May 28, 2009

"He did what he thought was right."

"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.

May 27, 2009

"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.)

May 26, 2009

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.

May 25, 2009

"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.)

May 24, 2009

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.

May 23, 2009

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.

May 22, 2009

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.