Saturday, November 30, 1974
Today Robert came over again and we picked up leaves and put them in bags for 10¢ each. We each made 25¢.
I have to write a book report either tonight or tomorrow. I wish I didn't have to do it.
I think they have ruined channel 20 T.V. after school with Captain Scarlet and Johhny Socco and the Flying robot.
Me and robert made paper airplanes and decided to attach thread to the front so we could pull them through the air.
Today davey Feroe sent me a birthday present (Davey used to be my best friend until his father's company folded and their family moved to colorado) it was a draw poker machine.
When Davey was here we were almost inseparable, we were together all the time. He showed me the desert. we had many good times together. Last year he sent me an authentic Indian sand painting of a medicine man. I keep it locked up in my trunk along with many other of his things.

Friday, November 29, 1975
Evening
This morning I thought my sister is a brat because she told my dad just because I dropped a shoe down the laundry chute.
Today Robert came over and we went to the new playground, they just put in the swings we were playing on the climbing thing and some kids were throwing rocks and we chased them all the way from the playground to the woods behind my house.
I chased one of them all around the soccer field and had him scared to death.
When we finished that we came back to my house. we played in the fishpond until he had to go home.
Right now I am watching The Hilarious House of Frightenstien. I think it is pretty childish. I am waiting for Hogan's Heroes. some of the ads on T.V. now make me sick with the things they say.
I hate cartoons in which they use the same scenery over and over in the picture.
Lately there has been something good on T.V. every night for a night.
I am still eating the salt I got from ficher's hardware (not in this journal) I have had a pretty good evening watching T.V. first I watched the night stalker the I watched the last part of Miracle on 34th street.
t.v. can be pretty boring.
Today at the playground what he thought of ward swain is what Robert told me. He said that Ward was pretty nice and is a nice companion but he also told me that ward always asked the same questions over and over again as if he hadn't ever heard the answer, even though he had heard it at least 20 times.

I think my dad is too rough. Tonight me and jenny decided to make christmas ornaments I made quite a few unsucessful attempts
I made a beautiful drum out of an empty cardboard ribbon spool. I strung gold cord up and down in a slant and painted it red. finally I put two ribbons around the middle and two green drumskins out of cardboard.

Thanksgiving Nov. 28 (Thursday)
Right now it is about 8:00
I am surprised at how early I got up considering how late I stayed up last night. I think it was from excitement. I missed stuffing the turkey.

Morning
Thanksgiving dinner was very good we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and milk.
Robert came over just after dinner, we played with the ice on the pond for a while and then rolled some beer bottles down astreet sewer.

afternoon
Me jenny and Debbie tried to make a radio game show but jenny was a pig and wouldn't her Donny osmond (Yeech!) (Bleah!) (gas!) (choke!) record
My mom is watching a redskin game downstairs.
chicken liver stinks!
Tonight I watched Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. It was pretty good even if I have already seen it.

Also tonight Debbie is spending the night. She and jenny made blanket people under the bed covers and hid in jenny's closet. I can't wait to see mom fooled, I made the blanket people so good that if I didn't know better I would thing they were real.

Wednesday, November 27, 1974
Geo. Class
We just finished a quiz in geo., I did rotten, mainly because I didn't copy the notes from the day I was absent
I think Bobby Curtis is a big fat bully. He is also a selfish brat, I think he and my sister would make a great pair. And one thing really burns me up, when the teacher is looking, he always pretends to be a little angel then when the teacher turns his head away he takes a pencil or a ruler and hits people on their heads.

Math
We are going to have a fire drill in about two minutes.
It is very cold outside but I don't mind.
There are people who might want to read this journal.

Reading Class
At athletics I had lots of fun. we made a tunnel under one of the porta-pits and between two rolled up wrestling mats. It was very dark inside. sometimes when people were on top of the porta-pit it was a tight squeeze. we kept going through and around and through again
Today Mrs price is in a good mood. I drew pictures to match all our spelling words.

English
we are getting the junior deacon today.
I just got a slip from mrs. claybrook saying that some man will come at 1:45, It probably is my father.

Theo. Class
Today we are discussing what we think of von Danken's "Chariot of the Gods"
I don't really believe it.

Study period
I am glad we are having a four day weekend, I need a vacation.
I can't wait to get home.
Mr. Marlin is in a very good mood today, so was almost all our other teachers, probably because of the weekend.
I feel pretty tired.
I think I will write a story this weekend for the Junior Deacon (the lower school newspaper.
before and after study hall I bet Mr. Marlin is a pretty nice guy.

Evening
I don't see robbie much anymore.
I like my wristbands a lot.
Tonight I am going to record the songs from godspell. It is on T.V. tonight.
It now gets dark at about 5:30 in the evening, I consider evening after dark or dusk.

Later
Tonight my dad ruined my evening
Sometimes he is so thickheaded that it makes me sick.
I think godspell was not very good.
I think it was more like a big hippy freak-out than the story of the gospel. My dad didn't like it very well either. he said that people have no understanding of the bible unless they are over 30. And he also said that the movie was a stupid, evil show and that we should not have watched it. I think it was pretty boring and it turned out that I almost fell asleep. besides all those bad things it didn't have any of the good songs except day by day. So thats what I think of the movie Godspell.
This evening I also watched the children's after school special Called The Toothpaste Millionaire about a boy who wants to buy a tube of toothpaste and thinks that 79¢ is way too much so he starts a toothpaste buisness in which he makes his own toothpaste and puts it into baby food jars and then buys some aluminum tubes. He appears on television and actually takes 10¢ off the price of regular brand-name toothpaste. eventually he finds out that he broke some laws and has to stop making toothpaste.

