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Laura: Age 8
Jan. 15th, 2006 02:14 pmMy mom found my school journal from 3rd grade. XD It's hilarious! I keep trying to say that my favorite color is turquoise, and oh man, I cannot spell it for my life. I also can't spell "friend" or "with" but those I'm consistent--"freind" and "withe" (I had a lot of trouble with silent e's for much of my childhood. They really screwed me up--I thought that g's at the end of words were siltent just like them, so I didn't pronounce them. XD Which is one of the reasons I went to speech class--but that I was able to overcome as soon as the misunderstanding was cleared up. My other problem was pronouncing the "k" sound as a "t"--so my sister was Tatie. That took more doing, but speech classes were great fun, so I didn't mind.) I also spelled reviewing "reiwving" which is pretty crazy. And I would have pronounced it "reiwvin," remember. ;)
But hey, apparently I was good at math:
This one is from somewhere around september 24th, 1994:
1. I thought the math Pretest was PERFECT!
2. I studied by reiwving my:
old worksheets and the pages we already did in my math textbook
I guess by this point I hadn't yet developed my habit of speaking as a collective--now I would say "our math textbook"
3. I understood everything
XD I wasn't much for false modesty, I guess!
The notebook (one of those black marble composition notebooks, you know) begins with what I did on my last summer vacation, and ends with what I plan to do on the next one. The two are, you know, pretty similar. Except that in October I stopped skipping every other line.
My Summe Vaction
During summer vaction I leared two things. 1. I leaned how to swim! (Yea!) 2. I how to pull myself up on the rings. (My family has a swingset)
I went to Lock Lime Loge New Hampshire. I had fun and made a new freind.
But mostly this summer I had fun and I read.
I almost had the word "learned"--the r in one word, and the n in the other. By #2 I guess I'd just given up on it all together. Also, I spelled every word in Loch Lyme Lodge wrong. Wow. I had no idea my spelling was this bad.
In the next one, I just call them "summer plans," thus cleverly avoiding the whole "vaction" problem.
My Summer Plans
This summer I'm going to New Hamshire. I'm looking foward to it because I just learned how to swim and want to practice in the lake there. I might go to Girl Scout camp. I'll spend alot ofth time reading inside with a fan or air conditioner on. I'll spend alot of time under water, sprinkler or water gun, I don't have a pool but I want one, I also want to go fly to Wisconsin to spend time withe my moth cousins. I'd also like to spend time with my freinds. I like summer because there's no school but I don't like it because it's hot.
We don't really have air conditioning--just in my room when this was written and it was rarely on, so maybe that was just optimism. I also like the slightly alarming phrase "I'll spend a lot of time under water."
Also, I spelled Hampshire right in the first one, but not the last. Still, I think overall my spelling improved through the year. I'm just still having freind and withe problems.
This next one is my favorite. A little autobiography. I used several asterisks, which go to the previous page in the notebook, but I'll just put it in parentheses.
Me
I'm Laura ____, I am 8 3/4 years old and don't have a middle name, I do have a twin sister. Her name is Katie. *(We were born July 17, 1986) *(She's my best friend.) I also have an older brother named Michael (he's 11). My favorite sport is volleyball but I don't like competition but I like school. My favorite food is spagetti and my favorite color is a mix of neon pink and neon orange. *(I also like troquise) Katie and I like to play make belive I also like to spend time withe my mom and read. My favorite subject is art andMmy 3rd grade teacher is Ms. Henry. When I g want to become a kindergarten teacher. Once Earlier this year my brother Michael went to France. I learned that I would miss him * and now we get along better. Talk about a happy ending
XD I just adore that ending. I'm so sarcastic! The last asterisk was because, I think, I ran out of room on my page, so just sent the reader to the prior one instead of going onto the back of the page. Uhm. . . I have no idea what a mix of neon pink and neon orange is. I mean, what?? I also like how I figured having a twin was compensation for not having a middle name. Also, by the end of the paragraph I guess I was tired or something, cos I started crossing out like crazy!
