements. Lates. =) 

P.S. Expect a post at IncheonCharles soon.

Salvation At Second Hand Stores

Been pretty busy as of late, but I will be posting a little more once I land a job in Japan. Today I went to Salvation Army to try to find some clothes  for my trip. I suprisingly dropped $100 on clothes, but that was mainly due to the fact I got two pairs of shoes in size 14 and 13E respectively. (Okay my shoe size really is a 13.5, but in America they do not make shoes for the person in the middle.

Aside from my waffle stompers and clip on ties, I needed over coats. I found some really nice over coats for around $7! While not Armani brand, it does convey "interview me"! Also got a haircut again. I would've held off on that, but I needed to have nice hair for Saturday and Sunday. But overall here's my wardorbe for a job interview:

George White Satin Shirt: $12
Dress Pant: $5
Over Coat: $7
Dress Shoes: $22
Zipper Tie: $6
New Belt: $12

Notice that while they are alll new, I will not go broke over having the clothes. One of my wardborbes add up to $64 for formal dress ware. That is actually a bit pricy for me, considering in the past I used to make wardrobes on less than half that budget. I was actually a bit picky due to the conservative nature in which Japanese people dress. The more formal; the better. If I knew some people that were totally going to car pool it down to San Francisco, I would be trying to find ways to save there as well. I thought about taking all the non Salvation Army stuff back, but I decided that would be unethical and I would  be ripping off that store out of their bonus. Yes the Walton family would  not be hurt, however there are people who depend on making those sales like sales floor associates. That wouldn't be right to do so just to get my money back. I would feel better if it was a electronic devise, but that is just me. Well I got an online Skype interview to do so I bid you good night.

SPAM this post!

  I would like more real human comments. Seriously, I actually read them. I read the spam ones too for just a laugh at how gullible the spamee thinks I am.

No, I will not put up any money towards any high yield program that I do not understand. I will not buy any of your "stock investment magazines". I prefer to get my infromation from actual analysts: like my aunt Jaime. I do not need information that is probably fallacious and fictional.

No, I will not harvest my own organs in order to get a fast 1 million dollars.

No, I will not buy your instructional videos on how to do basic trading in the stock market. I already taught myself.

No, I will not sell my soul for some fake gold.

I have recieved a lot of spam comments as of late. And reading them (and rejecting them) is seriously a waste of time. I'd rather be looking for a better job in Japan or watching South Park or something. That's all today. Peace!

What am I going to do with my bonus/tax refund?

This is just a response post.

First off, I find it funny that people always ask a bunch of questions about what am I going to do with a refund or any type of money I happen to earn or recieve. It is not like these people are really entitled or are asking me for money. I think they are just curious. This is not an isolated incident; I was asked several questions simular to this last year by droves of people that cannot seem to manage their finances. When I tell them the same answer, they always give me the same look as they go into some form of cardiac arrest.

I always tell them, "I am going to save and/or reinvest it".

Then magically their blood pressure goes up about 40 points and their eyes buldge with disbelief. Hey I am not trying to do retail for the rest of my life. Neither should anyone there; unless of course they are shooting for management. Godspeed on that one. It's possible, but there are seriously more better paying jobs out there in other states or countries. I, for one, will not stand by and have my money totally devaluate itself. For that reason, I am trying to seek employment in Japan. If everything goes according to my plan, I should be able to become a full time freelancer in a few years.

If you really must know, the money will a) cover a flight to Japan and b) will cover apartment fees, key fees, etc. If there is a c option, it will be either saving or reinvesting  into some stocks that I have had my eye one since December. I will try to make the most of the situation, however there will definately be some unavoidable costs that I have to factor in. So that is my plan in a nutshell. I could have replied "none of your business", but since everyone are kind of curious as to what I would do with the extra money I would have to reply using the words of L.L. Cool J: "Just smile and accept the money".

