Dreamed of actor Montgomery Clift in politics.
Last night at opera rehearsal we finally started the Marriage of Figaro choruses. (I like the all-female one.)
Went shopping. (For the first time this year I heard Christmas Muzak--urrgh!)
Dinner was fettucine with pesto (which I cooked).
Went to a History Meetup at the Golden Griddle. We saw two new-agey National Film Board documentaries about earth goddesses and witch-hunting.
At today's singing lesson Giuseppe suggested four arias for me to consider learning. (He thinks Hemingway was gay.)
Dinner was stuffed sole.
We had a second La Traviata dress rehearsal. Igor couldn't make it, so Giuseppe sang his part instead. He still has a good voice!
--A Farewell to Arms
"Take it from me--marriage isn't a word, it's a sentence!"--The Crowd
Went bowling with the Introverts Meetup group at Danforth Bowl near Coxwell station. I got three strikes!
Saw King Vidor's silent classic The Crowd (for the third time) at the Cinematheque.
Started reading Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.
The Coro Verdi did the first of two La Traviata dress rehearsals at the Villa Colombo, with a piano in serious need of tuning.
Baked whole wheat bread overnight.
Baked another pumpkin pie in the afternoon. (The rest of the pumpkin went bad--I should have put it in the basement refrigerator!--so I used canned pumpkin instead.)
Dinner was Thai food.
Went to a Games Meetup at Mary's place. I played Scrabble and Ticket to Ride, and between them sat around for a while waiting for a new game.
Dreamed of being in hiding in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia; looking for anachronistic details to confirm that this was a later re-enactment of the time.
Went to Deer Park library and borrowed Roald Dahl's Danny, Champion of the World.
Dinner was roast chicken.
Went to a new Aspergers Meetup at the Kingsway Starbucks. There were four people there.
Finished watching I, Claudius. Really brilliant.
Went shopping.
Dinner was curried pork.
Went to a Games Meetup at 401 Games. I played Ticket to Ride (the original version with a U.S. map), Agricola and Carcassone. In my second Agricola game my score rose from 10 to 11 points.
Dreamed of being about to be in a graduation ceremony and realizing I was wearing a turtleneck instead of a suit.
Met my shrink Dr. Hassan.
Dinner was salmon.
At opera rehearsal we did the rest of Pagliacci. (We would have done our Marriage of Figaro chorus but the scores weren't ready.)
Baked rye bread.
Last night I cut up our pumpkin and today I baked a pie.
Finally got around to composting the garden.
Dinner was McDonald's.
Went to the Karaoke Meetup and sang "Dancing in the Dark" and "The Battle of New Orleans."
Supervisor: "It's not our tradition to abandon agents in the field."
Reilly: "But you do, dear boy."
--Reilly: Ace of Spies
On Livia: "They say a snake bit her and died"--I, Claudius
Dreamed of putting toothpaste on two toothbrushes; meeting an MP.
Dinner was roast chicken.
Saw the first episode of the DVD of I, Claudius (for the second time). (Moira rented it from 2Q Video.) It gets off to a slow start.
Had a dental checkup in the afternoon.
Dinner was scallops.
Went to a Games Meetup where I played Agricola for the first time. I got 10 points and finished last because I was slow expanding.
Reilly (learning that Japan's about to attack Russian territory): "Without a declaration of war?"
Japanese officer: "Our code does not require one."
"Theirs does."
"Very unfortunate--for them."
--Reilly: Ace of Spies
Dreamed of the movie Titanic; planning to turn it off when the iceberg struck; trying to translate "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" into French and Spanish. [Google Translate gives "Il n'est pas lourd, c'est mon frere," and "No pesa, es mi hermano."]
Saw the DVD of Empire of the Air (for the second time), a Ken Burns documentary about the inventors of radio.
Dinner was lasagna with spinach.
At opera rehearsal we did the Bell Chorus from Pagliacci, which I already knew from singing it at Coro Verdi.
Dreamed of a car being transported by a helicopter with Jackie Kennedy inside; a female Hollywood puppeteer with lots of opinions.
Dinner was stuffed sole, which Moira cooked. She didn't think much of the result, but I didn't mind it. (Of course, I wouldn't eat the stuffing no matter how good it was.)
At choir practice we started on the Christmas concert and rehearsed the songs we've been singing every December.
Dreamed of snow in August.
Saw the DVD of Mervyn LeRoy's Quo Vadis. Very long and pretty conventional.
Dinner was roast beef.
Saw the DVD of the first episode of Reilly: Ace of Spies. I want to find out how much of it is true. [They took some dramatic licence...]
Father: "Art who?"
--Splendor in the Grass
I was a long time getting to sleep because of my leg, so I took a sleeping pill. [I'd only use them sparingly because I was afraid of becoming dependent on them.]
Dreamed of trying to make an anagram of David Letterman's name. [I found a website that gave me "Tamale-ridden TV," among others.]
I committed to go to the Bowling Meetup in the afternoon and thought of going on a walking tour in the morning, but my leg was too sore.
Saw an early Dr. Who story on DVD, about an adventure among the Aztecs.
Dinner was McDonald's.
Saw Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass at the Cinematheque with the VITAL group. (Jackie was there and we agreed to play Agricola next week.) The movie was Mad magazine-ridiculous--all about Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty not having sex.
Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked).
Listened to "Kashmiri Song (Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar)" on the internet. I'd heard it on the DVD soundtrack of the silent movie The Sheik, then recognized the tune in the documentary series The Story of English.
Dreamed of briefly returning to a ship and meeting a young woman and her father whom I'd encountered there before; reflecting that we sometimes turn our memories of painful times into nostalgia.
Went shopping.
I forgot to put yeast in last night's multigrain bread! (It was on the flat side.) So I baked it again.
Dinner was roast chicken.
Puitak and I went to see the Vogue magazine documentary The September Issue at the Varsity. I can take it or leave it.
As I practiced singing, my voice gave out on the high notes. I'll have to cancel next week's lesson and ease up.
Dinner was ham.
Went to a Games Meetup at 401 Games. I played SmallWorld and Carcassone. My SmallWorld races were commando humans, seafaring tritons and wealthy ratmen, and I won a game for the second time! (I smoked 'em and got 89 points!)
Baked multigrain bread overnight.
Priest to bishop (sarcastically): "Well, we all love workshops!"
--Dirty Sexy Money
Dreamed of Violetta's death scene in the last act of La Traviata , in the part where it goes into a major key; attending a school where Friday afternoons were devoted to putting on plays; trying to master a combination lock for my locker; Carrie in Sex & the City moving to Lebanon.
Dinner was fish.
Left opera rehearsal midway through because I fel unwell (due to the fish?). I finally got a Pagliacci score.
After I got home I was sick.
