The day I started writing
I was cleaning out my closet today and stumbled upon a small stack of journals I had written from the age of eight and all the way up to eighteen. Boy was I elated to see 10 years worth of written recollections buried at the bottom of my giant Tupperware box. I grabbed the oldest journal and before opening it, a flashback had already hit me. For reals!
It was the summer of 1996, a 99 Cent Store had finally opened for the first time around our area, which was a big deal for most of us, as decent houseware appliances selling only for a buck seemed too good to be true. I went to the new store with my two older sisters, and one of them, Diane, told me that I could have anything I wanted there. I was thrilled! And I was ready to shop.
When we arrived, I first remembered seeing how outrageously packed the place was, and how awesome and cartoony their shopping carts looked. Their carts weren’t like any other shopping carts you’d see in grocery stores where it’s all metal and banged up with rust. The ones at the 99 Cent store were made of plastic and were bright blue. I wanted to take one of them home with me so I can use it as my pretend car from the future, but that didn’t happen.
The overwhelming number of customers there made it difficult for me to look around, so my sister pointed at the journal section and suggested that I get one to write in it. I declined, but she coerced me into picking one. So I selected the journal that had a cover of a butterfly sitting on top of a purple flower. After my sister had bought the item for me she told me I had to write in it, at least once a week, and then I remember her saying, “You’ll thank me for this when you get older.”
And you know what? She’s right. She’s absolutely right. It’s just…I don’t know. Haha. The feeling you get when you read your own private writings from 12 years ago is purely indescribable.
I’ve been reading that journal I got from 99 Cent, and you know, it was pretty intense for a third grader.
I talked about my love and hate relationships:
If you can’t read my eight-year-old handwriting, it says:
Sept. 17, 1996 I have a crush on Shon. And he was in my class. But I never talk to him or play with him. But I wish I sit next with him.
It was later crossed out in darker ink, and under the entry it says, in the same dark ink:
Oct. 26. 1996 not any more
Foes:
I didn’t like one of the girls at my school, so I drew her as a slimy Medusa. Those are snakes, btw.
Obligatory censorship:
And finally, my discovery of the online word usage “LOL” in 2001:
My spelling has improved huh? (LOL) (LOL means)= Laugh Out Loud) Got it from chatting!
Man, I am so motivated to write in a journal again. Plus the 40-year-old me can go back and read it and say, “Man, that 21-year-old me, what a hoot!”
haha i have a stash of journals in my drawers as well. it’s hilarious reading about your past crushes and things you totally have forgotten about.
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First of all, thanks so much for the vote
Ooh, you have just given me an idea on what to write about in my blog haha. I have a total of 3 diaries which I kept when I was around 15 to 17 years old. I burned the first one though, to help me get over my first crush (the first diary was all about him) but the last two were still intact the last time I saw them (which was around a year or two ago, when I was showing them to my hubby haha). There were a few pages which I wrote in code language because I suspected my mom had been reading my entries (there was no privacy for me at that time). This post brings back memories!
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HAHA u’re a riot
i write in journals everyday, like 5 lines or so
b/c i wanted the notebook so i made myself write
and the pages wont match up if u dont write u HAFTA write
actually when i made my pkmn cards post
i found a journal too
that was when i was obsessed with harriet the spy
and i wrote things about people from my class
naturally i was a freak so yeah i easily related to harriet except rosie o’donnel wasn’t my nanny
pardon my spelling
yah
i wrote in large squigglywritings and enjoyed crossing things out until it made a hole in the paper as well
12 yr olds lives r surprisingly complicated
haha
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Tiff Reply:
January 6th, 2009 at 12:57 am
HAHA OH MY GAWD. I, too, was also obsessed with “Harriet The Spy” and I, too, also spied on people and recorded my findings in a journal because of that film. Hahah that’s hilarious to know that I’m not the only one.
