Twenty years ago...
I heard a spot on This American Life yesterday that had a woman performing at an open mike event by reading exerpts from her high school diary. I had to copy the idea and dragged out my old diary. Being a teenager was apparently pretty horrible. Or maybe it was just that I was quite the piece of work back then. Here are some of my choice selections (spelling and punctuation intact):
August 23, 1985
Today I got up and went downstairs and played with the kitties and read for a while and my mom came home and yelled at me for not doing the dishes or cleaning up the house but we don't get an allowance so I don't think we should be maid's.
There are a lot of entries about my sister in there, which is interesting reading now that I'm going to be raising two little girls. Please note that my sister and I are now very, very good friends.
March 30, 1986
My sister is such a baby! We were playing hearts and I warned her that if she laughed at me for getting the queen I would hit her in the head with an Easter egg. She started to cry and to punch me, and the egg didn't even crack! What a wimp! The rest of the day was good tho.
P.S. So my mom gets mad at me because my sister is a wimp, that makes a lot of sense doesn't it!
I was such a lovely human being.
April 1986
My life is falling apart. People at school hate me. Not all of them but one particular group. My sister is a brat and starts all of our fights and according to my mom I'm on Parole becasue my imbeciliac sister started a fight with me. I know what you're thinking ignore your sister when she starts a fight well then my mom says "Tavia you have to talk to your sister you're going to be with her you're whole life." right mom! . . . I've got news for you mom, Tamara isn't the sweet all American girl you see before you. I squirt her with a squirt gun. She starts to cry and tells my dad. And dumps a cup of water on me. I get in trouble for having a squirt gun in the house. Geez!! What do they want me to be emotionless, like them? My mom is prejudiced against teenagers! Anything we say is a smart remark.
Did you notice that in those two entries I totally instigated the problems and then complained that Tamara was the brat?
Also, early evidence that I've always had this crazy compulsion to be right. All the time:
May 1986
I hate Mrs. Mcphee. She just hands you work to do and doesn't explain it one single teensy weeny little bit! She said I missed one that I didn't miss and when I proved it to her she said, "Well you got a one anyways." If I had got it right I'd have gotten a 1+ and that may not matter to her but it matters to me!
That's probably enough for you to get the gist of my inner teenage life. Tamara, sorry for being such a bitch to you back then.
I think I'll drag out my diary again when Fiona's entering junior high and let her read it so she knows she's not the only kid who ever experienced the joys of the teenage years.
August 23, 1985
Today I got up and went downstairs and played with the kitties and read for a while and my mom came home and yelled at me for not doing the dishes or cleaning up the house but we don't get an allowance so I don't think we should be maid's.
There are a lot of entries about my sister in there, which is interesting reading now that I'm going to be raising two little girls. Please note that my sister and I are now very, very good friends.
March 30, 1986
My sister is such a baby! We were playing hearts and I warned her that if she laughed at me for getting the queen I would hit her in the head with an Easter egg. She started to cry and to punch me, and the egg didn't even crack! What a wimp! The rest of the day was good tho.
P.S. So my mom gets mad at me because my sister is a wimp, that makes a lot of sense doesn't it!
I was such a lovely human being.
April 1986
My life is falling apart. People at school hate me. Not all of them but one particular group. My sister is a brat and starts all of our fights and according to my mom I'm on Parole becasue my imbeciliac sister started a fight with me. I know what you're thinking ignore your sister when she starts a fight well then my mom says "Tavia you have to talk to your sister you're going to be with her you're whole life." right mom! . . . I've got news for you mom, Tamara isn't the sweet all American girl you see before you. I squirt her with a squirt gun. She starts to cry and tells my dad. And dumps a cup of water on me. I get in trouble for having a squirt gun in the house. Geez!! What do they want me to be emotionless, like them? My mom is prejudiced against teenagers! Anything we say is a smart remark.
Did you notice that in those two entries I totally instigated the problems and then complained that Tamara was the brat?
Also, early evidence that I've always had this crazy compulsion to be right. All the time:
May 1986
I hate Mrs. Mcphee. She just hands you work to do and doesn't explain it one single teensy weeny little bit! She said I missed one that I didn't miss and when I proved it to her she said, "Well you got a one anyways." If I had got it right I'd have gotten a 1+ and that may not matter to her but it matters to me!
That's probably enough for you to get the gist of my inner teenage life. Tamara, sorry for being such a bitch to you back then.
I think I'll drag out my diary again when Fiona's entering junior high and let her read it so she knows she's not the only kid who ever experienced the joys of the teenage years.
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