I forgot it was Friday.
That tells you where MY mind has been.
Okay - I am picking this entry for one sentence alone. I still can barely type due to the laughter. It's when I start railing about Odysseus ... just so you know what I'm talking about.
This is from early on in my junior year.
There is MUCH to be embarrassed about here.
Well, first of all, just check out the first sentence.
Sting is so intelligent. It blows me away. Okay - you know Oedipus? [Uhm ... not personally, no] In "King of Pain" there's a line "There's a king on a throne with his eyes torn out..." Can you believe it?? [Yes, actually, I can believe it. I know YOU just discovered Oedipus - but pretty much everyone else on the planet already knows about him. Welcome to being educated!]
Today at school was good. We had auditions for Cinderella. I tried out for the Fairy Godmother. She's funny, she speaks in an Irish brogue, I love the way it feels rolling off my tongue. [Oh, do ya now?]
Mrs. Franco gave us a surprise in-class essay today: How is the theme of loyalty central to The Odyssey?
That is so easy. [Oh. The contempt for the ease of her question.] Loyalty is everywhere! Penelope, Telemakhos - not Odysseus. J. and I both hate the man. He is an arrogant dork who lies and sleeps with a nymph while his wife mourns and thinks that only he is trustworthy. YUK!
Yesterday we broke up into discussion groups to talk about Odysseus. I heard J. say, immediately, to her group across the room, "I have nothing to say but 'I hate Odysseus.'" HaHa! Homer!
Today in gym when we had to run through the tires my foot twisted and I fell. [Mere - you got a visual on that??] Now I can't even walk on it. I hope it's not strained.
Then I had to walk on stilts [Seriously, guys, I am DYING right now typing this out ... I can't breathe ... Oh ... you HAD to walk on stilts? What??] and DW [first mention of him in the diary, peeps!! Foreshadowing!] kept helping me get up but then I'd teeter and totter and wobble and fall off right onto him, holding onto his neck so I wouldn't kill his ankle again. [Normally, in high school gym, you play soccer. Or volleyball. Or basketball. We practiced stilt walking, apparently. I have no memory of this.]
Alex - whenever he walks by - April and I just look at each other, lips pressed together. [What a strange image. I know what I MEAN - because Alex was the notorious "hot guy" in the school ... but my response to hotness is to look at my friend and press my lips together? Mkay.] Today he strolled into gym in shorts and a T, hair sticking up, stud in his ear [ohmygod, he was so cool, right? So John Taylor!], books under his arm, black punk glasses [please don't say "punk"] and Sony Walkman [You knew the brand name?] in his ears. That is what I mean by cool. Alex is cool. What's more - he is gorgeous.
OK, Diary, brace yourself [I hate it when I talk directly to my diary, it's so embarrassing.] Actually, forget it. [WHAT? Tease.] It's past midnight and I'm sleepy.
Tomorrow's subject to remind me - Chris W.
Enough to tantalize you, huh? [Oh, please stop. Also, I NEVER get back to what I was going to say about Chris. Hahahaha I never mention it again. And now, my writing gets HUGE and sprawls across the page in a frenzy]
I CAN'T BELIEVE how much better I'm feeling. GOD CAN DO ANYTHING!
THANK YOU GOD for creating the glorious human race!
Posted by sheilaToday in gym when we had to run through the tires...Then I had to walk on stilts...
So your gym class was a mixture of football tryouts and clown college? I pray that your gym teacher has found a nice safe place in a local "home" where he/she can be closely observed.
Posted by: JFH at November 3, 2006 6:03 PM/He is an arrogant dork who lies and sleeps with a nymph while his wife mourns and thinks that only he is trustworthy. YUK!/
Hahahahahahaha!
My stomach hurts from this entry.
/OK, Diary, brace yourself./
Yes, Diary, please GRAB AHOLD of something right NOW!
Oh, and I HATED stilt walking. Didn't do it til college, though. Not that that makes it less embarrassing, really .... And I love your whole Emily from Our Town moment at the end, but you forgot to thank the Lord for PUNK, Sheila.
