You're Dropped!

Thirteen is a number burdened with ancient symbolism and much evil. Friday the 13^th is a famously unlucky day - and it really was on Friday October 13 1972, when Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes, killing 29 people, forcing the survivors to eat pieces of their frozen dead team mates to stay alive, while on the exact same day, 174 people were killed when a Soviet Aeroflot plane crashed in a lake. As it was on Friday the 13th October 1307, when King Philip IV of France ordered the slaying of the Knights Templar. The end of the Mayan 13th calendar cycle was supposed to have triggered the 2012 apocalypse - which seems to be on its way with mass species extinctions and an expected total ecosystem breakdown. There are 13 witches in a coven - not an oven - thirteen witches in an oven would be baked witches, not burnt at the stake witches. Even if a bakers dozen of 13 baked bread loaves is called the Devils Dozen it has nothing to do with 13 witches in an oven (or a coven) but maybe a  lot to do with The Death Card in the Tarot pack 'witch' is XIII.

The 1970 Apollo 13 NASA Moon mission was called a "successful failure" because it didn't land on the moon as it was supposed to even though it managed to get into space.  Iranian Zoroastrists run for the hills on the 13th day of the year because the wrath of malevolence is expected to enshroud anyone who dares tardy in cities and towns. The virgin Fátima appeared to 3 children in Portugal on the 13th day of every month for six months in a row in 1917, warning them of World War 2 and fiery flames of hell burning at the center of the earth.  Thirteen apostles sat around the table at Jesus Christ's last supper when Judas’s betrayal sent him to his crucifixion, which could be why it is considered ill-fated to have thirteen guests for dinner.There were traditionally 13 steps leading to the gallows. European monks thought 13 was most sinister because 13 full moons in a calendar year upset their annual religious festival planning. While the same 13 moon cycle brings bad luck simply because women’s menstruation occurs over 13 full moon cycles – we ladies were cursed from the get go. 

This ancient fear of 13 has found its way into modern times. You won’t see the number 13 in a triathlon. Thirteen is conspicuously uncommon in the corporate and manufacturing world, and hotels typically don’t have a room 13.  Even the fast and furious at Formula One did not use the number 13 from 1977 to 2013. And if you have thirteen letters in your name you’re bound to have the devil's luck - which could be good luck if you don’t believe that good triumphs over evil.

And Washington – well it is just full of sinister symbols. On the US Department of State Great Seal, front and back, there are 13 leaves on the left olive branch with 13 berries, 13 stripes on the middle shield, 13 arrows on the right, 13 stars above the eagles head, 13 letters in the "E Pluribus Unum" on the ribbon, 13 letters in "Annuit Coeptis" and 13 blocks top to bottom on the pyramid which are supposed to represent the 13 Satanic families – and doesn't that just prove that every founding father of the US of A was a wicked, manipulating conspiring Freemason intent on dominating the world and everything in it!

If you now have an irrational fear of number thirteen, like the Irish nationalist political leader Charles Stuart Parnell did,  you are Triskaidekaphobiac – and really silly because there has been no evidence whatsoever that 13 is an unlucky number. Some even think it’s a happy number- it is after all , a magical Fibonacci numeral. In Judaism, 13 signifies the age at which a boy matures and becomes a Bar Mitzvah and it's also the number of their God’s 13 Attributes of Mercy. In Islam 13 is the total of 1 Prophet and 12 Imams in the Shia school of thought, and the birth of Imam Ali. In Mesoamerican divination, 13 is the amount of important cycles of fortune/misfortune. In Italy, 13 is a lucky number. 

Colgate University on 13 Oak Drive in Hamilton, New York, also considers 13 a lucky number. The University was founded by 13 men with 13 dollars, 13 prayers and 13 articles. The University’s male  Capella group is called the Colgate 13. The photo to the left shows Colgate University students holding up their lucky number 13 on their website homepage - just pointing out though, the student's heads are missing........

A number of films and TV shows from various countries have been made around the number thirteen: 13 Tzameti,  Number 13, 13 Ghosts, Thirteen Ghosts a 2001 Remake, 13 Assassins, The Thirteen, The 13th Warrior, District 13, Apollo 13, Warehouse 13. Friday 13^th, 13, and Thirteen. Musicians - mostly heavy metal - have explored the theme too. Blur, Fanclub, Black Sabbath, and Megadeth all have albums called 13. The Megadeth album has 13 tracks including the final song "13". Songs called 13 were also recorded by Johnny Cash, Danzig, Big Star and the Pixies. And there’s a German band called  XIII – heavy metal of course.

For anyone born on the 13^th you are traditionalists, hard worker organisers. Sensitive and easily offended, you are approachable only when you are confident that the love, friendship and loyalty you offer will be returned. You are a tad authoritarian even though you lack confidence, but you defend yourself well. Your life is one endless roller coaster of challenges as you strive for a higher plane of existence so you tend to become a worry wart, even making yourself ill. Therefore you need to steer clear of negative situations and people in your lives. Like turning 13. A very negative situation to steer well clear of. Skip it - especially if you are 'triskaidekaphobic'  - go straight to 14.

With such malevolence infused into the number 13 no wonder we 13 year olds were utter psychos– it is emblazoned onto our age with a fiery hot branding iron. Its been foretold, etched, sung to us, played to us by Gods and Devils– old and new, from the underworld, the overworld, from times before Gods and Devils - they immutably tattooed every single generation of the age 13. We thirteens were just doomed to be tortured and to torture. Consider some historical 13 year olds: Joan of Arc began hearing voices when she was 13. Juliet of Shakespeare fame cried  “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" (Just like me harking endlessly over my latest infatuation). Tom Sawyer is 13 when he was to wed Becky Thatcher – neither  of them knowing what that really meant.  Anne Frank received her diary as a present on her 13th birthday, just like me. Thirteen is the child who gives you the lolly-pop for a suck but won’t let go of it!  

My 13 Years of Age Developmental Report Card

Thirteen is also a vibration  associated with genius so I’m going to go with that because I'm not superstitious. Taking the good luck side of number 13, how do I size up against current development criteria for the 12-14 year age group according to today’s assessments? Some people have commented through various social media channels that they were relieved to read they weren't alone in their dysfunction. But according to  behavioral milestones used to assess our own teenagers today – something we didn't seem to have when we were pubescent, not being as analysed back then as kids are today – we were totally normal.

I cope OK, albeit erratically, with the many physical, mental, emotional, and social changes that I am affronted with once I entered High School. My hormones are on time; my periods arrived which made me feel a little special at first, although only because I expected something mystical to happen, but it didn't, and the novelty wore off soon enough once I realised this was what is was going to be like for the rest of my life. And unlike boys who flaunted  facial hairs which were starting to cover their youthful skin like freshly sprouting grass after a public works verge restitution, I started removing the down from my body in secret – as if Mothers don’t notice when their precious babies have changed something about their bodies they have memorised since birth. Hair is a big thing at this age, not only are we having the style of  times – shags and sharpie cuts - but girls are twiddling and turning it, and so are the boys because many have long locks themselves before they shaved it off as the sharpie dawns. I certainly show more concern about body image, looks, and clothes, as I am supposed to, and I get my ears pierced.

The pressure is on to drink, but so far I've only had two glasses of champagne, and to smoke, which I tried but I decide it’s a disgusting habit. The boys are entrepreneurial in their efforts to find out what anything related to sex is about but I think all boys are ‘dirty b..tards’ who’d try anything on me or anyone else for that matter. These days there’s a lot of pressure for children to try drugs  but back in 1975 I haven’t come across any. 

Between the ages of 12-14 we make more of our own choices about friends, sports, studying, and school.I am concerned about the cohesiveness of our group which is quite a source of distress – we ruthlessly understand nothing of diplomacy and say what we think at the very exact moment. When I entered first form all bright eyed, bushy tailed and hot on the heels of my School Captaincy, I academically scored top of my class.  I still take my schoolwork obligations seriously.  I do my homework and I worry about passing exams and what my results will be, which is normal, but not unsurprisingly my marks begin to slide as I devote my energy to keeping Dear Dairy informed about what's going on at school. Sport plays an important role in my life and keeps me out of trouble. I am competitive but admire and respect when other players and teams perform well. I will play anything I qualify for at at school and am champion under 14 athlete this year. I also play in a winning local and regional representative netball team, and I umpire. While I'm quite independent, my parents are still very important to me and they still call all the shots.  If they say no, its no. This causes me to be rude and short tempered towards them as is expected of our age; although I am mostly rude and short tempered in my diaries where I don't restrain myself. My poor mother told me a few months ago, “Boy you really hated me then didn't you!" I didn't of course. I just wanted everything my way.

Thirteen year olds are moody, and I am no different. One day its “Oh Joy! Elation! Happiness! Groovily fantabulous! What a gorgeous day!” and the next, “What a horrible, ghastly, bitchy, dreary, f'ed up, not to mention shitted day of my life"– and I mean it- I cry a lot, I think nobody likes me, I hate myself and everyone else and I wish I was dead. I vacillate between confidence and excruciating lack of confidence – I never think I'm going to get into the sports team, and I always do. I always think I'm going to fail my exam, which I never do. I think the boys I like don’t like me when it seems they do. I think I’m ugly when apparently I’m not. I've wanted to slap myself in the face many a time typing my diaries up – as have my own children who’s eyes have more than once rolled  to the back of their heads over over and around around, like the Arkham Asylum ride  at Movie World:  “Mum!! What the!……Just go with him!”, my youngest son said this month when I didn't know if I should or should not go with my latest infatuation, Jason.

I am thinking more critically than I was at the beginning of the year and I am better able to express feelings through talking. We girls talk a lot, and we do a lot of writing too  - my diary entries are getting longer. I even write whole letters to my fellow school friends to get things off my chest. We post on our 1975 Facebook almost every day – our Paper Conversation - and we keep a Paper Conversation Book where all the discussions are stored and protected.  I have a strong sense of right and wrong as is expected of me now – especially when it comes to girls and their sexual conduct, and my own reputation. I feel intense guilt when I do something ethically challenged– I stole a dollar from the canteen and I lied about not finishing the cross country after I stopped half way. I felt so guilty I had to tell Dear Diary – but not guilty enough to fess up to the canteen mothers and pay the dollar back or to tell anyone else that I didn't finish the race. See - perfectly normal!