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hmm Reply:
January 11th, 2009 at 8:30 am
the thread comment works for me
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Tiff Reply:
January 11th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Ya, just fixed it!
oh my god what a treasure, i found some diaries I wrote in when I was little too..the contents were basically the same..boys, girls I don’t like, parents..HAHA Also all these organizers filled with writings and messages from close friends, these are actually pretty funny..
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I remember finding a journal I wrote back when I was a rebellious teenager and needless to say, I was so mortified when I read it. It was filled with swearing and how much I hated living with my parents because they wouldn’t let me stay out late and that kinda stuff. I remember I spent a good hour manually shredding the entire book into tiny pieces and then throwing away the pieces in different trash cans all over the house so no one can put it back together again.
The dollar store was my favorite store when I was a kid!! My parents never spoiled us because they were extremely frugal but my mom always gave my sister and I $5 each everytime we went into the “Everything-is-a-Dollar” store and we always got to choose 5 items (she never mentioned the tax of course). Sigh.. those were good times. I wish I was still cheap and frugal, then I’d save tons of money!
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OMG journals! I remember having to write in those composition books for school every morning with some topic the teacher gives. Then I began writing at home too and for some reason, the only thing I’d write about was boys, boys and boys. Imagine your first excerpt, now imagine a whole book (or three) just filled with stuff like that. Don’t throw those away, their alway fun to look back on.
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Hehehe i still have those old journals but i most of my writing is in xanga, even though they’re in private i still look back from time to time and just laugh at how much an idiotic teenager i was. All i talked about was girls, and how much my parents suck. If i was taking care of me when i was a teenager i would have beat my own ass for being such a loser. hahaha.
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Hahahahaha. I laughed so hard when I read your journal entries. That’s so great. I know exactly how it is to read things you wrote as a littler-you. It’s nothing but smiles and laughter. I have a journal or two that I wrote in, that I’m going to always keep. It’s nice to go back to them and read how I once was. My brother found a journal that he wrote in when he was 9 (he’s 21 now), just the other day, and let my mom and I read it. It was so funny. Ahhh, memories. :]
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Isn’t it hilarious to read past journal entries? I seriously get a crack up at what I’d write about and what my writing looked like. I started writing a journal when I was 10, in 1998. And I actually still do write in a journal, some 1oish years after! But I don’t really read up on my entries from 10 years ago when I was a little 5th grader. I know where my journals are stashed, but I just don’t have the energy to really get them out. heh
The dollar store is an awesome store. Sometimes I go in there just to buy something that I *think* I need, but really don’t. haha!
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THAT’S FUNNYYYY! It so reminded me of the biggest crush I’ve ever had. His name was Corey and I was in the 9th grade. I used to look for his blue hat in the hallways and try to smell his cologne. He finally gave me his number in Math class a few weeks later. Needless to say, he wasn’t so fantastic when I finally gave him some 3 years later (i didn’t make him wait 3 years. i was still curious 3 years after we broke up, lol)
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hello, tb, your wp thread comment doesn’t work, you can type “commentform” in formid in wp thread comment setting. it can work.
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Tiff Reply:
January 8th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Testing.
So far, I think it’s working…
Thank you for your help! I appreciate it, really.
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LOL.
OH my god thats amazing, I have a journal from when I was 13ish I think. You’ve inspired me, I think i’ll post about that sooner or later, or maybe even my next post ! Hahha.
Yeah, that definitely makes me want to keep a journal now so I can look back it when I’m 40 and be like WOW.
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Hi~ Tiff.
I’ve read your post about the wordpress plugin ‘wordpress thread comment’ in the wordpress forum.
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/230189
Well, I have same problem to you.
How could you tell me you fixed it?(via email)
Happy New Year~!
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Hah, that is hilarious not more than a week ago I finally had the courage to open my own journal from my years of teenage despair. I guess the content of mine was pretty much the same as in yours. A declaration of undying love one week and a rant about the stupidity of the opposite sex the next
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Oh man, I love looking back and reading all my old journals. The things I used to let myself get so upset about are so trivial now.
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