ibeachalot's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linda C... circa 1983! Ummm... thanks, I guess... to Deena who tried to remember 1983 for me the best she could. She touched upon the basics of the year, but hopefully I can provide some more and better details about the year. In early 1983, I was finally coming to terms with living in southern California. It was quite a culture shock for someone living in sparkling clean, white bread middle America, to move to where there�s crime, filth and alot of diversity. I grew to love California. I loved my new school, my new friends, the fast pace and the beach! The first guy I remember dating in early 1983 was named Mark F. I had a really close friend named Traci W. and she betrayed my trust, ending our friendship. She had gone out with Mark before I did and treated him badly. I can�t even remember all the details now and it probably wasn�t as big a deal as I made it out to be then. All I remember is that there was a shift in loyalty and I ended my friendship with Traci and began a relationship with Mark. I remember Traci had a lazy eye and her left boob was substantially bigger than the right. Mark was quiet and serious and had gorgeous light blue eyes. We talked about marriage. I laugh when I think about that now, talking marriage with a guy I hardly knew. One thing stopped me from wanting to marry him - his last name. I won�t mention any Google-bait last names here, but Mark has a very long, Jewish, and downright ugly last name. I wouldn�t have dreamt of taking a name like that. Mark had his own truck, which meant unlike other guys I had dated, we didn�t have to have a parent cart us around everywhere. Mark was very controlling. He didn�t �allow� me to talk to other guys, but had several female friends himself. I stupidly went along with this arrangement, because I was �in love�, or so I thought. Mark ended up breaking up with me twice. The first time, he assured me we�d be back together soon. WTF? Breaking up with me so we could get back together later? The only thing I could think of was that there was someone else �better� he wanted to try to hook up with. We were back together within a couple of miserable weeks, only for him to break up again for good about a month later. Good riddance. Courtesy of Mark, I had fallen into a new crowd. It was the BMX/off road/ATV crowd. They raced dirt bikes and attended car rallies. I really grew to love it. One trip, Dave S., Mark (even though we had broken up), a girl named Mary D. and a guy named Daryl S. and I all went camping for the weekend at a road race. I can�t imagine my mother allowing this, so I must have told her I was spending the night with a friend. On this trip, Daryl and I fell into romance. God, how stupid I was! Daryl was the biggest geek alive. I can�t believe I wasted any time with this doofas. We only dated briefly and I was relieved when he told me he was going back with his old girlfriend. Mary D. was a friend of Traci�s, so she never really cared much for me, after Traci and I went our separate ways. Mary was head over heels in love with a guy in eleventh grade named Barry Minkow. Perhaps you�ve heard of him. He�s the guy who started a carpet cleaning business in his garage, then turned it into a mutli-million dollar business by the time he turned 20. He later did prison time for fraud and embezzlement. He�s now a born-again Christian Jew who does seminars on.... something or other. Anyway, he went to my high school. We stayed living in our apartment in Northridge... okay, so it was Reseda. No one admits to living in Reseda. The neighbors downstairs were driving us crazy with all the noise. We vowed that when the lease was up, we were finding a house. On May 1st, I took my driver�s test. I had already taken the written test a few months earlier. I took my driving test in my mom�s big ass yacht of a 1977 Chevy station wagon. I got 100%! I was amazed, considering how cumbersome that car was. I finally had my license! My mom gave me my own set of keys to the car, so I thought I was the kewlest! I hung around with two crowds - the crowd who hung out between A hall and B hall at lunch and the crowd who hung out between E hall and F hall. All high schools in southern California were outdoor. Only the classes were inside. The cafeteria was even outside. It was great being able to go outside between classes and at lunch. One of the guys in the E/F crowd, was a guy named Robert S. He was cute, popular and alot of fun to be around. I was thrilled when he asked me out, but a little surprised. I could have sworn he was gay. On our date, which consisted of a walk around the mall (big spender!) he confessed to me he was gay. Great. In July, we moved. My parents and I had always admired this house on Cantara Street, right behind my high school. We were thrilled one day to find it was for rent! We were hoping to buy a place, but my parents were willing to rent a while longer. The house was even better on the inside! It was a ranch with four big bedrooms, two baths and a pool! The backyard was like a paradise. Pool, jacuzzi (that I don�t think ever worked), colored Malibu lights and tropical plants all over. It was awesome! If I ever build another house, I�d like to make it an adaptation of that place. I used to shop at a record (remember records?!) store named Moby Disc. Not only did they have the most awesome selection of heavy metal imports, but there was a guy who worked there named Rudy. He was the most gorgeous thing I ever laid eyes on. He had long, curly black �rock star� hair. He always wore a leather jacket and had the greatest tight little ass. He was 6'5". I began to shop there daily. One time, a girl was there with him. I was devastated. It must be his girlfriend! Waaa-aaah! Then I thought.. wait a minute. She looks just like him! Finally, after weeks of stalk... uh, I mean... adoring Rudy, he spoke to me. He said, �This is my sister. I think she�s about your age.