So it turns out that I've only been 13 all year ( seems I neglected to fact checked my own age when I started this blog!). This Roctober I move into my first month as a fourteen year old, and to baptise my new age  I say  “Yes”, to a 15 year old boy.

Also willing are the Swedish group Abba who have their first big international hit this month thanks to Australians and to Countdown’s Molly Meldrum when I do, I do,  I do, I do I do becomes number one in Australia but nowhere else in the world. It’s the beginning of the Abba fever that would sweep Australia later this decade and it won’t be the first time Australia has a significant role to play in the fate of the talented Swedes. No-one could distract me from the Sweet though. A colleague  wrote to me to saying he loved my blog but I lost all credibility when I fell in love with the Sweet! ( he was a Bowie, Rod Stewart, 10CC fan). But I wasn't alone. Bijorn Ulvaeus from Abba said in an interview that they were actually trying to look like the Sweet.  I wonder what we would have thought of that back in 1975! 

The World and Australia in Rocktober 1975

East Timor and the Balibo Six

This month in 1975 a ruthless military force to the north of Australia assassinates a young news crew of two Australians, two Englishmen and one Kiwi in a town called Balibo, because they were about to report on Indonesia's well planned secret invasion of East Timor.

Life was never easy in the equatorial jungles of East Timor, but even less so from the 16th century on under various colonial and invasive interventions starting with Portuguese colonial rule, a domination characteristic by neglect, slavery and exploitation. The run down colony made for a pushover Japanese invasion in World War II. The East Timorese sided with the Allies in the battle for Timor but they paid for their resistance with a staggering 40,000 to 70,000 East Timorese lives lost before Portugal took control again at the end of the war. When Portugal was confronted by their own Carnation Revolution in 1974-75,  it was in no state to administer East Timor, leaving a power vacuum easily filled by opposing agendas- the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin), considered communists, and the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) supported by the US, Australia and Indonesia. In what has emerged to be a conspiratorial act by the Australian Government to put a halt to  Fretilin and any East Timorese independence, Indonesia invaded and annexed the territory with Australia's blessing.

Australia’s TCN -9 journalist Greg Shackleton, 29, sound recordist Tony Stewart, 21; Gary Cunningham, 27, cameraman ; Brian Peters, 24, cameraman; and reporter Malcolm Rennie, 29, went off to Balibo to cover news of an impending Indonesian military attack on Balibo. They assumed they were protected by the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949, which covers the treatment of prisoners of war, including war correspondents. Not so. It seems Indonesia had never heard of this convention, favouring instead to dispose of any witnesses of an invasion that was meant to look like the East Timorese had invited Indonesia to benevolently take over their country. Four of the media crew were shot to death under the orders of the now retired and unpunished Lieutenant-General Mohammed Yunus Yosfiah according to findings of the 2007 inquest into the Balibo killings, and a fifth was stabbed to death by Indonesian special forces soldier Christoforus de Silva.

There was a sixth member of the Balibo Five; AAP-Rueters Journalist Rodger East. He went to East Timor to get to the bottom of what happened to the crew of five, as journalists do. He too was summarily executed by an Indonesian firing squad on the morning of 8 December, a day after the Indonesian invasion of Dilli. The assassins dumped his body in the ocean.

Indonesia's occupation of East Timor was as violent, bloody and brutal as the deaths they exacted on the international media team only on a scale by the power of war crimes. Some 18,600 people were murdered, and a further 84,200 died of starvation and illness. 

Elsewhere in the World

Finally operational after 5.7 billion dollars over eight years was blown on the construction the USA's Safeguard anti-ballistic missile complex, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to shut down the program the very next day, because the system wouldn't protect the US in the event of a nuclear war and was in fact a security target.

Soviet nuclear physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov won the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize but couldn't leave the Soviet Union to receive it, and two Soviet space probes Venera 9 and 10,  landed on the planet Venus, sending pictures back to earth of what they saw there.

While I am still blissfully unaware that men rule the world, women were admitted into the United States service academies for the first time this month - even though it is forced by legislation - and an incredible ninety percent of women in Iceland took part in the first "women's strike", organized by a feminist group called the Red Stockings.

A unique and endemic to Algeria precious little bird, the Algerian Nuthatch, was discovered for the first time by a botanist who was actually in Algeria  studying fir trees. Sadly,at the same time in the USA, the Snail Darter (Percina tanasi),a fish also discovered for the first time in the Little Tennessee River just two years earlier, became  extinct there due to the construction of  the Tellico Dam, even though construction was postponed for two years in an effort to protect the little fish. The Snail Darter was transplanted elsewhere but remains on the threatened species list.

Meanwhile in Australia a political storm is about to unleash a fury never seen in Australia to date, one that will scar our nation forever - until now as something eerily similar brews on Australia's political scene - when the Coalition majority in the Senate blocked the passing of the Prime Minister's Supply Bill intended to introduce sweeping new reforms that would benefit the majority of Australians.

Roctober 1975

This month I finally get to "go with a boy I like", Jason, but I drop him a few days later because I am told he is "using me". The very next day, Jason goes with another girl, Debbie, so in retaliation I "go with" poor old chubby rosy cheeked Trevor, who I then drop two days later because "I can't kiss I boy I don't Luv", and I fear for my reputation. We agree to stay "friends", and we do. Meanwhile I am looking sideways at the new French boy, Fabrice. I "wonder if I will ever go with Fabrice" whom I sit next to on the bus every day, but I decide he "shit stirs me too much".

Wednesday Rocktober 1 – “I was going to ask you but I still need more time to think about it”

This morning I was playing handball. I was real nervous but nothing really happened. Trevor came up to me and said “Since the situation has changed "( I knew it, I damn well knew it, it had to happen) "Jason is thinking of asking you today". Jo goes “Oh goody” but I know he won’t ask me. Then Billy came up and said “He is only thinking about it”. So I got upset and sat down. The Jason came over and I said “Hi” and smiled and he said “G’day Petra” and smiled. Then I smiled and he said “Now that Chris and Debbie have broken up it’s sort of changed. I was going to ask you but I still need more time to think about it, you don’t mind do you?”  I said “No”. He said "I’ll probably be asking you though". Then the bell went.

I saw him at roll call but I didn't say Hi. Then at senior recess he was sort of behind me and Sharon said "Jason’s really thinking about it". When I asked her why she said "He didn't say a word in history". God he must be unhappy. Oh God how could I be so ignorant! At 5^th period he was talking to Debbie Grace just about all the time. She has a crush on him but I saw him say my name. He’s been upset all day. I luv him so much. I’d give anything to go with him but I know he’s unhappy. He doesn't want to go with me cause if he did he would have asked me already. He’s just thinking of trying to get out of it without hurting my feelings. Bless his heart. Oh God, he’s so unhappy and so am I. I want to go with him but I can’t make him unhappy just because of me, so tomorrow if I have the guts I’ll say “If you don’t want to don’t ask cause I don’t want you getting yourself into something you might regret”. Or something like that. I wanted to tell

Trevor but he didn't hear me when I called. Later when I was listening to the fight between Ali and Frazer, Trevor and all them came over to listen to it. I wanted to ask Trevor but he was too busy listening, and I wanted to ask Chris about Debbie but I couldn't find the guts. I was so unhappy. Oh God please, what am I going to do? I luv Jason really and truly but I don’t know how to talk to explain it to him. Oh someone please help.! Talked to Fabrice on the bus today.

Thursday Rocktober 2 - Groovily fantabulous! What a gorgeous day. He asked me! I said Yes

Dearest Diary,

Oh Joy! Elation! Happiness! Groovily fantabulous! What a gorgeous day! He asked me! Oh wow I’m so happy I want to scream at the world. I’m so happy. He came over to me this morning and said, “I guess you know what I’m going to ask you”. I said “Are you sure you want to” and he said “Yes I want to go with you”. I said “Yes”. He said, “We’re you crying yesterday?” I said “No, I did last night though”. He said “I wanted to make sure you liked me”.  I said “You should have seen my pencil case”, and he laughed. Then he said "You don’t mind if I don’t sit with you all the time?” I said “No”, and I got all muddled up and he laughed.  Then he patted me on the shoulder and said goodbye. Later on they called me over and I sat next to him. He put his arm around me. He asked me if Debbie liked Chris and I said yes, so he went over and talked to her. As it turned Debbie is going with Chris. We talked and he said “Why didn't you tell me all this ages ago? I would have gone with you then”. Then the bell went and he said “I won’t see you until lunch time”. Oh God I've never been so happy in my life. At third period I saw him talking and laughing with Debbie Grace. Then on the way to the fourth period he said hello. Then at lunch time he came over and sat next to me and started talking. He said “Has anyone shitted you up yet?” and I said “No”. He said “If they do I’ll beat their asses until their hanging out of their mouths”.

Later Anne Blackburrow and all them came up and started talking to Jason and I got a whole stack of dirty looks all day. Jason was born in England! How about that! I got his phone number too: its 393388. I wrote mine on his hand. He said he would take me to see

Alice Cooper. God he’s beautiful. Then the kids behind us kept calling him a two timer, “Have you had a nice time with Debbie Grace”. And I told him to tell them to get stuffed and he did . We started talking about dogs and cats and how lazy they are and I said “You seemed upset yesterday”. He said “No I was just thinking about you. I wasn't sure you liked me”. I said “I couldn't come up and say I like you Jason”. Like Cathy Scott. She said to Jason, “Since its International Women’s Year, will you go with me?”. GOD . On the way to Hill End Amanda had cornered him and she said “I've got a headache, can I lean my head on your shoulder? Have you got a soft shoulder? Are you going to ask me to go with you?” He said “Get stuffed”. Good on him.

“I don’t see how Jason could go with Petra”

Lynette told me that Jason took Debbie Grace’s Bag but she had to kiss him first. But Jason denies it, and I believe him - so there! Then there was a fight and Jason went to watch it. As he was coming back the bell went and he came up and said goodbye and kissed me again. Oh wow was I on cloud nine all day. Boy do Iuv him, but sometimes I have doubts about him liking me. Everyone kept saying “Are you happy Petra”. Oh boy don’t they know how happy I am. I asked Jason if he would like me to come to the party and he said “Yeah I’ll probably go.” I've got to go to the party. I've just got to go. But Mum damn well won’t let me. I’ll have to beg. I’ll just have to. It’s so important to me and if he doesn't go I won’t go - if I’m allowed. I asked Mum this arvo. She said no. Oh hell. Anne and Gay and all them were talking to Trevor and they said “I don’t see how Jason could go with Petra” and Trevor said, “A lot easier than he could go with Amanda” ( hahaha). Then they said “She’s a bitch” and Trevor, “She isn't” and they said “She’s a fucking Bitch” and Trevor said, “She’s a bloody good kid so shut up”. Wasn't that sweet? Jason said “Trevor was going to ask me but I beat him to it”. Then he said “Craig asked you too so you are pretty popular”. God I luv Jason. Finally I got him. I hope it lasts. oh God I hope it lasts.

