January 19th: When we got away from the earthquake.
Jan.
19th, 1986 (Age 7, Evansburg, New Hampshire)
Dear
diary, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are
the seven days of the week. Today is
Sunday, one of my favorite days.
* * * * *
Saturday,
January 19th, 1991 (Age 12, Evansburg)
Hi! Last night it took me a long time to get to
sleep because I couldn’t stop coughing. I had a piece of dust caught in my windpipe. When I finally did get to sleep I had this
strange dream.
I dreamed that I was with two other
people. I think they were my friends,
Sonia and Mandy. We were in some strange
town. It was night, and we didn’t have
anywhere to go.
Then a guy came out of the
shadows. He was kind of wild looking,
with blond hair that was long. He said, “Hello,
Branny. Don’t you remember me? I’m John from across the street.” I didn’t recognize this person, but I haven’t
seen my neighbor's son for five years so it
could have been him. I said hi and
introduced him to my friends.
Then he said, “Do you need
someplace to spend the night? Why don’t
you stay at my house? I’m home from
college for the weekend.” I said yes,
because I didn’t want to be running around in the dark.
Suddenly I was at my neighbor's house. It was the next morning. I was coming out of the shower. In this dream my hair was permed. It looked good wet. I got dressed in the bathroom. When I opened the door the younger son who is in my brother's grade at Evansburg High was
coming out of his bedroom. He’s sixteen and pretty good looking. In this dream I was already fourteen, not twelve.
He didn’t seem to recognize
me. “Branny?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I answered.
“Wow, you’ve changed. You look great!”
“Thanks.”
Then he disappeared. I walked into the kitchen. Their mom was washing dishes and the guys were eating cereal and watching a mini TV on the kitchen table.
“Well, hello Branny!” said my neighbor. “I’m so glad you’ll be
staying with us a few days. Sit down and
have something to eat.”
“That’s okay, I’m not hungry.”
That’s all because then I woke up. Sorry for the anti-climax. Bye!!!
* * * * *
Sunday, January
19th, 1992 (Age 13, Evansburg)
There is
something I forgot to write about yesterday. At the mall were the mascots for Channel 7. They are a fox (costume, of course) and a boy, about twenty years
old, named Mike. They were giving away balloons in front of J.C. Penney.
I went into Penney's to find my mother, and when I passed the fox it shook my hand. Then when
I came out of that store it shook my hand again. I went to where my father
was sitting. Then I needed a drink from the water fountain so I went up to
Penney's again. The fox guy shook my hand again when I passed it.
When I was leaning over to get a
drink from the fountain my hair was hanging in front of my face so I couldn’t
see. I swung around and came inches away from running into Mike. We both gave a
little yelp and excused ourselves. When I left J.C. Penney that time, the fox shook my hand again.
Evangeline gave me a Bible riddle that I cannot
figure out the answer to. She says the answer is somewhere in Genesis. Sonia figured
out the answer yesterday. I would write the riddle down here, but it’s way too
long.
* * * * *
Tuesday, January 19th, 1993 (Age 14, Evansburg)
Protest a life of diamonds
Simplicity draws me true
Best wishes to the riches
I leave them all for you.
I've gone to find sincerity
A piece of heaven's sky
Where I can plant a new seed
And leave you all behind.
To you who thrive on power
Begging all your life
Until the final hour
When tongues will cut like knives.
No, don't call me eccentric
Oddness fairs me well
Mirrored in the shadows
My heaven is your hell.
-Branny
Mid-terms begin tomorrow. I'm prepared to do awful. I wish myself luck -- I'll need it.
* * * * *
Wednesday, January 19th, 1994 (Age 15, Nagasaki, Japan)
My dad says if I want to go back to Evansburg, then that's where I'll go. He'll even arrange for the new car we bought before we left to be taken out of storage so I can use it! I should probably learn to drive first.
