- le 17 décembre 1988 (samedi)
- (le premier jour des vacances de Noel)
- Yesterday was not very interesting until after school. We had tests in a few classes, talked in History, caught up on things in PCS, finished a physics lab, listened to a lecture on the French Revolution, and played "GEMTR" (Math Bingo).
- But on the bus! Lots of people at both schools had been giving out candy, especially candy canes, so the assholes in the back started breaking them in little pieces and throwing them. Of course, Jerry + Co. started to retaliate! And even an unlicked candy cane is sticky enough to stick to whatever surface it hits. So this was going on and pieces of candy cane were all over the floor and so were candy wrappers, both thrown and just plain dropped. The battle died down and later Matt goes, "Since it's the last day of school before vacation, can I smoke?" and Mr. White, always accomodating and seeing to save himself some work, said, "If ya pick up all the crap off the floor, you can smoke." So then Matt + Jerry were scrambling all over the floor picking up stuff and John frantically scrounging around for a cigarette. (Matt only had two and Jerry asked first for the extra.) John even yelled out the window at a truck driver who was smoking! Finally, Matt gave him the end of his.
- After going home + eating a snack, I went over to Caroline's for her birthday party. I got there when Jeni, Rabia, and Jason had already arrived. (Rabia is a girl in our English class; Jason' is a neighbor of Caroline's in the ATP [Artistically Talented Program; the people we shared buses with]. Then Linae, and Shawn, another friend of hers from Gibbs, arrived. We were playing "This is a dog" and got pretty good at it. We ate pizza with her little sister Gillian and her friend Becky, then we went + got their neighbor/adopted grandmother Ruthie so Caroline could open her presents. I gave her a needlepointed bag with her initials on one side and a mushroom, a butterfly, a leaf and a snail on the other. [Caroline volunteered at a nature center.] She got a lot of other stuff, of which an airbrush was not the least. Then we watched Whoopi Goldberg on the VCR, while Becky + Gillian giggled upstairs and came down occasionally to pass notes, usually to Shawn asking if he liked them or Caroline or Linae. (They already decided that Jason liked Jeni, leaving me + Rabia alone.) Ruthie left. We ate cake. Then Shawn, Linae + Jason had to leave. Caroline + Jeni practiced their improvs for drama + Rabia + I watched Dirty Dancing. Around the time the movie was over, they got tired of improvs and we all set up our sleeping bags + went to sleep.
- In the morning Caroline woke up last. Her mother had already gone to work so we ate cold pizza and Danish for breakfast. More improvs and then Caroline figured out the directions on her airbrush (but couldn't use it because her other neighbor who has an air compressor was at work.) Mrs. Shepardson arrived and Rabia left with Jeni + her mom. Caroline + I looked at my tapes until Mom arrived + I left.
- When we got home Mom left me open my presents. Sgt. Pepper's (finally!), Low Budget, Volcano, and Big Hits (High Time + Green Grass). Also a pair of silver earrings and a note saying that my Weird Al shirt would be here soon.
- Note: I am flying up to visit Joe on the 23rd (Friday) and coming back on the 31st. This time I'm flying straight to Charlotte, where Joe is meeting me, instead of Tampa-Atlanta-Columbia.
- December 18, 1988 (Monday)
- Guess who now has curly [really more wavy, actually] hair? Hint: the rest of this book is filled with her so-interesting adventures. Oui, c'est Suzanne! On Nov. 27 I wrote that I decided to get a perm so today we went to Fantastic Sam's (Mom had a coupon.) I got this nice stylist named Maureen. It took a long time: first she put my hair in rollers (that took the longest) then sprayed solution on it + had me sit for 20 min, then washed it, sprayed neutralizer in, rinsed it all for 5 min., unrolled it, trimmed it, and dried it. But I love it. Hair, boots, hopefully a denim jacket -- nobody's gonna recognize me when we go back to school!
- December 23, 1988 (Freya's)
- Guess what!! Joe + Melinda are engaged!!! They're gonna be married "sometime in summer." Ohmigod! Usually I hate people who say that, but today it feels appropriate.
- Plus, now I'm in N.C., but minus my suitcase. You see, I was supposed to go from Tampa to Charlotte on flight 1062 continuing on to Charleston, but it was so delayed somewhere else that it wouldn't arrive at Tampa until 4 so I got rerouted only another flight 1160, Tampa to Charlotte continuing on to London but apparently my checked baggage didn't get its flight changed so when it turns up (hopefully soon; my clothes, several books, presents, and to me most important, jewelry, ballet slippers, and Guinea {that's that [stuffed] mouse Marie gave me} are in that bag!) But at least I'm here, listening to Whitesnake in one of Grandmother's nightgowns.