Friday  3^rd Roctober – “He kissed me real long on the lips. Boy. Wow it was nice”

Dear Diary,

Gees it was great toady. We sat with the boys today. I asked Jason if he was 15 and he said yes and asked me if I was 15 but I’m not. They told some jokes. It was really great and then the bell went and he said “See you at lunch time”. At lunch I sat with him and he was as close as we could get. I started shivering and he said “Are you cold” and I said “yes” and he said “I'll warm you up” and he put his arm around me and held me tight. I tried to tell jokes but everyone kept telling the end. He asked me

if I’d go to the flicks to see Death Race 2000 and also to come with him to Luna Park. Isn't that great! Then this bee came and we both jumped away. I hit the bee and told him to piss off and he did. Then Jason moved back and put his arm around me again. We talked about pop groups. Jason hates Sherbet and so do I. Craig Statton had a big collection of the Sweet. We also talked about the party and booze and all that. Then the cursed bell went and I said "I won’t see you until Tuesday".He smiled and said he would ring me on the weekend. Seeya.

Saturday Rocktober 4 – “Been waiting all weekend for Jason to ring but he damn well didn't”

This is for Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so I can use the space for any happenings this week. I got a new bikini. It’s green, real brief, ties up the sides and has ties at the front. It’s real nice. Debbie’s and Jo’s are the same only different colours. Got a hat to go with it. Got really sun-burnt. Boy am I sore. I've tried real hard to get on the good side of Mum so I can go to the party. I've been waiting all weekend for Jason to ring but he damn well didn't. It wouldn't surprise me if he forgot he’s going with me. He’s probably found some other chick. Oh God, I hope not. Chris rang Debbie on Saturday from the Entrance and Jason hasn't even be bothered to ring from My Riverview. How do you like that! Well I don’t. He probably forgot all about it.

Rocktober Tuesday 7 – “I don’t see why I have to go over to him”

Dear Diary,

Well the big news for today is that Jason’s friend has supposed to have gotten this chick up the stick. Poor Jason’s friend. Everyone was making fun of him. I feel sorry for him. Jason got his hair cut. Only his fringe, but it looks funny. I had to go up to him both times today. Chris will go to Debbie but he wont come to me. Chris kept saying "Have a fight".  When the bell went. I heard someone say, “How romantic”. At lunch I had to go over to him. I blew my stack about it. I don’t see why I have to go over to him. He put his arm around me. We started talking. I found out he was an only child. He said to me that they would take us out Saturday, but they don’t know where yet. He said “We’ll just get on the train and go somewhere”. Jason was going on about Denton wanting to go with Glenda. Ha! Jo got her teeth capped and they look horrible. She looks like Bugs Bunny. My f’ing mother won’t let me go to the party. Christ she SHITS ME UP THE WALL. 

Wednseday, Roctober 8 - You know what I found out today? That Jason’s using me!

What a horrible, ghastly, bitchy, dreary, f'd up, not to mention shitted day of my life. You know what I found out today? That Jason’s using me. He’s only going with me to find out how much he can get out of me at the party on Saturday, and that he knows I like him so much that I would let him. Like hell I would. What a b'd. What a b'd. What a f’ing b'd. I hate him. When Jo told me I ran up to E block crying my eyes out. Jason and Chris and everyone were watching from the Tech and Woodwork rooms but I didn't know it. I cried and I cried and I swore and all that until my eyes were popping out of their sockets. I even got a pass out of Maths I was so upset. Trevor called out at me from the Woodwork room. I was about to tell him something when the bell rang. Trevor asked me what was wrong and I said “Tell Jason I know” and he said “What?” He looked genuinely upset but Chris called him. Then I saw Jason in B Block and he looked at me guilty like. Trevor and Chris looked at me real serious. Later I walked past Jason and he smiled and said “Gaday Petra” but I just gave him a dirty look. Then the bell went. To top that off when I tried to ring him, he gave me the wrong number and gave Fleas  number (Trevor). How could he do this to me the f’ing b'd. He seems so genuine, so real, and he does this to me! I don’t want to live. I luv him so much and he has to use me. I’ll have to drop him tomorrow. After all this I’ll just have to. Seeya. I hate myself.

Thursday Rocktober 9 – I dropped Jason

Today was just as f’d up as yesterday. Well I did it. I dropped Jason. Oh shit. I didn't want to but I had to before he dropped me. I went over to him in the morning and he said “Gaday Petra” and I said “Is that all you can say?” and he said “What am I supposed to say?” I pulled away and we talked about it. He denied it of course. He said “Why didn't you come to me first?”, the great BS artist. He told me to think it over and he would think it over. HA! So I dropped him. Then I remembered about the phone call and how he said his number is 393306,  but when I was going over Jason goes “Sshhhhh” and they all looked at me. Then Craig said “Did you drop Jason” and I said “Yes” and then I asked "Was he was using me” and he said “Yes”. When I dropped him he said “Oh” and sat down. I miss his kiss but shit! Several times during the day he said “Gaday Petra” and smiled. I think he must feel a little bit guilty. I hope so. At lunch I sat with them and I asked Trevor if he knew and why he didn't tell me. He tried to explain it but all that came out was “Well you were happy on the weekend”. Then Jason came and sat next to me ( oh sugar). I only talked to him every now and then. I said “I spent all my money on a costume”. He asked me what colour it was and said “I like green ones, red ones and black ones”. I wonder if he really likes green ones. Debbie said “Petra say something” and I said “Something”. Jason was going off his brain about it ( the bell went) and he said “Seeya Petra”. Gary Chester (when I was walking with Trevor) said “Are you going with Jason?” Denton, Trevor (Flea), Craig and I said “No!”, and Trevor goes “She’s all yours Gary”, meaning to go with him. Craig Campbell asked me today. HA! Jason was acting today as if nothing has happened. How could he. Seeya.

Friday Rocktober 10 - Guess what!! Jason’s going with Cathy. How could he!

Guess what!! Jason’s going with Cathy. How could he? Just one day after I dropped him. All day I was giving her dirty looks. She’s a real slut. Someone said to her Jason’s only going with you for a root. And she said “I know”, and when the bell went he went to kiss her but she wouldn't let him cause we were all watching. I was looking at them and she said “Stare off”. Jason laughed. Trevor came over and started talking to me and Debbie and Sally reckons he’s going to ask me . Oh Lord I hope not. Sally said that Jason was only with Cathy for a root. Then she reckoned Jason still likes me and she reckons he’ll ask me again. What a load of BS. How would I know he’s not going to use me again? Could he ask me anyway? He’s going with that bitch Cathy. Anyway he wouldn't ask me, what a load of BS. I hope Trevor won’t ask me, I don’t know what to say.

Saturday Rocktober 11 - Guess what! I got in the Rep team. Isn't that great!

Guess what! I got in the Rep team. Isn't that great! This is the last time though. I shot terrible goals.

Sunday Rocktober 12 - Jason had planned to drop Cathy after one week

Debbie and I rung each other and all of Blaxland East to try and contact Chris so that Debbie could go to a barbecue with Chris. We had a nag about the party. Jo paired up with Stephen Stockton! Debbie asked Chris if he was using Cathy. Chris said that Jason had planned to drop her after one week. Jo rang Jason and said it was Debbie. He thought it was Debbie Grace and Chris said he had never seen anyone run so fast for a phone before.

Monday Rocktober 13 - He reckoned Jason wasn't going with Cathy.

I walked past Jason this morning and he just smiled at me. At lunch Cathy went over there and Chris purposely went and sat next to her. Maybe he wants us to tell Debbie. Anyway, Gary Chester came over and asked me why I wasn't going with Jason anymore. He also asked me if I would go with Mark. He reckoned Jason wasn't going with Cathy. BS. And then he said “Jees you've got brown legs”. Later Trevor came over and started raving on saying that he probably won’t ask me, “Not that I don't like you or anything” he kept saying, “But I just want to be real good friends” and I said “Are we still married” and he said “Yes”. He said that he would probably ask me next year – as if he’s going to like me by then. Seeya.

Tuesday Rocktober 14 - Guess what? I’m going with Trevor. Isn't that terrible

Guess what? I’m going with Trevor. Isn't that terrible. Damn it. He came over this morning and said “Petra will you go with me?” and then he said “Tell me at lunch time”. Stupid me went and said yes. I went and sat over there and at times Jason seemed sort of upset but it was probably my imagination. They were talking about when a girl reaches her climax and all that. Then Cathy came over and Jason was being so affectionate. He said he would have asked her before only I got in the way ( that’s what he said to me). He seems really and truly dead set. I bet you he won’t drop her now. Oh shit why I have to go with Trevor? What a fool I am. He put his arm around me. I wanted to take it away but I couldn't.

Wednesday Rocktober 15 - Fabrice was really concerned when Glenda told him I nearly blacked out

Was over with Trevor again today and Cathy came over. Jason had his hands on her tits and he goes “You don’t trust my hand do you” ( I don’t blame her) and Debbie was being nasty and they all called her viscous. Trevor asked me if I was ticklish and he started tickling me. The bell went and he went to kiss me but I turned away. Christian thinks I’m using him to get close to Jason. Maybe I am. I’m so confused. At music Jason said “Hello” to me and smiled and waved. He came to school with a hangover. – he was pissed last night. I can swim 8 lengths of the pool in 12 minutes and 27 seconds. Isn't that good. I can get my Bronze. All the boys have to go to Lawson to swim. Damn. That’s not fair. I got real sick after and Mrs Smith had to take me home. Blackborrow was in the back. Glenda reckons Fabrice was really concerned when Glenda told him I nearly blacked out. I hope so. He’s nice. Seeya.

Thursday Rocktober 16 – “I’ll have to drop him. It’ll ruin my reputation”.