* * * * *
Thursday, January 19th, 1995 (Age 16, Kobe, Japan)
We're finally free. This morning I had no idea where I'd be by this evening. It all happened so fast! Yesterday we dormies watched while one-by-one we got taken away to safety. The kids whose fathers work for an American car company got their own private helicopter which landed in the soccer field and then airlifted them away. One girl's dad walked all the way from Osaka (about 30 kilometers). I asked my dad to call the base in Sasebo and ask if they couldn't get someone to help me, since they're the reason I'm here in the first place, but it was a no go. The big American company which employs the largest number of foreigners living on this island held an assembly in the school auditorium, and Jess and I snuck in to watch. They were so efficient, using PowerPoint to explain to all the families how they would be evacuated. Finally there were about eight of us dormies left here to twiddle our thumbs and wonder how we would get home. The dorm teachers weren't much help. Of course we could have stayed on at the dorm, since they live here and would be here, but we all wanted to be with our own families.
Luckily that big company hired a fishing boat to pick up some of their people, and they let us on as well. We were only allowed to bring one small bag each, so we put on layers and layers of clothes and went down to wait at the dock. The boat was a rickety thing that reeked of gasoline. The place where it docked was all broken up from the earthquake. It took us to the port of Osaka, where they had hired one of those deluxe tour buses to drive us to the nearest station. It felt like being in a casino. We had some time to kill so we all went to JR Osaka and sat under that fake golden tree next to GARE, and it was so weird how everyone over there was just going about their normal business. They were totally unaffected by what happened in Kobe. Now Jess has gone home to Nagoya, and everyone else is off to their various countries. Tonight me and five others are off to a hotel near the new international airport which let us pay with our parents' credit card numbers. I've got a flight to Osaka early tomorrow morning. When my dad called to arrange it, they agreed to let me just pay what I can in cash and he'll pay the difference later. I can hardly believe it.
I was also really surprised today when Sei showed up at the dorm around noon without warning. He rode his scooter all the way from his house just to see me. He was so tired and sounded surprised and disappointed that I was suddenly leaving. He didn't stay long, and we didn't exactly get to spend any quality time together because I was so busy trying to get myself ready for the boat. I am glad he came, and that he's okay. I'm not taking my class ring home with me so I gave it to him for safekeeping, just in case anything happens to either or us. He knows I expect it back when I return.
Anyway, I'm headed home. There had better not be another quake, because I can't live if anything happens to Sei.
* * * * *
Friday,
January 19th, 1996 (Age 17, Kobe)
Now
that Sei's decided to take the Japanese college entrance exams, we’re hardly
going to have any time together anymore. Tonight we had plans to go to Bar Pacer as usual, but then his mother
said he had to come back early and study. He won’t be able to go out at all next month. I haven’t asked him, but if he passes the
exam and does decide to go to a Japanese college, won’t he have to start in
April? Then I would literally never see
him anymore. I’ll be all alone every
afternoon, every weekend. I don’t even
have any friends to fall back on. I
depend so much on him. How can we keep
up our relationship for a year or more apart?
* * * * *
Sunday, January 19th, 1997 (Age 18, Exton, New Brunswick)
Sei and I went to see the movie Michael starring John Travolta.
* * * * *
Monday, January 19th, 1998 (Age 19, Exton)
I think right now I'm fatter than I've ever been in my life. I'm glad we don't have a scale. I haven't touched my weights for two months, but as soon as we move into the new place I'm going to start exercising every day again and eat properly.
* * * * *
Tuesday, January 19th, 1999 (Age 20, Exton)
The video store finally had a copy of Pleasantville for me to rent. Joe is in it as an extra, near the end. He has a few lines. Sei had forgotten and was surprised when I said, "There's my brother!" Now Joe is going off to Macedonia for a year.
It's been so warm here lately. Today it was almost 50 degrees. I think we're one of the only warm spots in North America right now.
