7th Grade Diary
Part 2

(Warning: there is a slight overlap between this and the previous file because I wrote a few entries in my second diary volume before I'd actually filled up the first one. It doesn't last long.)
4th of Juli, 1985 (Thursday)
Hello. I am Suzanne Marie Saunders, 12 years old, 5' 2 and one half" tall, 116 pounds. I have long brown hair, pierced ears, glasses, + usually pimples. I love reading, dancing, music, skating, + swinging on my friend Amy's swingset. My best friends are Pamela Jo Wilson (Jody), Sarah Gabriel Lefton, Margaret Lin, Amy Thames + a few others. I like Sean Cary, Lee Mathis, + Mark Osterman. I will be going into 7th grade. But now it's summer, time for fun! We (my Mom + I) will be going to Florida to 1) go to Epcot Center + 2) see Aunt Martha + Uncle John. By the bye, my fave groups are Culture Club, Duran2, Eurythemics, the Gogos + the Pointer Sisters. Au Revoir!

July 15, 1985 (Monday)
As you can see, I am extremely lax about writing.

We are now in Florida, but I don't know when we will visit Epcot Center or Walt Disney World. I'll write about them after we do visit them. Auf Widersehn!

July 20, 1985 (Saturday)
Today Mom + I went to Epcot Center. She bought a porcelain figure at Glas und Porzellan in Germany and she bought us both a set of handkerchiefs in China. One pink, one yellow, one light blue, and one light green. It is unusual to find a green handkerchief. Mom refused to even go on Journey Into Imagination. We are spending 2 more days. Maybe Mom will let me go on something. Probably not, though. She's such a scaredy cat!

August 21, 1985 (Wednesday)
School, seventh grade for me, starts tomorrow and I am so nervous! Neither Jody nor Sarah is even in my building, and I can't find anyone who's in 509. Sarah said most of the people in Staci Emmanuel's gang are in the 500 building, but that's not al that much consolation because Staci + Kim Jones, etc., aren't really my favorite people. I don't even know my teacher's name! Still I wonder why I'm so nervous. I know I wasn't like this last year, and then I was entering a whole new school. Well, I'll see how tomorrow goes. Now I've got to go. Bedtime. Mom's still watching TV and I could probably stay up till eleven or so but I don't want to. Swasdi!

August 31, 1985 (Saturday)
School wasn't too great or too bad. Kenyon Bell + Venk Reddy are about the only people I know in my homeroom but my side of the hall isn't at all bad. ALERT hasn't started yet so I don't know who'll be in that class but we'll know soon.

Schedule
1st period. Home Arts with Mrs. Morgan. Great class + I sit by Missy Simpson so I can whisper to her if I want to.
2nd period. Math with Mrs. Moss. So-so. I've never really liked math but Lee is in this class.
3rd period. English with Mrs. Blackwell. I like this class. Michelle Bozeman's, Anne Ratliffe's and my favorite seats are all next to each other so we can comment on everything. Plus there's this boy named Larry Stallings and his friends who are the jokers of the place. So we can comment on how they must've lost their marbles.
Lunch. Spend hald of this waiting in line, a little bit eating and the rest sitting by the 500 building door waiting for the bell to ring, unless of course Jodzy's there.
4th period. Science with Mrs. Conrad. My homeroom teacher. I love her system of work. You get a syllabus of everything you have to do in the chapter so its easy to work ahead.
5th period. Social Studies with Mrs. Jumper. Ick. I have never liked SS and Mrs. Jumper is just work, work, work! Not even any discussions!
6th period. Chorus/Reading with Mrs. Tolson/Ms. Summerell. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have chorus and on Tuesday + Thursday I have Reading. Chorus is nice. I sing alto. So do half the other girls + all the boys. The rest of the girls sing soprano.
Reading is great. Ms. Summerell is nice + with two-fifths the week you only do one-half the written work.
Bye!