Today we went over and Trevor put his arm around me. He held me so tight I nearly choked. I wanted to pull away but he held me too tight. And when the bell went he came at me real fast and kissed me. I couldn't get out of it. Cathy came over and everyone started saying “When’s ‘F’ Day”. Cathy said “I’m going” and pissed off.  God it was funny ( sucked in O’Donell). Jason said “Gaday Petra” and waved at me in PE. At lunch Trevor had to go half lunch. I've got to drop him. It can’t go on, and its bad. Lynette asked Jason if he still liked me  and he said “She’s alright as a friend”. When Trevor puts his arm around he weighs me down. It feels like an elephant is sitting on me. I’ll have to drop him. It’ll ruin my reputation.

Friday Rocktober 17 - “No you have to get your bit out of her first”

Well I dropped Trevor. I asked him if we could be friends and he said OK and I went over and sat with him. At lunch Sally said that Trevor was going to drop me a couple of days ago.  Christ it was only a couple of days ago he asked me! This morning Sally said he was real upset. They sure know how to make a fool out of me don’t they. Someone said to Jason “Drop her this morning” (Cathy) and he said “No I can’t do that” and I said “ No you have to get your bit out of her first” and Craig goes “That went deep”. Chris keeps laughing at me and pointing me out to people, and that gang keeps laughing at me. God they’re a bunch of creeps.

Saturday Rocktober 18 – “Trevor wanted to drop me. I was lucky to get in first”

Nothing happened today. I washed my hair. I studied science for a science exam on Tuesday. Debbie rang this morning and I was on the phone for about one hour. We

swapped days in our diaries. Chris is taking her out to see Godfather Part 2. Lucky stiff. If I was still going with Jason, so would I be. Debbie’s asked Chris if Trevor was going to drop me and he said yes because he was getting sick of me. Ha! After one day! Sharon said she knew Trevor wanted to drop me on Wednesday. That was just one day after. I was lucky to get in first. I worried about it for nothing. What a bum. Guess what? Trevor ‘s gong to a concert at Penrith Park with Sherbert, John Paul Young, Ray Burgess, Buffalo, and others. I hope I can go. It’s called Mountain Rocks. Seeya.

Sunday Rocktober 19 – “How could I be so brainy last year and so dumb this year?”

Dear Diary,

God it was really boring today. All I did was study study study – my maths. And I still don’t understand it all. It’s so stupid. I don’t see what good it’s going to do us later. I’m going to flunk ALL my exams, I bet. How could I be so brainy last year and so dumb this year? Last year I came first in my class now look at the dummy from downtown dumbsland. We tried a new cake today called Butter Streusel Coffee Cake. It was unusual but nice.

Monday Rocktober 20 - Fabrice is nice. I sit next to him every afternoon on the bus

Jason wasn't here today. So what! I think I've got my mind on Grant Carson. He’s really nice. We were playing handball and they wanted to play and Trevor came up and said “Since we’re real good friends can we play handball” and Grant said “I’ll pair up with you” ( me). Anyway, they were kicking the ball and it went on the roof and they all said “Oh we've got bad back problems” and all this, so they couldn't go up and get it. God it was funny. I got Colin Boyd to get it, but altogether it was a shitty day. Debbie and Joanne bitched. They’re going by themselves and ignore us as though we were a clump of grass. Fabrice is nice. I sit next to him every afternoon on the bus. He started going on about my hair and I got cut. I said “I’m not sitting next to you anymore”. God it was funny. Here comes tomorrow, PACK PACK.

Tuesday Rocktober 21 - English exam was OK, Maths was hard,Science was bloody hard

Jason was at school today and ( bad luck). He’s still going with Cathy. He waved at me at roll call and at lunch he said hello. Grant gave me this great cheesy grin. I asked him if he had any new pains and he said “No but I will have when I nick your ball”. English exam was OK, Maths was hard and Science was bloody hard. I’ll flunk them all I bet. Sat next to Fabrice on the bus again and Chambers goes “see!” and started laughing. He says “Just cause you can’t crack onto Helen”. I guess I still like Jason. Oh shit. There is this third form kid that keeps looking at me and smiling, and waving. God it’s funny. Oh well. Jo and Debbie are still being bitchy and stuck up. Seeya.

Wednesday Rocktober 22 -  “I like Fabrice but he keeps getting me cut”

Jason and Cathy had a fight today. She started hitting and punching him and he called her a slut. But then at lunch time she was with him again so they must have made up. It was something about Saturday night, how when Jason left she was all over Craig B. We were giving her dirty looks and she kept shouting “Have a good stare”. Jason came in woodwork and tapped me on the shoulder and said “Gaday Petra”. That third form kid ( Michael) said hello again today. Fabrice was staring at me again. I got out and I said that I was small one time and he said "and twice as ugly". That got me real cut. Bloody Glenda tried to crack onto him , the Bitch, and he seemed to like her. I like Fabrice but he keeps getting me cut. Seeya.

Thursday Rocktober 23 - Every time Fabrice walks past me he’d laugh or hit me on the head.

The 6^th form farewell was this morning. It was hopeless. We were over with Chris and all them this morning. At first I thought Jason wasn't going with Cathy cause she wasn't with him this morning but then at lunch she was with him.  He must like her now. Debbie told me that Debbie Grace was his latest heart throb – I knew it! The reason why he’s not going with her cause she won’t go with him, so Chris reckons. I walked past Jason and he only smiled. Every time Fabrice walks past me he’d laugh or hit me on the head. He sat in front of me in Scripture and was talking to me. Then on the bus he sat next to me and Manzie goes “Why don’t you go with her. Cause you’d go with her and she’d go with you” and he said “I don’t feel like it. Maybe tomorrow – ok”. Then we started talking about parties. It was funny. I wonder if I’ll ever go with Fabrice.

Friday Rocktober 24 – “We’re all on the verge of splitting up”

What a shitful day. Everyone’s fighting with everyone. Debbie’s calling  JB a bitch cause she showed us a picture of Debbie by surprise and somehow or rather I got caught up in the middle of it. I called Jo a bitch to her face and Debbie a mole. I got 30 out of 50 for science. Bad eh! We were fighting in Science. I read to Debbie from my diary about Joe pairing up with Neil and Debbie told her, the Bitch. We’re all on the verge of splitting up. I was staring at Jason but I didn't realise and he smiled at me and I said “Oh Hi”. He rolled his eyes as if to say “Oh God, what a dick’. Lea Salmon wants me to go with him, oh shit.

Saturday Rocktober 25 – “She was trying to convert me to a Christian”

Did nothing today, a bit of housework and put some charms on my sleepers. Got good

news. Dad might, or rather Mum might, be giving me a raise. She said she would see how I went on $1.50 and if I was worth it $2.00. I hope so. That’s all I've got to say. See-ya. No I haven’t. Went to see Thief in the Night. It was really good except for one thing. There was this lady there. She was trying to convert me to a Christian and she gave me this great long talk and I’m supposed to ring her back. It was weird.

Sunday Rocktober 26 – Garth Porter is nice

J.B rang to see if I could go to the Katoomba with them today. Guess

who wanted me to go in the first place – Rose. The only one who’s trying to convert me. But I couldn't go cause I had too much to do. To think that I could be at that concert now in Penrith. Stupid me. I was allowed and for the full time too, and I forgot to get the tickets. I regret it now. I don’t like Sherbet but there’s one nice guys in it and his name is Garth Porter. God he’s nice. See-ya.

Monday Rockotber 27 – “Fabrice sat next to me on the bus today”

Well nothing much happened today. Lea asked me again about five times. I thought he was only stirring but Debbie, Jo and Colin Boyd reckons he’s not. Chris said something about Jason and Debbie splitting up so she must have been going with him or something. I guess they make a good pair but I wish it was me instead. Fabrice sat next to me on the bus today. Watched the adventures of Barry Mackensie, God it was funny. That’s all. See-ya.

Tuesday Rocktober 28 – “Fabrice sat next to me on the bus again, but I still like Jason”

It was boring today. Lea Salmon asked me again today about 7 time and he kept asking me "Why not?" when I said no. He said he was going to write me some love poetry.  He gave Debbie a note to give to me but she never gave it to me. The Bitch. Went up and talked to Trevor but I didn't say much, just hello and a bit of this and that. Mark Hudson keeps asking me who I’m going with, just about every time he sees me. Fabrice sat next to me on the bus again, but I still like Jason. Fabrice shit stirs me too much.

Wednesday Rocktober 29 - I got two love letters from Lea Salmon

It's getting real boring at school. We went over to Jason’s gang and I was standing next to Jason. I started talking about how Bedoe is like a baboon and he laughed at me. I said I hated the Bay City Rollers cause Debbie said Jason looks like the singers in Bay City Rollers. And he said he reckons they’re ok. I shouldn't have said that I hated them. He walked past me and just smiled. Michelle threw an orange at me, the Bitch. I got two love letters from Lea Salmon and he bugged me all day to go with him. That nice guy was at the pool again. God he’s gorgeous. But I miss Jason, but every time I see him he’s with Debbie Grace.

Thursday Rocktober 30 – “Talked to Fabrice in the art room and he painted all over me”.

Debbie and Jo weren't here today. Twice Jason walked past me and just smiled. He doesn't say “Gaday Petra” anymore. He just smiles. Lee came up to me and asked me again about  five times. Can’t he get the hint? Talked to Fabrice in the art room and he painted all over me. Then on the bus he sat next to me, but I think he likes Glenda or Helen. Oh shit – I don’t care. Yes I do. Sugar. 

PS Thank-you Dear Diary for listening to my problems.

Friday Roctober 31 - I get the feeling Fabrice doesn't like me but why does he sit next to me?

God it was bad today. Everyone had the shits. Just because Debbie’s bloody well going with Chris she thinks she can boss everyone around. Jenny Chalenor got her photo taken with Chris and he had his arm around her but Debbie wouldn't get jealous. Debbie had her buttons undone and I commented on it and Jo admitted that she told Debbie to undo it to shit me, the mole. And later she goes “are you still stroppy with me!”  Big Words. Me stroppy with her? Somehow I get the feeling Fabrice doesn't like me but why does he sit next to me? David Regan and Paul Sharp rung me up last night and both of them asked me to go with them. They wanted me to meet them in the morning. They kissed me over the phone when they got off. It was funny. But I luv Jason.

