   This is one of the diary entries that make me glad I kept a diary as a kid. It captures the first time someone said I was beautiful... the first time, in an age of adolescent awkwardness, that I actually felt beautiful.
Of course, it was hard to believe that anyone dressed in my mid-90's wardrobe of purposely inside-out sweatshirts and overalls (only one strap attached) would be beautiful. So of course I was surprised and somewhat skeptical, but it was a start.
Middle school marked the beginning of popularity wars and the subsequent introduction of insecurities... so this small comment made by Richard meant a lot to me. It's possible that maybe I really was just dating him "for the words he wrote"... but perhaps he was dating me for the same reason. I see nothing wrong with two pre-teens building up each other's confidence... that's exactly what they need at that time in their life... well, that is, until the inevitable breakup... Hm. On second thought, maybe kids should find other ways to gain confidence.
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“1-28-97. Dear Diary. Today I gave Richard a note that had my school picture in it. In my note I asked if he thought I looked stupid. Anyhow, this morning Richard gave me a note. Highlights: He wrote that there’s really no point to the letter. He was just thinking of me. And he’ll still be (he wrote that). This note had a big heart at the bottom & it ended with Love Richard! Then he gave me another note before 6th period. Highlights: A whole paragraph, in his words: “Of course you don’t look stupid in your picture. You look beautiful.” He said I was beautiful! No one other than family has called me beautiful. And I never really thought I was! Richard wrote me a note in my file server on the computer. I didn’t see it yet. But Jaime told me it says “I love you” in it! Here are our old seats for Language Arts. Now it’s: I SIT BY RICHARD! Know what? I’m starting to think I only like Richard for the words he writes. But then, maybe I’m wrong. Ya! I’m wrong, totally wrong. Doug called to tell me to call Jaime & tell her he doesn’t want to go out with her anymore. So I did. Jaime was really sad at first. But she isn’t anymore cause she doesn’t like him anymore. She likes Mike. The bad thing is… I wrote a note in his file server that said: Jaime & Doug sitting in a tree… etc.! Anyhow, Doug called me back for no reason just to talk. He calls me ‘Bob’. Why? I don’t quite know. Mom thinks he likes me! He’s okay. Mom thinks he’s cute. I don’t even want to think about liking him! After liking him for 3 consecutive years – I’m done! – Krista”
  Hmmm spinning a rod, eh? For some reason I don't think Richard and his siblings had cable TV or Nintendo... either that or maybe this was just a weird boy thing to do that I can't relate to. All I know is that I don't think my sister and I ever used to "spin rods". I'm not sure I even know what that means.
Do kids who forget their lunch money really have to go lunch-less for the day? That's so sad! You'd think someone would have lent him money. But if not, I bet Richard learned his lesson and never forgot his lunch money again.
Oooh the teacher caught Richard reading a love letter! He's lucky he didn't get it taken away. This was the same teacher that caught my friend Jaime and I writing notes to each other. Jaime and I weren't in the same science class, but had the same teacher and realized that we sat in the same seat. So we decided to be super-sneaky and leave each other notes taped under the table. When I was in class, I'd write her a note, tape it to the underside of the table and a few periods later, she'd find my note, write me back and repeat. We thought we were pretty clever until one day, my tape didn't hold and the note fell to the ground. Mr. Lohse found it, had a talk with us, and we never did it again. But we did start using code names in our notes. Duh.
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“1-24-97. Dear Diary, Here are the highlights from the note that Richard gave me today! His birthday is June 11, 1983. Last night his brother was spinning a rod & it lost control & hit him in the eye. Here’s a whole paragraph, word for word: I forgot my lunch money today. So I’m not going to be eating lunch (duh!). I hope today gets better than it’s been so far. But with you around will brighten my day! This note had a heart in every corner & a little thing that looked a lot like this: XXX OOO. It had hugs & kisses inside! Awww! How sweet! Richard came up to me at my locker and told me this: He was reading the note from me in Science class when Mr. Lohse walked in the room. Mr. L asked Richard what he was doing. Someone in the class yelled out, “He’s reading love letters!” Then he had to put it away. O-kay?! -Krista”
   Quick historical fact-check on Eva Peron's death... she died of cervical cancer... which is not exactly something you can fix with "those shock things" (AKA an external defibrillator). I wonder if Richard's team lost points for that.
