Herbert Anderson

            On Thursday morning I finished posting "We Are So Impatient for Death" my translation of "Que tu es impatiente la mort" by Boris Vian on my Boris Vian Facebook page and on my own page. That's the last of the Boris Vian audio files that I have on my computer. From now on I'll be tracking his songs down on YouTube mostly in chronological order and the first song on my list is "Au bon vieux temps" (In the Good Old Days) from 1943. Fortunately there's a YouTube file of this song being sung live by the great Magali Noël, who collaborated a lot with Vian. 

            I finished memorizing "Ouvertures éclair" (Wounds That Zip Open) by Serge Gainsbourg and looked for the chords but no one had posted them. I worked them out for the first verse and they are probably the same for the rest of the song. I'll find out on Friday. 

            I returned to playing my Martin acoustic guitar for song practice. It's so much easier to pick up and play than the electric that it almost feels awkward. I can carry it with me when I go to get a drink of water whereas I have to take the Kramer off my shoulders and put it down. They should have invented acoustic guitars a long time ago. They are so much more convenient than electrics. 

            I weighed 85.8 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I've been in nine days. I guess it was the sausage pizza I made last night. 

            Around midday I did my laundry and was finished just before lunch. 

            I weighed 85.4 kilos before lunch and that's the most I've weighed around midday in a week. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride and stopped at Freshco on the way home. It's still cheap cherry season and so I bought seven bags. I also got two pints of blueberries, a half pint of blackberries, a pint of strawberries, some bananas, a pack of five-year-old cheddar, three bags of skim milk, a jug of limeade, a bag of kettle chips, Full City Dark coffee, and a jar of salsa. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos at 18:00. I haven't been that hefty in the evening in ten days. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:47. 

            I reviewed the videos of my performances of Megaphor from June 14 to June 16 of this year. June 14 and 15 were with the acoustic and on June 14 there was at least one chord that was off at the end but on June 15 the take at 12:30 was pretty good. On June 16 I played the electric and the take at 3:00 was pretty good. 

            In Audacity I continued to lower the volume on the drum track during the instrumental of my song "Sleep in the Snow". It sure does take a long time to get through the drum track and I only get a few seconds done each time. 

            I scanned some more of the negatives of the colour shots I took from my window, some of which became part of my Parkdale collage from which I made my book cover. There are just two left in this set but I guess there might be more in the lower drawer of the filing cabinet where I keep all the negatives. 

            I had a small potato with gravy, a chicken spine and two wings while watching season 3, episodes 16 and 17 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story Billie Joe gets extra work cashing in on the shorthand skills she's learned in secretarial school. One of the Shady Rest hotel guests is a salesman named Mr. Norton who just had a very large order canceled by a Mr. Mortimer. As he feels this cancelation is unfair and as it causes him great inconvenience, Norton dictates to Billie a nasty letter giving Mortimer hell. But Norton decides not to send it. However when he gets back to the city he learns that Mortimer is giving Norton the order after all. It's then that Norton realizes he doesn't have the letter. He goes back to the Shady Rest and everyone is looking for the letter when Joe informs them that he found it and gave it to the dog to take to the post office. If this letter is sent Norton could lose a $15,000 contract. Kate goes to Sam Drucker who tells her the letter was sent to Pixley. Kate goes to the Pixley post office but it is closed. Foley the Pixley postmaster has locked his key inside and so they have to find Fiskee the locksmith at the movie theatre. The post office is opened but the letter isn't there because all letters addressed to Chicago have already been sent. Norton thinks he's doomed but then Floyd comes in with a letter that he'd found and sent but it came back because it didn't have the correct postage. That's Norton's letter. 

            Norton was played by Herbert Anderson, who started film acting under contract with Warner Brothers, co-starring in the 1941 film Navy Blues. He co-starred in Kelly and Me, and the Herman's Hermits film "Hold On". He played supporting roles in several films but he is best known for his role as the father of Dennis Mitchell in the 50s sitcom Dennis the Menace. I always thought he was well cast because he really did look like Dennis's father from the comic strip. 

            In the second story a wedding reception of one of Billie Joe's friends is held at the Shady Rest. Betty Joe doesn't understand why everyone is so excited about marriage but then the bouquet is thrown and it falls into her hands. Her sisters tell her she's next and now she's confused. She thinks she's supposed to find a husband and she keeps asking other sixteen year olds to marry her, which alarms their mothers. Then flowers, scarves, jewelry, and candy arrive giftwrapped and addressed to Betty Joe from a secret admirer. Kate finds some mysterious IOUs in the hotel desk drawer and puts two and two together. Betty has been sending herself presents because she wants to keep up with her sisters who are active romantically. But Joe doesn't know this and he is out trying to track down the secret admirer. On the train he sees a boy carrying a gift wrapped box. He assumes it's for Betty Joe and he drags the boy off the train at the Shady Rest stop. But the present is a box of cigars for his grandfather. However when the boy sees Betty Joe and when Betty Joe sees him, they are in romance at first sight. They just stand there sighing and smiling at each other.