October 31, 2010

"Before you know it, if you're not careful, you can get to feeling sorry for everybody and there's nobody left to hate"--Birdy

    First snow of the season!  I took out my long johns.

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Foxes Den.  I played Archaeology and Smallworld. (The latter game I played in the expanded version for the first time, but didn't try any of the new races or powers; just commando skeletons, berserk ratmen and alchemist tritons.  I won!)

    John and Kathrine came over for dinner, which was Indian food.

    Finally saw Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at the Underground. (Dion Conflict introduced it.) Gothic corn, stylish and disturbing.  Afterward I bought some TV kitsch DVDs from DC.

    Read over 60 pages of Birdy!

October 30, 2010

"Hell, no good psychiatrist would be working for the stinking army.  If he were even average, he'd be in the air corps"--Birdy

    Dreamed of being the US president inside the White House; the TV show The Waltons; the Shakespeare line "The evil that me do outlives them"; the votes being counted at a Presidential nomination convention.

    Went to a nearby Aspergers Meetup (the Tim Horton's at Vaughan & St. Clair). We ate some Halloween candy.

    Dinner was grilled chicken.

    Went to a Games Meetup.  I played rummy, Monopoly and The Amazeing Labyrinth.

October 29, 2010

"Not many people are interested in what somebody else is thinking, or what they have to say....  Sometimes, somebody'll get like they're listening, but they're only waiting back in their minds for you to say something, something they can jump on or kick off on themselves"--Birdy

    Dreamed of the cinema in my hometown Sackville, N.B. showing a series of movies of W. Somerset Maugham's writing; a reprint of New York Times crossword puzzles from 1974.

    Former Maclean's magazine editor Peter C. Newman bought a book from us! (It's Thomas Raddall's The Paths of Destiny.) I got a glimpse of him when he picked it up.

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    We did an extra choir rehearsal to make up for Thanksgiving week.  After going through Lucia di Lamermoor, we started on the Christmas songs.

October 28, 2010

    Dreamed of a big diagram of a cake filled with ice cream showing the ingredients in each part.

    Dinner was frozen fish.

    Saw the first episode of the DVD of the documentary King Arthur's Britain.

October 27, 2010

"Birdy never was dumb, most thing he did made sense in a special kind of way.  I'm still not sure about this crazy business either.  What's crazy?  Wars are crazy for sure"--Birdy

"It's the first time Birdy and I really begin to learn something of what a mean shitty world it is"--ibid.

    I gave in and spent real money to buy some horseshoe currency in the online game Frontierville, something I never expected to do.

    Baked raisin bread.

    Dinner was ham quiche.

    Went to a Games Meetup at Snakes and Lattes.  I poayed Scrabble (which I won by a street) and Taboo.

October 26, 2010

    Dreamed of going with a group on a tour of New Zealand that turned out to have a sinister conspiracy behind it; getting into a shower with my bathrobe still on; actor Burt Reynolds.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham.

    Giuseppe missed opera rehearsal and Adolfo our pianist presided instead.  The first part was rehearsing the all-female chorus parts in Madama Butterfly, so us males helped move set parts onto the stage instead.

October 25, 2010

"There's nothing deader than a dead bird.  Movement is most of what a bird is.  When they're dead, they're only feathers and air"--Birdy

    Dreamed of a non-existent episode of Oz, where Beecher tried to negotiate a non-aggression pact between all the different prison factions and his reward was their contempt.

    Voted for Pantalone for mayor in the afternoon. (Maybe I should have voted for Smitherman to defeat Rob Ford, but I don't expect my one vote to make the difference.)

    Dinner was curried shrimp.

    At choir practice most of the soloists were rehearsing Lucia di Lamermoor with us.

October 24, 2010

    Dreamed of wearing shoes without socks; a London statue of Churchill that showed him entering a men's room; an index that spelled cafeteria as "cafeteriy."

    Went to a Sensitivity Meetup.  We met at the Englinton West station and walked along the Beltline Trail.

    Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham.

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Fox and Fiddle near St. Clair station.  We played Ticket to Ride (I won, but the two others were new at it), Archaeology (a new card game that K.C. bought, which we liked enough to play twice), and another card game called Coloretto (once was enough).

October 23, 2010

"The doctor-major keeps trying to pump me about Birdy....  So far, he's been talking like a doctor but I'm waiting for the old military manner to strike again.  All doctors in the army ought to be privates"--Birdy

    Saw the cinemacast of the Met production of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.  It's one-of-a-kind powerful, of course. (The Holy Fool had a Dostoyevskian look.) It started at noon and I barely made it in time, thanks to Father driving me.

