6th Grade Diary
Part 3

April 14, 1985 (Sun's day (he must've gone on vacation because it's cloudy out here!))

I went to Grandmother Lonon's last week. There were a bunch of big fires near Morganton. When we went to Hickory, they closed off the highway we were on and we had to go on this little 2-lane road + it took forever to get home. Once when the announcer said the fires were heading toward Morganton, I was scared. I couldn't sleep that night.

I wrote down the top 40 for this week.

• Sure Shot -- Celebrate Youth - Rick Springfield
• 40. New Attitude - Patti LaBelle
• 39. Just A Gigolo - David Lee Roth
• 38. Axle F - Harold Faltermeyer
• 37. The Heat Is On - Glenn Frey
• 36. Private Dancer - Tina Turner
• 35. Take Me With U - Prince
• 34. The Bird - The Time
• 33. [I missed writing down this one.]
• 32. Suddenly - Billy Ocean
• 31. Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears
• 30. Don't Come Around Here No More - Tom Petty + The HeartBreakers
• 29. Vox Humana - Kenny Loggins
• 28. Keeping The Faith - Billy Joel
• 27. Radioactive - The Firm
• 26. Rock + Roll Girls - John Fogerty
• Extra: Welcome To The Pleasure Dome - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
• 25. Smooth Operator - Sade
• 24. Too Late For Goodbyes - Julian Lennon
• 23. Forever Man - Eric Clapton
• 22. High On You - Survivor
• 21. Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid - Daryl Hall + John Oates
• 20. Everything She Wants - Wham!
• 19. Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon
• 18. Just Another Night - Mick Jagger
• 17. Some Like It Hot - Powerstation
• 16. Missing You - Diana Ross
• 15. That Was Yesterday - Foreigner
• 14. One Night In Bangkok - Murray Head
• 13. Somebody - Bryan Adams
• 12. Don't You Forget About Me - Simple Minds
• 11. Lover Girl - Teena Marie
• 10. All She Wants To Do Is Dance - Don Henley
• 9. Obsession - Animotion
• 8. Along Comes A Woman - Chicago
• [7 and 6 I missed writing down.]
• 5. I'm On Fire - Bruce Springsteen
• 4. Material Girl - Madonna
• 3. Crazy For You - Madonna
• 2. One More Night - Phil Collins
• 1. We Are The World - USA for Africa

We did our presentations in ALERT. Jodz did acupuncture + I don't know what Mark did. Lee did do the brain + Sean did the liver, along with Lee Fletcher + Greg Edwards. They brought in a genuine calf liver in a plastic bag. It was really neat. Lee [Mathis] worked with Willie (ugh!) + even their combined efforts didn't make a very good presentation. Ginger Norris still did the fetus, + so did Christy Lagle but they didn't work together. Stacey Buebell did epilepsy + had half the class in a play in which Lee Fletcher "had" an epileptic seizure. Anyway you were supposed to "loosen all tight clothing" + Jennifer Whitley got the job. Ms. Peter told her "not to touch his pants", "that this is not an X-rated movie." Anyway, Jennifer squatted down beside him + used 1 hand to unbutton the top two buttons of his shirt as if he were contagious or something. Stacey gave a little lecture about how if this were a real epileptic seizure we would loosen all tight clothing, even if it meant taking off the person's pants. If that's what they do during seizures I sure hope Lee or Sean or Mark has epilepsy! And has a seizure in a class I'm in!

April 17, 1985 (Mittwoch [Wednesday])

We've been doing German for 2 ALERTS now. I've learned quite a bit. We went on a field study today.

First, we got to ALERT and copied down the German words on the new bulletin board. Then we evaluated our independent studies from last week + did German worksheets. Then we got on the bus and went to Richland Northeast High School to see a bunch of exchange students from Germany. We interviewed them, and we had to say "Guten Morgen, Mein nomen ist Suzanne. Wie heissen sie?" which means "Good Morning. My name is Suzanne. What is your name?" Then we went to the Mall. Sarah + I ate at Chick-Fil-A. We had nearly an hour to ourselves. I bought some satin stickers + Sarah bought a Barbie dress for her sister Jessie. Later, we all went to see a rabbit at the pet shop. Half the class was begging her to buy it and name it "Alertster." Then Sean called me over to look at some pregnant guinea pigs (Actually, he would've called anybody, but I was closest to the cage). Then we went downstairs to count noses + Sean + Lee Fletcher hid behind me + somebody else, since they're the 2 shortest people in the class, + tried to make Ms. Peter think 2 people were missing, but Kenyon Bell pointed them out. Well, I think it was Kenyon.