September 3, 1985 (Tiw's day)
Sunday I saw Goonies Great movie, full of nonstop action. Yesterday was Labor Day. The MTV special was Duran Duran. First, at 8, was Blue Silver, their documentary, then As The Lights Go Down, a concert film with little bits taking place inside a big pyramid. I've seen Blue Silver twice and As The Lights Go Down six times. I love it.

Amy Thames, a friend of mine who has 8 Cabbage Patch Kids, let me borrow Franny Jackelyn Thames, Franny for short, or Franette as I call her. She's so cute. Franette is a Preemie, and she's bald, with brown eyes and her long yellow dress + yellow bonnet.

We got our ALERT stuff today. Mr. Hinton teaches 7th grade now. I have ALERT on Tuesday. We start next week so I don't know who's in my class.

Arevedirchi!

September 6, 1985 (Friday)
"I'm looking for cracks in the pavement."
Duran Duran, Cracks In The Pavement
I am so bored that that's just about true. Every book + magazine I own I'm so tired of I could cry, Mom is being an old-stick-in-the-mud again, and (naturally) me the bookworm is being ostacized by two-thirds of the 7th grade. I can't help it! I like to read! I just can't seem to be "fashionable" and "popular" and all that! I hate being the odd one out but there's no way to get in! I think this year English class will be my salvation again. Mrs. Blackwell's not really like Mrs. LaRue, but the class and the teacher are basically the same -- comfortable. Plus I love writing stories!

In science we are studying classification. Yesterday we all had to take off one shoe and put it on a table. 2 people (including me) were wearing sandals, four were wearing flats, and the whole rest of the class was wearing tennis shoes. Then Mrs. Conrad classified them all.

September 10, 1985 (Tuesday)
ALERT is great! Sean, Lee, Mark + Patrick are all in my class. The other boys in my class are Venk, Kenyon + Edgar Santana. The girls (no Sarah or Jod, boo hoo!) are Lok-Yi Yip, Caroline Dugan, Ginger Norris, Jennifer Uhl, Jennifer McCooey, Eden Bender, Karen Clark + two others whose names I can't remember.

This year we're studying World War II, Video, Colonial America, and either Space and Future or Crime. Mr. Hinton, when he saw I was reading Witches' Brew, said that he'd like us to study witchcraft if he could get away with it. Now that's my idea of a great teacher.

Fare thee well!

9th month, 11th day (Mittwoch)
Jodsh told me Chris Waters might ask her to go with him. She said she'd say yes as long as he didn't tell anyone.

Now I think that's stupid. Chris is much nicer than Thomas Scheatzle or Jonathan Fogle and she'd be hysterically happy if either of them wanted to go with her + would shout to the world. And if Chris asks her, she'll want to keep it secret. HA!

Well. luck to her, anyway.

Friday the 13th! September, 1985
Actually, I'm writing this on Saturday the 14th, but it's all about yesterday. First, we got a VCR! Joe helped us put it in, and Mom had my name put on her membership card so whenever I want to, I can pay $2.50 + rent a tape for myself.

Second. Yesterday, in English class, everyone was supposed to write a story about Friday the 13th + what it means to us. I wrote about how it's my lucky day since I'm a witch. Most of the class wrote weird things too. Example: Jeff Whatever-his-last-name-is wrote about Jamie Whatever-his-last-name-is coming into his room, finding "Edgar" written in blood on the walls + then Edgar Santana runs in + kills him. Jamie got back at Jeff, though. In Jamie's story, Jeff falls in love with Alice Sutton. We nearly died laughing on that one, especially the part where "they kissed + did a few other things."

Somebody else wrote a story about the movie, "Friday the 13th." Jason is the killer. It sounds really stupid. I mean, a mother who says, "Goodbye, dear, don't kill more than 3 people."?!?!?! Unfortunately, all this was right before lunch. Michelle said she'd barf if we had pizza. Guess what we had? She managed to eat it, though, since there was so much chess on her slice that it was yellow instead of red. Pizza is the only thing the school doesn't ruin.

Yesterday was also the MTV Video Music Awards. This is who won.
Most of my faves got nominated for Best New Artist. Julian Lennon, Sade, Sheila E., Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and the winners, 'til tuesday. Actually, there were a zillion awards I didn't list, but I got the important ones.

