Clean Shaven

I am now the Beardless Wonder.

In one of my classes yesterday, some students asked me about my beard, and why I was growing one in the first place. My reply? "Because I can."

I love it when my students try and hassle me about my beard. I just turn it around on them. "Hey there, Tanaka-kun, when you can actually grow facial hair, come back, and we'll talk."

So anyway, we were talking about my beard, and a couple of my students said, "Why don't you shave?" They must have caught me at the right time, because I actually thought it over a bit.

"Okay, I'll shave it off tonight."

Now, aside from Mr. Yamane, nobody here at Starfish High had ever seen me without my beard, so I was looking forward to how people reacted to a clean-shaven me. Double-takes, laughs, the "I think I've seen this guy before, but..." looks, some praise, some complaints, a lot of "WOW! You look young!"...it ran the reaction gamut.

My favorite thing about when I shave off my beard is the variety of responses I get in the "You look...different" department.

"Did you cut your hair?"
"Did you change your glasses?"
"Did you pierce your nose?"

Okay, the last one is made up, but c'mon, look at these photos, and tell me what the difference is. I'll give you a hint: it starts with"b" and ends with "eard".











Yeah, I know the first picture is cheating a bit (it's from back in April after I had let my hair and beard grow out for half a year). But I do it to illustrate a point. HOW CAN YOU NOT NOTICE THE BEARD BEING GONE?

Not anger. Amusement.

I had my beard for almost a year this time. After shaving off my beard, there's three things that always make me laugh.

1. My face feels colder. "Hey, what is that feeling? Ohhhhh, air!"
2. My face is a lot whiter where my beard was. This is not an easy trick to pull off, as I'm pretty white as is.
3. Water on my face feels odd.

No air, water or sun on your face for a year? You'd feel odd too.

In other news:

2004

2005

'Nuf Ced.