    Dinner was lasagna.

    Finished the documentary series A History of Scotland.  I would have liked more about the overseas Scots, but it's a superb, well-structured show.

    I'll be glad when Halloween is over at the Frontierville game.  When you clobber or scare a critter, you now have to scare its ghost too!

October 22, 2010

    Dreamed of being in an apartment in New York City that looked out at the top of the Empire State Building from a higher position.

    Dinner was ham.

    Started reading William Wharton's Birdy, one of the books I bought on amazon.com . (I got it because I liked Wharton's Dad.) I read the first page and had a hard time putting it down.

October 21, 2010

On the Scottish Covenanters: "Once upon a time this was God's country.  It isn't any more.  Thank God for that!"--Neil Oliver

    Last night I went to a Dining Meetup at Little India Restaurant. (I had the meat combo.) I was conversing with Rebecca, a daughter of missionaires who grew up in New Guinea.

    Dreamed of piano examinations; swimming in the ocean in the winter.

    We bought a ten-pound bag of carrots the other week but they've gone moldy!

    Baked multigrain bread.

    John came over and got his wheelbarrow back.

    Dinner was salmon.

    Saw the first part of the DVD of How the Celts Saved Britain, about Irish civilization at the start of the Middle Ages.

October 19, 2010

    Dreamed of seeing an Upstairs, Downstairs episode I hadn't seen before (I've seen all of them); hearing of the death of Upstairs, Downstairs actress Lesley Anne Down (she's still alive).

    Dinner was chicken.

    At opera rehearsal we were doing Madama Butterfly. (The first hour was stuff for the female voices only.) I got a big headache and had to leave midway, which I don't usually do.

October 18, 2010

"My reason was not made for bending and bowing, my knees were"--Michel de Montaigne

    Dreamed of being on the second floor of our old home in Sackville, N.B. (a ranch house with no second floor).

    Went shopping.

    I've been figuring how to make best use of the energy limits in Frontierville.  For example, the first thing to do is harvest crops before they wither.  And some actions give you a food reward that's ultimately worth half an energy point. (In an hour and a half your full energy gets restored.)

    Dinner was spaghetti.

    At choir practice we went through all the Lucia di Lamermoor chorus parts in order.

October 17, 2010

 Dreamed of Gilda Radner; Robinson Crusoe.

    Dinner was sausages and mashed potatoes.

    Saw the first episode of Neil Oliver's A History of Scotland. (Moira went out and rented it.) I learned a lot about the Scottish kingdom's origins.

    Started a new game from the Farmville people called Frontierville.  I eventually ran out of energy.

October 16, 2010

    Dreamed of travelling east on a low cart I lay on top of, pushing the ground with my hands; pushing it in my sleep till around when I reached Quebec City; meeting people I knew further on in Riviere du Loup.

    Dinner was turkey pie.

    Dragged myself away from Farmville long enough to spread compost on our real garden. (Our new wheelbarrow helped a lot.)

    Went to a Dancing Meetup at Dovercourt House.  We had a salsa lesson.

October 15, 2010

"If we had sound nostrils our shit ought to stink all the more for being our own"--Michel de Montaigne

    Dreamed of feeling a heavy wind; trying to think of a subject for writing a second Ph.D. thesis. (For all the grief with the first one, I wish I could do it again.)

    Baked rye bread.

    Dinner was the rest of the fettucine alfredo.

    Went to a Karaoke Meetup at BarPlus. (It was a farewell party for someone leaving for England.) Among other songs, I sang the "Summer Nights" duet with Anna.

    I love me some Farmville!  I need a soybeans mastery to plant chickpeas, so now I'm planting that crop everywhere.  I miscalculated on my first cranberry crop, so I couldn't harvest it till after getting home from karaoke, three hours after it ripened.  But I got to it before it withered so all's well that ends well.

October 14, 2010

"I like a strong, intimate, manly fellowship, the kind of friendship which rejoices in sharp vigorous exchanges just as love rejoices in bites and scratches which draw blood"--Michel de Montaigne

Hitchhiker (getting off a truck full of sheep): "Bye, girls!"--An American Wolf in London

    Dreamed of the song "Amazing Grace"; old Flash Gordon Sunday comics.

    Went to see my shrink Dr. Hassan.  I had a lot to say for a change.

    Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked).

    Saw John Landis' An American Wolf in London at the Underground.  It's quite weak:  a bit scary and a bit funny, but not scary or funny enough. (Landis did it better with his video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller.") Jenny Agutter's appealing.

