January 23, 2011

"He always obeyed his parents, no matter how absurd and unreasonable their demands were....  He would no play hookey, even when his sober judgement told him it was the most profitable thing he could do"--Mark Twain, "The Story of the Good Little Boy

    Dreamed of being on vacation and growing a small beard.

    Went to an Aspergers Meetup at Pizza Pizza near the Eglinton station.  I don't like Pizza Pizza (it literally makes me sick!) but Tiffany was paying anyhow.

    Dinner was fettucine pesto (which I cooked).

    My Coro Verdi choir performed a folk song concert at the Villa Colombo hoome in Vaughan. (John George drove me and Don there and back.)

January 22, 2011

On the Spanish occupation of the Netherlands: "All priests are hangmen, all soldiers bandits"--Don Carlo

    Dreamed of visiting a wading pool on a rooftop; in upper Manhattan; not knowing where to find my shoes afterward.

    Saw the cinemacast of the Metropolitan Opera of Verdi's Don Carlo at the Sheppard Grande.  I forgot my ticket and had to go back for it and Father couldn't drive me there because the car battery needs fixing, but I still managed to get there in time!

    Don Carlo is an opera you have to see more than once to appreciate.  When I saw it on DVD I found it too long, but this time the length didn't matter. (I dropped some Toronto City Opera flyers which I'd got Tuesday, at Barbara's request.)

    Dinner was the rest of the Indian food, mixed with some other stuff.

    Saw the DVD of PBS' The American Experience documentary about Hawaii's Queen Liliuokalani.

January 21, 2011

Mother: "I had to be both a mother and father to him!"

"His father's dead, is he?"

"No, but he isn't much..."

--Rhoda

    Dreamed of reflecting that if the Democratic Party were a surgeon it would have been sued for malpractice and lost its licence years ago; wanting to rename it Not The Republican Party; carrying a large container of root beer.

    That Madama Butterfly music from the Toronto City Opera show we're rehearsing is going through my head!

    Baked rye bread.

    Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham.

    Headache!

January 20, 2011

Royal Family (hearing a Hitler speech): "What's he saying, Papa?"

"I don't know, but he seems to be saying it rather well"--The King's Speech

"They're idiots!"

"They've all been knighted..."

"Well, that makes it official"

--ibid.

"You're not taking me serious!"

"How can you tell?"

--Weeds

    I had another dream about that non-existent composite London museum on a medium scale with three stories, a round shape and hallways along the outer edge.

    The parents and I finally saw The King's Speech at the Varsity. (We were going to see it Sunday, but Mother wasn't up to it; then we were going to go yesterday, but the roads were icy.) It was a bit conventional but affecting.

    Dinner was roast chicken.

January 17, 2011

 Dreamed of reading Private Eye magazine while walking along the street in my hometown Sackville, N.B.; falling into a deep ditch.

    Dinner was ham quiche.

    I've started a second city in the online game Kingdoms of Camelot, and called it Strathkirk.

January 16, 2011

Popeye the Sailor (on the huge gorilla he's about to box): "The mos' he can do is kill me--he can't scare me or make me quit."

    Dreamed of feeling inept; thinking that even when I do nothing I can't do it right; the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

    Good day to stay indoors. [More snow!]

    Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham.

January 15, 2011

    Dreamed of the Bonnie Tyler song "Total Eclipse of the Heart"; the HBO series The Wire being shown on a broadcast network; recalling how the movie of Forrest Gump twisted the book's opening sentence ("Bein' an idiot ain't no box of chocolates") into a line about life being a box of chocolates.

    Went canvassing to save Transit City. (The canvassers met through Facebook.) There were quite a few people considering the snow.  Jesse and I covered Richardson Avenue and Claybrook Street in Frank di Giorgio's ward. (He's undecided.) A lot of people were out--no doubt, some were in Florida--but those we met were mostly supportive.  One woman even gave us a couple of rolls she'd just baked!

    Dinner was ham.

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Runnymede Starbucks.  I played Scrabble and Smallworld.  In the latter game, I went through four races:  hill ghouls, heroic halflings, flying amazons and merchant humans.