Chronicles of 7th Grade: Acadia, part 1
Aug. 8th, 2009 06:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dmxratedThis begins my family's trip to Acadia National Park, to which we also brought Marie's then-friend Lauren Weidner. Monday is when we stopped at Old Orchard Beach for the night, and Tuesday covers the rest of the way to Acadia.
Monday in today's set of entries is quite long, enough to nearly stand on its own. Let me tell you, I had trouble pulling through that one when I was writing it a year ago because of the argument that I had with my parents that day, enough that I needed a break from it for about a week.
July 5, 1999
Today is the first day of our trip to Acadia National Park. Lauren came with us as well, even though she’s not part of our family, and she brought her Game Boy Color and some Mario game consisting of a whole bunch of minigames. I brought my Nintendo Power magazines, my stuffed animals and beanie babies, my Super Mario RPG and Earthbound player’s guides, The Number Devil, and even Marie’s American Girl magazines. (I’m planning on going into the woods with those American Girl magazines so that I can trace the girls in them and give them big cone-shaped noses.)
Before we stopped at some store, I read Ziggy in the newspaper, and he said “They say you can never have just one. I guess that means one bag of potato chips.”
We also stopped at a Friendly’s for lunch. Right before we got there, I was looking at a Highlights book, and one page asked “What’s the best way to call a monster?” The answer was “Long distance.” I then went up to a pay phone and punched in 1-800-M-O-N-S-T-E-R. I didn’t actually put any change in.
For today, we stopped at Old Orchard Beach. While we were there, we kids went to the pond and swam with some other kids. Half of the pond was closed off because it was too dirty to swim in. I pretended to be a shark, and said “Where’s my lunch? Ohmp-ohmp-ohmp!” and then went completely underwater, swimming towards someone pretending to bite them, and repeated the process until we left the pond.
Later on, we went down to the swimming pool. On our way there, I saw a sign near the bathhouse that said “If you are not satisfied with conditions, please come to mtg.” I asked him what “Mtg” stood for.
“Music Telegision,” Dad answered jokingly, and then Mom then told me that it stands for “meeting.”
On the way back to the camp site, I wrapped my towel over my torso instead of around my waist, so that my nipples wouldn’t be cold, and Dad told me that it looks girlish. I still didn’t put it on the right way.
Back at the camp site, while I was reading The Number Devil, my nose was clogged up from water, and I asked Mom why she didn’t bring any nose spray. She said she forgot, and then lectured me for a whole bunch of things, such as crossing my legs. A few minutes later, dinner was ready, but I refused to come eat with everyone else. Dad called me over, and then Mom’s like “Jim—“
“No!” Dad answered back.
“Jim—“
“No!”
Then Mom switched sides, and insisted that I come. After a bit of arguing, I packed all my stuff into a bag and ran away from the camp site. I got a bit lost somewhere by the time I decided to come back, but someone smiled at me while I was on my way back.
After coming back, the argument continued, and I got into a cycle of me getting into the camper, and Dad telling me to get out. Eventually, Mom was gonna put the food away, and that’s when I decided to eat. I got a small container to eat off of, and only a little bit of water. Dad was at the picnic table with me, and he’s like “Do you know what gay people are?”
“What?” I asked.
“They’re guys who act like girls. Stuff happens to them. They get beat up.” He continued on with this whole thing about gay people, and then it ended after I finished eating.
June 6, 1999 (Tuesday)
Today, we left Old Orchard Beach and continued the rest of the way to Acadia. On the way there, Dad told us all this stuff about the Industrial Revolution, about how employers used to treat workers, and about how chemicals were dumped into the Hudson River, which is still being cleaned up today.
Back to the present.
I went to work with Mom at the hospital yesterday. Before we left, Marie came home with Grandma Barbara and Aunt Marie. I greeted them when we got to the house, before going up into the apartment to have a nap.
When I woke up, everyone was out on the back lawn, talking about this and that. I joined them, and also picked up Mabel, who tried to bite and squirm her way out of my arms. I did put her down several times, only to pick her up again less than a minute later. Soon, Mom sent me and Brian to bring the lawn bench over, so that we could all sit in a circle and continue talking.
For dinner, we got Turkish takeout. Brian, unfortunately, was unable to eat with us because he had to go to work. After we ate, we decided to play Tonk, and Aunt Marie had to show Mom, Dad, and even Grandma, who never played it before. We had a practice round, for which I knocked first chance because I had a Jack, a King, and a Queen.
Everyone stayed up to watch this movie called The Titfield Thunderbolt, which I had already seen the other night. I just browsed the Internet while they were watching, before going to bed. Marie has joined me up in the apartment to sleep while Grandma Barbara and Aunt Marie are staying over.
