Friday, January 31, 1975
geo. class
today when I came to geo. class the room was redecorated with a new map of the world and a bunch of things around it all on a green cloth. we are planning to go to the national gallery of art to see the chinese things. we are going to go next wednesday.
I just found out that I got an awful grade on my math exam: a 64 that's a "D" oh, well, Benjamin Franklin flunked math. I will probably have to go to summer school.

Math Class
I hate myself for my math exam grade. I am thinking that if I only had gotten four more problems right I would have passed.

Science 12:05
I don't have my science book yet. I am lost because I missed a day of school. when you are in school you think that you do the same thing every day and if you missed a day it wouldn't mean a thing, but when you actually miss a day you find out you really miss a lot. science is really pretty interesting. I have just caught up on my science notes. we are talking about the needs of living organisms.

9:30
this evening my mom and me went to safeway to get bread and milk. we also got cat food, poptarts, and lemonade mix because I decided that lemonade would be a lot cheaper than pepsi or coke while we are watching tv. I am working on my geo. workbook. I am on page 11. me and my mom went to drug fair and I got bought five hard-backed journals that are just what I want. I am still reading the book "gold". I watched the night stalker and it was about a headless motorcycle rider that went around chopping off people's heads with a sword.

12:00
on our field trip on wednesday I may bring my tape recorder to the museum. we are going to do the art of china. mr. Bedell says chinese history is very simple chronologically because it is all sectioned off into dynasties. right now my mom is about to put me in bed. if I hurry! she is saying I will have to put myself to bed if I don't get ready quickly.
this evening jenny got a pocket instamatic camera for her birthday. she gave me two of the stickers that were supposed to go on it. today I have been dreaming about a thing I want. I would like a cape made of a brown or gray color with a rain hood. I would also like it to have lots of big pockets-inside the color is so it can't be seen at night and I would like it to be waterproof outside it would be the perfect thing to wear in the woods.

Thursday, January 30, 1975
today I am staying home from school. I have my bed all fixed up with pillows and a table at the bedside. I don't feel too bad but I really may have the flu. my dad is going to get me a book from the bookstore in the mall for my book report.
8:00 p.m.
It turned out that I don't have the flu. It was just exhaustion. I have my poster book report on the book gold. tonight I had one of my own creations for dinner bacon, a fried egg, and a slice of cheese on toast.
Here is a personality thing I had to do for my english exam. I did it on Bobby Curtis. I hate him. oops! I forgot mr. stone took back all the exams. oh, well, I'll write it in when I get it.

10:30
there hasn't been anything on tv. so I have been reading my book report book. It is pretty good.
I like it because it tells you a lot about how mining is done and terms used in the buisness. the author must have spent a long time studying mining or else works or used to work in a mine.
I have film for my camera and I hope I will get pictures of the woods tomorrow.

Wednesday, January 29, 1975
Geo. Class
from today until the end of the year we will be having science instead of theology. today is the first day of the second semester. I don't know who will be my science teacher. I am very good in science. Mr. Bedell is passing out exams today and I am very anxious. I got a 92 on my geo. exam. EXTRASUPER!
I always read science when I was in public school. I know countless little tidbits of information. I can always use some of it to correct someone. I have always loved to correct my teachers. last year in fifth grade we had a question on one test that said, How do scientists tell the age of rocks? the answer the teacher wanted was "Carbon 14 " or "raidiocarbon." if you know anything about geology or archeology, you know that the carbon 14 test can only tell the age of something that was once alive, not rocks.

Math Class
I have a feeling I am going to fail in my math exam. Mr. Lichfuss said there were two people who got 40's. I hope I'm not one of them. Mr. Lichfuss talks much too fast for me to learn anything. now I am stuck with homework I don't know anything about.

Science
today after lunch I got myself a three subject notebook for science. I may get myself one just like it for my next journal. Today we are going to meet Mr. thompson. he is a nice man, but a little old. he is also an athletic coach. I think he has a tendancy to lecture. He can keep your interest. He said that we should use pencil because you always have a pencil and not always a pen. that's what he thinks. I always have my pen. I'm never without it. we have science in our math room. he always sells the football equipment. I always thought he was just trying to sell the equipment but he just naturally lectures.

English with mr. STONE
I got an 88 on my english exam. that is pretty good but I should have done better. I probably could have gotten a 94 or 5 if I had been more careful. His exam was much too long anyway.

Reading class and spelling with mrs. Price
we got our reading exams back today. I got a very good 96 on it. I think if I look at one of the work sheets I may be able to get a 97 or 98. I will be glad when I get home from school.

6:30
on the way home we stopped at the chrysler garage. some fire truck knocked off some of the chrome siding on the car.

7:00
when we got home me and jenny went down to fly my kite. the weather has been almost 70 degrees outside. we went to the lee high school field. we met robert there. he was investigating a small fire, or the ashes, in the woods. we had a hard time getting the kite down. I finally dived it into the ground.

7:30
we went to robert's house and decided there wasn't anything to do. so we went and called jenny from the playground and jenny and me went home. me and jenny went outside the smallwood's house to look for praying mantis egg cases on the weeds in the field in front of their house. we didn't find any. later, robert came over and we played. we played a few games of ping pong and he went home.

8:30
for my next book report I am going to do a book called "gold" mainly because I am supposed to advertise a book and "gold" is a good four letter word that I can write in stone carved letters.

10:00
I have been feeling hot all afternoon. I may be coming down with the flu. I am going to go to bed now and I may read a little before I go to bed.

Tuesday, January 28, 1975
this morning I got up and have been watching tv. most of the morning. I am drinking A and W root beer. it isn't really like the A and W you would get at a drive in. we don't have a drive in anywhere near us. the only one I've ever been to is in Greenfield, Massachusetts where my nana lives.

5:30 watching tv.
this evening robert called and he came over here. I almost never come to his house. when he got here we went out on the patio roof and put blankets and pillows out and read in the sun. I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and we ate them out there too. I forgot all about the cold spaghetti in the refridgerator. me and robert, while still on the roof, called to brandy, a neighbor's dog from across the street, and gave him the crusts of our sandwiches and what was left of our milk. then we went inside.
we played a few games of ping pong and he won two out of three games. I think the reason is because I was playing a more offensive game.

I remember last summer when me and robert would go over into the woods and collect dry grass to go feed the shetland pony that lives on georgia street. all you have to do is go up to the barbed wire and call him. he will eat right out of your hand. Once we fed him an apple. we fed him some sugar once too.

8:45
this evening I have been watching tv. I wish I didn't have to go to school tomorrow. while I have been home for four day and it seems like a holiday and like it would go on for ever. I don't know how to ask my dad if we could make some kind of fort or build a clubhouse on the roof.

