Metamorphosis

You may have noticed that in my Japan pictures I had a lot less hair than usual. 

Here's what I looked like the week before:

I spend a lot of time thinking about alternate possible cultures and beliefs as part of fantasy writing and game creation. One idea I had was a culture where people think their senses are sacred, and so shave lines into their hair along the lines of their sense organs, so as not to obscure those divine pathways. I was never going to have a better chance to see what that would actually look like, and the results were... 

pretty goofy looking.

This picture is like a glimpse into an alternate universe where someone with my genetics grew up deep in meth lab territory:

Curiosity sated, I went for the Ra's Al Ghul look:

Finally, I shaved my face and head to the skin for the first time. I'd been curious as to what it would be like for some time, but in the US or Europe I'd look like a neoNazi. In East Asia, at worst I'd be mistaken for a Buddhist monk. 

It's hard not to nick oneself when shaving where one can't see. Also, my head seems to be a bit lumpy. Oh well. It didn't hurt, and the sensation of shirts going across it as I put them on was interestingly strange. 

I lowered my voice an octave and told my students that my name was Mr. Jay. Some of my students were taken in completely, and others were creepily observant, noticing that I had the same watch or same laugh. Yes, I enjoy messing with my students. At heart I'm Calvin's dad.

The fuzz came back by the end of my week in Japan. I only had one more week in Korea before jetting off to the Bay Area for Ben and Elana's beautiful whimsical wedding. 

As long as I'm at it, here's the previous time I radically altered my appearance for fun, back in 2006:

Some of the stages of the process were hideous:

I fully expected to have to buzz my head after cutting my own hair for the first time, but it somehow turned out just fine. I've been cutting my own hair ever since. 

This was the first time I was clean-shaven or had short hair while I was at Reed. Even most of my own dorm mates didn't recognize me, and I was their House Adviser. What was even weirder was the people who did know who I was and I didn't know them. "Wow, Landon I almost didn't recognize you." Thanks person who didn't change your appearance and yet I have no idea who you are...

I think I annoyed some professors by not introducing myself in classes. I timed the haircut to fit with our discussion of identity over time in Metaphysics, and all of my professors were weirded out by the fact that this stranger clearly had done the reading and was familiar with earlier coursework. The best reaction I got was from a professor I intentionally messed with. I picked up a prospective student folder and sat in on his freshman Humanities 110 conference classes. He did an amazing double take when I walked into his three hour long senior level philosophy class the following evening. 

Professor: "You're... you're that prospie."

Me: "Yes."

Professor: "You're not really a prospie, are you?"

Me: "Nope."

Professor: "Are you auditing this class?"

Me: "No, Eddie, I'm in this class."

Professor: (after two minutes of befuddled staring) "HOLY SHIT, oh my god, holy shit!"