Here's my younger self bemoaning the unfairness of her life:

Wed., 25 Oct. 1989:

Dear Anne,
Tonight I babysitted (Sort of) Aubre & Rachel Ribschlager. (I think that's how you spell it) My mom was here most of the time, so it wasn't really babysitting. I have to clean up the mess Aubre, Rachel, Rachael, and Denise made. My mom yelled at me twice today, and Mrs. Liebert, my teacher, gave me extra detention (I already had some) for running to the bathroom before I wet my pants! It just isn't fair, grownups just don't understand!
Yours Truly,
Jodi

Of course I have no recollection of what my mother yelled at me for. Probably had to do with not cleaning up like I was supposed to. I wonder if I got paid for my time that day?

As for the detention for running to the bathroom, my recollections of idiocies like that are among the reasons I plan to homeschool. You shouldn't have to ask for permission to go to the bathroom in an educational setting, regardless of age.

Thurs. 26 October 1989:

Dear Anne,
I'm supposed to be cleaning my room, but I prefer talking to you. I had this notebook for 3 years before I started using it as a diary! I love writing, and what could be better to write about than myself? Of course, I don't mean to be vain, but there is a lot about me to write.

It really is quite a pretty/fancy notebook. It does sound here like I had a bit of an ego. Really, a preferable state for a 12 year old girl, in my opinion, to the utter and pathetic lack of self-esteem so many girls that age have.

I have to do a report on a country other than the U.S. I had chosen Portugal, the place from where my great-grandfather came. But, there was only one book in the entire library on Portugal, and that was a travel guide! I decided to do my report on the Soviet Union. I think this will prove to be interesting. I don't know much about it, so I checked out 3 books on the subject. When I say I don't know much, I mean all I know is this: The campital is Moscow, the leader is Mikail Gorbachov part of it is called Russia, part of it is called Siberia, it has a communistic government, ther eis no middle-class social group, there are a lot of protestors, almost everyone is poor, and immigrants say it's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there, or, as comedian Yakkie Smirnov put it, "be sure and have a return ticket on you." Oh yeah, they also speak Russian there. Well, now you knwo what I mean, I don't really know much. See you later, I've got to clean my room (ha!) and help with dinner or supper, or the evening meal, or, midnight snack in London Eng, breakfast in Peking, or very early breakfast in Moscow, or brunch in Sydney, Australia or...............................................................
Yours Truly,
Jody
P.S. I know how many dots to put, I just wanted to show how long my list could last! PS.S. In Yours Truly, is the t in truly supposed to be capitalized or not? My guess is as good as yours!
Yrs. Trly., Jo

Dear younger self,
Not only did you know very little about the USSR, most of what you thought you knew was false. And the t in "yours truly" oughtn't be capitalized. And you misspelled your name.

Here I must insert some praise for the internet. I remember doing that report. No resource at our little public library was less than 10 years old. Most of it was thick with propaganda. When my daughter goes to write a report, she'll have the whole World Wide Web at her fingertips, from news to up-to-date encyclopedias to academic sources to blogs written by Russian children.