Tuesday, November 26, 1974
Geo. Class
Now I am in geography class. This morning my mother slept past the alarm. this makes it the third time in a row. It wasn't too bad today.
I don't think John Leiner has a very strong character.
This morning before school John Koch gave me a birthday present. I put it in my locker. I can't wait to get it home and open it. Now I have something to look forward to at the end of the day.

Math
I got a demerit for not turning in an absent excuse.

Reading
Today at athletics I bought some wristbands and socks.
I think Mr. Marlin, our study hall teacher is very unfair.
Today I got a compliment on my neat writing.
I am surprised at how much you can miss by skipping one day of school.
Today Mrs. Price is wearing a jazzy red vest with pretty white embroidered flowers and yarn stitching.

English
I hope we get to sing christmas carols like the other class.

Now I am home. I don't think

Monday, November 25, 1974
morning
Today I am staying home from school
I got up at about 8:30 and at 9:00 I called my dad. He is going to take me out to lunch.
Today one of the ammorillus buds is almost in full bloom. It is beautiful.
I am now either going to start my homework, or try to play the inventors with myself.
My dad and I are going to the Caravelle to have lunch. I am wearing a coat and tie. I am always embarassed when I am home from school and I go out of the house because none of the other kids are out of school.
We are going to have lamb because it is today's special.

afternoon
Now I am coming back from La Caravelle the lamb was good but I was nervous because of my manners. The place is very elegant.

evening
The sky has been gray all day long.
It has just now started to rain. now it's pouring outside. I've been home alone most of the day. I am glad that I stayed home today.
I made a model of the U.S.S. Washington.

I am now watching a show about monsters. It's called Monsters: Mysterys or Myths?
I wish I didn't have any homework tonight. We have almost seven pages of math, and on top of that two pages of english.
I wonder what Davey is going to get me for my birthday? I hope he didn't forget it.
Beside my rock collection I also have a file box full of buisness cards .
I have a pretty sizable collection.
The show about monsters was very good and it showed lots of pictures.
Now I have finished my homework, It was not as hard as I thought it would be.

Last summer me and robert went to Acotink Lake and we caught minnows. We also caught some baby eels and baby bluegill. We also managed to get a foot long catfish. and two full-grown bluegill. We also almost got a big carp that spilled over the dam. We caught quite a lot. We saw a kid who had an almost three foot long carp.
We put the catfish in robert's pond and I got the two bluegills. We evened out the minnows between us.

November 25, 1974
mr marlin our study hall teacher is unfair he gives too many demerits.

Saturday, November 23, 1974
Morning
Today is my birthday.
I have a big party planned.
I have invited eight people and we are going to have a weenie roast, we are going to play grabit, and we are going to eat hot dogs, baked beans, potato chips, and cupcakes and Royal Crown cola.
I am very excited, I wonder what I will get?
My mother has been mad all morning, she always is before a party. I am glad she left for the hairdressers.

Evening
now my party is over I am very depressed, I didn't like any of my presents except a color me national zoo posters, and a set of magic markers. I think the party was a complete flop. Among the other presents I got there was a all american red, white, and blue am radio, a set of speedball ink tips, which I don't have any ink for, two magic tricks from gordon lebow, a model ship from billy Bavin, some flourescent paints, and the Inventors game from robert bodner. And I also got anther cassette tape from my sister.
I lost the cassette.
I have one consolation, I get to take Robert Merrill, and Steven Tyler out to dinner on my birthday.
There isn't anything on T.V.
I think I will go read a book.
I guess part of the reason for me being depressed is because I am tired.
This morning I skipped my art lesson because I stayed up so late last night.
I can't wait until mannix and Kojak are on.
My room is messy clothes lying on the blue carpet, hundreds of small objects of all kinds strewn about on the top of my six-drawer oak dresser.
My room is modeled around ships, not that I like ships, but some designers thought it would be a good idea. My mirror is in a frame shaped like a ship's wheel, and my lampshade has a ship on it.

Evening
My sister is a selfish brat, all she has to do is turn on the tears and she gets full support from my dad. Tonight she wanted to color my poster and I said she couldn't, she kept hounding me and finally she said I couldn't use her markers and when I didn't stop she went to my dad, he said for her to let me use them. then she started crying and went to her room. Then my dad called me into his bedroom and yelled at me, I said that whenever jenny cries he always falls for it, and then he yelled at me some more. As soon as I had gone to my dad jenny saw her opportunity and stopped crying and went out and took all of her markers. I went out into the dining room and found out that she had taken them and immediately started to look for something to throw at her, I was looking on the coffee table when she walked out and made some snotty remarks. I grabbed the closest thing (a copy of Harriet the Spy) and threw it at her. It made a big welt on her butt.
She cried hard. It didn't hurt her that much but she made it sound that way.
My dad got after me instead of her.
My dad isn't very fair. My sister is spoiled rotten.

Sunday, November 24, 1974
Morning
Today when I got up I went into jenny's room and stole back the magic markers. I went out and worked on the poster some more.
Then when jenny got up we played the inventors game.
Later I played with my tape recorder and my radio.

afternoon
When I was coloring my poster my dad said to meet him in the bedroom. he talked for a while and suddenly I felt very tired I layed in my bed for fifteen minutes and then I got up and got all comfortable on the couch downstairs and I am watching the football game with her.
I think I would like to learn to use my new speedball set.
My mom is now mending holes in my blanket.

Story
Once upon a time there was a boy named George. He was a cheerful boy and he usually wore a smile, but not today. He had just come back from school. This is a stupid story.
I am mad at my teachers they gave us homework on the weekend
I have to do a map and we have to do our B.B.R.
This evening I am frustrated. I think it's because my parents don't pay enough attention to me. It also may be because I am exhausted. I was so distracted and nervous that I couldn't sit down and do my homework. I am going to stay home from school tomorrow. I think I need a day off.
I like my new radio.
Tonight I told my dad that I thought I could get straight "A"'s if I really tried.
I think my dad doesn't get rid of habits easily, and I don't mean just bad ones! He always sleeps in his underwear, which he probably picked up while he was in the Air Force.
And also he always prints in capital letters, which I also think he picked up in the Air Force, from filling out forms and papers.
I think my speedball set will come in handy for drawing too.
When I think of what I will be when I grow up I think of lots of things I would like to do, then it dawns on me that I am smart enough so that I can be anything I want to learn to be. By now!

