Through the Past Dorkily: Good Deal

Editor's note: Through the Past Dorkily is a recurring feature that looks back at the embarrassingly dorky diary I kept as a 16-year-old in 1984.

Saturday, June 30, 1984

Song of the day: Mirror, Mirror - Def Leppard

I hadda get up at 6. I was sacking for at least an hour this morning. I hate sacking!

I work tomorrow from 12-7, Wed from 3-10, Friday and Saturday 3-10.

I called Jeremy after I got home. He said [cute girl's] party is on Wednesday (damn!). He said his party is on Thursday (I think) and she would be there. [His girlfriend] said [cute girl] is dumping her old boyfriend. Good deal.

- The Barbarian

Sunday, July 1, 1984

Song of the day: The Last in Line - Dio

Got up at 9 and went to church. Me and JP took the wine and bread up the aisle this morning.

At work, [supervisor] said I could have Wednesday off. And he said I could have vacation starting July 14. Good deal!

I met [cute girl] twice while working today. She was looking good! She said her party was now on Thursday and that they are going to Canobie Lake on Tuesday. She said [Jeremy's girlfriend] would fill me in on the details.

Awesome. I don't have to work until Friday!

- The Barbarian

Monday, July 2, 1984

Song of the day: Anything You Want, You Got It - April Wine

Top 5 at Five
1. Lights Out - Peter Wolf
2. Round and Round - Ratt
3. Sunglasses at Night - Corey Hart
4. Worthless Thing - Elvis Costello
5. The Warrior - Scandal

Slept in today. Didn't do much of anything. Jeremy called and said that [cute girl's] party is on Tuesday and Thursday. Tomorrow we're supposed to meet her at Canobie Lake Park at 6. Mom said I could go. I hope she gets home before 6!

Nice beach day today.

- The Barbarian

Tuesday, July 3, 1984

Song of the day: Lights Out - Peter Wolf

Top 5 at Five
1. Lights Out - Peter Wolf
2. Missing You - John Waite
3. Sunglasses at Night - Corey Hart
4. My Oh My - Slade
5. Smuggler's Blues - Glenn Frey

Good deal. The day went by uneventfully. It was hot, humid and sunny. But around 4:30, it started raining. I called Jeremy and he said we were still going. Then Mom called and said she was coming home late. When Dad got home, I managed to talk him into letting me take the car to Canobie. Boy, am I glad he did! We got there at 6:30. [Cute girl] was looking good! A bunch of guys from the party a month ago were there.

[Cute girl] was pretty receptive! By the end of the evening, we were holding hands! We went on all the rides together. I bought her a balloon. We went on the roller coaster 3 times, the flume 3 times and lots more. Things are looking up! Thursday's party should be interesting!

Tomorrow we're going to the beach.

I like! I like! I LIKE!

- The Barbarian   

Wednesday, July 4, 1984

Song of the day: Star Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix

Top 5 at Five
1. Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen
2. Deeper and Deeper - The Fixx
3. Star Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix
4. Rock Me Tonite - Billy Squier
5. Round and Round - Ratt

Boy. First, it took me until 10 to talk Dad into giving me his car. Then me, Jeremy and his girlfriend headed for Hampton Beach. About 15 miles from it, cars were lined up. So we turned around and went back. We went to [Jeremy's girlfriend's] house and swam in her pool all day. It was great! I had lunch there and went home at 4. When I got home, I washed the cars. Then I had dinner and went back to [Jeremy's girlfriend's] at 7 to watch TV. Unfortunately, we couldn't get ahold of [cute girl]. She must've gone out with her family somewhere. Oh well. We watched MTV. I saw Whitesnake (Slow an' Easy), Def Lep (Me and My Wine), Rush (Dist. Early Warning). It was great. We also watched Jaws 3 and this stupid flick called Summer Camp. We left at 11.

Big day tomorrow.

- The Barbarian

Thursday, July 5, 1984

Song of the day: Gimme All Your Lovin' - ZZ Top

WOW! What a day. It started off quietly but ended with a bang! After taking Mom to work at 12 and then getting my paycheck ($91.09), having lunch and all that, I went to [cute girl's] party. And boy, am I glad that I did! First, we had a massive water balloon fight. Then it started to rain heavily. We went in and I whomped on Tony in Intellivision baseball. We had pizza for dinner. To make a long story short, after everyone else left, me and [cute girl] got real close1 She is awesome! We were kissing a lot! Things are definitely looking up!

[Cute girl], you are awesome!

- The (bitten by the love bug) Barbarian

Friday, July 6, 1984

Song of the day: Hangover - Max Webster

[Cute girl, cute girl, cute girl]. Boy, am I lucky! I called her twice today. Once from home for a couple of minutes, and once at work during my break. She is awesome!

[Guitar-playing buddy] comes back from his vacation tomorrow. [Cute girl from school] is back from hers. Man, she's almost as brown as me!

They pulled it off. Jeremy and his girlfriend spent the night at his uncle's house. Those two are animals! Ha ha!

Mom said that I might be able to get a car before summer's over, if I save up my moolah! I hope so.

- The Barbarian

Saturday, July 7, 1984

Song of the day: Missing You - John Waite

What a boring day. All I did was watch tennis on TV and go to work. I didn't even have time to call [cute girl], dammit! Plus it rained all day.

All in all a lousy day.

- The Barbarian

Postscript: Ah, here we go again. It didn't take me much to get me in love puppy mode. Yeesh. Can't you just feel the setup for a big fall again? Still, she WAS  pretty cute.

"Sacking," of course, refers to the ancient art of grocery bagging. It was pretty much considered the shittiest job in a store full of shit jobs. By comparison, my regular Market Basket gig of stocking shelves was pretty cool. We got to go out back and screw around every so often and swipe a soda here and there. And the night crews (still to come) were even better. But whenever things were crazy or somebody had called in sick, they made us go up front and bag groceries and man, was it awful. Inevitably, you had old ladies with 57 cans of cat food that you had to distribute among enough bags so they weren't too heavy, but you also had to make sure there weren't too many bags to carry. The worst.

With two working parents, I was put in the perpetual position of having to beg to use one of the cars. It was easier to deal with my mom, but every so often, I had to work on my dad, and that wasn't an easy task. Fortunately, after he got home from work, he never went anywhere, so it was just a matter of getting permission. Still, took a lot of time and effort.

It's easy to forget nowadays that Peter Wolf's first post-J. Geils band solo album was a big deal. Definitely went with a dance vibe: