TNG Time Capsule: A Matter of Time, Hero Worship and Cause and Effect

A few years ago my mom found a couple of the journals I'd been made to keep in the second grade. I nearly cried when she gave them to me. As someone who writes and illustrates her own life, these little composition books are precious treasure troves of memory. PROOF! Proof that I existed as a small human. That I thought things and felt things and watched, even then, copious amounts of television.

Earlier this year I got them out and looked through them again, thinking that I would do a "on this night" series as I watched episodes that originally aired on dates corresponding to my journal entries. Unfortunately, life got a bit in the way. Waylaid by health issues and the like, I completely forgot about my plans. It wasn't until I was straightening up my workspace yesterday that I remembered.

Luckily, we're not that far away from these episodes. I only just finished the season in question! I handpicked a couple (for what will be obvious reasons) and here they are:


A Matter of Time
Original Air Date: November 18, 1991
This entry is the closest I could find since TNG was likely on winter hiatus at the time but I felt it was fairly appropriate. It's also the first entry in this specific journal.

"Yesterday it was cold. I stayed in and watched TV for 5 hours. Then did homework. Then I played and watched a movie. I fell asleep. I woke up. And I got to go to bed. 

I loved last night."

Hero Worship

Original Air Date: January 27, 1992

Again, this one isn't on the exact date (new episodes hadn't yet returned) and they would've been showing re-runs. 

"Tonight I can stay up as late as I want. I can watch late night shows. I can do anything I want. I love to stay up. I can play until 10:30. I can go to bed at one in the morning. But I like to watch TV best." 

PS- I think it's fairly plausible that the person on the TV is Worf. Just look at the haircut. 

Cause and Effect

Original Air Date: March 23, 1992

I picked this one out because it's one of my favorite episodes. I have a very clear memory of watching this one for the first time, feeling that sort of Hitchcock zoom trick your mind plays when it suddenly turns inside out.  I would've written this entry on the day the Cause and Effect premiered. 

"This weekend I flew a kite. I saw old friends. I played with them. And I wrote my dad a letter. I built a "made". And a story box." 

A few things strike me about this entry. 

1-In spite of being pretty poor through a lot of my childhood, I had plenty of toys. Still, I was always building stuff out of cardboard. My journals from this time actually have a lot of little rockets and such and I have really strong memories of building sprawling doll houses and weird little dioramas. I still do this kind of thing. In my kitchen there's a recycling bin and, beside it, a pile of cardboard pieces that I want to use for paintings and projects and whatever. Sometimes I actually get around to those projects and sometimes they make the slow march into the bin. I remember this maid construction really well. She was made out of toilet paper rolls and a shoebox. I'm not sure what her hat was made of but, knowing me, it was likely a stollen coffee filter. 

2-Why a maid? I'm not sure. My mom worked as a maid for a while during this time. I remember going with her to a couple of swanky houses. One of them had a gorgeous mural in the basement. I remember thinking, "Wow, this place is so clean." And my mom was like, "Yeah, gee, I wonder why." 

So maybe I made a maid to help her out around our house. I mean, what else was I going to do? Actually clean? Clearly I was too busy watching TV. 

3- The letter to my dad. This was about thirteen months after my parents split up. I hadn't seen my dad since then and, in child years, thirteen months seems like about forever plus ten. My journals reflect the memories I have of my attitude from that time. A sort of weird practicality I had toward stressful situations. I missed my dad but I didn't mope about it. I wrote a letter and got on with my life. What else was I supposed to do? 

Boy, this is a lot of typing. I actually saved my hands up all day just so I could do this post. And I'm glad I did. I LOVE doing Generic Ensign and I'm going to keep those Vlog posts going but I do also miss speaking in my own voice. After all, that's sort of my whole thing—writing about myself, my life, my history. Hoping that somewhere out there it'll strike a chord and resonate with someone else. So, if you're out there, thanks for taking this stroll down memory lane with me.