Facebook 1975

We had Facebook in 1975, only it looked a little different. It was a hard copy Facebook, which we called "A Paper Conversation". It was held during class time on torn out pages of our school books, and handed around a select group. The notes were kept in the "Paper Conversation Book". This month I am gong with Jason and I am so excited!

I've dropped Jason but still mulling over him:

And how ruthless are we as a fellow group members asks to sit next to me:

Written by Petra Campbell

Web: www.petramcampbell.com

Email: kpmm@ozemail.com.au

Twitter: @petraau

Facebook:www.facebook.com/petra.campbell.31

The Teenager and The Movie

Since the beginning of human time, the world of earthlings was divided in two. There were adults, and there were children. Teenagers did not exist. Adults ingeniously managed to avoid having them for millennium, and children were spared the torture of not knowing where were heading and what they were going to do with their lives. One minute you were a child - and poof! the next minute you were an 'adult' - in the workforce, engaged, married and have about the children not much younger than yourself.

Those were the days of less complicated social and economic organization before the late industrial era, when children learned life and professional skills from their parents. If you were a boy and your father was a blacksmith, chances were you would become a blacksmith yourself. If your parents owned all the land in the land, then that would be your destiny too. And you would expect to be farmed out as cheap child labor if your parents were also working for 'the man'. Women's expectations was the only domestic servitude, often prearranged, or manual labor, unless you were extraordinary or privileged.

Before 1886 most Australian children did not go to school at all. The more advanced our economy became, the more educated and skilled our workforce needed to be. Before public schooling, education was reserved for the wealthy few who could afford to pay private tuition fees to churches or to the wife of a local doctor, lawyer or other professional. Only the very elite, mostly men, went on to complete higher studies in professions like medicine, law, science and engineering. There was strong societal resistance to schooling children; some people thought the son of a butcher or farmer  did not  need to have any more knowledge than was needed to become a butcher or a farmer; same for factory workers. But other people considered high crime rates were the result of a lack of education: crime could be reduced if schools were set up to teach children how to read, write, count, and be law abiding citizens.

The Australian Public Schools Act of 1880 made ​​education for all children to the age of 14 mandatory. Government paid for the building of public schools, teachers and text books and curriculum. They set the same rules for every school, big or small - except for church run schools. On top of the basic curriculum, girls were taught to sew, knit and mend clothes while boys learned subjects like geometry and maths. It was the teacher who checked whether children were presentable at school - did their wash their face and hands, were their clothes without tatters. Children were taught how to enter the room, bow to the teacher, to sit straight and proud, and to hand write properly and beautifully. By the 1940's children could go to high school if they passed a qualifying exam. If they  did not  pass, 14 they left school and went to work or attended a technical school or home science. Aboriginal children could attend a public school only if all the parents of children attending schools gave their permission. In 1960 this was finally overturned discriminatory condition.

By the 1970's we were pretty lucky - many of us, girls and boys alike, were expected to go on to complete the Higher School Certificate and even go to university. Testimonials to how visionary and egalitarian minded the caretakers of our generation were, the university was free in Australia from 1974 to 1988. Our high school curriculum centered on broad knowledge - maths, sciences (biology and geography, physics and chemistry), history,  English , languages, music, and general studies are focused priority on understanding what was happening in Australia and around the world.

The corralling of adolescent children into schools meant that like minded kids trapped in a transitional age found themselves together in hitherto unseen numbers. A new creature was to  emerge.  It was self absorbed, impertinent, rebellious, tormented. It had its own  behaviors  and dialect; hair styles and its own fashion. It Ignored parental advice, invented mysterious rituals, took risks that would take only an immortal, and its generally poor terrified parents who themselves had relinquished authority over this new  unmanageable  thing to institutions of learning run by non biologically connected adults called teachers. They used to be called ' kids, young people, adolescents, youths, young man, young lady , boys and girls, sons and daughters, Master and Miss. By the 1940's They had become 'The Teenager' - from a previously used hyphenated adjective, 'teen-age'.

Institutionalising of education coincided with the democratisation of the car. With the car came the freedom to "date" outside the hitherto watchful eye of the parents, when dating used to happen in the home. It didn't take long for Hollywood to see a market in this new category of consumers. By 1952 the first Teen movie was released.

Teen Movies reflect all the angst a teen is going through with their parents, first love and friends. Centring usually a misfit, nerd, sports star or hottie in a school or holidays setting, Teen films harness teenage conventions, rebellion, alienation, and anxiety, around issues that obsess teens as they grapple with their transition from child to adult - alcohol, drugs, parties, peer issues, losing one's virginity and  the fear of being bludgeoned to death by one's toys or by the boogyman, whome they come to realise is actually a real man.

There were more American teen films in the 1950's (24) than the 1970's (15), but over the last 30 years they have increased almost tenfold since the 1970's to a whopping ninety six U.S. films alone released in the first half of this century .

If there  was not  a party on, going to the movies was the highlight of our teen lives. Only we did not call it the movies, we called it the 'theater'. The 'theater' was the place where films were screened so we referred to the place we were going rather than what we were going to do there. I have been 'going to the theater' all year, but this day in September 1975, I switch intent. I am now "going to the movies". 

We went to every movie that came out regardless of whether it was a teen movie or not because teen movies were not as big as they are now, so we  did not  have choice. It was usually a drama filled because this much anticipated event was when girls hoped the boys would take they liked them to the theater, and on the other side, when boys asked girls out to 'see how far they can go' with the girl they took there.

Inside Glenbrook Theater

Glenbrook Theater from the outside

Our local  theater in Glenbrook. It was not a big overwhelming commercial theater in a huge shopping center like They tend to be in the city. It was a modest little theater hall dedicated - and it still is. While pretty unremarkable from the outside, Glenbrook Theater was where many a teenager in the lower Blue Mountains, has many a teen memory. This was where exploratory teens barely watched the movie because they were hiding under their ' parkers pashing off ' , imagining no-one could see them, when in fact everyone in the whole theater was watching who was doing what to who - like hawks - so they could spend the following months gossiping about what they saw until the next movie came out.

It was customary to read the book before the film came out, and we would compare the book to the film .  It made ​​for heated discussions over after the movie scenes that were in the book that were not in the film, and Whether we preferred the film to the book, or even if the film was anything like the book. This month we pile into the  theater  to watch a film classified as the 77th greatest film every made ​​in American cinema history: American Graffiti . Only this time there was no book to read before hand because American author and director, George Lucas, wrote it as a teen film screenplay basing the story on his own teenage life growing up in the USA. 

There was another reason people would go to the theater apart from watching a film. From the beginning of the silent movie, was also the theater where adults throughout the British Commonwealth, Europe and America used to go to find out what was happening around the world through ' newsreels '. Newsreels were a collage of Frequently reports narrated in a cheery formal accent with emotionally themed, patriotic Often, the music playing in the background as the commentator delivered news, current affairs, entertainment and sport - in much same format is programmed television news today. The newsreel was invented by the French Pathe Brothers who were major producers phonograph record. By the early 1900's They became the World's Largest film equipment and production company.

The first news to be Bought to Australian  theaters  in the silent picture era was delivered by the merged Greater JD Williams Amusement Company and the General Film Company (who later formed the Greater Union). When sound but could be added to the film, larger American newsreel companies started packaging newsreels with movies. Fox Film Corporation with its laughing Kookaburra logo, distributed Movietone newsreels International to Australia. In 1931 both an Australian edition of Fox Movietone with a mixture of international and local news, and an all Australian newsreel production house Called Cinesound Reviews are priority was distributed by Union  Theaters, monopolised the delivery of news to Australian theaters . Cinesound  Review , with its red k angaroo  logo, Called itself "the voice of the nation '  Because  all the content produced was  Australian  and was about  Australia . In 1970 the two rivals merged to Create the  Australian Movie Magazine But they  could not  compete against color TV killed off the newsreel are priority this year in 1975.

The Australian Movietone Newsreel Cinesound collection of 4,000 newsreel films and documentaries was donated to the National Film and Sound Archive in 1988 by 20th Century Fox and the Greater Union Organisation. An 'Operation Newsreel' project was launched in 1998 to "preserve, restore, catalog and copy the collection."  Our  Australian collection of  cultural , social and political events from 1929 to 1975  is listed on  UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, are priority aims to preserve, and make accessible Valuable protected  historical  archives and library collections worldwide. although I I II w ith the prices charged per minute to  purchase  rights to use archival footage in order to make a half decent historical documentary, one could argue that Such collections are not accessible at all. newsreels The fact that these  are considered significant historical documents, sometimes being

the only audiovisual record of historical and cultural events of that epoch, highlights the responsibility that journalists and the media have in the recording and telling of events of our time. To my mind this begs the question as to Whether or not there Should be more rigorous interdisciplinary qualifications set for the 'profession' of journalism, as is required of other professions, not just to earn the honor of recounting history in the making, but to have the Ability of thoroughly understanding the complex issues Often journalists are reporting on. 

The World in September 1975

This month the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia enters into the Guinness Book of Record for something both extraordinary and before its time. Saudi Arabia is home to the two holiest places in Islam - Medina, and Mecca where Muhammad the Prophet of Islam was born in 571. It is the second Largest state in the Arab world after Algeria, and like Algeria, Saudi Arabia is one giant inhospitable desert. The long flowing cotton robes of the old nomadic camel trading days, are priority Saudi's still wear today, and are priority cover everything from top to toe and in between, were fit for purpose - to keep out windblown sand that will do its mightiest best to find its way into any piece of exposed body it can. Saudi Arabia today has became master the 20 most powerful countries in the world. It has the 2nd Largest oil supply and is the world greatest oil exporter.

The unification of the four desert tribal districts to Become what is now the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, started in 1902 and ended in 1932. And it had nothing to do with oil. It was all about the determination of its founding visionary leader Abdulaziz bin Saud, or Ibn Saud as he was known, and some fortuitous political events like the British defeat of 400 years of Ottomon suzerainty over the Middle East During World War 1, and clever political maneuvering on behalf of Ibn Saud, When Iraq, Kuwait, the British fought and Transjordan Between 1916 and 1918, while Saudi Arabia sided with them.

