The Stream of Concious-ness

2007-05-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 6, 1975

English
today at athletics we weren't playing. our team went out onto the football field and practiced. we finished and then we played out parts, as the ten stooges. we fooled around and really made a good effort to be uncoordinated. wouldn't it be funny if we did that at our game tomorrow?

"Hello?", said Jon
"O.K.," a shady voice on the phone said, "if you ever want to see your mother again youll do what I say."
"I will."
"Come to the park at exactly four o'clock tomorrow morning","come alone," the voice said
Jon got in his car and drove to the park.
He waited for two hours until it was four o'clock and the kidnapper arrived.
Jon saw in the shadows a glint of metal and flashing lights, and suddenly the "thing" came forth.
The voice spoke;" I am a robot, I have come from another planet to collect samples of humans" in it's harsh computerlike voice.
"What do you want?", Jon asked.
"You" the robot simply replied.

11:30
today when I got home I ate a cinnamon roll and I went out to check my garden. I found I had six pea plants and the same old summer squash. I watered my garden because it looked like it needed it: and wouldn't you know it, we had a good rain this afternoon and then my plants had too much water. this afternoon I planted one of the pussywillows. I had an ingenious idea for doing it. I dug a hole and put in a plastic liner. I filled the hole up with dirt again and put my pussywillow in it. then I used the hose to make a dryish mud all around the plant. I think it will work.
this evening I finished my story with dialogue.
right now I am trying to think up a good ending punch line for my story.
this evening I watched the pilot film to a new series that is coming out in september of this year. It's called "The Invisible man" and its really very good. I can't wait until it comes on tv.
I made the big groucho poster and I am going to bring it to school tomorrow along with the spiral note paper Jon Horton has been waiting ages for.
I ended up the short life of my drawing book and I am going to use my sketch trip book instead. I think that it is a lot better because it doesn't have any ruled lines on it's pages.
for our last edition of our newspaper I am going to write an article entitled "Groucho" It will be an illustrated sort of biography.

2007-05-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

Monday, May 5, 1975
Geo.
today in geo. we have mrs. erkhart for a substitute teacher. today I finished my map of south america. I wish mr. bedell were here so I could hand it in and start on my quiz.
12:01 am.
today I made a groucho marx duck. I made a poster of it.
I have decided to make a book of all my drawings. I have already started it.
right now my mom is mad at me because I haven't written in my journal and she wants to put me in bed.
I have the feeling that I will probably go to st. stephens school again next year. I still don't know.
I feel pretty mixed up. I am about to go to bed.
I have been thinking about what I will be when I grow up. I may become a college professor. I could have a lot of spare time and I could get the summer off and I would get paid pretty well.
I wish I wouldn't think so far in the future, because it always bothers my mind with descions which don't make any difference at this point in my life.

2007-05-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 4, 1975
11:00 p.m.
this morning I hot up about eleven o'clock, and lazed around until three o'clock, when robert came over and I told him about the praying mantises. robert and I played a few games of ping pong and then me and robert went inside.
I then had breakfast (at three o'clock!) and me and robert played more ping pong until robert had to go home. then out family went down to burke lake and we went to mcdonalds to get food and then we went to burke where we then ate at one of the picnic tables and then me and jenny went for a walk in the nearby woods. jenny wanted to go on the path but I went off through the dense undergrowth. we went over to the shore and I found a ladybug and a nice piece of driftwood.
today I made the decision to go to key intermediate school next year. I think this is a big decision because I may not be able to get back into st. stephens if I don't like it there.
I have spent this evening watching tv.
today I went out to my garden and scattered my praying mantises. I saw that the onions were doing fine, the peppers could use some water, and I threw some rocks out of my garden. but the big news of the day is that I now have some summer squash pants coming up. four or five of them

2007-05-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 3, 1975

12:00 ? (midnight)
this morning I got up pretty late, and just as I got up robert called me and asked me to come over to his house to clean the fish pond. when I got to roberts house he was out in his back yard using the aqua-vac to empty the pond. we spent about three and a half hours emptying the pond. then the fun part came. catching the fish. you would get down on your knees and catch the fish with your hands. when we caught the giant catfish, we had found that it had grown tremendously and was spiny and slimy.
we also noticed it had changed color.
while I was there I noticed some flowers called bleeding hearts that have a fascinating shape.
after that me and robert came over to my house and we played until he had to go home.
1:00
this evening I went to the carnival again and robert came with us. we rode two rides with jenny and debbie and we also went on the tip top, the paratroopers, the octopus, and we played a few games. we had lots of fun there.
we went home and I watched tv. and I drew two new pages for the woody's of the world book.

2007-05-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 2, 1975

english
today at athletics we went out to play soccer and on the soccer field there must have been two inches of mud in some places. I was in most of the time and once, even with the mud I made a great shot away from john leiner and it sailed right to mike small on our team captain. once or twice while we were playing a person or two slipped on the muck and fell flat on his back in the mud.
today I am going to write my english story so I won't have to worry about it.
In reading mrs. price better watch out. I am going to draw such a horrendous monster on my spelling test.
today in science class mr. thompson showed his human side. he talked about how once he had been at a demonstration and he finally was able to blow a bubble of saliva and the lecturer practically smashed him on the head. at least then he probably had a little hair to protect him.

1:30 am.
this evening robert invited me to a carnival.
I took a whole bunch of money and it turned out I hardly spent any of it. the best part of the evening was when me, robert, and mrs. merril went to howard johnson's and got a fudge sundae. we played a game while we were waiting to be served.

2007-05-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

Thursday, May 1, 1975

(may day)
this morning I got to school on time. today in geo. I finally passed my quiz on europe. now I can go to south america.

science
today at athletics we picked our three soccer teams. I ended up on mike small's team and then we picked a team name, I think we picked a pretty silly name, "the ten stooges."

11:45 p.m.
this evening I have made a chalk picture of a waterfall. I got It from a picture in our scenic wonders book. I spent a lot of time on it and I am now convinced that I can make just as pretty a picture if a fairly rush. my mountain picture is still the best.
today after school I was pretty mad, I don't know exactly why. I may have just been tired
I have to write a story for english and Its due on monday. I might wright about something that has happened recently.
I am going to have to get a good picture of my metal sculptures and also of my chalk pictures. I also must get the pictures of old sturbridge village into my old book.
this evening I played a good joke on jenny.
today I found out jon horton has to have braces.

2007-04-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 30, 1975
3:00
this morning I was awakened by the vacuum cleaner running. I decided to start off early and I got dressed as soon as I got out of bed. I had soft boiled eggs for breakfast,
I have been watching tv. almost ever since.
I have made two pictures today one of a geyser and one of a stream with trees neither is as good as my mountains.

11:15
when my mom got home from school I went with her to the commissary. on the way to the commissary we talked about what happened to mrs. Neil. on her way somewhere she was sideswiped by a hit and run driver who was speeding and made a u turn when he wasn't supposed to. in the coincidence someone who worked at a school was going in the opposite direction was almost hit by the same driver and went to help mrs. Neil Lucily mrs. Neil had gotten the license number and not gotten hurt. the other man would testify for her in court as he had seen the whole thing and another coincidence was that mrs. Anderson's son who owns a ham radio and he (by the way, mrs. Anderson is a teacher at the same school) called the police. when the police find the man who did it he's in for it. he hasn't got a chance. on the other hand, he may have had a good reason for what he did.
well, anyway mom and I got milk, eggs, ice cream, and coke at the commissary and brought it home.
robert came over and we played a few games of ping pong and robert had to go home
this evening I drew a picture of a man running a tractor, just to keep in practice with magic markers. I am now confident that I can do as well with markers as chalk. I have included it in the book.
I have given up on my catalog of all my journals It is just too much to catch up on. I will just enter highlights.

2007-04-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 29, 1975

12:15 am.
this morning I got up as late as I suspected I would. I stayed at home most of the day until me and my dad went to roy rogers to eat lunch.
It cost way too much but the food is great.
I came home and my dad went to get jenny from school. I watched to and when they got home jenny called debbie. all four of us went to the mall. I got some hairspray for my two chalk pictures. I drew a great dove and then today I made a squirrel. while we were there we also got four needles for blowing up balls. when we got back I sprayed my two pictures and jenny blew up her ball. jenny and Debbie went outside to play some ball and I wanted to play and my dad said I couldn't.

I asked my dad if he had any jobs for me and he said he would give me $3.00 for cleaning off the patio. I did it and robert came over. we played a few games of ping pong and I lost both and I threw my paddle and accidentally broke the back window. me and robert cleaned up the glass and we started playing a new game where you would catapult a block into the air and the other person would try to catch it. this evening I drew a chalk picture, I think one of the best ones I've ever made of mountains in a sunset. I took the idea from a picture in a book.

1:00 am.
I have just gotten out of bed. I am lonely and I wish that I would stop thinking about time and space. I feel lonely probably because I can't help it, but every spare moment my brain gets, stark reality hits it. I am only one tiny, small, short lived, organism in the neverending universe. I can see the day when our sun explodes and all life on earth will end. I will be dead then. I fear very much dying and I hope that there is such a thing as reincarnation or really a heaven. but if I am reincarnated over and over again, I will see the world end. that would be worst of all.

2007-04-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 28, 1975

Geo.
today this is our only class. after this class we will go to a memorial service for Dr. Hoy. we may go see the body and some people asked some questions; one person asked if he would small, another asked if no cover was on the casket wouldn't someone stick his head in.

1:30 am.
I am up so late because I was watching a good movie called "Hello down there." today after science class was over I went and got my stuff on for field day. I went outside and I went to the shot put circle. I waited around and threw a couple of practice shots and just when the event was going to start I heard my running event announced on the loudspeaker. the running event takes priority so I went and ran the 40 td. dash. I came in sixth place and when I finished the shot put was all over. I drank a few cokes and with my dad went to get jenny. after that we went to the dentist's. I lucily didn't get a flouride treatment and I found out that I didn't have any cavities. when I got home I played with robert awhile.
I was mad at my parents for driving off to bowling and so I smashed a fish bowl, a croquet mallet, and a plastic box. I drew a beautiful dove tonight.

2007-04-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 27, 1975

10:30
today I got up fairly late. robert called me and asked me if I would like to go to accotink lake to catch minnows. I collected a net and a bucket and went over to roberts house. we played a while until we were ready to go and we drove up to accotink. me and robert first came up on some minnows in a deep pool in one of the small creeks that emptys into the lake. we caught one and robert got it. we waded among the small pools in the woods as far as we dare go. we turned back and on the way back we caught a frog. robert got him too.
after that we went over behind the dam to fish. we followed a wide almost river and I caught a crayfish and thats about all. It must have been a rotten day for fishing we hardly caught anything.
we had lunch and played mini golf and went fishing again. robert slipped on some mud and got all wet and dirty.
today I found out that Dr. Hoy, our school's headmaster finally died from terminal cancer. because of it we aren't going to have any school tuesday and thursday.
I wonder if everyone will go to the funeral? I think that this will probably make mondays part of field day very sad.
I am glad we are getting the two days off but I feel like I should be sadder.

2007-04-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 26, 1975

2:00
Today I got up had sort of a breakfast and played with jenny and debbie until I got tired of it and went and got robert. robert came over and we played a lot of ping pong and in between every couple of games we would do something else. For a while robert has been playing ping pong funny. he keeps talking about money he'll get for losing so many games. At first I thought he was trying to win by taking my mind off the game. But he has kept on playing like that and I wonder about it. Right now I am six or seven games ahead of him and I am wondering about it. he says he told debbie about it and she wouldn't say anything.

robert had to leave to eat dinner and my family had a good dinner of eggs and sausage. robert called and told me we couldn't go to his mothers' bingo to collect aluminum cans because he just remembered you can't just be running around without playing bingo.
Robert came over and we played some more ping pong and when it got dark we played a few games outside like Dark shadows and ghost in the graveyard. robert finally went home and I watched some tv. I am now up at 2:00 am because my mom let me stay up to watch a war movie about a raid on japan.

this evening, since I am going to the dentist in a few days I brushed my teeth so they would be pretty clean when I go.
I wish my dad hadn't made the dentist appointment on monday right after school because I would really like some time to get ready for the trip before I go.

2007-04-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 25, 1975

this morning I brought my cookies to school.
Science
here are my events:
40 yard dash 2:50
Shot Put 2:20
I also want to watch george hesse jump at 2:30
I am very confused about the locker arrangements for field day.
this morning I was almost late for school. today at field day I am supposed to go tell mr. pullard that I'm not in the high jump before it starts.
Imagine, I spent an hour or so wasted last night doing my book report.
today in math mr. Lichfuss was in a good mood and we talked and played some games.
Today in science I got my grades for the deficiency period. I got an overall average of 94.
in english I did awful on my homework
there goes my good english grade.
10:45
today after english we went to field day.
I went over to my locker and put on my stuff, except I wore my pants to carry my money in. at about 2:10 I went over to the shotput circle and waited. the weather was warm and wet and every once in a while it sprinkled and then abruptly stopped. I practiced a few shots and then the competition began. As it started it began to lightly sprinkle I threw it first and made a foul on my first shot. I did fairly well on my second shot and then It started steadily to increase, As it turned out I never got my third throw. We were called in for a ten-minute break to see if it would let up, the break turned into a cancellation, or at least a continuation until monday. on monday we are going to pick up where we left off.
I bought two jewelery boxes at the white elephant sale and when I got them home I set it up in my room and put my stuff in it.
when I got home I also found a new desk lamp for me on my desk.
I agreed with my dad that I would go to the new barbershop with him and when I got my hair all cut I was very pleased I went next door and got an ice cream cone and we went home. I am about to go to bed.

2007-04-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 24, 1975

Study Hall
this morning I just plain didn't want to get up.
I was late for school and only had five minutes of geography. in math I was overjoyed when I found out I got a perfect score on my math test.
at athletics I never threw the shotput because mr. murphy never found it.
today I found out on the field day schedule that I am in an event I shouldn't be in.
I don’t know what to do.

11:00
today when I got home from school my dad was very happy about my math grade.
when I got home robbie was already here and we played some ping pong. I actually beat him a couple of times and I am now one game ahead of him.
I watched tv. tonight and this afternoon my dad took me out to ponderosa steak house and I had a very good supper.
I have decided to use my big five section notebook to keep a catalog of everything in these journals. It will be a long, boring job but it will be invaluable as my collection of journals grows larger.
I had better put a key in it so I know what each particular day's point of interest was, one for nature activities, playing with friends, new experiences, storys and literature, descriptions, or any other thing I can think of.

2007-04-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 23, 1975

math
today in math we had a test. I think I did very well on it. maybe a 100% that would sure help my sagging math grade out.

science
today at athletics I practiced my field event for field day. I am shotputting. I threw the shot seven or eight times, and then went out onto the field to play capture the flag.
my other event on field day is the 40 yard dash. I am one of the slowest people in the thing. I wonder if I could have someone faster than me (almost anyone) chase me, because it seems that

Reading
today in english I ran up against something I didn't understand.
7:00
just a minute ago my mom and dad had a big fight. once they almost hit each other. I was really scared.
My mom just hired someone to mow our lawn. I am mad about that because I like to do it myself.

11:30
today in study hall I started making a thing for mr. Lichfuss about intersection and sets.
I am trying to finish it.

2007-04-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 22, 1975

study hall
today in school not much happened. or else I am so excited about my delicious dinner I am going to have steak, french fries, and a luscious green salad with italian dressing, all outdoors on our patio. maybe I’ll invite robert over to eat.
Billy bavin was very pleased with what I did to his pen. I am pressed by my book report that is due and by my english interview.
Today in study hall we are free to go to a baseball game so most of the people who are in the room are Hallinan, me, and Beebe; Hallinan is interviewing me, and I am interviewing Beebe.

12:00
today when my relatives came we had a delicious dinner. I loved it. after that we all went to the ice cream social, where there was an ice cream eating contest. there were streamers draped across from one beam to another. I had an ice cream cone and sundae.
Since there were many people I had known talking and laughing together, I felt very left tout of everything.
this evening I talked to the family a while and now I have to go to bed. I am planning to go downstairs and scare jenny if she's not asleep.

2007-04-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 21, 1975

math
today in geo. I got a lot done on europe. I labeled a bunch of countrys.
I am anticipating, not too happily, about my upcoming visit to the dentist on the 28th only one more week until I go there.
yesterday I was looking forward to school, but when I had to get out of bed this morning I didn't think the same.

science
today at lunch I wanted to get a coke. I found Bobby Curtis at the machine trying to get some lost money back. he finally gave up and I put a quarter into it. It came out of the change slot. I took the quarter and tried again. when it came out the change slot Curtis grabbed it and said it was his. I couldn't get it back from him so I told Mrs. Beatte, my fifth grade teacher and she wouldn't do anything about it.

9:30
this evening when I got home I had billy bavin's pen.
we had switched at the end of school so I could take his pen home and put his name on it. tomorrow we are going to switch back again. this evening my mom and dad went bowling and laura wallace came over to babysit.
I have been watching tv. and making a puzzle at the same time. it is a hidden words puzzel and I made it so every letter is part of a word or words.
I am looking forward to dinner tomorrow, because my aunt uncle and cousin are coming to eat over on their way to Carolina.

10:15
this evening is a big night for tv. I wish they had the tv on saturday or friday night, then I could stay up late without having to get up next morning.
this evening I have been watching tv. I am hopefully going to watch the best of groucho.

