First of all I want to thank YOU all for your encouraging and helpful comments!!
I never thought so many people would react to it as they feel the same as me!!! It seems to be quite a common problem of "our" generation (hope most of you don't kill me now: 30yrs old hag don't throw us all in one pot!! Ahem~)
I was really touched by reading all of your comments. Really, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

This means a lot to me!!
I hope I can give just a little bit of that back to you, but how?
Also, I'm sorry that the next Japan travel entry has to wait a bit due to my ranting. It's on its way, I promise!!

So, like I mentioned in my previous entry I came up with at least "something" I could do.
It's not like I found THE solution. Not at all. However, "Barbara Sher" suggests that you get active in order to move forward. It's the only way to eventually find what makes you truly happy, the only way to find your wishes!

The strange thing is that this is not something that will make you all go WOW! AWESOME IDEA! Never thought you'd come up with something like that!
Actually the contrary might be the case, I'm pretty sure.
When I created my "paradise fantasy job scenario" I wasn't that serious .. I couldn't as I didn't know exactly what I wanted, but what I created looked kind of like this (no drawings as I can't draw ;o; ...):

• don't work full-time but more like I do now (4 day / week)


• earn around 2200$+ after taxes (impossible in Germany, I guess - taxes will eat up everything! but FANTASY SCENARIO!!!)


• work in a wide room with white walls, huge windows so that there's a lot of daylight (not much artificial light)


• no smoking allowed inside!


• working with 2 coworker whose position is not above or below me (we're equal)


• working on a computer writing articles or creating a journal about a topic that we're all interested in / working on a magazine


• working location could be anywhere as long as it's not a big city (which country doesn't really matter that much)


• work office shouldn't be very far away from where I live (no long commuting hours for me!)

I think you get the idea. Probably you find that quite ridiculous, but that's all I could come up with. I have no clue if that's my paradise scenario at all, but we weren't supposed to think about it much longer.

The next step is that for only ONE hour you pretend that it's decided that you'll aim for this job. You don't have any other options. You HAVE to do this now. So for one hour you pretend it's really true and you go working towards this goal.

So in my case I started thinking what could get me there.
It's too early to start looking for any coworkers XD .... I don't really wanna work for a big magazine or anything right now. I've never even thought about journalism or anything like that. I don't like writing formally.
Journal/blog style is just fine! Actually I'm totally into it ever since I started blogging 6 years ago!
So, I thought let's just look for blogging and how to earn money with that for that one hour.
I've never ever thought SERIOUSLY about this at all yet. NEVER! I found out a lot of interesting things and after the hour was over, I couldn't stop and continued researching.
Even after I went to bed my mind was full of this and I just couldn't think about anything else anymore.

It's completely stupid and ridiculous ... maybe, but we should listen to our instincts. When you feel you want to try something, then it probably is best to just do it, right?
It doesn't matter how far I'll get with it, but this is the first step into the right direction, I think. At least it's a first step towards a change.


What??? You wanna blog for money or what??!!
Mmmh, yeah kind of...
I still have a full-time job and almost 1 year left befoe I go back home and then I'll be without any income for a while (probably).
I'm well aware of the chances, but if I could only make a bit of a pocket money to support myself a bit when I'm back in Germany and get to know a few people through that, new doors might open for me, right??


It won't be easy, though.
As much as I'm into it and as much as I've already planned out in my mind, there are TWO things that say loud: NO NO NO!!!

#1: I has no time!
I know that everybody has 24h. I wonder how some people are able to get done so much while I (and many others) can't. It's strange.
An interesting fact that seems to be true for a lot of people is that the more free time you have, the less you actually get done! If your free time is limited, you'll do more! I experienced that myself.
Also, "Barbara Sher" writes about this phenomenon, too.
I wonder why it is like that, though!?!
I want to do my workouts several times a week, study Japanese, work on my blog, randomly browse the internet, learn more about fitness and healthy food, plan out my future, watch things on my laptop etc.
In addition to all the things that I don't want to do, but have to (shopping, cleaning, housework in general etc.) there's just no way I can handle all of this!

#2: Didn't you say you wanted to cut your internet time down??!!!!
Yepp. One reason was that I wanted to have more time to myself where I can focus on my inner voice and figure out what I want to do. Another reason is simply that I turned into a zombie (see previous entry). (I need a zombie graphic! XD)


So why the hell would you want to start (another) blog then
I have no idea. It's just this feeling inside of me! And what do I have to lose? A bit of my lifetime, a few more gray hairs?!
I will definitely gain something from it. If it isn't money, then at least some valuable experience (web design, blogging, networking, ???!!!! etc.)
Plus, I always wanted to grab everything from Livejournal and put it somewhere where I have more freedom and power over design, plugins etc.
I'm a graphic / layout whore anyways XD


Okay, so you want to start a blog. Now, what?
Yeah. After researching about this topic for quite some time, I feel I at least know how to get started.


Step 1: What will your blog be all about?

Well, it should be something you're interested in and love writing about and it should all be one big topic and not completely random (very difficult for me as I have so many interests!!! :/ ...) => keyword: niche!
You also should know quite a bit about the topic already or be willing to read and learn about it.
The only thing the would currently work for me is: Japan
I think that was to be expected.