On the bus back to school wasn't so great. Ms. Peter turned on the radio. First they played "Jack + Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp. 3 or 4 people sang alone, especially Sean. He has a loud voice and it's not music to my ears because I wanted to hear the song. Then it got worse. Half my class was singing along to "Some Like It Hot" (Powerstation) Aaaaaagh! I was glad when we got to school, because I like the song but not the "accompaniment."

April 20, 1985 (Saturn's day)

I'm bored. So I'm going to plan. Monday: (Monntag) Wear white sweater with pink stripes + fuschia pants. Read Garfield + Erma.

This is boring too.

April 26, 1985 (Samstag)

I am bored. B-O-R-E-D!

We had BSAP testing this week. That meant one-half day ALERT. Oh well, I got to look at Mark after I finished the test. He + Ginger Norris are directly in my line of sight. I don't think I'll ever forget what their shoes look like. Gingers - yellow with no laces, just like my purple ones in style [L.A. Gear sneakers]. Marks: Blue tennis shoes with white stripe.

May 3, 1985 (Freitag, Freya's day)

We went to a Dunderbak's on Wednesday. Thats a German restaurant in the Mall. We ate lunch there. I had a turkey salad sandwich + a small Sprite, or in German, truthahn salate belegtes brot + ein kleines Sprite. Jay Hubbell bought a six-pack of Kinder-Beer, which is non-alcoholic beer for children. After that, we got ice cream at Bresler's 33 Flavors. Sarah got peppermint ice cream. It have little chunks of peppermint in it. I got a chocoholic that's chocolate ice cream with chunks of chocolate in it. Lee asked if I'd ever had one before + said they were good. I've had trillions, and they are good.

May 13, 1985 (Monntag, Moon's Day)

Today was great! I had all my homework, I got everything done, I traded stickers with Staci, Mark and I talked about our ALERT homework and I feel GR-REAT! Just like in the Frosted Flakes commercial.

One embarrassing thing happened in 6th, science class. I started my period yesterday, + I was wearing pad I'd worn since morning + the pad leaked, I was wearing light green + white pants + the seat is half brown, so it was a little embarrassing, I had to go to the health room + get a new pad.

May 15, 1985 (Mittwoch/Wodin's Day)

ALERT! ALERT! We LOVE ALERT! YAAY! We do!

Today we had a discussion about teasing. Sean says he gets teased about whoever he's going with. Lee said he gets teased about wearing glasses (4-eyes). I said being teased about reading a lot. We also read "stories with holes." They're really neat. Like, Horton walks into a restaurant + reads the menu. "Mmm! Albatross soup! My favorite!" he says + orders some. When he's served the soup, he tastes it + faints. It took our class a while to figure out that Horton used to be a sailor + he was shipwrecked. One of his crewmates died. The captain served "albatross soup." But it was really the dead guy. Horton fainted when he realized that.

May 30, 1985 (Thurs.)

Now to catch up:

Last day of ALERT: We went to Sesqui. We walked, Sean and Greg got quite behind the rest of us. We all thought they'd gotten lost. But Sarah had been dragging a stick behind her + they followed that. We had a scavenger hunt. Kenyon + Suraj won. Then Ms. Peter fixed the food + we played. Sarah + I went over to the play equipment to have fun. A bunch of little kids were there + they thought we were crazy. Then we ate. Mrs. Peter grilled hot dogs + everyone brought something. I brought potato chips. After we ate, Sarah, Chris Waters + I walked over to the refreshment stand + bought snow cones.

Then we went on the nature trail. At first we just walked along, but one-third of the way Ms. Peter told us we were doing a Silence Walk. Everyone was to walk along without talking. Someone saw a deer, but it ran away before I got there. Then we did a Trust Walk. I ended up with Greg Edwards. Caroline Dugan, who was with Sean + right behind me, kept bumping into me.

When we got back to the picnic area we had a water balloon toss. That's where you're across from someone + you toss a balloon filled with water back + forth, taking a step back after each toss. Twice the balloon burst on my feet, not at all on Sarah. Them we started home. When we got back to E. L. Wright school we attacked the water fountains.

The same night we wentto the Golden Crown, a "restaurant und bier garten." Sean didn't go, Lee did. Our class went with the Dent Middle School people. I sat between Sarah + Erica Huggins. They had a live singer. He sang some German stuff and then "Ein, zwei, g'suffa" which is an old German beer-drinking sone that we all knew [from class]. Everyone joined in. Every so often on the "Ein, zwei, g'suffa!" part he'd lean over + make someone else sing it. He did that once to me + once to Sarah. I got breaded pork, with french fries + salad. Sarah got veal with dumplings + salad. We both drank Sprite. In line at the checkout counter they had free lollipops + bumper stickers that said "Ich (heart) Golden Crown und Bier Garten." I got a sticker + a cherry lollipop.

