home sweet home

yesterday i flew home and went directly to work. i was reading a haruki murakami book on the plane and then as soon as the plane landed i grabbed my luggage and scrambled on to the train and then up the hill to the apartment where i work. i felt so happy to be back. to have money entering my life once more.

my first client was a baby-faced japanese man. he had big cute cheeks that went all the way up when he smiled, obscuring his eyes so that you could barely even see them. they still shined out just a bit. in a cartoon they would have been shown with those little glinty marks they put on teeth or the edge of a new car to show that it's brilliantly shiny. this guy was really nice. a bit serious.

sometimes i kind of picture my clients like characters from books or movies. i can't help it. like this guy reminded me of the main character in "the wind-up bird chronicle."

my next client REALLY reminds me of a tv character. i think i've written about him before. he's this super tall guy who's covered in tattoos who kind of scared me at first till he told me how he rescued a tiny little dog. the image of this giant toughguy walking a runty chihuahua down the street really endeared me to him. i'm so glad i didn't write him off just because he has an odd manner and semi-scary tattoos (like a mean sun that has a super maniacal smile and crazy, jagged rays), because he's turned out to be one of my favorite clients. anyway this guy reminds me SO MUCH of the tall older brother on "everybody loves raymond." it's so weird--he even has the same extremely low voice. whenever he calls to book an appointment, i can barely even conjure up my clients face, i just picture ray's brother.

i guess it's a little hard to remember certain faces, since mostly they are down in the face cradle during your time together, and then when they turn over you're not so much looking at their face if you know what i mean.

i'm going to be in town for 8 more days. i'd really like to make about 2 grand while i'm here. i hope this isn't an outlandish goal. i'm going to really try!