I feel like Rachel D's ploy to get Brandon to dump her is not unique to middle school. I think there are people at every age who don't deal well with confrontation and see that as an easy out. However, I think there are two differences.
1. Rachel had already dumped Brandon three times in a time period, I'm guessing, of less than five months MAX (since the beginning of that school year). Adults, on the other hand, would have already given up on a relationship with that kind of track record... or with that kind of on-again, off-again status, adults wouldn't even consider it an exclusive relationship-- thus, no need for an official break up at all.
2. I'm just guessing that most adults wouldn't fictitiously criminalize themselves to get a significant other to break up with them. They would actually criminalize themselves. What's the point in spreading false rumors that you've been cheating? If people are going to think you're a cheater anyhow, you should probably just cheat and at least get some pleasure out of it. Hey, if that's what it takes to get your boyfriend or girlfriend to fall into your "trap" and dump you, you might as well kill two birds with one stone.
Okay, just to clear things up, I do not condone or support cheating by any means. I think cheaters are selfish cowards who want what they can't have and are afraid of honest communication with their partner. Pretty much goes hand-in-hand with the type of people who devise plans to get their significant other to break up with them. And now we've come full circle.---
“1-23-97. Dear Diary, Here’s something that I forgot to tell you yesterday. Richard had play practice after school. But he came all the way back to my locker just to say goodbye! I got another note from Richard today. Highlights: His favorite radio station is Jet, same as me. This note had a heart at the bottom also. When I look at where he wrote ‘Love’ at the ending of the note (Love Richard) that reaches deep down inside my heart. He really meant it when he wrote ‘love’. It’s just touching to know that someone loves you that much. Richard did his presentation in Social Studies today. Their country was Argentina. Richard’s timeline was all on Evita and Juan Peron. Him & his group acted out when Evita Peron died. Ryan was a doctor using using those shock things on Evita. And Richard was Juan, Evita’s husband. Well, they had Christina be Evita! When Ryan announced that Evita (Christina) was dead, Richard pretended that he was crying & he said, “Oh no! Not Evita! My poor dear Evita!” That really bothered me. I’m kinda mad! I guess I shouldn’t be worried because he still signs his notes with Love & a big heart. Rachel D told me that she doesn’t want to go out with Brandon anymore. But she wants him to dump her because she already dumped him like 3 times. She told me not to tell anyone, not even Amy. She wanted me to tell Brandon that I saw her flirting with a bunch of boys. So I did & I think he’s mad. She told me & not Amy! I was talking to Rachel about what Brandon said when I told him & Sandy was around. When Rachel left, Sandy said, “I know what she’s trying to do.” I asked her what & she said, “Trying to get him to dump her.” I asked her how she knew & she said that she & Rachel are like best friends & Rachel tells her everything. Does that mean that I’m like Rachel’s best friend too? Well, if she told me & didn’t want anyone else to know… ? I hope so cuz Rachel’s really nice & she would make a cool friend (she already does). –Krista”
  So you would think that being liked 90-110 on a scale of 1 to 100 is pretty darn good... but I'd like to question... what does that really mean? How can you say that you like someone a range? Does that mean on a bad day, he liked me a 90 and on a good day, he liked me 110?
Or does it mean that there were some things about me that he only liked at a 90 level and other things he liked at 110 level? If so, I would guess those things were my braces and my sense of humor, respectively.
Perhaps it means that he hadn't really decided how much he liked me... he just knew it was a lot. But in that case, why would he ask to quantify something he couldn't even quantify himself? Seriously, what's the point in setting a scale if you can't even pinpoint a single number?