Posted by: tracey at November 3, 2006 6:40 PMJFH - my junior year our gym class was a version of Outward Bound. So it involved making rope swings, and building bridges, and teamwork and such. The stilts were obviously part of that.
One of the best classes I've ever taken, actually - especially in the middle of high school - cause you have to all work together.
Posted by: red at November 3, 2006 6:57 PMtracey - I knew you would pick out the very sentence!! When I got to "sleep with a nymph" in my reading it - I thought I would die from the guffawing. It HURT. I am so INDIGNANT about it!!
Posted by: red at November 3, 2006 6:57 PMBut yes - going from one to the other without any warning (at least in my language) is quite alarming!!
Now we're juggling! Now we shoot some hoops! Now we leap through a ring of fire! Now we run a relay! Now we trapeze thru the air! Now we do the 20 yard dash!
Uhm - what?
Posted by: red at November 3, 2006 7:03 PMOops - that last comment was a second response to JFH.
Posted by: red at November 3, 2006 7:03 PMI have NO memory of tire jumping OR stilt walking- yet I KNOW you are not making this stuff up! I remember falling off the bleachers at Old Mountain Field as part of a trust fall into peoples arms. (Like they would ever let us do THAT anymore!) And I remember the climbing wall (so, so, fun!) and fencing. Member fencing? With those cool masks and the swords??
Posted by: just1beth at November 3, 2006 8:10 PMI totally remember the trust falls! Terrifying!!
And fencing was just absolutely amazing. I'd love to take it again actually.
Posted by: red at November 3, 2006 8:11 PMstilts? tires? fencing? wowzers.
the most interesting thing that ever happened to me during gym class involved me telling my gym teacher to eff herself.
well that and archery. at the blind school. with real arrows. Oh, the stories I could tell.
Posted by: alli at November 4, 2006 2:03 AMbrace yourself diary....
i wonder what you were going to say..any ideas? I never did outward bound. Trust people to catch me when i fall?? NOPE. I did fencing, though. and canoeing (Betsy??)
I had no desire to even try to climb a wall.
Posted by: mere at November 4, 2006 6:53 AMI never did that Outward Bound one either - I think gym always scared me which is why Mere and I developed the "package deal".
Posted by: Betsy at November 4, 2006 7:26 AMwait - what was the package deal??
Posted by: red at November 4, 2006 7:45 AMallie - archery at a blind school? hahahahahaha Too funny!!
I believe we had archery, too - although i could be making that up.
Posted by: red at November 4, 2006 7:50 AMpackage deal= mere + betsy.
for teams, if one team chose betsy, mere came too. and visa versa. when we partnered up - it was always me and bets. when one of us ignored the teacher telling us to bring the canoes in, we both ignored her.
that is the package deal.
Posted by: mere at November 4, 2006 7:59 AMI believe we did archery in jr. high - I remember the targets set up behind that building.
Mere and I had a great set-up where when teams were being picked, if you picked her you had to get me, and if you picked me you had to get her. We totally ruled that gym and Ms. Teft allowed it to happen.
Posted by: Betsy at November 4, 2006 8:01 AMKinda like you two ruled the library in your pajamas with your water guns?
Posted by: red at November 4, 2006 8:09 AMyup- kinda like the library too.
"are you a freshman? did you sign in?"
"I think we need a babysitter ..."
Posted by: red at November 4, 2006 4:16 PMIt is SO funny that you built up the CHris W. story like that and NEVER followed through with the story. Your Diary is still smarting from that one. I love it.
Posted by: Erik at November 4, 2006 4:55 PMI love the package deal! I think everyone needs the benefit of the package deal... although I DID love the Project Adventure things in Gym, too. But your library coolness and gym deals...my God, you two were sheer geniuses!
Posted by: just1beth at November 4, 2006 6:45 PMAnd I agree with Erik- I think your diary has not recovered from that Chris W setup. By the way, WHO is Chris W?? Does he now fight fires?
Posted by: just1beth at November 4, 2006 6:47 PMBeth - yes! That's the one. I have no idea why I urgently needed to speak to my diary about him. ???
Posted by: red at November 4, 2006 6:53 PM