October 19, 1989
Back in the city. Took a walk down to the Marina to see the burned-out buildings and make sure Larry Hing’s was still standing. (It was.) The power was still out in places, and a lot of streets were closed off, but by and large it looked like people were going about their lives as usual.
The extent of the damage in my building: no hot water, no elevator, no lights in the lobby or stairwell, and the fire escape is sealed off as a “Restricted Zone.”
November 20, 1989
NYU film school application arrived. I’ve started to fill it out. How terrifying.
Robert is in town. We drove to Berkeley for dinner. (Crossed the Bay Bridge for the first time since the quake.) He’s euphoric at having escaped the industrial park and started a new life at Yale. That’s part of why I’m so eager to go to NYU.
November 21, 1989
Virginia called to give me the post-mortem on In the Dark. She is no longer involved. She says James Alex is crazy and self-destructive and they could have made this movie, but he blew it by getting involved with the Abramoff brothers, and so on.
November 28, 1989
George called and asked if I wanted to fly out and drive from Texas to L.A. with him this weekend. I said sure, why not. It’ll get me out of the house, and give me the chance to check out some film schools.
November 30, 1989
Sitting on the curb outside exit C-2 on the upper level of Dallas Fort Worth airport. My plane got in at three, I missed the 3:30 bus, and the next one doesn’t leave till 5:30. It’s a two-hour bus ride and I’m not even sure of being met at the end of it. I have no way of contacting George. His phone has been disconnected, and who knows if he’ll get any of the messages I’ve left at the Texasville inn. In other words: a typical George situation.
December 1, 1989
Spent the day with George and Cindy getting the last few shots for George’s documentary. Rusty Lindeman, celebrated wildcatter and first citizen of Wichita Falls (and the model for Jeff Bridges’ character in the movie), and his daughter took us out to lunch.
Rusty said: “I’ve never paid rent or made a payment on a house. Never in my life.” As in, why pay good money to live in someone else’s house when there’s so much land around and you can build one yourself? He gave me a toothbrush. “The dentist gives me one ever’ time I see him, and they just keep on building up in the glove compartment of my pickup.”