As the first official CB tangent for the new decade, I have been approached to write some food comparison articles for a international magazine called Healthy Beginnings. No, I do not know how to cook per se, I just know a lot about different cusine from around the Pacific Rim. If you want to check out their magazine the  link is http://www.hbmag.com/. Maybe you can find some food that is cheap to make that is considered healthy. I would rant about how food is too processed, but I'll save that content for my actual articles should  I get published.

Response: Overcoming Fear

There are many things that happen in life that we have a variance of control over and then there are these situations in which we have little to no control over. I know it is a tough cruel world out there and there many people becoming homeless due to this ailing economy.

But people who want a better life in the recession will ultimately have to make sacrifices to achieve it. This is a personal response to a guy that just got done asking me to help him get hired at Sam's Club. I have a few things I have to get off my chest.

1. This guy got a job offer in Japan in the engineering sector and was given a severance check of $10,000 when he left the site. His job supposedly paid 40K annually. I know that is low on engineering standards, but he was originally meant to do some other position. He did not save his cash. Right now, I have more disposable cash than he does.

2. This individual is closed minded towards working in other fields and only tries to take on any job only when it is necessary. Such as when his account hits zero.

3. He had the nerve to tell my room mate that "I was going to fail", when I got over there (meaning Japan) and "hit a glass ceiling".

4. He also said that "I was going to blow through my cash" after I just saved 12K last year.

5. Also he told me I should not invest in the stock market because it is risky even though I made a few grand out of doing so and continue to make money.

I just want to say a few things here. First off, this is the same guy that graduated with a engineering degree in honors. To him he values is success on degrees and accomplishments. I have gotten a vocation degree, an Associates Degree, and a double major B.A. I know it is not the same as a Bachelor's of Science and I do not care. I have more realistic things to worry about like growing my money more by next year. When you go to college for a prolonged period of time and you come from rock bottom like me, you will amass huge amounts of debt as you go on to the M.A. , M.S., PhD. etc. Unless you have a full ride with a healthy stipend that allows you to put away at least half of that per month, (I am serious when I say half because stipends tend to only be partial and full rides tend to only cover living expenses) I would not suggest going beyond a 4 year degree if you so choose to do college unless you have saved up to cover the later years in full. (Meaning you would have to go to school and work which your earnings go towards being a better employee.) That is the stark reality of it.

I do not want to hear financial advise from people that cannot live a frugal lifestyle. They are just living their perceived image of what it means to be "rich". My definition of rich is someone who has a) amassed a healthy amount of savings, and b) someone who is Stanley and Danko's classic definition of what a PAW is. PAW means Prodigious Accumulators of Wealth. This acronym can be further defined here.

Also it is considered rude to criticize someone who has already lived in that culture. I have lived in Okinawa prior to trying to apply for English teaching position jobs. I have received job offers while I was there and turned them down for educational reasons. I also have multiple phone conference interviews I have to make to the schools that are interested in me and I have only started getting my name out there.

Another assumption is that I will suddenly forget how hard it was to earn that money after a year of sacrifice and living below my means is to me insulting. I am in no way a UAW. I live within my means. For sake of debate over the Danko and Stanley terminology, I am a AAW for now because I am off to a late start due to college. I now have enough money to totally exclude myself from the workforce and just focus on job hunting, but I would not be earning continual income from multiple sources; just one secondary source which is my private online vendor IDs. But even if I did quit my job to become an English teacher, my money does not stop. And I will certainly not be eating out everyday like this critic.

If one thinks the laws of frugality cannot be applied in another culture then that is being financially closed minded. This is a dangerous trait to have overall. Being financially closed mined could leave to many problems in life such as rejecting different jobs and closing yourself off from avenues of success from the wage slave system.

Whenever you reject something out of fear, it is a lose-lose situation. There are no winners in fear. Fear has to be overcome in order to achieve real success with anything. I am being blunt here when I address this person. He is afraid of living with his dad even though he can get him jobs and help him get on his feet. If you have a way to get money that does not involve totally leaching off of someone, then use it. Do not be a victim of economic outpatient care. You will not become frugal easily. It will instead cripple you, instill fear in you. To get the things you want out of life we have to conquer our fears. If you need a moral crutch such as religion, other people, a book or an advisor, then so be it. Do whatever it takes to overcome it. Fear is detrimental to success. Be fearless.

