Why Do I Speak in 1950s Cliches?

November 7, 1995

Bethy,

I had another gold star day! Actually, not totally but more one thing in particular:

STORY TIME

Over the weekend Diana and I devised a plan. I gave Diana a picture of me. She would give it to Patrick, saying that I gave it to her and that she was being nice by letting him keep it.

She did this today and when he said it he was like, "Cool." And then she said, "You owe me," and he said "Yep."

And she said "You should give me lots of thanx." And he said "Yep." And she said "You need to give her your picture." And he said "Yeah-- wait no!" THEN (this is the awesome part) He walked to his locker and said "Darn, I forgot my wallet"-- meaning he would put my picture IN HIS WALLET! Is that not the TOPS in terms of sweetness? I am SO incredibly in love with that boy. He is Mr. Awesome. The right guy for me. All the way.

Only bad thing: tomorrow I have voice lessons with GROSS GIRL. I hate her so much!!! She is so bitchy!!! Why is she an asshole? She treats me like I'm two years old for starters. Plus she is ugly and sucky. I really dislike her (uh, duh). SO annoying.

Peace and Love,

Corey

PS: Patrick and I will have been going out for eight months as of Monday!

So this may explain my vocabulary choices: During this period of time I watched a LOT of Brady Bunch. Sooo I guess that had some kind of influence on my speech patterns. Which... may also explain why I sort of never progressed beyond "She's OK" on the popularity totem pole. Also: spoiler alert-- Patrick and I break up within a month of this entry so... this genius plan with Diana was perhaps not as WILDLY SUCCESSFUL as I seemed to think it was.

Also: my expectations for awesome romantic moments seemed to be STAGGERINGLY low, even for a 12 year old.

Lastly, I do end up totally abandoning my singing, which I'm starting to think might have had something to do with this god awful ("Gross Girl") voice teacher. Kinda makes me sad, seeing how the unraveling of a passion actually happens.

Consider this my unofficial endorsement of the great teachers, and my admonishment of the ones who kinda screw you up when you're little.

What A "Good Day" Looked like for 12 yr-old Corey

November 6, 1995

Beth-

HOLA!

THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!

Classes were OK, good hot cocoa, fun working with Tim in Spanish (cute, funny guy). awesome field hockey practice. Found out Mary and Kelly have "gone home" (in other words have HAD SEX!) Geez, they're 13! That's worse than Susan at camp!

Also, it was fun to be hyper after practice. I didn't have any homework and best of all, Lynn, my best friend from camp, is coming for the weekend of the 17th! I got to talk to her and she was excited to talk to me and was really happy 'bout coming here! I personally can't wait 'til then. Oh! Also, I got Kraft mac and cheese for dinner and changed my room so that it has more space. YES! Very exciting.

Oh! And also I got to show off the cool pads of paper I got at Different Drummer. The only bad thing was EVERYONE made fun of what I thought was the coolest outfit that I used to wear all the time. It's just rather colorful. Nothing wrong with that. Pretty funky colors-- blue clogs, purple tights, turquoise corderoy wrap skort, periwinkle shirt and all the colors mention in a vest on top. And a pink headband. I thought it was ultra-chic.

Love,

Corey

I think it is finally possible that I have crossed over from obnoxious and annoying to just plain sad and oblivious. How was this the best day of my life?? Wouldn't the best day of my life include NOT being made fun of all day for my clothing??

Reading these I start to feel like a nine-year-old in school with a bunch of sixteen-year-olds. I'm in this weird period of time that I think lasts just a year or two, where I'm just YOUNGER than everyone else. I haven't yet caught on to the nuances of social life, I still believe I will be thought of as cool because of my new notebooks. I still prize Kraft Mac and Cheese over actual popularity. And I'm still wearing skorts and vests. Sigh.

Can't I tell, from the 13 year-olds having sex, that I am BEHIND THE TIMES??

I think we all know what's coming...