Late Evening
Our ammorillus started blooming about a week ago.
Gordon Labow gave me two magic tricks for my birthday one was the old dissapearing ball in a cone and the other was the mystery of the spiked coin.
the effect was that you showed everybody a solid coin, eight solid plastic spikes and a small round box, then you place the coin in the box and you close the lid and you then put in all eight spikes and they go all the way through the box and then you pull all of them out and when you pen the box, there is the coin, still solid as ever then you let everybody inspect everything again.
It is a very good trick the secret is that you put in the first one in a certain hole and it tips the coin on end, then you put all the other spikes in and so on.

I think I have gotten so I can draw Mr. Bedell pretty well.
I am up too late right now but I don't get tired at night for some reason
I don't see why they don't shape spaceships into balls. a ball has much more room inside for the amount of surface area outside.
The mule on my mule pad is cute.

Friday, November 22,1974
before school
I got to school early today.
when I got here koch was singing.
Lucily I recorded it.

Math
Today we played Battleship 4
Today in theo. we are drawing monsters. I don't think there's any reason to.

Study period
Our team didn't do too well in the debate. John Koch made some stupid remarks, but there wasn't anybody except me, Horton, Beebe, and leiner (who came very late) in the room helping us. I don't think we had a fair chance.
I am very mad. Partly because of the debate, not because I am a sore loser, but all the people in our class gloating. And partly because Mr. Marlin took away my tape recorder for no reason.

Evening
I am glad it's friday.
There isn't much to do tonight.
for the past three hours I have fooled with my tape recorder, it is now 2:00

Thursday, November 21, 1974
Geo. Class
Today I found out that Horton got the exact same kind of pen as I have.
Borthwick is very slow and monotonous. That makes him seem stupid. He also wears the same coat every day. I hope that the world doesn't kill itself in my life.

Math
Today we had a bishop from Tanzania come and talk to us. He was hard to understand because of his heavy accent.
I think Mr. Lichfuss has no sense of humor.

Reading
right now I am very hot because at recess we had a big free-for-all, everyone was running.
Today our class is very boring, we are working on our B.B.R.

Theo.
It is very hard to get any group organization in this class.

evening
This evening I got my mini-tape recorder. Jenny got me a couple of tapes to go with it.
The first thing I will do with it is record the debate for english class.
This evening I found a great hiding place for things, I my heater duct. you lift off the cover and put whatever you want to hide in the pipe.
I think my mom would blow her stack if she didn't give consent to us to get my tape recorder.
My dad said she did.

Wednesday, November 20, 1974
Geo. Class
My mother overslept again, and made me late for school.
We picked up a girl from ST. Agnes because the Donovan bus didn't show up.
Our class is going to study russian history

Math
When mr. Lichfuss excuses us to athletics it is hectic in the hall.

Reading Class
At recess I got a scare. I was almost accused of throwing acorns for eight demerits.
Harriet the spy
Harriet keeps a notebook in which she writes honest comments on friends teachers and classmates.
Her classmates get hold of it and hated her, then she learns that apology is sometimes better. She says that everything in her notebook is a lie and they forgive her.

english
I think the class liked my story about The Great Amazon River Race.
Jhon Beebe: the Planet Killer, like report
Win Vining: Peril at Mount Vernon, pretty good, typical mystery.
John Horton: Goal! Hockey documentary, fair to good.
Repetti: unfinished. good to excellent.

Debate: Con Co-Ed
1. It might put St. Agnes out of buisness
2. Have to build new bathroom
3. It would destroy the school spirit
4. boys might not work as well.
5. New classes needed upper school
6. New athletic program including second locker room.

Theo.
In theo. we have been discussing whether it is justified to kill in certain situations.

Stdy. Prd.
Mr. Marlin is furious today because of what Mike small did.
evening
I think people can sense the intelligence of another person.
This evening I lost my other pen and now I got this one. I think it puts out too much ink. this is why my writing is fuzzy.
My birthday is three days away and I might not get my tape recorder.
I hope I do.
I have a rock collection of almost 140 most of my rocks are away with jenny's science project.

Tuesday, November 19, 1974
in morning
Today my mom slept an hour late
we had to hurry to get to school on time.

Reading Class
this afternoon at our club we had a big acorn fight I only got hit once and that time it was point blank.
At lunch I had soup, as usual.
In geography we had a test, I think I did pretty well, I think.
I like my teachers in this order from worst to best: Mr. Lichfuss, Mrs. Price, Mr. Bedell, Mr. Stone
We are working on poems.

Poems

Rain

Rain running
Along
Intricate
Networks

School

Stupid
Crummy
Horrible
Outrageous
Ouch!
Lousy

english
Now we are in english class. I just finished my math homework, now I might either rewrite my story or I might just write in this journal.

Theo.
I think the task of copying over my story will be endless.
Bobby Curtis is a bratty snob-bully.
I think Mr. Bedell must have grown up in either the country or the south.
I think mr. marlin is very unfair, he gave me demerits for being two seconds late for study period, and to top that I just came back from the bathroom and I had already been here and dropped my books.

Late
I don't want to write much because I just finished copying a five page english assignment.

Monday, November 18, 1974
Math Class
today I brought a spaghetti bird to mr bedell, he thought it was funny.
I made it last night. It was very frustrating because it kept breaking.
we were going to start studying greece and rome but we were outvoted in favor of mapping journeys and telling what we saw.
we are now playing Battle ship.