11:00
this evening I have been drawing visualized words. The word fat is written [FAT], [THIN] tonight I finally got jenny to give me her no-nonsense fountain pen. I gave her my notebook in exchange for it. it is funny, her reasons were; you never use it, why don't you give it to me?, and my reasons for her to give me the pen were; you never use it, why don't you give it to me? so I worked her into a corner so she gave up. I have started writing pencil names again. you would be amazed what some people name their pencils, Black Diamond, Traffic, Rippowam, Great Western, and many other crazy things.
I don't think that the magic marker is a recognized art medium, like paints, or charcoal. that is the reason most people wouldn't think I have a lot of talent. I am very creative. I write and draw, but I can never think of any good storys.

Monday, January 27, 1975
11:00
this morning my dad almost let jenny stay home from school because she said she was tired. I think the reason is because he feels sorry for her because I don't have to go to school and neither does robbie. I have been watching tv. I will probably call robbie today.

5:15 late afternoon
at about twelve o'clock I invited robert over. I told him about Mrs. [deleted] when he came. we played around and we decided to go out on the patio roof because my dad wasn't here and it was a nice day. no wind, so we couldn't fly my kite. we played a few games of ping pong and we went on the roof. it was warm on the roof with the sun reflecting off the shingles.
we had made some muffins that we put in everything but the kitchen sink; flour, an egg, nutmeg, unpopped popcorn, poultry seasoning, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, baking powder, water, ketchup, mustard, vitamin pills, etc. . . we threw them on the roof of the house for the birds to eat. we threw rocks in the fishpond and barked at the dog next door. and we also made paper air-planes and flew them from the roof. we tried gliding my kite to the ground but it didn't work.
when jenny came home we ran around trying to get away from her. she cut her hand on a rusty nail and we called my dad. we put methyolate on it.

10:00 evening, watching tv.
since robert left I have been watching tv. or eating. we had an excellent dinner of my mom's home made spaghetti. I had two helpings.

10:30
I am drawing the inside of a space ship I designed. It is a very interesting project. I can put a whole bunch of detail.

11:00
I am about to go to bed I finished my picture and I hope my mom doesn't come here right away so I can finish writing. I don't have much to write about; here is a list of my favorite tv. shows: hogan's heroes- a world war two comedy
this evening I put up a picture of a polar bear on my wall. It fell down last time I put it up but this time I put on stronger tape. I also put up a piece of my painting. a picture of a poodle. I want to put up my national zoo poster, if I ever finish it. goodnight now.

Sunday, January 26, 1975
12:00 today is my dad's birthday. he isn't having a very happy birthday because there has been a lot of screaming all this morning. It's all my fault. I can't ever say anything or express an opinion without touching of a screaming match between my mom and dad, jenny the brat, and me.
my sister makes too many cakes. she thinks she is better than anyone else because she can read the directions on the just add water. eggs, and milk, and bake cake mix.
I'd love to take her down a peg or two.

4:30
just now robert left. I called him on the phone and he came over here practically before I hung the phone up. he brought some kite sticks from his old kite so we could fly mine. we went down to the school field and flew the kite. It went up very fast. there was a good wind blowing and the kite flew nicely. all the while we were there I had a sense of companionship. what made us come home was the string broke on my kite and it went over the school building. we dropped the string and ran after it. we found it caught in a tree across the street from the school. we crossed the street and went up to this tree, where the kite was wildly looping on a five foot piece of string. we finally grabbed it on it's downswing after jumping at it and ducking to get out of the way. I think it was the most fun time we had flying the kite.

when we got back to my house we asked my dad if he would get us slurpees. he would so we hopped into the car and went to seven-eleven store. on the way we dropped some spaghetti pieces on the road. that reminded us of the time we both had squirt bottles and on a trip somewhere we squirted passing cars. we giggled all the way. when we got back to my house we threw the hammers at the tree some more and one is still stuck up there right now.
me and robbie were looking through some old issues of "oceanology" magazine and we found an add for paper you can write on underwater. it had a test sheet attached and we tried some. it worked. It's amazing how tough it is. you just can't rip it.

9:45 [this segment edited]
this evening I have been watching tv.
I just found out [name deleted] and [name deleted]'s mother killed herself. It may be that her husband murdered her because what they say happened is she went to the father's apartment (they are separated) to scare him. then she went to the garage and killed herself with exhaust fumes. the funeral is supposed to be on tuesday at eleven o'clock.
until now I didn't know that they were brother and sister. He writes a small newspaper. I suspect that my mom is the only one who receives it because mom is his second grade teacher. boy when I think of that little second grader who just lost his mother and who doesn't have a father to keep him. I think this would make a nice detective story. I would have the husband murder the wife and my detective would track him down. robert will want to hear about this tomorrow.

12:00
not much happened since I last wrote.
I was going to watch mission impossible but I missed it because I was reading my mom's term paper on a three hundred dollar kindergarten.

Saturday, January 25, 1975
1:00
I think I did better on my Reading exam than on any other exam. I am glad I got monday and tuesday off. I have decided not to go to the roller rink. I am now watching star trek. I found out that it is on. for a long time I thought they had taken it off the air. there isn't much to do.

2:15
not much has happened today. I wish robbie would call. the weather outside is terrible, raining and it is all cold and wet. I remember last summer when I got the idea of painting the patio walls, one day me and robbie spent the whole day painting that wall. I am glad we did it because now our patio has more color. I remember that day, the smell of turpentine all over everywhere, paint spots on the newspapers, and me and robbie painting away in the middle of all this.
I remember the day we had the annual fourth of July party in our back yard. we have one every year, all the people on Burwell st., and it is a somebody's house every year. we had it for two years in a row. I remember that day, we had borrowed picnic tables, grills, beach chairs, and everyone brought a big bowl of something, potato salad, meatballs, potato chips, and dips, hot dogs, hamburgers, sausage, everything imaginable. no matter what you were doing you always had something to eat in your hand or waiting for you at a table. us kids played tag, ate, and in general had a ball all day. that evening at almost nine o'clock the party was still going. hamburgers being cooked by candle light, I had a small old-fashion lantern.
people were sitting in chairs, bathed in our green floodlight, thoroughly stuffed. everyone was happy. then we got all our fireworks and went out into the street, which is very nice because everyone gets to see everyone else's fireworks we get to see everybody else's and they get to see ours.

6:50
right now I am listening to a record of the sound of music. we watched the movie about a year ago and it was very good.
today robert called me up and said he had something to show me and he will bring it right over. It turned out that he had some toothpicks that he made taste like candy cane flavor. I don't like mint so I didn't like them. he stayed quite a while and we played ping pong and I beat him. we played in the fish pond. then we got out a pair of hammers and were throwing them at a big, old tree in our back yard and seeing how many dead branches you could knock off at one time. this evening some of our friends, the drakes, are coming over, as a matter of fact they just came. they have three children, ann, susan, and John. John is pretty nice. I am glad they came because otherwise it would be a dull evening.

9:00
John and me played a game of ping pong he beat me both times because I couldn't see the ball. there isn't much to do. right now I am watching the Mary Tyler Moore show.

12:00
I will be very glad to go to bed tonight. I will probably be asleep in less than a minute. even though I went to school this morning it has still seemed like saturday.
John Drake was playing the inventors when he had to leave. I won. I have been reading about Benjamin Franklin and I have been wondering that if I ever become famous I will have a more detailed biography than anyone else.
someday I may be famous. I have the brains for it. I am glad I don't have to be wakened up tomorrow morning for school.

