Through the Past Dorkily: Barbarian at the Gate

Happy 2013! Yeah, I know we're five days in already but I've been busy with work and such. Anyway, I'm pledging to do more blogmatizing this year and one way I'm doing so is by launching a new, embarrassing recurring feature. It's called Through the Past, Dorkily and is inspired by a blog I stumbled upon last year called A Geek's Journal - 1976, in which a guy reprinted his high school journal from 1976 on a regular basis 35 years later. There's some terrifically geeky stuff in it, and he actually proceeded to do the same with his first journal from 1974 last year.

As it turns out, I kept my own dorky diary in 1984 for the whole year. I'm not sure exactly why I decided to do it. We had a 1982 diary kicking around the house that I stumbled across and some point in late '83, I resolved to keep a diary the following year. Of course, I had to cross out the days of the week and write in the actual day, but other than that, I was good to go. And good lord, is there some embarrassing shit in this thing. But I figure there will be some good comedy to mine from it, not to mention the fact that it was a whole different world back then.

A little background: I was 16 at the beginning of 1984. We had moved to Kingston, NH, seven months earlier and I had begun my junior year of high school that fall. It was a small school, but I made friends fairly quickly. I also was given the nickname "Kumar the Barbarian," which I embraced wholeheartedly; hence, I signed off each entry as "The Barbarian." Told you it was dorky.

There are still a lot of references to Washington state, which is where we had spent the previous two years before moving to the Northeast. I mostly write about the day-to-day shizz going on, like sports and school and my endless quest for a girlfriend. I'm changing the names of some folks (i.e., the girls I dated and/or liked) since I still know most of them and besides, I'm the only one who should be embarrassed by this, not them. Everything else will be verbatim.

My plan right now is to reprint most of my 1984 entries. Some days I forgot to write anything, and some I barely wrote anything. I used to write before I went to bed, so it wasn't always the most coherent stuff. I also started including the WAAF-FM Top 5 at 5, the Worcester rock station's top songs of the day, which I listened to religiously, and later in the year, I started designating my own song of the day as well. I'll include that info as well. I'll annotate occasionally with a background info when necessary.

So since I dropped the ball on starting this feature on Jan. 1, I'm going to catch up by including the first five days in this post and then doing one a day when appropriate. Without further ado, let's get going...

Sunday, January 1, 1984
WOW. MAN, IT'S 1984. THIS SHOULD BE A GOOD YEAR SINCE THE LAST TWO SUCKED. I THINK I'LL USE CURSIVE FROM NOW ON. HERE GOES: Ah yes, that's better. One thing for sure, 1983 went by wicked fast.

Oboy! Now I've got 3 whole pages done on my College Lit research paper. Now I've only got 9 more to go. Who says I don't get my work done? And it's only due in 3 days. No problem, right? Right.

Ever since noon today I've been listening to the WAAF Album Countdown. Top 107 of '83. I've been writing 'em down, too. Maiden's 'Piece of Mind' only hit 80. Of course, this is only for New England. It probably did better in other areas of the U.S. (Ed. note: Yeah, probably not.)

Hey, the Seahawks kicked Miami 27-20 yesterday. They're pretty good this year. They'll play the LA Raiders next week in the AFC championship game. Meanwhile, the Redskins romped all over the Raqms, 51-7. Hah! They play San Francisco next week. They'll moider 'em!!

The Leafs trashed the Kings 5-3 last night. Now they got 35 points.

'Pyromania' was the number one album on the countdown. Good job!

3 more days till school starts up again. Great.

Now let's see if I can keep this up for a whole year.

- The Barbarian

Monday, January 2, 1984
WAAF Top 5 at Five
1. Jump - Van Halen
2. She Was Hot - The Rolling Stones 
3. Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
4. Sister Christian - Night Ranger
5. 99 Red Balloons - Nena (this song bites)

Not much doing today. We took down all our Christmas decorations today. I managed to finish 7 pages in my research paper. 5 more to go, I should get it done tomorrow. A lot of bowl games but I don't really care about college football anyway. (Ed. note: My views on this topic haven't changed.)

Van Halen's new album "1984" is coming out on Friday. "Jump" is a good song but there's more keyboards than guitars. Nice solo, though.