The day after that was our unit's trip to Charleston. I was in Gena Kohn's father's group. So was Jill Lawrence, Caroline Dugan, Marcy Ulmer, Lok-Yi Yip, Betty Kim, Gretchen Meyer, Beth Carrion, and of course Gena.

First we went to the Yorktown, an aircraft carrier, and the Clamagore, a submarine. We went through the Clamagore first. How could people live in those teeny-weeny little rooms? I mean, there were rooms the size of our bathroom with five bunks in them! The Yorktown isn't much better either. Boy, that flight deck was huge!

Then we went to a museum. It had a big sperm whale skeleton hanging from the gift shop ceiling, and rooms full of old dresses. It said the ideal girl's waist in the 1840's was 13 inches! My waist hasn't been that small since kindergarten!

Then (after lunch) we visited the provost dungeon. Actually most of it is ballrooms + stuff, but the good part was the dungeon. It was really hot down there, and we saw a place where the Americans hid gunpowder + the British would've given anything to know about, but none of the prisoners they kept down there ever told even though most knew about it + they were all dying down there.

Then we visited Ft. Sumter. That's on an island so we had to get there by boat. I got sort of sick. We got free time to look around by ourselves. The ruins of the old fort are really neat. They are just shells of wall with old cannon in them, but there are lots of little crooks + crevices. One is a little tunnel back into the unecavated part. A bunch of boys hid in there and scared me, Laurie Orndorff, + Caroline Dugan.

Then was the long boring ride home.

The next Wednesday was dress rehearsal for ballet. This year our costumes are neon green leotards with green, blue, + purple sequins diagonally across the front, and a separate tutu, the same green, with purple sequins on the edges.

Our dance is fun. Since I'm in a first year toe class, there is work on the points, but not much, thank goodness (it hurts). In the dance we walk out on stage (on half-toe) port de bras forward, end in 5th, bourée (on point) in a circle, come down, tendu right + kneel quasée (facing a corner) port de bras 3 times, come up, tendus right twice, potabourée, port de bras right twice, potabourée again, walk on half toe into a line, tendu once in each direction, port de bra, torjeté forward, bourée forward holding hands, bourée back, come down, port de bra, walk on half-toe to our end-of-dance positions, music ends, we walk off stage. [For anyone interested in this, the music was Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata".]

At the rehearsal, I got there + Paige (a girl in my class; there's Paige, Chevis, Angie, Angel, Kim, Susan, and me) pulled me down to where everyone was waiting while Mom waited in line to order pictures. As usual, I had to pay for my own group picture. Ward Bates' (total ugh) jazz class was waiting in the same place as ours, + so was Stacey Buebel's ballet class.

We went up on stage, did our dance twice, then came down + had out pictures taken, then went home. All of this was yesterday.

Today we went to Summer Nuclear Plant. It was totally boring. I went there last year in ALERT + it was fun then. But now a) I've been there before + b) the presentation was watered down for the dummies. Yuck!

June 10, 1985 (Monntag/Moon's day)

"Wie geht?" "Danke, es geht mit gut. Und sie?" "Mir gut, mir gut."

I've been memorizing German on my own. That stuff translates to "How are you?" "Thank you, I am fine. And you?" "Very good, very good." I ran around saying things like "Wo ist mein Bleistift?" (Where is a pencil) and asking Mom "Wann ist Frustuch, Mutter?" (When is breakfast, Mom?) Next year we're studying French!

Recital was just like last year. Go backstage, wait forever for time to dance, dance, go backstage, wait forever for show to end, end of show, go meet the grandparents.

Grandmother + Granddaddy Lonon went to China. They brought me a little green + brown pot with a lid that I put on my desk, a doll made from dough entirely by had that was in a little glass stand, a set of 3 bracelets, an ivory pendant on a gold chain, and these cute little paper cutouts that you're supposed to put between glass + frame. I got a purple one of a cat and some butterflies, and a red one of two cats fighting in a garden.

Mom's schoool ended a week later than mine. So I had fun at home while Mom was teaching + doing paperwork. I watched MTV + a few R-rated movies, like Sixteen Candles which is a really neat movie about a girl (Samantha) whose birthday is the day before her sister's wedding. And everyone in her family forgets, even her grandparents! And she's in love with this guy named Jake, who doesn't know she exists! And ths guy guy named Ted a.k.a. Geek, likes her but she hates him! Poor girl.

Well, I'm sort of in the same boat. Willie Armstrong a.k.a. Big Ears, likes me. I know that because: Gena Kohn, Fozia Saleem, and Elizabeth Skiba have all separately told me so, and Willie's been hanging around me at school like Grant hung around Richmond. Gena told me that she likes Willie but it's a secret. When Jodz reads this I'll tell her to keep it quiet. [Gena later denied this and said she must have been pointing to someone else.]