Friday, January 24, 1975
today I had a very hard time getting up.
I think I did pretty well on my theo. exam when I got home I thought I was going to go to bed and to sleep but I got in bed for a while and I wasn't tired anymore. I had two bowls of cheerios to make up for the breakfast I didn't have.

2:20
from the time my dad left I have been playing around. I found my squirt bottle and I squirted my dad before he left. I have been having a lot of fun with it. I think I will go and melt a hole in the ice outside on the fish pond.

6:45
My dad, jenny and me just went to the mall to get a birthday present for Diane Polizzi, one of jenny's classmates, and Mr. Mross down the street, my parents are going to his house tonight. at the mall we walked around a lot and I bought a five subject note-book and the best purchase I have made in quite a while- a no-nonsense fountain pen for John horton. boy will he be surprised when I give it to him tomorrow. I may use the five subject notebook for my next Journal. I wish I had a small ring binder that I could fit one notebook in and had a thick cardboard covers so I could have a hard surface to write on whenever I want to.

8:00
this evening Cindy and Janet Nolan came over to play. I was trying to build a card house but I got discouraged.

9:30
not much has happened this evening.
with the new schedule on tv. there isn't anything good on on friday night.
today I made myself a worrystone out of talc. since it is the softest mineral known it is very easy to carve and shape.

12:30
this evening I have started drawing another masterpiece of a delg [sic?] looking over a cliff at the ocean with a mean bear crouching in a nearby cave waiting for him I can't wait for tomorrow so I can give the pen to John Horton. he will be very surprised. My mom says that she likes my new drawing better than my old ones. I kind of do too.
For some reason I loaded my tape recorder so I could record.

Tuesday, January 23, 1975
today when I went to my geo. exam I took my geo. notes so I could study before the exam started. I just managed to finish reading it before the proctor came in the room.
I suppose because of it is the reason that I breezed through it especially the map with no trouble at all and finished with an hour to spare which I spent reading national geographics. when I left I was barraged with snowballs from all sides.
I chased the person who had started it all. I could have knocked him flat, but I didn't. for some reason I never hit anyone.
I got in the car with my dad and went home. on the way we stopped at safeway and bought milk, bread, Dinty Moore beef stew, and a jar of pear baby food.

Wednesday, January 22, 1975
today I had my english exam and I found out that the exam we missed on Tuesday we are going to make up on saturday.
here is a short poem I was inspired to write while trying to go to bed last night.

Life
Don't waste a single minute,
don't don't let let your life slip by,
come on! why don't you spin it,
don't let the chance go by.

sometimes I get very mad at our maid, fanny, because she puts everything away where I can't find it.

10:00
today not much happened until two o'clock. then I called robbie and he invited me to his house because he can't go out.
I stayed there until almost six o'clock.
we played air hockey and then decided to go downstairs to try to fix his sister's sled.
we tried first to screw a bolt into it but we finally put in a nut and bolt and used solder all over it. we found a chunk of plexiglass and tryed to carve it into a knife. after that we went up to robert's room and got his frankenstein and dracula dolls and went down into a dark hallway and turned off the light.
we got tired of that and played air hockey trying to shoot it as far off the board as possible. then I left. this evening there has been an awful lot of trouble we went to howard Johnsons but we decided it would take too long. we ended up stopping at Gino's and buying some hamburgers. I had soup at home. my geo. exam is tomorrow. me and my dad studied until I knew all of them by heart.
my indian design is doing great.

11:30
just now my dad gave me some drawings of historic buildings in williamsburg. they are very good and I am going to try and draw some of them. I wish I had started writing this journal before Davey left for colorado. if I had I probably would have taken him for granted, like robbie. I have learned a lesson from all this. now I really appreciate the friends I have. you don't usually appreciate them until they are gone. so, in a way, Davey leaving for colo. has really done me some good.

Tuesday, January 21, 1975
4:00
almost all of today I have been in my room working on my magic marker masterpiece.
I have hardly talked to anyone all day. I have been watching tv. and not much else.
I wish something would happen.

9:30
this evening I have started to draw another picture. it is of an indian design.
I squared off a piece of paper and started coloring in the small squares to form a pattern.
hardly anything has happened today. that is why I am only going to write one page
this evening my sister finally persuaded me to go out in the snow. I got all bundled up and we went sledding down whales street.
we had lots of fun. my dad came to tell us it was time for supper so we left, towing my dad on the sled. when we got to the top of a not very steep, short hill we suddenly threw him the ropes and gave him a push to start him off. my mom thought it was funny when we got home and told her. my english exam is tomorrow. I think I will do very well. I always have been good in english.

Monday, January 20, 1975
7:50
this morning I started at about six o'clock to get up at half hour intervals 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30 and so on. when my alarm went off at seven thirty I looked out my window and the snow was coming down thick and fast. the roads were too warm to have snow stick, but grass and cars were covered.

4:30
I went to school in snow that didn't cover the road. now the snow is almost knee deep, even on the sidewalks. the streets have been plowed and are like glass. I think I got a fair grade on my exam. at 10:30 when I called my dad I waited until eleven o'clock before he came because of the snow. I had lots of fun though, you get a running start and you can slide along the sidewalk for twenty feet. I think I would make a good arctic explorer because I didn't get very cold. me and my dad and jenny spent an hour getting home. me and my dad just came back from his office and the mall. we went to my dad's office to turn off the coffee machine. I fooled around with the adding machine and I have a big roll of figures. then we went to the mall and went to J.C. Penny where robert's mother works. we met her and asked for some ink. we took all she had, three boxes of washable blue. ink of that kind is hard to find sometimes. I wonder if we will have school tomorrow. Here is a poem I thought of on the way home:

Christopher Robin's life
Deep in the hundred acre wood, where christopher robin play, you'll find the enchanted neighborhood , of christopher's childhood days. a donkey named Eore is his friend, and kanga, and little Roo, there's rabbit and piglet and there's owl but most of all winnie the poo.

Deep in the concrete jungle, where christopher robin works, you'll find the grimy neighborhood of christopher iron works, a donkey named Eore works there too, and kanga and teen-age roo, there's rabbit and piglet, and there's owl, but most of all winnie the poo.

Deep in the dark and gloomy soil, where christopher robin lay, you'll find the decrepit neighborhood of a funeral's pay. a donkey named Eore rots away, and kanga and little roo, there's rabbit and piglet and there's owl, but not winnie the poo.

how do you like it?

12:00 midnight
tonight we got an official phone call from st. stephen's saying that there would be no school tomorrow. there won't be any public school either so I can invite robert over to play.
I have been working for a few days on my magic marker masterpiece. it is really beautiful. I am going to show it to my new art teacher. whenever I go.
I have learned that the way you learn to draw is you learn the basic structure of an article and then fill in specific detail.
I must be very creative, I draw and write all the time.
I can't wait until tomorrow so I can play with robert. my mom doesn't have to go to school either tomorrow.