2007-04-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 20, 1975

12:45 p.m.
this morning I got up much later than I did yesterday.
I have been wishing that I had been writing this journal when Davey feroe was still here.
So before I completely forget him, here is his rundown.
Davey Feroe, who is now 12, lives in Erie Colorado. He is stocky, blond and fairly tall.
He has a nice personality and is exceptionally smart. Davey has two sisters, one crissy, who is now three or four and who is also very smart. when she was small they called her "kicky" because that was the way she pronounced her name. He also has an older sister, cathy, who thinks she is far superior to him and bosses him around. Daveys parents are pretty strict and usually on cathys side, which isn't too good for davey. Davey has a grandmother who is pretty young and on my first visit to the Feroe house I mistook her for his mother. Davey's family has a characteristic nose that comes from his father's side and you can definitely tell the resemblance. I like Davey and Crissy, but cathy isn't too hot. Davey and I used to be best friends until he moved away approximately two years ago. we used to be almost inseparable and we as well have lived at each other's houses. I will probably never forget davey as long as I live. I periodically send him letters and someday I hope we get together again. I liked davey's house, it had a nice backyard to play tag in. Just to show how much he was over here, we keep, every so often, finding things of his and sending them to him.

2:00
for the past two hours I have been playing with jenny a while ago a man came about our paint; we are going to paint the inside of our house. I picked the color "Bamboo green" I like it but I really would have liked a darker green but they said it would make my room too dark.
right now I am at roberts house. he called me over because he had a whole bunch of aluminum cans. when I got there we spent fifteen minutes smashing them. now I am in the kitchen where we just finished a coke.

Later
by the way, robert sprained his foot. he went to the doctor's this morning. he is now walking around on crutches.
I am in the kitchen, the merril's friends are around the table. they are staying with the merril's a while. the mother looks like she's got a moustache.

6:00
It is pretty boring here at home. I am mad at my dad because he didn't play pingpong right and he hit me with a ping pong paddle.

10:30
today we went out to mc Donald's to eat because today is their fiftieth birthday and they are selling hamburgers for 15 cents. my dad did something pretty stupid. he bought two glasses for 50 cents which he didn't want. this evening I have been watching tv. tomorrow I go to school again and I am sort of glad because It will take my mind off my troubles.

2007-04-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 19, 1975

11:00 p.m.
this morning I got up earlier than I should have. not much happened all morning until I got dressed and asked my dad to take me to get seeds.
my sister made a big fuss about how we never took her anywhere and finally we agreed to take her, but my mom got her to stay home on the condition that we would take her as soon as we got back. At fischer's hardware, where we went to but seeds I got pumpkins, peas, sunflowers, and six green pepper seedlings. on the way home we got some onions from jimmy's country stop which sells all kinds of plants and garden supplies. when I got home I planted some of the peas, squash, and pumpkins inside some of my compartmented boxes I used to put my rocks in.
Before my dad and jenny left he helped me spread fertilizer on my garden. we had a hard time opening the bag and we finally tore it. I spread the fertilizer on very carefully and when we were done they left. while they were gone I spaded most of the fertilizer under and afterward I was very tired.
I read for a while and then we had supper.
After supper I decided to plant some stuff now. my mom and I went out into my garden and planted the green peppers and onions. I then planted the pea, squash, and pumpkin seeds in my garden. afterwards I was very proud of my garden. here is the plan for my garden: (In full color)

[drawing of garden]

I am going to work at it and have a good garden.
one thing I am worried about is someone coming in the night and stealing my vegetables or wrecking them.

2007-04-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 18, 1975
math
sorry I don't have a complete account of yesterday that was because I was just too tired to write anymore. yesterday I lost my no-nonsense pen so now I am writing with a ballpoint.
I may get to like this. I hate track in athletics

science
today in science we got a study period and I have done my science homework for the weekend. When we get to english we are going to have a test on the verb "to be". I hope I get a 100%

Study hall
I am frustrated. I can't seem to do anything right. John Beebe is very uncooperative in doing my interview. I think it a stupid assignment because you can't really write anything on a person until you know him. I can't wait until I get home. then I can play field hockey with robert. speaking of rundowns on people, I am going to have to do one on robert someday.
I really sort of like this pen. I may use it all the time.

11:00
when I got home I found out that it was my mom and dad's seventeenth aneversary.
jus then a florist's truck drove up and delivered a vase of flowers that was absolutely beautiful. we gave it to mom tonight along with two stoneware dishes from jenny and I. we gave dad a turtle magnet and a onyx pencil-holder. I paid five dollars and jenny paid five dollars. we had a hard time getting to the mall, because my dad is really overprotective.
this evening I watched a show with julie andrews called "My Favorite things" It featured the muppets and was mostly very funny. One of the funniest things on it was when there was a muppet rock group called "Doctor teeth."
this evening my dad got me a pen of my own. I am writing with it now.
I am going to go to bed soon. goodnight.

2007-04-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 17, 1975

8:00 am.
this morning my mom ruined my day by coming in and screaming at me to get me up. I hate her. after she had screamed enough and I still hadn't gotten up and she went and got a yardstick.
Of course I got up then, not to would have been stupid. At least I got my revenge a little because then she came in really nice and said that she was sorry she yelled but . . . every time she reached to hug me I dodged it and finally I just flat told her to get out.

math
today in geo. I had my autralia quiz and I only got one thing wrong. I am going to have to sleep on it and redo it tomorrow. I have just been to chapel.
I sort of like working in angles and circles, the way we are doing.
Here is a new thing I drew It's called the fountain pen beetle:
[drawing]
he just drew that circle and the arcs. when I am too lazy to write he writes for me while I dictate. I have a pretty good imagination.

Science
today at recess more people were lighting firecrackers mr. Bedell came out and told Max Ramsey, Adam Titus, and someone else to go to the office. there are a few others I am going to tell Bedell about, like Bosteder, Hathaway, and by the way, I just remembered the other person who went to the office, tertius yarborough. Paul Borthwick told Bedell and I think what he did was right even if I was a little to scared to. Borthwick has gotten many threats, especially from people who didn't really want anyone to know they did it too.

12:30
today when I got home from school robert came over and we played fud [sic] hockey.
right now I am mad because I lost my pen and I can't find it anywhere.

2007-04-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 16, 1975
Science
Today at recess a few people were lighting firecrackers. Our monitor, Bobby Curtis is as bad as they are, wouldn't do anything about it.

English
today in english we are reading our english storys. Beebe and I read our story first and we got a low honors grade. everybody thought it was boring, probably because beebe and I wrote it. the next story wasn't nearly as good but Freedman and Small wrote it and used the names of people in our class.

Stdy. Hall

Fiction story

Mr. English:
Of the many people I have known and feared, the person I have thought about most is Mr. English, the super detective. For years he studied english grammar and law. What I am about to write is a collection of his many cases.
And now we bring you one of his first cases when he was torn to shreds, swimming across the English Channel, because he was being driven by the terrible freeze men who though the stole their Idol, the Flirp, who opened the secret door to a hidden pool of water from which they drank to stay young. English knew he hadn't seen the Flirp anywhere, but the freeze men didn't know that. I think English got away from that sticky situation because he was still alive to pull off his next caper:
English drove into his driveway one dark night, he was about to open his front door when he saw something in the bushes. He went for a closer investigation, when something ran out of the bushes and gave out a horrible growl and charged him. english was thrown back and tore his jacket that he wore on a trap he had set for burglars trying to steal something. As he began to get up he froze with terror at what he saw; it set his heart racing, a weird monster that had taken a tree right out of the ground. Then and there he decided to begin his investigation. English rode in his black sedan to the police station and reported the incident.
He spoke to the neighbors and asked them if they had begun to hear something by the side of their house at about 10:00 the previous night. "I fear that a horrible creature has set upon this neighborhood", English Said, " And he's after me".
"I see", said a neighbor, who really thought that english had probably gotten drunk, fallen out of his car, seen a cat in the bushes, and gone crazy. A few others he had spoken to thought he had had a little too much to drink to. English didn't take any notice of these comments, for he had already chosen to study this case and type it up for his next article. He would also add an account of it, in a speech as he was to speak at a lecture in a few weeks.
And now this next case we chose for you because it took all of english's brainpower, and had worn him to a frazzle from being torn almost to shreds, blown up, frozen, and studied by his psychiatrist. After much wear and tear from swimming, to avoid being chopped into fishfood by a man riding in a motorboat, through the freezing water and threw himself on the dock. as he lay panting on it, his ears ringing, he thought that if he swam ten more feet he will have swum a worlds record.
He thought of how it had all started . . . . . . . .
It all started when his friend invited him to a party he was giving. The party was given on his private houseboat. English chose to go. When he had come to the boat he became immediately suspicious because of its license plates, the boat was stolen. He cautiously went in to fall into a trap. As he was going in he tripped over a wire and fell to the floor. Two men came up quickly and tied him up. When that was done he was brought into a tiny cabin. The boat was driving through the water on it's way coming to the gulf stream.
The boat must have been doing 100m.p.h., blowing spray all over the place. When the boat got there it stopped short, a whistle blew, a bell rang, and he heard footsteps. As he lay there wondering what would happen next, someone turned the doorknob, English thought to himself, "I've run into some serious trouble." They were about to throw him overboard, when the boss attached a typed note to his hand then untied and threw him overboard. "Swim or choose to die" the boss said, "Either way we have ridden the world of you." That's how he ended up on the dock. The next thing he did was rip off the note, which the boss had probably typed himself, and kept it for evidence.
When he finally got home he wrote a copy of the note and decided to lie down for a knap. One of the names on the note rang a bell. It was the mayor's He followed up the case and had the mayor taken out of office for a long vacation, very long. At the end of this case he thought "They thought they had me written off their guest list" By the way, about the monster case, the neighbors down the block had just visited hollywood and had brought back a genuine monster suit for a souvenir.
Unfortunately, English will never find out, he's still running.

The End

12:00pm.
today when I got home from school I had a chocolate milkshake and found out my dad had ordered the rototiller again because the first time it hadn't done the job right. I was going to wait for it, but since it was such a nice day I called robert and we went over to the mall and collected beer cans.
we got quite a few weird looks doing it too. on the way home we went through the woods and found three or four all aluminum window things and brought them home. after we got home to my house we weighed our aluminum and it weighed in a twenty pounds. I swear it must be heavier than that. and I also found out that it was fifteen cents a pound, not fifty.
this evening I have been watching tv. I watch "Baretta" about an hour ago.
this evening I drew a good picture of a house in winter with my speedball set. I also spent a whole lot of time copying that story about mr. English into this book.
Today in study hall I found out billy Bavin has a twenty-five year old compas he uses.

2007-04-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 15, 1975

math
today I got up early because my sister had to get to school for a play she was in. I am pretty far behind in geography. today I finished my Australia map and tomorrow I will take my quiz [abrupt change in handwriting] Oh, the heck with it, I don't really write like that. It's a lot easier and quicker to write this way.

science
I didn't do my homework in science homework because I didn't have time last night. today I got my test back with a good grade of 98 on it. on the test I corrected, mr. Thompson objected to the drawing I put on the front.
I am looking forward to English class when I am going to read part of our story for english with the verbs me and john Beebe and I made. I will copy it into here later.

11:30
today when I got home from school I stopped at kresgee's and I found out they are having a going out of business sale I got a small thing and we went home. later I got some sandpaper and finished my walking stick.
robert called and we went in search of newts. and we found a beetle, a large land snail, and two of the biggest mealworms you ever saw.
this evening my mom had a bridge party and I spent all evening watching tv. I am about to go to bed. I am about to go to bed.
sorry, just testing

2007-04-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 14, 1975

12:00p.m.
this morning I got up, went to school, came home, on the way home we stopped to get a lawn rake for my garden. when I got home robert came over with some aluminum and we played a few games of golf until the men from A-PLUS rental came over with a roto-tiller. when they came they showed us how to work it and I dug up my garden. It didn't do a very good job because it didn't have a big enough blade. we are going to try to get it again but with a sturdier blade.
this evening laura wallace came over and took jenny for a walk to kiddie kollege where we met two characters laura knew who were pretty shady on my list. they bothered jenny so we went home. while I was there I picked up a walking stick and brought it home, where I peeled the bark off, and sprayed it with wood restoring fluid which really made it look good. I am going to sand and polish it and give it a coat of shellac.
when laura and jenny, and I got home from kiddie kollege she told me not to tell our parents we had gone there and that she was really sorry the boys treated her that way. I think she had better be sorry, it could lose her a high-paying job babysitting us if we told.

I will write my english story in my new journal because I don't have enough room to write it here.

2007-04-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 13, 1975

10:30 p.m.
this morning I got up feeling pretty good. I ate breakfast and called robert up. he couldn't come over but he would call me when he could. during the time that I was waiting for him I went out back an d saw my mom working in her garden and I got the urge again to make a garden for myself. I got permission to make a garden out of a square piece of of ground in the corner of our yard. with my moms help I cleared the place of vines and leaves. robert came over and we melted every scrap of lead we could find and poured it into some pretty good shapes. we are going to keep one we call "the ladle":

this is a metal sculpture me and robert made called "the ladle"
[drawing]

robert left and I tried to spade my garden but I found out all the roots of the grass are in the way so I will have to wait and get an automatic cultivator from the rental store.
after that my dad took me out to mc donalds for dinner and around to get some aluminum cans. I found a great place for them and I am going to go there tomorrow. right behind the mall they must be stacked three high.
me and my dad also went to the golf course and hit some balls.

this evening I was very upset because my dad was yelling at everybody. he finally cooled off and apologised. then he was real nice to me and I am finally over it.

2007-04-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 12, 1975

this morning I woke up at about 10:00 a.m. and was served breakfast in bed by jenny and debbie. from that time until about 12:30 am. I was frustrated and thought it would be a rotten day. It turned out that it wasn't so bad. robert called me up and came over to play croquet. I amazingly started winning, and when we were tied we got bored and stopped playing in favor of melting some lead. we got a fire started and found out you could melt the lead in half the time by using small pieces of wax to keep a hot fire gong in the pot. we made two batches of lead. the first one was fairly good and we had one piece, the best one which looked like a viking ship or a canoe. I gave that one to robert. then robert had to go home. he said he would call me after he ate dinner, and when he called we were going to look for newts in the woods. he called and I came down to his house with four or five ziploc bags. we went out in the woods and looked under every rotten log we could find and got three centipedes but no newts. we went to a very big rotten log that had sat where it was as long as either of us can remember and found sticks and started digging. the wood was very soft so we didn't have any trouble. robert found a piece of fluff and wondered how it got into the log. in a few minutes we found the answer, I ran into a mouse nest. I said "there's a mouse!" and robert took off one way and me the other way along the log in the chase, I said "where are you going" he answered "I'm after the mouse!", I said, "but the mouse is down here, he went that way," and I pointed. we finally figured out there were two mice, and since the one robert saw was carrying a baby we knew there are at least three, and probably quite a few more.
After that we went to my house and spent from then to 11:00 pm stapling and correcting 480-odd pamplets for robert's church. the error was that it said "OUT LADY OF FATIMA" when it should have said "OUR LADY OF FATIMA" we wondered if it was subconsciously on purpose. T=R

me and robert decided to write a book about our adventures and what we have done in the past and present. it will include a cookbook section, fire section, things to do when there's nothing to do, and destruction. It may also include a list of good ecscuses to divert the blame from yourself if your house burns down, or anything like that. I am going to list things we should write about tonight I hope.
when I came home from roberts it was dark and I rode my bike home. if my dad were awake, he is such a worryer, he probably would come over with the station wagon and pick me and my bike up and drove me home.
*tomorrow copy verb story into this journal.

2007-04-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 11, 1975

geo.
today in geo we are laying aside the maps and quizzes and we are playing some games. first we have been playing some hangman. now we are playing a game called fast talk.
Jon horton and billy bavin gave me a thing for johnny Horizon '76 which is our bicentennial. I am supposed to be in their club and also george Hesse's. I am in a tight spot because I have to be in one or the other, no in between, and if I pull out of one club I will hurt their feelings.

12:30
I finally quit george's club as school ended.
today in geo jon also gave me a folder containing brochures, stickers, and information about the Johnny Horizon program.
today I was glad to be going home. my dad, as it turned out had two surprises for me, one was davey's zip code, which I badly needed, and the other was a big bag, and my dad told me that once every two weeks the aluminum truck comes around, and pays 50 cents for a pound of aluminum. I have been collecting beer cans out in the woods and also got a few pieces of a lawn chair. so far I must have three or four pounds of it.
this evening debbie is spending the night
today we decided to have a cook out. we got a steak and broiled it on our grill.
I invited robert over but he had already had supper so when he got here we played golf and played in the fishpond.
tomorrow I plan to go somewhere where they throw away lots of beer cans and pick up as many as I can. I will use trash bags if I manage to fill the gigantic bag my dad gave me. I think its funny hoe the johnny Horizon thing and the aluminum go together
I was going to tell jon horton and Bavin about it so we could do it together, but I decided I could do it myself.
I think the way to get our club in action is to get some grownups who will listen to us like our parents to organize it because nobody listens to kids and we couldn't get anything done. I'll talk it over with jon on monday.
I am about to go to bed. my mom is making me even though I am pretty tired (Yawn!)

2007-04-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 10, 1975

math
today in math we are having a test. we just had chapel. I have just finished my test. I hope I got a good grade. I think I did. my math grade needs it. just now we are leaving for athletics and lunch.
science
today it is rumored we are having a review test. we are checking our drawing of the heart.
People had better watch out because today I feel mean, because of geography. in geography I found out that I hadn't passed my test on asia and I tried it again and didn't have time to do it, and also in athletics some people were trying to make fun of me. everytime someone said something I felt like punching them. so far today my new pen has been working fine, I have found a place in a pocket where this pen will stay, in my thick corduroy coat inside pocket.

7:30
I suspect that my other pen, the old one, is leaking, so I have switched back.
today when I got home from school nobody was here. I read for a while until Jenny invited debbie over and we played tag. they both cheated so I quit. I have already had my dinner and I think it was pretty good. a little after dinner my sister was being a brat, as usual and I gave her a shove. my dad got mad at her and she started hitting him. then he blew up. for the next half hour he yelled at anything that moved. my dad and mom had a fight and I left. when it finally blew over I came back to the kitchen and, using a screwdriver, melted my initials on this pen, WMD, except I wrote it [monogram] because it is easier to do straight lines. my mom has left for bingo and jenny, my dad and I are all alone in the house.
this evening I have been experimenting some more with my speedball set.