- Grandmother had me open Willie Mae's [Grandmother's best friend] present early. Instead of socks this year, it was this really cute little purple purse, not as dressy as Mom's black ones but nice, and Granddaddy has offered to give me a guitar! One of his old acoustic ones, not that I'd know how to play it but I could learn! A guitar!
- Christmas Day 1988 (Sun's day)
- What I got: Blow My Fuse, Lies, Under Lock and Key, Pride, The Number of the Beast (Heinlein not Maiden), To Sail Beyond The Sunset, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Bearing An Hourglass, Wielding A Red Sword, Blue Adept, Juxtaposition, Out Of Phaze, Centaur Aisle, Golem In The Gears, $55, assorted school + craft supplies, two shirts, cheap jewelry + one nice necklace, 9 hrs of blank tapes, a scientific calculator, various other stuff, but for the first time in living memory, NO SOCKS!!! But, I won't get Grandparents' L.'s presents until Wednesday, so...avec bonne chance!
- December 27, 1988 (Tuesday)
- "Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be a kaboom!" [Actually, this should be "There was supposed to be an EARTH-SHATTERING kaboom!"] The reason that that is in my diary is that the pen I'm writing this with has that same little Martian on top. We went shopping. A sample of how I spent $15: this pen, another purple one, another blue one, several sections of stickers, a package of typing paper, some clear tape, a pair of fuschia bobby socks, an issue of Circus, and a package of letters where you check off the funny things you want to say, and a button that says, "All I Want Is A Little More Than I'll Ever Get." Joe also bought me an issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
- Joe had me drive up + down the airstrip twice. It wasn't too bad but I'm still gonna be scared for Driver's Ed.
- December 29, 1988 (Thursday)
- Went over to Grandmother L's yesterday. Got two shirts, lots of underwear, powder, perfume, plastic canvas. No Walkman, but no socks either.
- Spent most of my time there with Leah. (Josh wasn't there; neither were Bill + Susan.) What I thought last time about Michael growing into to the brat stage is definitely true. But Leah is old enough to understand the Wild Christmas fantasies in Metal Edge and has good taste in music. (So does Josh; I wonder if it runs in the family?)
- We stopped at the Muses on the way back. I got $1.50 of stickers, two more pencils, an on-sale Christmas button that says "Scrooge Was Right" and a full-price button that says "Currently Seeking A Country to Rule."
- Back in Long Island, Joe took me to see My Stepmother Is An Alien. It was a good movie.
- le dernier jour de l'annee 1988 (New Year's Eve)
- I'm at home alone, Mom is at Paul's, and for the 1st time in my life I get to watch as much as I want of the New Yrs. Eve Ball, and Poison, Winger, and Robert Plant are on! (Plus Vixen, + Escape Club.) So, maintenant:
- New Year's Resolutions
- This above all: to thine own self be true.
- Pay no mind to what they say;
It doesn't matter anyway.
- Nice girls don't play rock'n'roll; so let's do some un-nicing!
- Thou shalt thin thy thighs.
{Bracket note here: The #1 video of the year is G'n'R "Sweet Child of Mine," not their best work but it is G'n'R!}
- Dance, Dance, Dance!
- Read even more!!
- Another bit: you won't need not to be nice if you don't learn some stuff. [how to play guitar and such, I think I meant.]
- Thou shalt not cause Mrs. Grundy's nose to wrinkle, ie. The Eleventh Commandment: Don't get caught.
- New Year's Minute came and went; Robert Plant has performed and I've lusted. I also enjoyed Escape Club even though they aren't gorgeous. Later: Winger were great. Poison, much as I hate to say it, were boring. They only did "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," didn't talk at all (except for C.C. in a separate thing; he also played on Sam Kinison's "Wild Thing.")
- January 13, 1989 (Friday)
- My Weird Al T-Shirt arrived yesterday so I wore it today. The about 3 who read it were amused; nobody else notices me enough to care.
- 13 days till my birthday! I invited Marie to spend the night of the 28th with me (Saturday).
- 6 days from now, 1 week before I turn 16 (!) I'm going to take the test of my restricted license. I'm scared.
- le 19 janvier 1989 (jeudi)
- Guess who now has a restricted driver's license! One hurdle over. I was so fuckin' nervous and it was pretty close: to pass you can't miss more than five and I missed four. One comment now that it's over: I look like shit in that picture.
