Thursday, September 9th, 1976

I suppose I would have to consider school as bad today even though little happened either way. I did go ahead and subscribe to that newspaper the OBSERVER. I was moved to the opposite side of the room in English for no apparent reason.

It rained some today and a lot more tonight.

Chairman Mao died early today.

A third good flick is opening at Ludlow this weekend.

I actually enjoyed IT for a change. Big time. Let's just say I must have had a lot of tension that needed to be released!

Despite that bully still being there, Comp looks to be my favorite class at this point!

Dad went out to Dayton tonight. Earlier he had brought me a new (to me) comic he picked up at work.

I watched DELVECCHIO.

NOTES: Almost as a throwaway I mentioned the passing of one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century. Communist Chinese dictator Mao Tse Tung was a murderer and a dictator but he also became one of the most important and iconic leaders of the world. I had read horror stories about his rise to power and yet grew up hearing him ridiculed by everyone from the Beatles to Rowan and Martin. I sat enraptured as President Nixon went to China and met with Chairman Mao, a last triumphant moment in his doomed administration. It was a significant loss to the world...and I at least noted it.

DELVECCHIO was a short-lived TV series about a cop studying to be a lawyer. It's pilot, entitled THE LAW, was the first time I had ever seen actor Judd Hirsch who went on to be a favorite for many years.

My dad went to Dayton, Kentucky (not Ohio) from time to time to pitch horseshoes. It was his version of a night out with the boys. Throughout most of my life, he was actually a championship horseshoe pitcher and we had a mantle full of trophies. Granted, horseshoes were kind of like bowling. They seemed to give some sort of trophy to everyone so no one would feel left out. I gave them all to his brother, also a horseshoe player, when my Dad died. Not sure whatever became of them now that he's long gone, too.