March 24, 2011

    Dreamed of meeting a soothsayer on an airplane who predicted I'd marry a man. [Hasn't happened yet!]

    I've been thinking about how heroic the Fukushima reactor workers are, risking their health and their lives to stop the meltdown, not just for Japan but to protect the whole world.  It reminds me of Churchill's line "Never before have so many owed so much to so few!" [The people who contained the Covid epidemic come to mind too.]

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was fish sticks.

    Performed in the master class concert.  Because I had a red shirt, on a whim I wore a black bowtie instead of my red necktie.  I carelessly came onstage before Beatrice had introduced my songs.  Mother and Moira weren't up to it, but Father came. (So did Tiffany from the Asperger's Meetup.)

    Finished Anne of Windy Poplars in the wings before the concert started.

March 23, 2011

"Mr. Westcott, please hear me through patiently before--"

"I am patient... very patient.  Proceed!"

--Anne of Windy Poplars

"You're not a foot, Andy"--Weeds

    Dreamed of meeting the Celtic band The Chieftains; one of them playing an instrument that looked like a stout whistle.

    Headache!

    Snow today. (I'm not yet finished with my winter boots.)

    Dinner was more stir-fry.

    Saw the DVD of the National Film Board documentary of Douglas Coupland's Souvenir of Canada.  Pretty lightweight. (At least there was no Trudeaumania stuff...)

    Dress-rehearsed the master class concert.  Giuseppe said that Beatrice was vaccinated with a phonograph needle!

March 22, 2011

"Next time you're in my face, gargle!"--Weeds

    Dreamed of Paul Newman in the police drama Fort Apache, the Bronx (which I haven't seen); actors Alan Rickman and Gary Oldman insulting each other while working together.

    Dinner was shrimp linguine.

    Went to a master calss rehearsal.  Carrie's doing a Nabucco aria, fortunately at the end of the show. (She's a hard act to follow!) (We rehearsed on the stage, and it's humbling to sing in front of an auditorium with a big vacuum that requires talent to even half-fill.  Giuseppe said we'll have singing lessons Mondays at noon again.

    The Toronto City Opera is condering doing Lucia di Lamermoor, The Merry Widow and The Barber of Seville next year.

    Weeds rather went off the deep end in its third season! [For me, the "jump the shark" moment was with the summer school run by religious nuts...]

March 21, 2011

    Dreamed of Father attending a labour demonstration in London; Father trying to make orange juice through a slow drip method; going to a zoo in London, Ontario; trying to climb a sloped surface behind the back row of an auditorium but finding it too steep; trying to distribute a complicated system of counters to start playing a board game.

    Dinner was steak and the rest of the Chinese food.

    I was uncharacteristically late for choir practice, where we were dress-rehearsing Rigoletto. (Long wait for the bus...)

    My glasses frame came undone again, and I had a devil of a time redoing it! (The tiny screw I needed to drive in kept being drawn toward a nearby magnetic part.)

    I put my winter boots aside and started wearing sneakers again.

March 20, 2011

    I've been getting thinner recetly, and it finally occurred to me to tighten the belt-string on my pajamas!

    Went to an Art Meetup at the Spence Gallery in Mirvish Village where we met South American artist Marcelo Suasquabar.  He's a pretty outre surrealist who likes checkerboard surfaces.

    Afterward I went to Book City nearby and bought a few books, including Ken McGoogan's How the Scots Invented Canada. (Mother will probably want to read that one.)

    Dinner was Chinese food. (My fortune cookie said "Use your charm and personality to your advantage.")

    Saw the DVD of the World War I silent The Unbeliever, which was pretty shameless (especially the scenes with Beastly Hun Erich Von Stroheim). I'm annoyed by movies that conflate patriotism with religion.  Were women prettier 100 years ago?

March 19, 2011

"How are things?"

"Sticky!"

--The Man in the White Suit

"I'd never dream of letting you marry me in the heat of the moment, before you can do it in cold blood"--ibid.

    Dreamed of a slapstick comedy where someone gets attacked by five guys at once but made short work of them; visiting the old Arthur Murray dance studio [where I took lessons at age 40] and pretending I was interested in buying more lessons.

    Dinner was stir-fry, which Moira made the way our Chinese friend Puitak makes it!

    Finally saw the DVD of Alexander MacKendrick's The Man in the White Suit (for the second time), after zip.ca sent us a new copy.  Classic Ealing Studios Alec Guiness vehicle.

March 18, 2011

    Dinner was roast pork (undercooked in the middle).

    Went to an Art Meetup at the Gardiner Ceramics Museum.  They had a special exhibit of Sarah Woodman's work.  I bought Mother a guide to the museum. [She was interested in antiques.]

    I finally got a fifth cohort in the computer game Glory of Rome, so now I can build a second city.