Pokey People

            On Tuesday morning I finished memorizing “Des vents des pets des poums” (Farting Up a Storm) by Serge Gainsbourg.

            I continued to type my lecture notes.

            I took an early siesta at 10:00 because I had to work in the afternoon and I didn’t want to doze off while posing. When I got up I had time to do the dishes and have lunch before leaving.

            A lot of the snow from our little November storm had melted but there was still enough, especially on the side streets to make one have to concentrate. I hit a slippery patch as I dipped under the railroad bridge but I managed to not wipe out.

            I worked for Diane Pugen in the Fine Arts department. When I arrived in the room there were some other students using the studio, each with their own projects. A pretty and very small and skinny young woman in a big wheelchair was working at a table with her mobility assistance golden retriever lying under the table. When Diane arrived I saw that she is walking with a cane now but she kept it against the wall while she walked around teaching, although sometimes she would hold onto things. She had to tell the young woman with the dog that she had to leave. The dog took to Diane right away and came over to lick her hand for quite a while.

I started with two-minute poses and Diane announced while I was working that I'm one of the best models at the college. Then Diane wanted to use me to teach the students some anatomy. I lifted a skeleton onto the stage for her and then helped her up beside me so she could poke my body with her pen while pointing parts out. I like Diane and so I didn’t say anything. She’s infamous for her touching. Maybe she has a depth perception problem.

I did five-minute poses for the rest of the class and during breaks I typed my lecture notes on my laptop.

When I finished my last twenty-minute set it was 18:02 and I started packing up. Diane reminded me that we go until 18:10. I told her that after my five-minute break there would be three minutes left but if she wanted I could do a three-minute pose. She looked disappointed but said, “It’s okay”. She is probably able to get most other models to just skip their break and pose until ten after.

As I started for home I headed south on McCaul, which is the worst street to ride on when it’s snowy. South of Dundas there is parking on both sides and streetcar tracks in the middle with very little space between the cars and the tracks, especially in the snow. I turned right on Renfrew to avoid wiping out but that street had barely been cleared of snow and I had to ride on the wrong side where the smoothest path was. Fortunately there were no cars coming. I turned left on John to get to Queen but John wasn’t much better. The way home along Queen wasn’t too bad except for where construction pushed me very close to the tracks and it was slippery in that area too. I had considered stopping at Loblaws for grapes but decided I’d rather just get home and be warm as soon as possible.

I finished typing my lecture notes.

I had my last steak, with a potato and gravy for dinner while watching Zorro.

In this story Elena and Dona Luisa are still in jail. Don Diego’s father organizes a meeting of the other dons to rise up against Captain Monastario and his soldiers so as to rescue the Torres women. But Don Diego warns them that they would be slaughtered. They will not listen and so Don Diego plans to go to the fort as Zorro and to taunt Monastario's men into chasing him so they will not be there when the dons try to rescue the ladies. Meanwhile on of Monastario’s men has been listening in on the meeting of the dons and warns the captain of the plan. Monastario plans an ambush of the dons and so when Zorro comes he is wise to the ruse and tells half the men to follow a certain distance but then to double back. When Zorro sees this he realizes that his plan did not work and figures that an ambush is planned. He arrives back at the fort to warn the dons before they rush in but his father hears the warning too late as he is already inside. While trying to escape over the wall he is shot. Zorro once again defeats Monastario in a sword fight and escapes over the wall to save his father.