10th Grade Diary
Part 1

[There is a slight overlap between this and the last portion of the previous diary.]

January 22, 1988 (Friday)

Hi! I'm Suzanne Saunders. Welcome to my diary. This diary was a birthday gift from my mother today. Actually, my birthday isn't until the 26th, but neither Mom nor I can ever resist opening presents early. I have also (so far)got $10 and a lot of pictures my grandparents (maternal) had developed for me. Anyway, I will be fifteen. I am a freshman in the PAT at St. Petersburg High School. I'm 5' 3", blue-green eyes, brown hair, glasses. My parents are divorced. I live with my mother in St. Petersburg, Fla. My father lives in Columbia, S.C. That's all for now.

Oh! I probably will not write in this diary for a long time, because I have about 60 pages left in my old diary.

June 11, 1988 (Saturday)

Well, now I only have a page and a half left in my old diary so here I am! Right now school's been out for 3 days and I'm already bored, and we (Mom + me) have to stay here in Florida for the next two weeks so Mom can take her real estate test in Orlando on the 27th and then we can go up to North Carolina to visit both sets of my grandparents and to South Carolina to visit my father. Until then I'll endure ennui.

The Ides of June (13th) Monday

Well, my old diary is definitely finished so this will be the only diary I have for a while. But there's nothing to write! Nothing has happened since Saturday so I can't write about what's happened.

One thing I can write is that Joe said if we were in North or South Carolina at the right time he would take me to see the Poison concert that will be in Columbia sometime in July. I hope this works out, I'd love to see Poison!

June 15, 1988 (Wednesday)

Everything is exactly the same as it was yesterday. It's 12:30 and I need to kill until 4 (possibly 3:30). I don't know how to kill all this time but needlework, books, and writing in notebooks will probably figure a large part in it. I wish I had someone to talk to, but the only accessible person is Mom, with whom discussions usually degenerate into hostility. Je trouve ma vie très ennuyeux. And I've still got about a week + a half to go through!

June 17, 1988 (Friday)

Four years ago today I got my period for the first time. And I thought then and I think now, that it's a bloody nuisance!

June 19, 1988 (Sunday, Father's Day)

Instead of dragging me + Laddie [the dog] along to Orlando + sticking us in a hotel for two nights, Mom's decided to leave us at home. We're gonna stay alone over Sunday (the 26th) night. Mom'll go up to Orlando on Sunday, take the test at 8:00 in the morning [Monday] + then come back. Then we'll go up to N.C. around Wednesday.

June 22, 1988 (Wednesday)

Green Gartside born 1961

Cyndi Lauper born 1953

I'm rather less bored than I have been, considering that I've got several murder mysteries and the tote bag I'm needlepointing to do.

MTV is broadcasting a Doors concert tonight. "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" from July 5, 1968. I plan to be glued, even though from the little clips I've seen, it's not really their best.

Mom's decided to give herself red highlights (in her hair). I still think blond would be better, but there's no arguing with Mom. She hasn't actually done it yet, she's still on the allergy test recommended on the box.

I love this pen! Even if it makes my writing look even more like "the footprints of a spider that had one too many of whatever it is that spiders have on a night out" (Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, p. 176) I'll keep it forever, luckily it's a replaceable ink cartridge type.

June 23, 1988 (Thursday)

I enjoyed the Doors concert, even though it was only 1 hr. long. Especially "When The Music's Over." They also did "Horse Latitudes," "Light My Fire," "Back Door Man," "Unknown Soldier," "Five To One," "The Alabama Song," "Moonlight Drive," and "The End," most of which I'd never heard before. Jim did an "Ode to a Grasshopper" which was on the stand and then leaned over to look at the grasshopper and said, "Oops, I've blown it, it's a moth!" I enjoyed it.

June 26, 1988 (Sunday)

Mom has decided not to spend the night in Orlando but to get up early tomorrow, drive there, take her real estate test, and then come back. (Rats!). Then on Tuesday or Wednesday, we will go on up to N.C. I'm packing this diary so there won't be an entry until we're already there.

Mom's red highlights didn't work out so her hair is still brown.

June 29, 1988 (Wednesday)

Well, we're at Grandmother's. The trip was fairly uneventful. We made good time (the usually 13 hr. trip in 12.) We got breakfast in Starke (Florida) and lunch in Columbia and got here in time for a late dinner (stew). It was nice to eat a Sandy's slaw dog again (that's what we ate in Columbia). Florida has maybe 1 hot dog place in the whole state and it doesn't measure up to Sandy's (no place does!)

