Got an Ebay package of Mortadelo y Filemon comic books in their original Spanish. (I read a few in French translation when I was young.)
Saw the DVD of the first episode of the last season of Get Smart. (I've seen the other seasons in reruns, but not that one.)
Dinner was lobster rolls. (This time we steamed them.)
Saw the DVD of a 1963 Pete Seeger concert in Australia. Superb.
My shampoo disappeared the other day so I got a new batch. Of course, the old one has reappeared!
Dreamed of the James Dean movie East of Eden; a non-existent cameo by Warner Brothers cartoonist Chuck Jones; internet fetish model Chanta Rose.
Dinner was chicken curry.
Performed in the Coro Verdi concert. Ljiliana attended and I introduced her to my family. (I also introduced them to John George.)
The Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle was really tough this week!
Baked cheese bread overnight.
When I woke up in the morning I started figuring how to come up with twelve whole numbers coming close to the pitch ratio for the dozen notes within an octave, with 6% semitone increments. I ultimately came up with {84, 89, 94, 100, 106, 112, 119, 126, 134, 142, 150, 159, 168}.
Practiced singing in the afternoon despite having choir rehearsal in the evening. (I don't usually sing that much in a single day, but I missed the last two days.)
Dinner was roast chicken.
Went to the dress rehearsal for tomorrow's concert. I told Giuseppe a joke I'd heard the night before: "His wife made moonshine, but he loved her still." Unfortunately, since English isn't his first language the joke needed explaining.
[As I was writing that last paragraph my blue pen ran out, so I switched to a red pen.]
Barack Obama's Indonesian stepfather: "If you can't be strong, be clever and make peace with someone who's strong. But always better to be strong yourself. Always"--Dreams From My Father
Got an Ebay package of Li'l Abner and Flash Gordon Sundays. (I had to hunt around for change for the COD charge.)
Moira recorded the accompaniment for "Di Provenza." (She'll have to work on "Le Veau d'Or" a bit before recording that!)
Dinner was lasagna with spinach.
Went to Sara's place and played Puerto Rico. I got 33 points in the end. If I were doing it over I'd have bought the university and construction hut buildings earlier. (The latter proved useless because the quarries ran out!)
Dinner was breaded haddock (and the rest of the Chinese food).
Went to another Games Meetup at Sara's place. I was with the half of the group playing the Cities & Knights version of Settlers of Catan. (The other half played the original version.) This version was too complicated for me and I got only four points in the end: I lost my first city with the first barbarian attack and didn't get a new one till near the end of the game, which went on so long that by the time we were finished the other group was on their third game!
Read 50 pages of Dreams From My Father.
Dreamed of being on a ship on Lake Okanagan in British Columbia.
Started reading Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father. It's a compelling story.
At today's singing lesson, we did "Bruderlein un Schwesterlein" for the first time. Giuseppe mentioned that the Coro Verdi will be doing La Traviata in the fall and Il Trovatore in the new year.
Went to bed for a while in the afternoon.
Dinner was pork steak.
At choir practice they gave me some concert tickets to sell after all. (The delay was due to a debate about admission price.)
Spent some time learning online about the board game Puerto Rico, in anticipation of Wednesday's Games Meetup.
Dreamed of feeling the cool air outside our old home in Sackville, N.B.; seeing a tree growing in what used to be our garden.
Went on a Walking Meetup in Rosedale. Afterward I walked through the Summerhill area.
Dinner was Chinese food. My fortune said "Family is worth more than money."
Finished Stephen Fry's book on poetry The Ode Less Travelled. It makes me want to reread poems I've read before.
Nobody's interested in my Lunch Club Meetup at the end of this week, so I've delayed it to July 5th and moved it back to the Golden Griddle. If I still can't get anyone interested, it looks like I'll have to quit.
My total number of posts at huffingtonpost.com is now over 3000!
Dreamed of checking into a motel room that hadn't been cleaned up since the previous occupant's departure.
Went to the Butler's Pantry for a DBE lunch where we were going to talk about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. But nobody showed up, which I was prepared for.
Dinner was McDonald's.
Dreamed of The Silver Sword, an actual children's book about World War II refugee children; making it into a movie.
Dinner was spaghetti.