Oh, also, the reason my brother went to France at age 10 (if I'm still 8 and he's 11, he must have just turned 11--I'd date this entry as soon after his birthday on June 6th--In fact, I had written that he was 10 and had to write the 1 over the 0) is because our school district had a French exchange program for 5th graders. Katie went as well, and I hosted someone but didn't go.
edit: i'm rereading for mistakes that are my typos and not younger me's spelling errors, and also cos they crack me up. And I realized I'd forgotten to comment on the "my favorite sport is volleyball"--this is proof--I used to be soooo good at volleyball. By the time I hit high school, I was absolutely abysmal at it. It was my least favorite gym activity. I suspect several different reasons for this. First off, I wasn't so comfortable with my teammates. I didn't know everyone, like I did in elementary school. Also, my elementary school was quite a friendly place--everyone more or less got along. Plus, volleyball was the one sport we played co-ed, so in addition to me simply knowing less of the student body, we played the game with a bunch of kids that I had no reason to know, they weren't in my gym class and I didn't play any other gym games with them. The other problem is that I wasn't only more intimidated by general unfriendliness, but I was more afraid of the ball. I'd gotten hit in the face early on, and seriously, kids hit that volleyball ridiculously hard. It's crazy. So, you know, I can't serve cos I'm too intimidated, and I can't. . . recieve the ball? return it? whatever--because I'm too afraid of the speeds at which it's travelling. ::sigh::
Also, I scrapped the kindergarten teacher idea pretty early. I had a really awesome kindergarten teacher, which is probably what gave rise to that plan.
Oh man, I just found a list I made on how to improve my behavior in class (i'm sure I was a model student! ;) with comments from my teacher. You won't be able to see, but this list in in beatiful script. The teacher's handwriting is beautiful too, by the way.
I need to improve my behavior, sometimes I don't pay attention. Ican improve by,:
1. trying harder
2. moving the disterbing things
3. pretending they aren't there
4. all three.
Laura, I agree with your methods to help you pay attention more in class. I think you need to take all yogurt containers off your desk. - Miss Henry
Haha, I love how I've basically said absolutely nothing. Also, I couldn't make this come across, but I failed to dot the i and cross the t in "disterbing."
But, yes. #1 is sort of nothing, and then I say I'm going to get rid of distractions, but then I'm going to pretend they aren't there, which doesn't make sense if I've moved them, and then. . . "all three." Oh, I was so smooth. This began a sinister trend toward bullshit!
And, uh, heheh, the yogurt containers. XD Oh man. My mom would send me saltine crackers in an empty yogurt cup every day for snack. I definitely did not take Miss Henry's advice, because I remember messing around with those containers next year in 4th grade. A kid that I had a crush on was in my class (he moved away) and he would always beg for crumbs from the saltines (i hope he had a snack of his own, cos I was never generous enough to actually give him a whole cracker) and then I remember we cut a whole in the lid of one of the containers and made a toilet for this tiny stuffed animal of mine (Nick, a little devil hedgehog). Ahh, good times. So I hope you all, uh. . . fully understand how distracting (disterbing) yogurt cups can be. Oh, I was such a yogurt cup rebel!
side note--the whole thing is in pencil. Yet, I almost always cross out, and never erase. I just want to point out that this is a trend that has continued to this day. I'm not into erasing.
In case you hadn't noticed, I was very fond of reading at the time. In fact, there's an entry dedicated to it:
My Favorite Subject
Is reading (meaning PLC + ILC) beacause I LOVE (I mean love) reading! I'ts amusing to me and the books are good. Epescialy Baby-Sitters Club + Sweet Valley Kids. I don't like doing worksheets so that makes reading perfect for me. I also like art but I'm better at reading.
You can see the influence of the Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley Kids (I never read Sweet Valley High) books in things like that little interjection. In general when reading these I'm just like "well, I was 8, so of course I was silly" (on the other hand, I can't read my earlier livejournal entries) but that sort of thing makes me wince a bit. But it's still funny.
edit: I forgot to explain what the PLC and ILC are. They stand for Primary Learning Center and Intermediate Learning Center. The PLC was the library for grades 1-3 and the ILC was the library for grades 4-6. I did not understand what "primary" and "intermediate" meant until I was in 6th grade or something. It was weird--they were decontextualized all of a sudden. I realized the words had actually meanings.
