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.

Been a while. I really meant to write this sooner, but here we are. No past trauma being worked through in this post LOL. Just a slice of life story about my first job hunting experience. Here's a timeline plus my personal review of my performance during the job hunt. January 6thInterview 1: 5/10As I wrote previously, I hadn’t slept well the night before and was just generally anxious since this was my first real-world interview.

Scott Galloway: “It makes me feel like a baller.” Prof G says being generous with his wealth makes him feel good. It feeds his ego a bit and lets him help other people. I get it. I’m not wealthy, nor have I ever been, but I’m working on it. Currently broke af working two gigs. I’ll get there though. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but I will say that my father and adoptive mom made sure we never went without.

I’ve written a bit about my experience navigating what it means to be masculine, aka being a man. I’ve spent a lot of time doing my damnedest not to be “toxically” masculine over the few years for fear I would turn out “like him.” My friend recommended thinking about some times I experienced some “positive” masculinity. I’ve been listening to Scott Galloway quite a bit recently.

“He’s a fool, but an honest fool.” (Gandalf, LOTR). This post is somewhat inspired by the political climate in the US. Like most humans, I’m guilty of being arrogant enough to think that I’m a decent person. I’ll let others decide whether or not that is the case. As mentioned in previous posts I felt a bit different from other men in terms of masculinity in my hometown.

I meant to write this in January, but here we are, a month into the Gregorian calendar year. However, the lunar new year was last week, and I’m a worldly guy, so I think this is still a reasonable time to write about New Year’s resolutions. It is 2025, but today I want to write about one of my resolutions from 2024, losing weight.

I enjoy drinking... Probably more than I should. LOL Japanese vocab: Izakaya: Japanese pub Nomihodai: all you can drink Occasionally I have a profound realization while drunk, or at least it feels profound in the moment. This time was while I was studying in Nagasaki. I went to an izakaya with my friend and his girlfriend. We partook in nomihodai. 2500 yen for an hour and a half.

Inspiration for this post: I was watching Vinland Saga S2 Ep. 10. Scene: The prince had a flashback to playing a game with his older brother. As “a smart child” I was always told I was going to university. It was the goal that was given to me before I chose it for myself. I liked school so it seemed like the path for me once I learned more about it.

I'd give myself a 6/10 this time. My lack of Japanese is definitely my downfall. In all three interviews thus far I've been asked, "Why did you apply to our city?" My answer is, "This city is close to Tokyo. I have friends and family in Tokyo." Tokyo is massive, so it shouldn't be surprising that I have friends in the area.

Just when you thought this would blog would be some lighthearted slice of life stuff. I spent one night in foster care when I was 6 years old. I was staying with my mother and her boyfriend in a city a few hours away from my hometown. My folks had a shared custody agreement. I spent weekends and holidays/breaks with my mother.

Saw that a handful of people visited this blog. Thanks for giving it a chance. I hope it was semi-entertaining at least. I've reflected more on the first interview and I would probably rate my performance a 5/10. I hadn't slept great the night before, so I didn't have a great start to the day. Even after having my daily dose of caffeine, I felt off all day and I am sure that it showed in the interview.

My first experience in South Korea was mostly spent in Gwangju (2017). I made one short trip to Seoul and another to Yeosu, but I didn't plan any of the logistics, I just handed my travel buddies the money and they took me along. Since I relied heavily on others this first time around I really didn't understand the scale of the cities I was visiting.

Well actually I'm 29, but I'll be 30 in a month and a half. I had summer jobs while I was in high school, and always one or two part-time jobs throughout college. They all had a short and sweet hiring process that may have included an interview, but as long as you displayed some basic competence and showed up you were hired.