Lizzy King, Human - A Study. Box 3 Part 2

Item – Really Bad Poetry – 2003

I think it’s meant to be funny but the title of this poem is “Don’t Judge us You Stupid Hypocritical Stereotypists” and to be honest just writing that out makes me want to jump through time and strangle Teen Lizzy until it is no longer possible for me to have done so due to a paradox.

Item – Bag of Letters sent to me while at Ironbark – 2003

Hot damn there is a tonne of letters here. I honestly am not going to read them right now. I mean just look at that. How did I get so many letters in 5 weeks? I especially enjoy that the handful of the ones I did read from my mum all make jokes about my lack of response. There are lots here from family, but most are from friends. I think there’re so many because mine was one of the last classes to go so everyone else in our grade knew what it was like and how exhilarating it was to receive a letter (or 5) on mail day. Pleasant.

Item – Handwritten Story – 2003

Well it’s the start of a story. I think I may actually have a later draft still saved somewhere on my laptop. This was one of my first novel ideas. It was a love story between my 16-year-old protagonist, Matt, and a girl at his new school called Eminine. She hates her name, obviously. This is an ~interesting character trait~. It’s really not very good story writing, but it was the first time, I think, I put pen to paper and actually allowed myself to create stories. And therefore, this is one of my most treasured possessions.

I didn't choose the thug lyf etc

Photo – Sleeping small Lizzy – c. 1993 maybe?

Not sure why this is in the box, as it’s obviously from a lot earlier, but it is. It’s adorable. My parents took this photo, I think, because they wanted to document one of their favourite things about me: how I always fell asleep reading/with books on me.

Items – Collection of Birthday cards – 2003

Fifteen is a good age to be I think. My favourite card is the one on top. It’s from my family, but Charlie (aged 6) drew and wrote in it. It says inside, “Happy Birthday Lizzy. Lizzy it is your 15^th Birthday Love from Daddy Mummy Charlie BANO xo

XO bitch, XO

Some notes:

- “Bano” is Charlie’s spelling of “Banko” which was our family’s pet name for the as yet not born Sally.

- We do actually have another sibling but Charlie seems to have decided he is not a member of our family.

Oh no wait there is another card here that was most likely drawn by the 3-year-old Patrick. Perhaps the scribble is his angry, artistic response to be being left out.

P is for Patrick and Poking your brother with a stick

Items – Letters and Photos from Felix – DESTROYED in 2003.

The funny thing about having small siblings when you’re a teenager is that everyone is jealous. They want to come over and play with the babies. They offer to your mother to feed and change your siblings. They ask incessant questions about cute things they do. And hey, don’t get me wrong, I LOVED having baby siblings when I was a teenager, just as I love having pre-teen and teen siblings now as a young adult. It’s a very different experience to most people’s and is a defining feature of my idea of myself. BUT can you imagine?! You’re never sure if your friends actually like you or they just like kiddies. You want to hang out and do teen girl things and they are FUCKING OFFERING TO LOOK AFTER THE SQUIDGY THING, you get to look after her anytime you want and that means it’s not something you just offer to do.

And here’s the big thing. Kids wreck shit. My full-length mirror: SMASHED, my fancy blue jelly candle: ANNIHILATED... with a SPOON, and my favourite childhood book, Letters from Felix: RIPPED, DESTROYED and made STICKY with some sort of lolly.

These are some of the ripped out envelopes and letters from the book. Basically, a girl’s toy bunny gets lost at the airport and then goes on a world tour, sending her letters along the way. It is pretty much the most adorable thing and I was SO CAREFUL with it my whole childhood. Never lost any of the bits, never even used the stickers that were in the suitcase on the back page and then one day I discovered it RUINED by SQUIDGY CHILDREN.

This story has a happy ending. My mum looked everywhere for a replacement book for me, and never could. And then one day she saw it in the bookshelf at my brother’s kindy and bought it from them. So now I have a copy. And no squidgy small people around to ruin it.

Dear squidgy not so small people that I am related to, I love you, I do.

So anyway. I’m beginning to think that I will stop analysing these boxes at the end of Grade 12 (2005). I’ve kept one every year since then too, but I feel like it’s too soon or something. But I just love this project, and I hope you do too. I’ve had an idea that you are welcome to get involved in. I’m going to make a tumblr page that you can submit YOUR hoarded photos, letters, etc to, preferably with a little story to go with it. I will be putting this together in the next week or so, so stay tuned.

