Some more ideas on 2004

Two marriages and a layoff. This will be 2004 in a gist for Sarah and Kirsten.

The new anti-LGBT laws passed by the so-called "red states," in a brilliant maneuver orchestrated by Karl Rove in making W's re-election happen, will bring the two to a breaking point.

Sarah will consider jumping off of the Golden Gate Bridge, as her job search continues in futility and her enemies score a huge win in W's re-election. The only thing that stops her will be the long thought processes when being forced to take the long ride on mass transit to the bridge, when Kirsten takes her Beetle (see below). She may become one of those who give up job searches completely (helping the unemployment rate go down, in the process).

Kirsten will cut off contact with her mother, burn all 1988 Seoul Olympics souvenirs (which she had attended with her family) and trigger the apartment's fire alarm, put her Hyundai Elantra on the selling block (and borrow Sarah's Beetle until she buys another ride), and call it quits at her reactionary Financial District job. This is a change - Kirsten was supposed to be carless in Berkeley, now that's no more. Kirsten will also take the Radcliffe name, partly in appreciation of Sarah's father Kevin Radcliffe's unconditional acceptance of Sarah. Meanwhile, the fire alarm incident will even cause the couple's eviction.

Financially, the two will live off of Sarah's severance payment and unemployment insurance, until Kirsten gets a new job. It won't be easy, however.

Two possibilities await here: Kirsten becomes a Silicon Valley technical writer, or the very first plotline - a job in Hollywood - materializes. Actually, I am thinking the Hollywood move may work out well, because Sarah will have an even harder time finding a job in less tolerant Los Angeles, especially with small businesses run by homophobic immigrants. When United Airlines recalls Sarah, she can report to work in Los Angeles - United's other West Coast hub. (Or she can return to the San Francisco domicile, and split her time between her folks in Pacifica and Kirsten in Los Angeles.) And of course, Kirsten can pamper herself with a nicer car; I've always wanted to give her an appetite for expensive cars, and it also fits Los Angeles's "you are what you drive" culture.

So many things are in flux regarding Sarah's story. Let's see how much of this I can nail down.