Joan Huntington

            On Sunday I had the first fourteen lines of "Fugue" by Boris Vian memorized. There are still a couple of lines in the recording that aren't in any of the posted lyrics online, and I can't make them out. I might have to just skip them if I can't find them. 

            I published "Happiness is Very Sad", my translation of "Le bonheur c'est malheureux" by Serge Gainsbourg on my Christian's Translations blog. I memorized the first two verses of his song "Je t'aime idiot" (I Love You Stupid). 

            I weighed 84.4 kilos before breakfast. 

            I worked for almost two hours on my essay and made some progress: 

            Jane requires the view of a more elevated reflection of herself from others to complete the formation of her mature ego. This comes at the end of a life-threatening ordeal that bears a striking resemblance to the type of dream described by psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan that symbolizes the formation of the I. Jane staggers across marshes during a rainstorm while following a dim and sometimes obscured light that she hopes shines from a place of shelter. The glimmer leads her to a house by the moor that mirrors the fortress "surrounded by marshes" illustrated by Lacan. The fact that Jane is denied entry to Moor House renders it fortress-like and rhymes it even more tightly to Lacan's imagery. He would say that the structure of Moor House symbolizes Jane's Id, while her I is hidden inside (Brontë 385). He says that "the subject flounders in quest of the remote inner castle." We see the parallel of this in Jane's stumbling across the moor following the light, in search of its source, which is inside of Moor House. The light emits from a small window at which Jane stoops to observe two young ladies. She does not know their faces but feels that she recognizes them intimately, and like Jane they are not handsome. Just as Jane first saw her reflection in Helen Burns, Jane finds these twin imagoes "bent over a book" (Brontë 379-382). These ladies then, as the inhabitants of Lacan's "remote inner castle", represent the ego of Jane's quest. But they also fit Lacan's idea of the I being mirrored and as the most complete reflection of Jane Eyre that she has experienced, are the source of her mature ego. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Bloor and Ossington. I think my knee can handle going further now but I'll keep it short until I hand my essay in. 

            I weighed 84.6 kilos at 16:30.

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:30. 

            I spent about two and a half hours on my essay. I finished part three and started writing my thesis and outline, but I still have to figure out my conclusion. 

            I made pizza on a slice of Bavarian sandwich bread with Basilica sauce, a beef burger cut in half endways, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 4, episode 30 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Dash Riprock takes Elly May to Pismo Beach because he has the whole day off. He says they hired some idiot to act as his stunt double and do all of his most dangerous scenes such as being caught in dynamite explosions and riding an avalanche down a mountain. It turns out that idiot is Jethro who had earlier been hanging around the studio when something heavy fell on his head. As it didn't hurt him the people in charge thought he would make a good double for Dash. But Jethro misunderstands the word "double" and thinks he's going to be made twice the star that Dash is. 

            Meanwhile a woman named Debbie is hanging around Drysdale's office when Jethro drops by. When she learns that Jethro is the nephew of the studio owner she begins flirting with him so she can get a screen test. Jethro thinks that Debbie is now his girlfriend and invites her to meet his family after work. At work Jethro gets caught in dynamite explosions several times because of failed takes. After Dash's date with Elly, he finds out what Jethro is doing and rushes to save him. Jethro comes home battered and disillusioned with acting. Debbie tries to talk Jed into testing her but he thinks she's coming onto him. Finally Dash tells Debbie he'll get her a screen test. 

            Debbie was played by Joan Huntington, who played Joan Lynaker on five episodes of Burke's Law. She made guest appearances on several TV series and had supporting roles in a few movies. She co-wrote the documentary "Manson" with her husband Laurence Merrick, who was nominated for an Oscar for co-directing the film. 

            

            For the seventh night in a row I found no bedbugs.