Reading Class
I must have taken a long time eating lunch because when I got to our club all the people were already there. also today's meeting was the shortest one ever.
I learned a new magic trick today you put a coin on the tips of your thumb and index finger under the wrist of your other hand and take your other hand and snap your fingers so that your middle finger snaps the coin into your sleeve. If you do it fast enough it will look like it just disappeared into thin air.

Theo. Class
For english we have to write a four page story on a picture out of a magazine, it will be easy for me I am going to be a writer, I finished half of it in english class.
I think it is stupid to start decorating for christmas when thanksgiving is the closest holiday.
My story for english is going to be a elongation of The Great Amazon River Race.

Stdy. Prd.
I just got bawled out by mr. Babyack for my office trip and got my slip to be signed.

Evening
It wasn't as hard as I thought it was to tell my dad I had an office trip.
I have been making christmas ornaments out of spaghetti. I think they are pretty especially if you put glue and glitter on them
I made a star of david and a christmas tree.
Ever since the magic show at the father, son banquet interest has been aroused in magic.
I think that spaghetti welding is totally fascinating this evening I made a peace sign and a six point star.
I think that people do some of the stupidest things, have you ever walked to someone and go to the side so you won't hit them and they move to the side, and then you move to the other side and they move to the other side, and you move and they move and so on and so on and so on . . . . . .
My sister is a real brat.
All she ever does is cause trouble.

Sunday, November 17, 1974
morning
this morning my mom and dad were bickering about who's car should go to the garage. They have been fighting all morning, I think I will get my tape recorder because my dad changes the subject every time I bring it up.
I just got the idea that this afternoon that I might ride my bike into springfield and take notes on people's behavior and how they act. that last phrase may have sounded funny to you but I think theres a difference.

afternoon
I sometimes analyze what I am thinking, in other words thinking about thinking, then after that I think about thinking about thinking then I realize that this could go on forever and stop.

evening
I think I made a bad mistake today in telling my dad that the mini tape recorder might be a fly-by-night thing. I think that I have him convinced that I really want it again.
I think that a good thing to do to stop inflation would be to pick a very good man and give him total power and he could tell everybody bring down prices the way they were 20 years ago and do the same with wages.

evening
I have been experimenting with spaghetti (raw) and I have found out that when you put it in a flame it becomes flexible but if you hold it too long it will burn, and the ashes are brittle. you can bend it in any shape you want and when it cools it is as solid as ever. think of the sculpture you could make with it! I tried to make a sea scene but I kept making the fish wrong.
I experimented a while longer and found out you can weld two pieces together by touching them together while still soft and burning. I made some pretty weird things with the spaghetti. just think I will walk into art class holding a beautiful sculpture, my art teacher admires it and asks what it is made of, I say "it's made of spaghetti" I think that would be very funny
I have had to add three things to the invitations to my birthday
I don't think my parents will ever be satisfied with them first, I had to put RSVP's on them, then I had to specify what kind of party, and now I have to write a time to call in your RSVP.

Saturday, November 16, 1974 (private journal)
5:30
I went to my art lesson today with only a pop-tart and a glass of orange juice.
just now me, peter Hallinan and Robert Merrill came back from the woods because my sister and Debbie Smallwood were chasing us.
We were playing hide and seek but we got bored and came home.

Evening
Me, peter, and robbie got an offer from my mother to rake leaves and put them in bags for 10¢ each.
We are going to farrels for dinner. I hope it isn't crowded/
Peter is friendly, but he is pretty shy.

at Farrel's
There wasn't any line, we were lucky.
There is a lot of noise in this place.
I am going to get a hot fudge nutty-nutty.
We really loused things up because the drakes were supposed to come to our house yesterday but I had the father-son banquet so we scheduled it for tonight and here we are at farrell's.

Evening
When we left we went straight to peter's house and mrs. Hallinan invited us in for "just a minute", It turned out to be an hour.
I was wondering why peter is so childish, I found out he was only ten years old.
I think my mom is dumb because she stays up very late every night.

Friday, November 15, 1974 (private journal)
Morning Before School
I didn't sleep very well last night
I was all excited about my birthday.
I am trying to do everything possible for my mom in hopes of getting that mini tape recorder.

Geography Class
In geography- study period we passed out books on culture, the prehistoric men, and other things. I got a book called Nomads of the World. I read the part about people who live in houseboats and fish most of the time. In the front of the book there was a picture of some camels, I never knew they looked like they were about to zoom into the sky.

English Class
I have to be pretty careful of office trips because I already have two and one more will mean suspension.

Evening
Tonight is the father-son banquet at my school I am going to get a haircut and then go. I am supposed to meet gordon and peter by the coke machine.

November 14, 1974
Hi there I am going to write in code today: SQPLXPLNZ TLS PI MARTRX AFPLZ PI TLS NOPZLF FLAE TLS ANELP CRZIM TLS NOZL QRIAL PI ORCW WEKN WOH TLS RFAMRS PI JSUUM PI TTHA SPLONK QRNZ XPL ILSOP PI TLS.
If you could read that you would know what it means.

Thursday, November 14, 1974 (private journal)
Mass is the amount of matter in an object. Weight is the measure of the force of gravity on an object. if you had the same amount of matter of two different substances they would weigh different Why??

Math Class
My birthday is in 9 days I hope I can get a mini tape recorder.
We went to chapel this morning.
Mrs. Erkhart is substituting math I guess this isn't our lucky quarter.