OK, I know there's a lot of these, but you don't have to read them all--obviously I find them hilarious because they're me, and I want them copied here, but, you know. I understand ;)
This one, though, is particularly funny. And I got a check + on the assignment!
Journaling 11/22/94
What do I have To Be Thankful For?
I am most thankful for my family, books, school and my freinds. but I am also thankful for, food, crayons, trees, cothes, money and the great out doors. I am thankful for books because I love to read them. I'm thankful for my family and freinds beacause they comfort me and keep me company. I'm thankful for school becaue they teach me the things I need to [new page] to grow up and be what I want to be there. I'm thankful for crayons because I can draw with them. I'm thankful for food because I can eat it so I don't starve. I thankful for trees because they give me oxigan to breath. I'm thankful for clothes because they cover me up and keep me warm. I'm thankful for money because I can pay for usful things. I'm thankful for the great outdoors because they give me a place to go when I'mth tired of being inside.
Crayons were obviously very important to me. In a letter left for my parents for when they visit the classroom on Back to School Night, I wrote "By the way you can look at my crayons but don't mess with them because I sorted them out in my free time." XD Harsh! Anyway, I just love that list. I also managed to spell because correctly a couple times!
And now for the darker side of my third grade experience. The teasing, the anger, the drama!!
Dear Ms. Henry
I am very, very glad I moved away from Ryan. Don't worry, I can still see the board. Hebother(I ran out of room on the line) bothered me in almost every way. He said things like, I bet I'll finish before you (.) and most of the time Il he dose doesn't. He also put things on my desk when he tells me not to. His things are half-way onto mine. My things are only a corner on his. His mumbling got very disturbing. Sometimes I can't couldn't concentrate or pay attention to my work. It's was w very upsetting annoying. (He still talks to me When He passes He say I finished before you!
I don't really remember Ryan now. But I remember the next kid that gave me trouble. Erich loomed somewhat large in my elementary school career. He was a bit of a trouble kid--very loud, would often have to sit separate from everyone else. By the way, I obviously haven't learned about quotation marks at this point.
Teasing
Once Erich _____ teased me about being little. I felt angry, scared, sad, and embarased. It was terrible. He said things like, Laura can't do it because she's so small. Erich was probably in a mean mood when he said those things. I read lot of books with in which the main characater is teased I've also read books when other characters are teased. People tease other people because they're different. tTeasing is horrible! There is no reason to tease someone else.
Damn him. By the way, in response to this outpouring of the soul, Miss Henry wrote "Very Nice Laura, I'm glad that your mature enough to understand that teasaing is wrong."
She was apparently not that smart a woman. No wonder I still have trouble with "you're" and "your"! There's another spot where I wrote "chiming," referring to what windchimes do, and she said it should be spelled "chimming." ::sigh::
Hopefully those two entries will give insight into what is possibly the most revealing entry in the book. Actually, I'm sort of serious about that. I had a really, really terrible temper when I was little, and now I really try to keep it tightly reined in, but it's hard.
Why I GET MAD AT OTHER PEopLE
Sometimes when I yell it's for no reason,twh then I relize it and say sorry and explain that something else was getting me mad or frustrated. Somtimes I get tears in my eyes or want to pound or hit a person for being mean to me or a freind because I get so mad.
Oy. I got so angry. And it sucked. Mike could really upset me. The Band song "Tears of Rage" is about parents mourning their child, i think, but it always makes me think of my own childhood, because I would always be crying and it was usually tears of rage. I hated it, you know? I didn't like being that angry, that upset. I guess I pulled myself together, though. But not before I got in trouble for hitting people. Which is funny, because I really was incredibly tiny. Erich was not making this up, I was a shrimp. I'm small now, but height-wise I'm just normal small, and not incredibly short (I'm almost 5'4", which is short, but back then I was one of the shortest people in the grade--truly tiny). Also, I don't understand my inconsistent capitalization in the title. The capitalization of rage, perhaps?
Anyway. That's enough of that. XD Sorry for dragging you along on that. But, you know, I found it highly entertaining. Until it got bittersweet at the end, there. Let's see if I wildly messed up my html.
