Osamu Tezuka

            On Friday morning I worked out the chords for the chorus of “Laide jolie laide” (Ugly Pretty Ugly) by Serge Gainsbourg. All that’s left are instrumental parts. 

            I weighed 86.4 kilos before breakfast. 

            At noon I headed out for an early bike ride because if I went at my regular time PCS would be closed. Then I wouldn’t be able to pick up the adaptor to connect my monitor cord to the new computer.     

           On my way up O’Hara a group of teenage girls were walking towards Queen and singing “Emo Girl.” I thought Emo went out twenty years ago. 

            I should have peed before leaving my place, but I guess I was anticipating finally getting this new computer set up. But as I rode along Queen, I started to realize that I wasn’t going to be able to hold my bladder and still go to the supermarket on the way home. As I was approaching the Rex Hotel, I remembered that the bar has a men’s washroom on the main floor, close to the street. I went in and asked if I could use it and the bartender gestured towards it in affirmation. It was the first time I’ve been in a bar since the pandemic began. 

            At PCS Tom gave me the adaptor and I bought another adaptor to increase my number of USB ports by four. He said I shouldn’t use the adaptor for anything that draws power from the computer, so I guess I can’t use it to recharge my phone or camera. I told him that I’d had a hard time finding my new computer’s power switch. Tom said he should have warned me that HP does stuff like hiding the start button in plain sight. 

            I stopped at Freshco where I bought nine bags of grapes that were on sale, a pint of strawberries, a pint of blueberries, a half pint of raspberries, a carton of soymilk, two jars of salsa, and a carton of vanilla flavoured coconut ice cream. 

            When I got home, I tried out the adaptor, but it wouldn’t fit. I called Tom and he asked me to send him a picture of the slot for the monitor. It was the first time I’d taken a picture with my phone and sent it by email. At first, I couldn’t get the camera to work, but eventually it did, although I don’t know how. After typing in the email address, I clicked on attachments and the phone found the pictures I’d just taken. A minute or so later I got a call from Tom who said he was going to send me three adaptors by way of an Uber driver. He said I could keep them all. Within the next twenty minutes, the Uber driver arrived, and I took the package from him at the front door downstairs. The white adaptor fit perfectly but I didn’t try to start the computer yet because I still hadn’t had lunch and a siesta. 

            I weighed 86.4 kilos before a very late lunch at 15:00. I took a siesta at 16:00 and got up at 17:30. I tried to start the new computer with the monitor connected through the new adaptor, but it didn’t work. Fortunately, one of the other adaptors that Tom sent worked and I was able to see my computer. 

            The first thing I did was to coordinate the new device with my Google Chrome account because Google remembers all my other passwords. But then the main problem that bugged me for the next two hours was that my desktop icons appeared large and out of focus. I searched online and tried several suggestions, but nothing worked. 

            I’m wasting valuable essay writing time getting this desktop set up, but once it is set up it will be faster than the old computer. 

            I weighed 86.1 kilos at 20:00. 

            I heated the rest of the herb and garlic potatoes with cheese that I’d made a couple of days ago and ate it for dinner while watching the second episode of Astro Boy. 

            In this story Astro Boy is lamenting that he doesn’t have parents and so Dr. Elefun sets about to build him an android father and mother. Meanwhile, a gigantic robot named Cosmo at the Institute has malfunctioned and escaped. Cosmo happens upon some criminals who are robbing a jewelry store. He takes a liking to one of the subordinate crooks and does whatever he tells him, helping them break open the safe. Astro Boy is being blamed for the robbery, but Elefun defends him. The criminals go on a crime spree with the help of Cosmo. Astro Boy fights Cosmo and defeats him. Then someone from the Institute comes and fixes Cosmo’s brain, so now he is nice and can also talk. Cosmo gets blasted off to work on a Moon base. In the end Astro Boy meets his new robot parents. 

            Astro Boy was created by Osamu Tezuka, who is often called The Father of Manga, the Godfather of Manga, the God of Manga, and the Japanese Walt Disney. He started the manga revolution in 1947 when he published “New Treasure Island.” His other influential series were Princess Knight, Kimba the White Lion, Black Jack, Phoenix and Buddha. His complete oeuvre includes 700 volumes and more than 700,000 pages. 

            After dinner, I updated my journal and then plugged the monitor into the new computer. But now it wouldn’t display and there was a message bouncing slowly from edge to edge of the screen saying, “Input not supported.” I tried the other adaptor, but the screen just went black. I shut down and started again. I tried the other adaptor again and it didn’t work but after I re-plugged the monitor into the VGA adaptor that worked before, this time it worked. I went to the U of T mail website and started downloading Microsoft Office for the new PC. The installation was only a third completed at 0:21 when I went to bed.