� The girl scowled at me and said, �I�m Deena.� I thought she was a total and complete bitch. She had a chip on her shoulder a mile wide. I later learned that her best friend, also named Tracy, had been killed. No wonder she so bitter. We got to be the best of friends. We were inseparable. Not only that... she put in a good word for me with Rudy! He was 19, she said, and hadn�t had a girlfriend in years. I was so excited! Deena worked full time and drove, so I assumed she was at least 17, if not 18. It wasn�t until later I found out she was only 13!!! She had dropped out of school, lied about her age to get a job (at Wendy�s!) and drove without a license!! I thought this was soooo cool! What a rebel! Deena was crass and loud and rude and obnoxious. I loved it. We got along great. I dated Rudy for several months. It wasn�t at all what I was hoping it would be. He had some major issues. Our dates consisted mainly of me taking him to his therapist appointments. Rudy had an �83 silver Mazda RX7. He used to drive with his head out the driver�s side window so his long hair could flow in the breeze. He was incredibly weird. I broke up with him after several months of a very depressing and empty relationship. I was 16, but I felt like an old woman trapped in a bad marriage. I swam in our pool everyday and became everyone�s new best friend because of the pool and my address. See, living so close to the school, I got a lunch pass. Having a lunch pass meant you could go off campus for lunch. You didn�t necessarily have to go home, but you could leave campus. Everyone started using my address as theirs so they could get passes. One day, Mr. McLaughlin, the principal, called me into his office. He asked me how many people were living in my house, anyway? I told him I wasn�t sure. He told me 38 people were using my address for lunch passes and I needed to do something about it! ROFLMAO!! So I gathered everyone around and told them they could no longer use my address... ... unless they paid me. Ten people found it worth their while to pay me $20 each for the use of my address. I made a tidy chunk of change and Mr. McLaughlin never said another word about it. I remember people walking home from school past my yard. There was a 7-11 on the corner. Kids would stop there, get a snack, then walk down the street alongside my house. By the time these kids walked past my house and along my side yard, they had finished with their Big Gulps. So naturally, they tossed their cups into our yard. One day, I got home early and waited for them in the yard. When the cups started flying over my block wall, I was there to catch them and throw them back. The kids yelled, WTF?? and never threw their cups over again. What a fond memory. Another guy in the E/F crowd was named Rick C. If you have ever read my locked diary, you�ve read about him. Rick and I got along beautifully, even though we were polar opposites. He was mature and responsible. I was carefree and reckless. We dated on and off for the entire summer. He was the best kisser I�ve ever known! He was so much fun and so easy to talk to. We used to park at the top of Reseda Blvd. and look at the lights of the Valley below. Then we�d sit in his truck and make out for hours. I loved that he never pressured me to go any further than that. It was refreshing, compared to the animals I had gone out with previously. One day, Rick asked me to �be his girl�. I still chuckle at that old fashioned terminology! I said no. If I regret one thing about the year 1983 (and maybe my entire past) it would be that. Rick was the best thing to happen to me then and I should have taken him up on his offer. I wonder where I would be today? We still dated, but things weren�t the same. He wanted a steady relationship and I wanted to jump around and have fun. Stupid, irresponsible kid that I was. Rick started dating his bosses daughter and from what I hear, they�ve been married almost eighteen years now. I�m happy for him. One day in August, Deena and I were supposed to meet in Hollywood to go to a concert. My parents dropped me off and left. OMG!! Can you imagine a time when it was ever safe to drop off a 16 year old (white) girl alone in Hollywood? I shudder at the thought. Well, Deena never fucking showed up. While I waited for her, I started walking through some of the shops along Hollywood Blvd. I was confronted by a homeless guy. He walked with me and told me wild stories. He made me walk on the inside of him so I�d be safe. I can�t believe, looking back, that I wasn�t terrified of him. What was I thinking? He walked me back to where the concert was. I thanked him and he went on his way. I stood there at the outdoor concert alone, feeling like a fool. The show started and it was great. (It was Shooting Star, my favorite