Journals/Diaries

Anyone remember the Family Matters episode where Carl is dying to find out what Harriet writes in her diary? So, Harriet plants a fake diary for Carl to find. Which, Carl gets Steve to read it to him. She writes entries about an affair she was having. In the end, Harriet tells Carl about the fake diary and reads him an entry from her real one?

Personally, I do keep a journal. And no, I would never want anyone else to read it. So, why do I keep one? Because it's how I vent. It's how I let out my feelings, otherwise they'd be bottled up forever and ever and ever.

Where did this come from? I was reading and old journal from my first year in college. It was my spring semester and I was taking a speech class. Like most classes, I sit in the back corner and keep to myself. In this particular class, there were these three guys who sat with me. James, Jimmy, and William. Back then, I had three or four classes depending on what day it was. There was an hour break before my speech class, and usually I'd get my lunch and sit in the classroom. Some days I'd write in my journal. I've sat in the classroom long enough for the lights to turn off on me (motion sensor).

One day, James came in and I was writing in my journal. He asked me if it was diary. I said, yes it's a journal. He asked me if I ever let my boyfriend read it. I told him I have never been in that situation before, but if I had a boyfriend, probably wouldn't let him. He then says, "If I was your boyfriend, I'd demand to read it." My thought: you wouldn't last very long, would you? To this day, I still remember that. I actually have several memories of James. Good ones. Including the journal one. I can't look back on that without a smile.

I have two other memories of James. My gospel choir concert was coming up and I had a flier for it. I mentioned something about the concert. He asked me if I needed a date to it. I said no, because I was in the concert. The second one was after one of our classmate (Gary - who I happened to run into at Six Flags last year) gave a speech about his dad's restaurant. James asked me if I liked that kind of food (I think he did) and I said being Chinese, I had to. He said we should check it out some time. Again, I declined. Jimmy (one of the other guys in our group) said, "come on, he's trying to ask you out."

Okay, never mind, there's a third memory! My cousin was selling candy to help pay for grad night (and maybe prom, I don't remember if she went or not). So to help her out, I sold some for her. James came to class and I asked him if he'd like to buy some candy. He asked me if I was selling candy for my kid (mind you, I was 18 at the time!). I told him I wasn't old enough to have a kid to sell candy for. He asked me how old I was, I asked him how old he thought I was. Whenever people ask me for my age, I always ask them how old they think I am. He thought I was 26. He was 35. Remember, I was 18 at the time! He said he thought I was older because I acted so much older. In the whole class, the only people I talked to were Jimmy, James, and William. All of them had to be much older than I was. I think even Jimmy was in his mid-20s.

As to the "having kids" ... ever since then, I've been mistaken for Harold's mom, Nina's mom, and Kevin's mom. They are 12, 16, and 14 respectively. All within the last year or two, too! First, with Harold, we were at Walmart and Harold wanted to buy some poppers. The cashier told Harold she couldn't sell them to kids under 18 (since they're like fireworks I guess). She proceeds to ask Harold, "how old is your mom?" and looks at me. Nina. Happened in the same walmart. I was trying something on in the fitting room and called out to Nina to ask her what her opinion was of what I was trying on. She wasn't there. The associate goes, "hey girl, I think your mom wants you." I was out of there quick. Kevin happened not too long ago. About a month. We stopped by my store to drop off something. One of my coworkers looks at Kevin and asks, "Linda, is this your boy?" She told my managers, "I bet Linda has kids." I told my manager she should've taken that bet. It wasn't the first time. I think one of my other coworkers thought Nina was my daughter one time we went in.

Seeing as no one comments, I want to know what you guys think? About James? About having kids?

Recently we went to Fortune Inn and this was my fortune:
Children's laughter, so beautiful to hear, soon will be a chance to have them very near.