Tuesday, January 29, 2013

"Everyone knows diaries are full of crap"

“Everyone knows diaries are full of crap”
Bridget Jones.



When I was twelve I started writing a diary. The cover was a washed out watercolour of pink and yellow flowers. I stuck a post it note on the first page and then (presumably because post-it notes cannot be relied upon) used stickers to frame it and keep it in place. On the post it note I wrote:



“The Amazing and death defying diary of Catherine Rodie. KEEP OUT” 

Or "Death Defing" because although it was undiagnosed at the time (how?) I was (and still am) dyslexic. 

  
To be honest it was a bit of an over sell and apart from a few worrying insights into my twelve-year-old psyche it is mostly incredibly dull.



21st November, 1990. 8pm
Today I decided to keep a diary. The things I will remember about today are:
1)    I am going on a diet*.
2)    I hate Lorna**
3)   I am writing a diary.



I then go on to quote the headlines from the Guardian, which seems like a strange thing to do given I had no understanding and very little interest in the politics of the day. 



I followed the headlines with the top ten, which I was probably more interested in and then what I claim to be my favourite poem (The hug war, which although very sweet is no longer my favourite poem).



I waffle on in that manner for months, listing a few mandate details from my day followed by headlines from the paper, random quotes and most bizarrely excerpts from famous diary’s such as Anne Frank and Samuel Peeps. Perhaps I thought that my own ‘amazing and death defying’ diary would also make it into the history books.



And perhaps it will, with insightful gems such as:


“last night Skimbleshanks [our family cat] stayed out all night. We were really worried. She came home this morning”



and..



“Nothing happened today”



But even if it doesn’t, I’m glad I kept it (along with the many others that followed). There is nothing remotely ‘amazing’ or ‘death defying’ about it, but it is a piece of my history. 

-- * --

*I need a whole post to talk about how sad I felt when I read this line. 



**Lorna, if you’re reading this, I didn’t really hate you. I was just cross that you didn’t sit next to me in double maths.



Did you keep a diary?
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25 comments:

  1. I bet the dairy brought back alot of memories! My sister recently sent me a bundle of my stash that was at her place. In it were a couple of dairies, but bot daily entry ones. Just the kind you doodle in during school and proclaim your love to certain boys.

    On the cover of one is "All mean are bastards". Heh I was probably 16.

    :( about Lorna.

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    1. The diary I kept when I was 17 had loads of stuff like that in it. And my fried Lorna (the same!) drew a picture of the moon with the quote "they put one man on the moon, why can't they put them all there!" xx

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  2. Lol I have a couple stashed away as well and can totally relate. They are embarrassing in their 'nothingness' alternating with teenage angst. Now we write blogs so the whole world can see! We can't really stash these away :)

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    1. PS feel free to link this to Flashback Friday at end of week if you wish xx

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  3. I kept books of notes and ponderings, not sure I ever had a diary though? Oh hang on! Yes ... I'm keeping one right now. Well Deep Fried Fruit is after all "the diary of a fit, fabulous and slightly fatigued 40(ish) year old". Which often has wonderous gems like "nothing happened today" and is sure to rival Anne Frank. My last post about nothing was only yesterday ...
    It seems I am not too far removed from your 12 year old self Catherine.
    Leanne @ Deep Fried Fruit

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  4. I started keeping journals / diaries from about 12 as well and they are one of the few possessions i have stashed at my mother's place in the states. I left to go overseas at 22 years old so there is a box full of journals filled with 10 years of my musings, dramas and poems. I am almost 41 and have not read them in the last 19 years!! someday ...

    i love that you called it death defying!!

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  5. I kept many diaries
    This post has inspired me to go home, dig them all out and see what wonders they hold xx

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  6. I totally kept a diary and it was filled with boring stuff like. We went to town, came home, had lunch, I fed the chooks and we had a roast lamb for dinner. It wasn't until I got older that i realised diaries were meant for feelings! Must dish mine up. However, as I got older I did write a diary, and it has some juicy tidbits in for shizzle!!

    BTW Catherine - I nominated you for a Sunshine Award today - please visit my IBOT today for details!!! I look forward to reading your replies to the questions = Emily

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  7. I just read through my childhood diary a couple of nights ago. My favourite line when I was 7 was: "I am not going to have any dreams tonight, because Womby told me so." I loved reading through the lens of the tiny me. x

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  8. I tried keeping a diary on a number of occasions throughout my youth too and I found my travel diary from my honeymoon a week or so back. That was a funny read - apparently I saw FAME while I was in London for my honeymoon but I have absolutely no memory of it! You've gotta love the usefulness of diaries...

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    1. It must have been a good show! Yes there is loads of stuff that I would have forgotten about so I'm really pleased that I kept it up.

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  9. i kept several diaries over the years, unfortunately (perhaps fortunately) they all met their demise. I can barely read what I wrote last week without cringing let alone what I wrote 20 years ago!

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  10. I love it! I used to keep heaps of diaries as a kid and its so funny (and sometimes sad) to look back and read some of the things I wrote. I remember the first entry of the one I started in 94 goes "I hate my sister Amy. She is so annoying. I wish she would move out and I could have my own room". Life was hard when I was 12!

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    1. There is loads of love/hate stuff about my sister, including a letter to her just in case she was secretly reading it!

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    2. Oh my god, I did the same thing too! I was so sure she was reading it and I used to sometimes bait her with it!

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  11. about 6 months ago I would have though you odd to have kept a diary, let alone kept the diary you were keeping. Now though...

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  12. My old diaries were torrid accounts of unrequited love. They have all been violently destroyed. Also this post is making me feel really old because I can remember clubbing to some of the songs mentioned in your Top 10.

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    1. There is plenty of unrequited love later on down the track!

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  13. Ohhh! I love that you kept this diary. It reveals so much about your life (no matter how banal or simple it was!). And you know what, you're so LUCKY that you didn't have huge emotional issues to write about as a kid. Now I want to re-read mine! Fi xxx

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    1. I think that I did have lots of feelings to write about but I didn't know how. For me the line "I am going on a diet" is really loaded. My diarys from my late teens/early twenties are much juicer! xx

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  14. Yay for Skimbleshanks making it back home!!! I have heaps of my old diaries around here and at my folks' home. God. Sometimes I shudder at what I wrote. Other times I think, well, I don't write that much differently to today. Good to have all this memorabilia, C xxx

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