The Indian Act

            On Friday morning I finally finished memorizing “Le complainte du progres" by Boris Vian and also "Titicaca" by Serge Gainsbourg. I found that there are chords posted online for the Vian song but not for "Titicaca".

            I worked on my journal.

            I had a chicken wing for lunch and was trying to pour some orange juice from a full bottle but when I started picking it up I squeezed it and spilled some of the juice. Later while eating I reached for the glass and spilled some on my keyboard. I turned it upside down and tried to dry it but later I discovered that the space key on the keyboard that my daughter bought me a few years ago no longer worked. Fortunately I have other keyboards. I found a Dell on the upper shelf in my bedroom and plugged it in. The computer said it was ready to use but it wouldn’t work and so I restarted and it worked. It will take some getting used to because it doesn't fit my desk drawer like the old one and the keys are more elevated but at least now the "E" works every time I use it. It was getting sticky on the old one.

            I did my exercises in the afternoon while listening to Amos and Andy. In this story Kingfish and Andy go into the parking lot business. In letting their customers know that they are not responsible for what happens to the cars they write on the tickets that they are irresponsible. After Andy goes to lunch Kingfish decides to go to get a bite too and so he puts his brother in law in charge for a few minutes. When he returns he finds that his brother in law has sold one of the cars for $600, thinking that it was a used car lot. Kingfish decides the only thing he can do is to sign over his half of the lot to Andy and to give him the $600 without telling him about the mistake, so that he’ll be liable for the car. When Andy asks why he’s selling his half Kingfish explains that he found out he’s allergic to carbon peroxide. He says the doctor gave him an allergy test and scratched him with an exhaust pipe. Andy takes the deal but when he finds out about the car he threatens Kingfish. Kingfish says he’ll help him solve the problem. Andy has spent $100 of the money and so they need to get $100 so they can give the buyer back his $600 and give the customer back his car. They go to a loan company where Kingfish says he wants to borrow $100. The loan agent says he needs $100 for security and Andy gives him $100. The agent gives Kingfish the $100 and thanks them for their business. Eventually Andy makes $100 on his own and they get the car back. Kingfish then wants to get the lot back and so Andy signs it all over to him. Kingfish asks by the way where he got the $100. Andy says Kingfish’s brother sold a Lincoln for $100.

            And speaking of lots, I spent the next two hours reading The Indian Act. It sure does talk a lot for a while about timber, lumber and brush on Indian land and who gets to sell it. The most bizarre thing though is the idea of “enfranchisement". If a Native became educated, a doctor, a lawyer, a priest, a soldier, if they travelled for an extended time they would lose their status and stop being considered as Indians. This really seems counterproductive. What a way to discourage Indigenous people from trying to achieve the very things that Canadians value.

            I had a potato, a slice of chicken breast and the rest of my gravy for dinner while watching Zorro.

            In this story Sergeant Garcia has a rock thrown through his window while he is sleeping and attached is a message that is signed “Zorro”. It reads that Zorro would surrender to him if he comes alone to a certain remote area outside the fort. He goes and unseen to Garcia the man named Gomez from the previous episode shouts out instructions from behind a rock. He tells him to drop his sword and then ride ahead another kilometre to await further instructions. But no instructions come. Next we see the king’s messenger who is supposed to carry the soldiers’ pay arrive at the fort. He says he was robbed by a soldier and when Garcia returns he says it was him. The messenger has in his possession Garcia’s broken sword, which he claims he broke across his back. Garcia is arrested and tried by Magistrate Galindo for robbing the king and sentenced to death at dawn. Don Diego wants to question the messenger the messenger but learns that he has left for Monterrey, despite the fact that he is supposed to be injured. Zorro catches up to the messenger and jumps him on his horse. Zorro is almost knocked off but manages to pull both of them off. But as they tumble down a hill Zorro is knocked out when he hits his head on a rock. The messenger is about to finish Zorro off when he is attacked by Zorro’s horse Tornado. Zorro recovers and captures the messenger. Meanwhile it is time for Garcia’s execution by firing squad. He is asked if he wants a blindfold but says, “I would rather see them not kill me than not see them kill me”. Just as they are about to fire Zorro arrives with the messenger who admits that he had been part of a plot. He has the soldiers’ pay and so they all lose interest in executing Garcia since they haven’t been paid for four months. After finding another eagle feather Don Diego is beginning to suspect the magistrate as being part of a criminal organization. He also notices that the barbs of each feather are cut with a unique pattern, which he thinks must be some kind of code.

            Afterwards I tried to write in my journal but the new keyboard wouldn’t work. I had to restart my computer to get it to function again. Another problem is that the Dell is three times thicker than the old keyboard and so it’s higher and hurting my back when I type because I have to use a different posture. I raised my chair as high as it would go so hopefully that would fix the problem.