Autobiography- 8th Grade Edition

I was going though a box o' stuff a while back and found this little gem. Thought I'd share it with the class. I will occasionally interject my present day thoughts in italics. Enjoy!

Oh, and if you really don't care at all about my 8th grade self, feel free to skip this post. Over and out.

Autobiography

I was born in Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii at 11:58pm on March 30th, 1981. I weighed 6 lbs. and 12 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. My parents named me Jillian because they liked the name and Mireille, my middle name (obviously), after a singer in France named Mireille Mathieu (or Mathieau) (Guess I was too lazy to do the research to find out how the singer's name was actually spelled.) On my birthday John Hinkley tried to assassinate President Reagan. (Just a litlle tidbit for all you history buffs out there.)


My family is kind-of big. There are 7 kids in my family. Also my Grandma Coleman lives with us. My dad has black/dark brown hair & blue eyes. He's a pharmacist. My mom has brown hair and brown eyes. She doesn't work. (I apparently had no idea how much work goes into raising said children.) I'm the oldest in my family. My sister, Chaia, is 9, soon to be 10, years old. (That must have been important..'soon to be 10'.) She's in 4th grade and plays the flute. My brother Joshua is in 3rd grade and 8 years old. He going (Yes, it says "He going". Niiice...) to start taking trombone lessons. My next sister, Sarah, is 6 years old and in 1st grade. She plays the violin and will start ballet. My sister, Elizabeth, is 4 years old. She takes dance and ballet lessons. (Dance AND ballet, huh. Isn't ballet a form of dancing?) Her nickname is Busy. My sister, Moriah is 2 years old. My youngest sister, Savannah, is 3 months old. (Youngest is Savannah? What?! Oh, wait. This was written before Sariah was born. Okay. Moving on.) All my brothers of sisters (brothers of sisters? Must have been writing this late at night or something.) have brown hair and brown eyes except Chaia. She has brown eyes and honey blond hair.

We have to cats and a kitten. (Have to cats? That should probably be 2 cats) Their names are Magic, Pepper and Speedy. We live in a split-level, red brick house. We moved there last March. We've lived in alot of different places. The states we've lived in are Hawaii, Maryland, Mississippi and Utah. (Sorry eighth-grade Jillian, but the moving doesn't stop there.)

When I talked to my parents, they told me alot (There's that 'alot' again. Guess I hadn't learned that it should be 'a lot' yet. Man, I'm hard on myself!) about my early life. One of them was that I went to Play Morning and in Play Morning my nickname was Smiley. (Huh..that was my nickname in college, too. That's funny) As soon as I got there I started playing on the piano. My mom and dad said that right then they should have realized and started giving me piano lessons. My favorite books were "Titch" and "One, White Crocodile Smile". My favorite toy was this Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We still have it! One year for Halloween my mom put puff-balls of tissue on a t-shirt and painted my face white. I was a sheep and nobody could guess what I was. I got the most original costume award. (Heck yes I did!) My parents and I went to see the Smurfs on Ice. (Smurfs on Ice! Ha ha ha!!) I got my picture taken with Papa Smurf, My mom said when we lived in Hawaii there was a memosa tree that always had water under it by our house. I always used to play in the mud under that tree. When we lived in Mississippi I won a Mickey Mouse doll in a coloring contest. I started to walk when I was 17 months, but before that I kind-of did a crab walk. I had my hands on the floor and my bottom in the air. (Never seen a crab walk like that!) It was SO funny. Once when I went to the zoo I rode and elephant and I kept patting it and saying "afunt, afunt". (Okay, now this is just getting embarrassing. Why did I start this post? WHY?!?!) My favorite food was mashed up venison (deer) stew. When I was a baby, my hair was so blond it looked like I was bald. Then when I was 2 yrs. old it was long in the back and I hardly had any hair in the front. (Are you saying I had a MULLET when I was two?! Business in the front, party in the back?! Oh, man.)

When I was in 2nd grade, I went to a private school. It was for the gifted and they didn't have any room left in the class. They made a space for me. I had problems at most of my elementary schools, except Southaven Elementary. I went there for part of 3rd grade, 4th grade and part of 5th grade. I really liked it. One thing I remember is 5th grade was (what kind of English is that?) that my teacher would read to us after lunch. I would put my head on his desk (the guys behind me's) and he would play with my hair. (sounds like an excerpt from a romance novel. Do you think maybe I had a little crush on this guy?) The other half of 5th & 6th grade was really bad. McKinley Elementary was the worst. In 5th grade at Bluffview Elementary a lot of people teased me. Then these people starting (Huh?) hitting and kicking me all the time. That was it! My dad pulled me out of school and I went and got my homework after school. Then at McKinnley in 6th grade over half the class practically torchered (like with torches? Ha ha ha!) me. I swear half the school hated me. (First half the class, then half the school?! Wow!) One day I just couldn't stand it and walked out of the classroom and sat outside the door. The principal called me into his office. He told me to ignore them. I was thinking, How do you ignore people clapping in your face and treating you lower than dirt? (I hated that principal. He was ridiculous. ) I was so glad to leave that school and went to a different junior high then they did, just to be sure I'd be away from them. I LOVED junior high and still do. I got alot of friends and was kind-of popular. Then we moved, but I made new friends and here I am today. (And here I am today? I must have felt like I was SO old and mature. Ha!)

I have brown hair and brown eyes. I'm about medium height. (Medium compared to what? Other eighth-graders? NBA players? Medium height. Hmmm. Very descriptive.) I'm kind-of shy, but I'm also out going. When I'm in an unfamiliar place with people I don't know, I'm shy. When I'm with my friends, I'm really outgoing. (I'd say that's still true.) I play the piano and sort-of play the violin. I belong to a few choirs and really like to sing. I'm trying to stop yelling at my brothers and sisters, because they make me so mad I just scream. I think I've changed alot in the last year. (That's funny. I was just thinking about how some things don't change much over the years.) I've made alot of friends, learned to play the violin and my voice has changed. I've also grown some, because I outgrew alot of my clothes. (I must have grown some this year, too. Dangit!!)
I don't really have many favorites. I mostly like everything or have several favorites. (That's still somewhat true. I had a little melt-down about it in college, actually. Have you seen "Runaway Bride"? Think Maggie trying all the different kinds of eggs. Okay. Moving on.) To have fun I like to hang out with my friends, play the piano and sing. I think alot of kid games are boring (I'm SO mature I can't stand it) and it makes me really mad when my brothers and sisters embarrass me.

When I get older, I would like to be a teacher, an interior decorator or a psychologist. I want to graduate from high school and either go to BYU or Ricks'. (I didn't go to either. And yes, it was called Ricks back then. No school like the old school.) I'd like to live in Utah, around American Fork, and have a family after I get married in the temple. I'd like to get married in the Salt Lake Temple. (Married? Check. Family? Check. SLC Temple? Check check.) And that's my life!! (I must have thought that statement needed 2 exclamation marks!!)

Thank you for joining me on this 'journey to the past'. It's been kind-of fun. It is always interesting to look back at yourself when you were younger and think about how you felt at the time, and how much things have changed since then. Have a nice day!