An Exercise in Memory: Twenty Years Ago
Feb. 18th, 2002 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperPaul says that there is a fad amongst Livejournal users to do posts about what they were doing X numbers of years ago, for various values of X. Generally it seems to go, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20. So I got to thinking about me 20 years ago and where I was and such, and then realized I do actually still retain a couple of diaries from that period of my life. Is it cheating to go back and consult them, when you're trying to remember stuff from that long ago? ;)
Paul taught me how to do the trick of shortening a long entry so I don't spam the hell out of my friends' Friends pages. Ergo, for anybody who wants to actually read the details of my life in 1982, I will now issue the obligatory Verbosity Warning!
Apparently, though I did at least make regular entries in my 1982 diary, my writing energy was not going there; a lot of the entries are one-word summaries like "Fine" and "Ditto". Sometimes, apparently, my days were "Depressing" or "Terrible". I also noted that several pages were ripped out -- I don't honestly remember why at this point, but considering how my home life went back then I could make some guesses about the natures of the missing days.
But just to summarize, in general, 1982...
We're still living on West Indian Trail. I want to say our house number is 902, though to be honest I'm not entirely sure anymore. But I still have a very clear visual memory of the place, the block of houses that Dad helped build running right up to a guard rail and the huge drainage ditch just beyond. I'm 13 years old as of January, Marc is 10 as of July, Becky is 2 as of September, Donnie is 16 as of October, Sarah is 4 as of December. Mom is married to Burkie, and Donnie's long-gone, living with Dad. Mom is 35 as of September, according to my diary.
I'm no longer remembering at this point where exactly in Louisville Dad was living at this point, though I still retain a visual memory of what I think is his house at the time; it's definitely the one where he had a lot of his stereo components in the den, one room off the main living room. I remember being in the den with Dad, listening to Elvis with him on the headphones plugged into his dual jack. I also recorded in my diary at least one visit to Dad's place, though I didn't go into much detail on it.
Home life... questionable. We get the police called on us at one point early in the year when Becky is seen out in the street by neighbors, and a social worker comes to talk to us. Mom has health problems -- her seizures. She goes into the hospital once later in the year as well.
I'm wearing glasses, and get hit in the face with a basketball at Bible School in June and my glasses are broken. Later on that year I get a new pair and am excited that they have blue-tinted lenses. (I also have memories of glasses with little initials on the side, though I don't recall whether the blue-tinted ones did.)
I'm attending Noe Middle School, which is the magnet middle school downtown, and which I have wound up attending instead of Bruce Middle School which is much closer to home because I am a Smart Kid. (I have a memory from Indian Trail Elementary about our principal, a black guy named Mr. Johnson, trying to encourage me to get into a magnet school earlier, but I'm not going for it apparently because I'm scared to go farther away from home for school, but I finally decide to do it when I get into middle school). Noe is odd, with the student body divided up into "teams" that are mostly based on grade -- 6-1, 7-1, 8-1, though my diary almost mentions an "MAP" team and I recall now that there were others, maybe seven total, but I no longer remember the basis behind the other teams.
I am in 7th grade for the first part of 1982, and 8th grade for the latter. Band is pretty much a driving force of my young life, and I'm getting private lessons from Mr. Patton, Noe's band teacher. One of my entries mentions he's told me I need the lessons in order to keep ahead of Shelley Meshew, who is my biggest challenge in the flute section. A lot of my diary entries talk about this, that, and the other song that we played: "Symphony No. 40", "Denbridge Way", "The Horse", "Elvira", "Boogie on By", "Celebration!", others.
On Friday, September 17th, I do in fact lose my first chair seat to Shelley. I do not record in my diary that this has me in tears, nor that Mr. Patton tries very hard to help me cheer up. I recall him trying to convince me as well that it was all for the best that Shelley had the seat on the end of the row since he needed her to play the oboe, but at least according to my diary, she didn't get the oboe until weeks after she took my seat.
One other member of the flute section, Lisa Elliot, pisses me off by maintaining her belief that I will not in fact take the chair back from Shelley. I don't. (Looking back on it now I think she was actually a better player than I was; I do wonder if she's still playing, these days.)