There are prepaid phones in Japan, there are studio apartments in Japan, there are even those magical places called second hand stores and grocery stores in Japan. In fact, you can haggle for fruits and vegetables there! For electronics however, all the real "deals" are here in America. I will not and refuse to "blow through" my cash like it is toilet paper. I will only become richer in 2010. Believe that. I know people and I have my networks and will only continue to network more. I will start off with one English paid job and turn it into multiple. I will be able to make a well-timed exit from the rat race and will be able to set my own hours. (Meaning 50+/week since I am a workaholic) I will not be living above my means there, rest assured.I know that there is a high level of discrimination there. I went through my fair share of it, but if I have problems getting a good rental agreement, I will just find someone who will accommodate me. I lived there for one year. Japan is not perfect and America has its own fair share of problems. Overcoming fear goes hand and hand with adapting to various situations. Businesses go out every day because of the inherent ability to adapt to danger. Ever heard of adapt or die? It was a saying that decribed adjusting to obstacles thrown at you. It mainly applies to businesses, but I think the philosophy should also be adopted on a personal level.

On that note, for the "what-ifers" out there that would say that I could fail, yes I "could fail" at my job, but my life does not revolve around a single job. I would just get another or teach privately at that point and if I could not make ends meet that way, Taiwan which has a super low cost of living is just next door. In other words, I am financially getting to the point where I am becoming unstoppable as far as achieving goals is concerned. I do not fear failing. I do not fear momentary setbacks. I will find work in Japan and I will make it work.

2010 New Year's Resolution

Glad to be back in the blogosphere again with another blurb for another New Year. Last year I made two resolutions: I wanted to reach over 100 books read and I wanted to save $10,000. Well I did both of these goals. I have to say it was actually tough at first to sit down and read 8-9 books per month, but then I adjusted to it and started cut through books quickly. Especially language and e-books.

For 2010, I want to try to do something different: I will try to learn 5 different languages and obtain basic proficiency in them. Three I have decided on are Russian, Fu'shah Arabic, and Uchinachuu. For those of you that do not know what Uchinachuu is it is the language of the Okinawan people. It relates to Japanese and is part of the Japonic Language Family. I also want to hit low advance proficiency in Japanese itself. In 2010 I will attempt the N2 unless I do not feel I am ready. Since I will try to move to Japan and moving and settling in costs money I will not set a quota on money I have to save, but rather have "getting over there" as the "goal" with a "job". To be more concise, I wish to be able to give myself a detailed introduction in each of the languages.

I just want to prove that you really do not need a school to pick up a foreign language. I might enroll for intensive Japanese training, but not so much in the other languages. I will also be going at it more in Chinese. I am actually heading toward low intermediate-intermediate but I need more conversation partners.

Facebook Response: Japanese Kanji Are Difficult to Memorize

This is a response to a friend I have on Facebook. I am just going to summarize the statement. He basically said at one point he memorized 600+ Kanji and have forgotten them. There are some key points I would like to address: this guy is bilingual like me except his Japanese is better than mine. I have a deep understanding, but by far he is conversationally fluent except for some instances with economic or medical terminology. A little background on him: his schedule is intense at times with working in the IT field. It is also at graves too. Sometimes he works 12-16 hours.

I think the best thing to do with that schedule is study during the breaks. I use short books like Read Real Japanese during my 15s. We have extended holiday hours so my study time has also kind of short. Since he has a since of fluidity already, I would basically go with half a Kanji lesson to 1 a day. Since 250 Essential Kanji volumes 1-2 are heavy books to lug around, I would probably use something a little more portable, but definitely get the writing time in. You can also use the website www.kanji-a-day.com which has the Kanji broken up into various levels for the JLPT. Probably the perfect books would be Kanji drill series. （漢字ドリル) Since I have other things for the JLPT to study for (i.e. grammar and listening) I use the 1000plus Kanji books 1 and 2.

