October 24, 2003

Dreamed of being a Mongol invader and throwing a torch down a well, causing the gases at the bottom to explode (I read of a well with explosive gases in Little House on the Prairie); a McCarthyite report mentioning a door 16 units wide being challenged by Mickey Rooney (16 inches too narrow, 16 feet too wide).

Last night I downloaded ShockWave software so today I was abole to do a jigsaw puzzle on our computer.  I'll have to be careful not to get addicted to them! (I didn't.)

Went to the Spadina Road library and researched my latest story a bit.  I borrowed a book of Cree legends, and found out that the Cree word for bear is "maskwa."

Dinner was sausage and mash.

Started writing a summary of The Copyeditor's Handbook.

Saw Fassbinder's Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven, an odd, uneven satire about a woman whose husband's murder-suicide is all over the news. (It was in questionable taste.) When the communists got involved it got too silly.

I've started reading Great Civil War Stories while waiting for the computer to boot.  Their version of Reconstruction is jaw-droppingly one-sided.

October 23, 2003

Dreamed of seeing an earlier version of the neo-noir Miller's Crossing, from the era of the original noirs and starring Alan Ladd, ending in the middle of the story (for copyright reasons) with the hero about to shoot someone; walking on a Mediterranean beach where there'd been a big invasion in World War II, and noticing little rocks that looked like shrunken heads; walking along a street in Sackville past a huge felled tree (I must have been thinking of the downed trees in Halifax), talking about why I never watch the sitcom Friends.

Today was the last day of this stage at Mission:  Possible. Next I'll work with Dana Carty on looking for job opportunities.  I was a good ten minutes late, because out of habit I took the subway to the St. Patrick's station instead of Bloor-Yonge.  I did another computer jigsaw puzzle, which I enjoy.  We did a role-playing skit where I pretended to apply for a job as a rodeo rider in a circus.  That was also fun.  I seem to have done very well over the last month.

Dinner was Moira's curried chicken.

Saw Fassbinder's gay melodrama In a Year of 13 Moons.  It was a long, strange, talky, and rather masterful mess.

October 22, 2003

Dreamed of the Miami Vice duo Crockett and Tubbs involved in a scheme to smuggle oil into Iraq(?); Tubbs chasing someone (Margaret Thatcher?) on foot during a fox hunt; my entering the wrong classroom (where they were teaching yoga in martial arts clothes), and being unable to find the exit.

At Mission:  Possible I had a second information interview, with an editor at McLelland & Stewart.  I think I improved my performance from last time.

Dinner was roast chicken.

At creative writing I was reading the story about the old men playing cards when I suddenly realized I'd written "Italy" where I clearly intended to write "Greece." Was my face red!  For next week I'm going to write a story about a Cree girl. (There were still only seven people there.)

October 21, 2003

"It was a good rough dirty game, and of great use in counteracting the sneaking tendencies of the school"--Tom Brown's School Days

Dreamed of seeing a movie in Halifax that opened with a high school graduation; realizing that it was September and I couldn't remember anything that had happened for the past month (a bit like the movie Momento); playing with matches on a ship and starting a serious fire.

Finished forking the garden.  Only the hoeing is left.

At Mission:  Possible I created master files.  I went through the courier route and remembered almost everything.

Dinner was halibut.  Moira baked banana bread too.

We've got a start on all the Lucia di Lamermoor choruses.

October 20, 2003

At Mission:  Possible I followed the mail courier on his route.  I'm going to try it tomorrow.

Today I finally figured out what the "Fur la nozze a lei funeste" chorus in Lucia di Lamermoor reminds me of:  the song "We Are Marching to Pretoria"!

Dinner was the rest of the stew.

Helped Father send another email.  We're almost ready to sell our used books over the internet!

So far I've read almost fifty pages of Tom Brown's School Days, and we're still nowhere near Rugby!  But it's a fascinating portrait of England in the early 19th century.  It was written in 1856 or so, and has a sense of nostalgia for England around 1830. (That's how quickly Britain was changing then.) It's very English in its promotion of good, clean sportsmanship.

