30 Days to a Better Man, Day 30: get a straight razor shave

This post is pulling double-duty. It will simultaneously be the final 30 Days to a Better Man post, and also my last beardly update (for obvious reasons).

The first thing you should know is that the full beard I've been growing for five months is already gone. I shaved it off on Day 20 or Day 21, or something. Maybe Day 22, I'm not sure. Here's what it looked like the night before:

 

I shaved it off because (a) I didn't like the way my sideburns get all swirly when they grow out, and (b) I wanted my barber to give me a shave, not clear-cut a forest. Thought I'd help him out a little and revel in being clean and smooth for a few extra days. Then I'd go in on Day 30 and have the gentleman shave off the pathetic stubble I'd managed to grow in one week, and nobody would be the wiser. 

But here's the problem. I mentioned before that I shouldn't have done this challenge in winter. That goes double in Korea. Today begins the four-day Korean holiday of Seolnar (Chinese New Year, essentially, but for Pete's sake don't call it that here). Everybody and their mother has closed up shop and gone home for the holidays. I was at the grocery store last night and it was a madhouse, everyone buying last-minute gift packs for relatives and stocking up on supplies for the four-day dry spell. The Cheonho Bridge was backed up with traffic, choked with frantic motorists trying to get on the Gyeongbu Expressway and head south to the provinces.

There are two unpleasant and unforeseen consequences to this holiday that I didn't see coming:

Number One, I have failed today's challenge, because the barber and his wife shut their doors and went haring off for Gyeongsang Province or who-knows-where. Oh well. I can at least say that I have had a straight razor shave before. My old barber down on Geoje Island gave me one once.

Number Two, my winter coat is still at the dry cleaner's. I forgot to pick it up yesterday before everything closed. I leave for Hokkaido on Sunday. I'm going to have to make do with a crap-ton of layers and thermal underwear, I guess. Whoops.

So...that's it. 

The Art of Manliness's 30 Days to a Better Man Challenge...finished. Thirty days of hurdles, tasks and challenges, completed.

Am I a better man? I think so. I'm glad I took this challenge. It highlighted all of the areas in which I was deficient (clutter, finances, budgets, posture, manual skills, volunteering, and oh dear lord, physical fitness). But it also showed me all the things I was doing right (love letters, debt reduction, testosterone, dream-chasing, journal-keeping, reading, socializing, and adventurousness). Thanks to this challenge, my shoes are shined, my résumé is up to date, I've connected with old friends, found a mentor, reaffirmed my commitment to my dreams and my loved ones, and have tangible financial and fitness goals.

Nothing I couldn't have accomplished on my own, maybe; but it sure was nice to accomplish it all in a single month and look back on it with pride.

The only thing I didn't do right (besides getting a shave) was that dang Kipling poem. I shall make it my business to memorize it on the train through Japan. 

Tune in tomorrow for my itemized itinerary. A better man, signing off.