Thursday, February 21, 2008

Caution! 15-year-old girl ahead!

Here is where my diary totally shifts in lovelorn teen girl-dom. It ain't pretty, folks, and I'm a little embarrassed to be sharing this with the entire world (or at least my 4 friends and husband who read this blog), but it'll be fun.
I think.
Apparently, nothing happened from the first day of 9th grade until February, because I skipped all those months. I do remember I got "Tango In The Night" by Fleetwood Mac for Christmas. I went on the yearly Youth Fellowship ski trip, where I heard The Cramps for the first time. It was super fun, and I got to sleep in an inflatable raft. That may have been my first time skiing.
Here we go.

Feb. 13, 1988
I started this diary almost a year ago. Wow. In one year, I have learned how to ski, swim, canoe, made an awesome volleyball serve, put in contacts, work a VCR, do proofs, survive during my period, annoy my parents and countless other things, even type. I don't like BC, I like one of his friends: M. P. I love him so much it isn't funny. I die whenever I see him. I would die for him I think.
I still have no hole in my right ear an I am getting soft contacts sometime next week. I had hard ones, but they hurt my eyes. I think I'll limit myself to one page a day. I bought tan pants today. C. had carved 666 into her arm and mastered the art of 5 fingers. Maybe she'll stop since AD and VS got caught. I love MP so much
-Al
* I drew a picture of the back of his head. It wasn't a good picture.*
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1. Christ. " I die whenever I see him"? WTF? I hadn't even started listening to The Cure at this point!

2. I was usually picked first for volleyball in gym class. It was my shining glory. I could hit the opposite side of the gym with my fearsome serves.

3. This whole MP thing started when C. developed a crush on him, and I tagged along for the ride. She was getting super weird at this point (i.e. self-mutilation) and I probably wanted to salvage our friendship. The infatuation gets a LOT worse, folks.

4. 5 fingers is shoplifting, nothing dirty.

5. My handwriting also is totally different. Geez, you hit puberty and your whole being changes! I had had my hair cut super short at the beginning of 9th grade, and it grew out CURLY, after being straight for 14 years. It is still curly, too. WTF?

6. It is almost painful to remember the pang of unrequited love. You all had serious crushes-why did it hurt so much? I am SO glad I don't have to go through all that again. I watch my students deal with the tides of "love" and thank god I'm not 14 anymore.

7. To show what a dork I was/am, I wrote a letter to my mom telling her I started my period. Bodily functions were never openly discussed in my house. The only Period Talk I got from my mother was in 5th grade. Mom said, "You know, there's pads under the sink if you ever need them." The Sex Talk was "Wait until you're in college to have a boyfriend." Thank god I was a reader and already knew all about the many ways of the vagina.

8. The book referenced in the Period Talk link is the exact one our school gave us in 1984/1985. It was the same book C's mother got when she was in school. What the hell were belts?!

9. On the way to the ski lodge for the Youth Fellowship ski trip, Jon lent me his Cramps tape. In between awesome songs, I heard him defend me to his hot friend Kevin, "Leave her alone, she's listening to The Cramps." I had a mild crush on Jon for a while, until he became a pot head. He did also expose me to The Descendents for the first time. Thanks, Jon, wherever you are!

10. I am totally tired of being sick. I have even lost my voice, which made for well-behaved students yesterday. We had a snow day today, and the prognosis is good for tomorrow. I may milk the Inability To Speak for a few more days.

3 comments:

Alexis Wilson-Castaldi said...

Fight the Power! The power being the flu. I've been overloading on B-50 and vitamin C to ward that sucker off. It tries but I think I'm winning. Honey time for that throat.
Wait, snow day? Aren't you south of me? How come I don't get snow days?
Now to the endearing matter of MP. I vividly remember that unrequited love, for which I never understood. For such a small school it's pretty amazing we never crushed on the same guy. You went for the brooding souls I just liked the utter dickheads. Did we have lockers on the second floor that year? I'm so waxing nostalgic for more of your memories of how it actually felt at that time, especially since we weren't really that tight at that point. It's stirring up a lot of my own (memories) which are sad, funny and totally teenager. So when should we collaborate on a screenplay about New Hope in the 80's? I think Ellen Page would make a cute Allison.

Unknown said...

How the hell old was that period talk book when you got it???? I'm older than you and belts were already long gone. Do you really not know what they are? Long ago, pads were GIGANTIC and had to be attached to a sort of garter belt thing that you wore around your hips. The horror, the horror...

Unknown said...

How the hell old was that period talk book when you got it???? I'm older than you and belts were already long gone. Do you really not know what they are? Long ago, pads were GIGANTIC and had to be attached to a sort of garter belt thing that you wore around your hips. The horror, the horror...