Grandmother gave me some neat jewelry. A pair of jade hoop earrings that look almost like the pair I had in 7th grade, a pair of silver earrings with some sort of black crystal set in them, an Indian turquoise-and-silver bracelet, a silver chain with a silver sand dollar on it, and a plain silver chain. Granddaddy has also finished fixing the broken jewelry from spring break. See why I like my grandparents?

July 1, 1988 (Friday)

Nothing particular to report. I'm working on my shells needlepoint and getting a fair amount [done], and watching MTV + Nickelodeon and reading (but not too much, I don't want to exhaust my books), and listening to WROQ (still better than WRBQ). Subsequent entries will no doubt be just as boring. Bye.

July 2, 1988 (Saturday)

Joe called. I will probably be going over to Grandmother's [the other side of the family] around next Wednesday. And POISON! are next Friday. Technically it's Poison opening for David Lee Roth, but I (and Joe) are most likely to dispense with that part of the concert. What should I wear? God I sound like Stephanie! [looks-obsessed character from the TV show Newhart] Not that Stephanie Vanderkellen would EVER attend a rock concert! Especially this one, where the Church Lady + Mary Mary would swoon! But, let's face it, my wardrobe does not match my musical taste! But since I don't like black leather, jeans and one of the shirts Mom donated now that she's bought a new wardrobe so she can go visit Mike in New Jersey.

July 6, 1988 (Wednesday)

I'm at Grandmother S's now. I've only been here a few hours. Grandmother made me a pretty quilt. (Not that I need one in Florida.) Nothing else to report.

July 7, 1988 (Thursday)

Nothing much to report. We went over to Signal Hill Mall + I bought 6 blank (45 min. p. side) tapes for $2, so I came off well there. Au 'voir.

July 8, 1988 (Friday)

(Excuse the bad artwork!)

I have just seen the BEST live show in my life. (Admittedly, not many to choose from.) Poison + David Lee Roth!

They (you know who I mean) were so great! They did "Look What The Cat Dragged In," "I Want Action," "Talk Dirty to Me," "Back To The Rocking Horse," "Fallen Angel," "Nothin' But A Good Time," "Rock'n'Roll All Night," + "I Won't Forget You." Bret said they were going on a headlining tour in the fall. J'espere, j'espere... (Did you know C.C. can play "Pop Goes The Weasel" (recognizably) on an electric guitar? I wouldn't of thought that was possible!)

Diamond Dave wasn't bad either. Both the surfboard + boxing ring [featured in his videos] showed up, as did three VH songs ("Jump," "Panama," and "Hot For Teacher") and many of his own singles. Quel showman! His "translation" of "Columbia" from the Indian (sure!) as "the place where the people kick ass" brought applause + so did my favorite song intro (don't remember song). "This is a city. It's a city of crime. My name is Roth. I carry a microphone."

"This woman came to my office. She was pretty good looking. She said she was in trouble with the law, wanted to know if I couuld get her off. I looked at her, and I said 'Honey, I don't know about the law, but I know I can get you off!'" (Example of my sense of humor.) [which I swear has gotten less juvenile since then, if only partially.]

Poison song intros (inserts, followups) were just as good. During "I Want Action" he told us about having 3 girls in his hotel room + having to get down in his knees + beg for them. Lawdy, I can think of some things he wouldn't have to get down + beg for with me! (Unless he wanted to!)

On that happy note, I think I'll go to bed.

July 12, 1988 (Tuesday)

Considerably post-concert additions: Buy the album before you go to the concert. I would've enjoyed Poison a lot less if I hadn't known the non-singles they did -- and it did detract from David Lee Roth.You can't enjoy that much the first time you hear something.

And I was nearly blinded by Diamond Dave's (or his set designer's) idea of lighting! -- as much on the bloody audience as on the band! Ringing ears I expect at a good concert (and I don't know why the hell they call it "ringing"; it's more as if everything you hear is a staticky radio broadcast) but blindness is an unexpected hazard. Speaking of concerts (I know, that should be a new paragraph, but so?) Cinderella have a new album out + (avec bonne chance) ought to tour too. What a double bill Cinderella + Poison would be! (Wishful thinking, I'm afraid) but if I save money I might get to go to one if they come to Tampa, although transportation would be a headache.

In more boring news, I'll be here at Grandparents' S's until at least next Monday, possibly longer.

