diary entries from an 11 year old me, part 2

27 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment

by oliviamwhelan in Uncategorized

Dear Readers -

This is the second (and final) installment of “diary entries from an 11 year old me.”

[present day comments written in brackets]

************************

[collage - "Junk Wall"]

4 – 15 – 98, Wednesday

AHHHHHH!  SO MUCH HOMEWORK!

4 – 16 – 98, Thursday

I’m trying to do some spying, but my babysitter won’t leave me alone! Some how got away.

My mom has people in a house from an off Broadway play.  [I think I meant "people in my house" instead of "people in a house."  my mom wasn't holding actors hostage in a nondescript, random NYC house].  They talk real loud.  [you think actors are loud, 11 year old Olivia?  wait till you meet improvisers.  And become a talkative loud improviser yourself.  give it 11 years.]

I just practically walked in the room and they didn’t notice.  Boy they really curse.  [again, give it 11 years, Kiddo...]

A girl in my class got in big trouble today.

First, she said to Jennifer, “Jenn’s digging up her croch.”  Then the teacher said she should take a walk and think about what she said.  To be a smart alec, she literally took a walk.  She walked up and down the stairs ten times.  When she had to go to the bathroom, she found out she had her period.  Then the whole class found out when Gina asked for a quarter.

Later on the day, Mrs. Doddinger threatened to expel Fran.  She really didn’t mean what she said.  I feel real bad for her.  [I'm lost.  Is my present-day drama this complicated?]

[picture of sinking Titanic]

4 – 19 – 98, Sunday

I had the most horrible dream.  I was at a hottel, & so were some friends & Z.  [remember Z?  code name for my big huge secret boy-crush]  I found out who Z liked. He liked every girl but me!  What a NIGHTMARE!

4 – 21 – 98, Tuesday

I don’t have much to write about, but I’m happy to report that I’ve gotten check pluses on all of my homework (including science).

4 – 24 – 98, Friday

I had the most wonderful dream.  It turned out Z lived right by me and he came to my house and it turned out to like me.  Ahhh… what a dream.

[compare to nightmare: very similar story telling structure, inverse situation.  I wish I had gotten into a bit more detail with these dreams.]

I WANT SCHOOL TO BE OVER!

Blake [a girl] doesn’t me an effort to help me.  [I think Blake and I were working on a school project together.]

4 – 27 – 98, Monday

Science – Good (to check pluses) [up until this point in my life, it seems that my happiness and anxiety levels fluctuate with check-marks and dreams about Z]

Math – Bad (a check minus)

Library – Bad (didn’t win contest)

S.S. – SoSo (forgot homework) [S.S. = Social Studies.  Not the Schutzstaffel]

Recess – Good

Lunch – Bad (made a fool of myself)  [Give it 11 years]

French – Bad (Madame Son didn’t appreciate my work) [11 years, Baby...]

Latin – Bad (don’t think I did good on quiz)

L.A. – Horrible (Blake & Jennifer teased me) [L.A. = Language Arts. So Language Arts - Horrible, Not Los Angeles - Horrible.  11 year old Olivia was too young to engage in a conversation about LA being a horrible town.  (Give it 11 years).]

Religion – Bad (Lost religion report)

People who seem to hate me

- Justine Daniels

- Jennifer Bradley

- Blake Wryford

- Kassandra Meenings (sometimes)

4 – 29 – 98, Wednesday

I think I did real bad on a latin test.  I’m praying I get above a 79%.  (I’m not kidding).  This score will ruin the rest of the year from me.  At least she said she say a big improvement in my understanding.  I HATE SCHOOL!!

4 – 30 – 98, Thursday

Well, the browning boys are coming for a medieval feast.  [Just another day in the life...]  But the downside is we have to wear henings.  Ahhhh!

[So Browning School was an all-boys school.  I attended Marymount, an all-girls school.  Browning was the brother school to Marymount.  In the 7th grade Marymount Girls studied the Medieval Ages, and in 8th grade the Browning Boys studied the Medieval Ages.  The 7th grade MMT Girls and 8th grade Browning Boys held an annual mock-banquet in the MMT  auditorium.  Us 7th grade Maidens had to decorate pointy hats and wear said pointy hats during this ceremony.  These pointy hats were called "Hennins" and imitated fashionable head-wear from the Mediaval Ages.  This banquet marked one of my first adolsecent boy-girl social experience].

[image: me and browning boy at Banquet]

[collage - "Souvenir Wall."  one of the items displayed here is a lock of my father's hair.  how Victorian.]

5 – 3 – 98, Sunday

Yes! Yes!  Yeah! I found out what school Z goes to!  St. Bernard’s!

[big picture of a smiley face]

Signatures:

Shalaney Duvall

[here I attempted to get a collection of my classmates signatures.  I got one, and then got bored with this project]

5 – 2 – 98, Saturday

Man I need to see Z.

My confession to who Z really is (in special font).

[several arrows point to the a piece of paper I have clipped inside of my journal.   I typed up a "confession" as to Z's true identity.  The confession is written in webdings, so that no untrustworthy person would be able to read it.  (Did I realize that I was not fluent webdings, either?)]

I have the real confession in a journal hidden in my room (under a pencil case).  I also have my Z’s names somewhere in this journal.  [On each page of the lower right hand corner of my journal, I wrote down one letter of my crush's name.  If you flip the pages, you can piece together Z's true identity. It reads "Olivia Marina Whelan O loves <Z>"]

5 – 4 – 98, Monday

We just took a test (like E.R.B’s).  It was about drugs.  I wonder if I past.  Well, atleast if I fail, they won’t know who I am.  (we weren’t allowed to write our names on the test).  [what the fuck?]

I got my latin test back.  I am really upset with my grade.

I got a 66%. A D+.  Atleast I think I’ll be able to retake it.

5 – 5- 98, Tuesday

Re: Call Kathy.

Im so scared / nervous.  I just had a math test.  This test will judge weather I can move into the othe math group or not (it’s more advanced).  I’ll be happy if I get 90% or above.

A note I wrote to Z (in a different font).

[Arrows point to another confession that I type up, printed out and secured inside of my journal.  This one is also written in webdings, but in a different webdings font. The content of the message is the same. (I'm assuming).  I think at 11  years old I was convinced I either A -  had a stalker or B - that I was a spy]

5 – 7 – 98, Friday

These are the kids in my class who are going or already are smoking.

Dina – when she’s older (just ’cause she wants to try it)

Jennifer – when she’s older (same reason as Dina’s)

Justine – Wants to start drinking at 21 [easy, Jiminy Cricket] and also plans on smoking.  (she’s said she tried it, and she felt fine)

Lexy – wants to smoke (I think)

Kassandra Meenings – tried it.

Coral – tried it

Tori – Tried it

Hilary – Tried it.

****************

This is the last journal entry in Olivia Marina Whelan’s 1998 diary.

I have rediscovered a couple things about my 11 year old self in studying this journal: 1 – I worried too much.  2 – I was fixated on boys + grades, 3 – I was paranoid,  4 – I took life far too seriously.

I think twenty-something Olivia can learn from this project…

Oh and a fifth thing I learned about 11 year old me: I was into the ruination of the Titanic.

Love to all! Hope this was a fun read for you -

xo
Olivia Marina Whelan O (present day)

Advertisement