#01:: 1977

::that was a watershed year for me. it started with carter being inaugurated in january + me realizing that not everyone in orange county was happy about that. it was an el niño year in la, with a particularly fierce storm on 9 february. My dad was into jogging—or is it /yog-ging/ with a soft j? he would run at the beach on sundays + somehow I was able to keep up with him. I now know he was deliberately going slowly. my sisters were seniors in high school + soooo looking forward to flying the coop. their teenage apathy meant less conflict b/t us + their sibling rivalry meant more conflict b/t them. I remember taking trips that summer, as if my parents wanted us all to have one last set of shared experiences as kids. one was a trip to san diego + baja. a tropical storm came through + it rained the whole time—it was the day elvis died. there were other outings + I remember sitting in the back of the station wagon oblivious to any squabbling up front. I wanted to be so independent that year. “um, I’ll get my own breakfast.” I remember lots of granola that year. wheat germ in the cupboard. the horror of some product called ice milk. on many a sunday, my dad would make “dutch babies” {puffy pancake} from a recipe in sunset magazine in a big iron skillet. I recall it being lemony with powdered sugar.

::my nightowl tendencies coupled with laxed supervision meant watching saturday night live + monty python on pbs. I recently saw tom snyder’s tomorrow show on DVD from that era--the show with an ultra-arrogant paul weller + the runaways’ cherie curie. I recall the tomorrow show, but it was over my head. my sisters actually were nice enough to take me to see star wars. I was sort of burnt out on hearing the theme + the cantina song on the radio. I wasn’t that into music then. I knew I hated what my sisters liked. pop + jazz. my dad was actually hipper than they were. I have no idea what happened to his records over the years. I knew it wasn’t cool to like linda ronstadt’s “blue bayou” or steven bishop’s “on + on.” I remember exclaiming,“punk rock!,” after hearing the term from a friend’s older brother. Someone in authority said, “punk sucks!” I then knew for sure it was cool. I discovered late night movies that year. kabc played beatles movies around the holidays. I wouldn’t see a hard day’s night again until 2006, when I was in montréal + it was dubbed in french. I thought it was funnier than shît when my sister said the theme song from “chips” sounded like gay disco music. I remember my parents talking about annie hall, although I don’t recall them seeing many movies in those days. I wanted to make a close encounter of the third kind mountain. I was in the class play but I didn’t take it seriously. passed up the last offer by my parents to take up a musical instrument.

::it was an odd time to become aware of the world as kid. the son of sam + the hillside strangler would wreak havoc that year. I remember seeing coverage of the nyc blackout + that really freaked me out.

:: I was really into oceanography + tidepools. I learned how to read the tide tables + what neap + spring tides are. I wanted to get into astronomy, but I think I liked the idea of it more than anything.

::my teacher told my mom I had a well-developed sense of humor. I had no idea what she meant + thought it an odd thing to tell my mom. "I'm watching you, lady." fourth grade seemed like the last year you can be somewhat popular without being mean.