I have my piccolo by 1982, though it is temperamental and I have to give it to Mr. Patton on two different occasions so that he can fix it for me. I am stunned at how well a piccolo stands out as we play things like "The Horse".
My friends at the time: Jerra Seay (with whom I still occasionally correspond; in fact, she's the only friend from that time of my life that I've maintained anything resembling contact with).
Patty Heatherington, nicknamed "Fleabottom", damned if I can remember why at this point, but I suspect we thought it was hilariously funny. I am hanging out a lot with her in 1982, and often looking forward to going to her place (and failing to do so for one reason or another). Late in 1982 we have a bit of a falling out as I try to call over to her home repeatedly and am told she doesn't live there, though she finally calls me back again very late in the year.
Kenny and Troy, who I know from Band and who I recall hanging out with a lot because they are into comic books and roleplaying games, and they are my first exposure to such things; Kenny is a big heavyset boy with a crewcut, and Troy is a smaller guy with sort of mousy brown hair. I also remember a black boy named Romell, though I'm fairly sure he's more from 8th grade than 7th. All three of these boys play the trumpet, I think. I think now, but am not 100% sure, that Kenny and Troy were 2nd trumpet.
Chris Gatledge is a blond boy with glasses and a pretty funny sense of humor, and I come close to having a crush on him; I have this memory of him chasing me around the Belle of Louisville on a school field trip, though this must have been in 1983, the latter part of my eighth grade year. He's also a trumpet player -- first trumpet? It's not mentioned in my 1982 diary.
Anna, whose last name I no longer recall (and it's weird to me to see her mentioned in my diary when I use that name now; it took me a minute to remember her). She's a clarinet player and has lanky blonde hair and glasses -- a lot like me, actually. She lives within walking distance of our bus stop, though in the opposite direction from my house.
I am more than once getting hassled by the boys who catch the bus at that bus stop as well, which is a considerable walk from my house: five blocks up West Indian Trail till you hit Marigold, then turn and go three more blocks till you cross the drainage ditch (this is another one, that goes down and intersects with the one that goes by our house). The bus stop is on the other side. I'm a handy target probably because I'm the only girl a lot of the time at the bus stop, and plus I'm poor, plain, and smart, which is a lethal combination to a lot of kids. The only bus stop boy I'm on remotely decent terms with is Kevin Hill, who's older than me and who I also have a crush on; he's a sax player, and he has a brother named Keith. I often take the Marigold route home from the bus stop, since it goes past the street that Kevin lives on, and even if he's coming home the same way for a few blocks he's least likely to hassle me amongst all the boys that get off at our stop. I have a memory of him and a friend of his, whose name I no longer recall, walking along several yards behind me as I'm going home; they call out to me, and when I turn around they point at each other and chorus, "HE LIKES YOU!" (I don't remember if this is a 1982 memory, or later, but it's there.)
Late 1982, in eighth grade, is when one kid on my bus who gets even more picked on than I do latches onto me. Her name is Joyce, and she has red hair, thick glasses, and snaggly teeth. I am mortified that she's latched onto me, but I have no memory of ever telling her to leave me alone; looking back on it, I think I kind of feel sorry for her.
Teachers that are mentioned in my 1982 diary... Mr. Patton, of course. Ms. Hutchinson, my science teacher, who sticks out in my memory (and who is also mentioned in my diary) for dying her hair green on St. Patrick's Day. Mr. Strong, in 8th grade, nicknamed "The Pusher" and "King Bobby", on whom I think I have a crush, and of whom Chris Gatledge does an amusing impersonation. Ms. Hayden, who I apparently let read several of the things I was trying to write at the time. A teacher referred to only as "the whale", whose name I no longer remember, but whose class I apparently hated; the one time I mention her in the diary, she's given the class assigned seats and a lecture. I also have a teacher named Ms. Estep, our math teacher, who squicks a lot of her students because she never bothers to use overhead sheets on her overhead projector. She writes on it directly instead, and spits on her fingers and erases things that way. Accordingly, she goes around a lot with green fingers. In 8th grade, I have a teacher named Ms. Bell, though I mention her only once in my diary.