2007-04-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 9, 1975

math
today in geo I worked on my quiz all period and when I came up to have it graded the bell rang and mr. bedell spent ten minutes explaining why he couldn't grade the ones left, while he could have done most of them before we had to leave. I am pretty mad at him.
9:00
today not much happened after what I had said during math. today at athletics we switched from baseball to soccer. soccer is pretty good, at least the practicing part is, the preliminary exercises aren't much fun. One thing that really chewed me up was when I got a compliment on my soccer dribbling from mr. murphy, our soccer coach.
today jenny went to her first private art lesson at her school, and my dad and I went out to peoples drug store and had a chocolat milkshake and went and picked up jenny.
when I got home from school robert was waiting for me here and we played a game of golf with our croquet set. By the way, if you notice how I am writing with a new color of ink, well, I am wrighting with a whole new pen. my dad gave me one of his old fashioned pens and I got a bottle of deluxe black ink, robert finally had to leave for dinner and I put away the croquet set.
I have just finished eating dinner. I am mostly waiting for Baretta to come on tv at ten o'clock. As you may notice sometimes this pen fades out sometimes its because it still has to adjust to use after years of inuse, in a sense it has to be broken in to use. I am now going to watch some tv.
11:00
this evening I have been watching tv. most of the time.
first I watched some of "Cannon" with my mom! I have just finished watching "Baretta."
Lately I have been watching how fast the violet in my terrarium has been growing. when we put it in I thought it might die of shock from being transplanted, but it seems to be the most flourishing plant there.
this evening I have been experimenting with my speedball set now that I have a bottle of ink.
I really like my nice clean room after fanny comes. unfortunately It won't stay this way very long, the way I throw things around carelessly. I just can't help it.
I have decided that this journal could be considered my hobby. I don't have any hobbies, so I figure this is it, as my rock collection started falling off at about the time I started writing. Oh well, this is a lot more fun and it leaves me a lot of freedom and leisure time in which to take up something else. My hobby doesn't dominate my time and I can do it anywhere, anytime.

2007-04-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 8, 1975

math
today in geo. I made another noose and woody and hung it. maybe finally he will get his jacket string back. I am getting to actually like athletics pretty well. we are going into athletics. I guess the reason I am getting to like it is because it gives me some relaxation from my schoolwork and classrooms for a while.
we are talking about averages and things. mr. Lichfuss has just explained to us how a bell curve grading system works. I hope I never get any teacher who grades on a bell curve.

Science
today at recess one of the many bullies was in a fight and was being smashed to pieces by someone. I think the bully really needed it. he had two black eyes and was on the verge of tears.
today in science we have been drawing a picture of how the heart works:

[elaborate drawing of heart]

English
today in english we are supposed to write about school. today we got our scope magazines.
11:30
today almost immediately after I got home from school robert called and said he had three small terrariums from a cereal box. we gave one to jenny, set one aside, and transplanted the third into our terrarium.
robert came over and we played a few games of croquet on our lawn and then played some golf, using our mallets and balls and the hole we dug on Mar. 31 (see march 31) we hit the balls into the hole and we found out we could fit every single ball that comes with the set into it. they are still in it now.
robert had to leave because he had to eat dinner and we made an agreement that he would come back after he had finished. when he came back we went to a rotten movie.
we have been having a lot of trouble in our house tonight. my dad is as usual trying to blame everything on my mom, all started by me, all I have to do is express just one little fact or opinion and almost instantly one will be trying to use it against the other. as usual I sit on the couch and read, trying to hide in a book from all the yelling and screaming.
It finally subsided, and I talked with my mom awhile about some writing and how it was shown in a handwriting analysis book I have.

2007-04-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 7, 1975

math
today I got up pretty late, and I was late, but I had a good excuse. today in geo. I took my quiz and now I am on a new unit.

Science
I was mad but it is wearing off. I am mad because in baseball I never played a bit. I sat on the bench all the time except when I went to help one of the janitors that takes care of the fields. we helped him unload some boards off his tractor. at lunch I had two bowls of my favorite soup, chicken vegetable.
me and jon horton have been cooking up a scheme against mr. Bedell. we are going to hang up a paper woody on a little noose we made out of string.

11:00 p.m.
when I got home from school I was reading until robert came over. he had a small salamanderlike thing he had found in the woods. we looked it up and in two encyclopedias we found a disgraceful lack of information on newts, salamanders and amphibians in general. anyway, we put it in our terrarium.
when laura came over this evening I spent most of my time making some new pages for our woodys of the world book at school. Laura spent some time trying to learn a new game of solitaire.
I am glad I didn't have any homework tonight, because there was so much to do.
I feel very creative tonight and I am going to have to go to bed pretty soon, and I shouldn't have started this second page.
I feel like writing right now because maybe I am calm and ready to wright, and maybe because I find that writing takes the anxiety of my thoughts.
lately I have been thinking about dying a lot and I think that people getting killed on tv. are getting to me. what really bothers me is that I can't accept the fact that someday I am ultimately going to die. It really scares me.
this evening I have almost gotten my mother to tell me what my I.Q. is. she has gotten to the point on which she just needs a little push to tell me.
just for practice, here is a description of a coin:
this coin is about half an inch in diameter, on the front, boldly emblazoned in copper is the mark, one centavo with strong, but delicate branching leaves, with a beveled, sparkling, rim to encircle it's glory. on the back there is a coat of arms, an eagle perched proudly on top of a shield with four spears each with shining banners in shimmering copper for all time. have you pictured it? it is a one centavo piece from ecuador, from 1928
I got it from jon horton in fifth grade, he passed them out to everybody in the class. in the same way I also got a buffalo nickel and a mercury dime, both of which are not in use today. they aren't worth too much but it was still nice of jon horton.

2007-04-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 6, 1975

12:30 am.
I am sorry I haven't written all day, but I haven't been too busy. this morning I got up much earlier than I did yesterday, but I might as well have stayed in bed because al dad I did almost nothing.
at about five o'clock my dad and I went to play golf. It was very cold and windy at the course. we played nine holes and I got a score of 70, which is pretty good considering it was the first game of golf I have ever played. my dad got a 48, and neither of us got par on any hole. I think I may get to like golf a lot. It is one of the first sports I have played and enjoyed, beside ping-pong, which doesn't give you any exercise.
this evening my mom, jenny and I had an in-depth discussion about our schools. I have always done well in school. I am trying to worm my scores from my three I.Q. tests I have taken. she keeps stubbornly giving excuses why I shouldn't know and I think the main reason she thinks I will brag about it. if I ever get it, I will tell you. I am dying to know.
this evening we watched a special about sharks, which pre-empted "the six-million dollar man", yesterday a hockey game pre-empted mary tyler moore, bob newhart, and carol burnett. this is the weekend for pre-emptions.

2007-04-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 5, 1975

8:00
I am sorry, but I didn't have any time to finish wrighting because I was too tired.

9:00
after school yesterday I went to Billy Bavin's party. It was one of the most awful ones I've ever been to. I got home and I went to bed before I finished writing.
Today I got up very late, about 11:30. It started out as a boring day then robert called and I got dressed and we played.

10:30
me and robert were going to go do my math homework, but we decided not to.
I haven’t done much all day.
this evening debbie came over and is going to spend the night. we were playing resteraunt, I was the chef. It wasn't much fun and I quit.
yesterday, at Billy Bavin's party we had a scavenger hunt and when we got back we had almost an hour before supper, which we could have played a game in but it was just dead time. mrs. Bavin seemed to be a very nervous person. the Bavin house seems practically new because it smalls like a new house, the smell of wood, freshly cut.
when I got home, just in time for the night stalker, I was very tired. It is amazing I didn't go to bed earlier than I did

2007-04-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 4, 1975

Math
today in geo. not much happened. I am mad because we have to outline all the little states in the unit we did or the unit I am working on. on the practice sheet you have to do it but on the test you just put in numbers.
that makes me mad because it takes the longest part of your time for no reason. I have got my present for Bavin in my locker.

Science
today when I got back from recess I found Brian Freedman looking in this journal. I gave him a punch in the face and that made him mad. I don't really care because I can beat him up easy.
at athletics we went outside into the howling winds, and cold. most of the baseball people went, but lots stayed behind in the gym. I would have stayed out all athletic period, except mr. Bedell got too cold and took us all inside.
For math our homework was to make a bar graph of something. I am going to make a chart showing how many insects of each kind there are in one cubic foot of earth. now that's original.

Study hall
today when study hall is over I am going to go to billy Bavin's house to his party. I am very excited about it. billy still doesn't beleive I am giving him a box of plastic bags (heh, heh,) I think he will like what I got him.

2007-04-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 3, 1975

Science
today I did one of my quizzes in geography. I now have to do a test on unit 2.

English
today at athletics I played a little baseball.
after lunch at recess some people were calling me names, I ignored them. today in science we finished our essay on the heart. today in english we are having a test.

Reading
today near the end of english bobby cutis was throwing a comb at me. once it hit me in the ear and I just couldn't let that go so I went over to his desk and threatened him. he started crying, like he was real scared please don't hit me please don't", trying to make fun of me. I quickly said, look at this queer" that really got him.

12:30
this evening I got a cover for my terrarium and brought it inside. I have been writing the booklet, woodys of the world to give to mr. bedell. I cut a plastic report cover in half and used it for our small booklet.
It has been very windy today and a few things have been blown around. my dad and jenny were late picking me up from school because of a tree in the road.
tomorrow I go to billy bavin's party. I can't wait.

2007-04-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 2, 1975

Geo.
today in geo. we are starting our new system of learning. I am on unit one. I will finish it in a second because it is easy. unit two will be even easier, even though it has more to learn, because all you have to do is name and color the continents, which I already know by heart.

Math?
today in math(?) we aren't doing math because our teacher appears to be gone, or very late. nobody knows what is going on. we must have been sitting here in math class at least ten minutes with no teacher. mr. bedell just looked in the window, and then he left. he may be going to get another teacher.

Reading
I found out mrs price was supposed to be with us during our math class and was supposed to give us an assignment, which we would have had all math class to do. she apologized.
at lunch I traded away my sandwich for white milk and a cup of soup.

10:30
today when I got home from school my dad took me to the mall after I had had a little rest because I was dead tired after I got home.
I sat and read for awhile until we left, when I got my jeans on we went to the bank, for my dad because he wanted to deposit some money. the bank had an interesting double fountain out front that I was fascinated with. next to it they had a small rock garden with some cactus in it. they also have some modern style chairs which are one piece of stiff foam rubber covered with cloth.
In the middle of the mall there was a display of swimming pools, one with a sauna that made a whirlpool with a blow-up dolphin bobbing around in it.

11:00
when we got back from the mall, where we got a no-nonsense pen for Billy Bavin. I thought and thought and thought about what to get him and finally came up with a brilliant idea, we went to farrell's and got him a gift certificate for ice cream there.
I got home and decided to go into the woods and find myself a walking stick. I wandered over to robert's and he told me about a big fire that had been at the creek. I decided I wanted to see it for myself, so robert and I rode our bikes down there and surveyed the area. me and robert are going to catch salamanders some time because they are out in the abundance crayfish were last year.
this evening I was mad at my dad because he had punished me before I could get to say a word in my defense. I think he was very unfair. I moped around a while until he told me to come with him. he was going to take me to see the prison, "where I was going to go if I kept beating up my sister", I wish my dad wasn't a lawyer. lecture, lecture, lecture all the time. I am about to go to bed. I just finished watching baretta on tv.

2007-04-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 1, 1975

Geo.
today, as I just noticed is April fool's day. Had better watch out. I have to get mr. Bedell's whistle today.

Math
at the end of geo., after several unsuccessful tries, I found out mr. Bedell wasn't carrying his whistle, I got his comb.
in math we are doing graphs. we were doing tables before vacation.

Science
today at athletics we were told to go down to the front locker room and find yourself a locker, one that has tape on it. we had to double up, two in a locker. Jon Horton was my partner. we claimed it and went out onto the field for a free period. I had a good lunch of rice. I am really getting to like rice a lot.

Reading
today in english we talked about verbs and all their tenses. It was pretty confusing until I got the hang of it. today in reading we are talking about book reports.

11:00
this afternoon when I got home I called steven tyler because he had called me earlier. he could come over so I got some not so good clothes on and he came over and we played. I showed him my terrarium and we didn't do much until he left. before he left he asked me to autograph his jeans. I took a purple marker and put my name and drew woody on them. while steven was here Billy Bavin called and invited me to his birthday party on friday.
today my mom had a bridge party and invited most of the teachers,. I didn't see much of it but I found out from my mom that one of the ladies hadn't seen our wall before but had heard about it and was astounded when she saw it. I am glad my mother brags for me.
later, I went out in the woods just before supper and found my mom an interesting piece of dead wood. I also found a trash drum and almost brought it home.
I had a good supper and debby came over a little later. jenny and debbie played and I showed our well me and robert dug. this evening I got a call from jon horton saying that he was planning to take mr. bedell out to lunch at a roy rogers resteraunt near his house. me and Billy Bavin are going to go too and surprise him. that is on saturday.
not much has happened since then.
when I am carrying around my stuff in my pockets I feel prepared for anything. I like walking in the woods and me and robert know them better than anybody else. when I stand in the woods I feel free. I feel like master of all I survey, like I belong in the woods. I feel like I have known every plant and bug personally. I know more about the woods than anybody.

2007-03-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 31, 1975

10:30 p.m.
this morning I got up early. at about 9:00. robert is an early riser, so he was already up and had had his breakfast.
at about 9:30 robert came over and we started hunting plants for my terrarium. I already had a wild violet, and we went out in the woods to find more. we almost picked up a baby raspberry vine but we decided it would choke everything else in the terrarium out. we couldn't find anything good in that section in the way of plants, so we went over by Robert's house in the woods and found a square of moss, and a small wildflower plant that hadn't bloomed yet. at roberts house we got a small praying mantis egg case. we put all these treasures in my bucket and started back to my house. when we got there we transplanted our plants, and also placed a piece of rotten wood we found in the terrarium. now out terrarium looked pretty good, especially after we had transplanted a the holly bush we found growing in our side garden that was only a few inches tall, but It didn't have any action, so we dug all around in the wet, steaming leaves of our never raked corner of our backyard. we found quite a few and dumped them in the terrarium. we watered it and put it on our patio roof via my window. earlier in the morning my mom had told me to sometime that day clean the patio, so robert and I moved all the junk onto the lawn, hosed down the patio, and we were delayed finishing because we got curious about the source of our little mud hole in our backyard.
we took a metal rod and pounded it in with a hammer. we got it to go pretty far down and then took it out of the hole. we rested a minute and then when we were starting to pound again, found our hole blocked with rocks. we reached our hands in and dug out a pile of rocks and mud that was very big. we kept digging and robert hit on a theory about what it was. he thought it might have been a torch stand for the people who lived here before us. this turned out to be wrong when we found a pipe underground that led off to somewhere. we concluded that it was a drain for something.
after that we replaced the patio stuff and went to check on our terrarium. the soil was a little dry and I thought it was because there was no shade. we got some mulchy leaves and carefully placed them around the plants. we went back to the woods and got a whole bunch of insects the a bucketful of dirt and carefully sorted out insects for half an hour.
I think this has been one of the most active days I have had in a long time.
this evening I had a delicious dinner. my mom cooked spaghetti. I have been trying to get ziploc bags.
I would like to always be active. It would take off my fat and it is very fun.

2007-03-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 30, 1975

right now I am in robert's new car. it is a Continental mark IV, gold painted. it has a whole bunch of gadgets, cruise control, vanity mirror, auto-matic ashtrays, power seats, windows, antenna, a stereo tape deck, armrests, and many others. you should see some of the envious looks we get.
5:00
this morning I woke up at about 10:30. I waited awhile and when my family got up we went to see our easter baskets. besides the usual candy, I got a sheaf of quadrille ruled paper. we hid a whole bunch of jellybeans and my mom and dad looked for them. I was beginning to get bored when robert called. in a few minutes he was over here and we went for a ride (above) when we got back we shot a spiders a while until we got tired of it and went in. we were walking past the woods and decided to start a terrarium in my old ten-gallon fish tank. we immediately went to my house and got it. we brought it outside and were washing it when robert's mother called and said he had to come home. I was going to abandon doing the terrarium until timmy wallace (March 3) came over. then I finished washing the terrarium and all of us went to the woods for dirt. I got some very good dirt and now have a wild violet planted in my terrarium.

10:45
sorry, while I was writing I got sidetracked. my mom called me to dinner. we had a good dinner and I decided to take a bath. I used the fish pond siphon for a breathing tube and played scuba diver. I think this is pretty silly, but fun. this evening my parents have been trying to plan a trip for this summer. they are very disoraganized.
I am looking forward to tomorrow when me and robert will spend the whole day together. I am going to get up early so we can go catch frogs and salamanders in the creek. robert says there is a whole bunch of them now. I may put a few in my new terrarium.
this evening we have been watching "the ten commandments" part 2.
I would like to be able to have a camera I could take everywhere. I would have a lot of spectacular pictures if I did it. unfortunately, I don't have the money to buy or develop the film.
I am going to hint[?] some when I finish writing
I have noticed that I am not drawing very much over the holiday.
I am worried about how much detail I write in this journal. I usually write two pages, and sometimes one. If I tried I could write five pages a day. I wonder if I should increase my writing on normal days to three pages. well?

2007-03-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 29, 1975

this morning I got up at fifteen minutes of eight. my dad is really stupid because he wanted to get going by eight o'clock. that leaves me fifteen minutes to get dressed, eat breakfast, and get the car loaded. I am now on the road to waterbury and I wish I could go in the back of the car and get a little sleep.
Last night I was scared and couldn't get to sleep. I am worried about the weather on this trip because the forecast predicted showers and thundershowers, and the clouds above us look ominous. we are about to stop for gas and to go to the bathroom. I can't wait to get home.
1:30 a.m.
really this is technically tomorrow, but I consider a day from until I wake up in the morning to when I go to bed at night.
this afternoon it was a routine trip. we stopped and had lunch at a hot shoppe resteraunt.
a little after that my dad had a mild anxiety attack and me and jenny helped him get over it by playing games with him.
I don't write much on trips anymore because it is now fairly routine.
this evening when we got home I showed my mom all my souvenirs and we colored easter eggs for tomorrow. I have started a beautiful one.
jenny is often a brat. she was particularly bad this evening. she caused a lot of trouble. this evening our family watched the first half of the movie "the ten commandments" it is very good.

