Wednesday:

Got an ee from Dawn saying that her archeology theories is actually going on a real archeological dig, a kind of internship that's supposed to last until T-day break. Amalia Vargas, a friend of hers, goes to Tucson U. with her. She also keeps in touch with her other west coast friends, Sunny Winslow, who goes to San Francisco U., Maggie Blume, who is at Arcata U. and Jill Henderson, who's now at Ann Arbor U. in Michigan. I met them a few times back in high school; they're a good group. Abby and Anna's birthday is coming up this Friday, so Kristy, Mona, and the rest of our gang are going down to New Jersey to see them. I have their b-day presents already; all's I have to do is wrap them. They'll be twenty-one big ones. Got homework and laundry to do, so talk later.



Friday:

Am getting ready to head over to Abby and Anna's in Jersey. The weather's definitely turned to fall and is crisp. Just another week or so and the trees will be in their peak. Am making a lot of progress on the paper I'm working on; maybe I'll have it done before T-day break. Kristy and Shane are right downstairs with Greta and Wyser. Mona's in the bathroom and I myself am doing some last-minute running around before we leave. Claud ee'd, so I ee'd back. She says the weather over in Minnesota has gotten a lot cooler and the trees there are in their peak. By November, most of their leaves are gone. Soo, we're about to hit it and catch the subway, so talk over the weekend!


Sunday night:

Had a fun, eventful weekend. Went over to Abby and Anna's Friday night, took them out to eat. Their mom was there too and all of us had a good time. Kind of reminded me of when my folks came last month for my b-day. Now they and their mom have evolved into an adult-to-adult relationship. Their mom's doing all right; she's moving to a condo in the spring. There are more and more condos and apartments springing up in the old town and some of the condos have terrific deals on them. She'll also be eligible to retire in a few years. Wow, strange to think of your parents being old enough to RETIRE. My own folks are in their early fifties now, so their retirement is around thirteen years away. Bizarre to think of parents being old. Speaking of which...I read a little more of the book on Anne Sullivan and am now up to the part where she's middle-aged and Helen is in her late twenties and their relationship evolved like that...they ended up relating as two mature adults rather than teacher and child. Now, it was a point where Helen started looking out for Annie and protecting her. Anyway, back to this weekend...once we got back from the great eat-out, we had the gifts for them and cake and everything. We had a cake for each of them actually, a chocolate sports one for Abby since she loves chocolate like Claud and I do and a lemon-frosted carrot cake for Anna with music notes on top in orange icing. They loved it! And it was good seeing them again as well as their mom. Came back home late that night and I worked Saturday afternoon after sleeping the morning away. Then Saturday night, Mona, Kristy, and I headed out to eat and cruise the city a while. Looked at the WTC memorial. Until the new building is built, there are two huge flashlights lighting two "towers" in the sky. It's really haunting and beautiful and still makes my heat squeeze remembering the tragedy that took so many lives. Stayed up as late as shit even once we got back. Greta and Wyser had been out on a date and got back and we watched a video and hogged out on junk food and sodas. Then played this game called If. It's a matter of asking these questions like *Would you eat a bowl of crickets to save a life* and *If you could meet any historical person, who would it be?* Things like that. It's a fun game. I picked Anne Sullivan as the person I'd like to meet. She was one strong woman to have endured so much pain in her life as well as her handicap of being almost blind. I read about her life and think, God, how easy my life is in comparison! We're very lucky to live today. So, this afternoon, all of us...Kristy, Greta, Wyser, Mona, Shane and I took a walk to Central Park and walked around there and just admired the trees. They're sooo beautiful! In the middle of the buildings and all, it's harder to see the color, so I'm glad NYC has a huge park. The day was pretty good too. Cloudy, actually, but nice and cool. Haven't had any real cold days yet. Headed back late that afternoon and it started to drizzle. It's still drizzling now as I write this. It kind of gives me a nice peaceful, misty feeling inside. I wonder if it will rain tomorrow?



Thursday:

Didn't rain most of the week, but is raining today. I'm watching the rain from the windows of the student cafe between classes while I grab a snack. Looks pretty wetting the leaves, which are almost in their peak. The student lounge and cafe are decked out with pumpkins and cats and all. Hard to believe fall is almost in its peak. Stacey ee'd. Doesn't have a cold, but is still coughing. She's working on a huge term paper too. Am reading through my School Government text, going over the next few chapters, devouring a chocolate doughnut and tea and am writing her seemingly all at once. Hope I don't get doughnut frosting on you, Journal. Interesting how the public school system here in NYC is. Most of the schools are just numbers, but some have names. Wonder how they decide some of the names. The old town's schools were easy...Stoneybrook Elementary, Stoneybrook Middle, then Stoneybrook High. I guess with our old town, SHS was the main one because there are other high schools in Stoneybrook. SHS is the biggest one, though. I remember how there were about nine hundred or so students when my BSC friends and I started there, then the summer after our tenth grade year, there were school re-zonings, and the fall of eleventh grade, we got a whole wad of new students, raising SHS's population to over eleven hundred. One top of that, the high school in the rural district of Stoneybrook was falling apart, declared by the county to be a "failing" school, so it was completely closed down for re-building and its students were scattered and many of them came to SHS. I wonder how SHS is doing these days. I wonder how Ms. Silverbein, the principal there is doing. She was great. Is widowed and raised three kids by herself; her youngest is a year older than us, which means she probably graduated from college last year. Wonder if she's in grad school now or has a career started.



Tuesday:

Kristy got an ee from Karen and says that the next generation of the BSC is doing well. In another year, some of them will be ready to graduate from high school, so like us, they'll be training the NEXT generation of the Baby-Sitters' Club. Wow. That'll be the BSC Third Generation. Hard to believe Karen, Charlotte, Becca, Vanessa, and the rest of the gang are almost ready for college. I wonder if they'll be sick of living in the old town like most of us original BSC were. I remember how back in the spring of our senior year, almost all of us couldn't wait to get out on our own...senioritis, I guess. Stacey, though, had a hard time leaving the old town. Finally, her mom and the rest of us were able to convince her that it was the best move toward independence. Now she's happy in Vermont. I just finished more work on my paper and a wad of homework, so I have a little time to write here. Yeah, spring of senior year was an emotional time for all of us. I was sick of living in the old town, yet a little sad about leaving...maybe the fact that one stage of our lives were ending and another one beginning. I smiled a little as I remembered that I'd been getting ready to leave for school and I guess was still upset over breaking up with Tim Hastings and looked a little pale. Dad had gotten a little overprotective and had asked if I was sure I wanted to go to school. I'd gotten frustrated and exploded with a *Goddammit, I don't need to babied; I'm seventeen!* Fortunately, Dad and Sharon understood and weren't upset. I'd apologized for blowing off. Thinking back, it was the usual growing pains. I was fortunate that Dad and Sharon let me grow up and be independent. I know some parents have a hard time realizing that their grown kids are adults and still try to treat them like kids. Getting sleepy, so I'm about to brush my teeth and go to sleep.




More later!