On the other hand, I also have good memories of math from middle school. I'm digging the whole concept of Z-charts, which are math charts we're making for various bases, and using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I'm getting into it as much because we're using colored symbols to represent all the values on the chart, and when we fill them all in and color them, it makes pretty keen mosaic patterns. So it's part math and part art. According to my diary, I also walked off with a trophy for Most Outstanding Math Student at the tail end of 7th grade, so I am apparently having a very good time in math indeed.
I'm going on a lot of field trips. 1982 is the year I go on the scuba diving field trip, which I still remember to this day, just because it's the only time I've ever put on scuba gear. We are diving only in a swimming pool as opposed to something really interesting like the ocean, but it is quite fun all the same. We also go to Fort Knox, of which I apparently do not approve.
Noe is also keeping a fairly regular tradition of trying to do fun things for its student body. They show Star Wars on closed-circuit TV one day, and I am ecstatic, and write in my diary about how I'd forgotten how cute Luke and Han were.
I'm watching a lot of TV. "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and "Battlestar Galactica" are my most-watched shows, with their episode titles and often summaries of what was in the episodes as well dutifully recorded in my diary; I'm crazy about David Hedison, the guy who plays Captain Crane on VBS, and Richard Hatch, the guy who plays Apollo on BG (and I am quite girlishly amused when I find out that "apollo" is a word for "a young man of great physical beauty"). I also catch the short-lived run of "The Phoenix", starring Judson Scott, and seriously dig that show as well and am quite disappointed when it is cancelled. Early in the year, I'm apparently at least occasionally watching "Dallas" -- though this is, as I recall now, apparently after my phase of having a crush on Patrick Duffy, who played Bobby Ewing on that show -- and very late in the year I see "The Powers of Matthew Star" at least once at Dad's. I'm also watching "Battle of the Planets", though this is only mentioned once in the diary, and I am deliriously happy every time an Elvis movie comes on on TV. And apparently I'm contending with Marc a lot for TV-watching rights.
I get into a debate at one point with Patty, on the virtues of Judson Scott vs. the virtues of Tom Selleck, and am defending Mr. Scott's honor.
I am also enamored enough of Tom Wopat of The Dukes of Hazzard that I send him a fan letter and get an autographed picture back in response.
I'm buying every Elvis record I can get my hands on, and whenever I go somewhere that sells records, I immediately inspect their stock for number of Elvis records. In January of 1982 I am still excited over having just recently acquired the soundtrack to Kissin' Cousins (and am driving Mom buggy with how often I'm playing it), and as the year progresses I also pick up the soundtracks for Blue Hawaii and G.I. Blues, as well as Elvis' Golden Records. I babysit a lot, most notably for two kids named Tanya and Jeff down the street, and save up money to buy records and candy from Easy Shop. 1982 is also the first time I see the Elvis songbook with 100 songs in it, though my diary does not record whether I actually got a hold of that book in this year or not. Grandma Evelyn, Burkie's mom, does however loan me a piece of sheet music she happens to have of an Elvis ditty, on Thanksgiving, and I am ecstatic.
I start an Elvis scrapbook, and collect pictures of him.
I read The Song of Roland in 8th grade. But I apparently also buy two Harlequin Romance novels, one of which is called Shadow of the Eagle and which gets wet on the bus when I'm hit with a squirt gun.
I see a Zorro movie this year and get interested in the original Zorro novel, The Curse of Capistrano, though my diary does not record whether I actually read it. I also discover the legend of Tristan and Iseult and find it incredibly romantic; the name Tristan later shows up in my writing, with a young hero named Tris.
And speaking of writing, I'm writing. A lot. My diary has mentions of several things I only name by abbreviation, though, so I have only the vaguest memories of what I was writing that year. A lot of the time, though, it's things inspired by various famous people I have crushes on (see above)
I try to start a story inspired by "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" -- and try to put a female officer onto the sub, who is of course intended to be a love interest for Captain Crane.