2007-03-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 28, 1975

11:00
this morning I got up about 7:00 and decided it was too early so I went back to bed. I just get up again and I found out aunt Meg was here.
yesterday, we thought she might come. now she has.
9:20
this afternoon a little after twelve me, nana, aunt meg, jenny and my dad went to a place overlooking the whole town called the Scotch Mist Restaurant.
we had a good lunch. It looks like you are on top of the trees. we left there and were on our way to gould's sugar house because we wanted some extra maple sugar. we stopped by the side of the road on the way so I could get some rocks. I found a nice vein of smoky quartz and spent fifteen to twenty minutes with my hammer and chisel chipping it out. we went on to gould's and there I picked up a box of small maple sugar candies.
when we got home I played with jebby a while until we went to his house for dinner.
I had two egg salad sandwiches and a salad and milk. I went into the tv. room and we watched the night stalker. after the night stalker was over we had to go home. now we are packing for out trip tomorrow. I have been admiring my pocket knife I found in the tool chest downstairs that belonged to my great grandfather. it is a sailors knife.

2007-03-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 27, 1975

11:15 p.m.
this morning I slept very late. about 12:00. I had a pretty good breakfast, about three hours later, me and my sister went to gould's sugar house:

insert:
gould's sugar house was pretty fun. my sister talked my dad into getting some sugar on snow. I bought some maple sugar blocks and we left. we have stopped at pat and skinny barnard's farm. their biggest product is milk, they have a whole barnful of cows. me and
saw a calf and took some pictures.

11:15 p.m. (again)
at pat and skinny's we also saw a baby calf that had been born at 6:00 this morning.
at gould's I made a big fuss about price, of the maple sugar. on the way home we stopped at king's dept. store where jenny and my dad bought her some pajamas. meanwhile, I was at the nearby grocery store getting some ice cream for dessert for dinner.
when we got home I found jeb waiting for me.
he showed me a rock and asked me what it was. we played a few games of poker until dinner when he had to leave. I ate dinner and me and dad decided to go to a movie. we left but didn't go and instead had a frappe at the hospital snack bar. we came home after driving around town, and found jeb there again. jenny was playing restauraunt and we had a good time until jeb left.
this evening we saw a show called the legendary curse of the hope diamond and I am going to bed.

2007-03-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 26, 1975

10:30 am.
this morning we are going to sturbridge village after the plumber finished fixing the toilet. we really should have gone yesterday when the temperature was 65 out. today it will be below 40 and very windy.
I will take notes while we are there.
I am a little because why did nana have to pick the best day this week to go to a tea party. well, most of the buildings are probably heated anyway.
right now the plumber is here and we will be leaving shortly.

Sturbridge village:
Church-box pews with doors that open and close. simple benches, small pipe organ, pulpit.
white painted walls and ceiling with spindly brass chandeleirs hanging from the roof.
all white on the outside. columns are standing in front. people used heavy wollen blankets and charcoal burning footwarmers, as they spent four hours in church.
Lawyer's office-
the small office of John McClellan, he built the small square building himself. there is a small fireplace on one wall. there is a quill pen and candle on a small table he and his client would have sit at during negotiations, and also a full desk in a corner, there are two closets, and a small bookcase.

I have noticed how wide the floorboards are, almost a foot across.
The Tavern-
there is lots of old furniture. as you walk in the door there is a staircase directly ahead, going up and down.
there is a long black bench against the entrance hall wall to your left, and a small table and mirror on your right. the same floor as in the lawyer's office.
the adjoining room on the right has a fireplace, a front desk like a hotel, four or five chairs, a low table, a china cabinet in the corner, and an immaculately carved chest of drawers.
adjoining that, again on the right, is another room with another carved chest, a swirly armed sofa, a very intricately designed rug on the floor.
I have noticed hoe there houses and buildings have many windows, probably to save on lighting. usually the windows have many panes about 6" x 7". I was intrigued by a game set up called skittles where you spin a top with a string and see how many pins you can knock over. here is a diagram:
(diagram)
on the left of the entrance hall there is a small dining room. I notice how small the tables and chars are compared to modern ones.

as you proceed past the steps down the entryway you come to another, larger dining room with long tables and thick, smoky beams on the ceiling, and some more small chairs.
down the stairs there is still another dining room in this room, hand painted plaques advertising things, instead of paintings decorate the walls.
then there is a cafeteria, modern, where you can eat lunch.
upstairs there are many smaller rooms. most of them are bare except display cases of childrens toys and furniture. there are paintings of children on the walls, and in one room, an embroidery display. a larger room has walls lined with paintings of children, and three rocking horses on a pedestal. in the hallway there is an interesting design on the wallpaper.
I have noticed all the many outside walls are made of piled stones with no mortar.

Tinsmith's shop-
this is the first action I have seen. the tinsmith is making a candles snuffer, and while he is hammering he is telling the history of his art. there are small pieces of tin and solder cluttering his workbench.

Blacksmith-
today the blacksmith is making nails. he is using a soft kind of steel because wrought iron isn't sold anymore. this is a sooty place.

Potter-
the potter has a musty air about his shop. there are dishes bowls and jars stacked on the shelf in the back of the shop.
today he is making small bowls. I find it amazing how he can do every bowl almost identically.
while we were on the road we saw a lamb that had escaped from the farm.

Schoolhouse-
I am sitting in the schoolhouse. I notice there are no nails in the desks there are wooden pegs. the "teacher" is telling how school was in those days.
the floor is slanted so melting snow will run off to the small stone in the center of the room where it evaporated.

Grist Mill-
the grist mill's machinery is all wooden. not very good but I learned that flour in the air will explode if ignited.

Printshop- the printshop has a ho-hum demonstration. printing in those days seems to be a tedious process. the glasshouse is boring.
Pewtershop-
the demonstration today was pewter buttons. the shop has the same cluttered look of the other metal shops.
we have just passed the boring clock carpentry, lighting, and gun exhibits and are heading for the gift shop.

12:00
at the gift shop I bought one of the tin snuffers we saw made, one of the nails, and the last pewter button. the lady at the counter where they sold pewter said the pewtershop didn't produce much because the demonstration was fun, but the smoothing off of a finished button was boring job and the boys usually threw the buttons back into the melting pot at the end of a day. I also bought a small pewter plate which I thought was nice.
when we left we went to the public house. a restaurant which is very ritzy to eat dinner.
I ordered some crab because I never had crab and wanted to try it, nana ordered some scrod, a kind of fish and my dad and jenny ordered beef. the menu had many exotic dishes, such as frogs legs, snails, lobsters in season, and of few other gruesome meals I don't know who would eat or even want to eat.
when we finished our dinner we went to the bathroom and on my way there I found a neat little nook in a stairway, which I later found out was, or used to be a hide out for the military during some old war. naturally, jenny had to spend ten minutes in the gift shop.
the trip home seemed a lot shorter than the trip up and I think it was probably because on the way up we were anxious to get here and on the way back there was more to talk about.
I hope you appreciate how much work it was copying seven or eight pages of notes I took into this book.

2007-03-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 25, 1975

1:30
this morning I got up around 9:00. I am working on a placemat in crochet for mother's day, and I worked on it some this morning. nana called the museum and we found out that the planetarium wouldn't be open until april because they were bringing it up to date.
at first I thought we were going to the museum today, but as it turned out, I'm not going anywhere because I've got a bug. this morning I had my dose of awful liquid medecine and I started feeling nauseus a little while ago.
today we went to a place called Yetter's that is a combination gift and florist shop. inside it has a slight small of incense and lots of pretty jewelry, bookends, mugs, plaques, bowls, and novelties, and in one part of the store, which is a large greenhouse, there are hundreds of plants and flowers. I almost bought a small cactus for fifty cents. there I saw a neat gadget that was a combination measuring tape, circle measure, level, and stud finder. it was twelve dollars.
now I am back home and I am going to crochet some more.

3:25
well, as it turned out my crocheting was interupted. nana had to go to the bank to have her will revised. I was amazed at the power doors in the building. we also went to pick up my new prescription at sullivan's drugstore. we parked in back of the store because it was cheaper. we parked right next to the new greenfield police station, which used to be a mess but now has a gaudy fountain in front. I am feeling much better, stomachwise, the effects of my medicine are wearing off. I got six new pills at the drugstore. we dropped nana off at a tea for old people, we are now home and are going to leave to pick pussywillows at highland park and get some more yarn for me because I don't have enough to make a set of placemats for my mom. we are leaving now.

9:30
this afternoon my dad and jenny and I went in search of pussywillows at highland pond. we came back with some pussywillows, muddy shoes and a few briar cuts.
I got some more yarn and I finished my placemat. while my family, without nana, was getting yarn, or rather as we were leaving my dad and sister started yelling at each other because jenny was being a brat about some game.
I was pretty scared, especially when my dad started going at a teriffic speed on a narrow road.
we had a good supper a little earlier of fish sticks, mashed potatoes, salad with Italian or russian dressing, milk, and jenny's cheesecake for dessert.

2007-03-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 24, 1975
4:00
this morning I got up very late because I really thought my bed felt so very comfortable.
every now and then I would wake up and drop back off to sleep.
when I finally got up I was dressed when I came downstairs. I had breakfast and we waited for 12:00 when jeb would come home for lunch. we are going to eat our delicious supper of pot roast in about forty five minutes.

after Jeb left all of us went to kings department store and I got two books and two very nice skeins of yarn, we then went a little down the road to the craft shop where jenny got her yarn and I got two cute pieces of furry cloth. when I got home I rolled up my yarn into balls and started making a crocheted thing out of one of them.
I am doing very well on it and I only had trouble once or twice. on those occasions nana was a big help.
one of the books I got at kings was entitled arigo: surgeon of the rusty knife, which I got because I read a summary of it in reader's digest that was very good.

10:30
this evening we went to jimmy polo's house, where he keeps his small shop, selling rocks and minerals also equipment. mr. polo was one of my dad's classmates when he was young. most of the time we were there my dad talked to him while I looked for some good rocks. I found three things I wanted a piece of calcite and pyrite, two twin garnets, and a lapidary magnifying glass. I got the magnifying glass. I am very pleased with my purchase because it is 2x and my microscope is only 7x.
this evening me and jenny have decided to make my mother a set of place mats and pot holders knitting and crocheting I am crocheting my two pair and jenny is knitting hers. I have already finished a pot holder and I have started my place mat. I am getting pretty good at crocheting things.
this evening jenny showed us her monkey she bought on the way up. he puffs on a small cigarette, at first we thought it was the way the cigarette was made that made him puff. the cigarette kept puffing even after you took it out of his mouth.
the reason I am writing in such big blocks is because I have so much to do in one day and don't have time to write every couple hours or so.

2007-03-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 23, 1975
this morning I got up at 8:30 and had a good breakfast. we went to church for the palm sunday service. my dad said the sermon was atheistic, but I just thought it was long-winded. after the service we picked up some palm fronds on the way out.
the church is an old, stone building, and inside it's pews are covered with green velvet. it has a high roof with a chandelier and pipe organ. it is a pretty simple.
today I found out that nana is one of the three people on the flower comittee and spends close to $500 on flowers a year.

7:00
this afternoon me and my sister went for a walk.

10:30
this afternoon me and my sister were waiting for nana to have a rest so we could go to gould's sugar house and see some of the flood and we decided to go for a walk. we went around the block and to go for a walk. we went around the block and down the gulley past a burr bush and both of us got burrs all over us. we went home and started off for gould's. it is a very scenic route and when we got there we found it jam packed,. with cars parked on the shoulder of the highway.
we decided to come another day and we drove up to a place in colrain mass. just about ten minutes away called truesdell's and had some second-rate sugar on snow. In case you don't know what sugar on snow is, it's a taffylike thing of maple syrup, which is made by pouring hot maple syrup, which has been boiled until it begins to form maple sugar, onto snow or crushed ice.
we finished and drove for half an hour looking at rivers and streams to see how much that had flooded. I took a few pictures of the something river, I don't know what the name is.
when we got home I didn't have anything to do until 7:30 when I went over to the Bitzer's house to watch "the six million dollar man".
I have noticed that the bitzer's dog has gotten a lot more friendly since I saw her when she was a puppy at christmas, she also seems to remember me from then.

2007-03-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 22, 1975

today I got up at about 7:00 and got dressed.
I am wearing my jeans and my sweater, but I will have to change when I get there because we will be going right to a concert. right now we are not very far on our trip, only half an hour. the weather isn’t the best for traveling, an overcast sky and damp surroundings. not much interesting is going on. my dad is drinking a coke, I am writing, and my sister is in back, laying down. I don't have much to do because my dad knows the roads here.
**********
we have just stopped at the maryland house. we have been making very good time this trip. me and jenny and my dad have been playing twenty questions. navigating for my dad isn't very hard. he's made this trip hundreds of times and could probably get us there without a map if he had to. we are coming close to new jersey and the long haul of the trip. we are coming into the country and some pretty scenery. the rolling hills we are in now will dissapear as we get to new jersey, new jersey is a very flat state.
we have just passed a farmhouse, the typical old, weatherbeaten kind. it seems very homey to me. it has a few ramshakle shed scattered on the brown grass around it. I bet the people who live there are very isolated, or at best it looks that way.
right now I am in a resteraunt on the new jersey turnpike. we stopped here to eat our lunch. it is a nice place, but it isn't approved by the american automobile association.
we have been served our milk and I took my pill with no trouble. I am glad we have a chance to stretch our legs. I ordered a BLT on white toast, the same as my dad. my sister is trying to buy something at the gift shop, but my dad won't let her.

7:30
when I got to nana's house mitsy was very glad to see us. nana was very excited too. when we were about twenty minutes from nana's house I started trying to finish crocheting my whole ball of yarn before we arrived, I made my goal with just a few minutes to spare. I will have to get a new ball of yarn while I'm here. tonight we are going to see a concert. it is mostly mozart or whatever he's called.
nana liked my easter egg very much and also liked jenny's easter basket, she put my egg in her basket.
jenny looks hideous in her dress and new shoes
I will report about the concert later
***********
right now I am at the concert. they haven't started playing yet and people are still coming in. I have just realized what a great chance this is to stare at people. one problem, most people are still reading their programs.
I think towns grow older, the same as people.
my town has lots of kids, where this town once had many young people, it now is mostly inhabited by older people.
I have been drawing on my program and have drawn a couple of good pictures.
I am getting bored.
***********
After the concert was over, which was very glad for, me and my dad and jenny and nana went and got a dozen doughnuts. I am about to go to bed. we have a big day planned tomorrow.

2007-03-21T19:07:00.001-07:00

Friday, March 21, 1975
7:00 am.
today I asked to be waked up at 6:30 so I would have time to write my book report. I have just finished and I am going back to bed for a little more sleep.

Geo.
today we are still listening to reports. I am listening to one about pyramids. today I gave mr. bedell his egg. he liked it.

Math
today math is like recess. everyone is hiding each other's bookbags. It looks like everyone is going mad. I don't think anyone is standing still. I have hid a few bookbags. peter katson's books are on the bottom shelf hidden by my desk.

Science
I don't have an egg for mr. thompson, our science teacher. he always gets right down to business, so I don't have much time to write.

11:30
today at the end of study hall we went out in the hall, where the water fountain was squirting three feet. tomorrow we leave.

2007-03-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 20, 1975
Geo.
today I got up at 7:30 and decided to sleep a little longer. I then had trouble getting up and made it to school with just four minutes to spare. today in geo. we are watching a movie on food and the population explosion. It is showing how many people are starving and what we can do to improve the situation.

Study hall
today in study hall all the seats were mixed up. me and a few of the other people were racing and we decided to call it a tie and find any seat.

2007-03-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 19, 1975
Geo.
this morning I probably would have slept awhile, unless my sister did what she did- she told me to get up because she didn't want to be late for her field trip

Athletics
today I am excused from athletics. mr. stone must be in a bad mood because he made me and all the other people who are excused sit on the bench.

Science
I have just finished my test. It was pretty easy and I am sure I got a 100% on it. this will bring my science grade up a lot. I can now rattle off every bone in the body in five minutes flat.

9:00
today when I got home from school my dad told me we are definitely going to massachusetts. jenny was staying at school for a basketball game. me and my dad went to peoples and got a chocolate milk shake and picked up jenny and I went home.

2007-03-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 18, 1975
Math
this morning I didn't want to getup and go to school. my dad said it was the dose of medicine I am taking. I have been sleepy all morning. I didn't want to go to school today. I am mad at my dad for making me go and I have a book report due that I haven't even started yet. this morning I pretended to take my pill, but I really didn't.

Science
today at athletics no one who was in basketball played, we watched all-star wrestling.
It was boring
we are still on bones. It is kind of fun knowing the bones. you say to your neighbor, "I'm going to smash your inferior maxillary" which in slang means the jawbone. science is one of our more interesting and fun classes.

7:30
today when I got home from school I got my dad to take me and jenny to the model masters hobby shop, where I found the model I wanted and decided not to get it. I got interested in accumulating my own chemistry set. I recognized it as a passing whim and left the shop with nothing.
today my mom brought home some books. they were school books and brand new. she told me that fairfax county was just going to throw them away, but were giving teachers a chance to take as much as that want for twenty minutes on a first come, first served basis.
this evening my mom is going out to play bridge. I begged her to stay home but she went anyway. now it is almost eight and I am already tired from the medecine.
today my dad made it a positive fact we are going to massachusetts! I am very excited about it.

