Sunday 23 April 2023

Michael Dorn


            On Saturday morning I memorized the fourth verse of "Amour Consolation" by Serge Gainsbourg. 
            I weighed 84.4 kilos before breakfast. 
            In the late morning I went to Vina Pharmacy to get some 99% alcohol for cleaning negatives. I also bought a bag of cotton balls. The counter person asked if I was over sixty-five so I could get the seniors discount. It was nice that she wasn't sure. 
            I went to No Frills where I bought five bags of grapes, a large pack of blackberries, a bag of naan, a pack of lean ground beef, some two in one shampoo-conditioner, a jug of orange juice, a container of skyr, Folger's coffee, Earl Grey tea, and a bag of kettle chips. I noticed while buying my items that they've taken down the plexiglass barriers between the cashiers and the customers. Some places like Freshco plan on keeping them up from now on. I said it's better for me because I can read the prices on the screen better without the plastic in the way, but I was curious how she felt about it. She said she didn't like it but it was okay. 
            I was going to go directly to L'il Demon Guitars after shopping but I had to pee so I went home first. At 1612 Queen West there is a black barbershop. There is an old painted sign saying "L'il Demon" on the wall next to the door leading upstairs. As I was looking, a woman in the shop gestured upwards with her thumb to me and I nodded, thinking she meant that L'il Demon was upstairs. But when I went to buzz the upstairs door one of the hairdressers came out and told me it's at the back. I thought he meant I had to go around to the alley but he told me to come in through the barbershop to the back where L'il Demon has two rooms. There wasn't much in the way of acoustic guitars. I tried one of those bulge-top guitars with the squiggly side holes but found it a little twangy. I like an earthy sound in a guitar. 
            I talked with the owner and he said he doesn't have a directly on the street shop because when he did he used to get drunks coming in to play guitars they couldn't afford. He says that's why The Twelfth Fret buzzes people in now and why Steve's has their guitar room at the end of a maze at the back. I told him about the Martin I'd found for $900 but he advised me to buy a second hand Martin. He said if I could find a new one for $1000 it would have been made in Mexico. It seems racist to assume a Mexican guitar isn't as good as a US guitar. I think all of the Martin Road Series guitars used to be made in the States but that doesn't mean they were made any better then. I guess he means that the higher end Martins are built in Pennsylvania and that I could get a higher end model second hand. He really doesn't like Steve's Music and advised me not to do business with them. He says they don't have a good return policy. I have three more stores to check out before I make a decision. So far it's still the Martin Road Series that's on top. 
            I weighed 84.6 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with seven-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 
            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 
            I weighed 84.3 kilos at 17:30. 
            I was caught up on my journal at 18:50. 
            In Movie Maker I mostly synchronized the audio and video of my June 18, 2022 song practice. There's a bit of an echo where I left off and I'll decide tomorrow if I want to keep it. 
            Also in Movie Maker I cut the clips I've edited out of the Lillian Gish silent film "Way Down East" down from thirty seconds to ten. I'll start inserting some of those clips into the main video tomorrow to see what fits. 
            I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce, bacon, and seven-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 3, episode 6 of Star Trek Picard. 
            The Titan has escaped the Intrepid, which is controlled by Changelings. That and other Starfleet ships are in pursuit. 
            Beverly reveals to Picard that their son Jack has inherited the disease that killed Picard before his consciousness was placed inside of a positronic body. 
            Worf and Raffi are beamed onto the Titan. Worf tells them the information they need is at Daystrom Station which is guarded by a thinking and learning AI system. Worf and Raffi have acquired a key that can temporarily disable the system. 
            There is awkwardness between Seven and Raffi who became lovers at the end of the last season and were already broken up at the beginning of this one. Worf says Klingon breakups rarely end without bloodshed. 
            Riker, Worf and Raffi are the team going in to Daystrom Station. They beam down and almost immediately Starfleet vessels arrive to confront the Titan. Picard takes the Titan away but promises to be back. As they try to access the mainframe at Daystrom Riker recognizes notes being played. They are confronted by Professor Moriarty who Riker and Data encountered in a Holodeck program decades ago. Moriarty fires on them with real bullets. Riker recognizes this Moriarty is not self aware. The music keeps playing but incompletely. Suddenly Riker realizes what it is and whistles, "Pop Goes the Weasel". Moriarty disappears and the door opens. Inside the door they find the suspended body of an aged version of Data. Raffi activates a hologram of Data's creator Alton Sung who explains that he put all of Data's, Lore's, and Lol's memories into one positronic body, similar to the kind of body that Picard now has, which can age and die. Data contains all the information they need about what super weapon has been stolen from the facility. 
             The Titan arrives at Ethan Prime, which is the location of the Starfleet Museum, presided over by Geordie LaForge. Geordie beams aboard with his older daughter Alandra who became an engineer like her father. There is tension between him and his younger daughter Sidney who became a pilot and now flies the Titan. Geordie says he can't both help Picard and protect his daughters. Sidney confronts her father and calls him a coward. Jack talks Sidney and Alandra into helping him steal cloaking technology from a Klingon Bird of Prey in the museum and installing it into the Titan, so they can return to Daystrom undetected. But it's not working. Geordie arrives to help and fix it. The Titan arrives over Daystrom and is ready to beam them up with Data, but security attacks and Riker chooses to hold them off. But he is captured and only Worf, Data, and Raffi make it back to the Titan. Geordie reboots Data and he recognizes Geordie and Picard but is confused. Picard asks him what was taken from Daystrom. Data keeps repeating "Jean Luc Picard". They think he's malfunctioning but he projects a hologram showing the human body from which Picard's consciousness was transferred to his current positronic body. The super weapon that was stolen is Picard's body. 
            At Daystrom, Riker is being tortured. His torturer kills the other two guards and transforms into Vadic. She says she knows torturing him won't work and then she reveals she has his wife Deanna Troi. The question on my mind though is whether it's really Deanna. 
            Worf is played by Michael Dorn, who appeared as the character in four movies and 272 television episodes. He has made more episode appearances than any other Star Trek actor. After college he played in several California rock bands. His first film role was as the bodyguard of Apollo Creed in Rocky. His first television role was as Jedediah Turner on CHiPS. He was cast in Star Trek the Next Generation in 1987. In 1991 he played an ancestor of Worf in Star Trek: the Undiscovered Country. He also played Worf for six years on Deep Space Nine. He played Dr. Carver Burke on Castle. He's a licensed pilot with his own antique jet. He considers Worf to be Hamlet. He's a big fan of South Park. 




            I've made it to the fifty-night mark without finding bedbugs. That breaks the record that was set from June to July of 2021. I am now cautiously declaring the infestation over and will stop doing my tedious fifteen minute searches every night before bed.

No comments:

Post a Comment