    At the movie they showed a trailer for the original Star Wars release: "A billion years in the making, and coming to a galaxy near you this summer!"

October 13, 2010

On a pre-Columbian society: "It is no lie to say that these men are indeed savages--by our standards; for either they must be or we must be:  there is an amazing gulf between their souls and ours"--Michel de Montaigne

    I was so thrilled about my virtual crops that I lay awake for hours and got up early to harvest them. (Did I mention that Farmville is addictive?)

    Dinner was turkey pie.

    Went to another opera acting class. (We got kicked out of the cafeteria and did it in the lobby.) We were given random motivations to create characters from.  My first was "You love anything larger than life, so I imagined myself (for Die Fledermaus) as a Tyrol hick called Heinrich, who's been in Vienna for just a couple of years and is still wide-eyed about the place.  My second was "You want to see your anti-foreign prejudices confirmed," so this time I became (for Madama Butterfly) Akira-san, an old geezer who misses the samurai era.

    The amazon.com books I ordered the other week arrived today.

October 12, 2010

    Went shopping.

    John and his daughters brought dinner over, but I couldn't wait because of opera rehearsal, so I ate at KFC instead.

    Started reading some of Michel de Montaigne's essays in a Penguin 60s publication.

    At opera rehearsal we got the Madama Butterfly score.  We also got the corrected "Du und Du" score and worked on that part of Die Fledermaus. (But it turned out we need annother correction!)

    Farmville is an addictive game!  I'm already up to Level 7, with half a dozen crops and three trees. (My virtual neighbour Nan gave me a goo start with gifts like fertilizer.)

    Barbara did the measurements for my opera costume.  My waistline is two inches shorter than last year!

October 11, 2010

"Here was Fanny... resolved always to want comfort, resolved not to be comforted, resolved to be deeply wronged, and resolved that nobody should have the audacity to think her so"--Little Dorrit

    Went to lunch at the Hot House Cafe with the Dance Meetup. (The Theatre Meetup was also there.) I had spaghetti with meatballs.  Among other people, I was talking to a Korean girl who's learning baking at George Brown College.

    Finished Little Dorrit.  Now I really want to see Christine Edzard's eight-hour 1988 movie a second time.  I think it improved on the book, which was good in the early part but got diffuse in the second half.

    Dinner was turkey.

    I'm now playing Farmville on Facebook.  Nan is my virtual neighbour.

October 10, 2010

"Affery, like greater people, had always been right in her facts, and always wrong in the theories she deduced from them"--Little Dorrit

    Dreamed of the hymn "Amazing Grace"; windsurfing along the road from Aulac to my hometown Sackville, N.B.; being about to vote in a byelection; looking for a new direction; explosions of diarrhea.

    Went to a Walking Meetup in the Rouge Valley. (I met Gulshan at the Sheppard Station, and Arif picked us up in his car next to Sherbourne.) We were part of a guided tour with over 50 people!  Afterward we stopped at a Tim Horton's doughnut shop, so I was late getting back.

    Relatives came for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner of roast pork. (I'd got double-subscribed to Games magazine, so I gave away a couple of extra issues I had.  The kids seemed to like it.)

October 9, 2010

Alberich the Dwarf (to a Rhine Maiden): "If you don't like my looks, choose an eel for your lover!"--Das Rheingold

"It's the start of a great love affair."

"Yeah.  Truman in love with Truman.

--Capote

One of the killers featured in In Cold Blood: "There must have been something wrong with us, to do what we did"--ibid.

    Dreamed of being so weak I needed a nurse to take my shoes off; the actress Evangeline Lilly (whom I know nothing about); a story in the comic strip Rip Kirby where bank robbers kidnapped a little girl.

    Baked white bread.

    Saw the Met production of Wagner's Das Rheingold at the Sheppard Grande. (I mistakenly went to the Yonge & Eglinton first, but I had time to kill anyway.) It was a triumph, brilliantly staged by Robert Lepage.  I met a few Classical Music Meetup members there.  My bladder was full, but I didn't care!  For a snow with no intermission, it moved really well.

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    Saw the DVD of Capote (for the second time).  The underappreciated performance is Catherine Keener's Harper Lee.

October 8, 2010

    Dreamed of being in a ship during a snowstorm; the St. Lawrence River valley; a non-existent book about a girl growing up in an impoverished black family in New York City.

    Got some potatoes from the garden.  This year the nasturtium seeds got mixed in with the vegetables, and they rather took over the place.

