Saturday, October 10, 2020

Lost & Found: Toby's Weekend News, 2010-2011

Ten years ago, a schoolkid kept a journal....

A few years later, that journal ended up in the GoodWill bins.

We'll call this kid Toby.

These are the highlights from Toby's weekends in 2010 and 2011...


September 9, 2010

My frenid and some of my frenid have mom and dad. On Sunday we go to chirch we stay for two day.

Thair was a tallking fish but it is not real but only if you prees the button.


October 4, 2010

My friend buy a halo reach game we play with the xbox 360. On saturday we get to go and on sunday we get to go to and on sunday we don't go that much and on saturday we don't go that much too.




October 11, 2010

Last week it was rainy it was cold on saterday and everone was cold too and are car was wet too and went to piounow school. I genss tmarow it is cold or warm or raniy or foggy with cold with raniy too oh no I hope it is not rainy tomarow and today it is going to be cold and windy to today.




October 18, 2010

On Sunday mom was picking me up and I went to three store it was very fun and the first one was fredmyer and secety it was kmart and last it was costoc.




November 15, 2010

On sunday I just saw a game



November 29, 2010

At my birthday I got a new game call penger club day.




January 10, 2011

At my friend house they got new toys. And there was a fake axe make out of folun. And two sword that is fake and made out of folun too.



January 19, 2011

I had fun today, becuse we got to leran about the water ceycle. And last friday we got to leran about space. And they is 10 plant.



January 21, 2011

I found my skuder




February 7, 2011

This weekend at my friend house, I kemu who won.

It was the green Bay!



February 14, 2011

On friday I still remeber I ate wallfla. On monday I still saw wallfa agian. Then I saw one dirffent thing, I don't know how to call it. But it is so yummy.




March 7, 2011

When we went to my friend house. We got to play on the xbox. It was really fun!



March 28, 2011

On my spring break, I went to my firend house. To watch my friend played Plants Vs. Zomibes!




April 4, 2011

I am going to tell you about my livingroom. My livingroom has a soft couch, and a hard table, and a big T.V.




April 11, 2011

On sunday I got to watch basketball. I was at my friend house playing Castle Crasher! It was 4 player.



April 18, 2011

At my friend house my friend got to play toy soiler.



April 28, 2011

Yesterday on our field trip, we had a great time at Franz Bakery. When we went up stairs the floor was wide and big.



May 3, 2011

On Sunday I when to my friend house. My friend got a three months card for the xbox 360!



May 16, 2011

When we go to my friend house we alway play HALO REACH!




May 23, 2011

On Saturday, I got to play Plant vs. Zomibes because finally I got a profile. When I finally got to play I was on 1-10 I got a peashooter, icepea, cherry bomb, wallnut, shovel, minehole


June 6, 2011

Yestraday on June 5, 2011 my friend came over to play games like HALO REACH, and CASTLE CRASHER.


June 9, 2011

I wonder when we are going like 30 more minitues? I wonder where ti is like at the grass?

[Later]

After feild day I guess that it was going to be the grass! You know what it 
was a good day today. We had popcyle, I got blueberry.


June 13, 2011

On Sunday my friend let me play his competur on Plant vs. Zomibes at the pool I was on 3-6.


June 14, 2011

Yesterday was a bad day. Becuase the wii did not work. Then at night I told my uncle to fix the wii and misson complete, he fix the wii.



Ah, mission complete! Who doesn't love a happy ending?

On the same day I found Toby's journal, I found another one belonging to his brother/cousin/neighbor...? Well... someone! If you're interested, you can check out Cody's Weekend News, 2011-2012, here!


Lost & Found: Cody's Weekend News, 2011-2012

 Just under ten years ago, a schoolkid kept a journal....

A few years later, that journal ended up in the GoodWill bins.

We'll call this kid Cody.

These are the highlights from Cody's weekends in 2011 and 2012...


September 7, 2011

I wto jua pad
I ptawmfen



September 12, 2011

I wto drg




September 19, 2011

I sed Hray




September 26, 2011

IwcloudoutsideITwuzit




October 3, 2011

Iwuz




October 10, 2011...



October 17, 2011

I was looking at the TV Is He did cut




October 24, 2011

I go to Mi Navr




November 7, 2011

I go to my fren house
I have fan




November 15, 2011

My dad are play hied and sek




November 28, 2011

M familey get to eat mashtado and trke




December 5, 2011

I play wif my brudr 
we play tag in the house 
I tag my brudr 
my brudr tag me




December 12, 2011

I wus wating for a christmas tree




January 3, 2012

Wen it is christmas
I wus playing snowball
Fight and my brutr
play to.




January 9, 2012

I wus palying 
hid and sek my brutr
wus hid in the 
blankit




January ?, 2012

This weekend I playd tag
with my brudr. it is fun.
I win so next my brudr
win.




February ?, 2012

I played hid and sick.
It is fun. I was in the 
closit




February 27, 2012

I play tag with my
brutr. it is fun. and I
win.




March 5, 2012

I went to the lidare.
I pike 3 book.
wen I went home
I read the 1 book
it is about penguins.




March 12, 2012

I went to vitume
stool. It is so long.
But we lrnd a lot.
We lrnd vitume.




