Freezing my ass off in Ishiyama

It is really incredible how cold it is indoors. It's got to be close to zero degrees in Veronica's apartment. I'm sitting with a heater aproximately 6 inches from my ass and my flanks are cold!

The gang of Mike D, Shannon, Warren and I came down south to Ishiyama tonight (on a schoolnight!) to watch a movie and - to my surprise - eat dinner. Veronica prepared a lovely stir fry and potato furai (fries) and some salad, but I wasn't sure if there would be dinner so I ate nikuman on the way. How boorish of me. Nikuman are these doughy balls that have meat in the middle and are only available in the winter in Japan. They sell them in the combinis for 100 yen (convenience stores for a dollar). So I was only half hungry but I enjoyed the well-prepared feast, and then we all sat down and flipped through some of the dvds I bought in Vietnam for a dollar each. We ended up choosing "The Whole Ten Yards" which was filmed in the theatre by someone with a video camera, and the sound would cut low every time gunshots happened. Also it was one of the most rambling, pointless movies I've seen. The evil Hungarian boss was funny though. "You want a slice of the pee?" etc. in a non-Hungarian way.

I got a slight reprieve in my work hours tomorrow morning so that I don't have to get up at 5:30 to catch an early train from Ishiyama to Nagahama. I'll be able to get a regular sleep, which is good because I need it.

Started reading Atwood's "The Blind Assassin" today. It's nice to read about Toronto, makes me feel at home even in far-away Japan. I can't help thinking Atwood was consciously referring to the other Margaret's "The Stone Angel" in some parts, and to "A Bird in the House" in others. This is what taking a Margaret Laurence seminar does to one.

Did I mention it's cold?