"The Journal" originated as a simplistic, single-edition account of a rather life changing move in 1980 from a midsized town in Pennsylvania to Dallas, Texas. It evolved from what then was a somewhat drab, diary-like notebook into an eight volume encapsulation of a lifestyle and a record of the transition from late adolescence to adulthood, and back again. The collective volumes came to be known simplistically and affectionately as "the journal." It has been deciphered and transcribed to retain its original authenticity, with occasional misspellings, grammatical errors, ambiguous timelines, obscure dates, and flawed facts intact. Parody and satire are rampant. The content may not make a whole lot of sense, and undeniably much of it is totally and completely random. It doesn't matter. This is essentially nonfiction, at least from the perspective that the originals were written, drawn, or altered by hand, by real people. It may be best to digest and embrace this in short sessions or in an arbitrarily random manner. It's your decision. Whatever you choose, hopefully you can relate and associate portions with your own adventures and times in your past that may have been forgotten. If you do encounter a lost essence of yourself within these pages, and you're glad to have rediscovered it, then resurrecting this compilation after nearly forty years has been a most rewarding endeavor.