    Dinner was some of the corn we got yesterday.

    Went to Mary's games night.  I played Ticket to Ride, Alhambra (which I won) and The Amazeing Labyrinth.

October 7, 2010

To a farmer: "I have more friends than you have cows!"--I'm Alan Partridge

    Dreamed of the Cherry Burton Road in New Brunswick, near my hometown Sackville; the lameness of Atlantic magazine; sitting in the Northwest Territories legislature; my career being threatened by a scandal involving improper relations with a girl!

    We went out to Orchard Home Farm and got some October apples.  We also bought corn at Gillespie's place.

    When we got home I had a headache so I went back to bed.

    Dinner was shrimp primavera.

October 6, 2010

9/11 World Trade Center survivor: "I'm gonna be a good boy tonight!"--Seven Days in September

    Dreamed of a general in the Philippines giving a public speech on the eve of the climactic battle in a civil war; going to a tiny cinema in the area northwest of Rosedale; seeing two featurettes about the crooked election of a sheriff and dangerous turtles; meeting a little kid in a library who wouldn't let go of me.

    Saw the DVD of Seven Days in September, a documentary about New York City in the week after 9/11, from the perspective of independent filmmakers.

    Dinner was roast chicken.

    Saw the DVD of the first episodes of I'm Alan Partridge, with Steve Coogan as the human train wreck from Knowing Me, Knowing You.

    Then I saw the DVD of the first episode of The Other Hollywood , Kevin Brownlow's documentary series about European silent movies (for the second time). [The first time I saw it was on my tiny TV set during my eight months in London in 1995.]

    Moira's already starting on a new season of The Wire!

October 5, 2010

"Regard our place from the point of view that we only ask you to leave us alone, and we are as capital a Department as you'll find anywhere"--Little Dorrit

    Dreamed of the Nat King Cole song "When I Fall in Love"; carrying a load of fertile soil up a hill; looking out of our old house in Sackville, N.B., and seeing a snowstorm.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was the rest of the felafels.

    At opera rehearsal we went over most of Die Fledermaus, except that when we got to the "Du und Du" waltz number it turned out the chorus had been given the wrong words to sing!  We'll be getting yet another score to correct that mistake.

October 4, 2010

Lawyer: "I have seen people get rid of a good deal of other people's money, and bear it very well:  very well indeed"--Little Dorrit

    Dreamed of reflecting how much I miss the back-yard garden from our old home in Sackville, N.B.; stopping on the road between Sackville and Moncton, seeing snow on the ground and wondering what time of year it was; the lines from Tennyson's "In Memoriam"

So runs my dream, but what am I?

An infant crying in the night.

An infant crying for the light,

And with no language but a cry.

    Dinner was sausage and mashed potatoes.

    At choir practice we started on the first act of Lucia di Lamermoor. (Carmen said hi to me.  Maybe she likes me!) [The power of wishful thinking...]

    Ordered several new o'ekaki puzzle books on Amazon, along with the Lexicon of Musical Invective.

October 3, 2010

    Dreamed of a K-Tel record with a group called Japanese Attractiveness doing the Shirley & Company song "Shame, Shame, Shame."

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Yellow Griffin.  I played Smallworld (my races were flying tritons and hill humans) and Kingsburg (I was only three points behind the winner).

    Dinner was felafels and pita bread.

October 2, 2010

 Dreamed of seeing Ronald Merrick (the villain in The Jewel in the Crown) and another soldier lurking on the campus of my alma mater Mt. Allison University; considering the saying "The unexamined life is not worth living" and wondering whether Merrick examined his; considering the moment near the end when Merrick was murdered by a catamite and imagining Merrick asking a question about India's future and the catamite saying "You'll never know," and killing him.

    Went to an Aspergers Meetup at Wynford Heights.  Nan was impressed when she heard I'd scored over 60,000 in the Train video game shed introduced me to. (Her word was "insane!") We've merged with another group, so there were almost a dozen people there. [In that Train game I also learned to put the train on a closed loop and get an infinite score!]

    Dinner was pork chops.

October 1, 2010

"In truth, no men on earth can cheer like Englishmen, who do so rally one another's blood and spirit when they cheer in earnest, that the stir is like the rush of their whole history, with all its standards waving at once, from Saxon Alfred's downward"--Little Dorrit

"It's just you and me now, you piece of shit!"--Cliffhanger

    Dreamed of being unable to find my shoes in a large group of them; passing through Milan.

