blue skies

it is spring here; or it most certainly feels like spring. the sun is shining and perfect white cloud hang in the otherwise empty sky.


swearing

"i was in a fucking bookshop right, looking for a fucking book. then this fucking bloke walks up to me and starts fucking talking to me; this fucking bloke i have never fucking seen before in my life. the fucking bloke starts to ask me all these fucking questions about this book and that book. i have no idea what his is fucking on about. i say to him: "sorry i don't know", but he doesn't fucking listen to me. he just fucking keeps on talking and i have to fucking walk away and out of the shop. i didn't even buy the fucking book i wanted."


haircut

got my haircut today. i dislike getting my haircut. i used to have this fear that the barber would die half way cutting my hair and that the barber would be taken to hospital and then the hairdressers would be closed for the rest of the day and i would be left looking like a prat with half a haircut.

when you don't speak like a native, getting a haircut is a little hit and miss. i go to a hairdressers called ".com". as with everything, i use english first; then mime; then use japanese. they all nod as i describe 3 different haircuts in 3 different languages. they do try to offer me the complete service though: they offer me japanese magazines that i can't read and ask questions i don't understand. the most useful phrase in japan is "that's fine thankyou" as you can use it to answer every question:

"would you like a magazine?"
"is the water too hot?"
"do you want it dyed?"
"how about having your eyebrows plucked?"
"would you like it shorter?"
"would you like a point card?"

the end result is often something i don't really care too much about as if it is crap then it will grow back; and if it is cool then i am really cool for the next few weeks to people that judge people on haircuts. i sat in the chair for about 40 minutes and looked at the blur in the mirror.

time passes. i like this haircut. he explained to me that the hair on the left hand side is longer than the hair on the right hand side because my crown is off centre and the excess hair is needed to make my head symmetrical. i thanked him and he thanked me. i paid and he bowed. i left with everything balanced.