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!

August 30, 2010

"Houses with kids are always sticky"--Thirtysomething

"It's weird to be in a park without tear gas"--ibid.

Milhous (to himself): "If you do whatever she [Lisa] wants you to do, she's sure to respect you!"--The Simpsons

Ned: "I did everything that the Bible says, even the parts that contradict the other parts!"--ibid.

    Dreamed that we were living in Bedford-Stuyvesand in New York City.

    Went to the old Games Meetup at Snakes & Lattes near Bathurst Station. (That's a new coffee shop aimed at board gamers with hundreds of games available to customers.  We went there in the daytime to honour its opening day.  I played Agricola and Bohnanza.

    Dinner was spaghetti.

    Saw the DVD of the first episode of Thirtysomething (which I don't think I even watched back in the 1980s). Of its time.

August 29, 2010

    Dreamed of visiting a non-existent New Brunswick community called Covent Garden; finding some of my comics collection in an office there, left on some stairs.

    I lent out my Metropass and Katie went on her first subway journey.

    The girls went home in the afternoon.

    Dinner was McDonald's. (Lucky they accepted my $50 bill!)

    Went to the new Games Meetup at the Fox & Fiddle near St. Clair station.  I played Munchkin and The Amazeing Labyrinth.  I was pretty unlucky at Munchkin:  my steed got stolen, my hireling got killed, and after I got a "wandering monster" card and needed a monster to play it with, I kept getting useless race cards!