band back then). Again, I was approached by a guy. This time, it was a short, young geeky looking guy. He told me he was originally from Missouri, like me and was a friend of the band�s. I latched myself onto him. His name was Ken S. He was 21 and was in the Marines. After the show, he got me backstage to meet the band. We had a picture taken of me with the drummer, who I was madly in love with at the time. In another stupid move, I allowed this guy to drive me home!! I didn�t know him from the man in the moon, yet he drives me 30 miles to my home. Can we say stupid? Ken and I dated for a couple of months. He was a weird bird. He was so much fun to talk to on the phone and in his letters. But in person, he was a drag. He was so down on himself, all he did was pity himself. I was wanting to have fun and party. All he wanted to do was mope around and have me offer him sympathy and encouragement. Then I�d receive a letter from him and he�d sound so upbeat and I�d think... maybe he�d changed and was ready to have some fun. Wrong. One time, I even got on a bus and went all the way down to the base in El Toro to see him. We went to the beach, he showed me around, then we went to a David Bowie concert. Mind you, I don�t like David Bowie, but he got the tickets free so I said what the fuck. He drove me home and moped all the way. He kept saying, �I don't know what you see in me.� (Whine, piss, moan... ) I began to wonder, too, so I broke up with him. We still had tickets to an upcoming concert, but I didn�t think he�d want to go with me. Surprisingly, he showed up the night of the concert to pick me up. I again said, WTF and went with him. He didn�t speak one word the entire night. He drove me home and sped away before I had even gotten out of the car. I tumbled onto the ground, watching his �69 Cutlass burn rubber down my street. I was not having much luck with guys this year. School started and I was now in eleventh grade. A guy in the A/B crowd named Jon S. (wow - all these people whose last names start with S!) asked me out. I said no. Jon was somewhat of a geek and I had an image to protect. What a snob I was. Jon and I hung around together and when we weren�t together, he followed me around like a lovesick puppy. I gave in and agreed to go out with him. He took me to his house. He was living with friend of his parents at the time. He had a bizarre family relationship. His mom and stepdad had booted him out, but shortly after we started going together, he moved back in with them. They were quite a family. His step-brothers were both in prison, his step-sister was pregnant with child number four and was on welfare, his oldest brother, Eddie wore a mohawk and was in and out of jail, Billy was bi-sexual and Candy was a lesbian. His sister, Debbie was the only one who didn�t have some sort of �issue� plaguing her. Jon and I went out on and off for a year and a half. We would later become engaged, but that puts the story well into 1984. Dj was right about alot of things. Yes, I wore black lipstick and handcuffs. Heavy metal was new and I wanted to dress the part. I drove my mom�s stations wagon and thought I was the shit! I was almost as cool as I thought I was! I got into fights alot and lost them all. I came home with bloody noses, black eyes and split lips, but still continued to confront and provoke people. I did well in school and enjoyed it for the most part but quickly became aware of the thrill of ditching school and going to the beach. One night, Dj, Rudy and I stayed all night at Zuma Beach. We thought it would be a blast! We watched the sun set over the water. What a sight! Then... darkness fell. If you�ve never been to the beach at night, let me tell you it is dark!! Zuma isn�t a populated beach. There aren�t any homes there, so there aren�t any lights to speak of. We all sat there, freezing, in total darkness. We wanted to leave, but we couldn�t see which way we were going! Fog covered the moon. We didn�t want to think we were headed to the car when we were actually headed to the water. We sat there huddled together, whimpering until morning. Looking back, it was incredibly stupid, but I look on it with fondness as well. I still remember how wonderful Rudy smelled and the feel of his long soft hair whipping my face in the wind! I feel the strength of his arm around me even now. As scared as I was then, I�m glad it happened. Dj and I pulled many pranks on Rudy and his friends that summer. Once, Rudy was sunbathing in his backyard. (Duh, like an Italian needs to try for a tan!) He fell asleep. Dj and I took some masking tape and spelled �I love Tony� on his back. (Tony M. was his best friend!) When he woke up, he had the message spelled out on his sunburned back. ROFLOL! It took months and several bottles of QT to get rid of the love he professed on his skin for his best friend. Hehehehehee...... We were so bad. I�m sure there are many more memories, but I�ve been sitting here for almost an hour and a half, so I�ll wrap it up. Let me conclude by saying 1983 was probably the best year of my life. I was so happy. I enjoyed life. I remember the smell of the ocean, the sound of the school bell and the music of the time. I hear �True� by Spandau Ballet and it takes me back. 11:13 a.m. - 2003-01-10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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