November 14, 1979

           [Author's note 2026: for all the time I lived out west, I never saw the Pacific Ocean until 1979. And that's because I just got on the cheapest flight I could find and wound up in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. This is a picture of their Parliament Buildings. This is the trip I visited my cousin, just the once. I remember pulling up in front of his mother's apartment address and wondering who the goof was that had a car up on blocks. He was sitting inside in the dark and the first thing he says to me is, "I gotta figure out a way to make some big money real fast."

           I never saw him again. Thank gawd.]