a post

My main room is now host to a sofa-bed. It's basically a thick futon-like mattress on a platform and one side clicks up into three different positions of sofa-ness in addition to the fully flat bed-like setting. At night I lay a futon over the sofa-bed to form my new upgraded sleeping area. This is warmer and more comfortable than the double-stacked tiny futon of yester-week.

So that's good.

The second term of the school year (my first) is winding down, which means final exams, which means nothing for me to do, which means reading books and surfing the net at school, which may lead to more blog posting, but we can't be sure.

I've been spending plenty of time at work in recent days trying to arrange details of my trip to Tokyo. I've already re-arranged things a bit -- instead of going over Christmas, I'm going after, staying in Ise to attend related parties.

I may or may not be appearing twice as Santa. I expect full compensation in the form of snacks and beverage, and if the big white beard plays well maybe I'll just keep it on over winter.

Back to Tokyo -- I'm in talks with friends about staying at their places for a day or two while I'm there. If that doesn't work I am looking into youth hostel options, which sound good except for silly curfew rules (be back at 12 when you're on vacation in Tokyo?).

And at this moment I'm debating whether or not to go off to Nanaimo for a 600 yen dinner. One of the veteran gaijin in Ise, Sean, eats at Nanaimo just about every night for dinner, simply asking the owner (and our friend) Kentaro for something to eat. He gets creative for Sean and everything I've seen looks delicious. Most of these dishes aren't on the menu. I'm not saying I want to eat at Nanaimo every night, but now and then it beats to ritual of heading to the grocery store and cooking in my tiny kitchen. So I'll decide within the hour if I'll get up and head out to Nanaimo or come up with a plan B for dinner. Since I currently have no groceries and would have to bike to the store anyway, there's a good chance I'll just go the extra mile (literally) to Nanaimo.

So then. Time to freshen up. Good day.