January 14 - Sixth Grade Bonanza (part one)

I promise that I'm going to get us back up to speed before the end of January. I don't use the word "promise" a lot with things like this, so hopefully we can work together. After all, I realize how empty and painful your life is without Annoyance updates.

Sixth Grade Journal – November 29, 1994
We always have Christmas at my house, We always have a lot of relatives over¹. Last year I got a Game Gear², 2 years ago I got a 3 in 1 tournament table³, a S.N.E.S., a couch, & a lot of cash.⁴

¹ – I do have some memories of this, and while I thought it was nice to see extended family on around Christmas, I always felt that it was weird that there always seemed to be people stopping by. I mean all I wanted to do was watch Home Alone but these aunts and uncles and cousins keep interrupting.
² – Yeah, I know you’ve already forgotten what this is. I wore out the Sonic the Hedgehog game I had even though I was terrible at it.
³ – This gift was most notable for its ping pong surface, which was the site of tons of battles in my family’s basement. And we would always listen to the second-hand C+C Music Factory CD’s I got from my older sister while we played. Pretty awesome.
⁴ – At the end of this entry, Mrs Robertson wrote, “What did you do with your cash?” While the question seems natural because I demonstrated a strange ability to remember past Christmas gifts, what business was it of hers??? Stick to invading people’s privacy and quite trying to track how I spend my money, lady.

Sixth Grade Journal – November 30, 1994
1) Cup of Disney movies at Burger King
2) Makeup
3) Keychains
4) Tapes
5) Dumbells⁵

⁵ – Above this entry, Mrs Robertson wrote, “Topic?” I’ll give her this one. I have no idea what the hell I’m trying to list here. Seriously. I have nothing.

Sixth Grade Journal – December 1, 1994
Today I have a Verity governor’s cup⁶ meet Vs. Russell at 4:30, and I have a Hager basketball game at 5:15⁷ Vs. Poage⁸

⁶ – Governor’s Cup was a key figure in some of the best experiences of this era of my life, and it’s a real shame that I didn’t mention it more in these journals. It’s really kind of unbelievable that I didn’t mention it.
⁷ – I’m not quite sure how I expected to get through with an entire Governor’s Cup meet and make it to a basketball game forty-five minutes later. Magic, I guess.
⁸ – At the bottom of this entry, Mrs Robertson wrote, “Good Luck!” Nice try, Mrs Robertson, I’m not falling for your tricks.

Sixth Grade Journal – December 2, 1994
My best Christmas present ever was probably the beautiful stiffe bear⁹ I got in the 1980’s.

⁹ – I just learned that it’s actually a steiff bear, but I can’t find a picture that is anywhere close to the one I had. It was huge and snow white and smooth, and these ones today are much smaller and off-white and sometimes raggy-looking. What a shame.

Sixth Grade Journal – December 6, 1994
1 – Jingle Bell Rock
2 – Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
3 – I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas¹⁰
4 – Holly Jolly Christmas
5 – Rocking Around The Christmas Tree
6 – Suzy Snowflake¹¹

¹⁰ – Or just “White Christmas.” Whichever you prefer.
¹¹ – At the end of this entry, Mrs Robertson wrote, “Good Ones! I’ve never heard #6.” I was prepared to write about how I had invented this song to spite Mrs Robertson, but it turns out that it’s actually real. Disappointing. The video is pretty creepy to me.

Sixth Grade Journal – December 7, 1994
Santa Claus is very JOCUND because he’s merry, pleasent, cheerful, happy, & joyful¹²

¹² – I’m not a big fan of this vocabulary-through-journal-entry tactic. It wasn’t particularly effective for me, because I don’t recall remembering what “jocund” meant until it was Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day like a year ago.

Sixth Grade Journal – December 8, 1994
Today I have a singing presentation called the “Festival of Carols,”¹³ it is at Paul Blazer High¹⁴ gym at 7:00 p.m.

¹³ – I did a lot of singing in these days. It was fun and a lot of my friends stuck with it while I didn’t (for mostly silly reasons). I don’t remember what was on this particular presentation, but I remember tons and tons of silly singing recitals.
¹⁴ – I was terrified of Paul Blazer when I was young just because the kids there were so much older. The first time I went to Verity (the middle school in Ashland) for ALP, someone got attacked and cut with a glass bottle, and I was scared to go in the place for a long time after that.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday season. Happy New Year!