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Friday
31August98

10:41 am
Jet setter that I am, I hopped on a plane at 6:20 am on Friday morning and made my way to Jacksonville, Florida for my sister's Bat Mitzva.   I only missed one class (the only class for which attendance counts: dance) and flew back in yesterday evening.   I have a good time, but did not complete my mounds of reading and managed to exhaust mysslef with time zone changes, baby sitting, and dancing all night long.

Everyone guessed me at about 15 years of age, which was fine, because I was the only one who could get wine.   Plus, I was told be one of the 13-year-olds that I am "like a cool twenty-year-old."

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Wednesday
26August98

11:29 am
Well, yesterday didn't go as I planned and I have lost a pinch of my enthusiasm about next semester, though I expect it to return soon.   I went to my Development Studies class and sat through the entire two hour lecture.   Only at the very end did the professor say "Seniors cannot take this course."   And I thought I had my schedule settled.   Then in dance, the head of the departmment said to me in front of the entire class that I didn't belong there.   I was so embarassed.   And after that class I had a second dance class which the department head taught.   I made my way to the back of the room and did my best to go unnoticed during my third and fourth hours of dance for the day.

Since I cannot take Dev Stud, I am going to try to get into Archaeology of the South Pacific.   I already miss Aurora, my best friend who is taking a semester abroad in London.   I am sure she'll have a blast.

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Tuesday
25August98

10:23 pm
Classes from 10 am till 9 pm and I am too tired to write.   I got out early from my last class, and walked Devon to his car to find it dead.   I had to call AAA and then run home to get my card because they could not find my membership number in the computer.   It was my good dead for the day, but it meant that I did not get to bed until late.

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Monday
24August98
The First Day of Classes -- Senior Year

11:47 am
I have come by the office and gotten myself online.   I flew from New York to Boston on Tuesday, Boston to Los Angeles on Wednesday, and LA to Berkeley on Thursday.   I enjoyed the last weekend of my summer and here I am.   I went to a lovely coctail party at Susie's on Saturday and spent the whole afternoon with Jenny -- a friend from highschool -- yesterday (Sunday).   This weekend one of my female friends told me I had nice breasts -- my first compliment from a female on my breasts ever.   I finished Douglas Adam's The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul just in time for the new school year.   I am very optimistic about the direction my life is going.   [I would highly recommend reading Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency before the book I mentioned above.]

1:28 pm
I am about to attend my first class: dance.   It is my only class on Wednesdays and Fridays.   I somehow managed to schedule all of my classes on Tuesday and Thursday.   I had a lovely time on the East Coast.   Martha's Vineyard was beautiful, even when we got a spot of rain.   I loved Boston and got to tour MIT.   I was the only potential grad student on the tour.   I really liked the school and will definately apply.   I did unfortunately encounter a surprisingly large number of rude administrative workers, but I have elected to not let that sway my decision making process.   My mom is plugging for me to go for a PhD as opposed to a Masters, so I have to look into that.

4:05 pm
I just had an excellent dance class.   I am looking forward to a semester of getting fit.   I fixed my web page because it wasn't showing up on the new server.   It is a glorious, sunny day.

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Thursday
6August98

12:51 pm
I am about to leave for my dad's house and tomorrow I will be on a plane at seven am.   I stayed up all night playing Civilization (a great computer game) -- not wanting to immerse myself in yet another book.   I miss my man but I am sure to have a great time at Martha's Vineyard.

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Wednesday
5August98

10:58 pm
I watched Conspiracy Theory with my brother.   It was a decent film and it was nice to joke around with him.   I read all day and finished Card's Ender's Game.   Tomorrow is my last day in LA.   My sister is beign an absolute pleasure.

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Tuesday
4August98

10:49 pm
I had a lovely day at my mother's house, but it is roasting in this city.   Nearly eleven and I am still dripping sweat.   Swimming was a nice break from the heat, and I had to reflect on how wonderful it was to grow up with a pool.   I never cease to be amazed by how spoiled I am.   I love my life.