I know how difficult it is to memorize different Kanji. In fact I try not to. What I do instead is either read them in context, memorize radicals, or try to consistently write out example sentences. I also try to real as much natural Japanese as possible so I do not come off as sounding too text bookish. If any one else has anything they wish to leave a comment providing additional information, please feel free to do so.

B-Day

I just wanted to post something of interest to the people following this for financial reasons, I am getting questions on where I am as far as my 10 grand goal goes. Well I have almost reached it in my account. It would more than likely be 30 grand if it was a college level job or my own business, but I am not going to play what if games. In case if anyone is wondering, I just turned 26. I might not have a lot of money compared to someone who is using my same methods with a higher net income, but it really only counts when you invest properly. Well I started to invest in WMT (as some of you might know) starting at $41 now I have around 40 shares at $52 dollars. While the return on that is modest, it is well is fairly moderate 2K so contributing that I am around the 11-12K range. Meaning I exceeded my goal! Plus I invested in gold on top of that.

I did not use the paychecks as a method of getting by. I broke the chain enslaving me to my job and honestly I could change professions anytime I want so as long as I have the know how and connections. Which brings me to my next point. I do not plan on staying in Reno forever so the food reviews will disappear once I go back to Japan. That's right! I am going to try to go back to Japan. I want to take learning foreign languages to a higher level. But that does not mean I cannot become fluent in Japanese by staying in the United States. I choose not to for personal reasons. For those of you outside of Reno, this place is not really that diverse in culture. The only thing this place has going for it is factories and retail gigs. Yup, that's it! Unless you know someone, no one goes anywhere in this town on their own merit unless they own a business. Since I will be moving to another country, I will probably start talking about stuff on a more international level and maybe start getting more involved with foreign exchange trading.

Why Add Food to Finance and Frugality?

This topic for me is a little bit interesting for me to write about. When some of my friends visit the site, they are like "Why do you add food"? Well I add "food" for many reasons. Like I have mentioned before I like studying languages and one of the cheapest ways to practice speaking a language is to eat at international cuisine places. Today I ate at a Chinese food place (which I already reviewed) to practice my Chinese (which is rusty). However since this is a bit of a tangent, I will say I mainly like going to places that specialize in international cuisine for the people. At the end of the day, I will probably forget the taste I just acquired, but the service and atmosphere is something I will remember. Another thing I like doing is try to eat out for cheap.

Why spend $12 for Ma Pang Tofu when you really do not have to? Sure it will not taste high class, but it will still taste good if you read the food reviews and decide for yourself. I mainly do the food reviews so I can point out places in Reno which are cheap to eat at with good service and to mingle with people. A lot of the ideas I got from learning about frugality I learned partially from my stay in Okinawa, Japan and from my final year in college. When I lived in Japan, I woke up one day to find that I had a $700 phone bill from calling home. I was irate that I let my bills pile up. I was borrowing money from my teachers and paying them back from the money I was getting (meaning less money for the next month to live on). I had a bad habit of buying textbooks. And when I say bad, there would be days where I chose the highly detailed textbook over food. Literally. When I came back to America, I saved a little money, but that was all put towards paying tuition for my final year. Seriously, I was in financial straits.

Afterwards I started to get influenced by my room mate. He was saving all this money from doing content writing online. Sure some of his habits were out there, but he knew how to pinch a penny. I got a job with the city of Reno working for the Recreation Department and I was making terrible money due to the fact I could only work part time. But seeing my roommate living on half of what I make (which was $850/month!) I got to thinking about how I was going to save a bunch of money. When I moved I had the same job, but more bills, yet I managed to figure out a way to save $300/month. I basically split the rent of the house 4 ways and paid utilities which took most of the money. I had changed, I was not spending money like it was water. I became more cautious, less careless. To me it was not about how much I could make because I was beyond that. I was about how much I could save. When I finally moved on to Sam's club I was mainly focused with budgeting.