October 19, 2003

Dreamed of taking a train from London to Canterbury.

Saw Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Ali:  Fear Eats the Soul at the Cinematheque.  It was a brilliant melodrama about a German cleaning woman marrying a younger Arab and encountering intolerance.

Started reading The Copyeditor's Handbook.

John and the girls came over for dinner, which was pizza.

On Six Feet Under Claire's ex-boyfriend lost his kid brother.

Read a Salon interview with Joan Didion where she talked about California.

October 18, 2003

"He's terrible!" "He's horrible!" "And not only that, he isn't even nice"--Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

"Ask a silly question, you get a dumb look"--Pickup on South Street

Dreamed about the movie Kill Bill.

Saw two movies at the Cinematheque.  The first was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a bizarre, whimsical kiddie musical from 1968. (Roald Dahl adapted Ian Fleming's story.) I came to like it more than I expected.  How can you not like a movie with a lady called Truly Scrumptious?

Stayed for Sam Fuller's Pickup on South Street, a solid Cold War film noir.  Richard Widmark was a really cool pickpocket.

Pui and Gordon came over for dinner and brought Chinese food.

October 17, 2003

Dreamed of boarding a bus, seeing a series of film clips, and falling asleep; reading a coffee-table book about movies similar to The MGM Story (we own four of them) and seeing an entry about a TV movie titled Pot Luck, a 17th-century story of Poe-style horror starring Charlton Heston.

Went to the Deer Park library and borrowed Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's School Days.

At Mission:  Possible I worked on disclosing my condition to employers.

Dinner was lamb stew.

Went to see Jean-Luc Godard's Vivre Sa Vie at the Cinematheque.  It wasn't bad but I just couldn't get into it, and I left after about 20 minutes.  Moira says about it, "I liked it but I didn't like it."

Finished Chronicles of Avonlea and started the new book.

Saw the DVD of the Canadian short Laundry:  A Love Story [which they were handing out for free at the film festival]. Pretty lightweight.

October 16, 2003

"He knows a lot about cattle." "Other people's cattle!"--The Naked Spur

Dreamed of being at a huge restaurant in one of dozens of wedding parties, and being expected to make the first speech to start the wedding process; being one of two kid brothers who jumped from the 15th floor of a building; taking a London bus out to Chiswick. (My parents lived in Chiswick for two years in the 1950s, and when I was in London I took the Chiswick bus once.)

Father sent his first email this morning. (I showed him how.)

I had a busy schedule for today, so Moira said she'd do the shopping instead of me.

At Mission:  Possible I had an information interview with Catherine Mitchell (who looks like an older Cate Blanchett) of Tundra Books.  It went quite well. (The other interview got cancelled.) When she said that one of the qualities they were looking for from an employee was the ability to listen, I couldn't resist saying, "What did you say?" (Fortunately, she had a sense of humour.) She even gave me an illustrated edition of Anne of Green Gables!

Dinner was lasagna.

Read three stories in Chronicles of Avonlea.

Went to the Cinematheque and saw Anthony Mann's western The Naked Spur (for the second time). Jonathan Rosenbaum gave a lecture on it afterward.

October 15, 2003

"The more I saw of men, the more I liked cats"--"The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's

Dreamed of walking down to a supermarket late at night and coming across a group of people who only spoke French; Nicole Kidman at a press conference talking about clothes that make her look fat(!); telling of an actual letter to The New York Times in response to an article on translating ancient Greek, saying, "When people ask me why I'm learning Hebrew, I say, 'When you read "God became very angry," I read "Flames came out of God's nose."'" [Hey, a triple-iterated quotation!]

At Mission:  Possible I was creating hospital kits.  It was simpler work than the binders.  I started out slow, but got faster.

Dinner was lasagna.

There were only five students at Creative Writing, presumably because of confusion about whether this week's class had been cancelled. (Last week, the teacher said early in the class that it would be, but he changed his mind by the end.) For next week I'm writing my story about some old men who come together to play cards.

