Concluding my diary from 1980:
March 16 – After Sunday School Lee came down. We had a big fight at Steveie’s house. (He was goin to eat with us but I told him “no”) Mom and I bet 25 cents I will not play with him (I’ll probly win and I won’t play with him)
March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day ( I got 25 cents) After school I wrote all “Walt Diseny” movies. (“Love Bug”) then I read “Highlights.” Then I watched “WKRP in Cincinnatti” and half of “That’s Incredable”
–More indicative fun with lists of movies, this time Disney movies…which I still love today.
March 18 – After school, I went outside with my friends. (Lee, Chris, and Lisa) then I read.
March 19 – After school I picked up sticks.
March 20 – 1st Day of Spring – After school I took back the trash cans back. Then I made a puppet. (A contest Sat.) Then I worked on a story (“Clutz Must Die”) about a boy Who get the Devil inside him. Mom brought hom a typewriter.
–I remember this story but no longer have it. This was an interesting change from the ‘two-reel’ comedy-like stories I typically wrote. This one had a strong horror element probably influenced by my fascination with Hitchcock.
March 21 – After school Mom brought home Mcdonald’s food. (A Big Mac for me)
–Little did I know that exactly ten years from this uneventful day, I would have a very eventful one.
March 22 – I got up and at 10:00 we went to the school festival. I came First place in the puppet contest!
–This puppet was a rabbit that my Mom helped me make out of a sock. We stood behind a barrier on the school stage at the Fairbrook Festival and had our puppets ‘perform’ to a song. Because my puppet was truly home-made and I gave such a spirited ‘dance’, I won first prize in the contest.
March 23 – After church I watched “Little Rascals”.
March 24 – After school Lee came over. (And went the next minute) Then I went to the Doctor for a checkup. Then to Lawsons. I got a Kiss Magazine (16 magazine)
–I’m not sure why, but visits to Lawsons on both Dayton-Xenia and Indian Ripple stand out in my memory. They were just small convenience stores, but for some reason I associate them with this time period of buying KISS magazines and later football cards and stickers.
March 25 – After school I typed a story (“Lane + Road + Tar + two Dumb Boy named Billy and Fred”) Then I watched the movie “The ordeal of Dr. Mudd”
–Can’t remember what this Billy O’Crop story was actually about but I thought this the opportune time to share my memories of one of the stories that I do remember.
It was called “Evenings” (for no good reason) and it was about Billy getting adopted by black parents. The parents’ occupation was cotten picking (I meant nothing racially derogatory by this – it is an obvious influence of Laurel and Hardy’s “Pardon Us” in which they disguised themselves as black cottonfield workers to escape jail). The parents’ bosses ran out of money to pay the field workers so they delivered trucks of cotton to their house and dumped it on their front lawn. Billy and Fred think that it is snow and go out to play in it. The boys know that there are never tornadoes when it snows (A fact that I misinterpreted, knowing that there aren’t generally tornadoes in Winter), so they ignore the approaching tornado when it approaches and are, along with Billy’s dog, eventually blown into their arch-enemy neighbor Mr. Brown’s yard.
March 26 – After school I went Lee’s. Then I went to Kenny’s. Then I watched “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.”
March 27 – At school I learned the last cursive letter z. After school (I got a early Dismissal a 2:30) (I missed recess) I went to the “Circus”. I got a monkey on a stick. And a Chineese Yo-Yo on a stick (A stick with a paper all roled up and will pop out) Then I watched “Sneck Previes.”
March 28 – After school Mom brought home Arthur Treacher’s food.
March 29 – I got up. we (Mother and I (Denise)) went to a wedding. Then a sankurary. I found a friend (Brian) we played “Pool”!
March 30 – Palm Sunday – At church they had palm Sun..(I got a palm) I (6:00) went to “The Sons of the Desert” We watched (Charlie Chaplin) “City Lights” and (Half of) “Block-Heads” (Laurel and Hardy)
–I remember this meeting as well. It was held at a guy named Bob Bloom’s house instead of Carl’s. The one thing I distinctly remember was that I saw the film can containing “Block-Heads” on a shelf and tapped my Dad on the leg to point it out…except it wasn’t actually my Dad whom I was tapping. It was Bob Bloom. Embarrassed, I clammed up when he asked me what he could do for me.
March 31 – Today, the first day of Day care center (Just this Wed. and today) (Friday)
—I’m not sure if this was the very first day I ever went to Day Care Center or if I meant this was the first day of the Spring Break. I’ll talk more about this day care center, Discovery House, some other time – as I have a lot of fond memories of time spent there.
April 1 – April fools day – Today I got in trouble…April fools. I had a lot of jokes played on me. I went to day care, In a April fools Joke By Mother. We went to the store. The grandma’s. We ate pizza. Then watched “Days of Thrills and Laughter” (old movies) (Laurel and Harday before they were teams) on HBO (Hom Box Office)
—Even though now I say that I enjoyed day care, I always balked at having to go. So when on April Fools day my Mom told me I had to go there, my initial protest was interrupted by “April Fools!” My mom didn’t work on Tuesdays or Thursdays at Connelly and Co. so there was no need to go.
April 2 – Today I went to Day care center. At 5:00 (a.m.) “Oliver the Eight” was on.
April 3 – Today I went Bowling wtih Mom. Then Lori and Debbie came over. I had fun.
April 4 – Today I went to day care center.
April 5 – I got up and watched “Our Gang” in “Joy Scouts.” Then I rode my new bike (Dad made my old Red bike look NEW!) Then Grandma (Range) came over.
—See before-and-after photos of the bike at left and right. And with that, this time period slips into never-neverland as on this, the day before Easter, I made my last 1980 diary entry. Possibly the warmth of Spring drove me outside and away from the TV, reading, and diary entries. Possibly I just outgrew the diary. In any case, here is a photo of Denise and me exactly one day after I made my last entry.
For a cast of characters – in other words, my friends – from the era of this diary, click here.
To continue with 1980, click here.
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