January 7th 1988 (AKA The sighting!)

Today at school we did drama. We had to start a story then the next person continue and it goes on.  I saw Drew again today at lunch recess! Ahhhh!

How does a lock work?

Notes:

This was the first of what will be a great number of drawings I added to my diary.  Though many are love doodles, others try to illustrate parts of my entries.



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January 6th 1988 (AKA The rock club)

Today we started speeches.  I worked on so much of mine.

At the rock club we worked on silicates.  Then at the main meeting we learned how to make silver chains and once again i won the draw!  Eosophite.

Will it be easy to make my chain?

Notes:

The rock club meeting took place in a senior citizen's centre.  It might have been a home, I can't quite remember.

The kid's club went on for an hour, then the senior's would come in for their meeting.  Between the two, there was also a draw, with assorted prizes (mostly interesting minerals).  It was the main way I could add to my collection and always looked forward to it.

Sometimes, the seniors would work on a project.  If it was something kids could participate in, we could stay for it.  Once we did soapstone carving, and another time, we made wire tress with little stone leaves.  It was always a treat to get take part though I really don't remember making chains.


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January 5th 1988 (AKA more sleep)

This morning i had a stomach ache and a headache.  I had to stay from school.  I slept from 8:30 to 1:00!  But I still saw the olympic torch being brought through guelph!

At Guides we started our world trefoil badge.

How will we make silver chains tomorrow a the rock club?

Notes:

'Guides' = girl guides. I was especially driven to get as many badges as possible.  Some, like the one mentioned, we did as a troop.

One of my many hobbies as a kid was rock collecting.  I didn't care much for the science behind how they were made, but I loved the wide variety of pretty and interesting stones out there.  Enough, that one Wednesday every month my dad would drive me to Kitchener (a town about 30 minutes away) for a meeting of a rock club for kids by the name of 'Pebble pups'.  I can't remember much about it, aside from the odd project we got to work on.



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January 4th 1988 (AKA: The crush)

Drew, if you happen to be reading this.....

                           ....... I was eleven?  and.... it does... get... worse.......

                                                                                             ......a lot worse.....

I love Drew I love Drew his hair may look silly, but I love Drew!    by Tara

Today at school I couldn't participate because I sprained my wrist.  We started speeches today.  Mine will be on deaf people.  I'm going to try to translate it in sign language as I talk.  Brrrrr.......  and today it was 

COLD

i hope not tomorrow!!

What was the ice age like?

Background

I was ravenous for input as a kid.  I would sit in the crawl space of the house and read encyclopaedias for fun!  Everything was interesting to me, and I could never get enough of learning new things.  I have no doubt I got a book from the library on sign language and actually tried to learn some of it.  Though, I never did get further than learning the alphabet

As for Drew.....

Well?

Leave it to me to be different.  Drew was no sports star, or anything close to the coolest kid in class.  He was, well, the nerdiest kid in the school.  I have no idea why I fixated on him, but I think it started in grade two.  We were in the same class together, and both of us identified as gifted.  One day, he got taken out of class so he could be placed in a higher grade.  It was that that caught my attention.  I watched him leave, and became obsessed.  From that day on, the very sight of him would cause a four alarm meltdown!  And, it went on for years.  My diaries are so crammed with messages of love and sappy drawings, I can't help but cringe.

I just hope he's flattered :/



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January 3rd 1988 (AKA where did that question come from?)

"We had homemade waffles today.  Me and Kirsten played Trivial pursuit today and I won!  We went to the rec to skate.  The rink was terrible.  It was half cement.  On the way back home we saw Terry.  He said he saw a pond that was good to skate on.  We went there.  It was very fun.  When I got home we saw part 1 of Flight of the Navigator.  It was terrific.

If god made the world with adam and eve when did the dinos rule?"


Notes:

'the rec' was the nearby recreation centre, which housed two large swimming pools and a large skating rink.



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January 2nd 1988 (AKA Pan pipes?)

"Today I woke up at 11:00!"  I played with Kirsten and got new boots.  We went to Zellers and I got my Zamfir tape.  Right now I'm listening to it and its (sic) lovely.  I went to see Three men and a baby with Sacha, Kirsten, Becca and Mitchell.  For my third time!

How does Zamfir play the pipe so fast?"


Background:

I really wasn't like other kids, and my musical tastes certainly reflected that.  While others were probably listening to Michael Jackson, I was enamoured with the Zamfir (who played the pan pipes) and, much more obsessively, a piano player named Frank Mills, famed for 'Music box dancer' a song most often heard on shop PA systems or in elevators.

It wasn't all odd choices.  I did still love Duran Duran and Cyndi Lauper!

As for the movie, my mom had gotten a job counting ticket holders at a local cinema.  It was great for us, we got to see movies for free!

And the excitement over waking up at 11?  I was a champion sleeper and pretty proud of it.  Waking up at 11 was like a badge of honour for me (though I doubt my parents felt the same way about it!)



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January 1st 1988 (AKA: I'm not autistic!)

"Just back from up north.  It was great.  There (sic) rec room is more like a guest room!  It had 1 atari system 1 computer 1 VCR 1 ghetto 2 TVs 2 beds 3 chairs 1 desk and shelves.  We saw a wolf.  Lisa has 2 dogs 1 rabbit 10 cats and 2 budgies now.  We went snowmobiling.

Kirsten phoned.  She couldn't go to the ski resort.  There was no snow!  Instead she went to the science centre and TOUR OF THE UNIVERSE!  She loved it!

Do wolves attack humans?"




Background:  I was 11 years old when I wrote this.  My family spent every Christmas on a farm in Northern Ontario where my father's family lived.  I got a diary that year, and this this was my first entry.  Not exactly what you'd expect from a kid who just got presents!

Notes:

'Up north' - When referring to the area my father's family lived in, this is the term we always used.  It was about 6 1/2 hours drive from where we lived in Southern Ontario

'rec room' - recreation room.  A basement room used for entertainment.  A rec room is where you would find toys, a tv, video game system, etc.

'ghetto' - Ghettoblaster.  The portable personal stereos of the 80's

Kirsten - my best, and pretty much only friend for most of grade school

Tour of the universe - An attraction at the base of the CN Tower in Toronto that made believe it was far underground.  Once you saw some displays about space and some new technology, kids could go through 'customs', complete with laser scanner, then hop on a ride that was meant to launch them right through the tower and into outer space.  As an eleven year old with an active imagination, I really really believed it :)  The first parts anyway.  Not so much the outer space part!



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