The newly formed Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was one of the poorest

countries in the world, reliant on revenue from Muslims on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, and some basic agricultural trade. Ibn Saud's fortunes changed just 6 months after proclaiming himself King, When massive reserves of oil were Discovered along the Persian Gulf. When Ibn Saud was no doubt struggling to unite the desert tribes, Becoming suddenly wealthy and having so much of the world's economies dependent on him and His Kingdom, would have been unimaginable as an event as the sun failing to rise. But When full-scale development of the Saudi oil fields began in 1941 under the U.S. controlled the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) Ibn Saud and His successors were not slow to work out what this prosperity could do for the Saudi people, as They embarked on rapid social and economic development.

Family feuds over power and policy were not far behind Either. Just before Ibn Saud died in 1953 he is reported to have said  "verily, my children and my possessions are my enemies."  His son, Prince Saud, became King, but some thought the new King Saud was wasteful, not able to meet envisioned Socialist goals, and too pro foreigners, so he was deposed in 1962 by King Saud's half brother, Prince Faisal, and Prince Fahad His allies and Prince Sultan. King Faisal went about Saudi oil fields partially nationalising, regaining a 20% control of ARAMCO in 1972. In 1973, Egypt and Syria lead a surprise attack against Israel - known interchangeably as the Arab-Israeli War and the Yom Kippur War - to regain THEIR territories in the Sinai Desert and the Golan Heights that Israel had seized six years earlier in its equally 'surprise' Six Day War on Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Saudi Arabia sided with fellow Arabs THEIR's leading an oil boycott against Western countries that supported Israel. Oil prices quadrupled and never returned to 1972 levels. The conservative King Faisal was assassinated earlier this year then in March 1975 by His nephew, Prince Faisal bin Musaid who was subsequently beheaded in Riyadh (who must surely have know he would have His head lopped off for it). Most Saudis believed the assassination was puppeteered by the USA. King Faisal was succeeded by King Khalid.

Apart from being the Worlds Largest Producer of Princes - around 7,000 of them with the 200 plus male descendants of Ibn Saud wielding the most power and Influence - Saudi Arabia became the Largest producer of oil in the world. This gave the monarchy an immense wealth priority They are shared with the Saudi people by Becoming a welfare state. It also gave them the possibility to implemented grand vision is what are the priority They became famous for this day in 1975, Because this vision is before its time - way before the 1987  United Nations Commission on Environment and Development published Our Common Future , also known as the Bruntland Report on Sustainability . King Khalid launched the multi billion dollar RoyalCommission of the two twin industrial cities, Jubail and Tanbu ,   the Largest mega project of the 20th century. The mission was to build two  industrial cities and community infrastructure in partnerships with investors, employees, communities and other stakeholders , re-using the gas from the oil fields that were being burnt off as waste  by   turning it into consumer goods and using it to power the complex, are priority was designed to expand with a growing population. Unlike other wealthy petrochemical industries around the world that are still pumping toxic chemicals into our common environment, and are priority have left legacies are intractable environmental priority will take a great many hundreds of years to remediate, back in 1975, Saudi Arabia imposed strict environmental emission controls. The project was featured in the 1981 Guinness World Record are priority  claimed that as a public works project, it was second only to the Great Wall of China. It is   still the Largest civil engineering  project in the world a ccounting for 12 percent of Saudi Arabia's Gross Domestic Product.

In other news Motorola was granted a patent for designing the first hand held cell phones weighing less than 3 pounds. A ll political parties are forbidden in Bangladesh, and Indonesia sends troops to Portuguese East Timor.  Woman  continue  to show the world that They can do the same things men can do as a second woman  attempts  for the second time in 17 days to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford. Sarah Jane Moore wanted him gone  Because   "The government had declared war on  the left .  Nixon 's appointment of Ford as vice president and His resignation making Ford president seemed to be a continuing assault on America " , while Lynette From said  "I stood up and waved a gun (at Ford) for a reason.I was so relieved not to have to shoot it, but, in truth, I came to get life. Not just my life but clean air, healthy water and respect for creatures and creation. "  

September 1975: The Teenager and the Teen Movie

This month I am iridescent green with jealousy over our long legged blond haired group member Debbie, as I get closer and closer to maybe 'going with' a boy I am crazy about as suddenly as I was about Mark. I get my ears pierced. JC's nomadic sandals are probably named after the man himself, Winneecoopa is a road that ran off my Koala Road and into the bush and  sloppy Joe's are fleecy lined jumpers. 

Wednesday September 3 - "We started hearing voices like someone was choking"

Mum went to play golf today, my sister went to a Brownies   picnic and I had to wash and wipe and clean the house. Anyway, I rang Debbie and we started a conversation and halfway through it we started hearing voices like someone was choking - God it was bad!  One was so scary that I jumped away from the phone and Debbie screamed. Then the telephone exchange man came on and said he was just testing some lines, and when i said goodbye he said "goodbye" so he must have been listening to the whole conversation!

Thursday September 4 - " My sister got me Fox on the Run! "

I went shopping today and got a pair of JC's. They're not very nice ones but they're better than nothing. My sister got me "Fox on the Run" , cause I gave her the extra 25 cents to buy me the record. The Sweets 'Greatest Singles'  album costs $ 6.50, but I did not have enough money and my sister sort of gave clues that Dad was getting it. Oh I hope so. Seeya.

Friday September 5 - "I got my ears pierced"

I went shopping again today. I did the groceries then I Bought His Dad Father's Day present and then , are you ready - I got my ears pierced, is not that great! Not really. God it hurt. Especially one more than the other one. He sprayed this real cold stuff on my ears and then stuck a needle through my ear great and put my sleepers in. The sleepers are nice. It cost $ 13.00 and I have to leave them in for 6 weeks. Seeya

Saturday September 6 - "The Sweet are super groovy"

Boy do my ears hurt. I have to try to turn them around and They keep getting stuck and it hurts. I Cleaned the house. Debbie rang and told me that Jo told her about her and Mick and the party, and Glenda and Glen and me. The Great Dingo.  Its absolutely none of her business. Jo then rang and told me that she had to. I watched Countdown again. Its fantastic. Especially The Sweet.  They're super groovy . I love them.

Wednesday September 7 - "Back to School Tomorrow"

I washed my hair yesterday so it could settle down a little for school. Well it's school again tomorrow. I miss Jason. But he probably will not even look at me now. I was allowed to watch "Count Yorga Vampire" . It was good in some places but overall it was absolutely and utterly boring.

Monday August 8 - " God! Have a guess what he Means! "

Guess what! Ian dropped Debbie and Michael was two timing Jo with a chick in Queensland. Sandy someone. How could he? He said he liked better and then dropped Sandy Jo. Poor Jo was shattered. Billy Conolly and Craig Macy walked home with me again. I had to take my sister to netball training and Craig kept saying "when are you free, we can go down to Winneecoopa , and have a little bit of fun. "God! Have a guess what he Means!

Friday September 9 - "Craig has your name written all over His pencil case"

Lunch and all the boys were Whistling and yelling for me and when i finally turned around they all cheered and waved me and then Jason and me. Chris Dickson came up and said "I want to talk to you alone, how about down the back second half of lunch?" , but I said "on the stairs" But I did not go. I did not want to. Jamie Fletcher said "Hows Craig" and I said " Craig who " and they said "Craig Macey" . I said "what makes you say that?" . And they said "Craig has your name written all over His pencil case" . Jason I walked passed and he said "gaday Petra" . I said "Gaday Jason" back. He's beautiful. Linda Carey and all of them noticed that I got my ears pierced, oh oh. Seeya.

Wednesday September 10 - "Debbie and Jo think I have one big secret"

I saw Jason plenty of times - most of the time he was combing His hair. Fifth period he had Penfold and she told everyone to come inside. Jason hid but he was later found. Peter's given out all the invitations and he never gave me one. What would happen if I were allowed to go? I could not because I was not given an invitation. So I got upset. Debbie and Jo think I have one big secret and are trying to find out what.

Thursday September 11 - "She better lay off him OR ELSE"

Jason said gaday Petra and I said hi and smiled. Trevor then said hello and I said gaday Trevor. Mark walked passed me and patted me on the bum. I was fixing lunch and a curl on my hair but I did not see them and When They walked passed me Craig laughed. I felt terrible. We were playing Jason handful and I pointed out to Jo she said "Yum he's beautiful." She better lay off him OR ELSE. There's this new guy and I walked passed him. We both eyed each other. God it was funny. I had to walk passed Sharp and Reagen and They whistled at me. And the bus went Sharp goes "Reagens' ringing you up tonight." But I luv Jason. He went passed me and tapped me on the shoulder - on the back actually, and said gaday and smiled and I smiled back. He usually goes the other way but he went my way and said hello.

Friday September 12 - "I tried to convince myself he was not bad but he was absolutely horrible"

Went to the Area Sports Carnival today, though I was only reserved for discus. We had to catch the train an d that guy Harry  was there UGH. We got in one cabin and They got in another but then They came into ours and when we got off he looked into my seat and gave me this horrible cheesy grin. I tried to convince myself he was not bad but he was absolutely horrible. I baked sun all day and when i got home I was really red all up my arms and legs and especially my face. I had my buttons undone up to my bra and I have a red V up my neck and a line where my necklace was. 

Went to see The Towering Inferno. It was absolutely fantastic. I rang up to make sure Debbie I could go with them and she told this story about her parents going to a cremation and so could not take me Because They They They did not know what would be in the state. Dad took me and when i got there They looked and each other as if to say "oh oh" and gave me a dirty look and tried to worm out of it THEIR way.

Saturday September 13 - "Dads gonna kill me"

Well it was the semi finals today and we beat the Blue Jays 10/27. I Nearly had to take my sleepers out. I got my sloppy Jo today, it's absolutely gorgeous. It's real thick and beautiful and I got a new top (for my birthday). It's really nice. You bloody well know what I did? I left my JC's and the park. What a stupid idiot I am. Dads gonna kill me. I rang Mrs Marsh and she said she saw someone hand them into lost property (but I doubt it). Then I rang Mrs Geotze and she said she was seeing Craig tonight and would ask him about it. I bet you I never see them again. How could I be so stupid God Dam. SHIT!

Sunday September 14 - " Fox On The Run is still number 1 "

I got the paper this morning. They had on 2SM Sweet special. It was absolutely fantastic. It had all THEIR songs. It was REALLY SUPER COOL . I stopped off and Mrs. Geotze's and asked about my JC's and she said he said he thought there were a pair handed in but I'd have to wait till next Saturday. Oh God I hope so. Oh please Diary they've got to be there, just they've got to. Oh I did not tell you, Mums working again in a Chinese restaurant, the Eastern Inn. Is not it great! I've got to cook every night, though I do not mind it all that much. It's my birthday tomorrow. Nothing much to look forward to.