Sunday, January 19, 1975
I should have written about this yesterday but I forgot all about it. yesterday evening robert was still here and we were going out to dinner at Howard Johnson's and then to Farrel's ice cream parlor.
robert called his mother and got permission to go. I was very happy. we went to H.J. and had a plate of fried clams and french fries. everyone else got a coke but I had milk. after we had finished our meal jenny got a small birthday cake with a candle, she took it home.
then we went to farrel's. on the way there we played hot potato in the back seat with a howard Johnson's balloon.
when we got there me and robert and jenny went right in while mom and dad parked the car. It was a lucky thing we did because just as we got in line a whole bunch of people came in after us. I had a hot fudge-nutty-nutty. three scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with whipped cream and heaped with nuts. you get a small dish of hot fudge to go with it.

10:30
most of today I have been watching tv. or reading. I am slightly nervous about my math exam tomorrow. at about 2:00 robert called and asked me if I could go to a movie with him-"Birth of a Legend" and it came along with a twenty-two minute thing on U.F.O.'s. I went with him and brought two bags of popcorn. robert took some candy bars from his house and all in all we saved almost two dollars.
it was a pretty good movie but kind of boring. the U.F.O. thing was very good.
we had a good dinner of roast pork.
I love hot, buttered noodles.
my sister is doing a petroleum report and I just finished drawing I diagram of what comes out of one barrel of crude oil. it is very colorful. I am going to bring some salt crystals that I can suck on during the exam. I wanted to watch the tv. show mannix but my dumb mother forgot to tell me when it came on.
the tv. show "the six million dollar man" was on tonight. the funny thing is, because of a change in schedule, it was also on friday evening!. wish me good luck on my exam!

Saturday, January 18, 1975
12:50
most of this morning I have been watching tv. robert just came over and we are going to play ping pong.

5:05
when robert was here we played with the fish pond. there was three inch ice and we drilled a whole lot of holes with the drill. I stuck the siphon tube down one and blew some air under the ice and it came up under the drilled holes like volcanic springs. we finally chopped about a seven inch square out of the ice. we wanted to get a fish on top of the ice, so we waited until a small fish was below the hole and we stepped on the ice and the suction pulled up the fish but robbie stepped a little too hard and was standing on the bottom of the pool. the fish got back under through a crack in the ice.

Friday, January 17, 1975
Math
today I am writing in ball point pen is because my fountain pen ran out of ink and I forgot to bring a spare ink cartridge. I hope the bookstore is open so I can get one.
right now I wish I was in Springfield Estates because the bookstore there is open all the time and I would ask the teacher if I could go.
I think I will do pretty well on my math exam.

Reading Class
today had been a pretty boring day. at recess we had a running gun battle. I had a good lunch though. soup, peanut butter sandwich, milk, a coke, ice cream sandwitch, fritos, and some water. we had a spelling test today and I drew a monkey and some snowflakes on it.

English Class
mr. Stone is giving a lecture on how we should act. he is trying to scare us into being good. he is just bluffing I think. I wish we would get on with the spelling game. I think we are going to play because there was a scoreboard on the blackboard. all the teachers must have been talked to by someone who has power, like the principle, or somebody on the school board. all the teachers have been cracking down on us.

Evening 12:25 a.m.
George Washington Carver's life is interesting.
I have felt particularly artistic this evening and I have drawn some good pictures
I drew a snow scene with a snowman for my mother. even though I don't boast about how well I draw, I don't mind showing off once in a while and I love it when someone says something like, "You want to see a good drawer, go see Billy Davenport"
I have been asked several times if I will be an artist when I grow up.
I usually answer maybe. I like being able to draw because it is a talent you can exercise anywhere. all, you need is paper and something to write with.
this evening not much has happened.
tomorrow I am going to take pictures of some of the highlights of the woods, I don't think they'll be there very much longer. I wish we could keep the woods.
I wish I could get pictures in the summer of the woods but they won't be there that long.

Thursday, January 16, 1975
Geo. Class
this morning I just got to school before the bell rang and we are going to play woody wood squares again. mr. Bedell just passed out practice maps.
I just finished a game being a contestant
I may end up being the champion. I won my game against Win Vining. John Horton really gets credit because he slowly nodded his head "yes" as I was thinking.

Math Class
we went to chapel today and I think we have shorter chapels in sixth grade than in fifth. I lost the championship in woody wood squares. oh, well, it's just a game.
I can't wait for reading so I can draw on the board. I have a great one cooked up.

Reading Class
today at recess we were playing running around trying to get away from David Hand. a few people had straws and were shooting spitballs. this isn't my day because at athletics I got hit in the cheek accidentally and at recess John Horton didn't mean to, but he hit me in the hip with his knee. today's drawing on the board was this:

except it was much larger on the board
I tried to draw a pygmy beside it to represent stone. but I couldn't do it right. we are still doing oral book reports.

Theo. Class
today in english we played a game like "jeopardy,"
I answered three questions and ended up with -20 points. I drew a reversible log cabin also. sometimes when you look at it, it seems to be a picture of the inside and sometimes the outside. I don't have anything to do and I wish I had brought my book about Gandhi. today I got my confucianism report back, I got a 95 on my written report and 81 on my oral.
that makes my average 90 1/3, an A- or a B+.

Evening 10:40
just now my dad got very mad and started yelling I think he is a stupid person and also a crybaby because he said after I hit him with a pillow that his ear stung, and I have been hit with a pillow and it doesn't hurt at all.
this afternoon I played with the fish pond. I wish robbie would come over.
I am very sad about the new townhouses and the destroying of the woods. now that I have seen the whole woods destroyed, leveled, on the other side of georgia street I realize it is really happening. I am going to load my camera an on saturday or sunday I am going to take some pictures and write about them.

there has been a lot of trouble in our house the past few days. I wish davey would come back, I wish the woods would stay, I wish our house wasn't in such a mess. I am very depressed
I wish I could get away and go somewhere.
I have just thought that someday I will make my journals into a book and I bet it would make me some money.
I wish my mother hadn't gone out to bingo this evening she will not be back until 11:30 and we need her.
I am going to read some more of my book:" George Washington Carver", a biography. It is told like a story and I like it.
I have given up painting but I have a lot of drawing I do all the time.

Wednesday, January 15, 1975
Geo. Class
last night, when I finally got to sleep I had a wonderful dream that I was on vacation.
we are playing woodywood squares practicing for our exams. we play it just like the hollywood squares and we use an overhead projector to project the numbers on a screen.

Math Class
now that we are in wrestling I look forward to athletics. me and john horton roll around on the mats all the time. when mr. Bedell says ok everybody up against the wall, we roll like balls past him. once he stopped me and said don't you know how to walk?
I wish I had kept all my old tests so I could study for my exam because almost all the questions will be off them.

