5.10.1994

I've accepted a full time permanent position with the Optical Coating Lab. I passed the drug test just like I expected and I also passed the physical on my lungs. From the sound of things I will have to wear a respirator on the new job at times. I guess you have to breathe harder to get air through the filters on a respirator and they wanted to test my lungs out to make sure I wouldn't have any problems. The nurse at the clinic asked me some questions after the first test because she said I was borderline. The reason why is because I've just gotten over a bad cold. She gave me the evil eye anyway though, and then tested me again. The results were better and they should have been since I took extra deep breaths and held them for as long as I could. I didn't want the nurse to think I was trying to conceal that I'm a smoker or something. She must get lied to alot.

This job is going to be an excellent opportunity to get out of Bill and Dave's company for good. I lost some sleep over the last couple of nights stressing about whether or not I'd get the new job. Today when I got back to work I gave Shamu my two weeks' notice. It felt really good to do that to her. I know that when I leave her area it's going to cause problems for months. There is no one on swing shift that can take my place and crank out as heavy a throughput of work like I can. Hope it hurts.

Jennifer is coming by the house around two in the afternoon. I haven't really seen her since we broke up in high school. She showed up here uninvited with a friend of hers the last two weekends. We were having a little B Street shindig and she barged in and found me, then left about as fast as she had come in. On the next Saturday she stayed here until late in the evening. It was really weird. Anyway she's apparently coming here to talk to me. About what I'm not sure. She always had a way of confusing me when we were together years ago. It was very frustrating. When she was here with me this past Saturday she stayed until 4am and was acting like she wanted me to work her, but she kept making comments like "I'm not sleeping here tonight." Her tone of voice was snyde as she said it each time.

She's gained alot of weight since high school. At first I couldn't believe it because I always remembered her being so damn skinny. After I thought about it for a while though it made perfect sense. Jennifer never liked to do anything physical, like ride bicycles or go on walks with me. Pretty much all she ever did was sit on a couch watching movies or TV and eat. So after watching five years of TV and grubbin' out I think it's caught up with her. Jennifer's hair is really short like a little boy's. She dyed it jet black. I think it's funny. Definetly doesn't suit her. When she was here though I was polite and told her she looked fine. She mentioned that she walks three times a week around a lake near here and she's on a diet. That's cool, but it seems she's stuck in a rut like a little old lady. Apparently every wednesday night she gets together with a bunch of girls she works with to watch some TV show and have a dinner party. Jennifer doesn't drink, but she picked up the habit of smoking which I couldn't believe.

I felt pretty good about kicking her out that night. If she was interested in me it showed her I'm not going to be easy. If she wasn't then I saved myself the embarrassment of being rejected and creating an uncomfortable situation for the both of us. The only reason I'm in this at all right now is because I'm curious about her. After we stopped seeing each other it was as if she had disappeared from the face of the earth. We shall see what happens.