    Finished watching The Jewel in the Crown.  I'll have to read Paul Scott's books someday.

    Dinner was roast pork.

    Saw the Sylvester Stallone actioner Cliffhanger at the Underground.  Cheesy fun, hilariously written but solidly directed by Renny Harlin, it's worth seeing on a nice big screen.

September 30, 2010

"Do you ride?"

"On and off--more on than off, but that's just luck."

--The Jewel in the Crown

"He says if you run into a snake, the thing to do is bow your head politely and ask it to leave"--ibid.

    Dreamed about the TV show The Beverley Hillbillies and Wayne and Shuster specials in 1968; getting onto a ferry at the last minute with some homeless people.

    Baked multigrain bread.

    Dinner was sausage and mashed potatoes (very spicy!).

    Went to bed at 21:30. (Headache!)

September 29, 2010

On inns squeezing travellers: "The whole business of the human race, between London and Dover, being spoliation, Mr. Dorrit was waylaid at Dartford, fleeced at Sittingbourne, and sacked at Canterbury"--Little Dorrit

"Would you object?"

"Is it open to me?"

--The Jewel in the Crown

    Dreamed of the 1961 Michael Curtiz movie of Huckleberry Finn; reflecting that the book had a geographical flaw. (Jim could have crossed the Mississippi into free territory back in the beginning...)

    My Metropass got lost in the mail so I went to the Davisville station office and they gave me a replacement.

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    Went to an Out of Your Shell Meetup at Snakes and Lattes, where they have board games for people to play. (It's nice not to have to tote my games.) I played Apples to Apples, Balderdash--which I won!--and a fun new game called Boxers or Briefs. [It's like Apples to Apples, but you can choose to give a serious answer or a silly one.] Sara is working there now.  Rob and Jody from the Tucker's Marketplace event were there, and Jody revealed she had a reading disability.  The place looks very busy.

September 28, 2010

    Dreamed of being in a space station; going for a space walk and not knowing which way was up.

    Went shopping.

    Moira rented the second season of The Wire, but I don't have time to see it just now.

    Dinner was goulash.

    At opera rehearsal we did "Bruederlein und Schwesterlein" from Die Fledermaus for the first time. (That romantic German-language stuff is basically untranslatable.) We got a full score of our Fledermaus parts this week.

September 27, 2010

"People must continue to be married and given in marriage, or Chief Butlers would not be wanted.  As nations are made to be taxed, so families are made to be butlered"--Little Dorrit

    The other night I dreamed of looking out a window and seeing a yard with giant playing cards scattered about and a pile of movie posters.

    Dinner was macaroni.

    At choir practice we did the last act of Lucia di Lamermoor.

September 25, 2010

    Dreamed of a man causing controversy in World War II by writing a pamphlet teaching men how to do their own sewing; a group of protesters about to burn a Malawi flag.

    Is Mother losing her memory?  The other day I mentioned Norman Lear and she had to be reminded who he was.

    Went on a Yorkville art walk with the Art Meetup group.  We saw a brilliant Christopher Pratt exhibit and met the artists Jane-Ash Poitras, Catherine Perehudoff and Jon Clayton (who comes from my hometown Sackville, N.B.!). The actress Arsinee Khanjian was in our group.  Our host decided I was a big Pratt expert because I knew he'd designed the Newfoundland provincial flag.

    Dinner was stew.

    Saw the DVD of "Kidnap," the episode of Mission:  Impossible where Jim got snatched and his team was made to steal an incriminating letter as ransom. (I remember seeing it at the time.)

September 24, 2010

"You should keep your feet on the ground so you can leap higher into the air"--Joan Miro

"When I pick up a stone, it's a stone.  When Miro picks up a stone, it's art"--a friend

    Dreamed of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; crossing a swamp on floating wood steps; following a long line of people who were volunteering to help put on an event, through a long basement tunnel route; losing the others; a subway station for the Donlands area that was near the lakeshore (the real Donlands Station being near Danforth Avenue).

    Dinner was KFC.

    Saw the DVD of Miro:  Theatre of Dreams, a documentary about the famous Catalan surrealist.  When they made Joan Miro, they broke the mold.

    Eric Porter in The Jewel in the Crown is exactly like the villain who took on James Bond in Thunderball, with even the same eyepatch! ("The unkind say he lost his eye peeping through keyholes.")

September 23, 2010

"You'd rather live in shit than let the world see you working a shovel!"--The Wire

    Dreamed of writing a college essay about a legal text written by Burt Reynolds and admiring its sophistication; the Disney movies with Kurt Russell as campus whiz kid Dexter Riley.

