dear phil,

This is going to be a quick letter. I have to rush off somewhere. I’m doing that a lot, even though I quit my job.

Basically it was a pre-emptive strike. I got tired of the new economy a few months before it got tired of me. I try on and off to get a new job, but the only ones that interest me are hopelessly underpaid. Obviously I’d love to live on gigs, but not in this city it isn’t going to happen.

As it turns out I mismanaged my money and I can probably stay here another two months if nothing else happens. Oakland is cheaper but I can’t afford the move.

Mara appears to have no problems. Then again, no one in California ever appears to have problems. She’s remarkably cheery and I have no idea how she came to get such a severe face. Probably I sounded desperate. Probably I still seem desperate. I don’t care. I also refuse to jinx anything by writing any more.

A thought: superstition exists because it confirms observations. Ghosts and sacrifices and virgin Delphic oracles, etc. Which suggests two things: one, like you say, there’s a sort of truth behind them even if they aren’t strictly true. Two, that observations tend to follow beliefs. Can we have it both ways?

You seemed to not have heard from Sal. What about her lil’ sis? She always liked you, you know.

johnny