Lizzy King, Human - A Study. Box 2.

In 2002, I started yet another box for keeping things in. I was 14, I liked a boy named Chris, possibly a girl named Sally and dated a boy named Morgan. I was secretly embracing my nerdiness – I was in the choir and obsessed with Lord of the Rings, but was also pretty keen to be cool and fashionable. This is a study of my life in the year 2002.

Item – Red Pencil Case with writing – 2002

My grade 9 pencil case has writing on it from my friends at the time. In particular prominence is a quote from the Emperor’s New Groove – the best film of all time. This and some other things were written by my friend Chris. I believe I “archived” the case in the box after I fell in like with him, acted like a crazy person and then stopped being friends with him.

It says, "For the last time, we did not order a giant trampoline"

Items – World Vision Cards – 2002

A picture of two children cleaning grasshoppers to eat. And another of a little girl with the caption “They Laugh at Her”.

Item – Broken photo frame shaped like a cow – 2002

Hot damn I loved cows.

Items – Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Collector Cards – 2002

Nerdtastic! I’ve got two of the “Orcs” card if anyone wants to trade? I’m missing Merry and Gandalf.

A diversion!

Item – Dead Stick – 2002

This is awesome. I had forgotten about this. At high school, this amazing teacher had this amazing idea for fundraising. Instead of spending money on sausages or chocolates to sell for charity, he and his class held “Dead Stick Day”. They painted up a bunch of sticks, somehow implied they were cool and got us all to fork out cash for sticks which was then given to charity. There were a good few weeks where everyone was adorned in twigs.

Hey look! Lord of the Rings poster in the background. Times, they have not changed.

Item – Poster for Choir performance – 2002

Chorale. A massive part of my formative years. 2002 was the first year I was in the Chorale and I nearly quit. It was a very good thing I didn’t. According to the poster we sung works by Handel, Faure and Gershwin, to name a few.

Item – 40 Hour Famine Certificate of Appreciation – 2002

Thanking me for raising the hefty sum of $55.65 in the 2001 40 hour famine.

Items – Payslips – 2002

My first job was a paper route. I earnt $20 a week.

Item – Scribbled Note – 2002

Holy shit. I remember this. I used to have these religious moments, where I would shut my eyes and write down stuff that god was telling me to write. This is almost impossible to read because I have written over stuff way too many times but there’s a lot of stuff about a shepherd trying to save a little lamb caught in the branches, but the little lamb doesn’t want to come. That shit is POETIC.

Letter – from Becki – 2002

Becki is at Ironbark, a thing I will write a lot about soon I should think. It’s a camp that everyone at school has to go on, a 5 week adventure on a farm that is, for the most part, the best thing ever. Most of us went in grade 10, so I suspect there’s a lot of stuff in the next box, but Bec went in grade 9. Her letter tells of looking for a mother dog who was giving birth to puppies in the bush, morning runs, and the training hike coming up.

Item – Student Card – 2002

Baby!!

Item – Diary – 2001-2

This diary is really interesting. Well actually, it’s quite boring – we did this, then we did that etc. But there’s a few things it has made me think about:

1.     I’d forgotten how much I freaking loved kids. I mean I am still quite fond of the little humans, but at this stage of my life I had a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old brother and my whole life was dominated (particularly on the holidays) by kids and kids events, parties, kindy stuff etc. And I freaking LOVED it.

2.     The diary really hardly ever discusses my feelings. It is an account of things that happened, with occasional “this was annoying” or “mum was mad at me” moments, but no real secrets or emotions. For example, “went to Anthea’s house 4 a BBQ. Stayed the night & Sally did 2” – this says absolutely NOTHING about the fact that Sally (who was Anthea’s friend from high school) was this beautifully stunning girl, who I was infatuated with. Like… I actually spent years wondering if I was gay because of the 2 or 3 times I hung out with Sally.

3.     I was so easily swayed by others. The first bit of the diary is from holidays, I am spending time predominantly with my family and the writing is civil, well-spelled and generally benign. As it goes on, and I’ve been in grade 9 for a while, I write like an idiot – all 2s and 4s instead of actual words. I actually say “NEthing” instead of “anything” and I’m obsessed with getting a boyfriend.

Item – Movie ticket stub – 2002

Good News! I got a boyfriend. The back of the stub says “ First date with Morgan! (21/10/02)” This is the only evidence of him in this box, but I have faith he will feature predominantly in the next one. We saw The Bourne Identity and I distinctly remember that actually we saw almost nothing of The Bourne Identity and a whole lot of each other’s faces. Kissy kissy.

And that’s it. That’s the whole of the 2002 box. Next week, 2003! Grade 10! Ironbark, my first proper relationship, and my first proper break up. Who knows what wonders we have in store for us as we continue “Lizzy King, Human – A Study.