Reading Class
at lunch Turtious Yarborough gave me 25 pennies, for a quarter. I had a terrible time trying to get a quarter so I could get a coke out of the machine. first I tried a few of the kids, no luck, then I asked a guy who sells milk, and then mrs Mcgee, they both said they couldn't use pennies so they wouldn't do it. I finally got the quarter from Mrs Beattie, my fifth grade teacher. I got my coke and had lunch. I split a banana with the person sitting next to me. I don't like them and neither did he so we split it in two so it would look like we each ate half a banana. today in reading, before mrs. price came into the room I drew andy capp, a cartoon character, I drew him pretty well. Steven Tyler showed me how, Steven Tyler is one of my friends that live near me and don't go to st. stephen's.
I forgot to draw in his cigarette.

English Class
mr Stone is pretty mean sometimes. I think he is trying to build up a reputation but it isn't working.

Theo. Class
I am mad because I am supposed to be doing a sheet on our exam and billy bavin keeps trying to get this book.
I ought to sock him one so he'll get the message. I keep telling him not to and even hit him once but he thinks I'm just playing. I think it is stupid to waste all your time writing notes on everything like it was going to run away. I am just going to read my theo. book over again and everything will be fresh in my mind for the exam. I am going to work hardest on math because it is the first exam and english is second but I don't have any trouble with english. I am also going to write my summary of my Geo. report on iran.

10:10 p.m.
this evening I found out today was nothing day, the only day when there isn't a holiday for anything. this evening I finished the book "the last battle" the last of the chronicles of narnia. It is the best one of them and I made me cry as I read the last part. I have never read a more beautiful ending in a book. I am always sad when a book comes to an end, especially a good one, but it took me almost ten minutes to recover from it. maybe that wasn't the right word, maybe "got over" would have been better.
I have started a biography on Gandhi. I am about to go to bed.
in the afternoon after school I played in the fish pond and tried to thaw a fish out of solid ice. I also fed the fish by drilling a hole in the ice and sticking fish food in a tube and blowing it out under the ice.

Tuesday, January 14, 1975
Geo. Class
this morning I had a very hard time getting up because I went to bed at one o'clock this morning. I was very mad at my mom and dad because my mom woke me up and yelled at me.
she kept on at me until I finally got up and yelled at her. I got to school late because my dad practically forced me to drink a glass of milk. I cried a whole lot and I am going to make him sorry for it. I am going to be mean to him all day long. I planted it in him this morning and I bet he will ask me to call him and when I do he will apologize.

Math Class
I am very tired. today when john leiner brought a low plad hat that looked like an engineer's only lower. I hope I pass my math exam. I wish it had snowed more so I didn't have to go to school.

Reading Class
today at lunch reppetti asked me if I could get him an ice cube. he said he would give me his doughnut if I went and asked for an ice cube. he thought that it was very funny, and I didn't see that it would hurt any if I went and asked. I asked and reppetti laughed and laughed when the guy who sells milk to people who don't but there lunch at school waved me back to my seat and said, "get out of here."
we are still doing oral book reports, surprisingly mainly because some of the people ramble on and on. there was ice all over the benches at recess and people with lunch boxes slid them along the long bench and played smash up derby. I only stayed out a short time.
I wish I could get a copy of a mad issue that has all the mini posters in it. I the beginning of reading class I drew this on the board:
another thing we put on the board is: English Homework Drop Dead!
mr. Babyak just came in to give us a lecture on how to take exams. he told us to take all our time getting ready for our exams so we will be prepared.
My exam schedule is: Math, English, Geo., Theo., reading.

10:45 p.m.
today after school my mom took me and my sister to the mall. first, we went to J.C. Penny and returned my mom's blue slippers at the shoe department because the seam always hurt when you wore them. I have always thought small toddler's shoes were cute and today I got the idea I might want to make a collection of them. we left there and went to walden book store to return two books. because one I had already read and the other had a defect.
I got two new books, one entitled, "How it Works", and the other, "The Nightbird of Nantucket." after that we went to people's drug store to get some cotton balls for my mom's school project.
we had a piece of pizza at the orange bowl and I took some straws to stock up at home. this evening I had to go to bed at 9:30 But I couldn't get to sleep for some reason. I hope I get to sleep before twelve.
I feel guilty for not studying for my exam.

Monday, January 13, 1975
today is the first day of review week. mr. Bedell says the geo. exam will probably be the hardest exam. we have already started reviewing math
I am really very proud of my watch.
it is kind of stuffy in here. I think they need a humidifyer.

Math Class
it is better in math. I wonder what we are going to study today. it's exponents. it is pretty easy but I have trouble factoring fast. oh, well, I have plenty of time to do the exam. for some reason I can't help daydreaming in math. I think they picked a rotten tome for school. I think it should be more like an appointment you have to keep than an all enveloping all day thing. the math room's windows are almost completely fogged but I can see a bus out at the top of the stairs, probably waiting to take some lucky class on a field trip. I wish we had more field trips. sometimes when we go on field trips people look at us because most twelve year old boys on field trips don't wear coat and tie.
this morning in geo. the seats were turned around facing the other board. I am glad with the new seating arrangement because John horton now sits right across from me.

Reading Class
at recess it was snowing lightly. not much happened except mrs. Horton came and we talked to her for a while, me and John horton that is. I found out mrs. Horton works in the lower school library. we are doing more oral book reports. so far we have done two.
John Metcalf is doing Rascal.
on a recent spelling test I made a great likeness of Don Martin's Mona Lisa we don't have any homework yet but we might in english because the blackboard is all marked up.

English Class
during reading and english it has really started snowing. the ground is already just covered and it's still snowing hard.
one person in our class has already gone home early. whenever it snows a madness seems to spread through the lower school. everyone loves it when it snows.
the snow is really piling up here, I hope it is snowing in springfield.

Theo. Class
just now John Horton left for home, so did peter hallinan.
we may get out of school before study hall. I bet in study hall mr. Marlin will tell us about the snow monster. Here are the things we have to know for the theology exam:
1. Genesis
2.Garden of eden
3. Adam
4. Eve
5. Cain
6. Abel
forget all these because I just found out mr. Bedell is going to mimeograph them and the other 54. I think we have a real blizzard on out hands.

Evening at home
this evening I watched the premier of The New Candid Camera show. they showed a traffic cop who was practically dancing.
this evening Gerald Ford, the president. is giving a state of the union message. I don't really like to listen because he is boring. I am going to listen to the radio if he doesn't end soon.
I have just been thinking about if we did have a depression if I would have enough money to keep writing in this journal all through it.