"The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's" in Chronicles of Avonlea is a really funny story. [The pic above is another still from The Road to Avonlea, which dramatized it.]

October 14, 2003

Dreamed of a Life magazine annual from 1972 with photos such as a still from a movie titled The General, with Alain Delon (not Burt Lancaster) playing Jack Ruby; meeting in the London residence a middle-aged Acadian woman writer who was a "character"; telling her about the scene I'd performed from Jean Giraudoux' The Enchanted.

Didn't get much sleep last night and I felt sleepy in the afternoon.

At Mission:  Possible I was goint to learn courier work bu the mail guy took sick. Instead, I made more health care binders.

Dinner was the rest of the Swiss Chalet chicken.

It rained for a change.

At the opera chorus we were rehearsing with the soloists.  I was talking to a Korean soloist who doesn't know much English.

October 13, 2003

Dreamed of the TV show Upstairs, Downstairs.

The parents and Moira came home in the afternoon.

Finished shovelling the garden.  In a little while I'll go over it with the fork.

Got obsessed with a math problem where you have to figure out the factors of 300,737.

Donald, John and the girls came over for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had Swiss Chalet takeout and macaroni.

Afterward I sang my opera chorus lines for Rae, who likes hearing it. (She sang "My Funny Valentine" for me.)

The answer to the math problem:  the factors are 311 and 967. (I started by noticing that the factors of 737 are 11 and 67.)

October 12, 2003

Dreamed of the nursery rhyme "The Grand Old Duke of York," and Neve Campbell.

Went to Book City and found a copy editor's handbook.  I also found a couple of books priced to clear that the parents will probably like.

Dinner was Harvey's.

On Six Feet Under Rico was given an offer by the big rival funeral home.

Baked rye bread overnight.

October 11, 2003

The parents and Moira went to Kingston for the weekend.

Wrote my Cultural Revolution story.

Got all the compost moved. Now the garden's ready for spading.

Rented the Utena DVD for episodes 24-26.  It's getting pretty strange.

Dinner was KFC.

Saw the Puccini opera Tosca at the Hummingbird Centre.  It was a great production. Having a seat in the front row was worth the extra expense. [The photo is of Eszter Sumegi in the title role.]

October 10, 2003

Dreamed of being told to break dragon eggs before they hatched; trying to break them against rocks on the beach outside our cottage.

Had a dental checkup and X-ray in the morning.

Visited the dance studio for the first time in over two months.  I'm going to their Halloween party. (It'll give me a chance to wear that beatnik costume again.) I met Cynthia, who won't be there then.

Started moving the compost onto the garden.  I also expanded it by moving two patio blocks away.

Dinner was McDonald's.

Rented two videos.  Zoltan Korda's Drums (a.k.a. The Drum) was a 1930s Indian Northwest Frontier adventure movie, oddly set in the 20th century.  Elvis:  That's the Way It Is was a documentary about the King's triumphant 1969 return to Las Vegas. (I was seeing it for the third time.)

October 9, 2003

"I've been in love with you since the first moment we met.  Couldn't you tell from the way I was ignoring you?"--Anything Else

Dreamed of frying chicken chopped for stir-fry, but finding much of it was still undercooked; going to the Sackville Anglican church with a group of students in Orientation Week to ask for investment advice(?).

We went to Chapters, where I found a children's version of Jane Eyre, which Puitak will like.

At Mission:  Possible I helped assemble a couple of computer chairs.  I also did an exercise where I looked at a picture and described the story it showed. (It was the Norman Rockwell picture of the schoolgirl waiting outside the principal's office with a black eye and a triumphant expression.)

Afterward I met the parents outside the Carleton cinema and saw Woody Allen's Anything Else.  Pretty droll in a rather grim way.

After that we had dinner at the Little India restaurant. (We had enough left over for a doggie bag.)

Late in the evening I misplaced my glasses, but I was able to find them by putting on my contacts.

