January 8th: "He tried to cut himself with scissors."

Jan. 8th, 1986 (Age 7, Evansburg, New Hampshire)

Dear diary, tomorrow I am going to get my glasses. I am a little bitty scared. But I hope that I get a lollipop from the lollipop box.

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Wednesday, January 8th, 1992 (Age 13, Evansburg)

We had our school’s winter concert tonight. I was afraid that they were going to announce my name since I was in all four of the groups performing and they sometimes do that. Luckily, they didn’t. The band, jazz band, and Queen's Chorale were all good, but I thought that the chorus was really horrible!

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Friday, January 8th, 1993 (Age 14, Evansburg)

I saw Life of Brian. It ended weird. I’m still reading Prince of Tides, which is really good. I started reading it a month ago. It takes me forever to read a book.

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Saturday, January 8th, 1994 (Age 15, Nagasaki, Japan)

I think my head is going to explode.

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Sunday, January 8th, 1995 (Age 16, Kobe, Japan)

Free at last! Well, sort of. Sei met me at the airport, which was good because my suitcase was so heavy I never would have been able to handle it by myself. The taxi ride was almost 10,000 yen. We went to Bar Pacer, but when the bartender saw me he said, “Sorry, you can’t be in here unless you show me some ID.” He knows me, and I’ve never been carded there before. It really pissed me off. I hope they don’t make it a habit, or we’ll have no place to go.

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Monday, January 8th, 1996 (Age 17, Kobe)

My first day back at school, and I have good news. I got accepted to the University of Denver, and they're offering me a $6,000 scholarship! I still don't really want to go there, though. I'm holding out for Canada.

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Thursday, January 8th, 1998 (Age 19, Exton)

I got my new Visa card in the mail! My first credit card! Finally, something's going right. My dad would kill me if he knew, but I don't plan to use it much.
     My semester grade for Romantic Poetry was A and I got a B+ in Medieval History, but I only got 46% on my astronomy midterm and B-'s on my U.S. History test and book report.

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Friday, January 8th, 1999 (Age 20, Exton)

I feel really sick tonight, since lunch time. I’ve been lying in bed for hours but I couldn’t sleep.

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Saturday, January 8th, 2000 (Age 21, Kobe)

I’m packing up my suitcase to go home tomorrow, and Sei is sitting on the bed watching me. I’m not too sad because I know I’ll see him again in a month, but I’m still not looking forward to facing all that wedding planning stuff alone.

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Monday, January 8th, 2001 (Age 22, Kobe)

Sei was beating me up last night. He wasn’t hurting me, but it’s the thought that counts. He was so drunk. He tried to cut himself with scissors. It made me think of when he was living at the dorm in college and he cut his hand up on purpose with the razor and then called me to come see. He’s out of control. The worst thing is that he never does anything bad when he’s sober, which is most of the time. I don’t know what to do.

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Tuesday, January 8th, 2002 (Age 23, Kobe)

Let me just note that Sei was mean and threatened me on the 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 4th and 6th. I don’t know about tonight yet. Probably he’ll be okay. I hate that this is becoming the norm, and that during the day I just go about my daily life of cleaning, watching TV, and going to the supermarket. Anyway, I shouldn’t talk about it now because I had a good day today. In the morning I walked along the river for the first time all the way to the next station. It only took fifteen minutes. I bought new curtains for the living room, but I don’t like them any better than the last ones. I also got my annual letter from Jess.

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Wednesday, January 8th, 2003 (Age 24, Kobe)

I didn’t sleep a wink all night, not even thirty minutes, and by morning I had a fever and the sweat was pouring off of me. I also had cramps and a headache because my period started. Sei had to call in sick for me, so I stayed home and slept. Now I’m all right except for the cramps. I hope I can sleep tonight. At least when I’m sick Sei is nice to me. I’m rewatching Lord of the Rings: Fellowship pf the Ring. My brother brought us the DVD. I want to go to New Zealand where it was filmed.

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Thursday, January 8th, 2004 (Age 25, Kobe)

Alexa and I didn’t finish work till 9:00. My eyes are tired and I’m going to sleep early.

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Saturday, January 8th, 2005 (Age 26, Kobe)

I had bad cramps and a stomachache and couldn’t sleep last night.

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Sunday, January 8th, 2006 (Age 27, Kobe)

We got our tires at Costco and the entire set came to 46,000 yen. Much less than we were quoted at the last place, for tires that are just as good! Sei let me use the leftover money to buy the sneakers I’ve been eyeing for months, which were marked down half price.

     At night we went up the road to Keiko Watanabe’s house for dinner. The two sisters who run the dog cafe were also there, but her daughter wasn’t because she’s staying with a relative for the weekend.

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Monday, January 8th, 2007 (Age 28, Kobe)

I just came across Yuji's sister’s website and it turns out she’s a successful illustrator in France and Switzerland. His father’s a successful designer as well. I’m not even good at anything, much less a success. I feel like a big loser.

     I started back to work today but didn’t have any lessons so I pretty much bummed around the whole day.

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.