16 October 2002, Entry 2

So today I went to get a haircut. Oh fun, my first haircut in Sweden. Those who know me that I usually commit to one barber and stay with them until either I leave that city, or one of us dies…whichever comes first. Well, since it is just a tad bit too far away to make a jaunt across the states in order to get a haircut, I have decided that I would try to find a place here to get a haircut because I think that it would be the best thing to do. Besides, it was getting to the point where I was looking like a young Micheal Jackson. Perhaps a better example, for those of you who have seen Austin Powers: Goldmember, was the scene where Beyonce Knowles (of Destiny’s Child) hair is short and wet, and then with a couple of shakes, she has a huge afro! That was me. I am not suggesting that I am now Beyonce Knowles, but like Micheal Jackson and Diana Ross, you haven’t really seen us together in public have you? I’ll let you form your own conclusions.

Anyway, when I get to the styling salon (it was recommended), it turns out that the one person who cuts black hair only does so twice a week. So the stylist is very nervous to cut my hair, but he tries to show as much confidence as he can. I warned him that if my haircut came out wrong, that I would probably “over-react”. This made him even more nervous. He called a phone number and started speaking frantically into the phone. He put on his hands-free set and continued talking while cutting my hair. I could just imagine that he called some kind of “Black Hair Support Line”. I can just imagine the person on the other end of the line “remain calm…it’s just like we taught you in styling class…don’t get scared…you can do this”. I knew that this was going to be an interesting haircut because instead of using an electric razor, he used scissors and his imagine.

Well, to make a long story short. The good news is that I no longer look like Micheal Jackson during his afro years. I now look like a member of the rap group Kid and Play. The haircut I have now I only see on classic episodes of Yo MTV Raps! But hey, it’s a step up. Sigh…time to get back to the UK or Paris and have them work on my mop.

In the next issue…the IT audit gang’s in town and comes to visit my new apartment…stay tuned…

Ciao, Rodney

16 October 2002

So, I just moved into my new apartment yesterday. It is very nice and I like it a lot. I am planning on making a few changes to it, but for the moment, I’ve got no complaints. On one hand, it felt good to get the keys to the place because it cemented the fact that I now formally have a place to live. On the other hand, I started to cry because it meant that I was now no longer on expenses. And life feels different when IBM is not picking up the tab. Except that in many other ways, they are picking up the tab for me, so I can’t complain *too* loudly.

What the moves signifies the most is that I don’t have to spend another night in a lonely place called “Shantytown” otherwise known as Akalla Hotel Apartments. And this makes me happy. Man, I feel like breakdancing. Shantytown was the pitts. Now I live right outside the city, but close enough to get to where I need to go (and it’s a 30 second walk to the subway from my apartment). I’m moving on up. Just need to get me a tweed suit and wife named Weezie and I’ll be George Jefferson. I had the afro thing going already….