May 19, 2010 - Wildwood Park?

Sixth Grade Journal – May 16, 1995

Verity is very big, very neat¹, and very challenging. I should already know, I go every Monday². My expectations are high, I want to be in 8^th grade Algebra³, but if I don’t make it, I’ll take Pre-Algebra⁴.

¹ – Verity wasn’t the easiest, but I’m not so sure about it being so neat. Or maybe I meant that Verity was cool (you know, like “That place seems neat!”). No one knows for sure.

² – How great is the tone in this sentence? I mean really, what’s better than this?

³ – Those are some high expectations, buddy. Algebra? As a seventh-grader? Dream big!

⁴ – I did end up taking pre-algebra, but I love the idea that I would willingly take the class as if I had any sort of choice. I remember taking the placement test to get into algebra at Verity and hearing that I missed the cut by one point. This, however, is one of those things that I remember remembering (if you follow me), thus making me doubt whether or not it actually happened. Intrigue!

Sixth Grade Journal – May 17, 1995

Some government words are:

1) bill 2) right 3) tariff⁵ 4) yah⁶ 5) nay 6) house of representitives⁷ 7) congress 8) executive 9) judical⁸ 10) president 11) vice president⁹ 12) judge

⁵ – Tariff? This was written at the end of the twentieth century. Who talks about tariffs?

⁶ – That is, yay.

⁷ – That is, House of Representatives. There’s an “a” in that word, self.

⁸ – That is, judicial. That’s an “a” in that word, self. Interesting pattern here.

⁹ – Don’t worry about capitalizing any of those terms. It’s not like you’re describing the leaders of the free world or anything. No respect!

Sixth Grade Journal – May 18, 1995

Today in school we’re going to Wildwood Park¹⁰ for 4-H day camp¹¹. We didn’t go because there was a storm¹².

¹⁰ – I was going to say that Wildwood Park was a pretty awesome place, but as much as I try I can’t really remember it. I was initially confusing it with Armco Park (which is awesome, if only for its proximity to Crisp’s), but then I looked it up and found that it’s actually off of 29^th Street in Ashland. Hell, right now I’m not even sure I could find the place.

¹¹ – Thankfully, I am certain that I remember 4-H camp being awesome. In particular I recall learning to make ice cream by filling a bucket with ice and salt, then filling a smaller bucket/jar with milk, sugar, and vanilla, placing the smaller bucket inside the larger one, and rolling the whole thing along the ground. It was badass.

¹² – This sentence is confusing for a few reasons. First, it’s written in the same handwriting and looks almost exactly the same throughout, so it doesn’t appear that I wrote the latter half after finding out that we weren’t going. Second, it’s also possible that I meant to say that we didn’t go before (meaning that the trip was originally scheduled for an earlier date) because there was a storm. Third, it is possible that we never went to Wildwood Park at all. Of course, if we never went that would explain why I don’t remember where Wildwood Park is.

Sixth Grade Journal – May 19, 1995

My favorite memory was last year when I made the “Spring Sing Singers” solo group¹³.

Name:

Guy Spriggs¹⁴

¹³ – Clearly not that great of a memory, because I don’t ever remember the Spring Sing Singers or being a part of any solo group until I was in middle school. Also: music can be very cool.

¹⁴ – I’m not sure why, but this entry had a box around it as I was planning to cut it out and hand it to someone as a card. That might explain why I signed the bottom of the page, but it wouldn’t explain why I wrote “name” above my name.