But hey, apparently I was good at math:
This one is from somewhere around september 24th, 1994:
1. I thought the math Pretest was PERFECT!
2. I studied by reiwving my:
old worksheets and the pages we already did in my math textbook
I guess by this point I hadn't yet developed my habit of speaking as a collective--now I would say "our math textbook"
3. I understood everything
XD I wasn't much for false modesty, I guess!
The notebook (one of those black marble composition notebooks, you know) begins with what I did on my last summer vacation, and ends with what I plan to do on the next one. The two are, you know, pretty similar. Except that in October I stopped skipping every other line.
My Summe Vaction
During summer vaction I leared two things. 1. I leaned how to swim! (Yea!) 2. I how to pull myself up on the rings. (My family has a swingset)
I went to Lock Lime Loge New Hampshire. I had fun and made a new freind.
But mostly this summer I had fun and I read.
I almost had the word "learned"--the r in one word, and the n in the other. By #2 I guess I'd just given up on it all together. Also, I spelled every word in Loch Lyme Lodge wrong. Wow. I had no idea my spelling was this bad.
In the next one, I just call them "summer plans," thus cleverly avoiding the whole "vaction" problem.
My Summer Plans
This summer I'm going to New Hamshire. I'm looking foward to it because I just learned how to swim and want to practice in the lake there. I might go to Girl Scout camp. I'll spend alot of
We don't really have air conditioning--just in my room when this was written and it was rarely on, so maybe that was just optimism. I also like the slightly alarming phrase "I'll spend a lot of time under water."
Also, I spelled Hampshire right in the first one, but not the last. Still, I think overall my spelling improved through the year. I'm just still having freind and withe problems.
This next one is my favorite. A little autobiography. I used several asterisks, which go to the previous page in the notebook, but I'll just put it in parentheses.
Me
I'm Laura ____, I am 8 3/4 years old and don't have a middle name, I do have a twin sister. Her name is Katie. *(We were born July 17, 1986) *(She's my best friend.) I also have an older brother named Michael (he's 11). My favorite sport is volleyball but I don't like competition but I like school. My favorite food is spagetti and my favorite color is a mix of neon pink and neon orange. *(I also like troquise) Katie and I like to play make belive I also like to spend time withe my mom and read. My favorite subject is art and
XD I just adore that ending. I'm so sarcastic! The last asterisk was because, I think, I ran out of room on my page, so just sent the reader to the prior one instead of going onto the back of the page. Uhm. . . I have no idea what a mix of neon pink and neon orange is. I mean, what?? I also like how I figured having a twin was compensation for not having a middle name. Also, by the end of the paragraph I guess I was tired or something, cos I started crossing out like crazy!
Oh, also, the reason my brother went to France at age 10 (if I'm still 8 and he's 11, he must have just turned 11--I'd date this entry as soon after his birthday on June 6th--In fact, I had written that he was 10 and had to write the 1 over the 0) is because our school district had a French exchange program for 5th graders. Katie went as well, and I hosted someone but didn't go.
edit: i'm rereading for mistakes that are my typos and not younger me's spelling errors, and also cos they crack me up. And I realized I'd forgotten to comment on the "my favorite sport is volleyball"--this is proof--I used to be soooo good at volleyball. By the time I hit high school, I was absolutely abysmal at it. It was my least favorite gym activity. I suspect several different reasons for this. First off, I wasn't so comfortable with my teammates. I didn't know everyone, like I did in elementary school. Also, my elementary school was quite a friendly place--everyone more or less got along. Plus, volleyball was the one sport we played co-ed, so in addition to me simply knowing less of the student body, we played the game with a bunch of kids that I had no reason to know, they weren't in my gym class and I didn't play any other gym games with them. The other problem is that I wasn't only more intimidated by general unfriendliness, but I was more afraid of the ball. I'd gotten hit in the face early on, and seriously, kids hit that volleyball ridiculously hard. It's crazy. So, you know, I can't serve cos I'm too intimidated, and I can't. . . recieve the ball? return it? whatever--because I'm too afraid of the speeds at which it's travelling. ::sigh::
Also, I scrapped the kindergarten teacher idea pretty early. I had a really awesome kindergarten teacher, which is probably what gave rise to that plan.