Reading Class
I thought at lunch that I do almost the same thing every day I have to make a praycy book report I am going to use Harriet the Spy

English Class
The Great Amazon River Race (see December 29 for full length)
By the side of the might amazon the long, low pier wound. The fifty daring racers in their designated pit spaces reving and tuning their motors. In exactly two hours they would be lined up at the starting bouies ready for the flag to drop marking the beginning of their journey covering most of the amazon's length.
Tony Purcell strode along the docks contemplating the competition.
The waters were fairly calm and the grayish waters lapping against the zebra-striped bank. He looked up the sun made him squint, it was stiff competition he thought. When it was ten minutes until the race started the tension started building.
Then the flag came down, in a roar and a cloud of spray the racers opened their throttles and their propellers dug into the water, they whized away.
The racers encountered many hazards and only about 17 of them returned unharmed and a dozen were picked up by the search helicopters but the rest were never found.

Evening
I think that I might try to make a short book out of my story.
I think I will probably get the mini tape recorder. It will be very useful.
I don't have any really serious hobbies
I collect rocks and business cards, and I also paint. I have had my rock collection for almost three years.
I think that this is my most serious occupation, as for business cards I pick them up when I can.

Wednesday, November 13, 1974 (private journal)
Geo. Class
This morning I refused to get out of bed and he got so mad so I said that he would pay for it and he said not to threaten him.
Fireworks are banned in our state after last July 4th so I ordered 100 smoke bombs, I think I will make money because I figured out that they cost me 7¢ apeice and so I will sell them for 10¢.
Today we are playing hollywood squares.

Math Class
Like I was saying. yesterday people bring the craziest things to school, today Katson brought a James bond 007 code-o-matic thing.

Club meeting
Me, hallinan, and hand got an office trip at athletics but I think we will get off the hook if they forget us. It is pretty cold.

Reading Class
I think it is risky being in this club. when the fifth graders came back from lunch me and labow hid behind the wheel of the school bus.
we have lots of poster in our room, I will tell you what I think of some of them. there is a picture of a tiger that I like. We have all the animals, the tiger, a leaping horse, a polar bear shuffling along, a wistful lion, the monster gork, a panda pulling down a bamboo shoot, and a panting wolf. I think I like them best. We also have sports pictures I don't like them very much.

English Class
Mr. Stone broke his hand in a fight with mr. Bedell, everybody signed it I am going to draw a fire breathing frog and my trademark (logo here).

on the way home
I think I might invite everybody in my class to my birthday and then have another one with only my friends attending.

November 12, 1974
A funny Story
Once upon a time I was walking along the sidewalk when all at once a stupid yellow billed grouse ran smack into me I couldn't see and I stumbled over a ladybug I fell right in the path of a fast moving automobile, splat! when I got out of the hospital about ten minutes later ( I only broke every bone in my body) I went straight home to my apartment on the 372nd floor of the charles E. Hobnob building. (being very careful not to trip over any more ladybugs). I went across the lobby and over to the elevator I pressed the up button and waited for the doors to open without thinking I walked in and found out that the doors open just a little before the elevator comes. I fell. The elevator was right behind me and gaining. Bump, Bump, bump it went on my head when I hit the bottom I stopped but the elevator didn't, squish!, I guess this isn't my day, I thought.
I finally made it to my apartment where only more troubles faced me
I saw a blue dog something like a beagle sitting in my best chair, It had wings, a mouse's tail, and webbed feet.
It also had twenty or thirty puppies all around the room, two in my fish tank diving after my prize winning angora goldfish, five or six stuck in the blinds, and all the rest flying around the room.
I evicted all of them and swept up the mess they made.
Then I decided I needed a rest so I unfolded my bed out of the wall and lay down, snap! suddenly It got very dark "Hmmm." I said I need a vacation . . .

Tuesday, November 12, 1974 (private journal)
Geo. Class
In exactly 11 days is my birthday
I still don't know exactly what I am going to do for a party.
I was late for school today luckily there was a traffic jam so I had an excuse.

Math Class
Mr. Lichtfuss is in a good mood today, he is also one of our athletics coaches.
It has been raining all this morning we probably won't have football. I hope we play murderball in the gym.
Some people bring the strangest things to school, today Josh cooper brought a carpenter's level for some reason.
Today we are going to our rooms before lunch I am in mr. Bedell's room now.
We did play murderball and I didn't ever get out of the game, but I didn't ever get a ball either!
Mr. Stone just told me that I got the highest grade in the class on the english test, a 97. I am very proud.
Right now for once you can hear a pin drop in this room. I'm just guessing because I don't have a pin.

Reading Class
I am now in reading class I am sort of wet because I was out in the rain at recess. Some of the desks are missing so I moved one into my place and sat down.
I don't have very much to write compared with other days because I wrote it all during intermission.
I didn't really want to get up to go to school today.

Evening
Now I am home, I wanted to go to radio shack but my dad and mom had to take jenny to get her thumb x-rayed we found out that she had a cracked bone.
My dad is very mean sometimes.
We have a creek right near us me and robert go there in the summer, we catch crayfish and minnows, we use robert's long-handed nets. once we went past two tunnels and we had a whole bucketful of assorted stream life when we met three teen-agers they didn't give us much trouble but when we started through the first tunnel they hurried ahead of us and started to throw rocks at us we finally got home and we told the police to just talk to them because it would scare them out of any more tricks.

Monday. November 11, 1974 (private journal)
Geo. Class
Today we are going to the smithsonian
I hope to take notes all the way. I brought five dollars because we are going to eat at Mcdonald's. The classroom is very excited some people brought lunches all the people are talking.
Peter Hallinan had a haircut on friday he looks horrifying now it is starting to grow back.
I found out we are going after geography is over.

