Marlyn Mason

            On Sunday at 0:30 I did my usual check for bedbugs in the walls and baseboards before going to sleep and found none. 

            Hopefully that will become a trend. I revised my translation of the third verse of "La java des chaussettes à clous" (The Tap dance of the Hobnail Boots) by Boris Vian: "From New Years right into Yule / ignorant of ridicule / they bring to the streets a school / that counsels the simplest of sense / to calm down the brouhahas / between factory gals and fellas / by dancing the tarantella / on their feet and on their heads." 

            I finished working out the chords for "Bébé Polaroid" by Serge Gainsbourg, ran through it in French and English and uploaded it to Christian's Translations. 

            I weighed 89.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I worked for over an hour on scraping the bottom of my square baking pan and by lunchtime all that was left to do was a little square of black about the size of a credit card. I've never spent so long cleaning one pan in my life. 

            I weighed 88.9 kilos before lunch. I had four cream crackers with five year old cheddar and a glass of lemonade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride. In the Bloor bike lane a food delivery guy on an electric bike had some kind of strap dragging on the street and so when we got to a light I pointed it out to him, warning it could get caught in his wheel. I rode to Yonge and Bloor as usual. I weighed 89.3 kilos when I got home. 

            I worked on my poem series "My Blood In A Bug." 

            I spent some time researching movies about or that take place in insane asylums. It might take me a long time to find something that corresponds to my line "Undress the patient and then lay them down just like a sacrifice." 

            I forgot to buy tomato sauce or salsa on my last trip to the supermarket but I wanted to make pizza for dinner so I sauteed garlic and onions, added a bit of olive oil salad dressing, a can of tomato paste, two packs of garlic parmesan sauce that's been in my fridge for a long time, Chinese chili paste, teriaki sauce, oregano and Italian seasoning. I was surprised that it didn't turn out too bad at all. I spread about half of it on a loaf of naan, added a chopped up beef burger and a few slices of extra old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching two episodes of "Gomer Pyle." 

            In the first story Gomer's cousin Goober shows up at the base after having had a falling out with Wally at the filling station. He shows a tremenous amount of naivety about the military considering considering that from The Andy Griffith Show we know that he has already served in the army and the National Guard. He says he wants to hang around to see if he likes the Marines but Gomer tells him he can't stay on the base. Gomer thinks Goober has gone to a hotel in town but after Gomer goes on a hike with the rest of the platoon Goober decides to try on his uniform. But just then two officers come in to inspect the barracks and find Goober there in uniform but wearing brown and white shoes. They read the name "Pyle" on his shirt and assume her's Gomer. They tell him not to leave the barracks but to take the shoes off. When Gomer comes back he tells Goober to go out and sit behind the barracks because Carter is coming. But the same officers as before are driving by and they see him in his sock feet. They decide he's a case for the psychiatrist and take there in the jeep. The doctor tells Carter that Gomer has a split personality. Later when Gomer tries to tell Carter about Goober, Carter thinks "Goober" is Gomer's name for his alter ego. Later when Gomer comes to Carter in the middle of the night to tell him Goober is back, Carter calls the psychiatrist. The doctor finds Goober in Gomer's bed and Carter finds Gomer out back. When Carter finds out there really is a Goober he starts laughing hysterically and the psychiatrist takes him away. 

            In the second story Carter's sister Babe comes to visit and announces that she's going to marry Harold Kanobly. Carter disapproves because Harold has no class, no personality, no charm, he's in the surgical supply business and he's not a Marine. Carter says it will break his heart if she marries Harold. Babe forms a plot to trick Carter into wanting her to marry Harold. She calls up Gomer and asks him to show her around town. Then she tells Carter she had a date with a Marine. The next night Carter spies on her and sees her with Gomer. She tells Carter she's found a Marine she loves. Carter calls Harold and gets him to come for Babe, encouraging them to elope as soon as possible. Babe was played by Marlyn Mason, who started TV acting at the age of 16. She co-starred in "Brigadoon" and "Carousel." She appeared with Elvis in The Trouble With Girls and sang the duet "Sign of the Zodiac: with him. She co-starred in the short lived TV series "Longstreet."

