6 Oct 1994

Dear S,

You may notice some layout changes with this letter. That’s because I’m fooling around in Microsoft Word it’s pretty exciting to an old WordStar hack like me.  So exciting in fact, that I think it’s time to CHANGE THE FONT SIZE!!! oooh think I’m going to like it.

Had a chat with Caitlin at work about conditions here and all that and I’ve put in for a $3000 pay rise, that’ll take me up to $27,000. I can’t help it, I’m a greedy bugger. I figure I deserve it for all the unpaid overtime I do for each edition. I also asked for the title of Editor instead of Researcher. “Editor” imbues one with such a sense of authority, don’t you think?

17 Oct

The proofing for “Who the Fuck Cares” commenced officially as of Saturday, and already, after only three days, I feel the tentacles of Proofing Psychosis (a recognised psychological phenomena) entwining themselves unctuously about the tottering pillars of my sanity.  To tell the truth, it just bores me shitless.

Okay only ten weeks til Christmas. Ten weeks. I can’t believe it. Remember when you were a kid and Christmases seemed absolute eons apart? I wish I still had that sense of time, how do you suppose we lose it? I guess it’s comparative. When I was eight, one year was an eighth of my entire life. Now it’s less than one twentieth, or 5%  So what would you like for Christmas? Confess save yourself some misery, tell me what you want. Or even better, tell me what I should get Mum and Dad. Of course, I can think of loads of bitchy things for Dad (like a post-coital can of Glen 20 Germ Spray).  I think Mum is going to Queensland to see Aunty Tia but it’s just too hot for me up there which means I must think of a fiendishly inventive scam to free me from Dad’s Yuletide Family Horrors of 1994. Maybe I could say I have a septic cyst which might just burst on Christmas Day and precludes any travel plans. That’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure with some deeper thought and consideration that I can come up with a plan worthy of the occasion.

Well, I had better be off, I’ve still got about 800 pages to proof in the next three days, and I’m already behind schedule (aren’t I always?)

Love J