It is with eager anticipation and devoted diligence that I patiently await the arrival of my monthly Systems and Sales Newsletter. Marking the days off my calendar and counting the remainder has become a ritual, over coffee each morning. On the "big day", as I cautiously reach for the mail, my hand trembles slightly and my heart beat quickens. For I know that if by some twist of fate, it's not there, the rest of the evening will be a total loss. I'll sit in the dark moping, as thoughts of better times and subdued revenge intermingle and flitter through my mind.

But alas! It's here! "Out of my way! Don't bother me, I need quiet!" As the dust settles, I try to ignore the idle threats of "if you don't come to dinner now, I'm gonna throw it out." I sit back, take a deep breath, and begin to read. Then it happens. The pace, for no apparent reason, quickens. By the end of the first page, it's brutal, by the end of the second maddening!

Faster-faster! Read-read! On I go through DPI Character Set, through Thumbnail Sketches, slowing only for an instant as my eye catches something about kazoos, thumpers and insomniacs. Turn dummy, turn the page! New Products is next. On and on I go, cringing at the characters. Go-go! Only one more page. The words begin to blur. Does that say "For Your Reading Pleasure" or "Preasure"? What difference--faster! Will I make it or will my mind disintegrate. Then suddenly, LEVIS! ! - LEVIS? Oh my God, I've gone crazy. I'm reading my zipper. Stop! Stop I shout, as the beads of sweat sting my eyes. I've got to stop! My subconscious takes over and the Newsletter flies out of my hands as though by some mystical force...

A11 is calm. I sit there quietly, trying to regain my sanity. I see illusions of four-footed MIT Controllers, dancing across my chest with frogs wearing party hats--seems quite normal.

The door opens slightly, my wife looks in, then cautiously enters. "Did It again," she says, "What happened this time?" I look down at the wrinkled, damp mass which used to be my Newsletter. I try to make my eyes focus. As I drift from a subconscious state into sleep, I mutter, "I - I...My - my mind has ... has intentionally been left blank."