Something called "Blue Sky Over Adalonia" and something called "Star of Adalonia" which are apparently forerunners to the "Starblade" trilogy I do in high school; if memory serves me correctly, one or the other of these involves a winged guy named Dalin, who is passingly mentioned in my diary.
Something called "Aloha Whoa!" (which has pretty much got to be a takeoff on Blue Hawaii though I have absolutely no idea what was in it, at this point).
Something called "Over the Waves", which I cancel work on.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark 2", in early 8th grade. Starring Indiana Jones, Jr., son of Indy and Marion Ravenwood. I'm casting him as Elvis in my head. As 8th grade progresses I wind up with an Indy Jr. trilogy.
Something called "Pyramid!" (Which I no longer remember. It could be an Indy Jr. thing, and I seem to recall that might have been the 2nd Indy Jr. story, but if it was, I got my data in my diary mixed up.)
Something called "Misty Memory", which I cancel work on.
Something called "A Boy to Remember". (Your guess is as good as mine, as to topic!)
"The Ghost of Elvis Presley". (If this is what I think it is, what I had gotten to thinking was just a dream I'd had at one point must in fact have been something I tried to write -- involving a trip to Graceland, straying into a private part of the house, and bumping into Elvis' ghost. If I did in fact write this and not dream it, I don't think I ever finished it.)
"Starship 2500" -- a "Battlestar Galactica" takeoff? (I do seem to remember something about writing about Apollo- and Starbuck-clone fighter pilots.) Or at least, I consider totally re-writing it due to Richard-Hatch-based inspiration.
Things I refer to in my diary only as "DG", "AOTA", and "ABW".
Something whose title is abbreviated as "TGOEP", which has a hero named Alan and a heroine named Adrienne.
I have a hero named Arik in something or other I'm writing, and at one point I try to draw him.
I get a story in mind about a girl named Taiyana Lin, but don't get around to writing it.
Something called "VBDD". (Was this my "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" takeoff? It's mentioned in conjunction with a "Voyage" viewing, in my diary.)
Something involving a hero named "Toby Taylor". (I think. I mention this name in one diary entry as an example of the kind of "someone special" I'd like to have around, and I know I never knew a boy named Toby, plus, Toby is also the name of Elvis' character in Follow that Dream.)
Next up... 18 years ago, and 1985.
Paul taught me how to do the trick of shortening a long entry so I don't spam the hell out of my friends' Friends pages. Ergo, for anybody who wants to actually read the details of my life in 1982, I will now issue the obligatory Verbosity Warning!
Apparently, though I did at least make regular entries in my 1982 diary, my writing energy was not going there; a lot of the entries are one-word summaries like "Fine" and "Ditto". Sometimes, apparently, my days were "Depressing" or "Terrible". I also noted that several pages were ripped out -- I don't honestly remember why at this point, but considering how my home life went back then I could make some guesses about the natures of the missing days.
But just to summarize, in general, 1982...
We're still living on West Indian Trail. I want to say our house number is 902, though to be honest I'm not entirely sure anymore. But I still have a very clear visual memory of the place, the block of houses that Dad helped build running right up to a guard rail and the huge drainage ditch just beyond. I'm 13 years old as of January, Marc is 10 as of July, Becky is 2 as of September, Donnie is 16 as of October, Sarah is 4 as of December. Mom is married to Burkie, and Donnie's long-gone, living with Dad. Mom is 35 as of September, according to my diary.
I'm no longer remembering at this point where exactly in Louisville Dad was living at this point, though I still retain a visual memory of what I think is his house at the time; it's definitely the one where he had a lot of his stereo components in the den, one room off the main living room. I remember being in the den with Dad, listening to Elvis with him on the headphones plugged into his dual jack. I also recorded in my diary at least one visit to Dad's place, though I didn't go into much detail on it.
Home life... questionable. We get the police called on us at one point early in the year when Becky is seen out in the street by neighbors, and a social worker comes to talk to us. Mom has health problems -- her seizures. She goes into the hospital once later in the year as well.
I'm wearing glasses, and get hit in the face with a basketball at Bible School in June and my glasses are broken. Later on that year I get a new pair and am excited that they have blue-tinted lenses. (I also have memories of glasses with little initials on the side, though I don't recall whether the blue-tinted ones did.)