October 8, 2003

Dreamed of having a job but wanting to explore beyond the door in my workplace that led down to the sewers; finding some records with famous Japanese stories such as one by a 12th-century author called Tatehwaki (a Japanese name I've seen before) titled "The Emperor's Beard." (I was wondering if I'd end up wearing a beard in my opera Lucia di Lamermoor.) [I didn't.]

Father and John took our old stove to Habitat for Humanity.

At Mission:  Possible I was assembling binders into health care kits.  I developed a system, and assembled over twenty!

Dinner was turkey pie. (Our leftover turkey is finally finished.)

Started shovelling the compost onto the garden.  We got a huge amount this year.

At the creative writing class we read our stories aloud.  For next week I'll be writing a story about the Cultural Revolution.

Finished reading a Harper's article about how the Republicans are militarizing American society.  I think he's too dismissive of the growing opposition to this.

"Old Lady Lloyd" in Chronicles of Avonlea is a wonderful story. [It became an episode in The Road to Avonlea.]

October 7, 2003

Dreamed of explaining to John the concept behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (which I'll be seeing at the Cinematheque next week) and mentioning it was similar to a Tom Swift book; being about to return to Sackville from Amherst; shopping for computer screens and finding one of a really high quality.

At Mission:  Possible I did some more filings.  A new supervisor called Nicole is learning the ropes.  I got a paper cut on the tip of my little finger, which made it harder to put in my contacts.

Dinner was roast beef.

Printed out 19 copies of my house story for the creative writing class.

At the opera chorus they divided the men from the women and sent us downstairs to learn separately from them, which was kind of embarrassing because they learned a lot more than we did. [That's partly because there are more of them, so they get critical mass quicker!] There were one or two high notes I couldn't reach, and I may have to keep skipping them.

Giuseppe Macina, the director, was really impressed that I was singing from memory. (He asked if I was Italian!) I've seen Lucia di Lamermoor live, but I've had to sing the music to really appreciate how great it is.

October 6, 2003

Dreamed of looking out my window and seeing a tornado form; driving out to a parking lot near a "big box" store, lying down and feeling the tornado run over my back like Magic Fingers.

Started reading Chronicles of Avonlea.  It's a collection of stories set in the same vicinity as Anne of Green Gables. (Anne even appears in the first story.)

At Mission:  Possible I did some Internet research on copywriting.

Dinner was cream of mushroom soup with leftover turkey, served on toast. (My grandfather used to make that.)

My father is almost ready to start selling our books over the Internet.  I helped him set up things tonight.

Bought a whole lot of Cinematheque tickets.  I owe over $800 on my Visa bill!

October 5, 2003

Dreamed of Chopin's E Major etude, and the folk song "Un Canadien Errant."

We drove down to the shore (Sunnyside Park this time).

Dug up the carrots (for what they were worth.

John and the girls came over for dinner, which was lasagna.

I have the whole chorus we learned last week by heart now.

On Six Feet Under Nate planned a weekend with Brenda and the mother got a job in a flower shop.

Finished Lincoln's Virtues and printed out my old house story.  Mother likes it.

October 4, 2003

Dreamed of doing a school assignment that included writing compositions on the origins of certain words, including "oxygen" and the letter X.

Saw the video of Elvis Presley's 1968 TV special, for something like the third time.  Great stuff.

Went to the Wychwood Library and borrowed L.M. Montgomery's anthology Chronicles of Avonlea.

Baked whole wheat bread. First I belatedly cleaned out the bread machine.

Donald came over for dinner, which was takeout churrasco chicken.

For some reason, practising the opera chorus gives me a headache.

October 3, 2003

"Peter, are you hurt?" "I sprained my pride"--Charade

Dreamed of being on a train that travelled across Canada from coast to coast nonstop over a week, where there was nothing to do but watch movies and read a movie magazine; one of the movies being about Burt Reynolds in his hometown of Duluth (he's actually from Georgia); the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes; a divorce case in which a wife left her husband in the big city, moved to the suburbs and wanted their child.