Not too much to write about so I'll catch you tomorrow.

- The Barbarian

Tuesday, January 3, 1984
JOHN PAUL JONES' BIRTHDAY

WAAF Top 5 at Five
1. Jump - Van Halen
2. 99 Red Balloons - Nena
3. Sister Christian - Night Ranger
4. It Can Happen - Yes
5. Looks that Kill - Motley Crue

Yaaah! I finally finished my research paper rough draft!! Ended up as 14 pages! Couldn't do my essay questions because 1) I forgot my book and 2) I don't know the questions. I got a Christmas card from Dave White. It was cool. I wrote him a letter today. (Ed. note: Dave White was a buddy of mine from my previous school. For a few years, I was pretty good about staying in touch with my old buddies.)

There was a car accident up by Hunt road around 7:20 PM. I went out to take a look. There was were two cars involved. A little red Honda (or something like it) got trashed by another black car (couldn't tell what make it was). They closed off the road for a couple of hours. (Ed. note: We lived right on a two-lane highway and every so often there would be a serious accident.)

I watched the first and third periods of the Bruins-Islanders. Boston won 4-2. The Leafs play St. Louis tonight. Last I heard it was 5-3 for St. Louis after 2. Damn! 

The number one album on the New England album countdown was Genesis - Genesis. Motley Crue's album "Shout at the Devil" finished at 11. Not bad.

Well, it's back to school tomorrow. It was getting kind of boring around here anyways.

- The Barbarian

Wednesday, January 4, 1984
WAAF Top 5 at Five
1. Jump - Van Halen
2. Sister Christian - Night Ranger
3. Looks That Kill - Motley Crue
4. I Wanna New Drug - Huey Lewis and the News
5. Shooting Shark - Blue Oyster Cult

Found out the final score on that Leafs-St. Louis game. St. Louis won 8-3. Blast!!!!

School was the same as always - it sucked! I finished that essay test tonight. It was 3 pages long. I got moved again in Geography! That hosebag [redacted] moved me and I wasn't even talking, for Pete's sake! Mike C. was talking to me. I was just sitting there! If I'm moved one more time, I'll probably get kicked out. (Ed. note: I had always been a good student, but I also had always been something of a smartass. In NH, I quickly gained a reputation as both. I may have gone a little overboard being silly in class.)

Heard a new Judas Priest song, "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll." It's kickass!

I can't wait till the weekend, man. This week is a pain in the neck.

I gotta start practising my guitar. I haven't practised in a week!

I don't feel like writing anymore.

- The Barbarian

Thursday, January 5, 1984
JIMMY PAGE'S BIRTHDAY

WAAF Top 5 at Five
1. Jump - Van Halen
2. 99 Red Balloons - Nena
3. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll - Judas Priest
4. Nobody Told Me - John Lennon
5. Sister Christian - Night Ranger

The Leafs lost to Chicago 5-1 last night. What's wrong with them? They can't win two games in a row!

O-MY-GOSH DEPT. CB's husband was the guy who died in that accident on Tuesday (he was in the VW Rabbit). I can't believe it! (Ed. note: I referenced this incident in my post last week about taking guitar lessons. CB was my guitar instructor. Contrary to what I wrote that post, I now believe we started up again after that incident until I went off to college.)

I got 96 on a Geography test I took around a month ago on Asia. [Redacted] wants me to take the Australia test that I missed (Ed. note: This particular teacher was not fond of my attitude. As a result, I was not fond of her.)

I drove today in Driver's Ed. It was the best I ever did. We went to Exeter. I didn't jerk the wheel once. She says we're gonna do parallel parking next. (Ed. note: Had we stayed in Washington state, I would have taken Driver's Education the previous summer and been driving a lot sooner. This was especially a bummer given the fact that where we lived in NH required one to pretty much drive everywhere.)

[Redacted] made an interesting analogy in College Lit today. He was talking about denotations and connotations, and used intercourse and fuck as an example. Right...

[Redacted] is having a skating party on Saturday but I've got no skates and no way of getting there! Why the hell do I have to live way out here in the boonies?"

- The Barbarian