Ah, there the posts are. Looks like their two primary NNTP servers are 
having a problem of some sort. Let's see if I can clean up some of the 
mess...

Anyway, upon yet further reflection, I felt like I should clarify part of my 
earlier comment, since it sounded rather harsh about eikaiwa. There is 
nothing morally wrong with being an eikaiwa teacher, and I certainly hope 
that the people who dedicate their life to that work do try to be good at 
it. However, I should clarify that I have never met a "lifer" in that field 
who was both good at eikaiwa and computer literate enough to use the 
newsgroups. Perhaps you disagree, but I think it requires a "special" sort 
of person to carry on basic conversations with an unending stream of 
beginning students for years on end.

Not really trying to use the "some of my best friends" defense, but I did 
spend almost a year in an eikaiwa school before moving up to the semmon 
gakkou and then to the university. In those long ago days many of my 
non-Japanese friends were doing eikaiwa--and most of them were pretty good 
at it. However, and as already noted, I haven't befriended any non-Japanese 
people in that field in some years, and all of those friends have left the 
field or drifted elsewhere.

On the other hand, I should also clarify that in general I have become much 
more selective about new friends as I've aged. Adding fewer new friends 
tended to be offset by the retention of older friends, so that the total 
number remained fairly constant... But then you eventually get to the point 
where the older ones start passing away. Such friends cannot be replaced in 
any case, but the kind of people most visible around here are the least 
conceivable as "candidates".

I suppose I ought to include some ruder comment about people who like to 
create personal attack threads. Let me think about it for a few weeks and if 
I try really hard, maybe I'll manage to work up enough annoyance to think of 
something.

Shannon Jacobs <shanen@my-deja.com> wrote:
> Wow!! Presumably a thread of my very own!!! Looks like a big one,
> too. Y'all really are desperate for amusement, eh? Must be so much
> fun to talk behind people's backs, eh?
>
> Without wasting the time to look at the link (or the thread), my
> own guess is that if it's actually "amusing" by the local standards
> of "humor", it's pointing to stuff that wasn't even written by me.
> It's actually the other way around--I don't play with trolls, but
> it doesn't bother me that I sometimes annoy them.
>
> On the other hand, do you masturbate while thinking that I care a
> whole lot? If so, you must be new around here.
>
> So now to reveal the reason for today's visit. An old friend of
> mine is looking for a few more eikaiwa teachers for her school. She
> managed to sweet talk me into pinch hitting yet another class for
> her, but as I was begging out of more favors, she asked me if I
> could help her find a good teacher or three. However, upon
> reflection, I realized that none of my current non-Japanese
> native-English-speaking friends are involved in eikaiwa, so I'd
> have to look elsewhere. When I first came to Japan many of my
> friends were involved in eikaiwa, but my older friends have gone on
> to better things and quite a number have left Japan over the years.
> A few have passed on. Finally there were a few that I've simply
> drifted away from. On a bit more reflection, I realized the drift
> was because our interests diverged too much. Really hard to put it
> politely, but there are some people who will teach eikaiwa forever
> because they can't sink any lower. Slummers, you know.
>
> Like around here.
>
> On third thought, no sense in posting an ad. She asked for "good
> teachers". Someone desperate enough to look for work in this
> newsgroup? Naw, too unlikely.
>
> Declan Murphy wrote:
>> Michael Cash wrote:
>>>
>>> <tripe link snip>
>>>
>>> No wonder none of the other kids will play with him.
>>
>> Strewth. Remove the fj.life.in-japan parameter & the result is
>> tsunamified.