Monday September 15 - "Happy Birthday Me - I'm now Fourteen! 

Well it was my birthday today. Happy Birthday me! It did not feel like it though. Jason said Gaday Petra and I said Hi Jason Denton said hello back. Went to a Chinese restaurant but it was spoiled because I had a fight with Mum. I'm not allowed to go to the party or to any more parties During the year. It's not bloody fair. I'm getting punished for her bloody mistake. 

I got it! 's The sweets Single Album.  Is not that great! I also got a black bikini, but it does not fit. Dam. I got a whole stock of other little things but altogether it was the worst birthday ever. Seeya.

 PS . Glenda was being real nice Because it was my birthday. Oh yeah someone hit a cat and left it dying so Dad took it to the dump and killed it. Was not that awful.

Tuesday September 16 - " I actually touched His hand. WOW "

It was really great today at lunch. Whistling Jason and all them. We were playing handball and They kept looking and smiling and waving and I had to keep turning around because I was all embarrassed. Glenda then told me that Trevor wants to apologize so I went over and he apologized. Then I said "Do you have our ball?" And Jason opened His legs and had it stuck Between His balls and he said come and get it. When I leaned over and he gave me the ball and I actually touched His hand. WOW. And said "Ta". 

Then, this is now the terrible part, they said to Debbie "Hey you with the white hair and red cheeks, what's your name?" But she did not say anything. Then Jason goes "Hey Petra! What are her measurements?", and I said "Debbie." And They go "Wow Debbie" and carrying on, and They go "who's our favorite TV star, porky pig"  and They kept calling her porky pig.  
Craig Stratton kept on lifting His eyebrows at me. It made ​​me feel funny. Billy winked at me, UGH! Then when i was going to music, Chris Dickson and Craig were walking with me and said "we really got you did we cut?"  And I said " No ... 'm just hot " . They said "It's that kind of day we just stir all the time" . I hope Debbie They were stirring just to stir me or Debbie They were stirring Because They like her better? Then they all kept looking at me and every time I look at Jason he was looking at me and I gave him cheeky looks. Bloody English teacher kept us in so I missed them on the way back. Craig and Craig and Trevor kept looking in the music room and Trevor waved at me but I just kept smiling. I luv Jason he's absolutely beautiful I wish he was my boyfriend oh lord I really do.

Wednesday September 17 - " M y head went 'boom boom boom' "

This morning They kept looking at my direction, Whether it was me or Debbie and I do not know but I really got the shits with her ​​I hardly even talk to her. Because JB yesterday said one of the kids said " hello Deborah "Debbie and goes" oh he smiled at me " . And role call Jason looked at me and smiled. God he's beautiful. When he walked past the classroom and senior recess my head went 'boom boom boom'. Trevor came out of woodwork woodwork and I had next. He came up to me and started talking to me in an American accent. He was saying "I'm sorry for what I said yesterday I'm really sorry" and carrying on. God he sounded funny. 

"The Sweet had been in trouble for indecent exposure in Germany"

Jason was in the room and he smiled and eight When he started to go to sport Gaday He said Petra and smiled, then he got sprung by Sepetauc. God he's beautiful. I really luv him. That's all I thought about all day. He's not coming to school tomorrow. He's going on an outing, so it's not worth coming. Craig said he was coming to my place this ARVO . And he did: Canon him Billy and Robert Hunt. I got a lift home from Mrs. Stevens and ran as fast as I could so They could not see me (round the back). I went to Sharon's but no one was there and just as I was going out, Billy Canon waited around the corner so I had to go back in the house. Then Sharon and Kim came in and Kim goes "Petra's in here "! So I had to go outside. Canon Billy came up and said " have you asked her yet " ? Craig kept going "when are you free?" When can I come around? ". And then he said "I would be allowed in your place?" And then I said "in the house? "And he said "yeah ! "And I said" Mums off work " , and he goes "oh" and pulled a face. Then he goes "how come you did not go out When Canon and Hunt were here"? (hint hint) and I said "I did 'They not even know were there " and he goes " fair enough. "  They left Then thank God. Jo had a bike accident and lost her two front teeth. rashes She has her eyes and up her leg. The poor kid. Mick will probably drop her. Boy will she be unhappy. Dad said he read in the paper that two members in The Sweet had been in trouble for indecent exposure in Germany about 3 months ago. I got another photo of The Sweet, geez there fantastic. I love Jason.

Thursday September 18 - He's got beautiful big brown eyes, and brown skin.

Jason was not at school today. He went on the excursion. Dammit. If I was doing now instead of bloody History Geography I would've been able to go too! Denton and Craig and all them said hello. Debby reckons my winter uniform is longer than her summer uniform, the Bitch. She started blowing me up so I did not talk to her all day. Trudy collected 3 dollars for a present for Jo. There's this new guy, he's French. His name is Fabric Lapine. God he's beautiful. He was sitting in front of me in Scripture and Craig turned around and said, "He's got a crush on you" . He catches my bus. God he's got beautiful big brown eyes, and brown skin. But I love Jason.

 September 19 Friday - Fair Dinkum?

 Lunch and Chris came over and started talking to me and then he said, " what's her name? "  And I said " Debbie "and he said" Debbie who ? "And I said" Debbie Boardman " . And he said "oh Because one of us likes her."  I asked him who it was that he likes her and would not tell me so I grabbed His jeans and he said "I'll be back in a sec". Anyway he went Starting over and telling it all to Jason. I thought it was that Jason liked her. Then they all started pointing to Jason and I started crying because I thought it was Jason. Maybe it is him also. They then started pointing to each other. But I had to try not to cry Because Chris was coming back. And I said " who is it? " And he starting going on about Trevor and I said " Who is it? Fair dinkum . " And Craig goes "we all drew straws" and he's going on about drawing straws and I said " Who is it? How can you bloody well draw straws? " And Craig goes " we all like you "and I said" Not me, Debbie. " and Chris goes "  Its me " , and Craig goes "Its him". At least its not Jason, at least I hope its not Jason. You know what I found out today? Craig Stratten that used to like me. He told Craig Campbell and camp. Well. Fabrice boy is nice. On the bus on the way home, he looked around because I got off the bus the last and as I walked past him I could not help smiling. I would not mind going with him now that everyone has got THEIR eye on Debbie.

Saturday September 20 - Michelle wore my JC's to school!

I went to netball courts today to get my JC's and you know what, They were not at the lost property. Bloody Michelle wore them to school on Friday! She pinched them from the courts last Saturday. When I went up and asked Mrs Goetze about my JC's I was just about to accuse her and she goes "Oh listen love I took them home on Friday THEIR but not in the car" . I went and got them that afternoon and They were in the car. That nice kid that was on the bus that day was there. But he left about 10 mins after I came. Seeya

Sunday September 21  -  Did not do much today

Did not do much today so I'll use the space for Mondays happenings

Monday September 22 - " And bring your little friend ".

This morning all the boys started throwing stones at me (or Debbie) but they all seem to hit me. As I was going to health They started stirring me and talking about how good looking and stuff Debbie is. I just turned around and smiled. Bloody Shanks kept us in. So I could not say hello to Jason. Carey also kept us in so I missed him and roll call too. They started stirring and Debbie lunch and as we were coming up the stairs they all grunted and Debbie. We were playing handball and Craig kept saying "come and sit down with us we're not going to bite you" . But I would not. I was too scarred. Then on the way to 6 ^th period Jason goes "Ohh that chick Debbie, Petra oh sorry I did not see you there" . B. ..... oh he did not see me. Now they're all wrapped up in Debbie. Debbie Craig dropped. Craig goes "come and sit with us tomorrow! We will not bite you. And bring your little friend".

Tuesday 23 September - "Will you come and sit with us tomorrow?"

When we were playing hand ball the ball went over to Jason's gang and Trevor picked it up and Jason goes " give it to Petra "so he threw it to me and he yelled something and Debbie. Me and Debbie went to visit Jo and when we came back They grunted and us, Trevor and Chris called me over and said "B ring your friend ". So I Called over Debbie and Trevor said " Sit down and talk to us ", and he moved over and said" Sit here "and I just smiled and said to Debbie "Shall we?" And Debbie goes " I do not know ". And I said "A fter you "and Trevor goes" C "mon" and I said "O h alright " and I sat down. He said " you can not sit next to Chris Debbie Because he wants . "Trevor said "We'll give you something to talk about" . And Jason said " Sex . "Trevor goes" N or tell them some of your jokes. What about the one about the people who have constipation and cant bull ... t " or something like that Jason goes "oh no" . Debbie then went to her bag and they all leaned up to me and Chris goes "W hat will I say to her? "  And they're all going "W hat will he say? " And I'm packin it and said "I did not know what" and then she came back. 

Jason kept going and motioning to Chris to put His arms around her and all that and he goes " pssst "and Chris shouts" YES JASON " . God it was funny. Trevor asked me if I was going to see American Graffiti and I said " I want to but I have not got a way to get down " and Trevor said "Oh Jason will take you "and Jason goes "Oh thanks. No. ... its OK. Ill. take you. Where do you live? " But God did not tell him properly dammed me or find out more about it. Shit. To think that I could be going to the theater with Jason. Oh man that's fantastic. Oh God I would give anything to go with him, absolutely anything. I probably will not go with him to the theater so why dream (ill tell you why - Because its fun to dream about something that MIGHT have one day come true). 

