What's Really Scary is People That Say "Awesome!" All the Time

            I spent a lot of Sunday alternating between re-reading T. S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland” and “The Faith and Practice of Al-Ghazali”.

            I finished a second reading of “The Wasteland” out loud and then I copied it to a Word document. I started removing all of the notes that accompany the text and translating to English all the parts that are in other languages. I’m hoping that way I can get a better sense of the flow and meaning of the text when I read it.

            As for the Al-Ghazali text, I find it way too religious and I don’t know why my philosophy professor thought it important enough to link us to it.

October 30- Although the heat was on on Monday morning, when I opened the windows there was a cold breeze blowing in, and though it didn’t cancel out the ovenness, it at least made it a little more tolerable.

            I had to work around midday for Diane Pugen at OCADU. It was the first time I’d posed for Diane since before she had her stroke last year. I was twenty minutes early for class and there was another model just packing up to leave as I arrived. She didn’t remember my name and I didn’t remember hers but I remembered the last time we ran into each other how she’d impressed me by remembering my name after a short struggle. This time she was dressed in a kind of casual Middle Eastern or Gypsy costume. We had to ask each other’s names this tie and she said hers is Susan though she kind of looks like she could be Persian.

            At start time Diane hadn’t yet arrived, which is not unusual, but I decided to start working without her because I know she likes that kind of thing. I was most of the way through a set of one-minute gestures when she came in. When I took a break she introduced me to the class, “This is Christian. He’s one of our very best models, as I’m sure you could tell from his poses.” That was nice.

            Diane lectured for several minutes. She seems to be mostly recovered from her stroke, though she does seem more than a year older and talks a little bit slower than before.

            She had me stand on the stage naked while she stood beside me and pointed at my anatomical parts with the handle end of her paintbrush. The only problem was that touched every part of my body that she pointed to. She must know that she’s not supposed to do that but maybe she couldn’t help herself. If it had been anyone else but her I would have complained to the model coordinator.

            During my coffee break I finished reading “The Faith and Practice of Al-Ghazali”. It’s pretty dogmatic and he seems to think that all of the other philosophers are infidels, including the Islamic philosopher, Avicenna.

            I stopped at the Bank of Montreal between Spadina and Bathurst on my way home to take out my rent and some spending money. The bank was empty of customers because I think they were about to close. The teller asked how I was and I told him I was okay. “Awesome” he responded, not very convincingly. I keyed in my pin and he said, “Awesome.” I think he told me to have an awesome day or something like that after giving me the money I’d asked for.