Oh man, I just found a list I made on how to improve my behavior in class (i'm sure I was a model student! ;) with comments from my teacher. You won't be able to see, but this list in in beatiful script. The teacher's handwriting is beautiful too, by the way.
I need to improve my behavior, sometimes I don't pay attention. Ican improve by,:
1. trying harder
2. moving the disterbing things
3. pretending they aren't there
4. all three.
Laura, I agree with your methods to help you pay attention more in class. I think you need to take all yogurt containers off your desk. - Miss Henry
Haha, I love how I've basically said absolutely nothing. Also, I couldn't make this come across, but I failed to dot the i and cross the t in "disterbing."
But, yes. #1 is sort of nothing, and then I say I'm going to get rid of distractions, but then I'm going to pretend they aren't there, which doesn't make sense if I've moved them, and then. . . "all three." Oh, I was so smooth. This began a sinister trend toward bullshit!
And, uh, heheh, the yogurt containers. XD Oh man. My mom would send me saltine crackers in an empty yogurt cup every day for snack. I definitely did not take Miss Henry's advice, because I remember messing around with those containers next year in 4th grade. A kid that I had a crush on was in my class (he moved away) and he would always beg for crumbs from the saltines (i hope he had a snack of his own, cos I was never generous enough to actually give him a whole cracker) and then I remember we cut a whole in the lid of one of the containers and made a toilet for this tiny stuffed animal of mine (Nick, a little devil hedgehog). Ahh, good times. So I hope you all, uh. . . fully understand how distracting (disterbing) yogurt cups can be. Oh, I was such a yogurt cup rebel!
side note--the whole thing is in pencil. Yet, I almost always cross out, and never erase. I just want to point out that this is a trend that has continued to this day. I'm not into erasing.
In case you hadn't noticed, I was very fond of reading at the time. In fact, there's an entry dedicated to it:
My Favorite Subject
Is reading (meaning PLC + ILC) beacause I LOVE (I mean love) reading! I'ts amusing to me and the books are good. Epescialy Baby-Sitters Club + Sweet Valley Kids. I don't like doing worksheets so that makes reading perfect for me. I also like art but I'm better at reading.
You can see the influence of the Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley Kids (I never read Sweet Valley High) books in things like that little interjection. In general when reading these I'm just like "well, I was 8, so of course I was silly" (on the other hand, I can't read my earlier livejournal entries) but that sort of thing makes me wince a bit. But it's still funny.
edit: I forgot to explain what the PLC and ILC are. They stand for Primary Learning Center and Intermediate Learning Center. The PLC was the library for grades 1-3 and the ILC was the library for grades 4-6. I did not understand what "primary" and "intermediate" meant until I was in 6th grade or something. It was weird--they were decontextualized all of a sudden. I realized the words had actually meanings.
OK, I know there's a lot of these, but you don't have to read them all--obviously I find them hilarious because they're me, and I want them copied here, but, you know. I understand ;)
This one, though, is particularly funny. And I got a check + on the assignment!
Journaling 11/22/94
What do I have To Be Thankful For?
I am most thankful for my family, books, school and my freinds. but I am also thankful for, food, crayons, trees, cothes, money and the great out doors. I am thankful for books because I love to read them. I'm thankful for my family and freinds beacause they comfort me and keep me company. I'm thankful for school becaue they teach me the things I need to [new page] to grow up and be what I want to be there. I'm thankful for crayons because I can draw with them. I'm thankful for food because I can eat it so I don't starve. I thankful for trees because they give me oxigan to breath. I'm thankful for clothes because they cover me up and keep me warm. I'm thankful for money because I can pay for usful things. I'm thankful for the great outdoors because they give me a place to go when I'm
Crayons were obviously very important to me. In a letter left for my parents for when they visit the classroom on Back to School Night, I wrote "By the way you can look at my crayons but don't mess with them because I sorted them out in my free time." XD Harsh! Anyway, I just love that list. I also managed to spell because correctly a couple times!
And now for the darker side of my third grade experience. The teasing, the anger, the drama!!
