Damn it's cold. Fingers cold, icy chill in this little room where I work. I hear it was in the 20s in Los Angeles last night, and as another night looms, I'm taking up shivering to keep my blood flowing.

There's heat working in my house, finally, blessedly, but I spend my waking hours in my house mostly perched in an 8x8 foot thin-walled shack out back with all my media machines. I was hoping the heat from the computers might raise the temperature in here; obviously I'm not hacking hard enough.

I've got a ton of work to do to finish school this week: final projects - two films primarily, and a presentation. To help me get ready, I deleted 3913 appointments from my datebook as I was working to synchronize my Treo. Now I'm spending hours recovering them. Shivering, stomach in knots from stress, I realized I could take steps to improve my state of being: I put on a sweater and a stocking cap. I read a buying guide for space heaters and imagined owning one. I lit a candle. I put on Apocalypse Now, which I used to watch about every six months between the ages of 14 and 18 but I haven't watched it now for probably at least a year. I know the lines, the sound effects, the experience of descent is so familiar. Watching it is comforting, and provocative because I know more about film now since I've studied it; I appreciate the technique, the artistry more deeply.

I'm not any closer to finishing my own films but at least my heart is warmer.