Billy said , "You're going on Friday are not you?  've got to go on Friday "and I said" Yeah "and he said" G ood I'll take you "and Craig said" N or ill take you " Mark and goes "I'll drive" and Jason goes " Are you going to put wheels on your surfboard? ". Trevor said "W ill you come and sit with us tomorrow? " and I said I had sport and what sport did he take and he said basket ball. Then I asked what sport does Jason does and he said squash.  I said that I took 3 ^rd and then the bell went. They kept all the time waving and Amanda Schweers, Ann Blackburrow and Yolander Way and everyone kept staring. Boy was I embarrassed. They invited me to a farewell party for Ann Blackburrow. As if I'd go. I luve Jason. See-ya

Wednesday 24 September - " Shut your face, ya mole "

It was really bad today. In the morning Trevor called me over and said " Are you allowed to go see the flicks on Friday ? "and I said" D unno . I have not asked yet. "  Trevor said "Who are you going with?" and I said " Maybe Debbie. "  Then roll call Craig and asked me to go with him and just as I was about to explain that I can not he said " Well think it over ", darn it. Mitchel Pash Then came up to me and said Craig did not he just asked you and I said "Yeah but I can not go with him because I like someone else better." Yesterday I found out that Jason's a Libra he said to me "Are you a Virgo? " and he said "I'm only a few days after that . " 

Now for the bad part. As we were going out for lunch, Trevor asked me if I was going to go with Craig and I said I can not and Trevor told me he was crying when i said no. Anyway I was sitting next to Trevor When Michelle, Amanda and Amanda Gay came over and goes "We'll give you 50 cents if you move up close" . Then she said to Trevor " What did you call me? " and he said " A mole stuck up "and she said" No, before that " and he said  "A  f'ing c .. t ". And then she started going on about the party and Trevor goes " If Jason does not go, nobody goes. "  And she said Jason's going. And then I found out that Amanda likes Jason God dammit. First of all its Mark, now its Jason. Trevor said "Do not you touch Petra. What have you got against her?" and they said "We have not got anything against you Petra have we?". Then Michelle said to Trevor "Keep your eyes off Ann and Ian. We know you like her. Just keep your eyes off them! " They both then went away. And he said "Do not talk to me "and got really upset. Ann asked why and I told her what Michelle said. They then came over and asked me what I told Anne. When I told them, Michelle goes "Why do not you just shut your face , it was none of your f'ing business  ya mole . " They were  going off THEIR brains . So I went to the library and Mitchel came up and kept asking me who I like but would not tell. Trevor put His arms around me and His face was about 1 inch away from my face and he said " I'm sorry about Michelle and all them "and he Called them f'ing bitches. " So do not cry Petra " .

Thursday September 25  -  If They touch you, you tell me and Ill smash THEIR heads in.. .. "

I went over to Craig this morning and said "sorry about yesterday" and he said " Oh its alright "and I said "still friends?" and he said, "Yeah sure." Then we stayed there for a while and talked. Then Trevor said to Jason, "You Should have heard what they said to Petra"  Jason, goes "what did they say?" and I told him. He said " The moles , do not worry about it " . They then formed THEIR own group so we went away. 

Lunch and then we went to visit Jo and on the way back we got sprung by Fowler, and she sent us to Nearly Thompson. Thanks God she did, I did not wear my uniform. On the way back They Called us and Trevor said " Sit here Petra "and I said," I'm not that skinny . "Jason then said" sit here ". I waked over to Jason's side but I said " Ill stand " . But Jason Denton got up and said "sit down "so I sat down and Trevor goes"  See I told you ". Glenda reckons he stuck His thumbs and Jason and Jason stuck His thumb back at him. Chris then hit Craig and Craig went all red. Jason said to me "Debbie Does Chris really like?" and I said softly, "s he said 'yes' but she does not know him enough " . Jason His voice changed to real soft and said, "Yes, that's what Chris said."  Boy did he sound beautiful. 

Called Debbie Grace Jason and he went over When he came back and he said she just wanted to known what I was doing (probably cause he was sitting next to me). Amanda and all them kept looking at us and he goes " Mole ", and he kept calling them moles . Jason said " If They touch you, you tell me and Ill smash THEIR heads in ". W asn't that beautiful. He's gorgeous. 

Friday September 26 - Went to the movies to see American Graffiti 

Sharon told me that Jason Tracey Greenaway asked if he was going with me and he said, " I do not know her enough and I do not like her enough ". Boy am I upset. Someone pinched our four seats so we were all crunched up on 3 seats. Jason, Craig, Chris and this other kid were right up the other end of the theater. Craig and Billy were only two rows in front of us. Billy asked me if I would sit with them but I said no. Ann asked me if Jason was coming tonight and I said "How would I know" and they said They think he is. He did go, I spotted him from where I was sitting but then some dickheads got in the way. Interval and I said hi to Craig and Jason came over and said " Gaday Petra " and then he said "Sunshine was sad" and  American Graffiti  would be good. Later I went over to Chris to tell him Debbie was crying. Jason showed me His brand new bottle of Southern Comfor t  - God he's beautiful. At the end of it he saw me and I saw him but I decided I would not meet him along the way cause it will look like I'm chasing him. He walked all the way home to Mt Riverview.  God ! On the way I waved back. I Nearly Cried When he had gone. To think that he, the one I truly luv was there, and I did not sit anywhere near him. Jo and Mick really Clicked. American Graffiti was not as good as it was made ​​out to be. Got a new pair of earings.  

                                                         American Grafitti

Saturday September 27 - "We won the Netball Grand Final"

Well we won the Grand Final today just by the hairs of our head - wow 20-21. I felt sorry for the Blue Jays They played real fantastic cause. We had the biggest crowd ever. There were these bunch of boys, one that was really nice kid. They watched our game and every time They got a goal this other kid would stick His thumbs up. I looked at him and he pulled them down. After that he did not do it anymore. God this other kid is really nice, he plays for Worrimoo. We got a trophy and I got a patch for being in the Rep. It was a real fantastic game and in a way I wish the Blue Jays had won. Oh yeah, I had 2 whole cups of champagne and I downed it like water.

Sunday September 28 -  Oh God please make him like me, PLEASE! 

I was talking to Jason about Glenda and she said "I think Jason likes Debbie" and I said " Why " and she said "C ause the theater and he wanted to know if Debbie was there " . I agree with her ​​cause Thursday he kept looking and her and me and comparing me to Debbie. I'm nothing. I reckon she likes Jason Jason too cause she keeps writing all over my pencil case. The BITCH.  If ever she goes with him Ill never forgive her and never talk to her ever. What am I going to do? I like someone who finally sort of likes me and Debbie goes and has to take him off me. Oh God please make him like me, PLEASE ! Seeya.

Monday 29 ^th September - "Who do you like?"

Guess what! Its out. We were playing handball and Jason kept on looking and Debbie. I bet he likes her. Anyway, Jason called me over and said   "I like your earrings" and I said "T a ". He then said "Is Campbell trying to chat up Debbie?" and I said " I do not know. "  Chris said "Because I'm getting jealous."  I laughed and went away. They then called me back again and I rolled my eyes. Jason said sorry and I said its alright. He said "Who do you like "and I would not tell them. They kept asking me and I said " No ... Because if I ever tell everyone who I like it razzes it up . " And they said "No it will not. We're different" and I said "N or "and walked away. Then Chris came over and said "Who is it? Is it poofy "Denton" and I said "N or "." Stratten ? "And I said" N or "and he was going through them all and he said" Cannon ? "And I said" N or . "Then Jason and all them came over and he said "Who is it? "They both went through he list and I said "If you go through them all it'll narrow it down to one person" . Jason had this bag handles in His pocket and I said " Whats that? " and he said " oh the handle to my bag " . Then I said "Did you walk all the way home?" and he said "Yes but we had six cans of beer with us and Southern Comfort" . And I said "W Do you live here? " and he said "Six miles from here." SHIT! They then kept asking me who it was and to everyone and Jason said "Denton is it?"  and he goes  "No it's not Denton. It could not be. He's a poof " . I ts not the poof poof Because the do not count.  Assuming i showed signs of annoyance and Jason said  "Come on do not annoy her", but Chris stayed and said "How can you get to know him if you will not tell us who he is? " and then he said "It's O'Donnel is not it! " and I looked down and he went over and told him. The prune.  And so I ran away and did not come back until the bell went. Debbie said she over heard him saying "I do not know her" and Glenda said Craig would not believe it. Fabrice said " Hello Petra "  and Mark asked Lynette to find out who I like. I luv Jason but it will not work out.

September 30 - " Jason is suppose to be asking me to go with him tomorrow! "

Dear Diary,

Guess what! Jason is suppose to be asking me to go with him tomorrow! Is not that fantastic! We'll see. We were playing handball and They Called Debbie over and started talking to her. I was just about to walk away When Trevor came up and said "Do you like Jason?" and I looked down at the ground and smiled and said "Yes". And Trevor said "  Because Jason wants to ask you but he needs to know if you like him " and I said " Fair dinkum? " And he said "Fair dinkum " and he went back. I asked Debbie what they said and she said he wanted to know if I liked him and that he was going to ask me. He said he does not know me and Debbie said "W ell her you will not know unless you ask her " and he said "Y eah ". Glenda said that he got himself ready and all His shirt tucked in and His buttons and he just jumped over the seat to come over and he said "No ... 'll have to think about it. Ill probably ask her tomorrow" . Is not that  FANTASTIC! O h God he has to ask me.  PLEASE! 

Then I had to go on detention but the bell went so I came out and looked and Jason. Then Chris came up and said "Why did not Debbie tell me?" Then he ran off. So I ran off after him and said "What?" And he was real upset and Called her a two timing bitch . So I went back down and asked Trevor what was wrong with Chris. And he said he went up to the library and saw Debbie sitting next to Ian and he got real Cranky. And he was suppose to bash him this ARVO . I said "Oh is that all" . Trevor and said "Ohhh is that allll" in a nasty way. Then Eddy Beasley came up and Trevor said "Jason's going to ask her tomorrow now rack off! " Cause its going right around the school . Anyway to get on with it, Eddy goes " would you have gone with Bugs (Trevor ') if he had asked you?  And I said "What a question to ask" then, " I better go Because I'll get sprung by Blackburrow " . 

Then I went in the room and looked out the window and Jason was smiling at me like real shy so I waved at him. I told Lynette and tech drawing. She said "is there any truth in the Rumor that your going to ask Petra" He said "Oh yeah who said this." And then he said " Yeah spose so " . Teresa then came up to me and said "Jason's asking you tomorrow" and he was right behind her. He smiled real shy and said " Gaday Petra " and I smiled back. Glen Hunter asked if I was going with a third former and Annette Hackenburg said "I did not know you were going with Jason O 'Donnel" and I said "I'm not "and she said "He reckons he is. He said he you can not resist " HA!  Oh Lord I'm so scared he will not ask me. Oh please let him ask me. He's got to. I'm so HAPPY! But scared. OH PLEASE. HE'S GOT TO ASK ME! He's just got to.

To be Continued .....