Dear Diary,

Well. Grocery prices are up again. I've been spending so much! Even just my beans-&-rice-&-hot-dog dinners cost me like $70 this month. This is getting crazy. Thankfully, the landlord promised that rent is going to stay stable this year, so long as we don't expect much in the way of maintenance. So, fingers crossed that nothing breaks, or if it does, that I can fix it for cheap.

Thank god we don't have to buy film for cameras anymore; I would be completely up a creek.

But on the bright side, Jean got me a comp ticket to her play, so I'm going to be able to see her perform on-stage! She's been working so hard on this play, I know it's going to be great. Maybe I can get Enrique to join me? Although, honestly, we probably wouldn't be able to sit together, since his seat would be paid for. Well, anyway.

I think I'll head uptown this weekend. I heard the Park is supposed to be having, like, some big event for bird-watchers. Those are usually good for some public interest pics, and sometimes I get some good gossip out of the attendees. I'll let you know how it turns out, diary.

Dear Diary,

So, I took my “Gift Coupon” over to the Fashion District like they told me, and found the apartment The Accounting told me about. Inside was a kinda short guy, with mutton chops, no cap, and like a 19th century suit, and wearing cheap plastic sunglasses. Wanna guess, Diary? The Production, apparently.

These Harbinger guys are insane. Also, are they all guys? So far, I haven’t seen any women. 0 for 3.

Anyway, so The Production asks me what I’m in the market for, and I joke and say “A way to pay my bills.” Except he takes it completely seriously, takes my Coupon, hands me a small glass ball, and tells me to break it. Completely sincere. So, feeling awkward, I break it between two rocks over the trashcan. And, I guess that’s it? I don’t feel any different. Not sure what I’m supposed to be feeling, though. Did it work?

Dear Diary,

Enrique stopped by today after work, and invited me to go with him to a martial arts gym. It was a Brazilian capoeira gym, which was wild, very, like, dancing, jumping-around kind of stuff.

Diary, I was amazing at it. Every single thing they taught, I was able to do, like, immediately. I’m not going to pretend I was better than the masters, or anything, but I was definitely better than some of the people who’d been going awhile. They even asked me where I had studied before, they couldn’t believe it was my first time.

It feels so good, Diary. I’m going to start going a couple times a week.

One of the guys there is apparently a luchador wrestler, by the way. He said my capoeira is already good enough that he invited me to train with him and his friends. I told him that the one time I tried amateur wrestling that it went very poorly, but he said to stop by anyway. I think I might.

Enrique, by the way, didn’t do so well. And he’s done some martial arts training in the past. I think he was a little sore about it, but more mad at himself than me, I think. But meanwhile, it leaves me wondering if this is what I got by trading in my Gift Coupon? Something to think about.