Au Revoir!

September 22, 1985 (Sunday)
$?!@#% dishwashers and %#@!?$ mom and $?!@#% everything! [No, I'm not self-censoring now; the symbols are written in the diary.] As you can see, I am in a very bad mood. !?%#@ pen! I want to write in blue pen! Aaaah, I finally got one to write, wonder of wonders. Anyway, the reason I'm so mad is the dishwasher was making noise and Mom made me stand over the hot, steaming, smelly dishwasher for ten minutes moving things around when I was supposed to be trying to do my homework! Speaking of homework, have to finish mine. Bye!

September 23, 1985 (Monday)
Guess what? I got my whole schedule changed. The only things the same are Home Arts + Chorus/Reading. See:

2nd: English in 300 building.
3rd: Science Mrs. Conrad.
4th: Social Studies Mrs. Jumper
5th: Matt in 300 building.

I don't really know what these classes are like except MarkandVenk (one word) are in 2nd 3rd + 4th. Those two can be so irritating, especially in Science where I sit right behind them and if today is any indication all I'll ever hear is "Mememememe!" if Mrs. Conrad asks a question and them doing their work across the aisle when she's not.

On Wodin's day I'll say what the other classes are like. ALERT tomorrow.

September 27, 1985 (Friday)
Sarah says she's bored to death with her ALERT class because Jonathan Fogle + good old Margy are the only people she knows and of course, no one with any sense can stand Jonathan, and Margy supposedly keeps gonig off with Dee Jay Martin. Poor Sarya-Warya. At least I've got Lok-yi.

October 2, 1985 (Friday)
Yesterday was the 1st ALERT field study. We went to Fort Jackson + saw a war museum + an old (WWII) barracks and we event to a private airfield to see an old B-25 bomber. It was in a lake for about 25 years and it was a mess!

We all brought our lunches, and ate them in a public park. All the girls except Ginger + Eden ate sitting on the merry-go-round. It was a lot of fun except Jennifer M. (Since there are 2 Jennifers, Uhl + McCooey, in the class, I'll write M + U.) kept spinning us all around. Luckily for all our stomachs, Mr. Hinton told her to stop.

October 4, 1985 (Freitag)
Description of new schedule - 2nd period Ms. Hummel. So-so class. Mark + Lee + Patrick + Larry are all in this class but Lee + Mark sit where I can't see them. Michelle Bozeman is in here so if we do group work (so far we've done several) I + her can be together. But it's nothing like 3rd period with Mrs. Blackwell.

3rd period - Science Mrs. Conrad. Basically the same as the old class but, as I mentioned, Mark + Venk are here. They're not quite as irritating as before, though. Welche ist gut!

4th period. Have I mentioned the boy with the broken arm? Well, now I have. I don't even know his last name, and I think his first name is James but I'm not sure. Anyway, I think he's cute. I wonder who started using that word to describe people, I mean, it always makes me think of puppies. I just used it because I can't think of anything more apt. Anyway he's in this class. Mrs. Jumper is the samne as before except we have discussion more often. But now the class is giggle time, because of 2 boys, David DeLong + Greg What's-his-name. They're both really funny, like when Mrs. Jumper made David read the whole chapter into a tape recorder today.

5th period Math. Guess who with? Mrs. Tolson! She's a good math teacher. Larry. He's not like he was in 3rd period English though.

6th period! I just got that changed too. From Ms. Summerell's reading class to Mrs. Sandifer's. Chorus is the same. Reading class is basically the same but Mrs. Sandifer isn't as nice as Ms. Summerell.

October 10, 1985 (Thursday)
James Cross! That's what Mrs. Jumper called him. He's really smart, too. Him, Mark, me + Venk always know the answers. I have a tendency to just sit there, and so does James. (Mark + Venk talk to each other.)

