May 28, 2010

    Went to see Dr. Ang about my throat. (She was really busy:  I had to wait over an hour!) She gave my tongue a swab but didn't seem worried.

    Got an Ebay package which included the last Menomonee Falls Gazette comic strip reprint issue, giving me a full collection--except for issued 229 to 232, which have few of the regular strips.  I also got some more strip reprints, including the first episodes of Captain Easy (before Easy entered the strip, when the hero was Wash Tubbs) and On Stage!

    Dinner was shrimp in chili sauce, which actually suited my sore throat pretty well.

May 27, 2010

"Why did you hit my butler?"

Popeye: "I told ya I don't like his looks, that's why."

"Is that a good reason for hitting a man?"

"I don't need no reason....  I socks 'em where I sees 'em and I leaves 'em where I socks 'em--and that's that!"

--Thimble Theatre

"That's not solving anything!"

"Maybe some things just don't solve"

--Peyton Place

    My throat's so sore that I decided to cancel next week's singing lesson.

    Went to see my shrink Dr. Hassan.  He was interested in my Popeye reprint book.

    Dinner was curry.

    Ended up napping after dinner.

May 26, 2010

    Dreamed of visiting Holland and staying too long; seeing a new non-existent movie version of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; buying new identity papers from a Turk who was intolerant of the Kurds.

    Father and John are almost finished with the new roof.  They had to clear the wall in my room next to it, which meant moving the bulk of my comic strip collection out to the hall. (Oh well, I was going to go through it to find the Tarzan comics anyway.)

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was the rest of the fettucine and lasagna.

    Got through choir practice despite a sore throat.  We did a piece from Verdi's I Lombardi that was last done before I joined the choir!

May 25, 2010

Sea Hag (after being thrown into the sea): "Curses!  I can't swim!"

Popeye: "I'll give ya a lesson, Missus Sea Hag.  First duck yer head, then open yer mouth an' take a deep breath.  Try it!"--Thimble Theatre

Introducing Jack the Ripper: "Spring Heel Jack, the most interesting character of all time!"--Waxworks

    Dreamed of getting up so early that I didn't know what I was doing; the wonderful Alice Munro story "Day of the Butterfly" (which I read in high school).

    At today's singing lesson I tried the recitativo from the Macbeth aria. (I'd borrowed the score from the Reference Library again--too bad the ink on my copy was faint.)

    I'm now reading more of the Popeye reprint.  The Sea Hag is really creepy!

    Dinner was lasagna.

    My uncle Alfie died in Cape Breton. (He was about 90.  I hadn't expected he'd outlive Aunt Alma, who died a few years ago.)

    Saw the DVD of Paul Leni's German silent Waxworks.  Lots of great expressionist tableaux.

May 24, 2010

"It's a game called 'slow murder,' or 'I just want to be honest with you, darling'..."--Peyton Place

    Dreamed of a trailer for a Robert Mitchum movie; getting onto a London Routemaster bus.

    John arrived in the morning. (I got up earlier than usual as a result.) They're going to remove the parapet and make a sloped roof over the sun room.

    Went to a Games Meetup at Queen's Park, organized by Jackie.  I played Bohnanza and Puerto Rico, and won a game of Alhambra!

    I didn't get home till past 18:00, and feared I'd keep the others waiting, but it turned out that Father and John had kept up with their work and only just finished, so we only ate past 19:00 anyway! (Dinner was KFC.)

May 23, 2010

"Wouldn't it be more simple just to let them run him out of town?"--Peyton Place

Popeye the Sailor (in a fight): "A good big man can't lick an exter good little man."

    Went to a Walkers Meetup at Edwards Gardens.  There were 20 of us but we got rather scattered. (The horticultural building had a bonsai show.)

    John came over and he and Father are working on fixing the leaky ceiling in the sun room.

    Dinner was the rest of the fettucine and Indian food.

    I've been trying to write a new score for Wagner's Prize Song in the key of G instead of C, and I may have to admit defeat (unless I find ways to simplify it). [I did quit.]

May 22, 2010

(threateningly) "Dr. Rossi, you'll get everything that's coming to you!"--Peyton Place

    Dreamed of calculating the value of e (it's an infinite sum of inverse factorials); travelling from Ontario to New Brunswick and experiencing freezing cold at night.

    Father's been assembling new bookcases to accommodate all the used books he's been buying.

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    Saw the DVD of The Queen and I, an engaging documentary about an exiled Iranian communist getting to know the Shah's widow.

    Father temporarily cleared the furniture from one side of the sun room.  It's improved the acoustics when I practice singing there!