November 11, 1982

           Worked on my room. Played guitar in the bathroom. Oh, Sally brings her daughter over. She was actually good-looking. But of course, married. First thing she tells me is about the boring place they went on their honeymoon. Seemed fitting somehow. Then Dave makes spaghetti with hot sauce. My, how interesting. I mention it because I mean hot. My mouth never used to get that hot talking behind my brother’s back. Excellent radio all day long, on AM—my antenna kept cutting out on FM, that’s the real price you pay when you don’t spend money.
           Also did plenty work on the car. I think it will see 120,000 miles before New Year’s. Oh, you may have heard the newsbreak. Rumors that the layoff is canceled. If I knew, only knew in these uncertain times that I would be working steady for 2 more years, oh god! There’s so many things I need desperately. The idea is still wait and see, but it’s the only encouraging news in months. And it is plenty of time to retrain into anything—let me have your test by exam only. You think I’ve been wasting my time? At least, tho, it’s a chance. And it’s the phone company.
           [Author’s note: this rambling passage means it was written at day’s end. If I recall, there had been a short layoff at the company and I barely missed getting in the car and driving to Los Angeles when I got the callback. The union argued for a few weeks that the layoff was illegal and we were all aware we could be back on the streets. I was just beginning to buy things after years as a starving student. I even built the room I was living in. The car was a 1974 Ford Maverick 4-door, one of the best I’ve ever owned.
           Oh, and the bathroom had tiles making for the best acoustics in the house. And yes, that is the Maverick, with raised rear suspension, 351 supercharged engine and a shift kit. This is the car I lost in a court case with a crooked mechanic, but won enough money to buy my first and only Cadillac. That Maverick was some car.]