Conflustered

Hm. The phone call from Doug M remains a mystery. I wish I could clue you in on what happened with that, but to be completely honest, I don't remember. No freaking clue. Either I knew at some point and forgot or if it's been a mystery for the past 13 years. It's kind of bothering me. I could probably send Doug M a message on Facebook... but #1- how creepy is that? and #2- chances are, he won't remember either.

So I am totally on Team Richard, how bout you guys? It makes me so proud of middle-school-me when middle-school-me throws the peer pressure to be popular aside and admits and expresses love for the somewhat dorky kid. Obviously I still wasn't 100% convinced that my obvious attraction to Richard should completely outweigh the desire to be popular... as evidenced by the fact that I said I'd like Doug M instead if Doug M liked me... but I was getting close. I'd say... 91%. Maybe.

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“1-13-97. Dear Yraid, Nothing happened with Doug M today. I asked 8 people what they thought after I told them what happened. 5 said he likes me. 2 said he wants to go out with me. And 1 said he was doing it for a friend. I’m so conflustered! Jaime asked Doug (S.) if Doug (M.) likes me. Doug stood there thinking for awhile & then he said no. Now, if Doug (M.) really didn’t like me, Doug (S.) would have said no real fast. So why was he thinking. Was he wondering whether he should tell Jaime the truth. Or… what? I asked a lot of people if Doug (M.) called them. They all said no. I kinda like Doug (M). I guess it really depends on if he likes me or not. I like Richard more. Richard is so cute. How can I like him? Normally, I’d think he’s a fool. But I really like him. It’s that weird force. Jaime said that Melissa asked Richard if he was going to the dance. He said that he doesn’t know. He usually doesn’t go to dances. I NEED HIM TO GO! I really want to dance with him! I love him! He’s so cute! I love when he pushes his hair back! Oh is that cute! Oh, is he cute! I like him better when he’s serious though. I hate when he’s weird! Oh, he is so cute! God, please make Richard go to the dance! I’ll be so happy if he goes! - Sabrina I love Ricardo! I LOVE RICHARD!”

A Real Puzzler

It's kind of confusing in the entry, so let me clarify that this phone call was from Doug M who is different than the Doug I frequently crushed on.

Just when I thought I couldn't possibly get any more shallow and judgmental, I come right out and admit that I'd rather go out with Doug M than Richard because "it would make me look better." Nevermind the fact that I don't think I ever mentioned being attracted to Doug M before. But hey, once he showed interest in knowing whether I was going to JAM THE GYM, I suddenly liked him.

Okay, what the heck is JAM THE GYM? I thought it meant the upcoming dance, but I looked it up and January 12, 1997 was a Sunday. The school dance would have never been on a Monday. Maybe it was some sort of pep rally? Or an important basketball game after school? Weird.

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“1-12-97. Dear Yriad, I got a new diary today. It’s cool! A little after 9:00pm I got a phone call from Doug M. Here’s how the conversation went: ME: Hello? DOUG M: Hi, is Krista home? ME: Ya, this is she. DOUG M: (nervous laughter) Um, this is Doug. ME: Hi. DOUG M: (more nervous laughter) Are you going to Jam the Gym tomorrow? ME: Ya. Why? DOUG M: (pause) Oh, I was just calling everyone I know to make sure they were going. ME: Oh, okay. DOUG M: Bye! ME: Bye! This is a real puzzler. In the background I heard someone laughing. It sounded like Aaron but I’m not sure. #1: Where did Doug get my number? #2: Was he really calling everyone? #3: Why would he call me? I don’t know him all that well. #4: Was this for his information or for someone else’s? If he likes me, I’d go out with him. He’s more popular than Richard, you know, it would make me look better. I kinda like him. Oh! This leaves me with so many questions! It’s frustrating! Like what if he does like me? If he was calling me so someone else would know if I was going- who was that someone else? Who was laughing in the background? Could it be one of Doug’s friends? What mother would let her son be at a friend’s house at 9:00pm? I need some answers here! -Krista”

I guess if he says yes, I'll go out with him

I know rarely (if ever) fill you in on what the people in my entries are doing today... I suppose it's because I don't want to spoil any surprises... but this one I just can't keep to myself. I mentioned in the entry above that Dawn (the same Dawn who used to do radio shows with me) dumped Doug M. Well holy shit, would you believe that now, over thirteen years later, they're married?!? How often does that happen? It's not like they've been together for thirteen years, they had both seen other people in the meantime, but really, how cute is that? Middle school sweethearts ended up back together. Awww.

Hope that doesn't make you any less interested in the intriguing new storyline of Jaime trying to convince me to go out with Doug M... and sort-of half-succeeding... maybe? I mean, I *guess* I'd go out with him, if he'd go out with me. But I only like him when I'm thinking about him. lol...