Pudge found a bunch of Reader's Digests from '71, '74, + '75. Weird. Before, Jeff Miller, Allison Krause, Sandy Schurman + Bill (J'ai Oublie [I forget his name]) were people Harlan Ellison dedicated books to but nobody interesting There is a regrettable lack of historical knowledge today. I've heard PAT students put Joan of Arc in the French Revolution. Lord!

Granddaddy S. found me a record rack. I'm hoping Mom will let me keep it since I'm desperately out of space in that idiot entertainment center.

Joe lent me some books when we were down there for the concert: Dune, The Number of the Beast (which explains Deety + Hilda + Jake + Zeb from Cat Who Walks Through Walls), A Heinlein Trio, Myth Adventures, + something called Lord Darcy (by Randall Garrett who co-authored "Clone On The Range").

Nothing else has happened. Good-bye.

July 18, 1988 (Monday)

I'm at Grandmother L's. We're probably gonna go back to Florida on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll manage to stuff all that junk in the car. Au 'voir.

July 21st, 1988 (Thursday)

Mom, the Rock of Gibraltar always, has changed her mind yet again. We didn't go back on Wednesday, we're still in NC, and God only knows when we are going. Mom hasn't decided so anywhere from tomorrow to mid-August would be a good guess.

Grandmother, Mom and I went over to a craft fair over in Asheville today. There was tons of neat stuff, like one handwoven shawl that I would have LOVED to have -- who cares if shawls are out of fashion -- but it was too expensive. The only things I did buy were a total of $2 -- a piece of hematite, which is black + shiny, a small amytheyst, a small half of a geode from South America, and a piece of some green rock I can't identify but is pretty. And all but the hematite have little loops on them so they can be worn on a chain.

July 24, 1988 (Sunday)

Well, Mom has gone off on another meeting with Mike and left me here with Grandmother + Granddaddy. She didn't really even say when she'd be back here -- "Tuesday or Wednesday" so God only knows if she'll ever want to go home. I wish to God she'd find a boyfriend who lives in the same place! Hell, even Tallahassee would be better than New Jersey.

Nothing too interesting has happened. I've been reading Myth Adventures and am currently halfway through Lord Darcy. I've also been needlepointing all those refrigerator magnets for Christmas presents (in July, of course) and right now I'm nearly finished with a glasses case for Pudge, after which I'll either have to get some more canvas or make bookmarks out of my leftover pieces.

That woman Nico who was in the Jim Morrison bio died. I didn't know she was a singer for Velvet Underground, and she had an affair with Lou Reed as well as Jim. She died from a heart attack from bicycling during a heat wave on some Spanish island. Well RIP Nico 1938-1988.

Well, I can't think of anything else even that newsworthy so I'll go.

July 26, 1988 (Tuesday)

Well, here it is my 15 and 1/2th birthday and Mom's not even here for me to tell her about it. Nothing has happened. I'm down to needlepointing canvas scraps because although I've got 5 and 1/2 sheets of canvas, I've nothing to make with it. Bye.

July 29, 1988 (Friday)

Mom's back. Nothing particularly interesting has happened. Mom has declared a semi-ultimatum to herself that we will leave no later than next Thursday. Wanna bet?

July 30, 1988 (Saturday)

Martha is arriving at Hickory Airport around 2. Everyone is going to meet her. I hope I can get out of it. Much as I like Aunt Martha, I do not feel like riding to Hickory in Granddaddy's stuffy car and then riding back with the 5 of us all squashed together.

July 31, 1988 (Sunday)

I got out of meeting Martha (pleaded a headache). Mom says we're leaving Tuesday ("because of the weather predictions.") What did I tell you?

August 2, 1988 (Tuesday)

Well, wonder of wonders, Mom actually stayed on her plans for once. We left Grandmother's and traveled for 7 hrs. and are now in a hotel in Brunswick, Ga.

We went on a trip to the mountains yesterday. We had a picnic at this neat little park on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Martha took tons of pictures and has promised to give me copies.

Mom got a speeding ticket in Rock Hill [South Carolina]. She was going 76 in a 65 mph zone. We saw 4 pulled-over people in that 50 miles. Mom's griped about it all day, besides bitching about her usual stuff (mess {1 hair in sink}, noise {clicking of pen}, and anything else not exactly the way she wants it.)

August 3, 1988 (Mittwoch)

We're home, thank God! No other comments.

August 6, 1988 (Saturday)

Nancy Karen Lonon is a stinking hypocritical bitch and I hope her damned painting equipment falls on top of her!