March 19, 2012

I play tag wif my brutr.
it is fun. I win. Then my brutr
win. Naw I lose




April 2, 2012

I went to the libare.
I got three books. frst
is a farm book sakent
is a Dr. seuss book third
is a dog and 




April 9, 2012

In estr hunt
we got so cande
we have som fun.
we eat the cande.




April 28, 2012

I play tag wif my brudr. It was fun. I win. Naw my brudr win. naw I win.




May 7, 2012

I went to the back yard. We have a barmq. I was full. chicin and garlik bred.




June 4, 2012

I play haid and sik. It is fun. I win. naw I loos.



And so, after the fifth or sixth entry describing the thrills of Tag and Haid And Sik (Hide & Seek) with his brother, Cody's journal comes to a close.

 On the same day I found Cody's journal, I found another one belonging to his brother/cousin/neighbor...? Well... someone! If you're interested, you can check out Toby's Weekend News, 2010-2011, here!


Monday, August 3, 2020

That Time I Explored An Elementary School's Creepy Basement

I'd worked at a particular elementary school for several years before I learned that it had... a basement.

I was mesmerized by this information. I'd had no idea there was so much going on down below the very halls I traversed daily! I had never seen any evidence of stairs leading anywhere, so how could there be this whole other floor to this building?

According to a book detailing the folklore of the school district, there was, in fact, a basement in this school. The book noted that the first graduating class of sixth graders actually got to take a tour through the basement "tunnels" as a treat. I was filled with envy. Kids had explored this hidden realm, and yet I, lover of all things old and mysterious, had not?

My interest in the school's mysterious basement was further piqued one day, when on a work break, I passed the custodian's closet. The door was open. I saw, on the far wall, another door with a sign that read "tunnel entrance." Aha! So that was the way in.

The custodian happened to be nearby. I began peppering him with questions. I asked if he had spent much time in those tunnels. He said he'd been down there many times. He explained that there were two entrances -- ladders -- and told me where the other one was. He told me how far the tunnels went (pretty much all under the original school's foundation... not the later additions).

Then he told me something else: "There are some weird things down there."

"Like what?"

"Oh, boxes. An old school desk. And an old-time sewing machine."

"I'd love to go down there," I said, trying to sound nonchalant. (I'm 99% sure I didn't pull it off.)

To my surprise, he replied, "Sure... whenever."

Less than a month later, accompanied by a friend, a flashlight, a camera, and a bicycle helmet, I descended one of the two ladders into the depths of this nearly sixty-year-old elementary school.



The first "weird" thing I encountered was this box of old records and report cards....



School records in and of themselves aren't weird. It's just that no school, as far as I know, typically keeps report cards from thirty years ago....



Next we found a box of tiles. This school pulled up its tile floors ages ago, so there's no need for spares. And yet...


This was the sewing table the custodian had mentioned. Alas, it was not as old as I was hoping. I mean, I shouldn't have expected a 150-year-old Singer to be sitting in the basement of a 60-year-old school, but that's how my brain works. 


Next, we encountered an extremely ancient relic...



Was this what I thought it was? Was this actually one of the ropes they used to have hanging in the gym? The ropes we kids used to have to climb in order to earn the coveted "E" on our P.E. report cards?

Or maybe it was for a random game of tug o' war.

Next to the rope, there were a bunch of these... filters...?




Then we found this... art table?... with an ominously-stained butcher paper lining....


A look down the "tunnel" and a glimpse at the "old school desks."



Again, I was a bit disappointed, having expected older desks. We used desks like these back in the 80s (along with other types), so these just felt... familiar.


We began to approach the door on the far end of the passageway, and I was reminded of that scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where the hallway gets smaller and smaller the farther you go. 

At least it wasn't totally dark down there...


My friend chose to stay in the main passageway, so I entered the second passageway solo, now crawling on my hands and knees. The ceiling here was much lower -- maybe 3 feet. I took a left. It was hot, stuffy, and very eerie....




Time-out corner?



Thanks to markings on the wall, I knew approximately where I was -- what rooms/hall I was underneath.



^The passageway's ceiling was made of this metal shed-roof-type stuff.







After I'd crawled 2-3 classroom lengths, I came to a part of the tunnel where pipes criss-crossed the width. I'd have had to really crawl low if I wanted to proceed. I decided I did not want to do that. Besides, the custodian had told me there wasn't really anything interesting beyond that point.

On my way back to the ladder, I noticed a few things I'd missed on my first pass...


A bedframe?


"Remove." Probably written by a sixth-grade teacher circa 1991, who had no idea this desk would end up here.


Light fixture thingies... the school hasn't used these types of lights in decades.


These look like the things they put butcher paper on.


Ceiling tiles! Did anyone else used to stare up at them, trying to count the holes? 



^A look down one of the other "corridors...." How I wished I had a vacuum!


Christmas decor! To be fair, we had to tread lightly around holidays, since our students came from so many different backgrounds, but we occasionally did decorate... just, apparently, not with these poor, forgotten items.

Near the ladder/entrance, some random projectiles had found their final resting place, it seemed...


Time to go back up...


One last look...


My journey had come to an end. But I left satisfied. Sure, I'd gone in expecting to see things that were "old," only to encounter a lot of things from my own school days. But what mattered was that I had seen The Basement with my own eyes at last. I'd been in the "tunnels" that I'd read about once upon a time. I had seen the dust and the grime and the creepiness for myself.

It was a grand little adventure.