After three and a half weeks on the salon floor I’m starting to get a little more pep in my step. Still, the schedule and the work wears me out by the end of the day. It’s been years since I’ve had a stand-up-all-day job. A lot of years. It’s good though, because now that I’m not smoking any longer I’ve managed to gain nearly 20 pounds. If I was still working in a cubicle sitting in a high-backed chair all day I’d run the risk of getting even softer around the edges than I can feel comfortable with. So getting a little more physical with my job will be better for me. That is, once my body has gotten accustomed to it. At the present I’m not quite there yet.

I’m not a spry eighteen-year-old striking out, I’m a good bit older than that. My brain feels sharp and young but my body needs a little convincing these days! I spend the day standing on hard tile floors. There is no sitting down in a hair salon, and add to that the amount of leaning and squatting and bending and holding of awkward positions I do in a day and I’m just plain wore-out proper by the end of the day.

I’m tired. My back hurts, my knees hurt, my neck hurts and my poor stressed brain even hurts a little. I make a noise when I lean or squat down to pick something up. I get home from school and want nothing more than to sit down and do nothing. I wake up not wanting to go to school, and even though I get into it and enjoy myself after an hour behind the chair I find myself frequently in “I wanna go home!” brain at the beginning of every day. I do feel better once I’ve gotten into it, and I usually feel pretty good at the end of the day – just tired. Tired in the body as well as in the brain. I think it’s the adjustment process, I’m getting better. Still, I feel mentally and emotionally worn down fairly frequently.

Speaking of emotional fatigue, here’s another thing that as me a little (but not genuinely) distressed. My emotions have been just plain weird lately. Now it’s safe to say I can be pretty emotional at times, must be some of that Italian blood that’s in me, but this is ridiculous. I can admit to being easily choked up by the odd movie, it’s a little girly and I’m not terribly proud of it (though not altogether ashamed either), but lately I’ve been moved to near tears by… well a LOT of things! Movies, TV shows, books, and not even for anything particularly moving! I notice myself doing it and think “What the hell is WRONG with me lately??”

Maybe I’m spending too much time in the company of all these women! Maybe I’m becoming a great big lady! Holy S-word, I didn’t know THAT would be a side-effect of this career choice! Why did no one mention this to me? I don’t WANT to become a lady! I LIKE being a man! I’m actually quite good at it, too.

No, I don’t think I’m becoming a lady, just tired. Guys can get tired too, we just have to pretend like we don’t. My head gets clearer and my emotions and stress level out with some time. Be that as it may, I’m looking forward to some holiday vacation time. I need some quiet “Me Time.”