Diary Friday: “Okay, so you know Oedipus?”

This diary entry is from the beginning of my junior year in high school, which would be a very tumultuous year, full of the scheming/planning of a gigantic crush, and then heartbreak at the end of the year. An arc of epic proportions.

But that is all in the future at this point, as the first sentence of the following entry will clearly show.

I am 15 years old here.

Sept. 21

Sting is so intelligent. It blows me away. [hahahahahahaha]

Okay, so you know Oedipus? [Not personally, Sheila, 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!] Loyalty is everywhere! Penelope, Telemakhos – but NOT Odysseus. J. and I both hate the man. He is an arrogant dork who sleeps with a nymph while his wife mourns, lies a lot, 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.'” [That’s pretty hilarious.]

Today in gym when we had to run through the tires my foot twisted and I fell. Now I can’t even walk on it. I hope it’s not strained. [Was this your Navy SEAL training elective?]

Then I had to walk on stilts [What? You go from running through tires to walking on stilts? What the hell is this gym class all about? Now let’s do the parallel bars, and then end with a nice game of golf. No continuity.].

D. 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 my ankle again. [This is the first mention of “D” in the diary. In about 3 weeks, I was so in love with him that he basically dominated my entire junior year, and every page of my diary is full of stories about him and our various encounters through the day. But here is his first entrance.]

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: Alex was the notorious “hot guy” in the school, he caused a ripple of attention everywhere he went … but my response to hotness is to look at my friend and press my lips together? That makes no sense. As a gesture.] Today he strolled into gym in shorts and a T, hair sticking up, stud in his ear [So John Taylor!], books under his arm, black sunglasses 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.

Actually, forget it. It’s past midnight and I’m sleepy. [Tease!!!]

[Then 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!