10:30
my mom should be coming home soon, and I can't figure out why I'm not tired.
I am pretty lonely, my dad is asleep and my sister is doing her homework.
this evening I have finally found something to use my big five subject notebook for; a science notebook. I'm keeping all my experiments in it and I can't really figure out how I am going to have three notebooks for different things. I don't really want to put a lid on what I can write in here. this will still be my general notebook for all my personal thoughts and I hope it will always be. this journal is always kind of cosy to sit and write in, like a good friend. I suppose I'll be needing a friend, since Davey moved out and robert is going to move out, and the chances of someone who is nice moving into his house are slim.
I have partly justified my science notebook by telling myself it's my hobby, which it is, and that a whole lot of other people use up a lot more space for their hobbys. my real hobbies are drawing and writing.

This evening I have been reading some of a textbook my mom brought from school, it really makes a difference in how enjoyable it is, when the difference is between when you read it by choice, or whether you have to read it. It seems very dry and boring when it is assigned, but it comes alive when you read it for enjoyment.

2007-03-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 17, 1975

Geo.
today mr. Bedell is handing out some weird homework. we are supposed to watch a half hour to an hour of tv. and commercials critically and try to find gimmicks and flaws.

Science
today in science we had a practice exercise in memorizing the bones.
today I was excused from athletics and didn't do much.

3:30
right now I am in the doctor's office. I wish my dad had made our appointment at 4:00 or later, because I don't like going straight from school somewhere. my dad is very impatient but he never gives himself time to do anything or have any spare time.
this evening me and my sister are going to the bowling alley, I can't wait.

6:30
I found out when I got home, robert was already there and he, my mother, and laura wallace had given the bird his medicine and changed his papers. Laura came over and said she could baby sit, so there goes our trip to the bowling alley.
I had three helpings of cereal for dinner, and two bowls of soup for lunch.
today my sister finally got our three boards hinged together home. It has been a long time. at the doctors I found out I had an ear infection and have to finish my whole bottle of pills.

10:00
today not much has happened since I last wrote. my mind is a blank and I am frustrated. I wish I had something to do. I have the idea I would like to have a picture journal as a supplement. but I can't figure out exactly how to arrange it. I think I had better be content with this journal or I will burn to a frazzle trying to set up a picture journal or something else. I feel pretty down. I am going to read to ease my anxiety as I always do. that is one good thing, I can always hide in a book from reality and depression.

2007-03-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 16, 1975

this morning there has been a lot of trouble in our house. my mom got very mad at me because I couldn't take my pill. Jenny has a report due tomorrow and she isn't helping the situation any. she has been whining around the house. I am going to get dressed and leave the house as soon as I can. One problem, I have an ear infection and can't go outside. my dad thinks he knows what I think. he always speaks for me and he doesn't know what I think. I think child psychologists are pretty stupid if they told my dad how to handle me. I have only been to one of them, so I could get my I.Q. measured for entrance into st. stephen's. most small kids of 3 and 4 years old are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. there are a lot of stupider adults.
lately I have been more easily depressed by the thought I will eventually die. I really wish I could live forever, or else be remembered by people for something

4:00
for the past almost an hour, my dad has had me sitting on our couch. Me and jenny were playing around and my dad got mad and told us to sit on the couch. he sat there and made sure we had nothing to do. then I put some pressure on and said, well, I'll just watch you sit there and not get up while we do. and of course that made him get up and leave. for the next ten minutes me and jenny played 20 questions while he was gone. when he came back both me and jenny started twiddling our thumbs, I thought I would burst into laughter at his infuriated expression. his whole idea was to keep us there until we begged to get up, but I just kept smiling and it drove him crazy. I finally won. he just couldn't stand it any longer. while I was sitting down, my dad called me to take my pill. I took ten minutes to "get it down" when I had really done it on the first swallow.

6:30
today my dad has been very unfair. just now he took away my squirt bottle, and I hadn't done anything.
I got mad and told him he was unfair, and he threatened me, I just told you I wish I could live forever, but sometimes I think about how sorry he'd be if I died. I am not talking to him.

11:00
this evening I took my medicine pretty well, on the third swallow.
after about ten minutes of not talking to my dad, he cracked and tried to make up by asking me to go to the mall with him. I agreed and got dressed. by the time we were ready to go we only had a half an hour so we stayed home.
this evening I made some of my coin cleaner and cleaned up a few pennies. I am going to send my coin cleaning formula into some magazine, it is only sani-flush and water.

2007-03-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 15, 1975
8:30
I just got up and found this book open. my pen was inside like I had just been writing, I must have left it last night.

12:00
at about 9:00 when my mom got up, she came out into the living room and we had a talk. during this talk I found out she was worried about me. then my dad came out and spoiled it, he always does sometimes I really think he's stupid.
today I watched tv. and had a dilicious breakfast of toast, bacon, two eggs, and a glass of milk.
7:45
today my dad and I decided to go out and find my egg in the mall, return some library books, and get a model to build. first we went to the library where I waited in the car. then we went to the springfield hobby shop. I think it is going out of buisness. the manager is a very nice guy, but he isn't much of a buisnessman. we forgot all about the mall, well, while we were at the hobby shop we didn't accomplish anything. we went to the bradlick hobby shop and promptly bought two lovely airplane models. one of a tigercat, and one of a Boeing C-17, for my dad. when we got home I started on the tigercat, and while I was working, robert called. I asked him over, which is always how it works, he calls I ask him over, (we both know there's nothing to do at his house), when he came over I was just finishing up my plane. we played. we tried an interesting experiment in our pond, we wanted to know if salt would kill algae.
right now my dad is working on the C-17.
my dad got me some pills for what I've got, and I am having a hard time swallowing them.

11:30
I have noticed how the evening hours go by faster than during the day. it only seems like an hour or so since I last wrote.

this evening I was very interested with all the moving parts on the C-17. it has revolving turrets, the flaps, rudder, and elevators all move, it has retractable landing gear, and a bombay hinged door, which won't work because my dad glued it wrong.
I think I will have some vicks on my chest tonight, it really makes you feel better.
this evening I finally, after ten minutes of trying, got a pill down my throat. after all that, I felt kind of proud to get it down.
today I picked out my whole outfit for monday, which is st. Patrick's day, I have green pants, a green shirt, green tie, my green plaid jacket, and the only thing that won't be green is my shoes and belt.

not much else has happened today. I watched tv. most of the time. carol burnett was funny, and even more peculiar, she was on at the right time, and so were all the other shows. that hardly ever happens, something is usually preempted.

2007-03-14T13:12:00.001-07:00

Friday, March 14, 1975
Science
today at lunch I accidentally dropped my no nonsense pen. it bent one of the prongs, and it didn't work. lucily I got into science and I was able to fix it.
today I brought my sketch pad to school. I am drawing a thing I call "junk heap". It started out as a doodle, last night.

5:30
today in reading we had mrs. Erkhart again. nobody really likes her. I am glad I found out I don't have to have my page in the paper until monday.
when I got home I had part of a bowl of coffee ice cream, and I asked my dad if I could go and get a new no-nonsense pen. we found a place that had them and went and got four pens. a blue one for Jon Horton, a snazzy orange one for jenny, and a white, and a brown for me. I am writing this with the white pen.

10:30
this evening me and my sisiter were playing with a bean bag in the basement. I was throwing it so it just missed her. I accidentally hit her and she, like the brat she is, wouldn't give it back. I pounded her and finally my dad called me upstairs. my sister came up a little later crying about how I was mean, and threw a bean bag at her and hurt her badly. of vourse, she won, she always wins. my dad is allways on her side.
right now I am watching "Baretta" on tv. it's a typical police show.

2007-03-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 13, 1975
Before School
today I got up at 7:15, much earlier than usual. I guess its because I hope my journal is in the lost and found.

Geo.
today when I got to school I checked the lost and found, my journal wasn't there. I got to the classroom, and to my great releif, my journal was in a desk beside me.

Math
today in math class we had a test. for an extra credit question he asked us how many tiles are on the floor. I counted 26 on one side and 27 1/2 on the other. my answer came out 715. I hope I'm right.

Reading
today we have mrs. Erkhart for reading. she is pretty old and is very strict. she always tells about when she was young. she substitutes for mrs. Price a lot when Price is sick.

7:00
I wish my mother wouldn't go run around almost every evening. a few weeks ago she was out every evening. this evening I have to write my page in the literary magazine. so far I have absolute zilch to write on it.

11:00 I am drawing a great doodle.

2007-03-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 12, 1975

Geo.
today, again, I didn't have time to give the bird his medicine. today I am getting my report back. I am sure I got a very good grade, or a fair grade, or a poor one, because he was about to say something to me but he got sidetracked.
I have been handed my report and I am very proud. I got a 95 on it. mr. Bedell gave me that grade only after he was sure I knew what all the words mean. he said he knew most of the words but he had to go to a dictionary for some of it.

Science
today I lost this journal. right now I am copying from my small notebook. I think someone stole it.
I think it was steve rail. if I catch him with it I'll kill him.

Reading
I hope I find my notebook before today is over. It isn't really the notebook, its all the notes in it that are valuable, if I don't get it back I will have lost irreplaceable notes.

Study Hall
today at the beginning of english and reading, everyone switched seats and coats, and in some cases, glasses, to play a joke on mr. stone and Mrs. Price. while we were waiting, mr. Bedell came in and we convinced him to help us. he sat in the back row and when mr. stone came in we had a good laugh.

11:00
today at about reading class I began to feel helpless as to finding my journal. this evening I still don't have it. I am beginning to feel a little better because I have logically convinced myself it is just lost: I figure that if I had it in geo, no one could have taken it. and it is impossible to take it changing classes, and only someone in my class could have taken it while we were in math class. most of the people in my class wouldn't do a thing like that, but I am counting on a shaky factor in my favor, human nature. so at least for the moment I have calmed down about it.

2007-03-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 11, 1975

Geo.
now I am absolutely sure about woody's scheme. he is, today, in school. this morning.
right now I am in our school cafeteria. we are going to see a filmstrip on something or other. we are doing this instead of study hall. today in english I have about half-finished one of my pages, I wrote a three frame comic strip, and I have three more due for the entertainment section. this movie is a big mystery to every-body, but we just found out what it was about.
*****
right now I am sitting in the barber shop.
I have already had my hair cut and am waiting for my dad. today when I got home from school I read my sister's mad magazine she got because she was sick.
this barbershop is a classic example of a small business trying to assert itself. all it used to be was a plain room, now they have put in two petitions, a fancy clock, new modern-style chairs, piped in music, and fancy curtains in the window. this business is run by a single family two generations, with a third toddling around the shop.

12:00
formulated thought
1. this evening I watched "the Killer Bees" it was good.
in the movie we saw today, which was about endangered species, it had one thing different from most wildlife conservation movies in the fact that they actually showed the merciless killing, in stark reality, the way it really is, and showing you how gruesome it is.

formulated thoughts
I have noticed how small towns, just like the small barbershop, are closely knit, and always are trying to show up big cities, by going modern. usually they never realize until it's too late, how good they had it as a small, obscure town noone had ever heard of.

2007-03-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

Monday, March 10, 1975

Geo. class
Woody's Clever Plot
today we have a substitute because Mr. Bedell was sick, or so the substitute said. today was the day we are supposed to hand in our reports.
Do you see his scheme?
He has left because now he won't have to argue with people with unfinished reports. their argument rests on the fact they can con woody, but a substitute shows up and they don't have a leg to stand on.

Science class
today at lunch I made a list of my four main customers for potato chips. Brian Freedman, age 10, Weight 79, Max Ramsey, age 12, weight 80, Nelson bontner, age 12, weight ? and George William Bavin, age 12, weight 93, I have noticed that some of the people who seem pretty dumb are too young, as is brian freedman who is ten, and the other kids are eleven or twelve.

11:30
this evening Laura Wallace came over to baby sit jenny. not much has happened lately, and I am not writing much.
today in english class mr. stone did something that made me mad. he assigned everyone two pages in the literary magazine, and each of us have to collect stories, poems and other things and have your pages copied. I think he has just wrecked our whole magazine by doing this.
now everything is very disorganized. I am going to write a letter to the editor in the newspaper.

2007-03-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

Sunday, March 9, 1975

right now I am at robert's house, listening in on a meeting of some group or another from their church. I am in plain sight, and you should see some of the looks on the people's faces. there are two men who know I'm looking but they don't care. All the rest are women, three don't know I'm here, and of the other two, one is very fat, and probably thinks I am writing all about her. they all look like they have "Housewives bulge." except roberts mother. two of them have gray hair and are old fuddy-duddies. on the way out through the garage and I said it aloud, a window was open, and I think they heard me.
-------
I am spying on donny bright and his big brother, they are playing basketball. donny hardly ever comes out.
8:00 I am still writing my report. today I really got a good look at how robert takes advantage of me and bosses me around. I love the way my dad's electric typewriter works, it prints so neatly. It really looks professional.
My sister is trying to write a book report and is doing awfully. she always makes things hard for herself.
11:00
I have finished my report. lately our household has been in a state of turmoil from my dad moving into the house with his office. I have to find my story for the newspaper or else I will get an "F" on the magazine. I am going to make a collection of all my writing.

2007-03-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

Saturday, March 8, 1975

10:30
this morning I was so worried about the bird I got up at 8:00, It was almost an hour and forty-five minutes when my mom finally got up.
Lately, I think I have been sort of neglecting this journal as you can see from yesterdays entrys.
Yesterday when I got home robert came over. We were supposed to go pick up the bird from the vet's at five o'clock. we went and the doctor gave us quite a talking to about the responsibility we had taken on. we have to give the bird his medicine (three drops from an eyedropper) three times a day. we left and went to the pet store because the doctor had said we could never let him go. we got a nice big chickenwire one with a wooden frame.
we got home lined it with newspapers and put food, gravel, water, and the bird in. the doctor also said that if he didn't learn to walk with his bandage in 36 hours we would have to cut it back.
This morning we gave him some medecine and we also gave him and eyedropper full of water.

5:00
today robert came over and I told him the good news about the bird. Today I found the bird standing in his food, there was birdseed in his water, which means he's been eating. once today me and robert let the bird run around the floor for exercise.

12:30
this evening I wrote about seven pages, which is five pages of double spaced typed page. my mom and I had no trouble giving the bird medecine this evening.
Today when the movers came and brought my dad's office furniture they also bought a plant. it is now in my room and I am sure some time tonight it is going to scare me to death because I don't remember what it is.
I am about to go to bed. I almost didn’t' finish this entry because I wanted to sleep but thats why I am getting lazy in writing.
sometime I am going to copy that report into here.

2007-03-07T11:25:00.000-08:00

Friday, March 7, 1975

Geo.
this morning robert called me on the phone to check the bird. he was still very much alive. my dad managed to get a cup of water in the bird's box. I think he was probably very thirsty. today we had to take notes in geo, class. I can't wait for english.

Science
not much has happened today except at athletics a guy kicked me and I told him not to bother me and he kept trying to kick me so I grabbed him and threw him on the floor. my dad will be proud to hear this because he always says I don't stick up for my rights.

2007-03-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

Thursday, March 6, 1975

Geo.
today we are finishing up our last three tests out of our booklet, social studies concepts, social studies skills, and science.
today we went to chapel, a welcome break the monotony of test taking. I am glad we only have one more. and it's my favorite subject-science. some of the questions on the test are unanswerable with the info. they give you.

After lunch
today at athletics I lost my new no-nonsense pen. the one I usually write with in this journal
I am going to have to use my old one instead.

Reading
Lately I think [name deleted] has had some trouble at home. he is worried and seems under the weather. he asked me what I wrote in my journal and I read him some harmless stuff. he believed me. he is anxious to get approval from other people. he has decided to start a journal of his own.

On the way to the vet's
today robert came over and we decided to go and destroy the robertson's bagworms. while we were there we saw timmy wallace chasing a bird with a broken wing. we maneuvered it into a shoebox and went to the vet's which were closed. The bird will have to spend the night. right now I am waiting for the animal rescue league.

10:45
the bird is in his shoebox now and the animal rescue league hasn't come yet. I am worried about what will happen tomorrow when everyone is gone.

2007-03-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, March 5, 1975

Geo.
today I found out we are going to stay in this room for the standard acheivement tests.
I have just finished my first test out of the booklet.
I finished in plenty of time.

Later
today I am sure everyone was glad when we finally got out of the room after what seemed like hours of tests. I had a good lunch and we had a wild game of tag during recess. for the whole day we are staying in the same room so I don't really have any classes to write.
-------
well the worst part of the tests is over for me-math. I didn't finish my math computations by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just slow at multiplication, and division. just now during our break I found out the bathroom partition is gone.

5:30
today when I got home from school robert came over with Eric Leutanin and we played around. since my dad wasn't home we opened my window and went out onto the roof. we went and found a whole bunch of moths or butterfly cocoons. I have a whole box of them right now. I had better look up their name so I know what they are before they come out. I just found out they are called bagworms and are destructive. I had better get rid of them and kill the ones still on the bush.

11:00
this evening I have watched some tv. shows my mom went shopping and brought home a whole bunch of food. we were running low. I had better make a few more eggs before spring vacation.
today just before study hall, mr. lichtfuss took us outside onto the field, since we had been cooped up in a schoolroom since the beginning of the day. I spent most of my time out there on the lookout, so I wouldn't be tripped, pushed, or jumped on. Everyone had a whole lot of energy to burn off.
I am always amazed at the body, I think of it as a complex machine, fueled by a varsity of things, from a hot dog, to a gourmet meal. all controled by the brain. I have found it really helps when you want to run your absolute fastest, if you think of your body as a complex machine.

2007-03-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, March 4, 1975

Science
lately I have noticed how many of our questions they give us in our small, blue science workbook aren't even discussed in the chapter you are supposed to read. I think you have to guess half of them by using your own judgement. even because of this I will probably get most of them right anyway because I have read some on physiology
I think I should be moved into the next higher color in sra in reading class. I am one of the best readers there and I can easily go to work in a higher color. I don't think mrs. price realizes it.

English
today we are working on our magazine. I am a cover designer along with Win Vining.