Sunday, January 12, 1975
today I got up at about ten o'clock and my breakfast was sausage and fried eggs. I found out Kelly had never had fried eggs before. she said she liked them. for the past two days I have been making play money that I call compute-o-checks. This morning I made jenny a $100 one.
my dad and I are going to see the movie, "Island at the top of the world" about a lost viking civilization on a volcanic island.
I like my new watch band a whole lot now that It has softened up.
there hasn't been much to do this morning.
it is now 1:50 p.m.
* * * *
It was a very good movie and I liked it when they were going through the subterainean volcanic tunnels. we had tuna salad sandwiches for dinner. I am now watching sixty minutes the first part was about hawiian chinese and how they have moved up from laundrys to senators. the second part was about how Pan american Airlines is going broke
just now my sister walked in my room with a game and asked me if I wanted to play. I said no and to get out of my room. and she set down the game and came over and hit me. I got up and almost hit her, but I decided to go call my dad instead.
as usual he went from one extreme to the other, first he stopped at the doorway and discussed it with her until I was fed up with it and started to bodily throw her out. then he yelled at me and started hitting jenny on the bottom to make her leave. after that we had a very long discussion on our behavior in which I got yelled at a lot, even though it was jenny's fault.
*
later I watched first Kojak and then mannix they are both detective shows.
during kojak I was in my room. I got lonely so I went out into the kitchen to be with my family. while I was out there I had a huge piece of cake with ice cream that I didn't finish.
this evening I made a thing I call my porcupine because I took a cork float and put three pins for legs so it would stand upright and I took all the others on it's back and it looked like a porcupine.

Saturday, January 11, 1975
I just heard on the radio that six puppies we left at puppy palace in the mall for the christmas holidays, from Dec. 23-Jan.2, only one survived. the owner is going to be tried for cruelty to animals. I also heard about a man who had to eat lots of garlic for his ulcer and he was fired from his job because the other workers couldn't stand the smell.
I have decided to stop collecting rocks because I keep taking them out for exibits etc. . .
I can't wait for the party to begin we went to the roller rink and I had a lot of fun but I got sore feet about half an hour before the session ended.
I loved to watch jenny skate around the rink alone. yesterday was her birthday if I didn't tell you that yesterday. when I came home I started out for a house the fire department had condemned and were burning to look for robbie.
when I came home all the girls were running out of the front door and around to the back for a candy-kiss hunt. when they finished they went inside to make caramel apples. during that time me and my dad went to the mall and went to springfield jewelers to get me a watch band. I finally picked out a brown leather one that was a snap op. when I came back we played a game where you write as many words as you can from the words: Jenny Davenport, because it's her birthday. I won with a total of 66 words, the closest one to me was a total of 46. everyone had a autograph book and a pen for party favors. so almost twenty minutes signing each other's books. on one I drew this:

as you see I left the word balloon blank on purpose.

one of jenny's friends is going to spend the night. her name is kelly. we were playing store and I was a millionaire in computo checks which I made out of paper using original computer cards as prototypes. I will write more about today tommorrow.

Friday, January 10, 1975
I am going to get a bad geo. grade because I didn't get my homework questions.
mr. Bedell has some new glasses with heavy black frames. I am dying to draw a woody to depict the change.
we had a spelling test today and I drew a beautiful picture of a copy from mad's don martin. on my spelling test paper. we got our book orders today and I ordered a few books.
John horton was at school today, he and I ate lunch together. we are doing more oral book reports today.
not much has happened today.
today was my sister's birthday. I am full of anticipation of tomorrow, when jenny is going to have nine other girls for a party. we are going to the roller rink and we are going to have cake, ice cream, and open presents when we get back. she is going to have a girl over to spend the night. so you see I am going to have a lot of fun tomorrow. I am going to bother the girls at the roller rink, and I expect almost none of the girls can roller skate very well because most of them are snobs and probably never even thought of roller skating, they will all be demolished by the crowd of people at the roller rink.
I am twelve but I still do admire some people on tv. Kolchak: the night stalker, the six million dollar man, sort of, and oscar goldman. many times I like to pretend to be karl kolchak and when I have my glasses on I feel like oscar goldman.
we live right near a big shopping center called the springfield mall. it has lots of stores all under one roof. some of the interesting places are:
Collectors Cabinet- rocks, sea shells, butterflies, etc.
Hong kong- imports, smells strangly of incense
Spencer Gifts- unusual gifts, novelties, also smells
Magic Hat- magic supplies, gives lessons
Orange Bowl-pizzaria, makes over $2500.00 a day
It strikes me as funny that most of the small stores would never have a chance in an open shopping center because no one would bother to go in. Here are some more:
Plant Place, sells house plants
Georgetown leather boutique, specializes in leather hats, boots, handbags, jackets, etc.
Needle in a haystack- records-tapes
The Time Out tunnel- machines games, electric tennis etc. mirrors in back give tunnel effect.
there is always some exibit in the central square of the mall

Thursday, January 9, 1975
Math Class
we went to chapel today. I always sit near the door because you will be crushed in the doorway when they dismiss you so I get out before everybody else.
I am now in math class, but I am not really paying attention because I never had any trouble understanding integers. I have always imagined negative numbers trying to, one day, trying to become positive numbers, when you add you help them, and when subtract it presses them back.
I like doing s.r.a. reading things.
I will have to bring my old math book tomorrow because we are reviewing for exams.
I am glad we don't have any homework until exams. I don't know for sure, but I think on exam week we get out earlier than usual.
I go to athletics next and then to lunch so I won't be able to write until reading class. I think I like english class best.

English Class
at recess we played king of the hill, this time on the low brick wall. today at lunch my reading teacher, Mrs. Price gave me her spinach to me because she doesn't like it.
we are doing more oral book reports today.
I hope today is over quickly. I am nervous about my report on confucianism. I hope we don't have enough time to do mine because I am not really ready. I have to read up on the subject because I haven't done much on it except write it.
I just found out something wonderful, when we do our exams we come to school at the regular time and we must stay until 10:30 and as soon as we finish and hand it in we are free to go and have the rest of the day at home.

this evening I took a bath and while I was in the tub I used my mask and a plastic tube and I could put on my mask and lay on my back with the tube in my mouth and I could breathe under water. I would, someday, like to learn to skin dive. ///////// ///// //////// ///////// /////////// ////////////// ////// ///////. // /// ////// /////////, // ///. ///// / ////// // ///// ///, / //// ////, //// /// // ////////.
this is highly confidential but once or twice I ran around naked in my back yard at night. when I wrote that, I felt a sense of sealing this journal because I can now never let anyo I am sorry I had to scribble that out I will write it in code on the margin. code is in secret hiding place

.AHjoaP.-
.E.-.Keko.
20,3,Vm-
1, Wgo-
E5,94,VgoJ
FV8-uZ-
x3,T.
u-17,7-XH
94,thEZr-
94.k-e5,B-
9-10,y,U38-
p,94-XK05-
H-rugw-
uZ-H-xv94,J
Y9,j-ten3,-
y5

1/8/75 (school journal)
I am writing this to fill up this notebook. peter hallinan gave me a book called stamp and stories for my birthday, very late I got a christmas card to katson.

Wednesday, January 8, 1975
Geo. Class
today I made it to school on time. when I grow up I think I would like to own a honda car. we still have to see the second part of our filmstrip on the russian revolution.
I usually don't do my geo. homework because it doesn't seem as urgent as my other homework. we took some notes today, a whole blackboard full and then he had to finish on another board and after that he erased the first part (everybody had finished that part by then) and wrote some more.

