Tuesday, February 24th, 1976

Finished my book report and also got the highest grade ever on a Spanish test! 101! Algebra seems easy all of sudden. Not sure what happened there.

There was a bad accident up the street earlier tonight. Mom and Dad were real curious. I guess I'm not interested because there's no reason. There's nothing you can do except feel sorry for the victims. I kind of feel guilty that I feel that way but...oh well.

I just watched Monty Python for the first time in a couple weeks.

NOTES: First year Algebra was easy for me. Fun even. The following year, however, they made me take Geometry, then return for Algebra 2 in Junior year. I was lost. What should have been a continuation of the original class seemed to just hit the ground running with half-forgotten concepts and new ideas I couldn't keep up with at all. I did NOT like Algebra 2.

Odd that I felt so little empathy for accident victims. Wasn't even curious as to whether it might be someone I knew. That would change in a couple of years when my father was hit by a car turning the corner as he walked across at a crosswalk. The driver had the sun in her eyes and couldn't see him. He broke an arm in multiple places and dislocated a shoulder. He had a year with his arm in a brace, twice weekly physical therapy sessions, depression and legal proceedings. He had to give up driving completely. After that, I became more sympathetic to accident victims.

My dad recovered from that accident eventually, by the way, and in fact lived another 13 years beyond that. After my mother passed from Cancer in 1981, I gave up my plans of moving out and he and I were roomies for all that time. He loved to read my comics.