Comments on Magpie Musing: And There Are So Many

I had the painful pleasure to read through many of...

2012-02-07T03:47:12.315-05:00

I had the painful pleasure to read through many of my childhood diaries while I was cleaning out my mother's house. They were charmingly banal, yet with little glimpses of the real feelings, the ones that represent who I was to become. I laughed at myself at each page, and then, with courage I hadn't had before, put them in the big garbage bag and let them go. (Okay, maybe I kept one.)

I love how you found that part of you, visible, peeking out between the childlike details, that one poignant phrase that helps you recognize your most original self.

I kept handwritten journals from the time I was 11...

2012-02-04T11:27:51.395-05:00

I kept handwritten journals from the time I was 11 until I was about 40. I still have some I write in, but not the way I did before. One summer I went back and re-read the early ones, and marveled at how much I had changed and how I had stayed the same.

The only old journal I have is written in French. ...

2012-01-30T23:43:37.017-05:00

The only old journal I have is written in French. Mon dieu!

i have kept my middle and high school journals, wh...

2012-01-30T16:02:12.221-05:00

i have kept my middle and high school journals, which my all means SHOULD be burnt to a crisp, in the hope that someday I will read them and have some sympathy for my daughter at that age. But maybe I should just burn them.

i like the idea that thoughts RUN your head, not "in" your head. ;)

And here I am, Miss Dissin. Honestly, I'm not ...

2012-01-30T15:34:23.077-05:00

And here I am, Miss Dissin. Honestly, I'm not sure why we collected and commented on your journals, but I think it means we cared. Love your blog. I had Mrs. Gordon too! Wasn't she great.

There's something gratifying and unnverving ab...

2012-01-30T13:38:28.403-05:00

There's something gratifying and unnverving about those old diaries. A few years ago, I spent some hours leafing through mine--I was reminded of so much...yet I was also rather mortified...and ever so glad I'm not completely that girl any more.

Well noted, though, that your blog is The New Kitty.

Funny how "the same" we stay. When we wa...

2012-01-29T23:41:52.244-05:00

Funny how "the same" we stay. When we watch old videos, I hear the video echo me ... because I find myself saying the same things, laughing the same way, in the same places ... as I did back then.

That's so funny about the handwriting--I remem...

2012-01-29T20:20:32.702-05:00

That's so funny about the handwriting--I remember working so hard to decide in which direction I would slant my writing. In the end, I went conventional.

But Santa slants the opposite way.

I recently went through my old notebooks and cring...

2012-01-29T02:17:04.359-05:00

I recently went through my old notebooks and cringed. I had to throw a few away, they were so bad. What a fun gem to find! I have a notebook I carry around trying to capture all those thoughts running in my head and I STILL can't write them all down.

This makes me smile. (And like you, I also am fr...

2012-01-28T12:12:12.703-05:00

This makes me smile.

(And like you, I also am frequently blogging in my head when I am doing other things. As an academic, I should really be doing things like designing experiments and working out new analyses in my head when I'm driving around or doing laundry, but instead I find my head blogging...) (Also, I have my diaries from about age 17 through 20. When I looked back at them a few years ago, thinking they would be entertaining, I only felt pained by them. I took myself so darned seriously. I also mostly just complained. Very annoying to read...)

I love this. Also, your handwriting! Are you lef...

2012-01-28T09:48:42.414-05:00

I love this.

Also, your handwriting! Are you left-handed?

I ran across some of mine too. I wasn't crazy....

2012-01-28T02:58:17.879-05:00

I ran across some of mine too. I wasn't crazy. I was just plain stupid. I hope they stay burnt.

I think you seem very not crazy. When I read my di...

2012-01-28T01:29:22.282-05:00

I think you seem very not crazy. When I read my diaries from that age when I was in college I was like 'damn that girl was crazy.'

Then I threw them all away, which I regret.

How true! And how well I remember those days of c...

2012-01-27T22:12:51.791-05:00

How true! And how well I remember those days of changing ink and changing handwriting. I still love ink colors, actually.

Oh god - when I come across my old diaries I hide ...

2012-01-27T20:14:54.560-05:00

Oh god - when I come across my old diaries I hide my face and make the sign of the cross. The cheesiness...the narcissism...the horror...

love this one

2012-01-27T20:03:29.962-05:00

love this one

Our younger selves are such entertaining strangers...

2012-01-27T17:56:42.305-05:00

Our younger selves are such entertaining strangers...but there is always a little something recognizable there, too.

i have my diary from the 9th grade too...funny stu...

2012-01-27T16:22:00.001-05:00

i have my diary from the 9th grade too...funny stuff. Gah!