In which I get to speak Japanese.

日本語 for me always has been academic—I've been too afraid to speak as a person, beyond the ritual words of 茶道—but yesterday I walked randomly into a barbershop, and his father was 日本出身, so we spoke Japanese. After the disaster that was the JLPT 日本語能力試験, I really needed that; I still study every day, but my heart hasn't been in it.

Maybe it's that I popped a CBD gummy before I left the house, but I had zero problem talking with that dude in Japanese.