January 1, 1994

9 am, Eastern Standard Time.

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. Nobody actually does them. I believe in New Year's Confessions. These are my confessions.

Confession One: I introduced Roger and April. That part everyone knows. The confession is that I knew April was on drugs when I hooked them up. I hoped April would straighten out, get clean if she was with Roger. Obviously that plan went straight to hell.

Confession Two: My parents disowned me. I know my friends think it's because I quit college. The real reason, I confess, is because I flunked out. That leads me to…

Confession Three: I'm a recovering alcoholic. That's how I ended up kicked out of NYU. That's why I try not to drink with the group. Nobody notices, but I never have more than three sips of whatever alcohol is being served. I drink water if I can and just tell them it's vodka. When we're all drinking, they're usually too blitzed to realize I'm not.

Confession Four: I had a one-night stand with Allison Gray of the Westport Grays. Actually, now her name's Allison Coffin. We slept together the night before she married Benny.

Confession Five: When I sold that video of the riot to the news, it wasn't for Maureen or the people of tent city or even to piss Benny off (though that was reason enough). It was for me. I knew it would get me a job offer of some sort and I wanted that attention.

Confession Six: Maureen's not the only one who cheated. Aside from my night with Allison, I also had a one-night stand with a woman I met at a bar. We didn't exchange names or numbers and so I never thought I'd hear from her or see her again, which was fine by me.

Confession Seven: Four months after that, I met the woman Maureen dumped me for, the woman from the bar. All she could say was "You're Mark?" which was no better than my reply "Joanne?" Everyone assumes the weirdness between us is because Maureen broke up with me to be with Joanne. We have no intention of telling them otherwise.