Lizzy King, Human - A Study. Box 3 Part 1

By 2003, I was a veritable memento keeping champion. I'd been doing it for 4 years by this point, and boy did I hoard EVERYTHING, it's going to take a few posts to get through this one. But of course, 2003 was a big year for me. I had a boyfriend, and then I didn't, I got a brand new sister and 2003 was also...

~The Year I Went to Ironbark~

This artwork is way too good to be mine. No idea who's it is...

Ironbark kinda dominates this box, so it’s worth explaining. My school sends its students to live on a farm for 5 weeks and learn about ropes and camping and cooking and animals and god. I did this in Grade 10, it was an amazing time. I learnt about all those things, and have since forgotten all of them, especially god.

Item – Ironbark Handbook – 2003

A heavily scribbled on book that details all the things we were meant to learn while on the camp. It’s a workbook, so it’s filled with my answers. We had to keep a rain chart and learn about knots, there’s info on the flora and fauna of the area (near Crow’s Nest, QLD) and how to treat farm animals. There’s a lot on farm etiquette (closing gates, crossing ploughed fields correctly etc) and pages and pages of Christian Songs. The amazingly tacky ones. Ones like “Lord of the Dance”, “The Blind Man” and “Every Day”!

*clap clap*

Item – Ironbark Journal – 2003

We had to keep a daily journal and I (surprisingly) actually managed this. I just read the whole thing and it’s really interesting. It’s a much, much more honest record than the ones I’d kept up until this point. I laughed out loud in parts too. Best story has to be:

“Claudia’s bed is near a window in the carriage and Kellie and I were on her bed shining torches at the guys. They were shining them back and then Connor, Frenchie and Loos mooned us! Ahhhhh! Then they were pretending to be having an orgy and Mr Morris came! It was hil-ar-i-ous!!”

I mean. It’s a funny enough story on it’s own. But then the hilarious semantic error of using the word “came” in that sentence. I think it must have been completely innocent, and what I meant was “Mr Morris walked past and caught them!” but that is NOT WHAT THAT SAYS RIGHT THERE.

Letter – from Charlie – 2003

I didn’t really get homesick at Ironbark. But I did get sibling sick. My baby sister, Sally was just 11 days old when I left for camp. Patrick was 3 and Charlie, 6. I missed them in an aching sort of way. Charlie wrote me some of the best damn letters, and drew me amazing pictures, all of which I put up on my wall above my bunk. This letter is too beautiful not to share:

Zero scales were given that day

Item – Movie Stub – 2003

I saw Seabiscuit apparently.

Photo – Of Morgan in amazing frame – 2003

I texted him to ask if I could use this, he said, "who am I to censor?"

This is Morgan, my first real boyfriend. We got together in 2002 and dated for 6 months. Look at his adorable face. This man has a wife and a baby now. A wife. And a baby. And also, some really awesome photos, if you like men with wives, babies and photos, he is your man. 

Word Processed Letter – from Caitlin – 2003

Caitlin always had my back. That’s the biggest thing I remember about my friendship with Caitlin. We ended up living together for a time a few years back, and at school, we were very close. She came on a bunch of my family holidays. If I ever told a lie to cover my tracks or my own embarresment, Caitlin would always go along with it, straight away, without question and then never mention it again. She was the best. In this letter she apologises for not hanging out with me much at the school fete (there were reasons), wonders why another girl doesn’t like us anymore and includes a photo of Tahiti to cheer me up. Legend.

Item – Disintegrated remains of The Hobbit – c1970s-2003 RIP

I think this copy was my dad’s originally, but I read it to death, literally.

Item – Poster of shirtless David Beckham – 2003

I don’t remember ever being interested in this gentleman’s football career, so I suspect TeenLizzy’s interest in him lay elsewhere.

I hear he was good at some kind of sport

Another Letter - from Charlie – 2003           

God he was so adorable! What ever happened?!

Photo – of me and tiny Sally – 2003

Why, it must be the first photo of me and Sally, ever! Look at her tufty hair! Her squidgy face! My smug smile that says “yes. This small creature is mine. She is perfect. You may not have her.”

squidge!

Item – paintings by James and Annabel – 2003

My cousins did some damn good art for me in 2003.

Item – Tiny Diary – 2003

First entry mentions Morgan touching my boobs AND the news that Mum is pregnant (with Sally). Second entry (a month later) details my desire to remain a virgin until marriage, bush fires, the loss of a much beloved lip gloss and the fact that mum was hospitalised because she was dehydrated (and you know… pregnant). Such a busy and exciting life I led.

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.