January 21, 2011

Mother: "I had to be both a mother and father to him!"

"His father's dead, is he?"

"No, but he isn't much..."

--Rhoda

    Dreamed of reflecting that if the Democratic Party were a surgeon it would have been sued for malpractice and lost its licence years ago; wanting to rename it Not The Republican Party; carrying a large container of root beer.

    That Madama Butterfly music from the Toronto City Opera show we're rehearsing is going through my head!

    Baked rye bread.

    Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham.

    Headache!

January 20, 2011

Royal Family (hearing a Hitler speech): "What's he saying, Papa?"

"I don't know, but he seems to be saying it rather well"--The King's Speech

"They're idiots!"

"They've all been knighted..."

"Well, that makes it official"

--ibid.

"You're not taking me serious!"

"How can you tell?"

--Weeds

    I had another dream about that non-existent composite London museum on a medium scale with three stories, a round shape and hallways along the outer edge.

    The parents and I finally saw The King's Speech at the Varsity. (We were going to see it Sunday, but Mother wasn't up to it; then we were going to go yesterday, but the roads were icy.) It was a bit conventional but affecting.

    Dinner was roast chicken.

January 17, 2011

 Dreamed of reading Private Eye magazine while walking along the street in my hometown Sackville, N.B.; falling into a deep ditch.

    Dinner was ham quiche.

    I've started a second city in the online game Kingdoms of Camelot, and called it Strathkirk.

January 16, 2011

Popeye the Sailor (on the huge gorilla he's about to box): "The mos' he can do is kill me--he can't scare me or make me quit."

    Dreamed of feeling inept; thinking that even when I do nothing I can't do it right; the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

    Good day to stay indoors. [More snow!]

    Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham.

January 15, 2011

    Dreamed of the Bonnie Tyler song "Total Eclipse of the Heart"; the HBO series The Wire being shown on a broadcast network; recalling how the movie of Forrest Gump twisted the book's opening sentence ("Bein' an idiot ain't no box of chocolates") into a line about life being a box of chocolates.

    Went canvassing to save Transit City. (The canvassers met through Facebook.) There were quite a few people considering the snow.  Jesse and I covered Richardson Avenue and Claybrook Street in Frank di Giorgio's ward. (He's undecided.) A lot of people were out--no doubt, some were in Florida--but those we met were mostly supportive.  One woman even gave us a couple of rolls she'd just baked!

    Dinner was ham.

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Runnymede Starbucks.  I played Scrabble and Smallworld.  In the latter game, I went through four races:  hill ghouls, heroic halflings, flying amazons and merchant humans.

January 14, 2011

    Dreamed of wanting to visit local libraries; reading a parody of the showbiz magazine Variety set 1000 years into the future and titled Wrong; being asked for a code name and taking Null.

    Baked a loaf that's half white flour and half whole wheat.

    Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked).

    Went to Mary's games night. (Her arm is finally out of the sling.) I played Apples to Apples and The Amazeing Labyrinth.  Then I left rather early.

January 13, 2011

Olive Oyl: "I hate you!  Hate you!  Hate you!"

Popeye the Sailor: "Even if ya hates me twice as much, I loves ya jus'a same as always--an' when yer ol' an' gray, I will love ya anyways on account of tha's the kind of heart I got."

Popeye (uncharacteristically punch-drunk): "Lemme in the life-boat first!  Ain't I the captain?"

    Went to see my shrink Dr. Hassan. (He envies the time I have for reading.)

    Dinner was African stew.

    Went to a meeting at Wychwood Barns where City Councillor Joe Mihevc called for saving the TransitCity program.

    The reprinted story of Popeye and Olive Oyl in the frontier town of Skullyville is really compelling!

January 12, 2011

Popeye the Sailor (letting fists fly): "Don't stan' in front of me when I'm goin' someplace."

 Dreamed of visiting the new owner of the house just east of our old home in Sackville, N.B.; being shown some wine he'd made from grapes grown on his property.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was salmon.

    Went to the Bickford Centre, having forgotten that the Toronto City Opera chorus didn't have rehearsal on the first Wednesday of January! (Oh well, it's better than forgetting when you do have a rehearsal...)

    The internet connection went off in the morning and again in the evening.

January 11, 2011

    Last night was the first choir practice of the new year. (We're working on a folk song concert.)

    Dreamed of my family visiting our old house in Sackville, N.B., and building a roundabout machine next to the front door; suggesting that they add a roof.

    Dinner was lasagna.

    Tonight was the new year's first opera rehearsal.  We went over Madama Butterfly (I think both leading ladies are pretty good) and part of Die Fledermaus.  I get to do a little dancing at the start of our second-act appearance in the latter opera, but we just do a quick gallop across the stage.

    In Kingdoms of Camelot I've been upgrading my city's cottages, one cottage and level at a time.  It's a slow business, but it'll raise my tax base.

January 9, 2011

"I likes peace better'n anything, 'ceptin' a good fight!"--Popeye the Sailor

     Dreamed of being on a ship that was passing by Truro, N.S., on its way to my hometown Sackville, N.B.

    Went to a rally at City Hall to save TransitCity. (It was a Toronto the Great Meetup event, but I couldn't find the organizer.) Several city councillors spoke.

    Donald came over for dinner, which was churrasco chicken.

    I've been losing several battles in Kingdoms of Camelot!  I need to develop greater prudence. (Now I'm worried about running out of gold.) I'm glad I'm not a real-life general...