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“12-5-96. Dear Yraid, Today is my B-Day! Today in Math, the student teacher wanted the class to sing Happy Birthday to me, Sarah, & Narayan (today is all our bday). No one really wanted to sing but Craig stood up & Said, “I’ll lead!” And he did! He sung so loud it made me feel really special even though he didn’t’ do it only for me. Also during the middle of our test in Math, we both were thinking & looking out into space. Only we were looking at each other! We stayed like that for like a minute & then at the same time we figured out the problem we were stuck on. Dawn dumped Doug M. Now Jaime wants me to go out with him. I don’t know! I kinda want to go out with him but I’m not sure. I guess if he says yes I will. When I’m thinking about him, I like him more. But when I’m thinking about Craig, I like Craig more. Maybe I’ll tell Jaime maybe I’ll go out with him. See ya! Tell ya what happened with Doug M tomorrow. –Krista”

Every-Other-Day Lunch Table

"November 6, 1996 Dear Yraid, Craig was back in school today. At lunch I sat at our every-other-day-table. At our every-other-day-table, I sit with Craig, Jaime, Doug, & Doug M. Here’s how we sit: sometimes Lianna sits with us. She sits in between me & Jaime. Doug M was scaring Craig so Craig kept moving closer & closer to me. At the end of lunch, we were sitting really close together. Doug broke my lunchbox today. Craig called me today. We talked for about 25min. I could talk forever with him! But Mom doesn’t let me stay on very long. –Krista”

I LUV TEH INTERNET

So my best friend Lianna told me that Doug was lying when he agreed to come over to my house during the summer. But Doug told me that Lianna is a ditz and not to believe her. Was Lianna really making it all up or was Doug just covering his ass? Who was I to trust? My best friend since kindergarten or the guy who started letters to me with "U SUK!"? Hmm...

"Oh the madness!" Oh the madness is RIGHT... little dots?! For a guy who supposedly hated me, why would he initiate physical contact for no real purpose? Suspicious.

So, "CC" was Doug's screen name for the Internet? WHAT Internet? AOL? I knew nothing about computers back in 1996, but I don't remember there being much else. So you mean to tell me, AOL (or whatever he used) allowed 2 character screen names? And that "CC" wasn't already taken? Can you imagine? You can't sign up for anything on the Internet today without concatenating 27 meaningless digits to the end of the name you want or spelling it stupid. Achem... "TEH cheese stands alone". Don't get me started.

Anyhow, I just found this AWESOME webpage: Internet '96. Some guy found archives of old websites from 1996 and included his own hysterical commentary along with each site. I couldn't stop laughing. Definitely one of the funniest things I've read in awhile.

Back to "CC". I still don't know what it stood for. Carbon Copy? Copy Cat? I may never know. Weird.

I like how I described his abbreviations as "kinda cool but not really". I guess Doug was way ahead of his time on that stuff considering that's the only way kids know how to text on their cell phones today. But today my coolness meter on those trendy abbreviations definitely reads closer to "not really" than to "kinda". Ugh. Kids these days.

Valentine's Dance

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple days... I'm have a nasty cold and I'm trying to fight it with lots of sleep. Yuck.

But now, here's the monster five-page diary entry I promised...
First of all, on the first page, the green and pink fingerprints are my own. On the first pink print from the right, you can see my scar from the tuna fish can incident. Pretty bad ass, right?

Welp, looks like Lindsay was right- Rob really did just want a girlfriend to make out with. He must have been pretty determined to fulfill that goal because he certainly picked an easy target... I remember Danielle having a reputation for moving pretty quickly with guys (probably meaning she had made out with a handful of boys... while my friends and I hadn't even held hands with a boy yet).

Aw crap, I like Doug AGAIN? Nooooo! You know, if a guys hands are sweating when he dances with you, that's a SURE sign he likes you. Seriously? Maybe his hands were sweating because he was so uncomfortable. Wouldn't anyone be uncomfortable slow dancing to Waterfalls (a not-so-slow song)? Ugh. What were we thinking?

Skating Parties

Skating parties were the shit. Almost everyone I knew had one at one time in their life and most kids probably needed at least two hands to count how many skating parties they'd attended.

Good ol' Evan's Skateland... the place I always thought smelled like money but my mom insisted, "That smell is feet."

Holy crap. They have a website... an Angelfire site with a sweet rotating "Welcome" GIF. This is cracking me up. http://www.angelfire.com/biz7/evansskateland.com/ Wow. Renting out the entire rink for an hour and a half is only $60?! Have they changed their prices since 1995?

Well, Evan's Skateland was always at least ten years behind in their decor and music... so it's not surprising that the trend continues on their web page.

The songs I remember being played most at Evan's Skateland in the early 90's are probably: The Locomotion, "Jump" by Van Halen, and the theme from Ghostbusters. Since the only place I ever heard these songs was at the skating rink, I always considered them to be "roller skating" music. It wasn't until I was older that I realized these songs weren't unique to skating rinks-- Evan's Skateland just had old music.

Don't get me wrong, I have many fond memories of Evan's Skateland... I spent much of my childhood there. I haven't been there in over 10 years but I actually hope it hasn't changed. I miss it. And hey, if you live in Erie and are looking for somewhere to have a party... I gotta imagine there aren't very many places you can rent out for only $60!