Now how does all this relate to food? When I was struggling there was one luxury I was determined not to live without ever again. That was food. It is food that keeps us going and trying a different country's food or native cuisine was one of the things that motivated me to save more. I wanted to be able to buy food at any given point without stress. So what did I do? I budgeted the money and cut the fat from my life. (i.e. video games, wastefulness, and textbooks) And this is when I came out with the golden frugality rule. Pick one luxury and budget accordingly. My need for language books will never be satisfied. I realize that. However, I will restrict my self to where I pick that as a luxury for that month and eat out less. So when I called my blog, Food, Finance, Frugality I meant "food" is 9 times out of 10, my luxury in life and even though I am frugal, I will not bend on eating out because it indirectly helps me in my other goals which is meeting people and communication. There are things in life that should be enjoyed, so if you enjoy food, by all means eat good food. If you enjoy video games, budget for video games. If you enjoy other things budget for it. You will be psychologically more well rounded.

Update On Studies Or How to Learn a Language on a Shoestring Budget

Hello everyone.

Long time no post. I have a lot of new followers coming in from Blogged and I would like to extend a warm welcome out to them. I have been really studying Japanese hard so I can pass the JLPT test. From the preparation, I will definitely pass when I go to San Francisco on December 6th. There really is not much I really wish to go over other than methods to studying a subject or booking a flight with the least amount of money possible.

How to Study a Language on a Shoestring Budget

For those of you new to this blog I go over effective ways to stretch the devalued dollar and ways to valuate you own worth. And what better way to to pick up linguistic skills than through a show string budget? There is low start up costs, you can make connections with people from other countries and more importantly, you can enrich yourself with another culture.

To be to study a language with low start up cost, I would first try sift through books with good teaching pedagogy or method. Since I am familiar with the Japanese language, I am going to use this language as a model. When I started learning the language I spent years using ineffective books for self study and only after I cam back from Okinawa did I realize this. Do not get me wrong, I can communicate just fine, but I felt I would have been that much better if I had access to the most effective materials possible. Fortunately, information technology in languages has improved drastically since I have started to study Japanese. One such method is to study for free using http://www.livemocha.com/. This site allows you to access your language skills and you can go through and find which class suits your level, or better yet, do language exchange from a native speaker for free! I recommend this method over going to a chat rooms mainly because people just tend to goof off in chat rooms and they are just their to either find dates, talk, or hook up with other chatters. Although if you are trying to find a girl/boy friend in the language you are studying that is a good way to do so (assuming you are in that country or she/he is near you).

If you are looking for a way to study a language that is at the rate your willing to pay within your budget guide lines, then you might want to try http://www.japonin.com/ which is an online Japanese language school. You can even take classes by the lesson using lesson tickets! Using lesson tickets could aide you in maintaining your fixed allocated budget that I talked about in the Frugality 101 special. (This method of proposed learning is actually coined the "edupunk" movement. The "edupunk" movement is a self taught or online taught method where everything that involved learning is done through the Internet. It is counter culture against the traditional scholastic environment because you can avoid classes that you do not need and only study the ones you are interested in.) A more pricier way to learn a language through the computer is Rosetta Stone which I do not recommend towards an Asian language mainly because the writing is intense and a necessity towards learning Chinese and Japanese characters. For Romance and Germanic languages however, Rosetta Stone would be good because the character set in English shares the same set those language families, save a few extra intonation marks.