Smithsonian
We have to walk a long way.
I think they waste a lot of space here.
*Dinosaurs are built like birds.
They use a lot of clay stuff for substitute bones.
I must take a long time to collect all these skeletons.
In prehistoric times most animals looked alike.
They have lots of pictures.
*Eocene-tropical
*OLicene
*Thyocene
All of the new exibits are interesting because they make use of modern developments and use moving, flashing and changing displays instead of just murals and old bones.
The giant ground sloths look clumsy.
an example of what I mean is they have a movie thing that shows slides.
About the time man emerged horns were in style.
*Glaciers are sometimes 2 miles thick
The burial scene is spooky mainly because of the red lighting.
Almost all of the displays in the second part of our tour are not interesting.

Theo. Class
Now I am back at school most of the second and third parts of our tour were boring the only thing they did was to set up little windows with artifacts with little cards telling what they were. We were going to eat at the little food stand outside but we talked him into going and eating in the cafeteria
I tried to buy a post card at the gift shop but I didn't have a dime and the lady at the counter didn't have change.
I had a hamburger, french fries, and a coke and it cost me $1.26.
We saw lots of interesting things at the smithsonian we saw lots of skeletons of lots of little mammals and reptiles. and at the emergence of man there was the tusk of some animals with carvings on it and there was a movie.
I also saw the skeletons of giant ground sloths, they really impressed me.

Evening
Today the 1975 buying guide came and so did some bills. My dad brought me a box of envelopes.
There isn't much to do tonight.
Tomorrow is the last day that Mrs. Whittaker will be taking me home from school. I wish she could still pick me up because my dad has to pick up jenny at st. Agnes and I will come home about 15 minutes later than I do now.
This notebook is running out a lot faster than I thought it would.
We have a cement pond out in the back of our house, we keep goldfish and minnows that we caught at accotink lake with robert's nets this summer.
I like having it and we sail boats in it and catch beetles and float them on wooden blocks. In the winter when it gets cold sometimes the pond freezes over and then I take one of my dad's golf clubs and smash a hole in the ice to feed the fish. Robert has a fish pond to. his isn't quite as good as mine because it has rocks around it and you can't walk all the way around it, but he more than makes up for it by having two little rivers running through his back yard.

Sunday, November 10, 1974 (private journal)
Morning 11:30
My mother and I had to go to safeway and get some cat food we got a variety that muffy had never had before, we thought she would eat it because she was so hungry.
I think I might go skating (roller skating) today.

Evening
Right now I am supposed to be writing about rocks for my sisters science project. We got the plywood and the hinges at heckinger, I put them together, it was hard work.
I like my rock collection because every year you have a science unit on rocks and I get a magnificent chance to show off.
I am finished writing but it will be a long time before jenny finished copying it.
Today I went to the roller rink but I didn't stay long because I got a blister on my toe.
I can't wait till our school goes to the smithsonian.
I am not sure whether I am going to school tomorrow.

Saturday, November 9, 1974 (private journal)
Evening at Home
I have had a busy day today
this morning I went to my art lesson I painted a picture of a mosiac-like design.
I have not written notes because I have been too busy.
When we came home robert came over and we played for about an hour then we went to the fairfax ice arena. I don't know how to ice skate.
On the way there we sat in the way back and held up cans of food like we were on T.V. most people laughed.
When we got there I only went around the rink about 6 or 7 times.
I can roller skate so I knew how to move, but my big problem was standing up straight by balancing on the one blade of the skate
We are having spagitti, I can't wait.

Later
The spagetti was delicious. I gorged myself. I have been watching T.V., Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, and Carol Burnett. Now I might go to bed or I might watch a movie. I can't find many good ones mainly because we don't get many uhf channels at our house.
I am really looking forward to our trip to the smithsonian on monday
I don't think it will be as much fun about sixty people are going and there will be too big a crowd.
I have aquired some experience from ice skating today, I think I'll stick to roller skating.
This evening me and jenny made a pile of leaves about seven feet high and took an umbrella and made sort of a cockpit for us to sit in. We had my mother cover us up and we had a neat secret hiding place under the leaves.

My mom just asked me to help jenny with her science project
I decided we would get 3 pieces of plywood and would hinge them together and put a backing on them with posters and slips on highlights of specific rocks on display. I will write more about it tomorrow.

Friday, November 8, 1974 (private journal)
Geo Class
Today is election day. Everybody is yelling for Katson for treasurer. Mr. Bedell is passing around ballots. We are going to the auditorium to hear speeches.

Auditorium Speeches
Katson will win easy.
On the other hand . . .
Meehan was very funny he had a verti bird helicopter on his head and a tape of glory, glory playing.

Geo. Class
I voted for Katson for treasurer, Marnane for secretary, Meehan for V.P., and Pike for prsident.

Math
I don't see how they can fit 60 people into one bus for the smithsonian trip.

Recess
This is my first meeting of david hand's club. It meets right after lunch you pretend that you have to go to the bathroom but you go out of the cafeteria doors and come up to the end of the school.
It's a nice club but it will be too cold in the winter for a meeting.
I snuck into the school and got this notebook

Reading Class
On monday our class is going to the smithsonian.

Theo. class
The thing I am most afraid of is being trapped in an elevator.
I think most people in my class act big because they want to be grown up.

Pep Rally
We are having a pep rally. The whole gym smells like alcohol.

at Resteraunt
Dad is taking us out to dinner because mom has to serve at the 3-4 grade father-son banquet.

November 7, 1974
I am now in English class and the heat is off because Mrs. Erkhart has left the room. I think that our book report group did rotten
I now see why nobody wants to have mrs Erkhart she jumps on you for the tiniest little slip she called me up to her desk just because I forgot to indent the beginning of my paragraph on the mark twain story of Edward Mills and George benton.

Thursday, November 7, 1974 (private journal)
Math Class
I am starting to write late today.
I am already in math class.
In geography mr. Bedell gave us two boards full of notes. We also went to chapel. I think our chapel services are getting shorter and shorter.

