Oh yeah...

So did I forget to mention that I quit work Tuesday?

I didn't exactly quit then, but I told the boss I would be leaving at the end of October. He's doing an excellent job of making me feel like the biggest jerk I can ever imagine. Not because I am quitting, but because I complained so much about work this past year. He's being incredibly understanding and supportive. Were hashing out the details, but I wont actually be quitting. I'll be "going on furlough" and while I am still on the company pay-roll and on call (reduced salary of course), I'm pretty much free. Free in so far as I don't have to ride the train to work every morning... not free in that I am still on call and responsible for many of the things I do now... only remotely.

I don't know why I always imagine the worst, but I suppose it's good sometimes. I was totally prepared and had planned ahead for him to totally flip and feel so betrayed that he would not even give a good recommendation. Of course that wouldn't make much business sense for him, and since I was ready to quit no matter what, He's probably much better off with me on-call and even eager to help the company (now my client) than if we separated with bad blood.

Anyway, I have some decisions to make now. Like should I really ditch all my belongings and go through with the "trip around Japan" plan? Or, since I have more responsibility than I counted on, should I keep a reliable Tokyo base and take a lot of 2-week mini-trips? Of course keeping a Tokyo base sounds the most responsible, but that's a lot of rent if I'm only here two weeks a month. I can still afford to stay, but think of the savings if I didn't have the apartment... I was originally planning to be back for a couple days each month anyway, but then I could crash at Tomoe's place. I'm not too sure how her landlord would take it if I was there two weeks a month.

On the other hand, it's a very tempting experiment to see how mobile the Internet can really make us. I have a pile of maps showing Air-H (wireless internet via PHS) coverage, and I see that over the past week, when Tomoe and I were riding our bikes through the mountains, I would have only been out of range for two days of the trip. Even then I was an hour or two bike ride to an area within range. Can I really keep up with some work, provide adequate support, and still live in a tent while I ride my bike around Japan?