Saw the DVD of John Schlesinger's Darling. Quite dated. (Screenwriter Frederic Raphael is too clever by half.)
"Sure, Sing Sing!"
--Platinum Blonde
Mrs. Peel (after performing a veil dance for an Arab prince) "What's your follow-up, Giselle?"
Steed: "We don't want to offend the effendi!"
--The Avengers
Homer: "Who spread the trash on Flanders' yard before I had the chance to?"--The Simpsons
Dreamed of actress Jane Wyman; reading a book for hours on end.
Baked whole wheat bread.
Dinner was sausage and mashed potatoes (with spicy lamb sausages).
Saw the DVD of Frank Capra's Platinum Blonde. Those '30s populist comedies had no sympathy for people in the upper class!
Steed (sending Mrs. Peel undercover as a university student): "Isn't it time you furthered your education?"
"One and one are two, two and two are... I think you're right."
--The Avengers
Dreamed of explaining the Father Damien story to Donald (who no doubt knows it already).
Went shopping. (We bought some cherries!)
Father's booked a P.E.I. motel room for the last week of July. I've decided to go too. We'll take Moira's laptop because they have an internet connection!
Dinner was roast chicken. (We also had the last of our frozen strawberries.)
Though I was free to go to the Magic: The Gathering Games Meetup, I agreed to step aside for someone on the waiting list who already knew the game.
Saw the DVD of the Mystery Science 3000 version of the immortal Edward D. Wood's The Sinister Urge.
Dinner was KFC.
Went to the Games Meetup at Sara's place where we played Monopoly till midnight! I was the first player to go bankrupt. (I managed to build some houses on the second-dearest colour, but nobody stopped there!) Later I took over for someone who was leaving, and continued until Sara won.
Krusty the Clown (to graduates of his clown college): "Come get your catskins--I mean, sheepskins!"--The Simpsons
Went to another Games Meetup at the Foxes Den. I played a game called Galactic Trucker for the first time. My whole crew got seized by slavers in the last round. I was hoping to play Smallworld, but there weren't enough people at first. They started a game later as my game was winding up, but they already had a full five people. (It was getting late anyway.)
John, Kathrine and Merle brought over dinner: curry and several other items. This time I ate my fill.
Moira and I had a big quarrel when she demanded I stop my singing practice when it was only 20:00! (I finished it in the sun room.) She rudely suggested there was no point in my practising...
"Various things."
--Where the Sidewalk Ends
"It's always a pleasure to see a cop four-flush"--ibid.
Dreamed of flying in a Concorde SST from Moncton to my hometown Sackville, N.B.(!); leaving the window open next to my seat(!!); the plane going into an upside down barrel roll like a roller coaster(!!!); stuff flying out the window I'd left open; being in a TV show where things kept changing unpredictably.
Went to a Walking Meetup along the Humber River. (We also toured Lambton House.)
Dinner was McDonald's.
Saw Otto Preminger's Where the Sidewalk Ends at the Cinematheque. A terrific film noir, written by the great Ben Hecht. It's the one where cop Dana Andrews kills a crook he was only supposed to arrest and covers it up, only to see the father of the woman he loves (Gene Tierney) being framed for the killing!
Dreamed of working on an algebra problem; the comic strip Big Ben Bolt and its actual storyline where a badly-behaved lookalike stole his identity.
Dinner was beef stroganoff with shell-shaped pasta.
Went to a Trash Palace show of the best of their educational films. Most of them I'd seen before. (They also showed an episode from the serial The Mysterious Dr. Satan.)
"Yeah, and if I'm lucky some of what I'm hearing!"
--To Catch a Thief
Grace Kelly (suggestively offering Cary Grant chicken): "Want a leg or a breast?"--ibid.
Dreamed of a new Spike Lee movie about a soldier falling in love and getting into trouble; a travel agency licensing Bing Crosby's name for Catholic-themed religious tours.
Baked raisin bread.
Got my hair cut.
Last night I was dreamed of the TV show Kung Fu, and today I read of David Carradine's death!
Dinner was chicken with tikka masala sauce. The peas helped a lot!
Saw the DVD of Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief. Mildly entertaining. (There's a creepy scene where Grace Kelly speeds along a hill road and one can't help recalling her real-life death.)
