Sunday, December 23, 1984

An old friend of mine killed himself, at the ripe old age of thirty-eight. He has been unemployed for several years. He was an electrician and had worked for Caterpillar until he was laid-off a few years ago. He found another electrician job, but got laid-off from that job too. He blew his brains out, literally. He was extremely bright, witty, nice looking and for the most part, had everything going for him, except a job. Lack of a job and the horrendous job market, made him feel useless and emasculated. I wish I had kept in touch more frequently, but since I've been unable to find a job in my trained profession and work more hours than anyone I've ever known, I have lost touch with many people that I dearly cared about. I am physically nauseated by the news of his death.

I went to work at Marie's tonight to make up for last Wednesday night.