Monday in today's set of entries is quite long, enough to nearly stand on its own. Let me tell you, I had trouble pulling through that one when I was writing it a year ago because of the argument that I had with my parents that day, enough that I needed a break from it for about a week.
July 5, 1999
Today is the first day of our trip to Acadia National Park. Lauren came with us as well, even though she’s not part of our family, and she brought her Game Boy Color and some Mario game consisting of a whole bunch of minigames. I brought my Nintendo Power magazines, my stuffed animals and beanie babies, my Super Mario RPG and Earthbound player’s guides, The Number Devil, and even Marie’s American Girl magazines. (I’m planning on going into the woods with those American Girl magazines so that I can trace the girls in them and give them big cone-shaped noses.)
Before we stopped at some store, I read Ziggy in the newspaper, and he said “They say you can never have just one. I guess that means one bag of potato chips.”
We also stopped at a Friendly’s for lunch. Right before we got there, I was looking at a Highlights book, and one page asked “What’s the best way to call a monster?” The answer was “Long distance.” I then went up to a pay phone and punched in 1-800-M-O-N-S-T-E-R. I didn’t actually put any change in.
For today, we stopped at Old Orchard Beach. While we were there, we kids went to the pond and swam with some other kids. Half of the pond was closed off because it was too dirty to swim in. I pretended to be a shark, and said “Where’s my lunch? Ohmp-ohmp-ohmp!” and then went completely underwater, swimming towards someone pretending to bite them, and repeated the process until we left the pond.
Later on, we went down to the swimming pool. On our way there, I saw a sign near the bathhouse that said “If you are not satisfied with conditions, please come to mtg.” I asked him what “Mtg” stood for.
“Music Telegision,” Dad answered jokingly, and then Mom then told me that it stands for “meeting.”
On the way back to the camp site, I wrapped my towel over my torso instead of around my waist, so that my nipples wouldn’t be cold, and Dad told me that it looks girlish. I still didn’t put it on the right way.
Back at the camp site, while I was reading The Number Devil, my nose was clogged up from water, and I asked Mom why she didn’t bring any nose spray. She said she forgot, and then lectured me for a whole bunch of things, such as crossing my legs. A few minutes later, dinner was ready, but I refused to come eat with everyone else. Dad called me over, and then Mom’s like “Jim—“
“No!” Dad answered back.
“Jim—“
“No!”
Then Mom switched sides, and insisted that I come. After a bit of arguing, I packed all my stuff into a bag and ran away from the camp site. I got a bit lost somewhere by the time I decided to come back, but someone smiled at me while I was on my way back.
After coming back, the argument continued, and I got into a cycle of me getting into the camper, and Dad telling me to get out. Eventually, Mom was gonna put the food away, and that’s when I decided to eat. I got a small container to eat off of, and only a little bit of water. Dad was at the picnic table with me, and he’s like “Do you know what gay people are?”
“What?” I asked.
“They’re guys who act like girls. Stuff happens to them. They get beat up.” He continued on with this whole thing about gay people, and then it ended after I finished eating.
June 6, 1999 (Tuesday)
Today, we left Old Orchard Beach and continued the rest of the way to Acadia. On the way there, Dad told us all this stuff about the Industrial Revolution, about how employers used to treat workers, and about how chemicals were dumped into the Hudson River, which is still being cleaned up today.
Back to the present.
I went to work with Mom at the hospital yesterday. Before we left, Marie came home with Grandma Barbara and Aunt Marie. I greeted them when we got to the house, before going up into the apartment to have a nap.
When I woke up, everyone was out on the back lawn, talking about this and that. I joined them, and also picked up Mabel, who tried to bite and squirm her way out of my arms. I did put her down several times, only to pick her up again less than a minute later. Soon, Mom sent me and Brian to bring the lawn bench over, so that we could all sit in a circle and continue talking.
For dinner, we got Turkish takeout. Brian, unfortunately, was unable to eat with us because he had to go to work. After we ate, we decided to play Tonk, and Aunt Marie had to show Mom, Dad, and even Grandma, who never played it before. We had a practice round, for which I knocked first chance because I had a Jack, a King, and a Queen.
Everyone stayed up to watch this movie called The Titfield Thunderbolt, which I had already seen the other night. I just browsed the Internet while they were watching, before going to bed. Marie has joined me up in the apartment to sleep while Grandma Barbara and Aunt Marie are staying over.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-12 02:04 pm (UTC)“Do you know what gay people are?”
“What?” I asked.
“They’re guys who act like girls.
Does your dad really believe that?