If classes are not for you, there is the old school auto-deictic method, which involves simply buying books and studying out of them. For Japanese, I have a list that I cycle through. Which is Japanese for Everyone, 250 Essential Kanji books 1 and 2, Basic Kanji 250 books 1-4, and Shin Nihongo no Chuukyuu (basically it is, true Japanese of Intermediate Level) just to name a few. For learners of Japanese, a good page to order materials whether it be for the JLPT or just for learning is http://www.thejapanshop.com/ You can also see rating from people who are really serious about learning the language instead of buying something from vote bots' opinions. Another good site is http://www.j-list.com/. They are a little more expensive than Japanshop, but they have different materials sold there along with Mangas and DVDs. They should also have a kids mirror site as well for minors to browse. There is also the mainstream shops as well, but one that is a bit off the beaten path is http://www.abebooks.com/, which has some rare or hard to get books. Again, I am just using the information I have gathered from studying Japanese to make this article. For other languages, I would say the best thing to do is pick the country that supports the language you are studying and find an intensive language school. Then try to find their language materials used in the classes and order some of them if they have decent reviews. Search engines are your friend in this approach. That is how I found out about the sites I frequent above. If you are in luck and now someone who has studied abroad, try asking them for their old text books' titles or maybe negotiate a price for the ones they no longer use.

How to Plan a Trip on a Shoestring

1. Plan in ADVANCE!- The more you procrastinate, the higher your itinerary will be.

2. SET a budget- Try to set a dollar amount based off of how much you have saved. If you plan on trying to go away somewhere for a couple of weeks, obviously you need to do some cut backs in your household to compensate for your idleness.

3. Do not go to a hotel based on star ratings- I have been in 3 star hotels and 5 star hotels. Honestly the more you spend on having everything in your room, the more money you will lose in the long run. Read the reviews of the hotel you are trying to reserve at. There is no need to reserve at the Taj Mahal for a week if there is no real plans going down for that reservation. (i.e. Sight seeing) If you are going to be out and about the whole trip getting a 5 star is an utter waste of money. The way I see it is while you are entitled to treat yourself, you also need to treat your money well. Your account will feel it later.

4. Take the least amount of stuff possible- Self explanatory. Do not take 5 bags on an airplane that dings you $70 per bag. That is just stupid. If you need certain things, then take them. If you have to pay for one bag, so be it. Just do not go buck wild and take the kitchen sink.

5. If you have connections use them- If you know someone who can board you up or are part of an organization that will give you an automatic discount, then use what you were given. It is called synergy. People are more productive if they work together with the same goals in mind. Just make sure the person you are going with can handle their fair share of the travel expenses.

This sums up my writing itch. Sorry folks, back to writing hiatus! I need to pass my test.

One Year Anniversary at Sam's Club

Hello there. Chuckie here with another blog jam packed with pure awesomeness. It has been a cracy year for me down at Sam's Club and I have to say, I am glad I have stuck it out this long after all. Perhaps my earlier entries were a bit pessimistic, but rest assured, I will continue to work there until I reach my goal I set out to reach in New Year's.

So far I have read 65 books and saved up $6,ooo for my re-entry into Japan. I will also take the JPLT level 3 so I can up my own personal stock and credentials. I could take the level 2, but I need more time to study for that one. While level 3, I can take it and pass it without studying. But I will study so I can refresh some of the Japanese that I do not normally use. I am in no way trying to slack off with the test, they are expensive to take because I have to go to either Los Angelos or San Francisco in order to take the test and I do not want to go over there in vain. When I do take the level 2 next year, I will have more time in order to catch up what I know and be able to pass it with no problem. So that is my goal-- to eventually go back to Japan in 2010.

There is also the need to address the issue of having one year at Sam's Club. Since they basically changed the whole structure of the pay scale, all I will get is a marginal raise. Since there might be employees reading this blog, I cannot go into further detail about it. However, I can say that my vacation and personal time has kicked in and I will use every bit of it to better my situation. I am a graduate from UNR and for the past 2 years, I have been working jobs with little chance of vertical movement. When I return to Japan, I will proabably work for someone else for a little while and then build up a marketing list and become self employed.

I have offically started back up my business on E*bay. My ID is marketmediaplus and I will sell certian items on demand. Right now I am just trying to sell all my books and video games so I can move with little problems. For the most part I have been celebrating my raise, so I have been eating out a lot, but that will stop. The glamour is done; my year is in; time to continue amassing wealth.