Mark sat in front of me in Social Studies. Since we're studying China + the East Indies (Thailand!!!) [I had done a report on Thailand a few years earlier and continued to be interested in the country.] we discussed China + somehow the subject of its Communism came up. Mrs. Jumper mentioned that China had been closed off to the rest of the world for a long time after the takeever. She asked if anyone knew who the 1st president to visit China was. No-one did, but Mark said it must've been in the 40's or 50's because of Mao Tse-Tung + all that. I said it was either Ford or Nixon. Kenyon Bell was told to find out. I looked it up in the encyclopedia + it was Nixon. Ha! Mark T. Oysterbrain!

October 11, 1985 (Frigga's day)
Margaret Nesbit likes Jay Smythe! She told Jody + me so. Why, I don't know. He's a clown. And he's not even genuinely funny, like Sean is. Anyway, it won't do Maggot much good because Jay's going with Ginger Norris. In Home Arts I heard Jay tell Cheri Tracey tht he told Ginger he loves her. Incidentally Ginger said she's failing math.

I sent a note to Mark asking for the quarter he borrowed second to last day of last year. I gave it to him at the end of 4th period which is the last time I see him in the day so I'll wait till 2nd Monday to see what happens.

Grandmother + Granddaddy Lonon are visiting us. Mom, Grandmother + I will go shopping + maybe I'll get some decent clothes + some nice jewelry. Grandmother will keep us from fighting, anyway.

October 13, 1985 (Sunday)
Grandmother, Mom + I went shopping. We bought me a pair of blue pants, a lavender shirt and a plaid one. I also got a green bracelet, a purple one, and a pair of dangly earrings that are green, purple, yellow + pink. Grandmother did keep us from fighting, Gott se danke.

October 18, 1985 (Friday)
We were supposed to bring in an insect collection for science. I didn't. [I hate bugs -- I refused to go around catching them and mounting them for a class.] Mrs. Conrad gave me an alternate project, a huge report on insects. I'm infinitely better at reports than visuals.

October 21, 1985 (Monntag)
A) Field study. Overnight. Mom's got the money. She says I can go. Problem: how to get to school in the morning. Joe can't take me; Joe will be in Chicago. Mom won't take me; if she drops me off it will be at 6:20 in the morning and no-one will be there until 6:45. Mr. Hinton said something about picking up people who live near him with the activity bus. He also said something about Flora Road. Or maybe someone in the class lives in the part of Spring Valley that's near Charleswood. Bitte, Gott! S'il vous plait!

October 24, 1985 (Thursday)
1st. I did get a ride. With Mr. Hinton. He is going to pick me up in a Greyhound bus. I wonder what the people at my bus stop will think of that!

My bug report. Even though I left out one of the requirements (a drawing of a typical insect; I'm an awful artist) I got a 100! And since I figured out that if I got an 80 I'd have a 98 average maybe I'll have a 100 average! Or possibly even more, with all the bonus points I get from the EASY bonus questions on tests.

3rd! One of my flights of fancy (i.e. short; not written down) came true! Unfortunately, one of the tamer ones. You see, for homework Wednesday night we were supposed to write 5 questions from the chapter on China's history. Ms. Bloise, our substitute, said we were going to paly a game tomorrow so would we please divide up into groups of five people each. Most people did, but Markandvenk were gone because they leave early so they can get to orchestra on time and all the leftovers (me, James, Tom Pak, etc.) didna pay a bit of attention. We went home + did questions. Next day Miss Marie Bloise says get into groups. Well, first thing Mark + Venk try to handpick their group. First they ask me (because I'm smart). Then, they see James sitting there + ask him, finishing off with some guy named Jason. First teams up, A + B, had all boys on one, and all girls but Daniel on the other. Mark made a comment about Daniel being the only boy on that team. I said so that, I'm the only girl on this team. He said, "That's different -- you're smart." Unfortunately, our team lost to the team with Kenyon, Jeff, James Mennan, David, + Spence. Kenyon + I both know the answers but he has faster reflexes than I. But I'm going to get David + Jeff, they were yelling "The Studs beat the Weirdos!" Although they're as much a stud as Zeke or Carl, Amy's Cabbage Patch Kids.