- January 22, 1989 (Sunday)
- Abortion legalized 1973
- Michael Hutchence born 1960
- Steve Riley born 1959
- Steven Adler born 1965
- Life is fairly boring. I have one of the worst colds I can remember (naturally on a 3-day weekend.) I always get colds in late January. Hopefully this one will go away by next weekend because I don't want to expose Marie to me sneezing + blowing my nose.
- It's also a year ago that I first wrote in this [book], although only 7 months that I've been regularly writing. Haven't gotten any presents yet. Although Mom bought me The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years soundtrack a month ago saying it was a birthday present. So I rather hope Joe + Grandparents send money, so I can buy some more music, unless Grandmother S. had a reason for all those questions about what a Walkman was and why I was disappointed at not getting one from Grandparents L.
- Last night on Headbanger's Ball they played this great song called "Youth Gone Wild" by Skid Row. "They call us problem child/We spend our lives on trial/We walk an endless mile/We are the youth gone wild! We stand and we won't fall/We're one-and-one for all/The writing's on the wall/We are the youth gone wild!" I think I am going to be a big Skid Row fan.
- January 23, 1989 (Monday)
- (I didn't mention yesterday that today is an inservice day.)
- Guess what was in the mail today! From Grandmother + Granddaddy S: a card with $20 in it! From Grandmother S: a Walkman!! State of Euphoria!!! Instructions with the $20 to spend it "on something you would like" so I need not have a guilty conscience if none of it gets saved (although some might if Joe sends me any.) Anyway, "oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" I chortle in my joy.
- January 24, 1989 (Tuesday)
- I'm depressed, for some reason. (Yes, I know. So?) [I don't know what I meant by that.] New semester: Davis: same. Drama: sounds great except demain est charades, ohh. English: same. Lunch 4th eat with Lars + Jeni. Drivers Ed: no huhu, since I have my license. French: class includes Jeni, should be more interesting. Chemistry: Mrs. Murphy can only be described as totally colorless. But no reason other. Haug: Class is different but "plus la change, plus la meme chose." So why do I feel like I do?
- Jeni loved her horse pillow. And she gave me a pink plastic garbage can [desktop size] filled with candy. It'll go straight to my thighs, but better to be fat + happy than thin + miserable.
- Marie has planned an evening for me Sat. night. We're gonna go to Seminole Mall till it closes and then with some friends of hers to Treasure Island Fun Center where I've never been but is apparently Fun, then we'll come back here. (But Mom when I was getting permission for all this, made me promise not to let anyone else besides Marie in when we get back.)
- January 27, 1989 (Friday)
- After school today Marie called and said she was depressed. Ross had said that he would like to "give it a short break" and this, of course, was a bit ominous, so she invited me over for dinner and to go to the mall. I said sure. I went over there, we ate pizza then we walked to the Mall. I bought Jetboy's album, and old Hanoi Rocks tape, and Expanded Universe and Past Through Tomorrow (Heinlein). She's still spending the night tomorrow, but we're probably not gonna go to mall of Treasure Island Fun Center.
- January 29, 1989 (Sunday)
- You're not gonna believe what happened! I still don't!
- Marie came over at 2 and we listened to her new Ozzy tape and went to the grocery store for supplies and ate pizza and some of the birthday cake Marie brought for dinner. (She also got me package of blank tapes.) (Incidentally, I've just noticed that Aunt Martha gave me a double tape player. More chortling.) Then Mom left.
- We decided to go the Mall, and so we had to walk. But nobody was there (kids, I mean) so after looking around we started to walk back home. Then this car drove by, and somebody yelled "need a ride" and Marie yelled back "yes!" as kind of a joke and they stopped! So we walked over and they looked like nice guys [Marie was supposed to have known one of them slightly from school] and Marie asked them to take us to Treasure Island Fun Center and they said OK but when we got there nobody that Marie knew was there so Dan took us to Harold's house and outside of it we met James and Lee. So we sat there on the hood of the car and talked. The James and Dan and Marie + I drove off in James' van to find a phone but we stopped at at 7-11 and James bought some beer [he was older than the other guys] and we drove back to where we were but the others had left so we sat in James' van parked next to Dan's car and drank. I only had about 1/3 of a can but Marie got drunk! I counted her having 4 but she says 5 and 1/2 (although I don't see how she could remember) and the boys played Dwight Yoakum (ick!) and some neighbor apparently complained. [Actually, it was probably Marie and James getting out of the van to vomit that they were complaining about.] So a police car came and got us out and Marie could barely stand up (and she threw up about six times) and the boys got taken off somewhere and the deputy took us to the police station. Mom, of course, was at Paul's and I didn't know the number, but they had already called Marie's grandmother so they released me into her custody so I spent the night over there. They brought me home at 9 in the morning byt Mom didn't get home until 11. She took it surprisingly well. Punishment has not (yet) been mentioned.
