The Year 3033

March 4, 3033 2:11 P.M. It has been a very long day. I've been bending over or kneeling for nearly twenty hours and my back is KILLING me. Despite every part of my body being wracked with pain, I do have some good news; the site is a jackpot! It's practically brimming with artifacts that are like a window to the past. On the first day of excavation I found five beautiful, fully intact artifacts. I spent nearly seven hours analyzing them (which is why I'm awake at this ungodly hour) for I believe they are very important in discovering the life and roles of children in the early 21st century.

I began digging around five o'clock in the morning, when the sun was just peeking over the mountains, with gusto. The weather was warm and toasty, the sky as clear as a pool of spring water, and the excavation site was like the promised land, the prospect of the treasure under my feet making my hands itch with excitement. Of course, that gusto slowly faded away the longer I dug. The weather became unimaginably hot, the sky a monotonous blue, and the idea of finding even a hint of this past civilization seemed like an impossible dream, far from our grasp.

I must have dug for twelve hours straight without a hint of anything. I tried to not become discouraged. After all, it was only my first day. So, with the Beatles playing in the background, I began digging even more determinedly, with John Lennon's amazing voice drifting through the site, giving me the perseverance to continue on.

I was still digging. It must have been around 6 P.M. when I saw a foreign object sticking out of the earth. At last, my hard work paid off! As I continued to dig two items took shape.

The first item I stumbled upon was a cube, roughly two inches by two inches, that consisted of 56 smaller cubes. The smaller cubes each had a sticker that was colored one of the six shades of grayscale. I found it interesting that I was able to shift the cubes into different arrangements without changing the shape of the large cube. I'm thinking it may be a safe of some sort that opens when the squares are put in the correct combination. If my calculations are correct that would mean there is a possible 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 combinations. . . that should take me a couple days to figure out! I'm hoping once I do crack the code it will reveal more information that will give us a better idea of Lakesidian culture, who knows what kinds of secrets this little box may contain?

I had been digging for a very short time when I stumbled upon the second item. It was a medal, the ribbon that would have hung around its owner's neck was disintegrating and seemed to have a yellowish tint to it. The disk that hung from the ribbon seemed to be made from an unidentified metal with an engraving of the world (as it was in the 21st century) and the text " NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BEE" surrounding it. When I turned the medal over, I found a sticker with "FIRST PLACE 2005" typed on it and the date 7/23/05 written in someone's scrawling handwriting. Based on the fact that the medal seems to be a reward for performing well in a competition that has to do with geography, I have made the assumption that Lakesidians put emphasis on the study of geography. This indicates that much of the population would have jobs having to do with that particular subject (cartography, city planning, etc).

So concludes my first day of being an archaeologist, quite successful if I do say so myself! Now I'm going to take a couple of Advil and crash. Ta ta!

March 5, 3033

Another day full of hard work has come and gone and I have found even more glorious artifacts from years gone by. The first item I found today was a paperback book entitled The Magical World of Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. Written on the inside cover were the words "Robin Lee Bigge" along with the number sequences "4436153" and "7196397" in sloppy letters. I assume that those number sequences stand for are some sort of identification code, whether it be for the owner or the book. It was published in 1996, nearly 1050 years ago. I have learned that you can often tell a lot about a civilization through the stories it tells. This particular book was filled with small boxes, each showing a different of part of a scene depicting a bratty boy (approximately six years of age) and an animal, known as a tiger, that has been extinct for nearly 400 years. In the book there are many instances of conflict between the character known as Susie and Calvin, with Calvin being the antagonist. Calvin also appears to be "Dictator for Life" of an underground organization called G.R.O.S.S (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS). Also, the mother of Calvin is often depicted to be a monster or alien. These instances hint that this civilization was anti-feminine and that it was most likely ruled by a dictator. Another interesting fact was that the tiger appeared inanimate to people other than the boy. Perhaps this civilization believed in personal guardians, who assumed the forms of different animals. Often, the tiger is the voice of reason while Calvin comes up with obnoxious ideas.

Inside the book I found a delicate sheet of paper preserved between the pages. It appears to be a record of some kind, back when records were kept on paper (causing massive deforestation; think of the problems it would have saved us if the ancients would have stopped to think about the destruction they were causing the earth!). In print, it read "Tierra del Sol Middle school, Robin Bigge L, GRADE: 08, Student ID: 636908". Someone had written, "Another impressive skool year! Good Great job!" in red pen over the transcripts. Listed on it were different subjects taken in school, implying the leaders in the community kept track of how well Robin Bigge L performed in school. It seems to me, that although Robin Bigge L was enrolled in eight classes, the education system must not have been adequate because of the atrocious spelling and handwriting on the paper.

The last artifact I found was a photo of four male figures standing on a giant rock. The picture is taken from a distance, so I cannot tell how old they are, perhaps thirteen years? The environment, though a huge improvement from what it is today, appears to be dry with little grass. It looks as though the boys are on a journey of some sorts, where there are no cities or other people around, perhaps hunting for food. I sat looking at the picture for some time, intrigued, wondering if one of the four boys happened to be Robin Bigge L, whose time portal I happened to stumble upon today over these past few days.

More digging tomorrow! For now, I am going to collapse into my oh-so-luscious sleeping bag on the hard Lakeside ground. Hopefully I will have this kind of luck tomorrow. Buenos noches!