October 28, 1985 (Monday)
Another transfer! This time from Mrs. Tolson's math class to Exploratory 7, a math class for certain 7th graders. Sarah's in this class. Since Mrs. McClellan thinks "ALERT" is a program we could do without" Sarah + I have arranged to get our homework from each other because we have ALERT on different days. I don't know what I'll do this week because Sarah + I will be gone on the same day with the overnight + all.

October 31, 1985 (Thursday)
ALERT field study! The Yorktown. O.K. Right now it's 9:27 and we're going somewhere on the bus, I forgot where. Yesterday: Got up. Mr. Hinton picked me up. Went to E.L. Wright. Sarah sat in same seat. I read her book "Will I Ever Dance Again?" and she read "Lizard Music" and started "Alannah."

Then we got out fsg's (field study guides) and did the breainteasers. Then I read the information packet, about 45 pages long, while Sarah read Alannah. We tried reading it at the same time but it was too confusing. We went to a program on archaeology at the Charleston Museum. Then we saw a really awful movie about Charleston complete with little flashing lights around the screen. Then we went to Fort Sumter. Great! Of course Sarah + I went back into the tunnel where everyone hides and scares everyone else.

Then we went to the Yorktown + got our bunk assignments. Sarah, Elizabeth Skiba, + me, were in one bunk compartment. Then Sarah, Elizabeth + me went around to the Laffey (a destroyer) and the Clamagore (a submarine) and got half the Yorktown answers from Suraj. The rest we found. Then we went into the bunkroom where all the girls but me, Sarah, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Dee Jai Martin were putting on makeup. For who? Then a ugick dinner (I didn't eat much).

After that, we went to see the Fighting Lady a movie about the Yorktown. Not very interesting.

Then we went out on the flight deck and just looked at Charleston. It was so beautiful, and the only noise was breathing and a very few footsteps. Then we all sat down and Mr. Hinton fiddled with a short-wave radio. Static, then a voice. The voice said it was Trinium, from about 570 years in the future. the air is now poisonous, the population in excess of 40 billion. People live in rooms 6' by 2' attached to life support systems and oxygen suppliers. The only entertainment is the viewscreen at the top of the room. It all seemed so read even though everyone knew it was a tape recorder. Trinium said on Thursday people whose numbers end in 5 get to walk! for one hour! The world will be like that someday, I'm sure. Goodbye, hello, Trinium, you're more real to me than anyone will ever know.

Then we went to bed.

Next day get up, breakfast, trying to get our stuff on the bus. After that we went to Palmetto Island Country Park + looked around. We got to go up on the observation tower + look out over the marsh. Then we went to Magnolia Park + ate lunch. Erica, Sarah, Margaret, Brian, Patrick, Jeff + I found a playground. The boys were demonstrating "Jeff-Patrick Aerobics." It was funny. We would've gone to a program at Magnolia Park but it was raining, so we went ahead to Drayton Hall. We went through a really neat program on architecture there. Then we went out to the bu, boarded, excetera. But the bus was stuck! As Sarah put it:
  • 2:05 pm: Get stuck in mud.
  • 2:30 pm: Call tow truck.
  • 3:00 pm: Get unstuck.
  • 3:08 pm: Get stuck again in same place.
  • 3:09 pm: Downpour!
  • 3:30 pm: Get unstuck.
  • 3:45 pm: Load bus.
  • 4:00 pm: On the road again!
  • 4:03 pm: Everyone complains that they're hungry because no one ate any lunch.
  • 4:05: Lee Fletcher almost throws up because he didn't eat any lunch.
  • 6:00 home (an hour late)

On all the bus rides, since I was sitting in the front seat + Mark + Venk were in the 3rd, I could see Mark's face (in the rearview mirror). Most of the way home he was playing electric baseball. Actually, we weren't supposed to bring video games but Mark brought basketball + baseball. Sarah borrowed both games, first basketball then baseball. I thought of borrowing them too but it would've been too embarrassing since Me:sports::rooster:socks. Even electric ones.

Go on to 7th grade part 3!
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