journal76

If you got this far, you're a glutton for punishment, I guess. :^) Note: modern-day comments are in italics and brackets [ ]. As I read through my journals, looking for stories, I marked nearly every other entry! (Don�t worry - I didn�t actually include them all here!) I thought about it later and figured it must be because they bring back so many good memories, and because everything was so new and exciting to me. Probably isn't the same for you, since they're not your own stories, but I hope you find something you enjoy. Also, I edited the entries a bit for brevity. No use boring you completely!

Saturday, September 18, 1976 - first day at OSU. ====   Mom, Dad, [sister] Char, [little brother] Kirk and I got to Columbus around 4 p.m., paid my fees at Lincoln Tower. I couldn't pre-pay because they had the wrong amount on my fee cards. Checked into Siebert Hall, got my linens and a sticker for my ID card. Met my roommate, Nancy McLean, a freshman from Canton, Ohio. Nancy got a kick out of the way Kirk called her "Buckwheat," which is the name of one of our kittens.
   The family left shortly after we had dinner at Burger Chef. Later, Nancy, her high school friend Barb Conrad and I walked up to High Street. It's got to be the best place in the world to look at guys! Of all people, John Menz was on High Street, too. [His father was the principal for a time at our high school.] I guess he was just here to see some friends off.
   There was a band playing at Ohio Union but we didn't stay there long. We came back to our room and talked and later watched "Saturday Night Live" in the lobby.
   Our room is 314, and apparently it wasn't originally meant to be a student room because it's separate from the others, in the center section of the building, with the study lounge, janitor's closet and elevators. It doesn't have built-in closets and dressers like the other rooms, but free-standing dressers and wardrobes.

Tues., Sept. 28, 1976 ====     Had my first archery class to day, for phys ed. It's co-ed and the instructor, I am happy to say, is even skinnier than me!
   This was my second day of work at the commons. We (student workers) have to arrive about 4 p.m. to eat and set up for the 4:30 opening. We punch in and out on a time clock. I work with a regular, non-student employee named Mary, who is a little weird. Today she gave me a gift - a small, black plastic comb that she found on sale, 3 for 19c [sorry, my keyboard doesn't have a cents symbol]. She's always complaining about the messes people leave on their trays, or she gets impatient if the conveyor belt [down to the dish-washing room] stops. Then she starts shoving the glasses and cups [we put them on separate trays before sending them to the dishroom]. She broke a cup today and dropped a dish of coleslaw on the floor. She told me that one of the other "regulars" predicted that I'd quit within a week because I wouldn't be able to stand Mary. It's possible!
   Jeff Gill works right behind Mary and me, taking care of the beverage dispensers. He's tall and thin with sandy brown hair and reminds me of Barry Manilow, only cuter. We happened to clock out at the same time, so we walked together through the tunnels. He lives in Stradley. I don't think I mentioned the tunnels before. The basements of all the dorms on our part of campus connect to each other, and everyone calls them the tunnels. Canfield, Mack, Morrison, Siebert, Bradley and Patterson dorms, and Women's Commons all connect in sort of a big circle. It's nice in bad weather because you don't have to go outside to go eat.
   I got a letter from Aunt Bess, with $10 to buy myself a treat. Mom called to check on me and I told her about my job. Overall, I enjoy working there.

Tues., Oct. 12, 1976 ====      Chris Fitch, who also lives on Siebert 3, has golf class in Women's Field House at the same time I have archery there. She said all the girls in her class have crushes on a guy in my class. I think she means Jeff, who IS really cute. I've talked to him a few times. He's a phys ed major and just a little taller than me. Today we had to shoot from 25 yards instead of 20 and he asked me how I did at that distance. I actually improved quite a bit, for some reason. He said he did worse.

Wed., Oct 13, 1976 ====      The philosophy midterm was pretty easy. After UVC [a sort of "welcome to college life" class] Linda Struglinski and I ate at Burger King. She's a journalism major too, and lives just a couple doors down from me, in Siebert 318.
   At work, the conveyor started a half hour late, and Mary and I didn't get caught up until 6. She was very upset, and cried and broke a glass and some dishes. She's driving me crazy! Jeff and Lynn helped us, though. Everybody's so nice there.