Reading
today in english I found out Win Vining takes over everything on the cover I hardly get to do anything.
anyway I did draw two illustrations; one for John Beebe, of an airsick, green blob and one for Billy Bavin of a man showing a bug in his soup to the waitor. that isn't much to do so I have now become an official proofreader. tonight I must find something to turn in the way of writing. or else I must write some stuff.

10:00
this afternoon robert came over to my house and we decided to go and fly my kite. we had been flying it for almost half an hour when we saw the woods fire. it was sending up clouds of smoke from all the leaves it was burning. we instantly wondered if anyone had called the Fire Department. robert and I dropped what we were doing, (namely the kite) and ran over to investigate. we found no one there. just at that moment a lady was driving in her driveway. we yelled at her to call the Fire Department. In a few moments she came out of the house and hurridly unlocked her backyard shed and gave us some shovels.
we ran toward the fire and started beating the rising flames. by this time the fire had spread until it was burning up a thirty foot square of dried leaves, piled a foot thick.
we plunged into the billowing smoke which made us cough and choke and stamped out the flames and started digging a fireline to contain the fire. slowly the fire was beaten out, buried and hosed down, by this time half of the soccer team which was playing in the field we were fling our kite in was helping with whatever they had, sticks, rakes shovels, or just their feet. In about five minutes all that was left of the fire was smoking charcoal, just then the small jeep they send out to check small fires gallantly drove up. everyone all at once told them, "sorry you missed the fire". the firemen left as quickly as they came after hosing down the spot, well they had to do something to keep up their image.
Afterwards, everyone felt a sense of triumph, at the beginning when we first started, It looked hopeless to put out the fire. then all of a sudden the smoke cleared on smoldering ashes. WMD
****
This story is true. all of it, even the tiniest detail.
I put it in story form so I could recopy it and turn it in for english, for the literary magazine. I wonder if anyone will believe that it really happened.
some things I didn’t include in the story:
1. I think the firemen felt pretty embarrased.
2. I am very proud, and I think me and robbie put out quite a lot of the fire.
3. My mom thinks I'm a hero and made me spaghetti for supper
4. my kite was stolen while I was fighting the fire.
5. I't was really kind of fun and not as serious as it sounds in writing.
6. I got some very minor burns and I have had a hot face ever since.
7. me and robert had had other experience fighting fires. we accidentally spilled a small amount of gasoline on our lawn and it caught fire. ever since that I have been cured of playing with matches.
The greatest problem of fighting it was the smoke blinding you. I tried to make a few jokes but it turned out either this wasn't as new to some of them as it was to me, or else they just didn't happen to have a sense of humor and didn't really think it was a crisis or a big deal.

2007-03-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

Monday, March 3, 1975
English
today I left my book just by accident in the math room and someone read it. as a matter of fact a few people read some of it. namely derek smith and jim cranwell, and gordon labow, as far as I know. I am surprised how many people would poke around in this book, even though they know it's mine and I don't like people to read it.

Reading
today in english we started planning our first literary magazine. I vouluntered to illustrate, and help make the cover design. me and Win Vining, who is pretty good at drawing, is doing both of them too.
Today at recess I had a fun time. we played tag.
I had a good lunch of soup and a peanut butter sandwich. I noticed now they give you a whole bowl of soup now on days when they give out cups of soup.

Study Hall
not much has happened today at school. I wish I had something to look forward to when I get home.

11:00
This evening Laura Wallace came over to baby sit and help jenny with her homework. I found out me and Laura have some things in common, we both like dry noodles for snacks, I found out she has a lot of musical talent and she took one of my chalk drawings to put on her wall. I could tell you a lot more about her, her family, and even though her little brother's a pest, she manages to live with him I don't know how.
Here goes:
Laura Wallace is very mature for her age, I have seen people who think they are, but she really is. Laura has blond hair, regular height. she goes to francis scott key intermediate school. she is very intelligent, maybe even more than robert. she has musical talent, plays the guitar, and sings in her school choir.
Laura has a brother named timmy. he is sometimes refered to as the terror of the neighborhood, because he is always doing something, or pretending something, usually with steven smallwood, debbie's little brother. he is typical of an active kid in the stage where pretending is big.
I don't know much about her parents, but her father rules the house and sometimes steven smallwood.
Laura can draw some, but not much. she also writes stories and plays, none of which I have read but I am sure they are quite good. she has told me that she has written quite a few songs, and that music puts her into a sort of a trance while she listens, I guess some people are music lovers.
Well that's about all I know about Laura Wallace. I have never really liked music and it has never had almost any affect on me, although some-times I get in the feeling of the song especially if it is a forceful tune or a march.
Not much else has happened this evening and I don't have anything to write anymore, so good night!

2007-03-02T14:02:00.000-08:00

Sunday, March 2, 1975
4:30
today I woke up at about 9:00 since then I have drawn another easter egg, this one for mr. bedell. Me and my sister went to fly our kites at the schoolyard. it turned out to be too windy and cold. I did have something to look forward to; we are having a big sunday dinner.
Lately today my sister become a real brat. I keep telling her not to sing because it bothers me when I try to read. right now I am on the edge of breaking her neck, I'm so irritated.

10:30
today I have made two more eggs. one is for mr. Bedell, and the other for Mrs. Price, our reading teacher. I still have three more undecorated eggs yet to decorate.
I have seen some ads for a pocket dictating machine. I may get one if they don't cost too much.
not much has happened today. I just can't seem to get started on my geography report. I have been thinking that I could have picked a better subject.
Today I, and the rest of my family, have been on edge and very touchy. there has been a lot of arguing about all kinds of little things.

11:00
I have been watching tv. this evening and I am about to go to bed.
Have you noticed how I don't write very much on weekends? It's because there's nothing to write about.

2007-03-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

Saturday, March 1, 1975
today robert came over, we tried to fly my kite but the wind kept dying on us.
we used the siphon tubes and blew some fish with them. while we were flying the kite we noticed some people playing baseball. It is neat how, if you are some distance away, you can see the ball being hit before you hear it.

6:30
me and robert went over to kiddie kollege and met a friend of robert's named eric leutanin, after that robert acted a little different to me, I know why, because sometimes you act a little different with different friends, and when when two of your friends come and play with you, you have to make a compromise.
I have started making some easter eggs, even though easter is a long way off. I am hand drawing on them with magic marker. so far I have made a beautiful one with a tree on one side.
I am pretty tired after playing all day and it feels good to sit down.

11:00
tonight I have decided that I am going to draw an easter egg for each of my teachers, except mr. lichfuss. I have already made one for mr. stone. it has a beautiful, jazzy, sun design on the back. I am going to make a few dozen by easter and sell the ones that aren't especially made to give someone. I make nice things.
I have learned, the two best gifts you can give someone is either something practical, or something you made for them yourself, or both.

2007-02-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

Friday, February 28, 1975
2:00
I have been watching all day, pretty boring.

3:00
I have been watching tv since 2:00 there are an awful lot of good shows on during the day that you would usually never get to watch because of school.
yesterday I went to the basketball tournament. I bought a nice, big, green beanbag frog at the boutique. I am going back today. they have a book sale, and all kinds of baked goods on sale. the whole reason this is, is for the 19th annual st. stephen's invitational basketball tournament. the games are pretty boring. maybe the things there would be cheaper because no one buys them.

6:30 at the tournament
I have been at the tournament for a few hours. I have been going around with robert bodner. we have been rummaging around in some boxes of old books.
I didn't buy a ticket to get into the basketball games. in the boxes, robert found an old budget book, dated 1914 we found out a lot about the owner. I got a 1918 Physics and chemistry handbook. I also bought a clam, and a hand carved pin.

12:30
not much has happened since I got home, I watched tv and am about to go to bed.
this evening my mom and me decided on name for my frog: Oglethorp Frederic Frog, "Oggie" for short.

2007-02-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 27, 1975
Math
today I had a hard time getting out of bed. I couldn't hardly keep my eyes open. I was 15 minutes late for school today.

in the gym
today I have to write a story about the basketball tournament. I am going to write it now.
It was the first time I had ever been to the tournament. as the people milled around me, I thought how good the refreshments would taste.
It was a bright, breezy day, with just a hint or two of winter in the air.
I almost didn't come to the tournament but one of my friends convinced me to come with him. I moved through the crowd toward the ticket office. I hadn't gotten any passes of tickets ahead of time and I planned to buy them on the spot, even though they cost more. I always seem to be misinformed on these things, I never know when or where these things take place. for this reason I have missed quite a few of them.
I found myself a comfortable seat in the bleachers, and watched the game. It was a tough battle between st. stephen's and the other team, whoever they were, in green uniforms. I told you I'm never told anything until it's too late.
I left the game and went to the cafeteria, ate a hot dog, and went home.

Most of this story is true, all except the parts telling what I did at the tournament.

2007-02-26T17:38:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 26, 1975
Geo. Class
when I came to school I remembered what today was.
it's no dress day. I wore a coat and tie, but I'm not the oddball because there are quite a few other people who aren't going to pay 50¢ for some still strict dress code for one day.

in the gym
I am getting hungry, I didn't have any breakfast today. just a little while ago. I saw some people flying paper airplanes. that's pretty risky because you could get a lot of demerits that way.
Of all my teachers, mr. lichfuss is the meanest. most everybody doesn't like him as much as out other teachers.
Mr. thompson our science teacher is nice and can take a joke now and then, but the kids don't fool with him as much as the other teachers.

English
today english class seems it is going to turn out interesting. when we started, the first thing mr. stone did was ask the question, " Do you like coming to school?" we got the usual boring responses. today is no dress day, so we are having a free english period to do whatever we want.
I have decided that I am going to go to the basketball tournament. not to see basketball, because I think it is boring. I can see a picture in my mind now the sounds of summer all around, a lawn mower the sweet smell in the warm air with a slight cooling breeze. I love summer, walking in the woods, long 4th of july parties, stretching into the night till ten or eleven o'clock when he finally

10:30
today for the first time in weeks robert came over to play. he called on the phone and asked if I would like to play. I asked him how his flu was and he said he was better, but he was saving just enough germs to give me back the flu.
we played a game of ping-pong but we never finished. we saw my sister trying to fly my kite with timmy wallace, who had another kite. timmy gave his kite to John Robertson who was on his bike. the kite got tangled up in the power lines. we tried everything for half an hour from our bare hands to a rake. we finally gave up and threw rocks at it. I threw a stick at it and robert was reaching for it with a pole. my thing seemed more effective to robert and he wanted to trade I traded with him and had immediate sucess. I whalloped the kite and splintered it tin two.
Today my mom brought me the chalk she had promised. she bought me a stick of every color they had. I drew a good bowl of fruit. she also brought me two paper egg shapes. the kids at Springfield Estates school are going to draw designs on them they are going to be put up in the mall. I went to the library and found a very good book full of pennsylvania dutch designs. I am making my eggs in that style because the designs are beautifully simple. while I was there I also renewed my library card.

2007-02-25T17:06:00.001-08:00

Tuesday, February 25, 1975
4:00 a.m.
just now I woke up from what sounded like a hurricane at my window. the wind was really whipping around the trees. I hope no tree blows over.

Geo.
I wish I didn't have to do my geo. report

Science
today I tried my panda on a string everything thinks it's neat, everyone in the panda brigade that is. us panda brigaders are going to get our own buttons made for us. we will have a panda's head in the middle and under the bottom we would write The Panda Brigade and over the top in big letters it would say PANDA POWER! we would put them on. science class is pretty interesting, we are talking about the digestive system.

Study Hall with mr. marlin
today in english I decided I would enter the science fair. I don't know what my project is going to be, and I may not enter because I already have a report to do. I think I may try to show my theory on light and how it works.
first of all I would need a very thin beam of light, I might want to rent a dychroscope from someplace. I have pictures of a beautiful display cabinet, a few buttons and a window opening into a dark chamber lined with black velvet, suddenly as you pressed the button a beam of light shoots across and hits different colored targets. you press more buttons then a miniature laser ray comes along and while all of this is happening you are reading the explanation of all the phases in a thick research notebook which is lying there. I would win first prize and get a science scholarship.

today mr. stone made an error in one of his tests. he put "persons" instead of people on one of the sentences. he tryed to hide it and finally told us to correct it.

10:30
today when I came home my mom took me and my sister shopping at drug fair, where the semi-annual 1¢ sale was going on. I bought a crazy pad, a jar of epsom salts, posterboard, and a set of magic marker liquid crayons. I used the epsom salts this evening for a science experiment. if you dissolve some in water, and then rub a piece of glass with a wet rag full of the water with dissolved epsom salts and in a few hours, or really about half an hour the glass will be frosted with beautiful, needlelike, fibrous crystals.

11:00
on the news I just heard of a new sport some people invented. you take a snowmobile and get a good running start and skim over the surface of the nearby potomac river.
I am about to go to bed.
this evening I helped my sister make a poster for school. it is for her skit on the life of Steven Foster, the composer.
she didn't like a few of the colors I chose but I finally convinced her the colors I chose were all for the best.
I finally finished it. and she and my mom were very pleased and liked it a lot.
I made two more panda brigade buttons for our club.

2007-02-24T15:26:00.000-08:00

Monday, February 24, 1975
Geo. Class
today I had a hard time getting up for school. It was still dark outside. I just barely got in on time. I haven't had any breakfast. I know I did awful on my geo. notebook and test I may flunk out of geo., all because I missed a week of school.

Math
just now I got my math test back. the one I did on friday. I did pretty well, I got an 86%, at least it is an improvement from my last test grade. From now on I have decided to let what I write end whenever it happens to.
today in geo. class Jon Horton gave me a small panda made of plastic. he probably got it at the washington zoo. I thanked him.

English
today I showed mr. stone this book and all I've written in it. I think he is really proud of me. Mr. Stone likes it. he says he may grade it later. today we got to switch desks and I got a desk near the wall. right near Jon Horton.

10:00
today when I got home from school I did my homework in math.

10:15
I am still thinking about mr. stone's reaction to my journal. I don't know whether to let him look over it or not. one thing is for sure, he can't have it overnight, because I will miss a day. so far I have not missed a day since I started.

this evening I took the panda Jon Horton gave me and put it on a gold string around my neck and a small loop of string on the panda. when I want a necklace, I hitch the two loops together with the ring, otherwise I clip the ring onto the panda's loop and onto my belt loop and put away the neck string. here is an illustration:

I forgot to mention that me, George Hesse, Jon Horton, and Billy Bavin have formed a club called the panda brigade. we are the only four members. george is the only one who doesn't have a panda, but Jon Horton is going to bring him one tomorrow. Jon is maybe also going to bring some panda buttons for us.
I think I am getting used to the new time schedule. I am a little right now. I am about to go to bed.
this evening I watched some tv. and in general fitted everything I had to do and wanted to do pretty well.

2007-02-23T19:51:00.000-08:00

Sunday, February 23, 1975
At roller rink
Today I woke up at 9:00, according to our new time. we went onto daylight savings time at 2:00 a.m. this morning.
I am now at the roller rink, which is a big, low building, there is a difference this place and the ice rink. the ice rink seems cavernous. I am having a hard time finding a place to write. Today there are a lot of skaters, probably because it is raining.

2:30
I have just decided I want spaghettios for lunch. I am going to rife my bike to springfield to get it.

At Safeway
right now I am standing beside the safeway store. There are some seagulls flying around the parking lot. we get a lot of seagulls around here. I have always wondered why. we hardly have any bats. I got four cans of spaghettios and four jars of baby food. I am about to leave for home.

5:00
on the way home I noticed how wildly the wind blows on top of the bridge. from there you can really see how fast cars go on the highway.

In the Car
me and my dad are going to ride the "bug", our second car, around. we call it the "bug" because when we lived on backlick road, we owned an old Corvair which we called "the bug", so really we should call it bug II. I can't wait to watch the six million dollar man on tv. tonight.

6:00
we just came back. we stopped at basking robbin's ice cream. I got a butter pecan and we got jenny a chocolate fudge.

10:30
This evening I watched the six million dollar man, then I decided not to watch Kojak, and then watched mannix. I think there are tv. cycles. I remember last year it was doctor shows, medical center, general hospital, the bold ones etc. now it is police and detective shows, Kojak, mannix, Cannon, Barnaby Jones etc. next year it will be something.
my theory on light is:
light is made up of all colors, you see the light that an object reflects so in the dark there is no light to reflect so you can't see. right? You see a beam of light that isn't really all together, you see the light that reaches your eye. right?
so if a beam of light wasn't diffused at all, it would be invisible. right?
so a laser beam isn't really perfectly condensed. people were pretty dumb in the old days: they weren't stupid, just senseless. they believed crazy things and in my opinion they were never considered smart enough to be told anything, they were misinformed.

2007-02-22T19:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 22, 1975
2:00 this morning I got out of bed at 10:30. I had two pieces of peanut butter toast for breakfast and I called robert to see if he would like to go to the roller rink. he said he had the flu.
It looks like one of those nothing-to-do days. I hope something interesting happens.

2:30
I just played my dad two games of ping-pong. I beat him 16-21 and 13-21. he says my game is improving tremendously.

4:00
me and my dad just came home from the mall. while we were there I went to the collector's cabinet and found a beautiful piece of iron pyrite, selling for $125.00. we also saw some new green scarab paperweights and a big south american leaf bug six inches long. I told my dad that the collector's cabinet was a non-profit shop where former drug addicts could find work. my dad and I have been seriously considering joining the explorer guides.

7:00
me and my dad played a game of chess and he beat me. I was upset and then we played ping-pong. he said he was playing as hard as he could and I accused him of lying.

8:15
just now suddenly my parents have gotten the idea we could go to farrell's, we are about to leave.
I have really gotten good at playing jacks. I can now pick up two jacks, three feet apart, at the same time.