Dreamed about French collaboration with the Nazis; reflecting that it was a continuation of the toady culture in France.
The parents are going to spend some time in P.E.I. this summer. Should I come too? (Or only in my dreams?)
Dinner was spaghetti.
Went to another Games Meetup at Sara's place. This time we played a new version of Ticket to Ride where we laid railways around Germany. It was brought by Andy, whom I remember from the DBE group. (She won.) It was a pretty close game. In the end, I scored 135 points and managed to connect all four of my routes. (My network went from Hamburg to the Ruhr to Austria.
Dreamed of the movie Ruthless People; speculators investing in chocolate reserves; trying to figure out what movies were playing in Moncton, N.B.; being unable to recall what time of year it was. (I remembered when I woke up.)
Nobody was interested in my Lunch Club Meetup at the Golden Griddle, so I moved it to the Mandarin two weeks later.
Dinner was breaded fish.
Went to a Games Meetup at Sara's apartment, which has a great view of downtown. We played Settlers of Catan. I scored six points and didn't manage to build any cities--too little wheat--but I did get five settlements. (The extra point was from my Governor's Residence card.)
I've been writing a whole page every day for over two weeks!
"When you're born into this world you're given a ticket to the freak show, and if you're born in America you have a front-row seat!"--ibid.
Dreamed of a map showing the Nazis overrunning much of eastern Siberia and Alaska; a whole airport going into combat mode when told that an army of brigands were about to attack them, only to find out the brigands were on a Japanese woodblock print!
Met Ljiliana and returned the two books I'd borrowed from her. (Afterward I went to Dr. Hassan's office and booked an appointment.)
Dinner was roast chicken.
Printed out the thumbnails of the opera photos I'd posted and brought them to choir practice. (Beatrice hadn't seen them yet.) Giuseppe arranged with me to resume our singing lessons Mondays at 11:00. They removed the Pilgrims' Chorus and the Mefistofele finale from the year-end concert program.
Saw the DVD for George Carlin's last special, It's Bad for Ya!
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"I'm smarter when I drink!"--Sanjuro
"Don't you get tired of being stupid?"--ibid.
"A stupid friend's sword is deadlier than an enemy's"--ibid.
Dreamed of touching frost on the lawn of our old house in Sackville, N.B.
Went to a Walking Meetup along the Leslie Street Spit. It was so windy I wore a sweater. As I was crossing a bridge the wind blew my hat into the water, but I rescued it with a nearby lifeguard's pole! (By the time the walk was over it was dry again.) One of us brought her septuagenarian father, and he set the pace for the rest of us: he walks two hours every day.
Dinner was vegan chili and garlic bread. (John and Kathrine were going to come over, but they couldn't make it.)
Saw the DVD of Kurosawa's Sanjuro, a complicated but fun samurai adventure. Toshiro Mifune's another actor who belongs in the Cool Hall of Fame.
"Much better not to understand what makes people tick when you're my age"--To Serve Them All My Days
Dreamed of a large indoor garden producing squash and gourds.
Went to Indigo Books and spent my gift certificate. (They had a table with a sign "Books you should have read by now"!) I got a reprint of the Thimble Theater comic strip with Popeye the Sailor, Obama's Dreams From My Father and 10,000 Years of Art.
Dinner was McDonald's.
Started reading The Ode Less Travelled, Stephen Fry's book about writing poetry.
Saw the last episode of To Serve Them All My Days. Very enjoyable.
--Map of the Human Heart
Dreamed of the spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars; the non-existent nautical slang "thirty pounds of pasta" for a loose sheet rope.
Practised my songs, but it turned out I have a missing sheet in the "Malia" score.
Baked multigrain bread.
Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham, and the rest of the lasagna.
I decided to cancel tomorrow's Lunch Club Meetup, because just one other person was coming.
Saw the DVD of Vincent Ward's Map of the Human Heart. Visually arresting, though the romantic story gets a bit silly in the second half.
"That could be said about a lot of men with more power than sense."
--To Serve Them All My Days
"He's a rough diamond."
"He's a rough rhinestone!"
--Giant
"Who got hold of this much land unless they took it off'n somebody else?"--ibid.
Went shopping. (We also went to Walmart where I bought a couple of shirts.)