August 8, 1988 (Monday)

How many women do you know who would interrupt their child's DINNER to make her pick up paint-covered newspapers off the woman's bedroom floor and be angry with her child for losing a few screws when it was the woman who had left said screws on top of this paint-covered newspaper!? Unfortunately, I happened to be born to one of them.

Added around 20 min. later: And when said child has still not had a chance to finish dinner, this woman makes her come and hang curtains, not saying a single polite word and plenty of impolite ones, and I'd be in there still if Her Majesty hadn't decided to remove a little paint from the floor before moving the furniture back (a task she doesn't trust me to do {Thank God} for fear of ruining her precious floor.

August 10, 1988 (Wednesday)

I have the most unfair mom in the universe! Her majesty had instituted a new-and-even-stupider rule -- No running in the house. Not for any practical reason like fear of breakages, but because "it stirs up the dust" and of course we know what dust does to her delicate chest! And the punishment is cut off of TV, stereo, tapes, radio, everything! I can't help running a few steps every so often, it's not something my brain has anything to do with. And her Majesty has caught me 3 times in the last 2 days, so that proves I can't control it. Right now, I'm crying and trying not to be too loud or she'll hear me and come in and scream that I'm a crybaby. She should have had Margaret Lin for a daughter: someone perfect and with no personality. Oh, I hate her I hate her I hate her!

Thank God her school starts in a week and mine in two; I can't stand much more of this.

August 11, 1988 (Monday)

Marie is moving! Not tomorrow but the next Friday. She's going to live with her mother. If we can arrange it we'll do something on Sunday. I'm making her a tote bag (so she can use it + remember me.)

The Ides of August (13th), 1988 (Saturday)

I am going to visit Joe in Columbia from Tuesday the 16th to Tuesday the 23rd. And school starts on Thursday the 25th.

Marie's boyfriend Ross is going to take her out to dinner and rent a limo for a going away present. God, I wish I had a boyfriend like that!

Grandmother gave Martha some money to buy some clothes for me so we went shopping today. I got one pair of jeans, a pair of white L.A. Gear shoes with silver trim, 3 bracelets that were on sale (to be worn together) one blue, one fuschia, and one purple, and 3 tops. One is blue with black vertical stripes, one is sort of a red/violet/blue sort of fashionable version of plaid, and the last is blue and purple stripey-ish (undescribable).

August 15, 1988 (Monday)

I ended up spending the night at Marie's. Synopsis:

I got over there yesterday. Marie and I walked (but Mom thinks they picked me up at 90th + Duhme; she'd freak out if she knew I walked farther than that). We got to her house and I met Charlotte (4), Stephanie (3) and Ashley (2) {and Michelle again}. We sat on the couch watching videos; with me needlepointing Marie's Garfield tote bag and her reading Bound By Desire. I finished the tote bag eventually. We listened to the radio in her room and called Mom to ask if I could stay for dinner. She said yes, we ate meatloaf + noodles, and then her mom took us all to the park. We spent a long time on all the equipment. Then we went by my house to either take me home or pick up my nightgown, etc. Mom said I could stay so it was the 2nd. We picked some stuff (including Even Worse and Open Up and Say...Ahh!). When we got home we decided to walk up to the 7-11 at 86th + Seminole (and it was twilight when we started and dark when we got there -- Mom really would have freaked!) for a Slurpee. On the way, we met this old lady who couldn't find her friend's house. When we got there, we drooled over the metal magazines for a while. Marie likes Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Joe Elliot + Rick Savage (Def Leppard), Bret Michaels (YES!) [from Poison, if you don't remember], and Joey Tempest (Europe). Then the Slurpee machine was out of order so we got Big Gulps and curly straws (those plastic ones that go in loops). The clerk commented on our buttons. Marie's said "Life's A Bitch And So Am I" and mine was "Happy 30th Birthday Cat In The Hat." Indications of our respective personalities, hmmm? Then we we went out and her mom was sitting there to give us a ride home since it was dark. We got back and watched It's Garry Shandling's Show and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Then we went in her room and listened to Poison + Al + Q105 and got to bed around 1:30.

We woke up about 9 and sat + talked until her mom + grandmother took the other kids shopping. Then we got dressed, ate breakfast (pizza + Dr. Pepper) and made 45 minutes of the strangest tape ever! You know how hard it was to persuade Marie to sing on "Pour Some Sugar On Me"! And around 3 I went home.

I can't believe she's moving! We'll write, we'll manage to still be friends now if we managed through a year of different schools, but it won't be the same. I won't be able to pick up the phone and invite her to a movie, that sort of thing.

I'm going to Joe's tomorrow. I might write on the plane, I don't know.

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