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| Part 3 | Day One | 
| Also, I was not in the mood to go out even to the 
MAD DOG IN THE FOG, 
because yesterday at the park I fell asleep after consuming large 
quantities of the vodka-lemonade, and left side of my face is terribly 
sunburned. 
As Amelia put it quite nicely, I look as if someone hit me with a 
shovel. So everything was pretty much in favor of me having a 
substantial daily output, or at least getting started. As everyone 
knows, the journey of a thousand miles starts with a first step, and I 
was finally anxious to make that first step. Alas, it was not to be.
 | 
|  | EB burst into the Drinking Room and without a word 
started a simplified coffee making procedure. I was 
grateful that he did not ask how my work was 
progressing. Not that he was putting any pressure on 
me. As a matter of fact, last night, after we came back 
from the park, the rest of the gang of 4 was making fun 
of me for being unable to get the project of the 
ground. | 
| But EB defended me on the ground that : 
"most everyone in this 
country is so disgustingly responsible, so seeing 
Ely doing a lousy job is like a breath of fresh air.
 
I felt grateful to the big guy, although it is possible that he too was 
making fun of me, but in a more subtle way.
 | 
|  | Also, I'll probably never know if he was being 
sarcastic when he approached me, put his hand on my 
shoulder, and suggested I take a day off. He suggested 
we all go see a movie. 
It appears that one of us, and all I know is that it 
wasn't me, but the rest of the group were later denying 
it was any of them, have heard or read somewhere that 
this documentary called SYNTHETIC PLEASURES was 
something not to be missed, and told EB about it. The 
fact is we haven't been at the movies in a long time. 
As a group, that is.
 | 
| And we used to do it regularly before we moved into the Bay Area. There 
was another factor involved: Bill informed us that it was time to move 
the car due to the street cleaning the next day, so it was a perfect 
opportunity to mix business with pleasure. | 
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