    Baked raisin bread.

    Mowed the lawn for the last time this year.

    Dinner was spaghetti.

    Saw the last episodes of the first season of The Wire.  Classic procedural.

September 22, 2010

"Don't psychoanalyze me, doctor!"

"Then don't come begging for it."

--Peyton Place

Facetious judge: "McNulty, I hold you in contempt."

"Who doesn't?"

--The Wire

    Father and I sawed a thick but mostly dead limb off the cherry tree in the back yard. (We'll have to saw it into smaller pieces tomorrow.)

    Went to a Dining Meetup at the Vanipha Lanna just around the corner. (There were about a dozen people.) I had chicken curry and vegetable-fried rice.

September 21, 2010

"Mrs. Merdle concurred with all her heart--or with all her art, which was exactly the same thing..."--Little Dorrit

"There are people who love you, Jimmy."

"Right now I'm more worried about the people who say they love me than the ones who don't"

--The Wire

    Dreamed of the Renoir cinema in London; drinking orange juice; considering that life was worth living for the best of the upcoming movies; a library displaying TV commercials; the Young People's Science Encyclopedia (which we only got the first three volumes of).

    Went shopping. (I also got some new underwear.)

    Dinner was steak.

    Went to the first Toronto City Opera rehearsal.  We did part of Strauss' Die Fledermaus (which translator Gerald Hannon's subtitled "Going Batty"--geddit?), but they haven't finished printing out the score so we finished early.

    Saw the DVD of the first episode of The Story of Maths, a British Open University documentary series about mathematical history.

September 20, 2010

    Dreamed of considering how much I hate the movie Life Is Beautiful. [It was stupid and shameless, and I'll die on that hill!]

    Dinner was frozen haddock.

    At choir practice, Giuseppe told me Toronto City Opera will be doing Madama Butterfly and Die Fledermaus this year.

September 19, 2010

"In the grammar of Mrs. Merdle's verbs on this momentous subject, there was only one Mood, the Imperative; and that Mood had only one Tense, the Present"--Little Dorrit

"Is he fierce?"

"Dat nigga don't play!'--The Wire

"Don't curse at me!  My lawyer says--"

"Fuck your lawyer!"--ibid.

    Went on a Royal Ontario Museum walk in Cabbagetown with the Introvert Meetup group.  When the guide showed us a dead end that went up to St. James Cemetery, I quipped, "A literal dead end!" which she liked so much that she's going to include the joke in future tours!

    Dinner was tortellini.

    Went to a Fun & Boardgames Meetup.  We played a couple of rounds of Taboo, then I introduced three newcomers to Ticket to Ride. (I smoked 'em, of course.)

September 18, 2010

Drug cop on the War on Drugs: "You can't call this shit a war."

"Why not?"

"Wars end."

--The Wire

    Dreamed of finding an unusual plant in a field and being told that it was an "oxygen plant" that grew near wild turnips; wondering about the dimensions of a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle that was close to the golden ration (one and the square root of five, divided by two); multiplying adjacent numbers in the Fibonacci series to see if that yielded a product close to 1000 (the closest answer would be 25 by 40, but 21 by 38 is close); telling actor Steven Seagal that I was thinking about Fibonacci numbers!

    Went on a LEAF tree tour in Queen's Park. (There were some thirty people.) We went all the way to Yonge and Bloor, and it got so noisy that we had a hard time hearing the guides.

    Dinner was Chinese food.

    Saw the DVD of the first two episodes of The Wire, which Moira rented for the week.  She's right, it is addictive.  What great dialogue!

September 17, 2010

Mr. Meagles (on deciding to visit his daughter in Rome): "Just as Home is Home though it's never so Homely... Rome is Rome, though it's never so Romely"--Little Dorrit

    Dreamed of finding an old shirt of mine; trying to set up a rabbit-ear antenna for a TV set; the Police song "Mother."

    Went to dinner at Tucker's Supermarket at Eglinton & Warden with the Depressed But Enthusiastic Meetup group. (There were just four people.) Predictably, I ate too much.  We stayed till past closing time!

September 16, 2010

"'Papa is a preferable mode of address,' observed Mrs. General. 'Father is rather vulgar, my dear.  The word Papa, besides, gives a pretty form to the lips.  Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism, are all very good words for the lips:  especially prunes and prism"--Little Dorrit

On British tourists in Rome: "Nobody said what anything was, but everybody said what the Mr.s Generals, Mr. Eustace, or somebody else said it was"--ibid.

