Category: being a man

being a man, humour, travel2 Comments

My first visit to a Japanese barbershop

My Mashed Up Life

Silky Milky, a bubble perm and a head massage. All part of the Japanese barbershop experience. Intrigued? Read on… Picture the scene: a small town in rural Japan. I need a haircut. I find a barbershop and nervously walk in… An old man was just finishing having his hair cut, and the lady who was working with him asked me to wait. I sank down into a creaky, brown leather sofa, and glanced at the piles of Japanese magazines that I couldn’t read. Either side of the sofa were two tall ashtrays, and the whole place smelt of a combination of … Continue reading My first visit to a Japanese barbershop

being a man, family, humour, parenting, work7 Comments

Not Just A Stay-At-Home-Dad

My Mashed Up Life

When people ask What do you do? I have a new response; I’m mostly a stay-at-home-dad. I say mostly a stay-at-home-dad because, although that is the main thing I do, it is not the only thing. Sure, I do most of the cooking, all the dirty washing, the scrubbing of the oven, the shower and the toilet…y’know, all the sexy jobs. I keep the children’s clothes in some kind of order, and make sure they have everything they need for school each morning. I make the beds, do the dishes… which reminds me of that Joan Rivers joke: I hate housework! You make … Continue reading Not Just A Stay-At-Home-Dad

being a man, humour, wellbeing11 Comments

Selfie Stick: a medical misadventure

My Mashed Up Life

Yesterday my penis became a selfie stick. No, that’s not a euphemism or a Lady Gaga lyric. It’s true. Following previous tests, my doctor sent me to hospital for a cystoscopy. What is a cystoscopy? A doctor inserts a camera into the bladder to have a good look around. How does the camera get in there? There’s no delicate way to say this. The camera gets fed through the urethra, which means it got inserted up my penis. Hence, it became a selfie stick, to allow the camera to look inside my body. I was happy that it was a … Continue reading Selfie Stick: a medical misadventure

being a man, books, wellbeing4 Comments

My Body, My Mind & Ruby Wax

My Mashed Up Life

I’m currently reading How To Be Human by Ruby Wax (a wonderful book, by the way) and in it, she explains how our body and mind are one and the same. This was news to me, because I have always separated the two. The “me”, I thought, was actually my mind, y’know, that special place where my thoughts and ideas come from, the place that is my personality and the keeper of memories, and my body was just this unfortunate, hairy vessel that I reside in. Not so, says Wax: Your brain and body are one and the same; every thought, … Continue reading My Body, My Mind & Ruby Wax