January 12, 2011

Popeye the Sailor (letting fists fly): "Don't stan' in front of me when I'm goin' someplace."

 Dreamed of visiting the new owner of the house just east of our old home in Sackville, N.B.; being shown some wine he'd made from grapes grown on his property.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was salmon.

    Went to the Bickford Centre, having forgotten that the Toronto City Opera chorus didn't have rehearsal on the first Wednesday of January! (Oh well, it's better than forgetting when you do have a rehearsal...)

    The internet connection went off in the morning and again in the evening.

January 11, 2011

    Last night was the first choir practice of the new year. (We're working on a folk song concert.)

    Dreamed of my family visiting our old house in Sackville, N.B., and building a roundabout machine next to the front door; suggesting that they add a roof.

    Dinner was lasagna.

    Tonight was the new year's first opera rehearsal.  We went over Madama Butterfly (I think both leading ladies are pretty good) and part of Die Fledermaus.  I get to do a little dancing at the start of our second-act appearance in the latter opera, but we just do a quick gallop across the stage.

    In Kingdoms of Camelot I've been upgrading my city's cottages, one cottage and level at a time.  It's a slow business, but it'll raise my tax base.

January 9, 2011

"I likes peace better'n anything, 'ceptin' a good fight!"--Popeye the Sailor

     Dreamed of being on a ship that was passing by Truro, N.S., on its way to my hometown Sackville, N.B.

    Went to a rally at City Hall to save TransitCity. (It was a Toronto the Great Meetup event, but I couldn't find the organizer.) Several city councillors spoke.

    Donald came over for dinner, which was churrasco chicken.

    I've been losing several battles in Kingdoms of Camelot!  I need to develop greater prudence. (Now I'm worried about running out of gold.) I'm glad I'm not a real-life general...

January 8, 2011

"Trouble an' me is pals--we been together for years!"--Popeye the Sailor

    Dreamed of being in Cape Breton and ending up with a tour group at Fort Louisbourg; Father and I finding a dead man in London who seemed to have been murdered.

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    I couldn't find the fourth season of Big Love, so I rented a documentary DVD The British Empire in Colour.  I don't see how colour film is that much more revealing than black & white.

    Sent out messages to a couple of neighbouring realms in Kingdoms of Camelot (they're a lot smaller than mine) encouraging friendship.

January 7, 2011

"You should bury the hatchet."

"And I know just where to bury it!"

--The Spoilers

"There's no marriage in heaven, Ma'am."

"And that is the reason, no doubt, that people look forward to it."

--Elizabeth R

    Dreamed of staying at the cottage near our hold home in Sackville, N.B., but with a fancier beach that included a boardwalk; considering seeing the season premiere of Saturday Night Live.

    Dinner was spaghetti with a chicken-peanut sauce.

    Saw the John Wayne-Marlene Dietrich Alaska western The Spoilers (for the second time). Big fist fight at the end.

    After a week the Mists of Avalon wore off so I started conquering nearby wilderness areas in the online game Kings of Camelot. (For my first expedition I sent out 100 scouts and they got annihilated!)

    

January 6, 2011

"What's trouble to some is jus' fun to me--I loves it!"--Popeye the Sailor

"The only valuable thing to me is my fisk--Take it!"--ibid.

    Dreamed of adjusting the lights on a cinema marquee; actress Geena Davis; wondering when exactly Moby-Dick became a household name [it would have been the 1920s or 1930s]; climbing a flight of stairs by holding both handrails and swinging my feet up to the next step.

    Dinner was shrimp curry.

    I was going to go on another Queen Street art walk, but it was snowing pretty bad and I took a northbound bus when I'd intended to take a southbound one, so I went home instead.

    After I got home we saw the DVD of the first half of a Ken Burns documentary about the Lewis & Clark expedition.

January 5, 2011

    Dreamed of volunteering at a farm in Halton county; going home in a wagon carrying harvest; the wagon tipping over after the driver got a whiff of a big spice harvest we were passing by; passing through a community flying Danish flags.

    Headache!

    Dinner was roast chicken.

    Went to the Games Meetup. (It's my last Wednesday night event for a few months because of my opera.) I wasn't feeling weel and only played one game:  Stone Age.

    Yesterday zip.ca sent the last of the monthly batch of DVDs until the new batch starts in almost a fortnight, and one of them was the first of two parts! (Which means we'll have a long wait between seeing the first and second halves.) I should have moved the last disc of Elizabeth R or the second season of Weeds to near the head of our queue--they would have got priority--but I'd lost count and thought there'd be one more!