Reading class
David Hand and Peter Hallinan asked me to join their club it meets after lunch.
I think that the reason I don't have much to write about now is that I have already told you most of my schedule in the beginning.
We have Mrs. Erkhart again today.
I write during Reading class with fear.

English class
I now know why nobody wants Mrs. Erkhart for a teacher or substitute she called me up to her desk because I forgot to indent the beginning of a paragraph.

You Were There
Zipping around the track in that elf super formula 1 was like being hurled like a projectile from an unimaginably large slingshot, track of asphalt coming up to meet you at breakneck speed this was the first ride I had in a real true racing car, The first of many. When all of a sudden the wheel was wrenched from my grasp and the car swerved dangerously close to the gleaming steel ribbon of guardrail luckily I yanked the wheel back at the last minute. After about another 10 minutes I came into the pits and Mr. Strozini came to meet me. He said, " I saw that little accident" it happens to the best of them sometimes"
I later found out that the sheer force of an incline on the wheels can literally turn a car over, I was lucky.

Home
On the way home David Berg, Thomas Whittaker and his mother, and me talked about mistakes made by machines I mentioned about a cake from the pepperidge farm thrift store which had a finger mark where, I suppose, some factory worker got hungry.

Evening at home
This is going to be a bad night my father is in a bad mood not mad but madly irrational he will give us no end of sad storys about poor him has been persecuted no matter what you say he won't change his mind it makes me sick.

November 6, 1974
football is a stupid game. I just don't see what other people see in it I am mostly writing these comments because I have an assignment to write fifteen minutes
I wish Mrs. Erkhart wasn't our substitute because she is so strict I think that paul schwartz was right when he said they called her "Erkey the turkey" She has big folds of skin hanging from her cheeks that look just like a turkeys goblet. she is very ugly close up. If she ever found out I wrote this she would have me thrown out of school.
I am working on improving my handwriting because I was worried that I couldn't write without carefully controoling every movement of the pen
I was releived when I found out how quickly it came back to me. I am trying to think of more to write about but this is only a filler. I think I will time myself on how fast I can write compared to talking I am timing from now on. I timed the last two sentences and this one two and I think I write pretty fast bye-bye.

Hello again! I have been trying to find a place that sells red ink cartridges for cartridge fountain pens like the one I am writing with. I have not had much luck.

Wednesday, November 6, 1974 (private journal)
Geography Class
Our family had a hectic morning partly because I went to bed at 12:00 Midnight

Math Class
Mr lichfuss is not here because he went to the hospital for a chipped bone in his elbow.
Mr Lichfuss just came back, apparently it was not serios.

Reading class
I think the mothers that watch the school football for the fifth and sixth graders are very gossipy. I was marking the game on the sidelines I overheard almost every word. The most often heard comment was: "My those boys are really rough!" or "Ooooo, what a fall!" They are pretty silly.

Mrs. Erkhart is substituting for Mrs. price and the first thing she did when she came in was to scold us for not standing up when she came in.

Theo. Class
We are getting our report cards today and I am very excited, I am also worried about my grades I don't think I did very well this quarter.

Study Hall
I think I have been using this book too much as a diary. I am going to take notes at the smithsonian.
I am a member of the smithsonian institute and our family has a card which gives us a 10% discount in museum shops.
This study hall has been relatively quiet.

Evening home
There isn't much to write about this evening, but a few people were selling QSP Candy for key intermediate school. I got a new rock and gem today
I sent away for one hundred smoke bombs about three weeks ago and I am expecting them any day now.

Tuesday, November 5, 1974 (private journal)
geography class
This morning the sun wasn't shining and it was gently raining later when I left for school it was raining hard. surprisingly there was no traffic jam on Shirley highway. We were playing with erasers on the chalk tray I was champ. John leiner coughs all the time.

math class
Mr. Bedell told us to read out of our history-geography books which we have not done in a long time. we also took some notes. and we have to look up two words.

reading class
at athletics we played murderball because it was too wet outdoors for lunch I ha chicken noodle soup
I am going to get Biff because he stole half my coke. I
I am thinking about picking a parson for the day and doing a character profile on him.

reading class
I feel pretty bad about my report on don't take today, Mrs. price commented on the groups.
Mrs. Price must be in a good mood. I just got my next book report.
I found out that Mrs. price won't be here and (gulp!!) Mrs. Erkhart will be substituting

Theo. class
I think all my teachers are pretty nice but I also think they try to make you uncomfortable. Borthwick is very stupid-seeming sometimes.

evening at home
I hope I can find a store which sells red ink cartridges for my extra fountain pen.

at the drake's
My dad dropped us off at the drake's house (some friends) because Mr. Drake had his car towed away and they went to get it back. I feel an impending sense of disaster for no reason.
I think there is probably a lot of yelling in this house when we're not here.
I think mrs. Drake is pretty nice but she trys to make a joke out of everything when with company
I sometimes think my sister is an awful brat and she wets her pants when she is 10 years old, which is revolting.