    Went to see my shrink Dr. Hassan.

    Dinner was roast chicken.

    In the evening I went to a Canadian Opera Company lecture with the Classical Music Meetup at the North York Central Library. (I showed them that photo of me in the Cavalleria Rusticana chorus.)

    Read over 50 pages of Little Dorrit!

September 15, 2010

"...this young lady [Fanny Dorrit] was in the habit of declaring the same thing once for all every day of her life, and even several times a day"--Little Dorrit

    Dreamed of reading a novel narrated by a cowboy, about his wry world view; losing my place and trying to figure out where I'd stopped; a new art-film cinema in my hometown Sackville, N.B.

    Baked whole wheat bread.

    Went shopping.

    We put some of the detritus from the sun room renovation into a corner in the back yard.

    Dinner was pork chops.

    Went to the Games Meetup.  I won at Smallworld, where my races were stout ratmen, bivouacking skeletons and heroic giants.  I also won at the American version of Ticket to Ride--for the first time, I think--and by a street:  I filled all seven of my tickets, and got 160 points!  I also played Puerto Rico and Tsuro, and still managed to leave early. (Games can go quickly when only three people are playing.)

September 14, 2010

    Dreamed of climbing a slope so steep that I had to go on all fours; making scrambled eggs; meeting the family in England; being out on the street in my pajamas and realizing I'd left my pants in the car; considering that in wartime it's better to chicken out beforehand than to go to pieces in the middle of a mission.

    Got out of bed at about 14:30!

    Dinner was vegan stew.

September 13, 2010

"Even her propriety could not dispute that there was impropriety in the world; but Mrs. General's way of getting rid of it was to put it out of sight and make believe that there was no such thing"--Little Dorrit

    Went out to Staples on Keele Street and bought a set of ring-shaped stickers for my Coro Verdi scores, along with a new binder for the scores to complete opera parts.

    Dinner was spaghetti.

    Went to the first choir practice for the new season.  There's a new guy called Eduardo who comes from Argentina, whom I encouraged to sit beside me.  We started learning Lucia di Lamermoor, which I remember pretty well from the Toronto City Opera seven years ago.

September 12, 2010

 Dreamed of the Underdog cartoon's theme song (which I'd heard on YouTube that evening); figuring out which months in a given year always start on the same day of the week. [They include April and July; September and December; and January and April in leap years.]

    Went to the new Cinematheque building (the Lightbox) on its opening day. (They sell popcorn now, which I was afraid they wouldn't.) The gallery ahd an exhibit related to their 100 "essential" movies, but I got through it pretty quick.

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    Started the second half of Dicken's Little Dorrit, subtitled "Riches."

September 11, 2010

    Dreamed of coming to Ottawa as a newly elected MP in a by-election; sitting with a committee, getting sleepy and worrying that the camera caught me dozing; saying that I felt like I was in a dream and wondering if I was about to wake up.

    Went to see the live cinemacast of Last Night at the Proms at the Yong & Eglinton with the Classical Music Meetup.  This time we found seats close to the back. (I was afraid I'd have to sit further back than the rest of the group.) I didn't get a headache and managed to stay for the whole concert!

    Dinner was turkey pie.

    Rented the DVD of Great Expectations (yet again).  It's a real classic, one of Dickens' best books turned into one of David Lean's best movies.

    Finished the sports issue of Lapham's Quarterly, so I'm finally up to date with no backlog! (Later I renewed my subscription online.

September 10, 2010

"If I had my way, no man guilty of golf would be eligible to any office of trust or profit under the United States, and all female athletes would be shipped to the white-slave corrals of the Argentine"--H.L. Mencken (quoted in Lapham's Quarterly)

    Dreamed of a map of Alberta showing its rivers and watersheds; the Toto song "Rosanna"; a jigsaw puzzle with pieces the size of my hand. (I've been doing some online jigsaw puzzles.)

    Dinner was frozen Indian food.

    Went to Mary's games night.  I played Ticket to Ride and The Amazeing Labyrinth. (In the latter game I had a big lead at first, but lost the endgame.)

September 9, 2010

Singles bar talk: "How's your work?" "It pays." "Good.  Then we won't have to talk about it."

--Life During Wartime

Boy to his mother (after finding out she lied to him about his father being dead): "Fuck you, bitch!"--ibid.

"Can you forget and not forgive?"--ibid.

"China is the future.  We're finished.  It's a matter of time"--ibid.

    Dreamed of the German movie Effi Briest; meeting H.G. Wells.

