About Jason - My Life as It Stands Now

Just an update

I am standing at a crossroads in my life.

In one month, I will have finally finished my undergrad, at 55 years old, with 5 kids, 2 marriages (the current one the only one that counted), and both parents still alive and over 80 years old. My three oldest boys are men in their own right, with families and lives of their own. I have one daughter, a precocious 11-year-old with a knack for drawing and a quick wit. We bond over death metal and our love of anything Apple.

My youngest is 4, and we found out he is on the spectrum last year. He goes to therapy 4 times a week and had his second appointment with a developmental pediatrician to gauge his level of neurodivergence. We found out he also has ADHD. My wife and I celebrated 12 years together on October 18th, just 4 days before my birthday.

I have one granddaughter in America, and although I rarely see her, I hope she knows just how much I love her.

I live in the Philippines and have been for the past 12 years. I don’t speak the language, because I am an English writer and tend to lean more towards my own language, but the honest truth is my wife just doesn’t have the patience to teach me, even though she is a teacher herself.

As I said, I graduate in a month, but I won’t be attending graduation because it’s in the States and I cannot afford that trip right now. I will attend a virtual graduation at Southern New Hampshire University, where I will achieve Summa Cum Laude and leave a member of Alpha Sigma Lambda. I somehow maintained a 4.0 GPA. I guess that college and I are a match made in heaven because I have always done well and enjoyed myself in the process.

I love learning. I don’t want to leave college, because I still feel like I have more to do and to prove, so if I can get a few grants or scholarships, I will start my MFA next year. If not an MFA, at least an ME. When I started college, I knew I always wanted a graduate degree, and I still feel like it is worthwhile even if I am 55. Learning is a lifetime thing, and if I can afford it, I plan to keep getting degrees as long as I draw breath.

But my focus next year is to get my wife, Flora, started in college. She is 37 and was never able to go when she was young, so we plan to focus on getting her into college and on her way to an undergrad. Despite not having a degree, she teaches English online to Japanese students, such is her mastery of the English language.

After I graduate, I am going to China to teach English. I found a place a little more progressive, because I do have tattoos, and I didn’t want to work for a company that views people with ink as less-than. My left arm is sleeved with a hand tattoo, and I have a semicolon on my right wrist.

I know beggars shouldn’t be choosers but, I found a place that looks at education, experience, drive, work ethic, and motivation more than they worry if somehow a tattoo will pollute the minds of the university students in their charge.

I am a beast of a man – 6 feet tall and 280 pounds. I look like a giant next to my diminutive wife, and with my bald head, beard, tattoos, and serious demeanor, I make for an imposing figure. The opposite is true of me though – I am gentle, kind, altruistic, soft-hearted, and often scared of my own shadow. I have no shame when I say my wife wears the pants and is in charge, I don’t want her job. I prefer to be the “nice” parent.

My past is littered with issues, but I will rarely write of them here anymore. I have written at length in other places, and I wanted this newsletter to be a positive look at what happens to me as I navigate the next 10 years of my life – possibly the last 10 years.

So much of my life I regret, and I want to look to the future with a positive mindset and approach each challenge head-on. I have plans to expand my writing career, maybe even write a book, so this is an exciting time for me.

I wanted to create a place where I could write about the nature of life and the things I am doing with mine to make this world a better place.

Join me, won’t you?