Monday, November 4, 1974 (private journal)

morning in geography
I was very nervous about my oral geography report. when I went to the front of the room I was very shook up. I started to give my report and kept getting stuck in the middle of sentences.

listening to other reports
I think some reports are funny, but I am mostly bored.

english class
I think the people who serve the food in the cafeteria move like snails.
John Leiner acts crazy because he wants to be accepted by the class.

theol class
I think my teachers are deliberately piling on work because it's the end of the deficiency period.

on my way home
My ride came for me today The person who drives is Mrs. Whittaker she is pretty young blonde, and married she has a son named thomas and thomas has a great-grandmother because everyone in his family got married when they were about fifteen. Mrs. Whittaker is pretty nice and is a good driver. David Berg(?) also rides home with Mrs. Whittaker he is in 7th grade. Today Mrs. Whittaker's nephew is in the car.

just before supper
This is a historic day, this is the second day all year that I have had homework at home all other days I finished before I came home.

evening after supper
I think that tubes of paint have a nice feel, cool, smooth, and beautiful. they are especially nice when they are new. both my black and my white are used but I have an unused yellow. I have found out there isn't much to write about in school, probably because of the routine. Almost all of the writing for today has been done after school

Saturday, November 3, 1974 (private journal)
Beetles
one yellow spot: Firefly
one blue spot: feisty
two yellow spots: Ozark
two green spots: Martian
two blue spots: five foot 2"
one red spot: Laser
two red spots: Bloodshot
one crimson spot: Pee Wee

before dinner
Lately I've been getting up way ahead of the family because of the new time
my family goes to bed and wakes up according to time but I get up when the sun is bright enough

on the way in car
My dad invited me and Steven to caddy for him and Mr. Masterson (a friend of the family). He and my father have not played golf for years/ I will make notes while we're there.
The chart at the bottom of the last page is a list of the colors we painted the beetles and their names.

at the course
The golf course has a lot of rolling hills, probably man made.
It is pretty cool, but the sun beats down on you.
The weather has suddenly turned cloudy, I hope it doesn't rain. I don't think either one of them is very good. The golf course gives a feeling of peace and serenity. There is a nice pond with ducks on the 3rd Tee. I am now in the clubhouse waiting to be served a coke
The sky has been getting darker and darker as we have been playing.
all in all it was lots of fun.

walking around the house
The night seems very lonely with only the crickets and peepers to keep it company. Everything is strange and cold. There is only an occasional car passing to break the monotony.
Steven left about half an hour ago and my dad said he might take me golfing sometime.
Cars going around the city, like so many electrons going around a giant atom.
Sunset: pink waves rolling on an invisible beach.

evening
Sometimes I feel very depressed watching tv. I feel hot and uncomfortable nothing to do, nothing to play. I feel lonely and very bored.

November 2, 1974 (private journal)
morning
I just got up and I am looking forward to my art lesson.
I feel pretty good but I think I could use a little more sleep.

after art lesson
I just came home from my art lesson. Mrs. Demeris (my art teacher) was not as cheerful as usual. I painted a picture of a mischevous looking dog (after four trys).I bought a tube of tellow paint.
My friend Robert Just came over. his family signed up for a project course and parts to build your own T.V.
He has brown eyes and dark black-brown hair he is one year older than me

With Robert
Ants get drunk easily.
Me and robert were playing american roulette: we tossed our jug of wine around until one of us dropped it and it burst, I lost.
Our cat must be very lazy. she was laying in the same place for almost an hour. I thought she might be parylized.
I keep some bettles in a box in our back yard. they are super strong one of them can move a 2" rock and they are only about an inch long.
I have been playing with a beetle, now Robert's back.
While Robert was here me and Jenny had a fight. Me and Robert played with the beetles again.
evening
On halloween me and Robert went trick or treating together we went as dead housewives we got twice the candy of anyone else (of course we went pretty far too). Our routine was. We would come up to a house and knock on the door, if the lady of the house answered we would say, "We're dead housewives we know how you feel." Then one of us would say. " We're fighting for a worthy cause we deserve more." They would usually take a whole handful of candy and dump it in our bags.
By the way, the power really did go out last night. (see "Ghost Story" Nov. 1)

November 1, 1974
{National geographic report on a monster}
There in the snow lay the three hundred pound carcass of the famed giant Whaler seal. The eskimos in this area had held legends about him for the past one hundred years. During this time of course he had been greatly exaggerated. over the years his very practical teeth, made for capturing fish had gradually lengthened into two-inch fangs, his flippers into deadly, ripping claws, and his eyes into red-rimmed instruments of sizzling destruction. The legend reads that every fifth night the monster rises out of the depths of the icy waters and devours the first two people it sees. It is amazing that this legend has been kept alive because no one has ever been eaten.

(editor's note: here begins a second, private journal in another notebook)

November 1, 1974
Today is my mother's birthday. It is also the day after Halloween. I planned to start this journal yesterday but I didn't have the right notebook. Today I have been to school and later my friend Robert Merrill finished his lamp in shop. Robert goes to key intermediate school, I go to a private school called St. Stephen's. This evening I have been speculating on the possibilities of tape eventually replacing the written word.
I think that Mr. Lichtfuss, my math teacher is getting pretty mean.

My sister's friend Debby smallwood is going to spend the night at our house. She is pretty nice but I think her sister, who smokes but tries to hide it, and thinks everybody who speaks to her is madly in love with her will grow up to be one of the bad sort if she doesn't change her ways.

Me and robert went farther than either one of us had ever gone. We went all the way to thomas drive's end, including all the courts. We got loads of candy.

I am an amateur artist and maybe hope to be wither an artist or a writer. I have a flair for words. Tomorrow is my weekly art lesson.
I have a haunting, recurring thought: That is the fact that I will eventually die.
I love to walk in the woods. I presume that I know those woods better than anybody.
There aren't any stars tonight and the spotlight from Atlantic Research is out tonight.
In this notebook I plan to write just about anything
I am watching the six million dollar man.

GHOST STORY (during blackout)
Once upon a time there were two friends named Debbie and Jenny. One night Debbie came over to Jenny's house to spend the night. At about 10:10 a couple of main transformers in their neighborhood blew to smithereens and all the electricity went off. They happened to be watching the night stalker He, He, He,. One of the transformers was right in front of Debbie's house. Debbie's family came running down to Jenny's house Jenny's family had candles set up all over the place. Suddenly they all heard a strange, small, slow thumping noise. It grew louder and louder, and louder, AND LOUDER,. Then they heard a rough voice say: "Our street blew a transformer"