August 23, 1991: The elevator was small so a lot of stuff had to go down six flights of stairs

Thirty years ago today

            On Friday morning I met Dave and Gary at 45 Spadina. It took us five or six hours to load the little truck because the elevator was small and a lot of stuff had to go down six flights of stairs. It was after 15:00 by the time we got down to Market Square. Dave and Gary grabbed hot dogs on the way but I wanted to have a real lunch at Chi Chi's. I started to help them unload and to carry the stuff in very long walks down two hallways. I went and got take-out at Chi Chi's but it wasn't very good. We were finished at around 18:00. 

            I started towards my place but suddenly felt very tired, so I got off the Queen streetcar at Broadview and took the King car to the subway and headed for Nancy's place. I went to bed almost right away with my clothes on.

Roy Stuart

            On Saturday at around 0:30 I was making my bed before getting in it when I found a bedbug on my bottom sheet. When they're out in the open like that without a food source they're trying to reach it tends to mean they aren't well. It was also just sitting there and not trying to get anyplace. When I picked it up and crushed it there was no fresh blood inside, just like the one that I found on Wednesday. That makes seven that I've found since Friday August 13 and it's been a week since I found any with fresh blood inside. The last two seemed to be dying, so that's a good sign. 

            I worked out the chords for most of "Bébé Polaroid" by Serge Gainsbourg except for the finale. I should have it done and uploaded to Christian's Translations tomorrow. 

            In the late morning I went to No Frills. The cherries weren't cheap but they were Canadian so I bought four bags. I also got a pint of blueberries, a basket of peaches, a watermelon, a strawberry rhubarb pie, dental floss, Greek yogourt and skyr. 

            Once I'd put my stuff away I went went back out to the liquor store to buy a six pack of Creemore. On my way in I met my neighbour Benji on his way out. He said he wished he could still drink beer but can't now because of medication he needs to take. He said he thinks the guy on the third floor in number 6 finally moved out. 

            I weighed 89.1 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride. A few months ago three restaurants along Bloor between Brock and Ossington put up covid patios that the bike lane was rerouted to detour around. The one just before Ossington had a very short turn and so cyclists had to slow down to get around it. I always wondered if there had been any crashes into the posts. A couple of weeks ago I discovered that they lengthened the turn so we didn't have to slow down anymore, so I assume there had been accidents. I rode to Yonge and Bloor and it was a sweaty ride there and home again. I weighed 88.5 kilos when I got back. 

            I worked on my poem series "My Blood In A Bug." 

            I searched for video clips to match the line, "Undress the patient and then lay them down just like a sacrifice." But the word "undress" tends to lead any search to porn. I narrowed it down to "psychiatric patient as sacrifice" but didn't find anything obvious. I found a list of old movies about asylums. I'll try again tomorrow. This is not the kind of thing I can shoot myself because I would need actors and a set, so I have to keep looking. 

            I worked on making the graffiti clearer in my "Anti Gravity's Rainbow" photo.

            I grilled four beef burgers and had one between two pieces of bread topped by ketchup, mustard, pickles and peri peri sauce. I had it with a beer while watching two episodes of Gomer Pyle. 

            The first story is the last one that takes place on the navy ship. While Carter is demonstrating how to punch Gomer with boxing gloves, Chief Petty Officer Simpson steps in and says he's not doing it right and shows him how to punch Gomer. The rivalry between the two non-commissioned officers comes to a head and Simpson challenges Carter to a boxing match. Since Carter was his high school champion his men are confident that he can beat Simpson and decide to place some bets. But when they go to bet with the sailors under Simpson they learn that he was fleet champion with a lot of knockouts. Then they see him train and realize he could kill Carter. When they try to warn him he won't listen and so they decide to use psychological warfare against Simpson. They surprise the sailors by claiming Carter is a four to one favourite. Then they stage a training camp behind closed doors and show sparring partners leaving with makeup to make them look like they've been beaten. The sailors can hear the bag being punched with machine gun rapidity but on the other side three men are punching it. When Carter hears what the men are doing to protect him he is moved and says he now has the confidence to beat Simpson. But the day of the fight Simpson knocks Carter out with his first punch. 

