January 20 - Sixth Grade Bonanza (part four)

Yet another egregious violation. Read on, dear friends.

Sixth Grade Journal – January 4, 1995
1) To get all A’s in 6^th grade.¹
2) To make 1^st string for the Wildcats.²
3) To score 20 points for the Wildcats.
4) To have 100 rebounds for the Wildcats.³
5) To have a girlfriend.⁴

¹ – This did come true. I didn’t get my first B until seventh grade. No thanks to Mrs Berrong or Mrs Robertson.
² – This, sadly, did not come true. This was the year that Brandon Galloway’s dad took over as coach of the basketball team, and he made his son the starter instead of me. I’m not saying that I was decidedly better than Brandon, but I am saying that he was far and away the worst player out of the starting five.
³ – I love these priorities. I didn’t want to score, I just wanted to get some boards and help the team win.
⁴ – In retrospect, this doesn’t really seem like something I should have tried to hide or been embarrassed about. There also isn’t any writing from Mrs Robertson on this page, so it’s possible that she actually heeded my wishes and didn’t read the page marked “Top Secret.” But who wants to believe that?

Sixth Grade Journal – January 5, 1995
Today I have a Verity Academic Meet⁵ right after school. I also have basketball practice at 6:00.⁶

⁵ – Seriously, I wish I had talked more about the academic meets from that era. In case you don’t know, this is the same as Governor’s Cup. It was pretty awesome.
⁶ – At the end of this entry, Mrs Robertson wrote, “Good Luck – How did you do at the meet?” Nice mock concern! I see through this silliness.

Sixth Grade Journal – January 6, 1995
I would change no Sega or Super Nintendo on school nights and no running.⁷

⁷ – At the end of this entry, Mrs Robertson wrote, “In the house?” There was no running in my family’s house, but I love that she just glosses over the Sega/SNES bit, which was far more important and crippling. I remember complaining all the time that the only reason my parents bought video games for me was so they could take them away as some sort of punishment. I mean, what else is there to do on a Tuesday night except play a little Link to the Past?

Sixth Grade Journal – January 11, 1995
No, because they are too ready or eager to please or obey.⁸

⁸ – Above this entry, Mrs Robertson wrote, “Topic?” Honestly, I have no real idea who the “they” refers to here. Something about the teacher’s pet(s), maybe?

Sixth Grade Journal – January 12, 1995
Today a basketball game at Holy Family⁹ at 4:15, I also have a dinner with Oscar Robertson.¹⁰

⁹ – Holy Family was an awesome place to play basketball because they had a legit hardwood floor. It really felt special when we played there. Of course, along with that I remember almost every game I played in there involved some type of debacle, which I thankfully did not describe in this journal.
¹⁰ – At the end of this entry, Mrs Robertson wrote, “The Oscar Robertson? Tell me about it!” I don’t think they were related. And I didn’t tell her about it.