Deposited another interest cheque. My account's now close to $4000!
Dinner was spaghetti with shrimp.
Saw the DVD of George Stevens' movie of Edna Ferber's Giant (for the third time). A sprawling, entertaining middlebrow epic. Rock Hudson is a bit bland (as usual), but Elizabeth Taylor's at her best.
"I was once Snow White, but I drifted"--Mae West
Dreamed of coming close to being initiated into a weird club which you entered by going down a really long slide; Ellery Queen mysteries.
My dentist appointment was scheduled for tomorrow, but it was moved up to today instead.
Dinner was lasagna.
Started reading the sex issue of Lapham's Quarterly.
Went to a Travel Meetup. I asked Walter to make me assistant organizer so I can organize a September trip to New York City, but I'm afraid he's a ditherer.
Bid on some Ebay comic strips for the first time in quite a while. (I bid on quite a few, actually.)
Dreamed of recalling Grade 2 classmate David Beach, a dark-skinned Indonesian boy adopted by a local minister, whom I didn't think of as non-white because we were familiar enough.
At Father's urging, I took a photo of the spirea bush in the back yard while it's in bloom!
Dinner was pork chops.
I was going to Helen Cohen's "Earth Democracy" Meetup, but it got cancelled because she couldn't figure out how to enter the location. Instead I went to another Games Meetup at the Yellow Griffin, where I played Risk. (My mission was to take both North America and Australia, and I did manage the latter. By the end of the game I was reduced to China alone.
Finished the education issue of Lapham's Quarterly.
"But there are times of crisis in which only the utopian is realistic"--George Steiner
Dreamed of a new version of The Magnificent Seven set in Nazi-occupied Greece; Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem "Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill Battle," with its line "To you the words are ashes but to me they're burning coals."
Dinner was steak.
At choir practice I told Giuseppe I was ready to start singing lessons again. (I also told him I'd read that playing a dijeridoo can help sleep apnea, which he suffers from.) Giovanni told me my audio tape was very helpful. They're having a rehearsal this Wednesday to make up for last week, but I can't make it.
Hardly anyone is coming to my first Lunch Club Meetup this Saturday so I've scheduled a second event for the following weekend at the Golden Griddle. (That's sure to be popular.)
Dreamed of being elected an MP, and being told by another MP about a centuries-old legal tradition that allowed me to claim a huge expense account.
In the morning I finally saw the Tibetan Buddhist temple.
In the afternoon I joined the Walking Meetup and walked along the Beltline Park. (Afterward I looked in at the Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.)
We ate out at Swiss Chalet.
Saw a DVD of a History Channel documentary about the French Revolution. I could have done without the background music.
We saw two episodes of To Serve Them All My Days.
Dreamed of the mrcranky.com review of the farming drama A Thousand Acres, in the form of a country song:
Now farm life is hellish, and if you don't know it,
It's a place where things never go right.
Through hard times and worse times, they stayed through the cursed times.
They're too stupid to leave because it's the only life they know!
Ken was the only one who showed up for my Open Doors event. We visited four churches east of downtown.
We drove to Future Shop and bought a battery charger. (We were going to visit the Tibetan Buddhist temple, but couldn't find it.)
Dinner was McDonald's. The chips were overdone, uncharacteristically.
Went to a Classical Music Meetup. This one was I for inspirational. (Next event will be J for jazz.) Paul did a mini-concert of "new age" singing, which I can take or leave.
Dreamed of the John Harington poem:
Treason doth never prosper; what's the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
Wen to the Eaton Centre and bought a memory card for my camera at Black's. But I couldn't find the connection that would have enabled me to plug it in so the batteries wouldn't run down while I loaded new photos onto the computer.
Then I went to the Cinematheque office and changed our double membership to a single (Moira's no longer interested) and bought some tickets. That took a search, because it's been moved from near the Bay station back to near the College station.
Dinner was spaghetti.
Went to a Games Meetup at Mike and Mary's house in Woodbine Heights, an area I'd never been in before. I played Ticket to Ride for the first time, and finished my Vancouver Sant Fe link but didn't quite managed to link Los Angeles and Miami. But I did connect to more cities than any other player, which got me an extra ten points, because I had the Station Master card. They also played pente but I skipped that.
