We're back from the SOPA/PIPA blackout and will now engage in digging through the ancient depths of my past.

Last Monday, as I was furiously trying to find a screwdriver (which I found sitting out in the open after I had reorganized my entire closet....), I discovered my old journals from way, way back, 1999 and 2000 to be exact. Curious to know what my life as a 13-year-old was like (I myself don't remember), I decided to give them a read.

There's some fantastic stuff in there, highlighting the innocence of childhood, beaming forth with an unparalleled naivete. There are good times and not so good times, all poured forth in raw detail. I will take some time and post a few choice excerpts. Today I start with the earliest (surviving) entry. I have written it out exactly as I wrote it then, preserving grammatical and spelling mistakes.

Third Entry - Festival 66 July 16, 1999 Well today was the day of Festival 66! I got up early this morning. Got my chores done quick. After Chris finished eating we played some nintendo. Mom also called in for my good inhaler. The morning was a drag. Finally lunch came. Festival 66 was at 2:00. I thought it was at 1:00. Oh well! Mom let us play nintendo again. Before you know it it's time to leave. We parked at the church parking lot. Se we walked to the Credit Union to meet Dad. We picked our lost and found spot and Jeff, Chris and I were off. First we got sprites and went to play games. We went to a ball game first. The point was to get a bunch of the same color on the board. I got a cheesy top. Whee. Next we went to a ring toss game. I ringed a chihuahua and got one. Then we went to bingo. Did Chris ever whine. They were giving away a toaster. I JUST HAD TO WIN! I imagined the look on Mom & Dad's face when I walked up to them with a chihuahua in one arm and a TOASTER in the other. But I lost. On our way out who do we run into. But Mom and Dad. So we went to a couple other games. Jeff won a baseball helmet at the speed pitch. He won a stray hat at the poker chip toss. Then we went to golf on my second shot I made it into the ring and got some golf balls. We went to back to play bingo. After the game Stevie was getting fussy so mom ordered us out. We went to get something to eat. We found the hot dogs. Boy were they good. Then we got a snowcone. Of course I got grape we sat down to eat them. But halfway through I spilled mine. So we went to play more games. On the way Jeff, who had gone to get a snow cone, mosied off. We found him and went to the rubber band shoot. I hit nothing. But Jeff hit one and got a miniature hat. We were going to our last place when we ran across dad. He said mom had been looking for us. I told him I was going to get a soda. There was a small line so I had to wait. When I got back dad was gone, so I went to our "place". After a few minutes the rest of the family showed up and we went home. Boy it was great to be in a cool place again. I got a letter from Val, which surprised me. Then mom went to get the groceries. We played nintendo while she was gone. About 8:00 we went down to the court. I beat my old shoe record. I kicked it to... (brace yourself)... ILLINOIS!!! But it cost me my foot. I jumped off from fairly high, barefoot, and killed my left foot. So I hobbled home. We watched the end of a Bob Hope movie. Finally at 9:00 Mom came home... And she forgot my prescription!!! A good day ended in tragedy.

This passage alone encapsulates so many aspects of my youth. Also, those super short sentences and terrible use - or lack of use - of punctuation. I shudder.

Glossary of Terms:

Festival 66 was a company wide festival of sorts that then Phillips 66 would hold during the summer. They would block off a couple of streets downtown and had carnival games and free food. Being that my dad works for them, we got to partake in the festivities.

"The court" was the playground of a school down the street from us. Adjacent to the swing set they had was a giant map of the US. I liked to kick my shoes off whilst swinging and used the map as a measurement of distance.