    Dinner was salmon.

    Saw Todd Solondz' Life During Wartime at the Cumberland. (It's a sequel to his Happiness, but with all the roles recast!) Solondz makes geek movies, and his world is disquieting but oddly believable.

September 8, 2010

    Baked rye bread.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was turkey pie.

    Went to the Games Meetup.  I played The Amazeing Labyrinth (twice) and Smallworld, where my races were berserk halflings and fortified tritons.  Someone brought a game he'd created on his own, involving Marvel Comics superheroes and supervillains, but it was too complicated for me.

September 7, 2010

"Who are you?"

"I'm nobody..."

--The Jewel in the Crown

"We're fighting because you're a moron.  That's why we're fighting!"--Curb Your Enthusiasm

    Dreamed of the 1978 movie of Harold Robbins' potboiler The Betsy (which I haven't seen); visiting a museum with exhibits about the French Revolution.

    Got my hair cut at the Hungarian place.

    Went to the Sheppard Grande and bought tickets for six upcoming Metropolitan Opera cinemacasts.

    Dinner was felafels.

    Saw the DVD of the first episode of The Jewel in the Crown (for the third time). Unusually intelligent.

    Then we saw the DVD of the first episodes of the latest season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  What an antihero!

September 6, 2010

    Dreamed of having my own apartment in Halifax.

    I was going to go to the CNE with the Aspergers Meetup, but they changed the meeting time from noon to 11:00, and that was too early for me.

    Dinner was turkey.

    Saw the DVD of Paul Cox' The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky, documenting his slide into insanity.

    I've broken 50,000 a few times in the Train video game! [I also figured out how to put the train on a closed loop and get an infinite score...]

September 5, 2010

    Dreamed of seeing a movie that combined Ghost with The Sixth Sense; a DVD with a menu so huge that I couldn't figure out where to start it.

    Went to a Walking Meetup.  We walked around the Music Garden and the Irish Memorial and saw some of the CNE air show.

    Dinner was leftover fettucine and lasagna (which we'd had in the freezer!).

September 4, 2010

    Dreamed of Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar"; a letter to an advice columnist from a man whose ex had taken up with a bigot, who often did yard work at the bigot's place on weekends to be near his kids, and often heard abusive language; a non-existent scene in The Princess Bride with the man speaking while we only see the woman's tearful reaction, through a mirror.

    Went to an Art Meetup at the Gladstone Hotel.  We looked at an exhibit of art by the mentally ill then went to the restaurant, where I ate eggs benedict.

    Dinner was curried scallops.

    The cool weather has arrived!

    Went to a Games Meetup (new group) at the Runnymede Starbuck's.  I played Settles of Catan and Ticket to Ride.

September 3, 2010

    Dreamed of Mendelsohn's "Spring Song."

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    Added over eighty historical documentary DVDs to our queue at zip.ca.

September 2, 2010

"He can peel a potato at fifty yards just by hating it!"--Kung Fu

    Dreamed of being unable to figure out a textbook of really advanced biological mathematics.

    Baked multigrain bread.

    Dinner was pasta salad. (I wasn't hungry enough to find more to eat.)

    I was going to attend a cello concert with the Classical Music Meetup group, but it rained.

    Saw the DVD of the first episode of the Terry Jones history series Barbarians.  I learned a lot of new stuff about the Celts.

September 1, 2010

"They say he's the new us, two or three years from now"--Thirtysomething

    The internet was back in the morning.

    Dinner was KFC.

    Went to the Games Meetup.  I played The Amazeing Labyrinth, Ticket to Ride (American), and Smallworld, where my races were heroic ghouls, swamp amazons and diplomatic trolls.

    In the evening the internet went off again!

    Went to another Lunch Meetup at the Mandarin. (My fortune said my hard work will soon be rewarded...)

August 31, 2010

Bart: "I am the creature from Uranus!"--The Simpsons

    Dreamed of being a politician and delivering funny lines about the transparent hypocrisy of Republican Senator Orrin Hatch (who actually said "The death penalty is about the sanctity of human life"!)

    The internet's been down for hours!

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was another lentil pie. (I usually supplement that with some fast food, but today I didn't feel like it, that's how hot it was!)

    Saw the DVD of the first episode of Stephen Fry in America, where the title tells all. (He drove through all 50 states in a black London-style taxi.) Pretty amusing.

    I also saw the DVD of "Blood of the Dragon," the last Kung Fu episode that I saw at the time. (Not that I disliked it so much.)

    The internet connection came back in the evening, then conked out again!