The Bookstooge Chronicles: The Junior Year

~ Bookstooge

Back in November, I blogged about reading my Freshman Journal. Since that time I have made my way through my Junior Year from Bibleschool (it was a three year course so you had freshman, juniors and seniors). It was as tough as I thought it would be.

I came into contact with a couple of people that I absolutely could not stand and with it being a closed campus, there was no getting away from them. So I had to learn, quickly, how to deal with people whose very existence annoyed me. Them breathing the same air, in the same building as me, was enough to rile me up. So I learned some survival skills without even realizing it. I didn’t know I was an introvert’s introvert. I didn’t realize I needed alone time and time away from people. So I threw myself into everything I could, with all the gusto I could and ended up having some really miserable times.

I also had some fantastically wonderful times too. A local secular college would put on Selections from Handel’s “Messiah” every year and would hire 4 professionals for the solo parts and it was a joy to listen to. Nearly the first, and close to the last, time that music really moved me on a deep, visceral level. I also went hiking up a mountain one winter’s day and while looking back, that was incredibly stupid (I told no one where I was going, no cell phones, no real worst case scenario gear), it was also a time of solitude and balm for my soul that I still remember to this day.

Reading along I realized that in ’99 was when I was introduced to Land Surveying. My (future) boss came over and taught us some of the math and told us anyone who was interested could keep on going. So my friend and I worked on the math and experimented with some of the equipment. I had forgotten I had started this before graduation. And that summer I worked for him until college started back up in the fall. Good stuff!

Of course, one of the miserable things I alluded to above was that I had to deal with the reality of a broken heart and someone’s interest moving away from me. Between that and learning to exist alongside people I couldn’t stand, I did a lot of growing up in ’98 and ’99. Not by choice, but considering my personality, that was about the only way it would have happened.

My writing also took off during this time period. Besides my regular journal, I began keeping a notebook with meeting and sermon notes (long since lost) and I started a Happy Book where I noted 5 things every day that made me happy. That didn’t last too long, hahahaha. It soon turned into a heart broken sob journal where I could pretty much record how much I hurt every single day. Sigh, to be that young again. I also wrote a lot of emails and referenced them in my journal too, not realizing that I was entering a phase where I treated emails like disposable napkins. I think in this year of school I went through 3 or 4 with various companies? I even wrote down a couple of passwords. I tried to see if they were still active, but either I had changed the password at some later date or I had deleted the address altogether. It was a fun time though because I was exploring all that life had to offer me at the time.

Wow, this has gone on longer than I thought. I would sum up that year as one of forced growth that was ultimately the best thing for me. My character, not exactly jello even at this point, was further cemented into the mold that shapes me even today.

I chose not to include a particular quote like I did last year because either the day was utterly banal or so intensely personal. I had no middle ground at that time and it has taken me these 3 months to read through it. This is why I journaled though, I didn’t want to forget the times that formed me into the man I am today. I hope to talk more about that idea next Saturday when I do another post about why I still paper journal.

ps,
Apparently I have not created a “journal” tag yet. I have corrected that with this post and now I have to go through my previous entries and add it to the correct ones. Man, being a blogger is tough and definitely not for the faint hearted.

33 thoughts on “The Bookstooge Chronicles: The Junior Year”

    1. And I intellectually knew this back then. So I took steps. And boy, am I glad I did. because decades are starting to slide together and it’s all mashing together.

      Of course, I do remember the y2K scare, but that was still to come. i’ll have to see if that enters into my senior journal or not 😀

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  3. I did have a diary back in the day which I poured my angst into. I re-read it in my mid 20’s and put it in the bin. I buy books to jouranl in, but I never get anywhere with them!

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    1. I had a professor who told us a similar story. And I think that has helped me keep on journaling. I want to see the changes in myself, even if only noticeable to me 😀

      Plus, if I’m being honest, reading this stuff helps me to be more gracious towards younger people instead of just yelling about how easy they have it now 😉

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  4. I really enjoy these posts 😃 Still haven’t had the courage to dig out my own from back then, they’re all still in the loft. I imagine it would be a lot of pompous nonsense, but who knows? 🤣 I think it’s fascinating, though, the idea of going back and revisiting those days. Do you find that you can still vividly remember days from 20+ years ago?

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  6. I still have my journal from when I was eleven. I have a picture of my dog and it way I never throw it away. There were a lot of random stuff in it and some weird stories. One is about my cat turning into a human. I re-wrote that one and it got me in to this teen writer’s conference.

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    1. Nice. I know I would write randomly at that age, but nothing like a real journal. I’d grab a spiral notebook, write a couple of pages and then that would be it. That’s cool that you still have one from then.

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  8. Closed campus and annoying people can be a toxic brew if one doesn’t steel themselves against becoming too preoccupied with thinking about them. That being said, I am sure people found me annoying as well. So there’s that. Reading these journal notes, it has led me to wonder what mine would read like. I do have some stuff from my college days, and perhaps if I drag them out journal-like entries will occur to me. Very interesting looking back in time in this manner.

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  9. I should check if \i can find a poem or two still from 99, I neve really journalled, but did date my poems. Miss the 90’s so much simpler times, yet 99 was my final Primary school year, was quite a busy one at that.

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      1. oh yeah we had it a bit diff back then. We had standards back in the day and then it got upgraded to grades later where you had to add 2 to the spcific standard to know what grade you were in… Standerd 5 or grade 7 for us was your last year of primary school before starting grade 6-12 in highschool…

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