At Farrell's
Farrell's ice cream parlor restaurant is modeled after something out of the 1920's. They beat a bass drum and blow a siren whenever some big sundae is served. They have a thing they call the pig's trough, made of six scoops of ice cream they give a prize if you can eat it all. we saw three teenagers who were getting it. Farrell's celebrates more birthdays every evening than probably all the other local restaurants combined. I remember once I got a zoo, which was a big mistake. It all melts together and gets sickening.
Our waiter's name is Jeff and he is wearing a whole bunch of buttons on his vest. I have just seen an example of how fast this place runs. A family finished and left, the table was cleared and wiped, more customers were seated and given glasses of ice water, all in less than 30 seconds.

10:00
the hot fudge nutty-nutty was good, and very delicious. I have noticed that sometimes you can eat one with no trouble at all, and sometimes to never end, I wonder why.

*Explain theory of beam of light tomorrow

2007-02-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

Friday, February 21, 1975
Science
today in geo. we had a test. I did better than I expected, but I still didn't do very well.

English
Mr. Stone is in a bad mood. He gave us a lecture on how he didn't like people writing writing on the board.
I love it when people ask me to draw something for him. most people don't like me but there is no question as to who draws best in this class. this morning John Metcalf came to me and asked me to copy a picture of a basketball player for him.
I have just enlarged my pictures for my story.
I just read my story and I couldn't stop laughing.

Study hall
I just found out that next wednesday is no-dress day. if you pay 50¢ you can come dressed in anything you want. the money is going for the lab and the library. It reminds me of when I was in public school we had a thing called hobo day, where you dressed the worst you possibly could, for free. they changed it to storybook day the next year and I dressed as alexander graham bell, my mom who is a teacher dressed as wee willie winkie, in a pair of flannel snowflake pajamas. one of my friends dressed as dracula, eyebrow pencil, slicked down hair, a specially made, cardboard collared cape. and plastic fangs. on that day we have lunch outside, and then all sorts of events, all put together to make the best day of the school year.

6:30
well this evening I didn't go to fun night. I wanted to watch all of the tv. shows that were on. My mom must be very tired on friday evenings she half slept through the jacques Cousteau special and all through a whole half hour show. Tonight Debbie is spending the night at our house. we have been watching superman on tv.
We also played a few rounds of jacks. I am better than either one of them and I may practice some tonight.
This evening I took apart one of my walkie-talkies and got the aerial out of it. I have been playing with it all evening.
I have done a bunch of other things this evening, I took one of my model spaceships off the science room ceiling and have been playing with it, I have made a food color picture of the setting sun on the ocean this afternoon.
I found out I have more money in the bank than jenny does. mostly from the money I put in since I opened it.

2007-02-20T19:30:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 20, 1975
Geo.
today I just barely got in on time. I can't really be blamed because I had to stay up late doing my math.
well, I hope we don't get much homework because I have to do a poster and finish my composition. if I get math I may just forget it and do my special assignments.

in chapel
today after chapel some person, probably a teacher, is talking to us about how seven boys have been expelled for selling some drugs and for stealing some money from the locker room. my dad will want to hear about this.

in the gym
the gym is a big airy place. noises echo well so our school often uses it for presentations and assemblys. I am sitting on top of the closed bleachers. you get a nice view from up here. I have leisure time to write because our team isn't playing today.

Science
today we took our second test and I got a 95% on it. I am lucky I got that because I knew most of it. I guessed on one or two of them.

4:00
here are my two latest and best woody stamps. One is the new second edition arctic woody commemorative for 1975. the other is a portrait of the desert woody.

11:00
this evening I just finished my second good copy of my english essay. I finished my poster for reading first and I think it is beautiful. I did it on the silent world by J.Y. Cousteau and Frederic Dumas. I made it very colorful and made all the words fit right in just right. I also made up this fantastic summary:

Explore the wonders
of the undersea world
as captain Cousteau and
his men dive into exiting
adventure

I put it on a rock being carried like a sign by a shark cruising in the picture.
my mom just came home and I can't wait to show her my poster.
this evening I made two more special stamps, or if you look at it a different way five stamps because one as a four stamp thing that goes together to form a whole picture it is about the Bicentennial Era and the other one is of the eastern cardinal.
I think I am getting writer's cramp.
not much else has happened this evening.
I am glad I have those two burdens off my shoulders. now all I have to do is my geo. report on minerals. I am not sure how I am going to organize it.

2007-02-19T19:13:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 19, 1975
Math
this morning I got up and wouldn't get out of bed until almost 8:30 I think school is hopeless.
they aren't very fair. giving us seven pages of math, seven pages of english, five science questions, a two page composition, a book report that I haven't even read the book for, and I am behind a week in work. I just found out I didn't get the right assignment we only had two pages to do. I guess I sort of misjudged them.

Science
today before the teacher came I very quickly did my homework. I finished it just before we started checking. we are talking about vaccines and immunity. I think I have some natural immunity against childhood diseases, I have never had mumps, chicken pox, measles, or any others.

Reading
today in english mr stone had a cap gun he had confiscated from some kid. we had a quiz and he shot a few people. after the quiz he asked us if we would like a chance to raise our grade I wanted to so we took another quiz, I got a perfect score on both of them.

*Bring B paper to school tomorrow, find pen for john H., and ruler too, and copy antarctic stamps.

on the following page are copys of the five stamps I drew for john horton. how do you like them? John Horton seems to like them.

#1 The sunday skier. skier trapped in a snowball. 20¢
#2 Arctic stork. stork carrying baby Air Mail 20¢
#3 The eskimo family. family outside igloo 20¢
#4 The great camoflage whale swimming, 20¢
#5 The Arctic Woody Commemorative, 10¢

12:00
I am writing my essay on the same picture of the arctic woody. I will put it in this journal later, when I finish. after four hours of work I finally finished all my math. It was a great relief to be finished. I am very tired and I want to finish up quick so I can go to bed.

I wish some fantasies would come true I wish I were like the six million dollar man, or there was such a thing as strength formula like in the movie "the strongest man in the world" I have always wished for some special power-

2007-02-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, February 18, 1975
Geo.
when I came to school today everyone was glad to see me. I am now taking notes on all the dynasties of China.

English
today at athletics we played a little basketball because today is our last day of practice. I am not very good at shooting, but I am pretty good at catching the ball before the others can get it because I am taller than most people. today I found out that george hesse thinks the same thing I do about some people in our class. I had a good lunch and I sat with john horton and john leiner said he missed me at the end of the table. today in math we got something like seven pages of homework to do and now in english we have seven pages-except it is due thursday, and a two page composition on top of a geo. report and a poster book report.

4:30
just now I have made a descion to start to use other notebooks besides this one, because I can't carry this one everywhere I go. I am going to walk around with a smaller one and report back to this one from it. I forgot much of what I see during the day. I will still bring this to school and places where I know what I will do. I will take it to school and use it at home but I will bring the small one shopping on field trips, playing, etc. . today my mom brought home the valentine robot box I made for the second graders. here is a drawing of it. I had to paint the egg cartons with my acrylic paints because we didn't know how to paper them. one difference is that on the real one the sign is correctly balanced and all the words fit on right.

7:00 at mc donalds
I am in our car at mc Donalds. first we went over to drug fair, then we went to the grocery store for the party snacks and ice. we also got lemonade and one was as hard as a rock because it had gotten wet. we went to mc Donalds for dinner and me and jenny got captain crook hats.

8:30 all the ladys are here now. it is amazing how silly they can be. they also make a lot of noise and laugh falsely, which I hate. I enjoy having guests over.

10:30
this evening my dad and I have been yelling. he hurt my arms by grabbing me and I threw a shoe at him. I don't have any other defense against him.

2007-02-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Monday, February 17, 1975
3:30 p.m.
today started out the same as yesterday, except at least I knew I would have something to do. I have just come back from the movie theater, where I saw " the strongest man in the world" the latest walt disney film. robert came with me and jenny. when we got to our seats we found some older kids there behind to harass us. luckily they quieted down.

10:30
this evening I watched candid camera, and a special two-hour edition of "the rookies". earlier I went with my mom, dad, and sister to the mall. we were looking for some polyester cloth for jenny's outfit. we went to three different places before we came to the sew and sew forth shop in the mall. we also went to the Wintex fabric shop on franconia road, where I fell in love with a remnant of jersey cloth in a magenta color.
I am glad we got today off from school. but it will be good to get back after missing a week.
one of my favorite pastimes is window shopping I love to just wander around the mall and go into any interesting store and browse around. I have noticed almost all of the bazaars, and import shops usually sell only cheap incense and no real imports or chinese handcrafts, or whatever.

2007-02-16T19:54:00.001-08:00

Sunday, February 16, 1975
1:00
today I have been watching tv. sunday is the day when there isn't anything to do. I may call robert out of desperation.

10:30
I have been watching tv. all day. this afternoon I watched a war movie about D day called "the longest day. it was a lot better than "oliver" which I saw tonight. I have both of them already but the war picture was more interesting.
I have been bored all day. I wish I had something to do. there has been a lot of yelling for the past few days because of my dad's pressing descion. he always manages to disrupt our family. my sister isn't really helping very much either, causing trouble right and left and whining and crying all over the place my sister usually complicates all our arguments my sister really bugs me sometimes.
one nice thing happened tonight, my sister and my dad brought me some candy, probably my dad's idea.
I just found out my sister is really going out and getting her skating suit made. tomorrow my mother and her are going to go and buy material because tomorrow is washington's birthday with all it's sales.
I wish my dad would either close his office or keep it open so that all the turmoil in the family would cool down.

2007-02-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 15, 1975
11:30
I am pretty sure I now have strap throat. I have had a stuffed up nose today.

5:00
Most of today I stayed in bed watching TV. Just recently I have gotten dressed. I don't know why, but it may be because some company may come later after the party. I have finished all my homework. now my worries have turned to my book and geography reports for school. while I have been thinking of my geo. report, since it is on minerals and their uses, I remember the time I brought some of my rocks to school and I learned something, you can't impress any of the st. stephens school kids with basics, you have to really go all out.
my mom and dad are getting ready to go to the party. my dad is sometimes a party pooper; he says he doesn't really want to go. my dad was complaining about how he didn't have any friends around here. I told him if he wanted local friends, he would have to go out and make them, they wouldn't just come to him.
I have always wanted to travel and see the world. I am envious of some of the kids who have been to paris and london and they are younger than me, the only place I ever go, or ever can remember going is massachusetts.

6:30
right now I am at robert's house. we have been playing with paper airplanes, trying to float them on his air hockey's cusion of air.
before it got dark, me and robert went over to my house and decided to play a little practical joke. we decided to make it look like someone had come and ransacked the house. later we went and unransacked the house because my mm and dad might bring guests over. we decided we would do it some time when we are sure they won't have anyone with them. we went in our front yard, and whenever a car came by we would pretend we were breaking in.

11:30
me and robert were playing a game of chess when my dad knocked on the door. I was winning, but not by much. we had been playing hide and seek in the backyard. I like playing in the dark because you can hide in the shadows. once I got the bright Idea of just lying in the dry bed of one of the two false rivers in his back. they are able to turn them on or off by turning on or off the pump. it was a good place to hide because it put my whole body in a shadow robert spotted me and decided on a way to get me out. he went and turned on the river from a concealed switch. I had plenty of warning but it startled me all the same.
I think I am getting a cold, not strep throat.
I am glad because strep throat gives you a sore throat.

2007-02-14T12:11:00.001-08:00

Friday, February 14, 1975 valentine's day
10:30 am
I am glad I didn't have to go to school today. I almost slept until 10:15 but I got up because I wanted to watch one of my favorite tv. shows.

2:00
I have done a substantial amount of homework since one o'clock. I have done my math, finished my spelling, and best of all I have finished one of those troublesome english storys. my dad will be very proud if I finish both my storys. I am now going to watch the flying nun now because it is one of my favorite shows.

4:30
When my sister came home she brought Debbie with her. Debbie is going to springfield estates school. she lives with her mother, her sister, and a brother whose name is stephen and used to be todd but he didn't like that name. Her mother is married, or used to be married and is divorced, I don't know which. Debbie has blond hair normal sized and has a pair of wire rimmed, granny shaped glasses she sometimes wears. her family cans a lot of food bakes their own bread, and in general lives as if they were in the country. I like their life style. their house is smaller than most and is separated from burwell street. they live on a small dirt road named georgia street that only has about four or five residents, it is a very potholy, lumpy, unpaved road it opens onto the main road, franconia. The smallwoods live on a small plot of land, which has a very big backyard, or it seems that way because of the small house. it was given to them, or that were told to live there by the mormon church who the land belongs to. the mormon church sold the land to developers to build on the smallwoods are moving away soon.

Going to dinner
tonight my sister is going to spend the night at debbie's house. and at my request we are going out to dinner.

10:30pm.
at the ponderosa steak house I had a chopped steak sandwich and a salad. as I said before my sister is spending the night at debbies house. right now my mom and dad are in a big fight. my dad doesn't know whether or not to keep his office open. whenever he is under pressure to make a descion he gets mean and irritable.

12:00
I spent some time today rearranging my prized posessions in my box. tomorrow my mom and dad are going to a big party being given by the principle of the school my mom teaches at. I am going to roberts during that time
the spatters all over this page are because my dad just came in and said very snottily, ok. bill youre going to bed" and it makes me think he is pretty stupid not to know I'm not going to bed when I finish right now my blood is boiling, I'm so mad.
he made me ruin this page and get it all spotty.

2007-02-13T19:23:00.001-08:00

Thursday, February 13, 1975
10:30
today I almost went to school but my parents changed their minds at the last minute. my sister is staying home too.

3:30
jenny has been a real pest all day.

5:00
I have been thinking of writing a book about what some reactions of people to children in public situations called the children's handbook. I would solve some problems that kids have like what to do if you wait at a counter for ten minutes while some grownups get served first. It would be fun making it. I am going to start now.
I am going to ask if we can eat out tonight. now that I am well I feel like going somewhere.
I have always been interested in tools and making things in colonial usa. I just thought I might take a course in it in college.

10:30
this evening I made a beautiful little house decorated with hearts and cutouts for mrs. smallwood because jenny is supposed to go to a big thing at the smallwoods for valentines day and she is bringing two decorations.
I am wondering if I will miss any valentine party or anything at school tomorrow because I am staying home. for some reason I can't get started on my homework storys for english. I wish he had never assigned them. I wish I had never gotten the flu.

2007-02-12T05:05:00.001-08:00

Wednesday, February 12, 1975
10:00
I got up late today and found it wet and rainy outside. oh well, I can't go outside anyway so it doesn't affect me at all.

8:30
this evening I feel very pressured to do all of my homework. I wish I didn't have to.
today our maid came. I tried not to get in her way. when she cleaned my room I went out to the kitchen.

11:30
I have to write quick because my dad is putting me to bed in a few minutes. he is convinced I can go to school tomorrow, which is a fact I am not happy about. he wrote me a note of absence excuse and added that I am not supposed to have athletics all week because the gym is cold and I still am susceptible to disease. wouldn't it be awful if I had just gotten over the flu and went out and caught it all over again? thats what might happen.
today I have been occupying my time making valentines for my classmates. I made quite a few. I started giving everybody one, but then I decided it was too much work for some of the rotten people and only did people who were anything but rotten. of course the ones with names that reminded me of something were easier to do, but on the ones with hard names that I liked I would really try. I did one for billy bavin that had a bug saying: from one pest to another good luck on valentines day, inside it read: with a face like yours you'll need it. I enclosed a candy saying: "good luck."

2007-02-11T17:22:00.001-08:00

Tuesday, February 11, 1975
8:30 p.m.
this morning I watched tv.

9:00, watching tv.
I watched tv. until twelve o'clock. then I fixed myself a bowl of tomato soup. It seems that there is a lot more soup when there is only one person to eat it.
I am getting lonely and tired of staying home from school all day with no one to keep me company. this evening when my mom came home, she asked me to make one more valentine's box for one first grade class. she told me that all the kids in her second grade class knew who was making the boxes but the other classes are talking about "the mystery box maker". it really makes me feel good to know that somebody appreciates what I do. I made this one to resemble an alphabet block and if you put the letter in the right order it spelled: "BMINE" or be (B) mine. I wrote this note to go with it: Dear Mrs. Schwartz (the teacher) and first graders: read the letters on the box and you will see, a message to you from me. signed: the mystery box maker.

11:00 p.m., before bed
I may wait until my mom comes home. I am going to ask her to ask the two teachers that I made valentine's boxes for to give me donation so I can buy a new battery for my big flashlight.

2007-02-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

Monday, February 10, 1975
9:30
last night I slept very well. I didn't wake up once all night. I

11:30
I think the new after school schedule on tv. is perfectly awful. it used to be pretty good. I think there ought to be more game shows for kids. if I got on one I'd probably clean them out. when I play along with the tv. I almost always beat them.
I think maybe the thing I got isn't the flu, just a 48 hour thing because I haven't had a fever all day. I am feeling much better than I did yesterday. I wonder if my mom will be mad when she finds out I didn't take my tylenol pills today.

8:00
when my sister gets sick she acts a lot different than I do when she gets sick. she plays the part of the poor, bored, jenny who needs coloring books, comic books, magazines, and whatever else she wants. she usually gets them too.
tonight I was very hungry. I got salad and cream of hamburger. I thought it was deliscious.
this evening on the new candid camera show they said that they accepted many Ideas for shows they do are sent in by people who watch. I think they should do a show on people who actually recognized allen funt when he was trying to film them.

9:00
this afternoon I helped my mom make a valentine box for another teacher's class. I made it like a robot all covered with aluminum foil.

2007-02-09T17:01:00.000-08:00

Sunday, February 9, 1975
2:30
today I woke up at about 7:00. I felt better this morning. my fever was down. I have realized that there isn't much tv to watch tv on sundays. I have been watching tv. most of the day. right now I am watching a show called "superstars" where champion athletes are required to enter seven events. most of them have never done them before. (ex. a golfer would enter rowing, weight lifting etc. earlier today I had to take an aspirin, which I couldn't very well. my mom got real mad at me and I wasted almost ten pills before I got one down. now that it is down I feel much better than I did an hour ago.

