August 1, 2006

Dreamed of the sitcom A Family Affair.

A scorcher today! (When I opened my window for a second, it felt hotter outside than in.)

Went shopping.

Dinner was spaghetti.

Saw Kenzi Mizoguchi's The Sisters of Gion at the Cinematheque.  It's a very knowing movie about the geisha trade and the emotional manipulation it promotes.

Baked multigrain bread overnight.

I still have trouble with the high notes of the Tosti song "Malia." (If only it were transposed a few keys down!)

Got several 1977 issues of The New York Daily News and Stars & Stripes Sunday comics from Ebay. (The latter is the newspaper for GIs stationed overseas.)

July 31, 2006

Dreamed of going to school one morning realizing I hadn't brought my gym clothes, and deciding to go home instead; thinking that Cambodia and Minneapolis were close to our old home in Sackville, N.B.; recalling that the jerky New York mayor Ed Koch had called Jimmy Carter "one of America's worst presidents" [he did!]; recalling the actual Carter quote, "Being called incompetent by these people is like being called ugly by a frog."

We went to Sears at Yorkdale Mall and I got a new pair of pajamas.

Afterward I went to Dragon Lady and bought the last Ebay items from there (for now). I also got a Ron Goulart book about 1930s adventure strips.

Dinner was pizza.

Masami answered my email! [I was commiserating over an injury that had ruined her plans for a ballet school audition.] She says my Japanese is wonderful, and wonders whether I translated it myself.  She also mentioned that she recently went through a breakup. [It never rains but it pours!]

July 30, 2006

Dreamed of playing Beethoven's Minuet in G and Offenbach's Barcarolle on the piano.

Stayed indoors all day and watched my DVD of Dion Conflict's Hunka Junk.

Dinner was roast pork.

I've actually made some progress in putting my comic strip collection in order! (You can now see part of my carpet...)

July 29, 2006

 Baked cheese bread.

Dinner was McDonald's.

For lunch I had corn on the cob and used some butter that had melted and recongealed when we had the same lunch earlier.  It didn't feel good on my tongue (I burnt my mouth too!) and I got sick in the evening.  I called Giuseppe Macina to cancel Monday's singing lesson because I was afraid I wouldn't get better that soon.

July 28, 2006

Dreamed of being elected to Parliament and getting really nervous before entering for my first debate; the Sherlock Holmes mystery Hound of the Baskervilles.

Got the other two Larry Gonick cartoon books I ordered online.

Saw the DVD of the final episode of Six Feet Under.  It made a remarkable recovery in the last four episodes.

Dinner was the rest of the lasagna.

Went to a Low-Key Social Meetup at the Second Cup at Empress Walk.  I didn't stay long because I had a headache.

July 27, 2006

Dreamed of finding a cheat guide to the King's Quest video games in a bookstore.

Dinner was lasagna.

Went to a "We Don't Do Mainstream" Movie Meetup event.  We were going to see a screening of a documentary about drive-in cinemas, and some horror movie, but it turned out that we'd been given the wrong address!  "Chinese Canuck" the organizer and I checked the NFB Cinema to see if it was there, but it wasn't. (I took the opportunity to get a National Film Board membership.) I hope that documentary comes out on video.

Saw the DVD of the first episodes of the fourth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  Very, very funny.

Wrote an email to Masami in Japanese!

July 26, 2006

"Poor Mom.  She's so out there"--Six Feet Under

Dreamed of a Sopranos episode with Six Feet Under-style surrealism, involving ghosts of dead characters, featuring a non-existent brain-dead young man soaring; the Nat King Cole song "When I Fall in Love"; meeting someone on the street reading a Tintin adventure comic; reflecting that I'd met Italian-Canadian women who were like Carmela Soprano.

Went shopping.

Went to the Hawkins Institute and met Debbie, who said they're going to close my case. (She mentioned that I might face heavy odds in my search for a library page position, but we'll see.) On the way back, I submitted an application at the Barbara Frum library.  I would have done it at the Pape branch too, but it's closed for renovation.

Dinner was halibut.

Went to the Cinematheque to see a lecturer introduce the movie An Inn in Osaka.  But it was too sad for me.