We're on our way to Washington, D.C. right now. I'll write about what I see. Au Revoir!

Later on June 10, 1985

Washington hasn't worked out too well. First, Mom got lost even with a "visitor's map." Then it took forever to find a hotel, and the one room left had one king-size bed, instead of two beds. It also has a Jacuzzi, which sort of makes up for the bed. I got into it when I took a bath. It's great, but I'm still not sure how the bed buisiness will work out. Plus the car isn't working. When ever we brake at a stoplight, the engine conks out and Mom has to start it again. And, to make things worse, we can't find a place to sleep tomorrow night. The room we're in is reserved for tomorrow, this hotel is full for tomorrow, so are five other hotels in the area. Well, tomorrow we'll get the car fixed at a gas station + look for another hotel. Well, Auf Widersehn!

June 11, 1985 (Dienstag)

Guten Morgen! Wie Geht? More German, as you can see. I forgot to mention yesterday (although it's rather obvious) that school's out for the summer. Hurrah!

We're going to Grandmother's now. Mom + I both got fed up with getting lost in Washington, so we just left + we're on our way to Grandmother's. The bed worked out pretty well though. Mom only kicked me once + I didn't need to at all.

I have 5 (funf) favorite dolls. Since I'm bored, I'm gonna write about them. The first is Annie, a stuffed Raggedy Ann doll. She has 3 outfits. The 1st is a pants + blouse, both white, knit, with red trimming on the collar + cuffs. She also has a set of red overalls with a flowered shirt and a cute little dress. I usually sleep with her.

The next is Serendipity, a stuffed unicorn. She is all white with a gold horn + eyes that look purple in sunlight + gray in electric light. She sits on my bookcase because I don't want her to get dirty. The 3rd favorite is Snuggles. She's a yellow duck with black eyes + no feet. I sleep with her too. Then there's Clara, a china doll with 1 broken foot, wearing a long brown dress, + Sandy, a stuffed dog. Both Clara + Sandy sit on tope of the bookcase.

June 14, 1985 (Freitag/Freya's day/Frigga's day)

Wir ist at Grandmothers. Ich ist bored. Translation: We are at Grandmothers. I am bored. Reason: I have nothing good to read + I'm out of yarn for the tote bag I'm making from needlework. Grandmother offered to donate some, but its the wrong shade + I don't have anything to work on where color doesn't matter. In the evenings while Mom's watching TV, I've been reading her novel, Love Me, Marietta. [This is a novel belonging to Mom, not written by her.] It's great! I'm on p.358. So far, Marietta has: met a man she wants to sleep with, had her fiance (a different guy) killed, been sold to pirates to be shipped off to South America to be a whore, been picked out by the pirate captain to take to his island to be his lover, nearlly escaped the island, gotten punished for trying, and gotten rescued.

June 15, 1985 (Saturn's day)

Last night I saw 3 ballets. [on TV] Well, 2 and a half. First, Les Sulfides Mikhail Baryshnikov performed in this one. There were 3 female solists, Baryshnikov, + a 12 person troupe. I missed the beginning so I don't know what it was about, but the dancing was beautiful. Then was Triad. That was "a story of love and jealousy between two brothers + a young girl." It's great too. There are only six people in this ballet, the brothers, the girl, + 3 guys that just danced. Last was Paquita, which was great too. But Mom had me change the channel so she could watch her stupid Miami Vice.

I finished Love Me, Marietta She sleeps with the man she met, gets attacked by + drives off Indians, has her good friend Em get married, goes into New Orleans which is having an epidemic of the fever, nurses the guy back to health, finds out her fiance isn't really dead, goes to England to live with him, finds out he got married, and ends up living with the man she met at the beginning of the story. What a story!

My tote bag is almost done. Soon as I gt home I'll do the parts I need a special shade for just 6 more squares, a little edge, + the putting together + handles.

June 17, 1985 (Monntag)

I got my period for the first time one year ago today. I don't feel any different, though. I've written more since last June 17th than I've written at all before then. Is it because I've had more to write about? There's all the things about Mark + Sean + Lee. And all the fantasies I've written. (I have eight in a state of half-completion) No, that's not possible. Jody doesn't have her period, + she's been boy-crazy since the third grade. I guess this year I started getting crushes. But I'm still myself, bookworm Suzanne, around boys, just like I am with everyone else. I'll never be one of those simpering girls, who is smart but doesn't think about anything but boys, and brushes her hair in class, + puts on makeup in the lunchroom, + acts dumb around boys. Never! [A vow I am proud to have kept.]

On to 7th grade part 1
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