2 posts tagged “haircut”

So I chopped back my mullet a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t a terrible case of mulletisis, but still it was enough to be issued a warning by the CDC.

How did I let it get that way? How did I crash at this intersection of bad taste and personal grooming?

Quite easily. When you’re busy trying to raise a three-year-old… when you have to do the day-care commute before and after work (each jaunt taking one hour door-to-door)… when you have to work a full job-type job… and you chronically add your brand of disorganization, tardiness, distractibility, and inefficiency to everything… and you’ve stopped caring about things very important to you 10 years ago… it’s a veritable snap.

You get busy, you lose track of time, and before you know it, you’re arriving at work, hair messy in an un-cool way, shirt un-ironed, face/hand lotion smeared across your mouth like the final shot of God-knows-what-movie-you’re-watching, and your fly halfway undone.

This is all quite shameful for a person who, in his youth, made a declaration: “When I become a parent, I’m not going to let myself go. I’m going to keep up with fashion, with music, with everything of the time, so my kids won’t be embarrassed for me.” Well, my little girl may not be old enough to care about cultural morality now, but I’m working my way to be expelled from the Garden of Fashionable Decency.

In all fairness, it’s not Mitsuki’s fault. Many parents have their act together, aren’t rushing around like chickens, and are able to carve out enough time to make themselves and their kids look clean and combed and fashionable, with a little spare change and little spare time to boot. How they do it, I haven’t a clue. Stress and sloppiness always put too much spin on the ball, and oh how I screw it all up.

But back to the mullet. Another cause to this crashing effect is my continuing folly of cutting my own hair. This might not be so bad (it’s cheap, it doesn’t require an appointment), but what I’m trying for is the ultimate in hair fashion – the Japanese crazy-cool-messy-idol look. This is something that simply cannot be done by yourself with two mirrors and a pair of utility scissors. There is a reason why Japanese young people pay 15000 yen for this. But try, I do. (Or try I did, since I don’t have enough hair to do this anymore.)

So my attempts at this are always a little off. And whatever results, though not atrocious (there’s nothing a lot of gel won’t make nice), is always sort of malformed. And when it grows out, it sure doesn’t get any better. There’s just more malfeasance.

Well, anyway, there’s a solution here, and it’s just to be better organized so I have the time to dedicate to the daily routine, or grooming and maintenance, or keeping up with current culture. And maybe I should scale back my ambition towards Japanese hairstyles.

There will soon come a day when Mitsuki doesn’t want to stand next to dear old Dad at the big old mall. But I’ve got to work to push that date out as far as possible. 

...So we'll be leaving for Japan for a +2 week vacation on Thanksgiving day (Nov 23), and to start cleaning up my act, I gave myself a haircut and started to brush up on my Japanese. But how do you brush up something that's essentially nonexistent? (Much like brushing up my brush cut, which in its current state is thinning out quickly.)

I took 3 Japanese classes back in 2000-2001, and have tried to pick up more from watching Japanese soap operas and news programs. So it's no wonder I've plateaued. I just haven't put in the time to make serious progress.

Just this week, I found that I'd forgotten simple words like "friend" (tomodachi), much to my panic. And for years I have been trying to remember the difference between tsukuru (to make), tsukeru (to turn on), and tsukau (to use). Good luck to me getting it right in the next 8 days.

But, you do what you can. Gambaremasu! (I will try!)

So back to my hair. I had been wanting to grow it out as a last stand. I had dreams of looking like a Japanese rock star. But like many dreams, this one died hard. But, to my pleasant surprise, I happened to watch Infernal Affairs and was suddenly inspired to look like Andy Lau.

Infernal Affairs is one kick-ass movie. I won't go into it, so as not to spoil the plot. But this cops-and-gangster movie rips on all levels, mainly because the actors rock all parts - from the leads to the supporting players. Tony Leung is always engaging and is my new hero; he adds delicacy to the gangster, not by the obvious motivation to balance out the character, but by the understated act of slipping a human being into the cinematic staple.

This was my first Andy Lau movie. The man is a bastard, for he's arresting, handsome and looks like a million bucks in a tight and tailored suit. So, even though I have no suit to match, I cut my hair in emulation because, well, sometimes aspiring to be someone else just might help pull yourself up a notch. I'll take motivation where I can get it.

Here's a well-balanced review of Infernal Affairs from my favorite Hong Kong movie-review site [lovehkfilm.com].

By the by, I have little desire to see Martin Scorsese's The Departed, which is the American remake of Infernal Affairs. Though I love Scorsese and most of the cast, I want to savor the original a while. And I don't see very many movies nowadays, so it's not any great restraint.