Fri., Oct. 22, 1976 ====     I got a sub to work for me so Mary Prelog and I could go to the Snake. [Not Mary from the commons - this Mary and I were roommates at orientation in August and she lived in Siebert, too.] The Snake is one of those conga-line sort of things, where everyone is supposed to hold the hips of the person in front of them, and we were trying to break the Guiness Book of Records entry for longest snake. It was kinda crazy, though, with the line moving in fits and starts, and sometimes we had to run to keep up, making it hard to hold on. After a while we all just held hands. Then people started playing Crack-the-whip as we ran all over the Oval, up and down the paths, around trees, etc. Well, it was more fun than any Crack-the-Whip I ever played before! Sometimes the line moved so sporadically we got pulled apart. Mary's friend Kathy got dragged along once, and her white pants got all grass-stained. Some guys ahead of us offered to strengthen the line by getting between us (they could hold on tighter!), and after that it was easier. Besides, they were cute and a lot of fun. Supposedly, the final count was 3,412, only 12 over the record, but I don't know how anyone could have counted accurately.

Sat., Oct. 23, 1976 ====      I had a great time at the football game today. To my left sat two Black guys who were talking about Kelton Dansler. I had to ask if they know him (they do) and said I went to the same high school as Kelton. The guy to my right (I think his name is Joe Stein) was there again, and the hunk next to him (Tim) was too, and with him were none other than Harold and Randy [friends of another girl on my dorm floor].
   It started raining at the end of the first quarter, and by halftime a lot of people left, including everyone around me except Harold. Then the two Black guys came back, and so did Tim. In the rain, and without all that body heat around, it started getting chilly. Tim said I should sit between him and Harold so we could keep warm, which I was happy to do! Anyway, we yelled and stamped our feet to keep warm, and some of the things we yelled were hilarious. One of the Black guys made up funny little ditties that we all chanted, like: "only the truly insane remain in the rain" and "the rain at OSU falls mainly on a few."

Tues., Dec. 7, 1976 ====       Went to the bank and to the Bursar's office to pay my fees: $798 for winter quarter.
   We had to get dressed up for work because we had a "Special Dinner" for Christmas. There were tablecloths and candles and colored napkins and punch and candy canes. For dinner we had steak and baked potatoes, two kinds of lettuce salad and a fancy jello salad besides the usual stuff. It was nice.

Wed., Jan. 5, 1977 ====    Dave Murphy, who used to work lunch, is on dinner shift this quarter. I once asked Mary about him and she told him I liked him! And now I�ll have to work with him every day. How embarrassing!    I had to work �third� on the South line - dishing out vegetables. I was supposed to be on North but they�ve changed my schedule. Now I work Monday, Wednesday and Saturday on North line, Tuesday and Friday on South, and Thursday on North conveyor. [The commons was divided into three dining rooms - North, South and West, with each dorm assigned to eat in a particular dining room.] At least I get to be on North most of the time. I think they have more cute guys there.

Thu., Jan. 6, 1977 ====    At 11 I had astronomy, and saw a guy who I recognize from the commons. At 1 I had history recitation with a weird looking TA [teaching associate, or is it assistant?] but the class won�t be so bad because Harold is in it too.
   Randy Graham worked on South tonight, and John Coates is working in the dishroom now. I was supposed to work North conveyor, but got put on North line. Mark Near buses that line, and when we needed anything we�d say, �Hello potatoes,� or Hello noodles� or whatever, and he�d bring it. I got a chance to talk to that cute guy in astronomy, asking him how he likes the class so far. It�s hard to talk when you�re working on the line, though, because you can�t hold everybody up.
   Joe Grady was on our floor tonight. He was in my UVC class, and Linda knows him. He used to work for a florist and was telling us how to take care of our plants.