"Japan" can mean a lot of things, though.
I'm not sure how much I should reduce it to a specific topic.
Only travelling in Japan? Food, anime, manga, jdrama, doujinshi. Everything Japan?!
My livejournal has been about Japan from the start. I started out with mainly reviews and graphics about anime/manga, later jdramas, then jfood (mainly bento) and green tea, a little bit of Japanese studies and finally I moved to Japan and then it was about my life in Japan.

It will be very hard to think about the details. I'm happy if you can give me any advice or suggestions here.
Of course, it's also a little bit difficult as I've decided to leave Japan, but not yet, so let's not think about that yet.


Step 2: I need to decide on a domain name!

This one is the toughest. Before I haven't decided on this one, I can't move on. I'll need your help on that and probably will have a poll in one of my next entries.
The first question is if I should go with "chochajin" or not. It's been my unique username everywhere anyways and "chochajin" is just me. (apart from that stupid biatch who stole it for flickr! ) People who already "know" me will recognize me again.
I use this name in several forums and social networks. My photobucket accounts which host pretty much all of my Japan photos run on this name, too.
It would be difficult to "hide" the fact that I'm chochajin anyways, if you get what I mean.
I'm just a little bit worried about the downloads I offered MANY years ago (probably all expired by now). They're not public and I wouldn't mind deleting those posts, but I've also posted them in various communities on LJ.

So that's one reason why I wouldn't want to go with "chochajin".

As I've decided that my blog will be about Japan, it would also make sense to go with a domain name that has tells people right away what my blog is about.
My real or nickname + Japan is very boring, if you ask me! I'm more for creativity and unique names!!!
What do you think?


Step 3: Spending money (domain, host, design)

Once I have a domain name (which will cost something around 6-10$/year), I'll also need a host (~ 4$/months). This is not soooo expensive if you can make a little bit of pocket money with your blog. If you don't, then you just stop using those and don't have to pay anymore. It's not something lifelong anyways.
Design is the biggest issue. I'm a design whore and I love to play around with designs, plugins and graphics until I drop dead into my bed!!! You don't wanna know how much time I spent on my LJ layout, but it was soooo much fun and I learned a lot from it!
It also feels so much better if you create your own design!
I probably go with Wordpress.org software as my blogging platform and I have no idea yet how this will all work out, so I probably start with a template and see how much I can do on my own to customize.
If I fail I still can think about buying a design. There are some cheaper onces for 10-20$. Professionals take 1000$+++++++ DEFINITELY NO!!!!
Also, again I hope to learn more about web design through this.
If you have any advice, just let me know.


Step 4: Create content

Well, that's another big issue, isn't it? I do have content!!! Way over 500 entries of content here on Livejournal. I suppose that half of it is useless for my new blog, but the rest isn't.
Once I decided on what exactly I want to write about in my blog, I have to also decide if I'll transfer some of my posts from Livejournal "as is" to my new blog or start from zero, using old photos, but writing new posts.
Any advice here?


Step 5: Internship

What the hell are you talking about?
It's soooo funny!!! It's like my destiny is screaming out to me and tells me: GRAB THIS CHANCE YOU STUPID BIATCH I CAN'T MAKE IT MORE OBVIOUS FOR YA!!!!

Well, only two days after I decided that I'm trying out "problogging" (or whatever you wanna call it), the famous "Tofugu" website stated that they're looking for an intern for the summer time.
Unpaid, but you would learn a lot about successfully blogging for money!!! I was like HOMG!!!!! Need to take that chance???!!!!!
I think I'll apply. I mean, it's not like I stand a chance anyways, but you need to take chances when they jump into your face like that, right??!!!
What do you think?


Step 6: WTF BIATCH! So you want our money????!!!!!

Ah, no!!! *lol*
I'm not a fan of people who had great websites/blogs and then suddenly go "premium membership" or whatever, offering good content only to those readers who are willing to pay or stuff like that.
I'd never do that as I hate it myself. For starters I'll try to make money with a bit of advertisement and other simple stuff. My readers wouldn't have to pay anything! That would be stupid anyways, I doubt what I write is worth any money *lol*
If people are interested I could try writing an ebook (which seems to be quite popular among bloggers) - e.g. a travel guide for Japan with personal insider tips or whatever and sell it very cheap to readers who are interested.
And if I don't make any money, who cares?! Maybe I'll meet a lot of interesting people and other bloggers with the same interests. That's worth a lot, too!!!
Just like I met all of you guys via Livejournal! That's worth more than money anyways!


So, that's pretty much it.
What do you think? I'm open for hard criticism, so go all out!! That's what I appreciate the most.

P.S.: According to Barbara Sher I might be a "scanner". People who are interested in many different things often can't decide on ONE job, one ONE thing they like doing. They end up trying many different things, but never staying with one.
They like reading about something new they're interested in and once they feel they know enough / have read enough, they move on to the next one. This is not entirely true for me, but true enough.
Some of those "scanner" people end up being journalists or something like that. I'm still in the middle of reading that chapter in the book actually, but I thought it might be interested to some of you out there, too, as you are possibly "scanners" as well?
"Scanners" also have a hard time nowadays, because "experts" is what companies want, not people who know a little bit about quite a few topics.