I'm attending Noe Middle School, which is the magnet middle school downtown, and which I have wound up attending instead of Bruce Middle School which is much closer to home because I am a Smart Kid. (I have a memory from Indian Trail Elementary about our principal, a black guy named Mr. Johnson, trying to encourage me to get into a magnet school earlier, but I'm not going for it apparently because I'm scared to go farther away from home for school, but I finally decide to do it when I get into middle school). Noe is odd, with the student body divided up into "teams" that are mostly based on grade -- 6-1, 7-1, 8-1, though my diary almost mentions an "MAP" team and I recall now that there were others, maybe seven total, but I no longer remember the basis behind the other teams.
I am in 7th grade for the first part of 1982, and 8th grade for the latter. Band is pretty much a driving force of my young life, and I'm getting private lessons from Mr. Patton, Noe's band teacher. One of my entries mentions he's told me I need the lessons in order to keep ahead of Shelley Meshew, who is my biggest challenge in the flute section. A lot of my diary entries talk about this, that, and the other song that we played: "Symphony No. 40", "Denbridge Way", "The Horse", "Elvira", "Boogie on By", "Celebration!", others.
On Friday, September 17th, I do in fact lose my first chair seat to Shelley. I do not record in my diary that this has me in tears, nor that Mr. Patton tries very hard to help me cheer up. I recall him trying to convince me as well that it was all for the best that Shelley had the seat on the end of the row since he needed her to play the oboe, but at least according to my diary, she didn't get the oboe until weeks after she took my seat.
One other member of the flute section, Lisa Elliot, pisses me off by maintaining her belief that I will not in fact take the chair back from Shelley. I don't. (Looking back on it now I think she was actually a better player than I was; I do wonder if she's still playing, these days.)
I have my piccolo by 1982, though it is temperamental and I have to give it to Mr. Patton on two different occasions so that he can fix it for me. I am stunned at how well a piccolo stands out as we play things like "The Horse".
My friends at the time: Jerra Seay (with whom I still occasionally correspond; in fact, she's the only friend from that time of my life that I've maintained anything resembling contact with).
Patty Heatherington, nicknamed "Fleabottom", damned if I can remember why at this point, but I suspect we thought it was hilariously funny. I am hanging out a lot with her in 1982, and often looking forward to going to her place (and failing to do so for one reason or another). Late in 1982 we have a bit of a falling out as I try to call over to her home repeatedly and am told she doesn't live there, though she finally calls me back again very late in the year.
Kenny and Troy, who I know from Band and who I recall hanging out with a lot because they are into comic books and roleplaying games, and they are my first exposure to such things; Kenny is a big heavyset boy with a crewcut, and Troy is a smaller guy with sort of mousy brown hair. I also remember a black boy named Romell, though I'm fairly sure he's more from 8th grade than 7th. All three of these boys play the trumpet, I think. I think now, but am not 100% sure, that Kenny and Troy were 2nd trumpet.
Chris Gatledge is a blond boy with glasses and a pretty funny sense of humor, and I come close to having a crush on him; I have this memory of him chasing me around the Belle of Louisville on a school field trip, though this must have been in 1983, the latter part of my eighth grade year. He's also a trumpet player -- first trumpet? It's not mentioned in my 1982 diary.
Anna, whose last name I no longer recall (and it's weird to me to see her mentioned in my diary when I use that name now; it took me a minute to remember her). She's a clarinet player and has lanky blonde hair and glasses -- a lot like me, actually. She lives within walking distance of our bus stop, though in the opposite direction from my house.
