The Early Years: Rabbit’s Journal
Posted by jamesviscosi on July 24, 2008
A couple of weeks ago I posted a scan of an old story I wrote for school when I was a kid of somewhere between six and ten (depending on who you believe). That turned out to be pretty popular, so I requested more scans from my suppliers of embarrassing material from my younger days (i.e., my parents). Behold: Rabbit’s Journal.
When I used to go to my grandparents’ house, I would spend a lot of time in the sewing room downstairs, where they had a typewriter. (A typewriter, for those who don’t know, is sort of like a computer, except the keyboard is connected directly to the printer and there’s no screen or hard drive.) This typewriter had the magical ability to type in black or red ink, which I put to good use.
Who is Rabbit, you ask? He was one of my stuffed animals, of course. (Anyone who’s been reading Dennis’s Diary of Destruction will not be surprised at this early example of anthropomorphism, I’m sure.) And where is Rabbit now, you ask? Why, he’s on the shelf behind me, LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU!
But don’t worry. Rabbit doesn’t write horrible messages in blood anymore.
Much.
Cliff Burns said
Fear the rabbit…
Beware the rabbit…
Didn’t I see him in “Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail”?
Good stuff, James…
goodbear said
this is a cry for help, i’m sure of it!
goodbear said
this typewriter of which you speak….did it “crash” ever? did it ever “freeze up?” and were you constantly having to run updates on it?
Gina said
Awww How adorable and creative. I love the 8:01 and a half…your typewriter must not have had a 1/2 key. What an imagination you had! Oh how well I remember trying to do term papers on typewriters…eeekkkk!
canyon cottage said
LOL! James you crack me up. I also have a stuffed animal that I was given by my great uncle when I was 2 years old. I took it with me when I backpacked through Europe in college. He has been everywhere! Not quite sure where he is now though. I think packed away since the move.
oh2btigger said
Haha! That’s great!!!
Alyson said
“Rabbit gets his stomach pumped” – I need to know more!!!
buzzybeegirl said
How did rabbit get out of the slammer so quickly? Many would like to know that trick.
goodbear said
secret’s out. now you know buzzybeegirl is blogging from prison.
mondastrange said
I love rabbit’s schedule! You just posted a typecast!
buzzybeegirl said
Like many places now goodbear, even prison’s have free WiFi =)
Finicky Penguin said
That manila folder looks suspicious…
Beth from the Funny Farm said
Rabbit had a busy day but he tried to go to bed way to early!
Mike Clemens said
Finally, a proper use for the red ribbon! Horrible messages in blood should have been reason enough for you to be removed from the sewing room, or at least for your grandparents to hide the scissors.
This really requires Edward Gorey-style illustrations for the full effect.
sparkychronicles said
How does a 10 year old know the 1910 term regarding getting one’s ears “boxed”?
I learned it as a child by watching a horribly traumatic documentary about Thomas Edison – they say his boss did it to him and it’s to partially account for his deafness.
Regardless, you had a violent childhood, didn’t you?
Aafke said
”Learn when you’re young, accomplish when your old” (Dutch proverb)
This is where it all started! Scary kid!
Nevis said
Poor guy. Wetting his pants.
almostgotit said
The sudden shocking injection of red ink, and horrible messages also springing out of nowhere… this is probably a pretty accurate recording of the inside of every little kid’s head. Only, most of us learn how to repress it in order to become politely-normal zombies. Maybe the only secret to being a writer (?) is that of resisting zombie-dom…
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