Billie Lou Watt

            On Saturday I woke up at 2:30 because I had to pee. I checked on my Microsoft Office download, but the computer had gone to sleep and once again it was displaying the message, “Input unsupported.” I went through the same frustrating dance of starting and restarting and plugging and unplugging. I found that there was a third adaptor that Tom had sent me, and I tried it but that didn’t work either. But after trying that, when I plugged the VGA adaptor back in, it worked. I saw that my Office download had completed, and I went back to bed. I couldn’t sleep for a while because I was wondering how to fix my monitor problem. I may have exhausted all the adaptor possibilities so the solution may be a new monitor. I wonder if Tom could give me a deal. 

            After yoga I switched back to my old computer to work out the chords to one of my songs, but it was loading slowly. So, I copied the documents that I use most lately into a flash drive and switched back over to the new computer. I had the same problems getting the monitor to work again but this time it didn’t take as long. I made a “French” folder for my translations, a “Songs” folder for my own songs, and a “Stories” folder for my journals and stories. I got Google to remember all my sites and then I went onto Christian’s Translations to do some editing. 

            Since this new computer doesn’t really need to shut down as much as the old one, I left it on during song practice. After that, I went back onto the new computer, and I worked out some more chords for an instrumental part of “Laide jolie laide” by Serge Gainsbourg.

            I set up the new keyboard that’s connected to the new PC on my desk drawer where the old one has been for years. I moved the new PC beside the old one and have them both on so I can switch the monitor easily back and forth because most of my stuff is still on the old one and it will probably take months to move everything, especially since I should be focusing on an essay right now. 

            I weighed 87.7 kilos before breakfast. 

            I fell about an hour behind my normal morning just trying to get all the things onto the new computer that I use on the old one. I had to move more than a thousand pictures but that’s a lot less than I have. I downloaded VLC media player and Bit Torrent. I moved some music files over. 

            I found that I can’t have Windows Photo Viewer on Windows 10 if it didn’t come from Windows 7 or 8. Forums say I can get it from the registry, but I don’t want to mess around in there. The Photos app may work just as well, and it may just be a matter of getting used to it. 

            It was 13:00 when I headed out to No Frills where I bought five bags of green grapes, three avocadoes, mouthwash, a jug of orange juice, and a big box of Earl Grey tea. 

            I had a late lunch of a toasted slice of Bavarian sandwich bread with melted five-year-old cheddar and a glass of raspberry lemonade. 

            In the afternoon I took a later than a usual bike ride. The Bloor bike lane was striped with the stains of melted streams of snow running from the north side to the south. At Bloor and Queen’s Park someone had placed on the sidewalk a tiny, undecorated Christmas tree mounted on a round slice of pine. There were two steel drummers playing at opposite corners of Bloor and Bay. There were a lot of bad drivers out and two of them were driving TTC buses. One bus driver who was trying to manoeuvre his vehicle to a streetcar stop was aggressively crowding me to the curb. Another driver stopped a half a block before the stop and suddenly opened the front door to let passengers out and forcing me to almost hit the first one as they got out. Also, another cyclist came past me from behind, just centimeters away from me without giving me any warning. He had an empty child seat on the back, and I wondered if he drove that recklessly with his kid on board. 

            I weighed 87.4 kilos at 18:00. 

            I got caught up on my journal at 19:15. 

            I’ve found that as long as I don’t restart the new computer, I can switch the monitor cable back and forth between the old and new computers without receiving the “Input Unsupported” message. I also found the right resolution setting for the new computer, so the icons are not too big and out of focus: It’s 1600 X 900. Now the desktop icons are crisp and clear. I copied my Global Modernisms files to the new computer but still hadn’t gotten a chance to start my essay proposal or read any more articles before dinner. 

            I made pizza on naan with marinara sauce and extra-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching the third episode of the 1963 animé series Astro Boy.

            In this story it’s suddenly 2080 when last episode it was 2000. The first expedition to Mars failed and so now a second one is planned. Astro Boy is chosen to be the commander, but Captain Daring resents taking orders from a robot. Just before blast-off they discover a stowaway. It’s Judith, the daughter of the commander of the first expedition. She wants to go to Mars to look for her father. It’s too late to put her off the ship and so Astro Boy orders the guards to put her in the brig. On the way to Mars an object attaches itself to their ship. Astro Boy goes outside to check since he doesn’t need a spacesuit. He does however need a tether but while he’s out there, Captain Daring severs the cord. Astro Boy discovers that what is attached to the ship is an egg-shaped alien spacecraft. Astro Boy carries the alien vessel away from his ship, but then he realizes that the tether has been severed and his ship has left him drifting in space. But then Astro Boy breaks into the alien ship and discovers an atomic gun, which he is able to use to propel him back to his ship. When they get to Mars, they set up a base and are attacked by a giant tank. It turns out to be driven by Judith’s father. Astro Boy does not want Judith’s father harmed but Captain Daring removes Astro Boy’s action tube, and he collapses. They throw Astro Boy in the brig with Judith. She finds another action tube in her cell and revives Astro Boy. He goes to save Judith’s father from Captain Daring and Judith comes with him. Suddenly an egg-shaped spaceship attacks the base. The creatures inside look like floppy propellers. Astro Boy fights most off them off but the tank is needed to defeat the alien ship. Captain Daring confesses that he was wrong about Astro Boy and wants to command the tank to make up for the wrong he did. One of the weapons of the tank is “whisky gas” which makes the aliens drunk. Judith is reunited with her father and Astro Boy leaves the two to continue the exploration of Mars. 

            The Japanese voice of Astro Boy for the first sixty some episodes was Mari Shimizu. Osamu Tezuka personally selected her for the part after seeing her playing the lead role in a Japanese production of Peter Pan. It is on Peter Pan that the character of Astro Boy is based. She voiced several other characters in other productions and later worked on the production side. In the 1980s she became a performing arts instructor. She won the Synergy Award at the 3rd annual Seiyuu Awards and lifetime achievement prize eight years later. 

            The English voice of Astro Boy was done by Billie Lou Watt, who also voiced “Kimba the White Lion.” She was the actor behind Elsie the Cow in the Borden milk product commercials. As a live actor, she played Ellie Harper Bergman on Search for Tomorrow.