New Years Resolutions

As we wind down towards New Years we have a purpose to fulfill every year and that is the resolution. It might be a Christian concept or whatnot, but I think it is a good thing to try to accomplish. I have actually done some, but I never really done all of the list.

I think I will try to make a more theasible list as opposed to some of the things I have done previously.

1. Go to Japan by the end of 2009.
2. Read 100 books.
3. Get more traffic to this site.
4. Try to save over 60% of my capital and reinvest it in gold, silver, currencies, trade, WMT, and skills.
5. Help more people succeed in whatever they do.
6. Vastly improve myself in classical literature and economics.
7. Create multiple streams of income (well more than I have now)

Japanese Correspondance Going Well

I will keep this short since I have to do a morning shift at Sam's Club and they are going to kick me out of Burger king soon. One of my friends went to Japan for work. Right now he is working for a small firm that manages http://yahoo.co.jp/ domain. I think he does a lot of coding there and periodically does work for other websites. Believe me, he probably would make a website from scratch if he got he wanted to do what i am doing.

Anyways, he actually has been getting me contacts at English conversation school. In fact, at the rate he is going, I might find work over there in no time. He used to be my roomate but was forced to leave my house due to his father pressuring him. While he is weak willed in some aspects, he is certainly strong in other areas. (Like landing high paying jobs.) I think I stand a chance at going to Japan between working at Sam's Club and him searching for me. I will try to make the next blog longer for the sake of unique content. Good night everyone.

The First Step toward 1,000 miles

Greeting everyone. Welcome to Chuckiesblurbs.

I am your host Chuckie. =) In case your wondering where the reference in the title comes from, it comes from a Chinese proverb: "To begin journey of a thousand miles, one has to start with a single step".

So this blog will basically give you insight to my thought processes and my opinions. Kind of like Myspace except I am being paid to shoot the breeze at 3:48am while I binge on two to three cans of Monster.

Ok so a little about me. I have been in Reno since 2000 and have wasted away here for about 8 years now. Yeah, I know you think I would be happy with all the mini malls. Well that's the thing; I do not gamble at casinos. meaning that every single activity in Reno that there is to do has automatically been discarded for more hours on the net. I swear, between Monster and the Internet I have an addiction. Maybe I should attend the Internet Monster Drinkingaholics Anonymous meeting? Maybe I will get some other energy drink that tastes like crap like Rehab.

On to point #2: I have a tendancy to say whats on my mind at the moment and I will not censor it or go back and delete it. I will have to mind my Ps and Qs for this is definately for unique content and my slice of the pie. In other words, I will eventually be using those fandangled words that will cause mass panic and cause the community to shut down their information super airway and go into bailing out spree for other bloggers...or not. (Obviously, I like my politics and finance)

To not bore you, I will be writing reviews about different products, companies and employment oppertunities. Hey, everyone needs a little coin in these bleak times. Better yet, a forged passport, 20 ounces of gold, and perhaps a faux French accent might serve you even better. Right now I work at Sam's ClubTM, where our "Members" come first..or whatever propaganada that I should believe. I should say that I have been given a well of knowledge to tap into. Meaning most of the reviews will probably be from their affliates.

Oh wait, you want to know about "me". I graduated from University of Nevada, Reno with a B.A. in International Affairs and History. I went to Japan to study Japanese. (Don't worry, I will never post a blog in Japanese here. I do those on this site) If you do know enough Japanese, then I suggest visiting the site I mentioned and make use of it and make a friend, girlfriend, whatever. I guess I could set up a Japanese one in the future, but remember that I work for Wal-Mart and am using this blog to help raise my income.

If you know any affliates that I could use with blogger e-mail me at this addy. Now that I am done with my elevator pitch, from here on out, I will not post another Myspace blog, Facebook blog or any other thing associated with "free". If I want to do something for free and feel good, I would volunteer my time to something really philantric like helping elderly people use the internet.