Fri., Jan 14, 1977 ====    I was tempted to blow off history today, since it was snowing so hard, but went and sat with Harold. We were taking notes on the lecture and I heard his pencil break. I had to laugh because the exact same thing happened to him the other day. Neither of us had a spare pencil, so I lent him my notes to copy after class. When I got back to the dorm, there must�ve been at least 50 people in the parking lot having a snowball fight.
   We had a lot of fun at work. Becky Sipes (who is on salad bar this quarter) and I got the giggles while we were wiping tables. She likes Mark Near, so we told him he was the best looking guy in the commons all night. Then, I was helping her clean the salad bar when John, who does the glasses (I�ve got to find out more last names!) took the stacker of salad things out into the tunnel with him as he left. Mark brought it back, then climbed inside one of the empty stackers and Becky pushed him around in it. Of course, we couldn�t have done that if Mrs. Dennis was around, but Friday is her day off.

Mon. Jan 17, 1977 ====    Well, it warmed up to above 0 degrees for a while, but I heard it was   -18 early this morning. Classes are closed tomorrow, I guess to save energy, because of the shortage of natural gas.
   Mark Near was really funny tonight. He likes to sing, and was standing real close to Larraine [one of the regulars] and told her, �You have nice hair to sing into.� A unique compliment! Then he sang to Teresa Lucien, who got embarrassed and kept walking away from him.
   Buddy Kokrak, who graduated from Harding a few years before me, was in our commons tonight. I never really knew him at Harding but I recognized him so I introduced myself. He and his friend Randy came in very late, and I had to stay and wait for them to finish so I could clean the table when they were done, and while I waited for them we talked a bit.

Wed., Jan 19, 1977 ====    In journalism, I sat by Joe Buti and Pat Howe, who also work in Women�s Commons. Pat only works weekends, though. She�s really nice, and Joe is gorgeous!
   On the bus back from West Campus, I saw Ty Hicks and introduced myself. Another WGH grad who I never really met until now! And Ty even graduated the same year as me. Well, we never had a class together, so I never really had a chance to meet him. He was a football star at WGH and hopefully will be here, too. He�s really fast.
   Work was fun tonight. Mrs. Dennis started it off by asking who had written on the sign-in list �I am� instead of his name, and yesterday signed in as �Jesus�. We all died laughing. John (who does the glasses) finally admitted that it was him.
   Saw all my favorite good looking guys, and one winked at me when he came back for seconds. I nearly fell over. [I later found out his name was Jim Caruso, another football player.] Talked to Buddy Kokrak and Randy again. They were teasing Mary before they left. Edna [another regular] said �I wouldn�t go out with him if he was the last man on earth. He�s a devil.� But she enjoys joking with him. She�s probably right about him being a devil - he had the worst reputation in high school.

Fri., Jan 28, 1977 ====    Classes were closed at noon yesterday because of the cold. Last I heard it was -5 with a windchill of -47!
   Went to Stradley 10�s floor party with Loree, Nance, Barb, Lisa and Donna. Met some guy they all know named Jeff, and saw John Hutchings and Brian Grieshammer. Then Debbie Tabacco, Sue Gibson, Elaine Ragazzo [all from my WGH class], Dee and Chris came, and Chris�s friend Becky Gray. We stopped at a party on 7th floor too. I went with Chris, Becky and Dee to 319 to see some guys from Chris�s hometown (Lisbon, OH) - Bob and Joe, and Joe�s roommate George. We talked and played Aggravation. It was the most interesting game of Aggravation I�ve ever played, since no one followed the rules! We got a pizza and then watched the BeeGees on Midnight Special. They sang Nights on Broadway and we started acting out the words. �Here we are, in a room full of strangers...� and we all looked at each other like we didn�t recognize each other ... �standing in the dark� ... turned off the lights ... �how long will they come between us? Well, I had to follow you� ... and we all walked in a circle, so we were all following each other, and all holding an ear, like whichever one of the BeeGees does that. By the time we got that far, we were laughing so hard we couldn�t continue with the rest of the song.