9:30
now I am watching mannix on tv. I have been sitting in bed all day. this afternoon I helped my mother make a valentine's box for her classroom. not much has happened today. I hope I can get well before our field trip on wednesday.

11:00
I am going to bed now. I wish there could be someone home with me tomorrow. I have to do my homework tomorrow but I don't want to. someday they ought to make a video-tape recorder. you would turn it on to "record" and aim the movie camera. then you rewind and push the "play" button and listen and watch to a small television screen on the recorder. I would have one if they were made.

2007-02-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 8, 1975
12:00
I got up at 8:00 and robert said he woke up at 7:30. I am watching star trek on tv.
when we got up we went to the kitchen and ate some of the popcorn jenny and debbie made. I got dressed. then robert got dressed. after that we went out in back and played a game or two of ping-pong.

5:00
I have been reading since robert left. about half an hour later, after robert left, he came back. we played around awhile and went to kiddie colledge. after he left I started feeling depressed. I get like that sometimes when there isn't anything to do. It may just be hunger, but I feel a little nauseus. I am miserable.
today my dad decided to close his office. I wish he could keep it open but its just too big a debt to pay. he is paying out more than he is making.

5:00 a.m.
at five o'clock I told you I was a little nauseus. well, as it turned out I didn't eat any supper. then I really got nauseus. I layed in my bed and watched tv. I vomited twice and I have a fever. I have the flu. a lot of it is going around. I have been restlessly sleeping and now I have gotten to the point where I can drink water without vomiting. I think the hardest part about vomiting is to start because instinct tells you to fight it back.

2007-02-07T07:11:00.001-08:00

Friday, February 7, 1975
Geo.
my sister isn't going to school today because the st. Agnes people are having an antique show. before I got up I was dreaming that I was making things out of snow. our teachers have lately taken to giving us homework on the weekends.

Science
today we are going to have a quiz Me and Horton

English
in science John horton passed me a paper that said: and now the national gallery of art presents: bugs. Horton had draw some bugs on it. I drew a ladybug, a slug, and ant, a bee, and a spider. today in english we were grading our papers and on one exercise everyone in out class got a perfect score.

9:30
today robert came over and we played around and lit some smoke bombs. we put one smoke bomb deep inside a hole we drilled in the snow fort.

10:00
me and robert played awhile and we got the idea that robert could spend the night. we found out we could. we planned to go out on the roof and spy on them. I just thought that we could throw some snowballs at jenny's window and watch her yell.

10:30
I have been watching tv. with robbie. this evening Timmy Wallace and Steven Smallwood came over and wanted to buy some smoke bombs. I sold him 8, Steven that is, and they went over to wallace's house to light them off. it turned out I had to buy them back from todd or steven. me and robert went with my dad to my dad's office. we found out that they were illegal so as soon as we got home we got rid of all our smoke bombs.

2007-02-06T06:57:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 6, 1975
Geo.
today we are going on a field trip. or maybe not. no one knows whether or not.
Mr. Bedell just came in and said we aren't going. I am very disappointed and frustrated.
we are going to Chapel today.

Math
I am glad I did my homework last night. some people are using the yard stick and the pointer to have a sort of swordfight up in the front of the room.
I am going to go down to wrestling either today or tomorrow.
yesterday jenny was looking at my sun calendar and said she never saw me change it. from now on I will be sure to never let her see me change it.
I have just been thinking, every second of every minute, of every hour of every day is unique, It will never happen again. I am doing rotten on my homework. I am sure I am going to fail.

Science
I have noticed the people in our class are very active in between classes. I did good on my blue book.

English
we have been reading our basketball storys, the one I didn't do. peter katson was going to do a funny act but he wasn't really ready.

Reading
when I get to reading I feel good because we are doing SRA things and so far I have a perfect score.

this afternoon after I got home from school robert was hiding in our snow fort. he invited me over to eat dinner with him. we walked through the woods as we considered the hints to his birthday. one, his mother fixed what he wanted for dinner. second, she said they wouldn't have his birthday until his older sister came home from college on the 14th. we were pretty sure. when we got there we ate right away, it was delicious. me and robert went to take out the trash and when we tried to get back in the door was locked. evedentally, since they needed time to light the candles on the cake. when we got back in we found a very good-tasting cake on the table along with his presents. one of his presents was an electronic calculator. along with it came a joke:

40,000,000 Israilis fought 31,077,00 Arabs fought for 340 barrels of oil for 5 days.

the answer is 71077345 and the way the calculator writes it 71077345 if you turn it upside down it reads: SHELL OIL, a big company.
we played a few games of air hockey we each won a game. I have a lot of homework and very little time to do it in.

12:15
I have just finished my math homework. I may go to bed now. I am very tired.

2007-02-05T06:39:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 5, 1975
12:00
this morning I woke up at nearly eleven o'clock. I had breakfast and have been reading since then. robert came over and I am glad because otherwise it would be a boring day.

4:00
well, we have spent four hours building our snow fort. I am going to take a picture of it. It isn't really a fort, it's a fortress. we have enough snowballs stored up so we could keep fighting for a few hours.
when robert came over we immediately started work. it was amazing how that snow stuck together. you could start with a small snowball and it would be three feet across after you had rolled it fifteen feet. we worked on and on and we decided to try to make some maple syrup on snow. It felt very good to be inside and warm without a heavy coat on. the sugar on snow didn't work, the snow melted when you put the syrup on it. I had a couple of spoons of peanut butter. we went back outside and worked until out toes practically fell off. I think it is very good. it is quite an accomplishment. robert has gone home. I am glad to be inside.
me and robert were going to absolutely blast jenny and Debbie when they came by. but we got very cold and had to come in.

7:15
I can't wait for tomorrow so I can tell robbie about jenny and debbie are building a snow fort right across from ours, right within throwing distance. they giggle so much they never get anything done. they never would have gotten anything done if I hadn't helped them. It will be so much fun to cream them in snowball fights. this evening I finished filling all the shelves in our fort and filled all the underground storage holes to the brim. then I came in.

8:00
my sister never does what she is told. that causes a lot of trouble. my dad says it's my fault whenever she causes trouble.

10:00
this evening my dad is in a very bad mood. he has tried to punish us twice the second time he was going to punish us I didn't do anything. you notice I always say he punishes us. he never only punishes one or the other. he always avoids the desicion. I think I had better do my homework.

12:30
this evening I did my math homework a little late. I was sitting there doing it, sort of half-listening to jenny studying. I learned a lot about turkey and how things in a small turkish village work. I remember that I learned a whole lot about balboa, and other early explorers in 4th grade from listening to the 5th graders studying them. I can't wait to go on the field trip tomorrow. It will be so much fun.
I am thinking of bringing my tape recorder. should I?
I think it may fit in one of my jacket pockets.

2007-02-04T20:54:00.001-08:00

Thursday, February 4, 1975
8:00 Before School
this morning I feel pretty good. It feels like time is waiting for me to get dressed. I have a general sense of well-being.

Geo Class
tomorrow we are going to go to the national gallery of art to see the chinese relics. I have been worried that all it will be is a bunch of artifacts in little glass cases with small white cards telling what they are. I just found out that the art will be here and in one more place in the U.S. before going back to China.

Science
I am refreshed because I just came back from recess. at lunch I developed a new theory: a small cup of soup acts like a compass. no matter which way you turn your tray, the vegetables in the soup stay the same. It seems to me that Mr. Thompson always wears the same red suitcoat. today we are talking about cell division. I am starting to get bored. Mr. Thompson is asking us to read a note out of our notebook. here is a poem on our wall:

I play it cool
and dig all jive
That's the reason
I stay alive.
My motto, as I live and learn,
is;
Did and be dug,
in return.

Reading
I am pretty sure that I will be moved to a higher color in the S.R.A. reading laborotory. so far I have gotten a perfect score on all the ones I have done.

3:00 waiting for ride
today in study hall it started snowing, hard. in fifteen minutes it covered the ground lightly. about then someone came into our room and said we could go home. I am sitting in the hall on the office bench. my dad should be here any minute. for a while there John Horton was going to go home with me and then have his mother pick him up there. one bad thing about the snow, I have one more day to wait for our field trip most of the school has cleared out now. one good thing is I have an extra day to do my homework.

10:00
when my dad got me home my mom had to go out and buy milk because we were running low. she decided not to go to the comisarry because it is too far away. I expected it to be a boring excursion when who come sup? robert! he had his mother along. me and him found out it was really pretty light outside. we started to make small snowmen. we were going to make ranks of them and pretend we were commanding an army of snowmen. we actually only made three but then we wrecked them. we went over to kiddie college and wrote our names in all the snow all over the parking lot. we went over the the playground. It was fun sliding down the slide, all the snow coming off when you go to the bottom. after robert left scott baker came and played with jenny. he had two friends with him and they were all throwing snowballs at jenny. I got a slush ball and threw it at one of them. when you get hit with slush, it hurts! not much has happened since then.

11:45
this evening I have been reading my book I got from the tab book club at school. It's called still more two minute mysteries. It is by the same person that writes the Encyclopedia Brown books. I have read all the Encyclopedia Brown books, so I know he uses a lot of the clues in both books.
this evening I found out that I don't go to school tomorrow.
I will be glad to get to bed tonight. all my joints ache when you walk in snow you always have to use more force to plow through all the snow. In general, snow is very good exercise. It is getting near midnight.
me and robert are going to make a terrarium out of my old fish bowl. It will be really neat. I may also make one out of some of our old apple cider jugs.
I will probably raise the price on my smoke bombs because I don't know whether I paid thirteen dollars or fifteen dollars for my smoke bombs. Debbie smallwood says that kids in public school would pay 25¢ for one so I will try to sell some to her. I am pretty sure I can convince her to buy from me.

2007-02-02T23:50:00.001-08:00

Monday, February 3, 1975
Geo. Class
this morning I had a pretty tough time getting out of bed because I stayed up until one o'clock reading my book. we are starting to study china in geo. I wish we would have a few days when we don't do anything. I am one of the few people that have completely finished their geo. workbook.
right now I am working on some notes we're supposed to take. I am ahead of many people.

Math Class
today my dad had a conference with my math teacher. I hate it when, after a conference, the teacher pays special attention to you, It's embarrassing. I wonder if the conference had any effect on him.
today is the day when I change sports, from wrestling to basketball. I hope basketball is more fun than wrestling because wrestling is boring. last year it used to be a lot of fun wrestling. mr. Bedell is wrecking it.
I feel guilty about my grade. I am going to make a real attempt to improve it. right now I'm lost. we are doing one of the things I don't understand. I wish that if you miss one thing you are behind all the time. like right now, the thing we did that I didn't understand about a month ago. mr. lichfuss won't explain it.

Science
at recess we played some cops and robbers. basketball is very crowded because wrestling is no fun. we are going to have eight teams instead of the usual six. I am in the eighth group so our group is split up around with others. paul Borthwick looks very funny where he is sitting, at the front of the room in a folding chair with a small table in front of him. today mr. Thompson has to go to a meeting so we are working in our blue workbook.

English Class
today we got our book order. or we will get it in reading class.
I guess I am going to get an "F" on the writing assignment we are supposed to do tonight because it is about basketball and I don't even know how to play. I just can't do it. I am going to tell mr. stone that tomorrow when I am supposed to have it graded.
I had a very good lunch today, soup, peanut butter sandwich, lipton iced tea, milk, fritos corn chips, and chocolate pudding. I am going to transfer back to wrestling.

6:00
I feel like going out to dinner tonight. we are having fish sticks for dinner. I feel strangely cold this evening. all the tv. channels are going crazy. there isn't anything on tv. after school, absolutely nothing any good.

8:45
this evening I have been playing with my coins. I put them all in my bag and felt how heavy it was. this evening I am depressed. I don't have anything to do. I feel frustrated. I am helpless against boredom. I do have my field trip to look forward to.

10:30
I am making my calendar I got in the Dynamite magazine. It is very pretty. I also got a 3-D poster with some glasses to go with it.

11:00
I have just finished my calendar. It is very cute and my mom wanted to take it to her second graders at the school she works at. It turned out to be a picture of the sun with two eyes and the mouth cut out. one eye shows the month, the other eye shows the day of the week, and the mouth shows the day of the month. I am going to hang it somewhere in my room. my 3-D poster is really neat it uses the same principle as some of the movies when 3-D glasses were a big fad.
I have just stuck my calendar to my door, which is almost always open. I like the location very much.

11:30
I am about to go to bed. I think school is entirely too early in the morning. now I'm sure no one would mind if you went to school at ten o'clock and came home at four. I would get a lot more sleep. I am pretty hungry.
this afternoon robert came over and we played some ping-pong. we tied, each of us had won two games. we threw rocks at the thin layers of ice on the fish pond.
this evening I took the plastic covers off three of my flash cubes. I found out they work just as well without them and the covers can be used as handy little boxes to put hundreds of small things in.

2007-02-02T10:17:00.001-08:00

Sunday, February 2, 1975
4:30
this morning when I got up I looked out my window and saw snow all over everything. unfortunately only a few inches deep. my breakfast was two pieces of peanut butter toast. after that me and jenny went out into the woods and I took six pictures. my sister is scared to death of yoyo, the dog that lives near there. I told her that he wouldn't be out on a day like this, but it turned out he was out. I think jenny is slowly overcoming her fear.
I called robbie and we went to the roller skating rink at one o'clock. we had fun and at about three o'clock, the session ends at four, we went outside and walked to the mcdonalds's right down the street. we came back as the session was coming to a close and met my sister. while we were at mc Donald's we had a big mack and a small coke each. I feel very independent when I go somewhere without my parents.

5:30
I have mostly been doing homework since we came home from the roller skating rink. my mom is watching the wide world of sports. I watched the arm wrestling championship matches. I am looking forward to the six million dollar man this evening.
today is the kind of day that makes your house seem very cozy. cold and wintry outside, nice and warm inside, you have had some fun. that's how I feel right now.

6:15
my sister is really acting strangely this evening. while I am doing my homework jenny has been continually trying to stick little pieces of tape saying kick me! I have put two examples on the preceeding page. I think this is our week for breaking dishes and glasses. first, I broke one when I used it to plug up the sink's drain, too much pressure I guess. then the next day my sister dropped one and later that evening my dad dropped one too. just this evening my dad dropped a dinner plate. we are having a delicious dinner-pot roast.

7:00
while I ate my very delicious dinner, we were watching a golf tournament on tv. it has been pouring at the place where the tournament is and they are using squeegees on the very wet greens. they are literally pushing the water off the greens. the golf tournament is in honolulu and my mom said she would love to go there before she got too old to swim. we got into a discussion of how much fun the beach is.

8:30
the six million dollar man was good tonight.
I wish I didn't have to go to school tomorrow. I do have my field trip on wednesday, but I'm worried about monday and tuesday.
my dad is going to have a conference with mr. lichfuss; my math teacher, about my bad grade. even though my sister is eleven years old, she still carries around a security blanket. she is very childish. she is selfish also.

10:30
I just finished watching mannix, a detective show, on tv. I wonder why the crime is always murder on detective shows.

2007-02-01T05:24:00.001-08:00

Saturday, February 1, 1975
10:00 am.
I am about to watch star trek on tv. I was prepared for it this time. oh, well, almost prepared, because it's on at eleven o'clock. oops! another mistake. right now I am watching scooby doo until star trek comes on. this morning I have been playing with my tape recorder. last night when me and my mom were at drug fair we found out that you couldn't find any ring notebook around the store because the ring notebook people stopped producing.

11:00
well finally I am watching star trek. I haven't had any breakfast yet. I don't know exactly what to eat. I may have one of my creations made of fried eggs, bacon etc. . . on toast.

1:15
robert just came over

2:00
robert came over about 1:15 he said he had something to show me. he said that it was broken into pieces, when he came over we played twenty questions about it. It turned out to be some iron pyrite that he had dropped by accident. the amazing thing about it is that when he dropped it it just disintegrated. he was very nice and he was giving the bottle of pyrite to me. I used to have a beautiful thing of pyrite crystals that I got in either second or third grade from paul martin for a little plastic monster on a bouncy string. me and robert played a game of ping-pong and he beat me by three points. we are now going outside to get away from my stupid sister that is reading at the top of her voice.

4:30
robert just got a telephone call from his mother to leave for home. we had been swordfighting out in the backyard when the call came. we both had sticks and were picking up a whiz-ring on them and would swordfight to got it off each other's sticks. I am looking forward to watching the tv. shows that are on tonight. before me and robert were swordfighting we were in the family room eating the unpopped popcorn that wasn't hard. we played played around and spilled all the kernels on the floor. we were throwing them at ach other in an out and out friendly war. we finally finished and pushed all the kernels under the couch.
I still have a lot to do on my geo. workbook. I only have this evening and tomorrow to do it. I don't think I describe things too well in this journal, mainly, since it is a ring notebook I can't take it with me as many places because I have to have something to write on. with my old journal book I had a hard cardboard cover to write on.
soon robert is going to have his confirmation, and when he has the party he will be sure to invite me. I may sound greedy but I'm not. it's just that I'm excited.
It has been snowing a little all day. I wish it would stick.
while robert was here we were outside and decided to try some of the ice that has formed on the tree branches. It was very good we ate some off every tree in out yard. when we got back in we told everybody we had been eating the bark because if you were looking out the window at us they might have thought that. while I was down there eating with robbie I felt like a contented beaver nibbling bark of a tasty tree.

8:00
this evening my mom and dad went over to howard johnson's to talk to bill crocket who works there. while they were gone they left me and jenny home alone. jenny was playing with me, trying to knock me off the couch. right now my mom and dad are at a bible meeting down the street.

1:00 am.
this evening we have been watching tv. after the Carol Burnett show I came into the living room and read some of my book. me and jenny had a space war on paper. she quit, accusing me of cheating, but she is only a sore loser.

2007-01-31T03:47:00.001-08:00

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.

2007-01-30T09:33:00.001-08:00

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.

2007-01-29T05:32:00.001-08:00

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.

2007-01-28T06:15:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-01-27T18:57:00.000-08:00

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.