I am more than once getting hassled by the boys who catch the bus at that bus stop as well, which is a considerable walk from my house: five blocks up West Indian Trail till you hit Marigold, then turn and go three more blocks till you cross the drainage ditch (this is another one, that goes down and intersects with the one that goes by our house). The bus stop is on the other side. I'm a handy target probably because I'm the only girl a lot of the time at the bus stop, and plus I'm poor, plain, and smart, which is a lethal combination to a lot of kids. The only bus stop boy I'm on remotely decent terms with is Kevin Hill, who's older than me and who I also have a crush on; he's a sax player, and he has a brother named Keith. I often take the Marigold route home from the bus stop, since it goes past the street that Kevin lives on, and even if he's coming home the same way for a few blocks he's least likely to hassle me amongst all the boys that get off at our stop. I have a memory of him and a friend of his, whose name I no longer recall, walking along several yards behind me as I'm going home; they call out to me, and when I turn around they point at each other and chorus, "HE LIKES YOU!" (I don't remember if this is a 1982 memory, or later, but it's there.)
Late 1982, in eighth grade, is when one kid on my bus who gets even more picked on than I do latches onto me. Her name is Joyce, and she has red hair, thick glasses, and snaggly teeth. I am mortified that she's latched onto me, but I have no memory of ever telling her to leave me alone; looking back on it, I think I kind of feel sorry for her.
Teachers that are mentioned in my 1982 diary... Mr. Patton, of course. Ms. Hutchinson, my science teacher, who sticks out in my memory (and who is also mentioned in my diary) for dying her hair green on St. Patrick's Day. Mr. Strong, in 8th grade, nicknamed "The Pusher" and "King Bobby", on whom I think I have a crush, and of whom Chris Gatledge does an amusing impersonation. Ms. Hayden, who I apparently let read several of the things I was trying to write at the time. A teacher referred to only as "the whale", whose name I no longer remember, but whose class I apparently hated; the one time I mention her in the diary, she's given the class assigned seats and a lecture. I also have a teacher named Ms. Estep, our math teacher, who squicks a lot of her students because she never bothers to use overhead sheets on her overhead projector. She writes on it directly instead, and spits on her fingers and erases things that way. Accordingly, she goes around a lot with green fingers. In 8th grade, I have a teacher named Ms. Bell, though I mention her only once in my diary.
On the other hand, I also have good memories of math from middle school. I'm digging the whole concept of Z-charts, which are math charts we're making for various bases, and using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I'm getting into it as much because we're using colored symbols to represent all the values on the chart, and when we fill them all in and color them, it makes pretty keen mosaic patterns. So it's part math and part art. According to my diary, I also walked off with a trophy for Most Outstanding Math Student at the tail end of 7th grade, so I am apparently having a very good time in math indeed.
I'm going on a lot of field trips. 1982 is the year I go on the scuba diving field trip, which I still remember to this day, just because it's the only time I've ever put on scuba gear. We are diving only in a swimming pool as opposed to something really interesting like the ocean, but it is quite fun all the same. We also go to Fort Knox, of which I apparently do not approve.
Noe is also keeping a fairly regular tradition of trying to do fun things for its student body. They show Star Wars on closed-circuit TV one day, and I am ecstatic, and write in my diary about how I'd forgotten how cute Luke and Han were.
I'm watching a lot of TV. "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and "Battlestar Galactica" are my most-watched shows, with their episode titles and often summaries of what was in the episodes as well dutifully recorded in my diary; I'm crazy about David Hedison, the guy who plays Captain Crane on VBS, and Richard Hatch, the guy who plays Apollo on BG (and I am quite girlishly amused when I find out that "apollo" is a word for "a young man of great physical beauty"). I also catch the short-lived run of "The Phoenix", starring Judson Scott, and seriously dig that show as well and am quite disappointed when it is cancelled. Early in the year, I'm apparently at least occasionally watching "Dallas" -- though this is, as I recall now, apparently after my phase of having a crush on Patrick Duffy, who played Bobby Ewing on that show -- and very late in the year I see "The Powers of Matthew Star" at least once at Dad's. I'm also watching "Battle of the Planets", though this is only mentioned once in the diary, and I am deliriously happy every time an Elvis movie comes on on TV. And apparently I'm contending with Marc a lot for TV-watching rights.
I get into a debate at one point with Patty, on the virtues of Judson Scott vs. the virtues of Tom Selleck, and am defending Mr. Scott's honor.
I am also enamored enough of Tom Wopat of The Dukes of Hazzard that I send him a fan letter and get an autographed picture back in response.