January 8, 2011

"Trouble an' me is pals--we been together for years!"--Popeye the Sailor

    Dreamed of being in Cape Breton and ending up with a tour group at Fort Louisbourg; Father and I finding a dead man in London who seemed to have been murdered.

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    I couldn't find the fourth season of Big Love, so I rented a documentary DVD The British Empire in Colour.  I don't see how colour film is that much more revealing than black & white.

    Sent out messages to a couple of neighbouring realms in Kingdoms of Camelot (they're a lot smaller than mine) encouraging friendship.

January 7, 2011

"You should bury the hatchet."

"And I know just where to bury it!"

--The Spoilers

"There's no marriage in heaven, Ma'am."

"And that is the reason, no doubt, that people look forward to it."

--Elizabeth R

    Dreamed of staying at the cottage near our hold home in Sackville, N.B., but with a fancier beach that included a boardwalk; considering seeing the season premiere of Saturday Night Live.

    Dinner was spaghetti with a chicken-peanut sauce.

    Saw the John Wayne-Marlene Dietrich Alaska western The Spoilers (for the second time). Big fist fight at the end.

    After a week the Mists of Avalon wore off so I started conquering nearby wilderness areas in the online game Kings of Camelot. (For my first expedition I sent out 100 scouts and they got annihilated!)

    

January 6, 2011

"What's trouble to some is jus' fun to me--I loves it!"--Popeye the Sailor

"The only valuable thing to me is my fisk--Take it!"--ibid.

    Dreamed of adjusting the lights on a cinema marquee; actress Geena Davis; wondering when exactly Moby-Dick became a household name [it would have been the 1920s or 1930s]; climbing a flight of stairs by holding both handrails and swinging my feet up to the next step.

    Dinner was shrimp curry.

    I was going to go on another Queen Street art walk, but it was snowing pretty bad and I took a northbound bus when I'd intended to take a southbound one, so I went home instead.

    After I got home we saw the DVD of the first half of a Ken Burns documentary about the Lewis & Clark expedition.

January 5, 2011

    Dreamed of volunteering at a farm in Halton county; going home in a wagon carrying harvest; the wagon tipping over after the driver got a whiff of a big spice harvest we were passing by; passing through a community flying Danish flags.

    Headache!

    Dinner was roast chicken.

    Went to the Games Meetup. (It's my last Wednesday night event for a few months because of my opera.) I wasn't feeling weel and only played one game:  Stone Age.

    Yesterday zip.ca sent the last of the monthly batch of DVDs until the new batch starts in almost a fortnight, and one of them was the first of two parts! (Which means we'll have a long wait between seeing the first and second halves.) I should have moved the last disc of Elizabeth R or the second season of Weeds to near the head of our queue--they would have got priority--but I'd lost count and thought there'd be one more!

    

January 4, 2011

    Dreamed of being in my hometown Sackville, N.B., with the family; telling them that if they didn't return to Toronto next week I'd return by myself [that's a dream I've had several times]; seeing Jacqueline Bisset in a non-existent cigarette ad and thinking "Shame on you!"

    Went shopping. (We were out of almost everything.)

    We finally started our book business accounts for 2010.

    Dinner was spaghetti (which I cooked).

    Just now I noticed that you do an alchemy research project and a building improvement at the same time in the online game Kingdoms of Camelot! (I've named my city Camford, the reverse of Oxbridge.)

    When I collect rent from a house in the online game Cityville, the computer sometimes makes a doorbell sound just like our real doorbell! (Father's ended up going to the door a few times.)

January 3, 2011

Ron Weasley: "The world's mental!"--Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I

"I have a job interview today."

"So who's rejecting you this time?"

--Weeds

    Dreamed of the Elton John song "Daniel"; finding an old-fashioned alarm clock with bells on the top.

    In addition to Weeds, I'm watching a DVD of films produced by the Edison studios in the 1890s right at the start of cinema!

    Dinner was beef curry.

    Saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I at the Yonge & Eglinton.  It's a grim, austere series entry, less loud, flashy and fast-paced than I recall the earlier ones being and all the better for it.  Good directing job by David Yates.

January 2, 2011

 Dreamed of quarrelling with Moira; walking on a sandy promontory at the Guantanamo leasehold in Cuba; getting the idea of writing a novel with character names that all rhymed with something (like someone called Mr. Fife, which rhymes with life).

    My new heater works a lot better than the old one.

    I'm now watching the second season of Weeds on DVD.  A really brilliant satire.

    I've joined the Pandorasbox Alliance in the game Kingdoms of Camelot.

    Baked whole wheat bread. (I'd mixed the dough just a couple of days after baking the previous loaf because I thought relatives would be coming, but they didn't.)

    Dinner was pork steak.

January 1, 2011

"In junior high I could lift 150 pounds."

"In junior high I was 150 pounds!"

--Rhoda

    The entertainment at nearby Ellington's kept me awake far past midnight.  So I got up, mixed some dough and went on the computer for quite a while before going back to bed.

    John and Kathrine came over for lunch.

    I've quit Farmville and Frontierville and I'm now into two new games:  the Sim City-like Cityville and Kingdoms of Camelot.  I named my Cityville community Centerville, and all its businesses are called Burger City, Toy City, Coffee City etc. (Imaginative, huh?) I named my Kingdoms of Camelot avatar Lord Recceswinth (after a king of Visigothic Spain).

    Dinner was pizza.

    Saw the DVD of the first episode of a PBS series about the history of the Broadway musical.

    Headache!