I went home early and saw the DVD of the last episodes of Six Feet Under, with Nate's death and funeral.  They were impressive.

July 25, 2006

Dreamed of vacationing with the parents and seeing a Holiday Inn fly through the air and crash into a town; composing a reel-rhythm melody for a country song; trying to find a dictionary on a London bus to look up the word "synecdoche."

Went to four libraries and dropped off my page applications. (They were all district branches:  Maria Shchuka, Gladstone, Lillian Smith and the one I have the biggest hope for--Northern District.) I also stopped at Dragon Lady and picked up a big batch of Ebay comic strips.

Dinner was pork chops.

Saw the Japanese movie Woman in the Dunes at the Cinematheque.  Quite original.

After coming home I made a pitcher of lemonade only to have it fall apart on me!  And I didn't get to drink any of it.

Baked whole wheat bread overnight.

July 24, 2006

Emily (writing to her dead father): "Oh, I wish Dr. Barnley would love [his daughter] Ilse!  I'm so glad you loved me, Father"--Emily of New Moon

Dreamed of watching a TV set on a dangerously unstable footing; arriving at Exhibition Park and unexpectedly seeing the Royal Winter Fair being set up.

Had a singing lesson with Giuseppe Macina. (We do it on Mondays now.)

Got a big bunch of Ebay Dick Tracy Sundays from the early 1960s.

Dinner was roast chicken.

I'm now reading Emily of New Moon for next month's Book Club Meetup.  It's really funny.

For some reason the freezer's icemaker has stopped working.

Saw Michelangelo Antonioni's documentary Chung Kuo China at the Cinematheque.  He managed to get into China and film it around 1970, at a time when hardly any Westerners could get into the country.  Of course, some of the scenes look "staged" for the foreigners. (It was a three-part series, almost four hours long, but I only stayed for the first two.)

July 23, 2006

Moira taped the accompaniment for Tosti's song "Malia" for me. (She'd convinced me that Donizetti's "Bella Siccome un Angelo" was too hard for my voice, so my singing teacher Giuseppe gave me this one instead.) It's a nice song!

Saw some of the DVD of Jean-Luc Godard's Les Carabiniers, an odd comic war movie.

Updated my CV to include my six months at Toronto Public Library's Human Resources.

Dinner was roast beef and couscous.

Spent my gift certificate (and then some) ordering four of Larry Gonick's cartoon books online.  Their subjects were sex, physics, chemistry and American history.

July 22, 2006

Dreamed of the theme song of the 1970s sitcom Good Times; yet another book arguing that Amelia Earhart was murdered by the Japanese.

The bathtup tap is leaking.

Dinner was steak, along with some leftover salmon from Red Lobster.

Saw the video of Robert Mulligan's Baby, the Rain Must Fall, written by Horton Foote. (It's one of the videocassettes I bought recently.) Depressing story, though Steve McQueen and Lee Remick were appealing.

Looks like I'll have to cold-turkey Ebay again.  But I'm leaving with a blowout!

July 21, 2006

[Today I resumed my diary after a six-week hiatus.]

It was my last day in my job at Toronto Public Library's Human Resources.  I overslept and only made it in time because Father drove me.  Sandra baked me a marble cake! (The gingerbread I brought yesterday disappeared quickly.) At 10:30 we convened in the meeting room and they gave me a card that everyone had signed, including a $40 Chapters gift certificate.  A very appreciative group.

The family and I ate at Red Lobster.

Saw the DVD of the last episode of the miniseries version of Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage.  Keeping an eye on the subtitles tired me out.

Went to the Karaoke Meetup at Groundhog.  It's the first time in ages I went to a public karaoke!  The group attracted some 15 people, including Anthony. (I invited Masami, but a big knee injury had prevented her from auditioning for ballet school and she's understandably depressed just now.  I emailed Barbara and suggested we send a card.) I sang "Ring of Fire" and "Eat It." We sat pretty close to the speakers and I got a bit of an earache.

June 11, 2006

Baked white bread.

Dinner was roast chicken.

Dreamed of seeing a player piano in the shape of a grand.

[After this entry I took a break in the diary for over a month.]