I'm buying every Elvis record I can get my hands on, and whenever I go somewhere that sells records, I immediately inspect their stock for number of Elvis records. In January of 1982 I am still excited over having just recently acquired the soundtrack to Kissin' Cousins (and am driving Mom buggy with how often I'm playing it), and as the year progresses I also pick up the soundtracks for Blue Hawaii and G.I. Blues, as well as Elvis' Golden Records. I babysit a lot, most notably for two kids named Tanya and Jeff down the street, and save up money to buy records and candy from Easy Shop. 1982 is also the first time I see the Elvis songbook with 100 songs in it, though my diary does not record whether I actually got a hold of that book in this year or not. Grandma Evelyn, Burkie's mom, does however loan me a piece of sheet music she happens to have of an Elvis ditty, on Thanksgiving, and I am ecstatic.
I start an Elvis scrapbook, and collect pictures of him.
I read The Song of Roland in 8th grade. But I apparently also buy two Harlequin Romance novels, one of which is called Shadow of the Eagle and which gets wet on the bus when I'm hit with a squirt gun.
I see a Zorro movie this year and get interested in the original Zorro novel, The Curse of Capistrano, though my diary does not record whether I actually read it. I also discover the legend of Tristan and Iseult and find it incredibly romantic; the name Tristan later shows up in my writing, with a young hero named Tris.
And speaking of writing, I'm writing. A lot. My diary has mentions of several things I only name by abbreviation, though, so I have only the vaguest memories of what I was writing that year. A lot of the time, though, it's things inspired by various famous people I have crushes on (see above)
I try to start a story inspired by "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" -- and try to put a female officer onto the sub, who is of course intended to be a love interest for Captain Crane.
Something called "Blue Sky Over Adalonia" and something called "Star of Adalonia" which are apparently forerunners to the "Starblade" trilogy I do in high school; if memory serves me correctly, one or the other of these involves a winged guy named Dalin, who is passingly mentioned in my diary.
Something called "Aloha Whoa!" (which has pretty much got to be a takeoff on Blue Hawaii though I have absolutely no idea what was in it, at this point).
Something called "Over the Waves", which I cancel work on.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark 2", in early 8th grade. Starring Indiana Jones, Jr., son of Indy and Marion Ravenwood. I'm casting him as Elvis in my head. As 8th grade progresses I wind up with an Indy Jr. trilogy.
Something called "Pyramid!" (Which I no longer remember. It could be an Indy Jr. thing, and I seem to recall that might have been the 2nd Indy Jr. story, but if it was, I got my data in my diary mixed up.)
Something called "Misty Memory", which I cancel work on.
Something called "A Boy to Remember". (Your guess is as good as mine, as to topic!)
"The Ghost of Elvis Presley". (If this is what I think it is, what I had gotten to thinking was just a dream I'd had at one point must in fact have been something I tried to write -- involving a trip to Graceland, straying into a private part of the house, and bumping into Elvis' ghost. If I did in fact write this and not dream it, I don't think I ever finished it.)
"Starship 2500" -- a "Battlestar Galactica" takeoff? (I do seem to remember something about writing about Apollo- and Starbuck-clone fighter pilots.) Or at least, I consider totally re-writing it due to Richard-Hatch-based inspiration.
Things I refer to in my diary only as "DG", "AOTA", and "ABW".
Something whose title is abbreviated as "TGOEP", which has a hero named Alan and a heroine named Adrienne.
I have a hero named Arik in something or other I'm writing, and at one point I try to draw him.
I get a story in mind about a girl named Taiyana Lin, but don't get around to writing it.
Something called "VBDD". (Was this my "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" takeoff? It's mentioned in conjunction with a "Voyage" viewing, in my diary.)
Something involving a hero named "Toby Taylor". (I think. I mention this name in one diary entry as an example of the kind of "someone special" I'd like to have around, and I know I never knew a boy named Toby, plus, Toby is also the name of Elvis' character in Follow that Dream.)
Next up... 18 years ago, and 1985.
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Date: 2015-10-24 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-24 06:27 pm (UTC)