Dear Ms. Henry
I am very, very glad I moved away from Ryan. Don't worry, I can still see the board. He
I don't really remember Ryan now. But I remember the next kid that gave me trouble. Erich loomed somewhat large in my elementary school career. He was a bit of a trouble kid--very loud, would often have to sit separate from everyone else. By the way, I obviously haven't learned about quotation marks at this point.
Teasing
Once Erich _____ teased me about being little. I felt angry, scared, sad, and embarased. It was terrible. He said things like, Laura can't do it because she's so small. Erich was probably in a mean mood when he said those things. I read lot of books with in which the main charac
Damn him. By the way, in response to this outpouring of the soul, Miss Henry wrote "Very Nice Laura, I'm glad that your mature enough to understand that teasaing is wrong."
She was apparently not that smart a woman. No wonder I still have trouble with "you're" and "your"! There's another spot where I wrote "chiming," referring to what windchimes do, and she said it should be spelled "chimming." ::sigh::
Hopefully those two entries will give insight into what is possibly the most revealing entry in the book. Actually, I'm sort of serious about that. I had a really, really terrible temper when I was little, and now I really try to keep it tightly reined in, but it's hard.
Why I GET MAD AT OTHER PEopLE
Sometimes when I yell it's for no reason,
Oy. I got so angry. And it sucked. Mike could really upset me. The Band song "Tears of Rage" is about parents mourning their child, i think, but it always makes me think of my own childhood, because I would always be crying and it was usually tears of rage. I hated it, you know? I didn't like being that angry, that upset. I guess I pulled myself together, though. But not before I got in trouble for hitting people. Which is funny, because I really was incredibly tiny. Erich was not making this up, I was a shrimp. I'm small now, but height-wise I'm just normal small, and not incredibly short (I'm almost 5'4", which is short, but back then I was one of the shortest people in the grade--truly tiny). Also, I don't understand my inconsistent capitalization in the title. The capitalization of rage, perhaps?
Anyway. That's enough of that. XD Sorry for dragging you along on that. But, you know, I found it highly entertaining. Until it got bittersweet at the end, there. Let's see if I wildly messed up my html.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 09:16 pm (UTC)Oh, and I like troquise too.
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Date: 2006-01-15 10:52 pm (UTC)Were you in my class that year? Or did you have. . . was it Ms. Keating?
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Date: 2006-01-16 05:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 09:37 pm (UTC)This was highly amusing, thank you for posting it. I need to look for my childhood journal. I'm sure it is somewhere.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 10:56 pm (UTC)My mom is very economical, and we've been using the blank pages at the end of this journal as paper for pictionary games.
Now that I think of it, if this was any sort of diary and not actually written for human consumption in the first place, it might be more embarassing even now.
On another note--I actually just got your voicemail messages about Bethpage! My phone has been off almost all break, and I did turn it on a couple times to check for messages, but for some reason it wasn't alerting me to yours, and I just got them. And I was wondering if you'd decided not to go or if I just missed you. And then I didn't go on Wednesday, because no one would be able to drive me there--I'm sorry! I hope you didn't go and were disappointed or anything. :( Oh dear. I always seem to be not responding to your messages! I can't believe this has happened again! So sorry!
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Date: 2006-01-15 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-16 12:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-16 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 10:57 pm (UTC)Glad you enjoyed it :)
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Date: 2006-01-15 10:40 pm (UTC)The whole pronouncing "k" sounds as "t" sounds is something I've also encountered. A kid called Eloise at my old church (when she was about 3) used to do the same. She's talk about putting on her "toat" when it was cold.
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Date: 2006-01-15 11:01 pm (UTC)I remember in first grade or something, at the PLC (I realize now that I forgot to explain what the PLC and ILC are--Primary Learning Center, for grades 1-3, and Intermediate Learning Center for grades 4-6) I was doing a book report on "Cookie Monster Bakes a Cake," and the librarian (Mrs. Blaise--such a sweetheart) just had no clue what I was saying--"Tootie Monster Bates a Tate?" and the whole class, who knew how I spoke, translated for me. :) It was very cute.
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Date: 2006-01-16 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-16 01:13 am (UTC)