The origins of Captain Surly Pants (Finale)

I felt more than a little dejected after the interview. To make things worse, I had forgotten to even come up with a plan B in case everything fell through. By now it was too late to apply to grad school and I didn't want to try and get a fancy schmancy job before my rejection was confirmed. So what did I do? I resorted to heavy drinking!

What you have to understand is that my interview was at the end of February and I didn't get my notice until early or mid April (I don't remember the exact time). That's a lot of time to wait for a rejection letter, so I really needed to take my mind off of it somehow. At that point I started drinking way too much: Every Wednesday afternoon before class (and sometimes after), almost every Thursday night after class, the weekends (of course!) and probably a few times on Mondays/Tuesdays as well. My beer belly steadily grew as my bank account dwindled and I think I was noticeably becoming a wreck in front of everybody I knew. Strangely enough, this last semester was the only time I got a 4.0 GPA, so my advice to all of you is to drink all you want because there will be absolutely no consequences!

Eventually the consulate in Denver sent out an email. I think I was freaking out when I opened it, only to be horribly disappointed when all it said was "we're sending out the results today". I wish they hadn't even told me that because the next few days I was completely distracted from school and I developed a psychosis where I would check the mailbox every 10 minutes, even if the mail had already come for that day.

I think the results came about 3 days after the email (which was extremely fortunate for my mental health). Since I was expecting the worst, I was greatly surprised to see that they had sent me a large package instead of a small letter. Even I wasn't pessimistic enough to think it was the world's longest rejection letter! I opened it and sure enough I was somehow accepted into the JET program for 2006.

This happy occasion lasted for about 2 whole minutes until I called my parents. As soon as I shared the news with them my mom started bawling uncontrollably over the phone. At one point she even said "I was secretly wishing that you wouldn't be accepted!". Thanks mom!
That pretty much made me feel shitty about itthe whole ordeal for the next few days. As a result, everybody I told seemed to be more excited than I was, but I eventually came around as well.

I had to wait about another month for my placement after being accepted. This wait was considerably less nerve wracking than the others. The only rough part about this time period was when I went in to get to obligatory physical, but I digress. I was told I would be going to Fujiyoshida in early May. In the time since then I finished up college, searched for a summer job (and failed) and blogging. The rest, as they say, is history.