February 10

a nice day to the third power

1965

We went to school an hour late today because the roads were icy. I had to miss gym. Rats! We’ll never get through the year at this pace! We have to go through everything very slowly for the freshmen and just between me and me, it’s a horrible bore! Ah, well, they are a lot of fun even if they are uncoordinated, etc.

I LOVE V!

Comment 2023

Yes, I had to increase the font size on my computer just to match the giant all-caps declaration. 

In 1965, I  was a sophomore, just a year older than those immature, stupid, uncoordinated freshmen in my gym class. Is the age/class divide still a thing in high school? For a girl, just dancing with an underclassman at a sock hop was embarrassing.  I know, because I actually danced with two boys who were a class behind me. One of them was a younger brother of a classmate, and the other was the school superintendent’s son. The shame still burns. Dating a younger fellow was completely out of the question.

As I recall, that carried over to college. First year women graduated from the horror of being too old for 3/4 of the boys in their high schools to being the hot new women on campus. Men, of course, found themselves relegated from the Premier League to the EFL. (I live with an English football fan.)

I had two rules in high school regarding eligibility of any potential boyfriend. He had to be older and taller than me. Within three years, I would break both of them.

1997

OK, I am making things not so bad. I have this time, not as much time as I’d like, but it’s mine. I will get some exercise and have a good morning. 

Comment 2024

Solid proof that vaguebooking predated Facebook. Even I don’t know what I meant.

1998

(Blah blah for a page) I am being too thoughtful in my daily pages. It’s more important just to write what’s in my head, even if it isn’t profound, and get it on paper, even if it isn’t eloquent. I have an errand to run, to the bank, to close an account and get Kiddo 1’s passport. I need to make a to-do list (fast!). I need to decide what to wear. I wish I had something in a soft, buttery yellow. I don’t care how it looks on me; I just like to look at that color. (Blah blah for a page)

Wouldn’t life without mirrors be wonderful? Maybe mirrors were the real apple tree in the Garden of Eden. (Blah blah for a page)

Why am I insisting on three pages when I am so rushed? What’s the difference if I don’t write three pages? Who will know or care? Am I obsessing or am I trying to be better disciplined. Am I allow to blow my drippy nose? Put a sweater on? No! I must rush to the bottom of the page, spreading my words out like a sprinter leaning towards the finish line. Only six more lines now. My lungs ache and I am thinking of nothing but the last four lines, not abut what I have to say, or how to say it, or how to spell it! And now it is one last line and I can GO!

Comment 2024

I love/hate The Artist’s Way. Thank heaven I only did morning pages for several months in 1998. And I promise never to transcribe more than a few choice snippets.

2024

I mirror this Substack on Post, and yesterday a nice reader recommended me. Now I have a roomful of new readers, which is nice and also strange. I think I will just get a second cup on coffee and enjoy the company. Also, I finished another hat. So it was a nice day to the third power.