Summary

1992 opens with Sedaris writing, “Looking into the future lately, I see nothing but a mess. I think I peaked in 1988, and it’s all downhill now. How awful, to decline this way. What makes young people young is that they see themselves going up, up, up. Not me, though. I’m old now” (279).

Still in New York, Sedaris worked moving furniture and sanding floors to make money. Then one night, Hugh sat Sedaris down to talk about employment. Hugh claimed that while Sedaris whines and sulks, he does little when it comes to finding steady work and asked, “Do you think that someone’s going to knock on the door and offer you a job?” (280). In relaying the story, Sedaris writes, “And I said that of course that’s what I thought. Doesn’t he know anything? I don’t make things happen— that’s...