            In the second story Gomer is in a diner looking out the window when he sees an accident. Carter's car hits another car from behind. Gomer sees the whole thing and wants to go out and help but the waiter has a hard time with the pricing and the math of Gomer's bill. By the time she's done Carter and Cummings have exchanged information and Carter has left. When Cummings hears Gomer say he saw the whole thing he asks him to be a witness in court. Cummings sues Carter. When Carter learns Gomer is a witness Corporal Boyle warns Carter that this could be Gomer's chance to get back at him for all the ridicule since boot camp. Carter begins to try to butter Gomer up and when that doesn't work he tries to make it so he's not there the day of the court case. But Gomer comes and takes the stand. What Gomer's testimony reveals is that Carter was at fault for speeding but Cummings was at fault because he didn't signal before stopping suddenly and he also was trying to make a left turn from the right lane. The judge warns both men that if anything involving them comes before him again they will lose their licenses. 

            The waiter was played by Allison McKay. 

            Boyle was played by Roy Stuart who performed in nightclubs, acted in theatre, film and television. He made guest appearances on several popular shows. He appeared in over 100 commercials in the 1970s.

August 22, 1991: I Worked alone all day playing with the forklift

Thirty years ago today 

            On Thursday I was at the shop at around 8:50. I worked alone all day playing with the forklift. I moved a bunch of stuff out of the way so I could get at the packing material and take it down from a shelf. I put it on skids and then moved it aside. Then I took down the racking. I stopped to help some guys load a truck and then I moved my stuff around and stacked it for better access. Then they brought me a trailer to load it all on. I put the furniture on first, then the racking and then the packing material. When it was three quarters full the night shift came in and accidentally hauled my trailer away. I had to complain to get them to move it back. I finished at around 20:00 and went to wash my shirt in the men's room. I practically took a bath from the sink before leaving. 

            I called Mike Copping but we couldn't get together.

Tige Andrews

            On Friday morning before hitting the sack at around 0:30 I did my usual check for bedbugs along the wall and baseboards but found none. After getting up to pee at 2:30 I did a quick look again because if there are any it tends to be that I could catch them just after feeding, but there were none again. Counting the sick one I dug out of the wall yesterday that makes six that I've found in the last week. 

            I worked on revising my translation of "La java des chaussettes à clous" (The Tap dance of the Hobnail Boots) by Boris Vian and came up with a time related rhyme for "ridicule": "From New Years right into Yule / ignorant of ridicule / they bring to the streets a school / that counsels the simplest of sense." 

            I worked out the chords for the verses and choruses of "Bébé Polaroid" by Serge Gainsbourg, and that leaves me pretty much with just the bridge to figure out. 

            During song practice I used my electric guitar strap on my acoustic with the shoulder strap to keep it from slipping and with the shoe lace to extend it so it's long enough. It worked out great and ended most of the slipping of the strap on my shoulder and causing changes up and down of the angle of the neck while I play. Plus when the neck doesn't slip I can play better because I can hit the bar chords on the frontiers of the neck more accurately. 

            I weighed 88.7 kilos before breakfast. 

            At 12:19 I scraped some more of the black from the bottom of my square baking pan. If I hadn't done a full shave and showered beforehand I probably would have had time to finish it. 

            I weighed 88.8 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Yonge and Bloor and I weighed 88.9 kilos when I got home. 

            I worked on my poem series "My Blood In A Bug." 

            In my Movie Maker project of creating a video for my song "Instructions For Electroshoc k Therapy" I synchronized the concert video and the studio audio for the first line of the second verse when I sing "Undress the patient and then lay them down just like a sacrifice." But the camera is not on me until I sing "like a sacrifice" and so I need to find some video to insert that will fit the line. I watched the rest of the 1926 Japanese silent film "Kurutta Ippeji" (A Page Of Madness) and although there are plenty of scenes I could use later on there's nothing to match that line. I'll have to do a search online and see what I can find. 

            I worked on making the graffiti clearer on another brick in my "Anti Gravity's Rainbow" photo.

            I had a potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching two episodes of Gomer Pyle. Both of these stories take place while the Marines are on a Navy ship to participate in war manoeuvres. In the first story when Gomer ships out he takes with him a stray cat that he's been taking care of because he's just discovered she's pregnant. The chief petty officer on the ship has a serious issue with contraband and when he discovers that Lombardi has a turtle he tosses it overboard. Gomer is worried he'd do the same to his cat. Up until this point Carter has been threatening to throw the cat overboard himself but he takes issue with the Chief Petty Officer's attitude. However after a while Carter tells Gomer he has no choice but to turn the cat in. However when Gomer looks for the cat she's gone. Then they see the CPO carrying a sack and tossing it overboard. Gomer jumps in after it and brings it back only to discover that the contents were some romance magazines the CPO was trying to get rid of. Then the CPO finds the cat and they all think she's a goner but on hearing she's pregnant he takes her to sick bay. 

