The great thing about maintaining the habit of keeping a journal is that you can read back over your previous entries and laugh at what a complete idiot you happen(ed) to be.
According to the inside cover of my first diary, which spanned elementary school through early jr. high, I had quite a progression of thoughts that were, in their time, rather revolutionary, including but not limited to:
“I hate my handwriting”
“My motto: ‘fuck that'”
“Sponge Bob says, ‘always reach for the sky'” (accompanied by a drawing of sponge bob that looks like it was competed in the dark)
“I love boys” followed by “I hate boys”, which is repeated 4 more times.
Let’s take a walk through a few of the entries (listed in full):
February 15th, 1996:
“Today I played outside for gym. I love Jonathan Taylor Thomas!”
February 22nd, 1996:
“Today after school I am going skiing. I like Andrew Draper.”
February 26th, 1996:
“Today I decided I like Brandon.”
March 3rd, 1996:
“Andrew is so cute.”
March 12th, 1996:
“Andrew knows I like him.”
May 12th, 1997:
“Today I found out some good news. Eric was on to me at gym in scatter ball and the half mile it was exciting we talked. I was in Matt’s class for RLST. It was interesting.”
May 15th, 1997:
“Today school afternoon Bronson couldn’t take his eyes off of me! At the concert at the end Eric had a big grin on his face and said ‘hey McKenzie, good bye’!” (This entry is accompanied by a sticker that reads “I HAD THE BEST TIME!”
October 26th, 1997:
“Dear Diary, Much has changed. About a week ago I asked Walker (heart) Shepherd out. He still hasn’t answered! I’m soo nervous about the answer. I’m afraid he will say no! I always liked him but I wasn’t sure he liked me. About two weeks ago I had the biggest crush on Matt. I tell all my friends I was in private art class for a year but they don’t believe me.”
December 23rd, 1997:
“Well, weeks have passed and I did end up dating Walker but once I got to know him better, the more I hated him! ((Dumped him!!)) Walker is too immature! Now I’m dating a nice guy named Mikie. He is really nice and mature — I hope it lasts longer than my last affair!”
And let’s end with this AMAZING Christmas gift list from 1997:
“Christmas was great! I got: Boom box, wind pants with stripes, spice girls cd, soccer camp, hemp, and hemp book!”
Holy crap this stuff is funny. Also, can’t you just picture those fantastic Adidas wind pants?
mckenzie malanaphy 
This made me laugh. And laugh. And laugh. Elementary school was great.
AMAZING. No matter where you lived in the 90’s, if you were a little girl in elementary school, YOU WERE ALL THE SAME. I <3 hemp necklaces and lisa frank!