* * * * *
Wednesday, January 19th, 2000 (Age 21, Exton)
I went to see the head of the English Department. It turns out he made a mistake on my Honors program. I only have nineteen credits total, but I need twenty to graduate. He says there's nothing he can do about it. My options are to either just go with the regular English degree, which will make problems if I want to go on to a Masters, take another course in the summer and go to Japan in July, or I found out that if I take the English teaching certification course at the language institute downtown, it will count as one 4th-year credit at Easton U. That would be the most useful for me, but it costs $2,000 and I can't work at the same time because it's all day, every day. But then I could at least go to Japan in June.
* * * * *
Friday, January 19th, 2001 (Age 22, Kobe)
TGIF! I had to teach two sample lessons, as well as my regular classes.
In the back of this diary I'm going to start a list of all the books I read this year.
* * * * *
Saturday, January 19th, 2002 (Age 23, Kobe)
I stayed in the house alone all day and was bored to death. I faxed three resumes: to the English cafe, to a school in Ashiya, and to the eikaiwa in my building. I'm worried if the faxes went through or not because I have no way of telling.
* * * * *
Sunday, January 19th, 2003 (Age 24, Kobe)
When I woke up this morning it was dreary and drizzling and I didn't feel like going to Alexa's party, but I knew I had to. It was from 1:00 to 5:00 so I went at 2:30. There were hardly any people there, only about ten gaijin and a few Japanese. Nobody was dancing. I don't think Alexa even broke even with this one, which is too bad.
* * * * *
Monday, January 19th, 2004 (Age 25, Kobe)
We test drove the Mini Cooper today. Weeeee! Even I got to drive it a little, my first time driving in Japan. I didn't notice anything different from driving any other car. The brakes were fine, the wheel was fine, except it was a little hard to turn after a stop sign. The small size made up for it, though. I think there's only a very small chance of this one still being at the shop come April, but if it is we're going to buy it.
* * * * *
Wednesday, January 19th, 2005 (Age 26, Kobe)
My new piano student came with her mom for her first lesson, and it went fine. I was worried after all her mother had told me, but she was very pleasant.
After work I went to the cloth store and paid too much for yarn for a sweater for myself.
* * * * *
Thursday, January 19th, 2006 (Age 27, Kobe)
In December I bought a little sticker album because my students kept giving me stickers and I had nowhere to put them. Now I'm hooked! I've been buying stickers every time I go out, and once even from eBay. It's such a silly thing to collect at my age, but of course if you search online you'll find plenty of older sticker collectors. My album is almost full already and I want to go get a binder-type one tomorrow, if Sei's father has remembered to put money in our bank. He's forgotten this entire month and almost all our bills are unpaid.
* * * * *
Friday, January 19th, 2007 (Age 28, Kobe)
On the 13th Yuji went to visit his sister in Italy and see her new baby. His parents flew out as well. He sent me a couple pics, and then I didn't hear from him all this week until yesterday. I think he's probably been back in London a few days. It was when I was at the pub that he texted me and I replied that everyone at the bar was complaining about their sex lives. I don't know if he misinterpreted that or not because this morning I had a drunken voice mail of him saying in Japanese, "Everyone's talking about sex. Assholes!" He was out drinking with his friend so I don't know if he was referring to me or his own conversation, or if he was angry or joking. Hearing that tone of voice gave me a flashback of Sei and I actually felt kind of afraid, because it was always when Sei sounded like that that I knew he would come home and try to beat me up. It really makes me doubt putting Yuji ahead of Kai.
* * * * *
Sunday, January 19th, 1997 (Age 18, Exton, New Brunswick)
Sei and I went to see the movie Michael starring John Travolta.
* * * * *
Monday, January 19th, 1998 (Age 19, Exton)
I think right now I'm fatter than I've ever been in my life. I'm glad we don't have a scale. I haven't touched my weights for two months, but as soon as we move into the new place I'm going to start exercising every day again and eat properly.