            In the second story Carter and three men including Gomer are supposed to get into a rubber raft to reconoiter an island in their games. But after they are lowered from the ship to the raft, Gomer tries to attach his bayonet and punctures the raft. They are lowered into a second raft but then Gomer accidentally sets off his flare gun. They are given one last chance and Carter decides to try to row away without Gomer. But Gomer jumps into the raft from the ship and goes right through it. Carter begs for another raft and this time Gomer is replaced but after the raft has rowed away the CPO decides to play a trick on Carter. He hands Gomer a note which he says is a top secret message for Carter and tells Gomer to swim to the raft. Carter reads it and then tells Gomer to swim back and tell the CPO to drop dead. But while Gomer is swimming back to the ship he runs against the periscope of the "enemy" sub in the war games. Gomer is hanging on and blocking the sub's view, allowing Carter and his men to capture the sub and become heroes of the war games. 

            The CPO was played by Tige Andrews who played the street singer in a 1955 off Broadway production of The Three Penny Opera starring Lotte Lenya. In the Star Trek episode Friday's Child he played Kras, the first Klingon to die in the series. He co-starred in "The Mod Squad" and "The Detectives". He recorded two singles: "Keep America Beautiful" and "The Mod Father." He was a close friend of Telly Savalas and guest starred several times on "Kojak." He retired from acting in the 90s after having played more than a hundred roles.

August 21, 1991: It was very humiliating to forget what I did the week before

Thirty years ago today

            I wrote my last few entries in my journal a week later than the date and so I was confused about the actual events. I wasn't sure if I worked on Monday August 19 or not, but I was pretty sure that my Monday entry happened on Tuesday and my Tuesday entry on Wednesday. I thought I might remember later but I never did. It was very humiliating to forget.

Jeff Corey

            On Thursday at about 0:30 I did my usual search for bedbugs before going to sleep and found none crawling. But when I started poking into little cracks and holes I speared one that had been hiding in a tiny hole at the southern end of the western baseboard near the foot of my bed. It didn't look all that well and didn't have my fresh blood inside but was rather brown and greasy when I crushed it. That was the first bedbug I'd seen in five days but I didn't find any more. 

            I worked on revising my translation of "La java des chaussettes à clous" (The Tap dance of the Hobnail Boots) by Boris Vian but I'm stuck on the third verse I need a word to rhyme with "ridicule" that indicates time. 

            I searched for the chords for "Bébé Polaroid" by Serge Gainsbourg, but no one had posted them and so I worked them out for the intro and the first two lines. 

            During song practice the neck end of my guitar strap broke. There was another one inside the gig bag of the Gibson electric knockoff my neighbour David gave me and so I put that on and shortened some of my songs to make up for lost time. The new strap is more slippery than the old one and so I had to keep changing the position of my guitar to adjust. I found another one later that feels like it's made of cloth, plus it's all black, so I'll try switching it before tomorrow to see if that holds better. 

            I weighed 89.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I mixed some polyfilla in a coffee can and applied it to the southern half of the western baseboard in the bedroom where I found the one sick bedbug after midnight. After the plaster was used up I spent some time scraping the bottom of my square baking pan. I scraped about a centimetre off all the way around starting from where I'd left off last time. If I hadn't needed to do the plastering I might have finished it. 

            I weighed 88.1 kilos before lunch. 

            Shankar's network had no internet at lunchtime. 

            I changed the strap on my guitar to the black cloth one but it was too short. The leather one for my electric is also short but long enough that when I tie it to the neck with a long shoelace it's long enough. I just tied it the wrong way around so the shoulder strap that holds it from slipping was in the wrong place. I'll have to switch it around. 

            After I took a siesta the wifi was still down so I knocked on Shankar's door. He said he'd been having problems too and I suggested he restart his router. I guess he did because about five minutes later it was back on, so I could post my blog. 

            I took a bike ride to Yonge and Bloor in the 30 degree heat. On the way back I stopped at Freshco where I bought five bags of grapes, a basket of nectarines, a pint of blueberries, a half pint of raspberries, a pack of ground beef, a bag of naan loaves, five year old cheddar, skyr, orange juice, lemonade, two cans of peaches and a six pack of Sponge Towels. I weighed 88.2 kilos when I got home. 

            I worked on my poem series "My Blood In A Bug." 

