I’m going to finish the book Visions of Terror, but first, I’m gonna update some stuff.

I didn’t get into my chat with Andy yet. Well, when I first called, he was doing one of his favorite things - eating. So he called me back when he was done, and we chatted about the usual.

I was right, Andy’s not going back east. The reasons he told me about his decision to stay here, were the exact reasons I figured he’d stay here for and that I recently wrote about. He said he feels too much at home here, doesn’t want to give up his house or this weather, and wants a relationship with a kid who smokes pot and cigarettes. What kind of maturity and stability can he get from an 18-year-old pothead, though? Doesn’t he feel he deserves better than some doped-up, immature kid?

He also said he lectured Barbara Nicks for standing him up. He was to meet her at her house to give her a Stevie demo, but Barb kept making excuses. Andy keeps insisting they’re friends, but it’s obvious to me that she’s not a true friend and she doesn’t want him at the house, even though he’s been there once before (but they talked outside). Anyway, he lectured her about her not leveling with him. I agree that she should just come out and admit it if she doesn’t want him at the house, but he can’t make her be or do something she doesn’t want to be or do.

He’s living alone now, still not interested in working full-time, and yet he’s all paid up on his bills and rent till March. When I asked him how he managed to do this on just a few hours of work a week, his answer was, “Something you wouldn’t approve of.” I knew right then and there that he was dealing. Yeah, he’s selling weed. Only to people he knows, but still, I hope he doesn’t get caught. I don’t think he will, though, cuz Andy’s always been super lucky at getting away with things. Remember? He’d make just as many, maybe more, prank calls, yet who was the one to get trapped over and over and over again? Anyway, he’s doing this to supplement his income and he says that throughout 1999 he’s basically gonna be a bum and keep living as he has been. Does this mean that at the turn of the century, he’ll seek out a full-time position that he won’t set himself up to be fired at? Even get a man and not a boy? Someone clean? If he wants someone clean, though, he’s gonna have to clean up himself. You know how it is, druggies want druggies, non-druggies want non-druggies.

My nose is all scabbed up cuz of the allergy attack I had the other day. My lungs are back to being tight again regularly. Especially at the end of my day. Tom says it’ll improve once we move. God, I hope so! I feel like I’m gonna be like this every day for the rest of my life.

I got sick of doing subject indexes, so I decided to take a break from that for a while. It was more work than fun. I saved what I began this year, the last few months of last year, and 1987-1990.

Fortunately, I’m not sore today. My teeth are usually sore 3-4 days after seeing Melanie. She put a wedge in where that one really crooked tooth is on the bottom to rotate it. So, till I see her again, I should just have random soreness. Usually, you go for a while without feeling much soreness anywhere, then you get a sore tooth. This means it’s getting ready to move. Then another tooth gets sore and it moves, etc.

It’s really weird when Melanie takes the bands off when she goes to change them (the bands are what do the pulling). When she takes them off, my teeth feel like they’re being pushed in the opposite direction, when in truth, they’re not being pushed at all without those bands.

Today I dusted and vacuumed the bedrooms and the living room. I cleaned the bathroom and wiped down the stove. Tomorrow, I’ll do the microwave and the countertops, but I don’t think I’ll bother with cleaning the refrigerator and the oven till we move. Same with the tub.

I didn’t change Velvet’s cage yet, but I changed part of the rats’. I washed down their shelves which were loaded with piss and shit and which stunk like hell. I didn’t change the sawdust in the bass of the cage yet, but I will soon.

It seems Porky, the little shit, has taken to squeezing through the bars of the cage and walking around on top of it. When I yelled at him he went back inside, so hopefully he won’t be an escape problem. I don’t feel like he will be, but we’ll see.

Once again, Ziggy doesn’t look too good. She is getting old.

I changed the mice’s setup by omitting the aquariums. Seven mice don’t need all the space they had, and this really gives me a break till we get a dishwasher. It’s cute and cozy and kind of neat for a change. Right now, they just have the biggest and the smallest of the three Play City cages, and the maze.

I loaded up the mice’s aquariums with their cute, colorful toys. Their accessories and all that stuff. I put all the T-tubes and straight tubes in the middle-sized Play City cage, and the curves in a box. So they’ll be organized and packed for when we move.

I’ll leave this strictly up to Tom, but as much as I love Velvet’s cage he built, I think we should just use it while we’re here. I think Velvet should be in Ratsy’s old aquarium when we move. That’s all he needs, cuz he doesn’t do anything. As big as he is, he just sits there, so he doesn’t need extra room. I’d have to change it more often, but it’d be worth it.

I called and asked Mom what she’d recommend as far as dusting my dolls are concerned. She agreed with me that because feather dusters are best on hard surfaces only, and since I can’t take a wet rag to their hair and clothes, I’d be best off taking them outside and shaking the dust out of their hair and clothes, so that’s what I did.

I put some of the dolls back in different places/poses.

I really wish I not only had more dolls Bailey’s size but as poseable as she is, too. That’s the difference, once again, between a $300 doll and a $50 doll. I had Bailey sitting on one of the living room stereo speakers, but now I’ve got her sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, leaning against it. She has one hand sort of on her knee, and the other on a stuffed wolf dog I’ve had for a while. She looks so natural. She’s so well-proportioned, unlike some of my other dolls. Maria’s knees are kind of low and her feet are too small if you ask me, but I still love Maria and am glad I got her. There are so many different poses I could set Bailey up in, though. I had her lying down on the footstool with her hair hanging off the side, reaching upward as if to be picked up. This looked so cute, but I can’t leave her there and there’s really no other place in this house to pose her like that. She’s still sitting next to Maria and they’re such a great contrast to each other. Bailey’s dressed so casually in her little sleeper, while Maria’s all decked out in her fancy, shiny satin outfit with her sparkling fan and veil. It’s too bad Bailey’s wrists and elbows don’t bend too. Then she’d really be poseable.