I wonder how I responded to him. ---
“1-22-97. Dear Diary, Richard gave me a note this morning. Highlights: He gave me his picture. He doesn’t know if he can go to the movies Friday but, & I quote, “he sure hopes he can go.” He’s the Bishop in the play. Listen, here’s a whole paragraph that he wrote WORD for WORD, this is exactly what he wrote! This might sound stupid but if it doesn’t, then that’s okay. From a scale of 1-100, what number would represent how much you like me? Mine would have to be 90 and up to 110. That’s how much I like you. He said that Lance said, “If Richard had braces, Richard and Krista would make sparks!” As a P.P.S., he wrote, I’ll be thinkin of ya! This note also had a heart on it. Everytime I read the scale part of the note, I just melt! Even though he doesn’t have much dating experience- he sure knows what I want to hear! Well, I’ve gotta go! See, there I go! Krista. I LOVE RICHARD!”
Allow me to introduce you to Diary #5...  Yes, Diary #5 is covered with a luxurious velvet/velour material. Sexy.
Here's the inside of the cover... Old school label-maker! Hell yeah! What dates the diary more... the velvet cover or the old labels?
Onto the first entry...   Three notes in one day-- that's INTENSE.
INVU4URAQT... I remember being so confused by this. Yeah, I understood what it meant... but why would Richard, a boy, envy me for being cute? Wouldn't that mean that he wanted to be cute like me? Odd. I take that back, I am still confused by this.
Casual acronyms like this one really took off starting in middle school. Okay, disclaimer: I recognize INVU4URAQT isn't an acronym... but you know what I mean... strings of letters that represent words in some way or another. Haha. Anyhow, this was years before we started using OMG, WTF, and TTYL.
Instead, these were the years of...
- C/M - Call Me
- W/B - Write Back
- WBS - Write Back Soon
- WBASAP - Write Back As Soon As Possible
- TTFN - Ta Ta For Now
- LYLAS - Love You Like A Sister
- YBFFAA - Your Best Friend Forever And Always
- WAZ ↑ ↓ @? - What's up, down, all around?
Yes, I found those by looking through my two-inch binder filled with middle school notes.
Two other things I found were Sorry So Sloppy (written with one big S and all three words written beside it) and Boys Before Books Because Books Become Boring (written similarly).
Do you remember any more to add to the old school acronym list?
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“1-21-97. Dear Diary, Hello! I think that’s what I’ll call you. Plain-diary. But that’s okay. NOTE TO THE READER: Please read my 4 diaries before this. Cuz if you don’t you won’t know what’s going on. So… Today (this morning) Richard gave me a note. Here are some of the highlights: He made me a bracelet (string)! He said that he thought the dance was awesome! He wants my school picture! He wrote INVU4URAQT! Get it? “I envy you for you are a cutie” Then on the front of the note he wrote – QT (cutie)! Then I wrote him back & he wrote me back. On this note some of the highlights are: Well, he said he was writing in SWEP & he didn’t want Mrs. Sam to catch him. This note ended with: Love, Richard! Then he wrote me another note. Highlights: He said that his parents don’t let him have girlfriends, but he does anyhow. This one ended with Love, Richard too. Every one of these notes had a heart drawn somewhere on it! WOW! He doesn’t know how much this bracelet means to me! He is so sweet! I hope this relationship lasts! I showed Kasey the bracelet from Richard. She said she knew about it because Anthony told her. Richard called me after school today. He asked what time the movie that Monica & I are trying to get a group of people to go to on Friday is going to be. Whenever he calls me he says, “This is Rich.” He calls himself Rich! I’m sorry but that’s kinda funny. Well, gotta go! Krista I LOVE RICHARD!”
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Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what an 13-year-old boy would want as a gift: a Beanie Baby. Sike. It's not even an argument to say that at that time they were collector's items and some doubled value in a matter of months. It's still just a cute little furry animal stuffed with plastic pellets. Why the heck would he want a Beanie Baby? Trick question. The answer is: he wouldn't want a Beanie Baby. No teenage boy wants a stuffed animal. No teenage boy wants to explain his new pink bear friend to all his Mom. And he especially doesn't want to explain it to his buddies. A Beanie Baby is probably the worst gift idea for an adolescent boy.
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