Well, the news is that I'm happily married to a lovely Filipina girl named Leña Isabella Hernandez. We're looking forward to the birth of our first child in February. I've sold everything and quit my job at Rei Guang, and have gone into partnership with my new father-in-law importing fried pea snacks from Cebu. Lots of paperwork and meetings with gangsters at first. Our first shipment arrives next week. Hopefully.
When the peas are really flowing, maybe we'll be able to find a new place to live, but right now we are all living in my apartment in Nan Qu, and it's pretty cramped. It won't be any better when Leña's lola (her grandmother, that is) gets here. It's a good thing I sold all the furniture.
My Chinese has improved a lot, and, needless to say, my Tagalog. I have had my first dog's liver dinner, and it was… all right. I have stopped shaving my head; I just couldn't justify the expense of the razor blades anymore. And I have this terrible boil on my lower back, left of my spine. The doctor keeps applying these smelly poultices and giving me a medicine that tastes like dusty bay leaves, but it's still hanging in there and making me miserable. But I'm not miserable. I've never been happier in my life.
Okay, so all that was a pack of stinking lies. But interesting. You'll admit that. You were interested. Great Scott, you were thinking, What will he do next? He certainly does lead a death-defying life, full of violent plot twists and tantalizing mystery! Yes, friends, it would be quite a story, if only it weren't such utter garbage. If it were the truth, of course, it would be fascinating. It isn't the truth. And suddenly it isn't fascinating at all. Just a minute, you think; that's really improbable. It's transparent fakery. I didn't believe it for a second. He's a liar. I never liked that supercilious little shit.
It gets dark early. What else can I tell you?