            In my Movie Maker project of making a video for my song "Instructions For Electroshock Therapy" I inserted the clip of the second shock from the 1940s video of real shock therapy into my main video at the point just when I'm sustaining the note on the last syllable of "shock therapy" at the end of the first chorus. I trimmed out everything but the initial shock and jerk of the body and left the sustained convulsions for later in the video. There are only about ten or eleven beats of instrumental between the end of the chorus and the beginning of the second verse when I sing, "Undress the patient and then lay them down just like a sacrifice." I trimmed some of the concert video after the chorus towards synchronizing it with the studio audio. I'll have to trim a bit more tomorrow to get them lined up. But I think the videographer Aldo Erdic had expected a longer instrumental because he is still shooting my hands and my guitar when I begin singing and only shows my face when I'm singing "just like a sacrifice." The shots of my hands and guitar don't really match how I'm playing in the studio and so once I've got the vocals and my face in sync I'll have to look for some other video that fits the line "undress the patient and then lay them down" to replace the guitar shots leading up to "just like a sacrifice." I'll probably look through the 1926 silent Japanese film "Kurutta Ippeji" (A Page of Madness) to see if there's anything there before I start searching online. 

            I rubbed 12 chicken drumsticks in olive oil, salt and chili powder and grilled them in the oven. 

            I worked on making the graffiti clearer in my "Anti Gravity's Rainbow" photo. 

            I had a potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching two episodes of Gomer Pyle. In the first story four army dogs are brought in to help train four Marines in how to control attack dogs. Gomer and Johnson volunteer to be the Marine from Carter's platoon. Johnson argues that one has to be a monster to the dog just like Carter is to his men, so Carter picks Pyle. Gomer gets a German shepherd named Killer who is the meanest of the four. At first he refuses to obey Gomer but Gomer is so nice that the dog finally lets his guard down. He begins to obey Gomer without punishment but then when Killer is called to attack during inspection he doesn't. The trainer says Gomer has ruined the dog. But when Carter starts yelling at Gomer up close the dog moves to attack Carter. The colonel says this is a success but that the dog may not be fit for combat. He has the dog given to the child of another officer and Gomer is allowed to visit. It wasn't much of a story. 

            Johnson was played by Paul Trinka who co-starred on "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" and at the same time worked as a maitre d' at a hip health food restaurant called The Aware Inn. 

            In the second story Sergeant Singer is the supply sergeant for the base. His friend Carter says he has the easiest job and so they bet a month's salary. Carter says any knucklehead can do the job but Singer says they can't. Gomer is picked and Singer goes away to visit his newborn grandson. There is chaos immediately and Gomer is lost to know where anything is. But with Singer coming back the next day, Gomer learns that Carter is about to lose a month's salary and so he works all night. He organizes everything by animal, vegetable and mineral and suddenly he's on top of everything. Singer comes back and feels useless to know someone else can do the job and so he considers retirement. Carter doesn't want to lose his friend. Suddenly however Gomer is back in chaos because some items don't fall into any one of the three categories he came up with. Carter happily helps Singer return to his old system.

            Singer was played by Jeff Corey who went to acting school and then became a theatre actor. In the 40s he appeared in a few well known films but then joined the Navy Photographic Service and served in the Pacific on the carrier Yorktown. He earned three citations for his filming of a kamakaze attack on the Yorktown. Returning to Hollywood he played a psychiatrist in "Home of the Brave" to critical acclaim. He was blacklisted for refusing to testify before the Hollywood Comminist witch hunt and missed out on work throughout the 50s. During this time he studied speech therapy and acting at UCLA and then formed his own school, becoming one of the most renowned acting coaches in Hollywood with students such as James Dean and Jack Nicholson. Once the blacklist lifted he became a sought after actor again in films and on television and even directed some TV shows. Since last night I couldn't delete the fourth episode of the second season of Gomer Pyle. 

           I tried it again tonight several times to delete the avi file but it seemed really stuck somehow. I had to go online and there were all kinds of complicated solutions such as deleting it in the Registry or downloading software such as "File Assassin". One person said simply go to Task Manager and end Windows Explorer, then open files and new task and then browse for the file and delete it. But when I did that I couldn't find any Gomer Pyle files at all. When I closed Task manager though and opened Windows Explorer the files were there and the one I wanted to delete was in the recycling bin. I don't exactly know how I did it.