Sat., Apr. 16, 1977 ====    This has got to be the worst birthday I ever had. At work I got stuck on South conveyor, which I hate. We were crowded and busy and some idiot guy put a third tray on the top shelf of the stacker [each shelf held only two trays], which pushed the first tray off, right onto me. He didn�t even apologize! I had Coke and food spilled all over me, not to mention the mess of broken dishes and glass all over the floor. I was ready to cry, but Joe Buti saw it and dashed over and said he�d clean everything up. I must�ve looked pretty miserable, because he kept saying, �Now, don�t cry. If you were 15 you might cry, but you�re not.� I didn�t. I sure don�t know what I�d have done without him there.
   Going up to High Street wasn�t any fun either. Nancy has gone home for the weekend, and Barb, Loree and the rest went to PJ�s [PaPa Joe�s - THE campus bar] without waiting for me. I saw a bunch of people I know, like Joe again (bless his heart), Greek, Hawk and Harold�s friend Dave, but it didn�t do much to cheer me up. I didn�t stay long and just came back to the room. [Okay, so it wasn�t as bad as Randy having his car towed on his birthday, but I was really depressed for some reason. Probably didn�t help that even my parents hadn�t sent a card.]

Thu., Apr. 21, 1977 ====    Saw Mark McGatha today and just had to break out in a grin. I asked him, �How come it�s always so good to see you?� He patted me on the back and said, �I know, it�s great.� But it�s true!!! There�s just something about him - you just have to be in love with the guy. [I never truly understood what �charisma� was until I met Mark. He wasn�t the most gorgeous guy - not that he was bad looking, far from it - but there was just SOMETHING about him. Even other guys admitted it.]

Wed., May 4, 1977 ====    Woody Hayes [the head football coach back then, in case you don�t know] sat in on our history class today. I guess he sometimes goes to classes to check up on his players, and Rod Gerald is in our class. Woody stayed to talk to people afterward, and when I got up to him, he spoke first, asking what high school I went to. Boy, was I proud to be able to say Warren Harding! He replied, �Great football players there!� I asked what he thought of Ty Hicks, and he said, �Oh, he�s great! We sure hope he�ll be eligible next year.� All right, T-Bone!

Thu., May 5, 1977 ====    Had lunch with Ty today. He says the Big Ten schools are all money, money, money, and the competition would have been just as tough at Kent State. That surprised me. He also said Jeff Logan won�t speak to him. I understand that, in a way. It�s not easy to like someone who might take your job. Ty also told me that at home people used to send him gifts and things, and he could never get over it He's so humble!
Tue, May 10, 1977 ====    Barb, Linda and I went to Bernie�s for a free bagel. We came back across the Oval, skipping and singing �We�re off to see the wizard...� That was fun. Back at the dorm, we changed clothes and went out to PJ�s, Underground, Oar House and back to PJ�s. Gary, Greek, Tom Horner and Tom Terveer and Catman [Rick Smith, from the basketball team - he always wore a baseball cap that said �CAT� - for Caterpillar tractors, so Barb nicknamed him Catman]. It was Rick�s 20th birthday. We played pinball with Greek, and later sat in a booth with Rick and Tom Horner, who was uproariously funny: making faces, rocking from side to side and singing.

Sun., May 22, 1977 ====    I ate brunch at 11 with the employees. Matt told me about his friend who passed out in his (Matt�s) car last night and slept there with the car door open all night! Someone bent the handrail on the Stradley steps across the front door so no one could get in or out that way! Whoever did it must�ve had the strength of King Kong!
   I was on the sunroof for an hour and a half, then went to the concert on South Oval. Loree pointed out Jim Manuel, from Baker Hall, who has got to be the beefiest guy on the whole campus! [We needed our own dictionary on Siebert 3 - we had a language all our own! Beefy meant really good looking.]

Fri., May 27, 1977 ====    Joe Buti worked beverages tonight and told me he saw Jeff (Gill) in the kitchen and Jeff asked how things were going, and Joe answered, �Pretty shitty.� Then Joe said to me, with an incredulous look on his face: �I said shitty to Jeff!� I knew how he felt. Jeff somehow makes you feel guilty for even thinking something like that, without saying a word or even raising an eyebrow. [Jeff talked once in a while about being a born-again Christian but never pushed it or ever sounded critical of anyone else. He seemed so perfect, I guess we felt bad being imperfect in front of him.]

Tue., June 7, 1977 ====    I spent most of the day just studying. Both my exams were pretty hard. When I finished, I packed up my stuff and waited for Mom and Dad. They came about 5, and we loaded up the car. I saw Mark McGatha going back from dinner and said good-bye to him. Oh, I don�t want to be back home for the summer, I�m going to miss everybody so much!

OSU journals, 1976-77

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