December 14, 1992

That's real chinsy, don't U think? It looks like some dead tree. Of course I'm talking about my decorations.¹ We got one of those fake trees this year which really got me upset cuz it's like a tradition, but what got me even more mad was that we put it in a different spot, which was even more untraditional. Well, anyways, I finally started on my shopping yesterday and I bought my brother the BOBBY BROWN CD cuz he'd kill me if I didn't -- and, plus, I got my cousins' friend the exact same CD at half-price. What the hell? It wasn't half-price. It was only 2 dollars off. Damn, it's like last year when I inadvertantly referred to Mrs Gawlik as Ms Brubeck. Well, anyways, I have to give him a present (his name is Luis) cuz he's staying w/the family for a few months instead of his hometown of Guatemala City, Guatemala, and I figured this was as good as any. If it wasn't on sale, I'd probably get MTV Party to Go Vol. 2 or Boomerang cuz I could dub it. Speaking of which, Steve still hasn't given me his tape 2 dub even though he's been telling me for months that he would. We had a volleyball tournament in Godparents² last nite where we ended up at an even .500 record of 2-2. We won the first game against Dudkowski, which featured an old bag that Steve + I called the "OH SHIT" lady becuz whenever the ball came near her, she'd always miss it and mutter "OH SHIT" -- What a bitch! Anyway's we won, 15-10 even though we clearly could've scored more. The second game we lost to Monica Koenig's team -- I don't remember the score -- but we lost 15-5. The third game was the oddest of all becuz we were down 5-3 when someone on the other team tipped it over the net where Steve was. Steve complained that the basketball hoop was in the way and so he was arguing with the ref. Meanwhile, the other team was serving, and Steve realized that it was coming right at him so he raced in and hit it. Well, that was good, but he hit it over this really tall wall onto a platform that no one could reach. Eventually, Jim O'Brien ended up scaling the wall of a back room to get to it, but everyone was blaming Steve for it. So, then, after the game, which we lost, Steve was coming down real hard on himself. However, I was scorekeeper in another rare game taking place at that time, which I will have 2 discuss later due to the unusual circumstance that the bell will ring soon.

[Marginalia: 1. I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston 2. If I Ever Fall in Love - Shai 3. Rump Shaker - Wreckx-N-Effect 4. In the Still of the Nite - Boyz II Men 5. I'd Die Without You - P.M. Dawn]³

1 I've drawn the date in the corner of the page and attempted to dangle ornaments from the numbers.

2 A Catholic youth group I belonged to. Each kid was assigned to an area couple (mine was the Biddles), who led a group of eight or so in religious discussions every Sunday night.

3 These weren't my favorite songs but the top five songs in the country that week. Around this time, I was obsessed with the Billboard charts.