The person who showed me how to put in my contact lenses reassured me that there's no danger of them falling out.

Went to the Forest Hill library to borrow The Once and Future King, but it was out.

Rented the video of Stanley Donen's Charade, a tongue-in-cheek romantic thriller with some good dialogue.  I correctly guessed where her husband's fortune was hidden!

Dinner was spaghetti.

October 2, 2003

Voted in the morning.

At Mission:  Possible I did a typing test and did 55 words/minute, with 4% mistakes.  I also did a computer jigsaw puzzle.  I'll be interviewed by a publisher in a couple of weeks.

The cool weather has arrived!  This morning it snowed in Barrie.

Dinner was salmon.

Learned most of the chorus from the last opera class.  But toom much singing gave me hiccups and a headache. (I figured out what the Italian words were in English.)

Went to a joing election night party for the Julian Heller and Rosario Marchese campaigns. (At least there was one winner there.) Heller himself thanked me.

October 1, 2003

Dreamed of visiting the old Sackville house and finding the nearby street gone along with several trees; a story about a fake schoolteacher played by Maurice Chevalier, who unwittingly plays an important role in the opening of the Berlin Wall.

Went shopping.

At Mission:  Possible I labelled folders and shelved some of them.

Dinner was turkey pie.

Had my first Creative Writing class at Central Tech.  It's being taught by Brett Campbell, whose regular job is as a tax accountant.  Our first assignment is to write a story based on a picture of an old house.  I've already thought up a whole story!

The Liberals sent a flyer around with the headline, "Thinking of voting NDP?" It's like they're scared of us.

September 30, 2003

Dreamed of the British comic strip Dennis the Menace (distinct from the American version!); singing the song "Candy Man" on the way to a class in school; looking up an article on communism in an actual children's encyclopedia I used to read (which said that communists often had "a sort of mental illness"!).

At Mission:  Possible I moved from purging files to actual filing.  I don't remember anyone from last time.  I was telling Debbie dumb jokes.

Dinner was pork chops.

They did have the opera chorus course after all, at the Bickford Centre near Christie Pits.  I had a great time!  We started to learn the big wedding scene from Lucia di Lamermoor, with the famous sextet.  If I continue with it in the winter term [I did], we'll be puttin on that and Don Giovanni in February.  I hope I don't have to choose between this and drama.

September 29, 2003

Dreamed of a Chinese hotel that started out as a  building with half a dozen floors then got enlarged to a much greater height; driving from Prince Edward Island to Sackville with a couple of teenagers and a secret agent who was hospitalized along the way.

Had my first day back at Mission:  Possible.  My supervisor Debbie moved here from England less than a year ago.  So far things are moving smoothly.

Hope to get into an Opera Chorus for Beginners course in place of the drama course.  But I'll have to make sure it hasn't been cancelled too!

Dinner was roast turkey.

Didn't get to visit the campaign office until the evening.

September 28, 2003

Dreamed of being mailed a map of the world from a museum travel organization that wanted me to join; being in a second-floor room with a non-existent toilet (the campaign office has a rather substandard bathroom); walking in London, with a wife and young daughter; getting caught in a riot when a pro-Israel fundraiser got sold out(?); seeking shelter in a driveway leading underground; meeting someone who took me to the seacoast and a huge haystack for climbing.

Saw the Canadian Opera Company's production of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes at the Hummingbird Centre in the afternoon.  The drama was curiously ambivalent.

Dinner was McDonald's.

Saw Buster Keaton's silent comedy Our Hospitality (for the second time). Very clever, with a great waterfall climax.

On Six Feet Under Nate found a private space his father had kept.

September 26, 2003

Dreamed of our cottage near Sackville.

For dinner I made fettucine alfredo, as well as some spaghetti for Moira, because she's running in the marathon tomorrow.

It turns out my drama course has been cancelled because too few people registered.  Rats. [But its cancellation allowed me to register in the opera course, and I'm still in the Toronto City Opera 15 years later!]

Everyone's pretty well worn out.