The Past

March 18, 1989

Dear diary,

My mum told me that I shouldn’t eat too much chikalata, she said it causes diabeetes and that’s what granpapa has. Granpapa is in the hosiptol. She said for me to not worry. She said there are nice people in the hosiptol. She also told me that if I eat too much sugar I might get diabeetes and people with diabeetes have to take a shot every day and poke their finger with a needle to see if their blood is good. I hate needles. So I told mama that I would try to eat less of the chikalata. It was hard.

December 9,1990

Dear diary,

Nadia was really mean today. She stowl my favorite pen with posies and sparkles on it. My aunt gave it to me when we went to Californa to visit her. The pen was really pretty and silly Nadia stowl it from me. She said that mine was just like her and that I must’ve lost mine. I got mad because I knew she was lying. How dare she think that I would fall for her trick. I told my teacher and got my pen back. But Nadia said I was a tattle tailor, whatever that means.

June 11,1992

Dear diary,

Today I graduated from fifth grade. My teacher said that she’d miss me and that she’s proud that I was in the top three. Sally said that I was only the top three because I cheated. Well, that’s a lie. Way to go ruining my big day Sally. My teacher said to not listen to her so I wasn’t mad. My mum as usual cried. Like my brother's and sister’s graduation, she said she cried tears of joy. 

November 29, 1992

Dear diary,

SONYC was really fun today. We had donuts for snack and we had STEM class where we actually did real STEM work unlike other times. However, I did hate the martial arts class.

January 2, 1994

Dear diary, 

I didn’t like the way Nadia looked at me today. She asked me to do her homework for five bucks. I told her no since she already owed me twenty and didn’t give me any for a loooong time. At first she begged and begged, it was annooooying. But I eventually managed to escape from her.I told my mom this and she said that that’s wrong and that if I needed any money to buy snacks from the bakesale I could ask her.

September 7, 1995

Dear diary,

I came late on the first day of school which I immensely regretted because all the seats with the cubbies next to them were taken. I learned my lesson and promised next time to come early. There were only three new faces which made me sigh because I really wanted a change in the class. All the teachers seemed cool except for one. He told us that we’re in highschool preparing to go to college. So much for the warm welcome all the other teachers gave. He said that every week we must have a quiz in his class. When he said this, majority of the class sighed causing him to yell. Someone peeped out something and ended up getting suspended.

June 11, 2000

Dear diary,

The day before my graduation day I walked around my bedroom in circles thinking how I was supposed to recite my speech and how the day might end like with me blabbing on the stage, running through the notes I immensely studied and turning red like a tomato as my classmates say. Sr. Fatima told me that I’d be alright, in seventh grade I recited a whole five minute speech. I told her that it was only in front of a few judges and that it was a long time ago. I walked quicker as I became more and more anxious. Why did I choose to be an early grad?All those years of school are now behind me, my childhood is slowly fading away and my senior year is about to end. I suddenly sat on my bed and covered my face with my hands. You want to pursue a degree….right? I thought. And you want to do it fast so that you can achieve your goals even faster….right? My anxiety slowly faded away. Isn’t that why you wanted to graduate early, isn’t that why you wanted to earn a spot in either the first or second of your class? And you successfully achieved that. Well….might as well make the day count. My anxiety was gone.

January 4, 2002

Dear diary,

I came into the room pulling up a chair and seated myself leaning my head on my hand.

I tried to brace myself for what may come. Each day I take in this college is a day I when my hopes drain from me little by little. Pursuing a dual degree was a bad idea I thought. I even had thoughts of dropping out and I snapped myself out of it. Other than writing in my diary, I hate writing. Professor Wilston keeps giving us essays to write about how fate was involved in the novel “The Mayor Of Casterbridge” or how did Shakespheare’s time affect his plays. Uhhh….I’m trying to hang on. 

June 17, 2007

Dear diary,

I just love graduation. It’s the day when you’re finally relieved of stress but then you find out it’s just the beginning. No, that’s not what I like about graduation. T’ll try to avoid thinking that. Today is the day I enjoy the fruits of my work and say..no it wasn’t such a bad idea. College was worth it and it’s not the end. I still want a pHD as well. Yah, Safiya it’s not over yet. But enjoy today as ,uch as you can and brace yourself for the work you plan ahead.

February 17 2010

Dear diary,

As I flipped through the pages my fingers had touched years ago, I laugh on how silly I was to fight over a pen. Could it be possible that I was just eight years old not yesterday but more than a decade ago. Reading through the pages I unlocked the long forgotten memories of my past. And I smiled at the times I kept moving even though I was struggling. I could see how my grammar evolved throughout the years. Reading my diary I realized I did many things. All in all, not a bad idea pursuing my diary, not a bad idea at all.