George C. Scott

            On Saturday morning I reworked my translation of the first verse of "Sermonette" by Boris Vian. 

            I memorized the first verse of "Martine boude" (Martine Broods) by Serge Gainsbourg and reworked my translation of the first two verses. 

            As I was getting ready to go to the supermarket my upstairs neighbour David came to my door. He says he's been working triple shifts lately but now he has two days off. He told me that tomorrow is Ethiopian New Year and he gave me $30. I think it's a tradition to give people gifts because he gave me money last year too. 

            I went down to No Frills where it's hard to find baskets and basket carts these days. I started out carrying my items in a reusable shopping bag until a basket cart was free but I had to drag rather than roll it because one of its wheels was stuck. I bought five bags of green grapes, a pack of ground beef, Basilica pasta sauce, white corn and black bean salsa, skyr, a bag of kettle chips, and a jug of orange juice. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos before lunch. I had Breton crackers with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 85 kilos at 17:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:38. 

            I reviewed two videos each of me playing "The Accordion" and "L'accordion". All of these takes from July 10 to July 13 were starving for a clean-sounding B chord. 

            I opened the Movie Maker project for my song "Instructions for Electroshock Therapy" but when I played the video there was no volume. I tried the other projects and they were all muted. I tried restarting my computer but that didn't work. Finally, I went online and found posts by others with the same problem. The problem was that somehow in the Open Volume Mixer, the volume for Movie Maker had been muted. I unmuted it and it was fine. 

            I worked for half an hour on trying to synchronize the concert video with the studio audio when I sing, "... a delayed attack is coming around ...". I got the video and audio lined up at the beginning of where the line starts but I might not be able to synchronize them because I'm singing slower in the concert video. I'll try again tomorrow. 

            I chronologized a couple of original pages of the Gumby Bible. 

            I made four ground beef patties and grilled them in the oven. I had a burger on toasted Bavarian sandwich bread topped with ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce, salsa, and sliced pickle, with a beer while watching episode four of Ben Casey. 

            In this story, Karl Anders, an old friend of Casey from medical school, is now a colleague and a fine surgeon. But he's grown distant and irritable and even though his work has not suffered, his friendships have. Especially pained by Karl's behaviour is his wife Phyllis, who is pregnant with their first child. Everyone knows but Karl, who has yet to give her the time to tell him. 

            About fifteen minutes in, the audience sees that Karl is in pain and we also learn that he is addicted to the morphine that he is using to keep the pain from stopping his work. The pain seems to be getting worse but when he rushes to his drawer he is out of morphine. He forges Dr. Maggie Graham's signature on a prescription to get more and puts her reputation in jeopardy. Meanwhile, no one knows that Karl is behind it. 

            Phyllis confronts Karl about his distance and he tells her he wants a divorce. She tells him she is pregnant and he says it doesn't change anything but she will be taken care of. 

            Zorba surprises Karl with the news that he has won Karl one of the most sought-after promotions in the country, at a prestigious hospital under one of the best head surgeons. But Karl tells him he has a prior commitment. 

            Later Casey is walking past Karl's room and hears a cry of pain. He goes inside to see Karl shooting morphine. Casey demands Karl's resignation within an hour and a written statement absolving Maggie. Karl does so and leaves. 

            Then Casey and Zorba discover Karl's medical file and learn that he has terminal leukemia. Casey goes after Karl and Karl asks to stay on so he can keep busy until the end. Zorba says he can't risk a patient's life by having them treated by a dying doctor. Finally, Karl agrees to let them study him during his final days. 

            In his last moments, Karl makes peace with Phyllis and then she goes into labour. Shortly after Karl dies their child is born. 

            I was surprised to see that Karl was played by the great George C Scott. He was nominated for an Emmy for this performance. In 1945, at the age of eighteen, he joined the Marines and spent four years in the service. He started studying journalism at the University of Missouri but it was there that he was bitten by the acting bug. He started working in theatre and soon caught the attention of critics. He landed a supporting part in "Anatomy of a Murder" and for that performance, he was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1962 he was nominated again, this time for his role in The Hustler, but he refused the nomination. He co-starred in The List of Adrian Messenger. One of his favourite movies to work on was Dr. Strangelove, which he said was great fun. He starred in One Born Every Minute and then he gave his Academy Award-winning performance in Patton, but he turned down the Oscar. Then he starred in The Changeling and Taps. 

            He was married twice to the great actor Colleen Dewhurst, who played Phyllis in this episode. 

            I found a mouse trapped in the kitchen sink and tried to pick it up to put it outside but it jumped from my hand, hit the floor, and ran under the fridge. 

            I did a search for bedbugs and found none.