Reading Class
I am nervous because I am going to do my oral book report. I have it down pay but I will probably mess it up. I always get tongue tied when I speak publicly.
I think I did pretty well but I faltered only once or twice. most of the other reports I think are better than mine. well at least, from the spectator's point of view. Borthwick is doing some book about lassie.
I can draw pretty well.

english class
mr. stone is a pretty nice guy, but he hands out demerits right and left. they usually don't stick, though. he just gave me a demerit for being out of my seat when he never said I couldn't get up.
Theo. Class
I am going to have my math test in study period so I am glad I have already done all my homework.
I hope I get a better grade than I got the first time. I think I will have to do my report tomorrow, I was right.

after school
I am now home and I hope I can figure out how to do a problem I don't understand. I have one more problem.
I don't know how to do this problem: 4.5÷100. well, I didn't figure it out but now I know how to do it because my dad told me how. by my dad's count I got a seventy on this test. it may not be too good but it's an awful lot better than a forty, like I got on my last test.
I have my desk all filled up now.
I am making a small collection of things that are very dear to me.
so far I have my good luck charm, a moonstone, davey's picture, and a piece of iron which I used sandpaper on in circles to make a changing effect.
I call it my "memory block" because you can see anything you want in it, using your imagination.

Tuesday, January 7, 1975
Reading Class
we had snow last night and it rained during the night so the snow froze into ice. I didn't get to school until 10:30- during athletics I got dressed and I found out I was too late to wrestle because my team had already wrestled. at recess the east and the west had a snowball fight. each team at one of the two arches over the doors for refuge. I was neutral. I only got hit once, when I wasn't looking. I am now in reading class because I missed geo. and math.
we are starting our SRA reading laboratory this is a new thing, I have only done SRA once before and I have never done rate builders.
we are doing our reports in theology. they are mostly very boring. right now John Leiner and peter hallinan are doing their report on Hinduism.
Hallinan isn't very good at public speaking. he knows a lot about it just as I suppose leiner does. he is the kind of person who does an awful lot when he is assigned something. In my english journal I write a lot more freely than I do in this book. mr. Bedell is a nice guy, always smiling. he can take a joke very well, unlike some teachers I know or used to know.

Theo. Class
this morning I was very glad to stay asleep in my nice warm bed. someday I would like to write a book. I would give hallinan a B- to a B because he was pretty boring. and he did have a lot of information.
Leiner has an awful lot of information and I will give him an A because he hasn't really memorized it but he knows his religion forward and backwards. Hinduism is very interesting especially how you are reincarnated.
if you lead a good life you become in a higher caste when you die.

after school
my mom went to her bridge club tonight and me and my dad, and jenny were going to go to the roller rink because tonight is family night.
this evening our family almost forgot to get our pictures taken at olan mills.
the funny thing about that is we did forget our last appointment.
they took me and jenny's pictures together. in one we were acting like we really loved each other.

11:30
I wish my mom was home. it is always lonely without her to put me to bed at night.

Monday, January 6, 1975
Geo.
well, today is the first day of school after vacation. John Horton got a real leather vest like Bob Newhart's. everyone is talking and I got an extra day before my math test.
we are watching a filmstrip on the russian revolution. Mr. Bedell has new glasses, he says that his old ones were being repaired.

math class
we spent most of our time in math class making a list of things to study for our exams. we have two weeks until exams. I have athletics right after math and I have to get to the locker room fast because my locker is in the corner.
I am going up to get my grades they are: 100, 68, 68, and ? because I was late and I take that test tomorrow

theo class
at recess we played king of the bench, which is the same as king of the hill except we use a bench.
when I came inside I was very red faced from all the exertion of jumping up and down.
This is my last class and this is where I give my confucianism. I would like to learn how to play the harmonica but I don't know anywhere I can learn.

evening
it has been snowing most of the afternoon we have about three inches of very wet, slushy snow. my sister made snow ice-cream.
I think my dad is hard-headed and has a one track mind. he thinks he's right and no matter what anyone else says whether their right or not, he's right and that's that we have been discussing family problems all evening and I can't get anywhere with him.
I would like to smack him one and try to knock some sense into him. I give up.
I think my dad must be dense, he doesn't see what is wrong. He always watches old movies and his favorite show is the untouchables with all the gangsters. He makes me sick.
I am taking my math test tomorrow and I haven't studied. I think our family problem is my dad favors jenny and he thinks my mom favors me so he says he has to protect jenny. my mom is really neutral so I have a lack of support and jenny gets away with murder.
I am going to talk to my dad now.
my dad is really stupid.
I am already up too late and I have to study for my math test.
exams are coming up in two weeks and in math we are already reviewing.
my dad ruined my evening

Sunday, January 5, 1975
I am glad the burden of my report on Confucianism has stopped haunting me. I still have my oral book report but I can do that in minutes and it is only 7:30.
today has been a very emotional day.
I knew there was nothing to do on sundays, nothing on tv. all the stores closed, I was bored sick. my mom and dad have been prodding me all day and finally late this afternoon I blew my top. I had them really thinking I was getting sick at supper, maybe I am, I didn't eat any pot roast because it just tasted bland. I have been sitting around the house all day reading. when I blew my top I went and smashed a big apple cider jug on the patio. I swept it up and my dad didn't get too mad; at least he didn't spank me. he did say that if I have to destroy something everytime I get really mad I should go to a psyciatrist.
I am going to surprise my parents by doing my book report without their help. I figure if I can talk faster than I can write I will write for about six minutes and read it and see if I can make it five.
my mom said I had to go to bed at 10:30 tonight. I am going to pick out my clothes tonight. I will probably wear my new outfit I got for christmas.
this evening I finished my book report and I copied down key words on index cards. I was originally going to do Julie of the Wolves but I switched to Survive the Savage Sea because its longer.
I set my alarm clock at seven thirty so I will get up tomorrow.
I have always wondered how you spell the word "tomorrow" sometimes I spell it T-O-M-M-O-R-R-O-W and sometimes I spell it T-O-M-O-R-R-O-W, the correct way. up till now I didn't know it.
I am working on a boredom-killer kit that consists of a few small things to keep you busy. so far I have: one ball bearing, one piece of white fur, a big coin, a polished rock, and a heavy rock. I hope I can remember my book report under pressure.
I am going to try to find my worry stone, a piece of talc with a smooth rubbing surface.