11:04 pm
I am trying to get ahold of Him, but the line just rings.   I do like to cling to Him -- sometimes just the idea of him -- when we are apart.   I am heavily immersed in reading Ender's Game.   Nothing passes the hours like a good piece of sci-fi literature.

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Monday
3August98

5:32 pm
Today I flew to LA.

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Sunday
2August98

4:16 pm
I just finished reading The Hot Zone, and although the writing was bland, the story was riveting.   The afternoon is roasting, and I am waiting for it to cool off before I take a shower, or the effort will be futile.   Tomorrow I leave for LA.   My summer is over -- at least my time in Berkeley.   I have done a quarter of what I wanted to.   But I worked a lot and enjoyed his company for nearly ever long hot day.   My garden is thriving.   I tucked all of the plants from his porch into boxes which are now scattered about my room in places where they will get the optimum amount of light for the next few weeks.   I will be sad to miss them blooming as flower buds have appeared on several of my succulents.   Hopefully there will still be in flower when I return and I can take some decent photographs.   I am excited for an adventure on the east coast.   I tend to meet people wherever I go and though I am completely happy with my wonderful boyfriend, I do miss flirting every once in a while.   It is sometimes nice to be exceedingly polite and to have people perceive you as young and sweet, and bend over backwards to help you.   I have never understood people who get away with being rude in customer service jobs, though I have encountered quite a few.   Not that I haven't had my bad days.   But I generally don't take it out on the people for whom I am getting payed to help.   What is the sense in that?

I have a sort of empty feeling -- an anticipation.   I have no idea what my life will be like for the next few weeks.   I would love to see both Ben and Aurora while on the east coast, but I don't know if I will be able to arrange to see either.   I don't know how my twelve-year-old sister will behave towards me.   She could be terrible -- begining adolescence -- or she could be at the age where we could have amazing mind-probing conversations which she has rarely been capable of before.   My brother, whom I adore and get along with wonderfully, could decide that I am "uncool" and want to have nothing to do with me (having just turned seventeen), but I find that possibility remote.   My father is exceedingly stressed and I will do my best to see that he stays far from his breaking point on what is supposed to be a vacation.   I hope to read a lot and think of what I want for my future.   I have to decide if I want to apply to grad school (which I must begin soon) or start looking for places to which I should send out resumes.   A whole lifetime is a huge thing to hold in one's hand and try to point in the right direction.   Of course, my plans will be tentative -- as always -- but at least they will be in existance.   All plans are evanescent, and yet still so difficult to make.   I have told both of my parents to make lists of things I can do to make their lives easier when I come home, and I am prepared to run errands until Friday, when I leave for Boston at seven am.

Things are well with Him.   I adore him.   Every day with Hims is a completely new experience.   I have taken to giving his body parts nicknames.   His tongue is a lizard, His bum is named Vera, and I refer to His feet as "boatsers".   He will not be in school next semester, and I am concerned that He will return to His parents' home in LA.   I would miss Him terribly, and I worry that He would grow exceedingly depressed.   I am hoping He will opt to either work in the Bay Area or, preferably, take classes at a community college.   His lease is until January, so I hopefully have his for sure until then.   But who really knows what the future holds?

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Saturday
1August98

11:02 pm
I am completely exhausted from wandering around San Francisco shopping spots on a warm Saturday.   My feet are tired, but it was really the crowds that got to me.   Standing on the escalator at the San Francisco Shopping Center, I realized that this is what our society is all about.   All these people living the American dream.   Work real hard so you can go shopping on the weekend.   All the unhappy faces waiting to ride on the trolley car...   I have no idea how people determine what is recreation and what is displeasure.   I had a lovely dinner with my aunt and uncle and Him for the second night in a row.   They are visiting from Florida.   I have always been quite close with my Aunt Martha and am glad that through both of our efforts we manage to see each other every year or so.   My aunt is contemplating a move to LA while I consider plans to head to Boston for grad school.   She is not a blood relation and I would never have met her if her father had not married into the family before I was born, yet we get along so marvelously.   Friends are something that occur by chance.   It is all about the right place and the right time.   Some people click and others don't.   The fragile structure is what makes a good friendship so meaningful.   The past is a waste of time.