* * * * *
Tuesday, January 19th, 1999 (Age 20, Exton)
The video store finally had a copy of Pleasantville for me to rent. Joe is in it as an extra, near the end. He has a few lines. Sei had forgotten and was surprised when I said, "There's my brother!" Now Joe is going off to Macedonia for a year.
It's been so warm here lately. Today it was almost 50 degrees. I think we're one of the only warm spots in North America right now.
* * * * *
Wednesday, January 19th, 2000 (Age 21, Exton)
I went to see the head of the English Department. It turns out he made a mistake on my Honors program. I only have nineteen credits total, but I need twenty to graduate. He says there's nothing he can do about it. My options are to either just go with the regular English degree, which will make problems if I want to go on to a Masters, take another course in the summer and go to Japan in July, or I found out that if I take the English teaching certification course at the language institute downtown, it will count as one 4th-year credit at Easton U. That would be the most useful for me, but it costs $2,000 and I can't work at the same time because it's all day, every day. But then I could at least go to Japan in June.
* * * * *
Friday, January 19th, 2001 (Age 22, Kobe)
TGIF! I had to teach two sample lessons, as well as my regular classes.
In the back of this diary I'm going to start a list of all the books I read this year.
* * * * *
Saturday, January 19th, 2002 (Age 23, Kobe)
I stayed in the house alone all day and was bored to death. I faxed three resumes: to the English cafe, to a school in Ashiya, and to the eikaiwa in my building. I'm worried if the faxes went through or not because I have no way of telling.
* * * * *
Sunday, January 19th, 2003 (Age 24, Kobe)
When I woke up this morning it was dreary and drizzling and I didn't feel like going to Alexa's party, but I knew I had to. It was from 1:00 to 5:00 so I went at 2:30. There were hardly any people there, only about ten gaijin and a few Japanese. Nobody was dancing. I don't think Alexa even broke even with this one, which is too bad.
* * * * *
Monday, January 19th, 2004 (Age 25, Kobe)
We test drove the Mini Cooper today. Weeeee! Even I got to drive it a little, my first time driving in Japan. I didn't notice anything different from driving any other car. The brakes were fine, the wheel was fine, except it was a little hard to turn after a stop sign. The small size made up for it, though. I think there's only a very small chance of this one still being at the shop come April, but if it is we're going to buy it.
* * * * *
Wednesday, January 19th, 2005 (Age 26, Kobe)
My new piano student came with her mom for her first lesson, and it went fine. I was worried after all her mother had told me, but she was very pleasant.
After work I went to the cloth store and paid too much for yarn for a sweater for myself.
* * * * *
Thursday, January 19th, 2006 (Age 27, Kobe)
In December I bought a little sticker album because my students kept giving me stickers and I had nowhere to put them. Now I'm hooked! I've been buying stickers every time I go out, and once even from eBay. It's such a silly thing to collect at my age, but of course if you search online you'll find plenty of older sticker collectors. My album is almost full already and I want to go get a binder-type one tomorrow, if Sei's father has remembered to put money in our bank. He's forgotten this entire month and almost all our bills are unpaid.
* * * * *
Friday, January 19th, 2007 (Age 28, Kobe)
On the 13th Yuji went to visit his sister in Italy and see her new baby. His parents flew out as well. He sent me a couple pics, and then I didn't hear from him all this week until yesterday. I think he's probably been back in London a few days. It was when I was at the pub that he texted me and I replied that everyone at the bar was complaining about their sex lives. I don't know if he misinterpreted that or not because this morning I had a drunken voice mail of him saying in Japanese, "Everyone's talking about sex. Assholes!" He was out drinking with his friend so I don't know if he was referring to me or his own conversation, or if he was angry or joking. Hearing that tone of voice gave me a flashback of Sei and I actually felt kind of afraid, because it was always when Sei sounded like that that I knew he would come home and try to beat me up. It really makes me doubt putting Yuji ahead of Kai.
Disclaimer: This blog is a work of non-fiction. Most personal names (except for those of celebrities) and place names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.
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