A slice of life update.

For the last three years, I went to a barbershop owned by a husband and wife, who coincidentally were the parents of one of my 900 students. That’s small-town life for you. They are wonderful people, but they didn’t have a lot of experience cutting non-Japanese hair, which means they never got it quite right. Even so, they cut my hair exclusively for three years because I like to contribute to the local economy, and because I didn’t have the energy to find another barber I could barely communicate with. This, of course, is my fault for being a foreigner living in Japan with subpar Japanese language skills.

I got my last haircut in the old city on March 20^th. After six weeks in the new city, I decided it was time to find another barber. In a small town/city, you can walk into a salon or barbershop pretty much any day, and they’ll take care of you within the hour. Turns out everyone gets their haircut on Sundays in big cities.

The owner of the fourth shop I walked into told me he had an opening at 5 pm on Friday. I was committed to trying every shop within a 15-minute bike ride, but this guy spoke English. “See you on Friday.” I was happy that I could actually communicate with the person cutting my hair, but I had low expectations for the end result. Turns out he did a year working holiday in both Australia and Canada. I can confidently say, “I trust my barber.”

Honestly finding a barber is the biggest thing that has happened to me since the move. I’m settled in at the day job. I’m only working with three co-teachers as opposed to the seven I had at my last school, so lesson planning has been more manageable. Been in the ALT game for a long time, so nothing new here.

The new apartment is comfortable, but the building doesn’t have fiber, so I can’t game with my brothers. While that sucks, I spent way too much time playing Apex Legends over the last few years. It was good to spend time with my brothers and not be alone with my thoughts, but I was using gaming as a distraction even when they weren’t on. After a couple of weekends with no games, I decided to find a Saturday gig. Fun fact about my new boss: he also lived and worked in Changwon for a few years back in the day. That brings me to a total of three jobs. Sunday is still the lord’s day.

Yes, I have been keeping busy, so it’s been hard to find time to write, but I also haven’t felt inspired to write since the move. If you’ve read any of my other posts, you probably won’t be surprised when I share this epiphany: my previous posts were largely inspired by anger, hurt, and loneliness. I guess what I’m saying is, I’m feeling a hell of a lot better these days.

Since I moved, I’ve been spending a lot less time alone and a lot less time with the bottle, if I’m being honest. Being in a REAL city full time makes me want to get out and do things, either by myself or with other people, because well, there are things to do and lots of people around. That might include a drink now and then, but it’s now drinks all around, not just drinks to myself. That being said, I’ve been working on my sleep hygiene, so that means even less alcohol. Still, for those of you who know me, if you come to Tokyo on a Saturday evening, let’s grab a drink and throw some darts.