- February 23, 1989 (Thursday)
- I got off almost scot-free. (Just a mini-lecture.)
- Monday was Presidents' Day so we got a day of school. But I've had this nasty cough all weekend so Mom said to stay home Tuesday. Fine. Tuesday night Mom said I really ought to stay home Wednesday. So yesterday I assumed I was going to school today, but when my alarm went off (but luckily before I got dressed) she said to stay home today just in case that cough comes back. Hmmm. This is something the PAT does to you, makes you feel guilty for needing to stay home from school. But I'm sick! But I've pretty much blown exam exemptions, since under no circumstances can I imagine not missing any more days till the end of the semester!
- Marie called, she + Ross broke up + now she's going out with James, (yes that James!) Bon Dieu! (Elle ne doit pas savoir de "well enough alone"!)
- April 7, 1989 (Friday)
- Teacher workday so I'm at home listening to Led Zeppelin.
- Things that've happened since Feb. 23:
- Now Marie's going out with some other guy who listens to rap so so is she. Marie tends to listen to whatever her boyfriend does, so she's not a headbanger now since that was Ross.
- I got a B in Drivers Ed. Actually I'm still on turns and stiff behind everyone else. Shit.
- French exam was Mar. 8. I did probably about the same as usual but more people took it this year.
- Grandmother + Granddaddy L. spent spring break. They brought me my guitar (Finally!). [Great-] Aunt Bernardine gave us + Martha tons of "Desert Rose" tableware, Mom bought a hutch to hold her half.
- Grandmother S. + I and possibly Tanya are gonna have a yard sale this summer. I'm gonna get rid of all that needlepoint piling up in the closet and hopefully make some money too.
- Jason, from Caroline's birthday party, rode my bus home with Jerry yesterday. She would be surprised at the company he keeps (Jerry, Gina, Andy, Matt, Jerry's other friend Luke who also rode home on 770 yesterday.) But Jason remembered me, said hi, asked how I was, said bye. John was trying to get Mr. White to write everybody up on the weirdest charges. ("They're conspiring against you, Mr. White!") Matt announced his intention to smoke pot on the bus on the last day of school. Yes, posterity, I have a strange bus.
- April 9, 1989 (Sunday)
- Marie called yesterday and asked if I could spend the night. After asking if her grandmother would be there, Mom said yes. So, I took a bag of junk and my guitar when they picked me up. We killed time at her house for a while and then went + played basketball with Def Leppard and Cinderella blasting (a definite improvement [in the sport, which I was accustomed to playing in boring PE classes without music]) down by Seminole High, then came home, taped me Hysteria and No Rest For The Wicked. Ate burgers. Marie put makeup on me, messed with my hair and put it in one of those sideways ponytails. Then us two, sa grandmère, and Michelle and her friend Jane went to some church's carnival. I dragged Marie onto the slide, we ran into Dawn, we 3 went on some ride that swung us around, but I begged off the next ride. My rule should be, only go on rides where there's something under you: earth, building, scaffolding, platform...otherwide I get sick to my stomach. After my sno-cone and Marie's cotton candy (and Michelle won two fish) we went back to her house (dropping by Albertson's for some nachos and giving me a chance to look at the new Metal Edge (ohh!)) and the littluns watched Mac and Me (ick!) until they got sleepy. Then we watched some murder mystery until 12:00. Marie's new boyfriend (Josh) may like rap but he also likes Anthrax, Megadeth, Tesla, etc. And Marie's still a Cinderella freak. (Yesterday ws the night of the Cinderella/BulletBoys/Winger concert...and neither of us thought about it until past midnight.) Anyway, we watched the Headbanger's Ball "Get It While It's Hot," "That's The Way I Wanna Rock'n'Roll," "Heaven's Trail," "No Easy Way Out," etc. Luckily, no Cinderella, Winger, or BulletBoys. After that we went to sleep.
- Woke up, as usual, before she did, read YM (5 issues). We had pizza + cola for breakfast, listened to music, ate cake + pierogies for lunch watching Historia and Marie crimped my hair. Then I had to go home.