Saturday, January 4, 1975

I have one more day to do my book report. my mom has written my report for me and all I have to do is copy it.
we got up at about nine o'clock and I had three fried eggs for breakfast. jenny and debbie tried to make croutons and finally me and robert made them.
I have been cleaning my room all day and I have it almost licked. my whole desk is clean and I have put out three bags of trash today from my room.
me and robert have played together all day. we went to the roller rink and skated. I think they give you a bad pair of skates first and if you don't return them too bad. they keep all the new skates tucked away so they won't get worn out. while we were there a person fell down and broke her leg.
when we got back, (we dropped spaghetti on the road on the way home) we played ping pong and then we got the big cardboard box it came in and we rolled up in it. when we rolled up together we could keep on rolling over and over across the yard.
I just found out that yesterday, Jan. 3, two years ago, I made a plan for invisibility using a glass box made of one way glass
I haven't been feeling too well this evening and my dad wants me to do my report tonight. I am going to do it anyway.
my mom and dad forgot all about their bible study meeting and it gives me a great chance to do my report.
my dad is very overprotective.
I am watching carol burnett right now.
I think it is one of the funniest shows on.
it is now 2:35 in the morning and I am supposed to be in bed but I am reading a real neat book.
my mom and I finished my report on confucianism, copied and all. she read it and I wrote as fast as I could. it is all finished except for the bibliography
I just figured it out,; if we went to bed right now I would have to sleep until one o'clock this afternoon to get enough sleep. I wish someone would sleep with me.

Friday, January 3, 1975
today I am going to write my book report. it is going to be on "the Bully of Barkham Street". the main reason I am having trouble doing it is I don't know exactly what is expected of me. my confucianism report is due in three days and I am in a state of panic. my mom is a big help, but what might be even more help is a couple of extra days.
last night I wrote a letter to davey.
right now it is about one fifteen, my dad came home and is going to take me and my sister to mc donald's for lunch. I love the food there. I am watching the game show "What's my line?" I love it but it is rarely on when I can see it.
we first went to our old bank and withdrew all the money and closed both bank accounts. then we went to the new bank (right in springfield) and opened two accounts with the $106.00 dollars in the old account plus the fifty dollars we got for christmas.
we then went to mc donald's and then home.
robert is going to spend the night tonight he will be coming at seven o'clock.
I can't wait. it's about fifteen of six now.

robert came over just exactly on time.
we played ghost in the graveyard most of the evening and there was a brown and white cat that kept scaring us every now and then. we went over to the smallwoods house a little later and pretended we were hippies raiding the house. debbie actually threw an egg on the roof. on the way back we had an egg from the smallwood's house and debbie threw it on the street like a bowling ball (according to robert's suggestion) and it made a trail for almost ten feet with a real neat sound
we watched tv and I have been trying to clean my room.
while robert has been here I have noticed that he had particularly smelly feet.
right now robert is reading and it is 1:25 a.m.
robert has italian ancestors and he has dark brown eyes, curly hair, and he looks slightly flat-nosed.
I have found my glasses and many other old things that have been missing for a long time. good night!

Thursday, January 2, 1975
today is the first day I am staying home alone. my dad is going to his office and now that vacation is over for Springfield Estates school, my mom goes to work.
about all I will do today is watch tv.
I may write a story. I can write very good stories but I can't figure out anything to write about.
right now there isn't anything on tv. because there is an inaugural thing pre-empting it.
I will listen to the radio. I think it is stupid to have the same thing on all the channels.
I wish my dad would stop smoking. he says he will stop sometime in the near future but I don't beleive him. I don't think he can. just today he started smoking and coughing and I stomped out of the room and slammed the door.-let him think about that for a while.
I just came back from the barber shop.
I knew if I got in the car I would be railroaded into getting a haircut. the new man must be an indian, he scalped me.

I am pretty tired. I will finish this up quick so I can go to bed.
an awful thought has just struck me.
I only have three more days until school resumes. I'll never finish by that time. I'm scared. I wish my mom were home
this evening my sister has been driving me crazy while I was trying to watch tv.
right now I am listening to the radio.
why don't they have more interesting on anytime?
it is now about five minutes till ten o'clock.
I am very depressed this evening.
lately I have been worried that I have some disease because there is a small lump on my chest. I am scared to tell anyone.
I doubt it is anything.
there are some pretty interesting things on my sound effects tape:
a fencing lesson, slot machine, mantel clock, guinea pigs, children in a playground, and mourning doves in a pet shop. pretty weird collection eh?
good night!

I am suddenly not so tired it is now about ten thirty.
I just took my mom's newest piece of jewelery, a beautiful jade teardrop, a dark, woody, olive green with a very small diamond sparkling at the top of the unique shape, and a cultured pearl near the bottom all set in a shining, lacy, golden pattern, like a golden spider web with sunshine sticking to it. there is a life size drawing at the top of this page. It isn't very good, but you can see it if you use your imagination.

I don't like much candy. I do like some candy bars, orange hard candy, tootsie rolls, and peanut things. I love food, but one disadvantage I have is that I don't like hot dogs. this is a great disadvantage because if you are ever at a picnic, barbecue, informal gathering where they will feed a large number of people, they will always serve, you guessed it! HOT DOGS!!! I don't really mind because you can usually have a hamburger instead.
(by the way, scratch that good night on the preceeding page and see this one)
good night!

I had to sum up a lot of courage, but I finally told my mom about the lump on my chest. she said it was probably nothing, but she would call the doctor and get his opinion. I told her not to tell my dad because it would worry him. I hope she appreciates the courage it took to tell her that. I wonder if it will turn out to be something?
it is now one o'clock and I am starting to get tired again.
now that I have told you what I wrote this page for, I don't have anything else to write.

Here's what I think a toolbox should contain:
hammer and nails, assorted screwdrivers, two wrenches, wire, pliers, c-clamps, saw, file, sandpaper, steel wool, matches, plane, level, screw starter, assorted screws, heavy duty pencil, tape measure, hinges, glue, jig saw, hack saw, socket wrenches, drill, and many more tools for specific use. (forget the last two goodnights)
good night! (for good!)

Wednesday, January 1, 1975
today I have slept until almost twelve-thirty. I don't know why because I stayed up till two in the morning last night but once I stayed up until three and I got up at ten.
I have been watching the rose bowl parade all morning. all the floats are interesting. I especially liked the one entitled "How to build a better mousetrap. the marching bands were also good.
I played a game of ping pong with my dad and he said my serve was getting better. then I played my mom and beat her two out of three games.
we are now going to a movie called The towering inferno robert says it's good. It's about a skyscraper that caught fire.
when we got there we found a line all the way down the corridor that had been waiting since 2:15. then all the tickets were sold out so we left for home.
I played one game of ping pong with my mom and started playing with jenny. I quit with jenny because she is so bad that it isn't any fun.
on my sound effects tape there is a part called Cow Barn and one of the sounds is of a cow going to the bathroom.
It is very windy outside. I think I better fold up the ping pong table.
me and jenny folded it up and put it next to the wall.
my favorite tv. show is the night stalker and hogan's heroes runs a close second.
Just now I read about the civil war ironclad "Monitor" and how it was found
before this journal I started using another hard cover journal notebook but there was only one difference: the paper was thinner, so much thinner that I couldn't use my fountain pen. so I changed to this one.
I am glad that my mom helped me with my confucianism report she wrote down some notes from the encyclopedia world book.

***important secret hiding place*** important

this evening I made a secret hiding place for small things. I drilled a hole in the top drawer of my desk. you take a screwdriver and unscrew the top screw of the two inside the drawer and pull out the handle. then the metal plate will slide around and there will be a drilled hole.